"healthy snacks" news and stories

Airlines are all over the map in terms of what food they will offer, if any, on flights. Some lines stick to small packages of peanuts or pretzels, while others offer snack packs (that usually have to be purchased) or, in a few cases, full meals. The Diet Detective did a little investigating and found out, from a nutritional standpoint, which airlines are giving out food worth eating and on which flights you're better off bringing a snack from home.

• United - offers variety and healthy choices in four different meal types, Smartpack, 895 cal; Minimeal, 560 cal; Quickpick, 655 cal; Ritebite, 625 cal. The Smartpack and Ritebite are your most balanced options.
• Continental Airlines - doesn't have all the options that United does, but the meals are definitely health-oriented with pretzels and sandwiches made with low-fat mayo. Turkey, 285 cal; Ham, 316 cal.
• JetBlue - has a number of individually packaged, portion-controlled snacks, including Nabisco 100 calorie packs, Doritos Munchies Mix, Mrs. GoodCookie Jungle Crackers, All Nuts Jumbo Cashew Halves.
• American Airlines - skip the breakfast muffin, but the meat, nuts, raisins and cheese in the 710-calorie snack pack are filling.
• US Airways - offers a fairly low calorie snack pack (470 cal), but lacks any real nutritional punch. Try the fruit/nut mix and skip the rest
• Delta Air Lines - again, the fruit and nuts are worth eating in Delta's snack pack, but the rest of the 766 cal meal can easily be skipped.

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We already know all the "tips and tricks" about smart snacking. Heck, is there ever anything new about snacking? Of course not, but it's always nice to be reminded and have it all in one place. Here's a list published in the Lamar Daily News:

• Let kids help you pick out snacks at the store
  
• Keep "good snacks" in a single place that kids can get any time
  
• Buy snacks in single serving size packages (or at least, make single servings yourself with ziploc bags)
  
• Incorporate all the food groups
  
• Include some sweet snacks
• Keep regular meal schedule so snacking is regular, too
• Let kids help you plan meals
• Always eat breakfast
• Eat together as a family
• Balance the food groups in each meal
• Don't snack too close to meal time. Two hours before is a good guideline
• Don't ban anything, just teach moderation

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Greetings dear reader if you're perusing this post while slumped over your desk at your day job then it's probably time for a snack to boost the old blood sugar. Of course there's a right way and a wrong way to get your munch on as a recent Forbes article points out.

Forbes "Snacking Survival Guide" notes that the junk food in that office snack machine is bad for two reasons. It's crammed full of calories and often trans-fats, but more important while it may give you a temporary lift, you're bound to feel a crash once your blood sugar falls from its peak. Better options include fruits, vegetables and nuts.

The article also includes a 10-item slide show with a suggested item for various types of snackers and the benefits of the treat. The reccomendation for athletes is pomegranate juice because it contains loads of nutrients and antioxidants. For those on the go, the suggestion is protein bars. And for the bachelor it's eggs because of their ease of preparation and high protein content. That reminds me I've been meaning to rewatch Cool Hand Luke.

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After finding out that microwave popcorn bags could contain potentially harmful PFOAs, I worried that it would be some time before I was eating popcorn on a regular basis. It’s a little too much trouble to pop in on the stove top all the time because of the cleanup required; I’m spoiled by having used the microwave for so many years. Fortunately, I came across Alton Brown’s tip to use a brown paper bag to pop popcorn in the microwave. Alton’s directions called for using a stapler to seal the paper bag, but I did not want to take any chances by putting metal into my microwave. I used Scotch tape to seal my bag. By tossing kernels in butter or oil and then sealing them in a brown paper bag with a bit of tape, the kernels will pop up just as usual – with very little mess and a convenient eating container, to boot!

[Photo by Nicole Weston]

Strangely enough, I always thought that bananas were the ultimate single-serve food. They're conveniently packaged in their own skin and fit easily in your hand. The waste is minimal, not to mention biodegradable, and the fruit is filling and tasty. Chiquita is rolling out a new line of single-serving bananas for convenience stores, presumably to compete with packaged snack foods. Not only will the bananas be retailing at much higher prices than they do at the grocery store, but they will be packaged. A single serving, packaged banana is a concept that is so unnecessary it is difficult to find words to describe it further. Fortunately, only one word is needed: ridiculous.

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