Most vending machines are stocked full of junk food. With a bit of planning it is possible to replace those snacks with foods that will nourish your body.
The challenge is to balance convenience with nutrition.
Here is a pictorial guide to a selection of healthy snacks – and remember – healthy eating is not just about the number of calories*.
Raw Almonds
Serving shown: 20 almonds
Calories: 139
Serving shown: 30g / ~1oz
Calories: 178
Serving shown: 40g / 1.4oz
Calories: 97
Note: Dried fruits are more calorie dense (per weight) than fresh fruit – and are easier to overeat.
Mandarin
Serving shown: 180g, 1 medium & 1 small.
Calories: 95
Note: Great packaging. Small portions. Seasonal
Apple
Serving shown: 185g / 6.5oz
Calories: 96
Banana
Serving shown: 1 medium banana – 118g
Calories: 105
Note: Nicely prepackaged.
Grapes
Serving shown: 215g / 7.6oz
Calories: 148
Note: Seasonal
Tuna
Serving shown: 85g / 3oz
Calories: 99
Note: Be wary of tuna in oil – many of the oils are vegetable oils (high in omega-6 rather than omega-3 EFA’s).
Serving shown: 25g / .9oz
Calories: 72
Note: Find in bulk bins – often with different seasonings.
Popcorn
Serving shown: 2 cups
Calories: 62 (air-popped)
Calories:110 (oil-popped)
No condiments added.
Note: Avoid pre-packaged popcorn (often contains trans fat).
Baby Carrots
Serving shown: 170g / 6oz
Calories: 60
Note: Convenient – can buy pre-washed and pre-bagged.
Celery & Hummus
Serving shown: 40g / 1.4oz hummus
Calories: 108
Note: Buy celery pre-cut and pre-washed. Goes well with many other dips.
Cherry Tomatoes
Serving shown: 150g / 1 Cup
Calories: 27
Note: Seasonal.
Whole-grain Crispbread with Cottage Cheese
Serving shown: 1 cracker + ~45g (1.5oz) cottage cheese (light)
Calories: 70
Note: Aim for crispbreads or crackers that are completely whole grain and have a minimal amount of oil.
Bean Salad
80g / 2.8oz
Calories: 90
Functional Fruit
All fruits are great – however many have a very short season (berries, peaches, nectarines) and others can be a bit too messy if you are at work (grapefruit, oranges, melon).
*It’s Not Just About Calories
Some snacks may be low in calories, but lack in other essential nutrients. Some snacks do nothing to satisfy the appetite. What’s the point in saving 20 calories just to be gnawingly hungry 15 minutes later? No vending machine will be safe from you…
Not Everyone Needs to Snack
For some people – three square meals works fine. For others, snacking is a way of life – and without a little pre-planning – most of those snacks will not be the best choices.
Snacking is a great way to maintain even energy levels and manage hunger and prevent bingeing.
Building Positive Habits
Snacking is habit forming. Switch out bad food choices for good ones – and before you know it – your 3 hourly pilgrimage to the vending machine will be a thing of the past.
Need More Ideas?
- See our Healthy Snacks category for many more suggestions.
- What does 100 Calories look like?
- A Visual Guide to 300 Calorie Meals?
NOTE: All items were carefully weighed and measured. Calorie amounts came from the USDA nutrient database or from labels.
this is so nice post i like this a lot it is so nice.
Good food and drinks of my world
Wonder of my world
After 20 years of doing this without a single fire, I’d say you’re pretty safe with microwaving popcorn in a lunch bag.
DES FOLKS CRAZZI
WTF is YALL ON????
love popcorns, it says no to pre-pop corn. I just hope they make vending machines that would dispense these food.
super yummy
2-3 dollars for a bag of microwave popcorn?!?
Not a bad list of healthy snacks at all. As for me though, I would definitely go for fresh fruits as my snack. I never ate popcorn unless when watching a movie.
Thanks!
very nice article:) its always fun to have great food to eat and stay healthy
i always eat fruit 10 a day sometimes 18 a day.
This article contains lots of bad science comparing apples with oranges to try and prove beliefs. It’s not a good source.
I guess if you’ve got half an hour every morning to prepare your days snacks then you’re looking in the wrong place. This list is a selection of real foods that I’ve eaten as snacks. Believe it or not people don’t actually even think about buying bananas and taking them to work.
They wait ’til they’re staring at the vending machine giddy with hunger… that’s why an ‘obvious’ list like this is helpful.
PS. Would LOVE to hear more of your ideas for snacks… but I doubt you’ll be back.
No offense… but this is the most boring, obvious and uninspired list of snacks I’ve ever seen. I’m looking for some creative ideas, something not as obvious as “a banana” or as unappetizing and boring as “tuna”. How about homemade granola? smoked salmon, cucumber and cream cheese on a sesame cracker? vegetable sushi? I want my healthy snacks to lure me away from junk food, not drive me to it…
you got that right!
Actually, friction that the microwaves cause between molecules is what heats up the food. It is totally safe and wont make you sick, at all. Cooking things like frozen vegetables in the microwave is better because the vegetables arent exposed to as much heat or liquid which can harm and destroy vital nutrients found in these foods.
which one better for kids, fresh milk from cow or soya milk? in indonesia we have popular food called tempe. It made from soya bean. which better for kids, tempe or soya milk?thanks.
if you buy popcorn seeds and all natural coconut oil and cook it on the stove until popped is all natural and obviously way more healthy than microwave popcorn
…this isn’t true at all.
Also, you can easily have air popped popcorn without spending $ on an air popper. All you have to do is get plan paper lunch bags (avoid colors/bleached ones/etc). Put 1/3c. unpopped popcorn kernels in the bag, fold the top of the bag down no more than 1 inch, and staple at each corner. (Because it is a small amount of metal, and far apart, it won’t arc – so no worries about blowing up your microwave)
Microwave until there is 1 second between pops (do NOT trust your “popcorn” setting, because this is a smaller amount than pre-packaged popcorn)
Then, tear off the top and enjoy! Great with whatever toppings you’d like – even some smart balance “butter” or peanutbutter, or that sort of thing.
(Great for kids/college students)
Also, it’s a LOT cheaper. Works out to something like 17 cents per bag instead of nearly 2 or 3 dollars!
I believe that everyone should STOP taking the focus off the real issue, unhealthy weight and very high BMIs, which most of us know can be life threatening if not properly cared for and really address with sincerity, love and yes, a little sternness, that obesity is a ticking time balm in so many respects that it needs to really be addressed in a perhaps more honest light. Believe me, I was kind of laughing to myself reading the banter of the above blogs, but suddenly snapped back into reality and became a little scared when I read the blog regarding treasuring smelling the bag as it comes out of the microwave and is very concerned about this ritual of sorts. His popcorn from the microwave is a safety blanket. He realizes that he is not taking suggestions from the others, but gets out of title of being a “bad dieter” because he does not hold the steaming bag too near his face. If we weren’t talking about this big elephant in the middle in the room – deadly weight amounts and the diseases that are born of this unhealthy lifestyle, such as diabetes, stroke, heart attack, the list goes on and on…) than I would actually think that I was on some hidden camera show. I am a health care provider who for the first time in my 35 years ballooned up nearly 50 pounds in about 3 months. I was relentless in finding an answer to the mystery of this radical change of both outer appearance and then perhaps most importantantly to have a small understanding of what lenghths the obese in this country endure on a daily basis in terms of mental abuse, prejugement and at times disgust and blame without even knowing the person’s name or situation. I looked at the reasoning for this through every angle and I realized that at the end of the day it really did not matter if I had smelled that bad of popcorn too many times directly in my face, or if in fact I was sick (I indeed have a growth on my thyroid)…… WHEN I LAYED MY HEAD ON MY PILLOW AT THAT NIGHT I KNOW THAT I CAN BE TOTALLY CLEAN AND HONEST WITH MY ACTIONS AROUND FOOD AND WORKING TOWARD A HEALTHY TOMORROW. When I finally had this big epiphany, it became so simple. When I was sneaking that jelly dounut in the bathroom it really had no real immediate impact on the people around me. It’s the old cliche “drinking the poison, hoping the other will die.” So trite, but so direct. We all know that secrets make us sick, and coming home to an atmosphere which needed some work was not something that I could/would shoulder alone. We are currently in therapy and I am free to say that food no longer chooses me, but rather I choose it. I am human, meaning there is going to be that slice of cheesecake perhaps 2x a year that I will enjoy with vigor, but THAT’S IT. I know that I rambled quite a bit, but I was reading all of these really nonsensical suggestions and it seemed that people were missing the point. Be it toxins from a microwave, a cell phone, or an exhaust pipe from a car, it is all how you frame your case. Believe me, if you really want that microwave popcorn wih extra butter and salt you will hunt it down like a junke being told this is her last high. I have a strong suspician that we will all survive; it is just how open you are and wen asked why you switched schools you come up with an answer that respects God, your parents, your siblings, and most importantly yourself. Reply without restraint when asked what you would do if you could do it without all of the “stuff” that the real world brings ..it is a challenging to see how we treat the tightrope with respect, but also don’t let it give us undue slack. Mimicking many relationships betweeen boy/girl, girl/girl boy/boy (and mind you all can be sexual) The tightrope represents that fine line between feeding our bodies, our temples, with Fritos and Cool Ranch Doritos or perhaps for something new, how the othersie live, swing the other direction and only drink pomegranate juice and purified water. Just something to ponder.
i like popcorn
you are wrong healthy is good for you
omg healthy nasty i hate healthy snacks.
i do not like a lot of healthy snacks i mostly like chips.
well i don’t really care what i eat everything is good for me.
Well microwaves heat up the food with bouncing around “microwaves”. Heating these “microwaves” is extremely unhealthy. Even eating frozen vegetables which is healthy can turned to be a unhealthy snack if put in the microwave. It lowers you matiblism makes you sick and many more.
Also, Air Popped Popcorn is DELICIOUS and only takes like 5 minutes in an air popper. Bonus Kids love to watch the “magic”
you should never eat microwave popcorn! the teflon in the bags breaks down when heated up and gets into the corn. Also, the fake butter often contains trans fats and has carcinogenic compounds in it. STOP EATING IT!
I don’t see where it says to avoid microwave popcorn? If you are referring to where it says to avoid pre-packaged popcorn, I think they are talking about the already popped pre-packaged popcorn in a bag. Microwave popcorn is great now a days…I love the 100 calorie mini bags of smartpop.
STRAWBERRIES – 35 cal/cup and lots of VITAMIN C! Brussel sprouts are very low cal/filling and healthy too
I enjoyed the snack pictures and information. Thanks for sharing
are you connected with Gurus health food store-the advise there was no meat which makes sence if we want to raise our frequencies-why do you advise eating meat?
yo mamamamama