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A snack is a portion of food, often smaller than a regular meal, generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home.

Traditionally, snacks are prepared from ingredients commonly available in the home. Often cold cuts, fruit, leftovers, nuts, sandwiches, and the like are used as snacks. The Dagwood sandwich was originally the humorous result of a cartoon character's desire for large snacks. With the spread of convenience stores, packaged snack foods became a significant business. Snack foods are typically designed to be portable, quick, and satisfying. Processed snack foods, as one form of convenience food, are designed to be less perishable, more durable, and more portable than prepared foods. They often contain substantial amounts of sweeteners, preservatives, and appealing ingredients such as chocolate, peanuts, and specially-designed flavors (such as flavored potato chips).

Beverages, such as coffee, are not generally considered snacks though they may be consumed along with or in lieu of snack foods.

A snack eaten shortly before going to bed or during the night may be called a midnight snack.

Healthy Cookies That Taste Great: Nana’s Cookies and Cookie Bars

Category: Healthy Snack Ideas

nana'sMy husband used to laugh at me for buying healthy cookies. “The whole point of eating cookies is to indulge,” he’d say. “They’re supposed to be rich and buttery.”

Then he tried a Nana’s chocolate chip cookie.

I shouldn’t say he tried one. He ate the whole cookie—my cookie, the one that I was just about to put in my mouth. I wasn’t very pleased.

“I thought you don’t like healthy cookies,” I said.

“These are good!” he replied. “Wow, I can’t believe how healthy these are for you,” he said over and over, reading the back panel.

 

Yes, they are good for you. The Original Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies (the flavor he was enjoying) have very healthy ingredients, including whole wheat flour, rolled oats, fruit juice, rice dextrin, non-gmo expeller pressed canola oil, chocolate chips, walnuts, non-aluminum baking powder, natural flavoring, and sea salt. And they have a great, chewy, sweet, crumbly, natural flavor and texture. They don’t taste too dry, fake, grainy, or overly sweet, as some healthy cookies do. The one downside is that they’re very caloric (the chocolate-chip ones have 210 calories and 9 grams fat for only half of a cookie), so eat 1/2 a cookie for a light snack, or eat the whole thing when you need a more substantial snack. They do satisfy your hunger, and they come in great flavors besides chocolate chip, such as oatmeal raisin, sunflower (another one of my favorites), peanut butter, cranberry orange, coconut chip, ginger, and double chocolate. They also have wheat-free and gluten-free cookie varieties.

 

cookiebars

If you’re looking for a lighter snack, Nana’s does make smaller treats—cookie bars and cookie bites that come individually wrapped five in a box (the Chocolate Chippy Bar has 130 calories for whole thing; the Chocolate Chip Bites have 120 calories). These are good for a little dessert but aren’t as filling if you need a substantial snack.

Nana’s also makes special omega-fiber cookie bars; I sometimes eat the apple harvest ones when I need a quick breakfast; they’re surprisingly filling for only 120 calories and 4 grams of fat. And they have a great apple and oat taste. They’re made with a very nutritious fiber mix that includes whole wheat flour, oats, wheat bran, psyllium, flax seed, millet, chicory root, fruit juice, and real dried fruit, no unhealthy oils or artificial flavors.

I do like fattening cookies once in a while, but it’s good to know that I can indulge my cookie craving more often without guilt thanks to Nana’s!

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