Healthy Snacks Guide
The three dietary keys to staying full and satisfied are protein, fiber, and healthy fat. Any one of these will do the job, but the best results come when you combine them together. For our minimal assembly snacks (created by our Food Expert Stephanie Middleberg, MS, RD, CDN), we’ve done that for you. For the shelf snacks and whole foods, add 2 tablespoons of unsalted nuts or 1 tablespoon of no sugar-added nut butter to any selection that doesn’t already include them and you should be covered.
Shelf snacks we love
- Roasted chickpeas (Pulse, Biena sea salt flavor, The Good Bean)
- Pumpkin seeds (Eden, Super Seedz)
- Unsalted nuts (walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, etc)
- Trail mix (Organic Go Raw, Daily Fresh Nuts Original)
- Cacao nibs (Navitas)
- Olives (Sunfood Pitted, Oloves, or any Kalamata)
- No sugar-added dried fruits (Rind, Mavuno Harvest Mango)
- Beet chips or kale chips (Rhythm Superfoods beet, Rhythm Superfoods kale)
- Baked fava beans (Bada Bean Bada Boom sea salt flavor)
- Marinated artichoke snack packs (Poshi Artichoke Snacks)
- Baked seaweed (Seasnax Seaweed)
- Beef jerky and meat sticks (Brooklyn Biltong, Ayoba Foods, Chomps, EPIC)
- Popcorn (Lesser Evil Buddha Organic Popcorn, Quinn)
Whole foods
- Any fruit (apples are an especially great choice since they contain a lot of fiber and their sweetness can help with a sugar fix)
- ½ avocado (fat and fiber)
- ½ cup vegetables, steamed or roasted (pro tip: buy a bag of frozen veggies and steam some every morning. Keep them in a bowl in your fridge for daytime snacking. Portion out ¼ cup hummus, guacamole, or salsa for dipping)
- ½ cup of shelled edamame (frozen works!) + sea salt
- 2 tablespoons of unsalted nuts
- 1 tablespoon of no sugar-added nut butter
- ¼ cup spicy pumpkin seeds
- 1 hard boiled egg
- 1 string cheese
- 1 cup plain, unflavored yogurt (ideally full fat)
Savory + minimal assembly
- 10 carrots or celery or bell peppers + 2 Tbsp hummus or 3 Tbsp of guacamole
- 3 celery sticks spread with 3 Tbsp hummus + 3 chopped olives
- Veggie chips (like Rhythm Foods beet chips or Brad's kale chips) + 1/4 cup guacamole or hummus or curried yogurt dip (2-3 Tbsp plain greek yogurt + 1/8 or ¼ tsp curry powder)
- 1 sliced bell pepper and/or 1 cup baby carrots dipped in 1/4 cup hummus
- 1 dill pickle wrapped with 1 piece of sliced organic turkey
- 6 jicama or celery sticks wrapped in 2-3 slices of ham or turkey, dipped in whole grain mustard
- 2-3 slices of turkey + 1 slice cheese + 1 Tbsp mustard
- 1 slice of smoked salmon + 1 Tbsp of cream cheese on cucumber rounds
- 2 pieces smoked salmon with ½ sliced cucumber, 2 Tbsp cream cheese (for dairy-free, try Kite Hill)
- 1/2 avocado with sea salt, balsamic vinegar + 2 Tbsp hemp hearts
- 1/2 avocado stuffed with 1/4 - 1/3 cup sauerkraut or 2 Tbsp Momo ginger salad dressing
- 1/3 mashed avocado + ½ squeezed lemon and sea salt, served with endive spears for dipping
- 1 plain Siggi's or Fage whole milk yogurt + 1 Tbsp hemp seeds
- Savory ants on a log: 5 celery pieces topped with 3 Tbsp hummus + 3-5 chopped olives
Sweet + minimal assembly
- ½ a cup of cottage cheese + topping of choice (cinnamon, chia seeds, goji berries, vanilla, 1 Tbsp of no sugar-added nut butter, fruit, cacao powder)
- ½ cup berries + 2-3 Tbsp of unsalted nuts
- Fruit of your choice + 1-2 Tbsp ricotta or 1-2 Tbsp of no sugar-added nut butter
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt + topping of choice (cinnamon, goji berries, chia seeds, vanilla, 1 Tbsp no sugar-added nut butter, fruit, cacao powdery)
- ½ cup plain cottage cheese (ideally full fat) + fruit
- 1 small apple dipped in mixture of 1/4 cup coconut yogurt (like Anita's brand) + 1 Tbsp no sugar-added nut butter + cinnamon
- 2 Medjool dates (pitted) dipped in 1-2 Tbsp no sugar-added nut butter or 2 Tbsp goat cheese
- 2 dates + 1 Tbsp no sugar-added nut butter
- 1 ounce unsalted nuts + fruit
- 1-2 Tbsp no sugar-added nut butter + apple or banana
- Sweet ants on a log: 2- 5 celery pieces topped with 1 Tbsp no sugar-added nut butter + 1 Tbsp raisins