5 Healthy snack ideas

What you snack on between meals can go a long way toward keeping you healthy, without packing on the pounds.  These guilt-free snack ideas are full of flavour as well as being good for you.

1. An apple a day to keep fractures away. You already know about the benefits of calcium and vitamin D for strong bones. But what about fruit and vegetables? Yup, chalk up another health advantage to these amazing foods — the more fruits and veggies you eat, the higher your bone mineral content, a fancy way of saying you have stronger bones and are less likely to develop osteoporosis or fractures.
2. Eat chocolate—the right kind. Dark chocolate is packed with healthy antioxidants. But what you may not know is that it's also packed with magnesium. That magnesium can help to moderate your appetite.
3. Pop some soybeans. Soy is a high-protein, low-fat vegetable that tastes so good you might expect the nutrition police to come after you. But forget tofu. We're talking edamame, or soybeans. Buy them frozen or fresh, steam for five minutes, and sprinkle with some coarse salt. Now pop the beans out of the pod.
4. Make fries from sweet potatoes. Instead of using white potatoes, make sweet potato fries. Slice a scrubbed, large sweet potato into 2.5-centimetre (one-inch) strips, coat with 15 mL (one tablespoon) of canola oil and bake in a preheated oven (230°C/450°F) for about 10 minutes. Shake the pan to turn the fries and continue baking until crispy, about another 15 minutes.
5. Drink a fruit smoothie. What about drinking your fruit instead of eating it? No, not in fruit juice — which is often high in sugar and stripped of the fruit's fibre — but in a smoothie. Just toss 250 mL (one cup) of berries — strawberries, blueberries, raspberries — and a sliced (but not peeled) apple, peach or pear into your blender. Add 125 mL (1/2 cup) skim milk and a frozen banana, maybe a handful of ice if you like it thicker, and blend. Delicious!