Many of us love to snack, but many snacks are unhealthy and can be harmful to our health. Students, in particular, should be careful not to snack indiscriminately. So, are there any healthy snacks? Below, the editor recommends these refreshing and healthy snacks to everyone.
Refreshing and Healthy Snacks
Natural Fruits
Sweet and sour fruits, with their rich textures and aromatic flavors, are in no way inferior to the snack giants listed above. Fruits generally have a higher sugar content, making them more appealing to children with a sweet tooth. However, they are also rich in vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, and antioxidants, making them a food explicitly recommended in the Chinese Dietary Guidelines for Residents. As a snack, they satisfy cravings, provide energy, and ensure a pleasant mood, making them a superior choice.
Unsalted Nuts
Nuts like walnuts, peanuts, almonds, pistachios, cashews, and pine nuts, although these foods are often high in calories, contain many other nutrients such as protein, fiber, and minerals, making them a much better choice than potato chips. While nuts contain a fair amount of fat, it is mostly unsaturated fat, so if you control your total calorie intake, they can be a healthy choice.
Yogurt, Cheese
Yogurt, sour milk, fermented milk, cultured milk, yo-urt... the names are dazzling and confusing, but they all refer to the same thing—yogurt. Yogurt contains lactic acid and lactic acid bacteria, which are beneficial for the absorption of minerals in the body. Therefore, the actual utilization rate of calcium in plain yogurt is no worse than that of milk, the "calcium-supplementing artifact."
Yogurt also retains all the vitamins of milk, and through fermentation, the activity of lactic acid bacteria can also increase the content of B vitamins. Therefore, overall, the vitamin nutritional value of plain yogurt is equivalent to or even better than that of pure milk, and it can be a dietary source of vitamins B2, B6, B12, vitamin A, vitamin D, and more.
Cheese, like milk and yogurt, is primarily rich in calcium, and secondarily, it contains high-quality protein from dairy products. For growing children, choosing cheese to supplement calcium is quite reliable. However, many cheese-making processes inevitably use salt, so their salt content can be relatively high. Therefore, when choosing cheese, it's also important to check the salt content carefully.
Energy Bars
"Energy bars," with improvements in ingredients and production techniques, are considered newcomers in the snack world. By using syrup to bind various granular healthy ingredients, a wide variety of relatively healthier snacks are created. Some energy bars use powdered ingredients, resulting in a softer and chewier texture.
For example, those made with peanut butter or similar ingredients can be rich in protein and dietary fiber. They can also easily include ingredients like chocolate and added vitamins and minerals, becoming "high-nutrient-density" foods. In fact, products like energy bars are no longer just snacks; some people even eat them for breakfast. Compared to milk, their nutritional content is even more comprehensive.
In addition, there are many other small snacks that are outstanding in terms of nutritional value. By choosing a variety of foods, combining them rationally, and varying your choices, you can not only ensure nutrition and hygiene but also enjoy the pleasure that comes from many delicious foods.