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“If you choose snacks wisely, they can become an important part of your diet, for instance, by adding nutrition in the form of extra fibre, protein, fruit and vegetables”

“Fruit and vegetables are the perfect choice for a nutritious snack”

“When you go shopping, look carefully at the food labels that provide nutritional information about the products”

“Try to plan ahead by taking healthy snacks to work or to eat on the go if you’re out and about”

Facts/stats
The maximum recommended daily amount of salt is 6g – less than a teaspoon
(NHS Better Health Healthier Families)

A single cereal bar contains 3 cubes of sugar
(NHS Better Health Healthier Families)

24% of Brits’ daily energy intake comes from snacks
(ZOE PREDICT, 2023)

In the UK, we’re a nation of snackers. While snacking in itself is not bad for you, if you regularly eat unhealthy snacks, this can raise your blood sugar and cholesterol levels as well as your calorie intake. This, in turn, can cause weight gain and increase your risk of developing serious health conditions. It’s fine to have chocolate, crisps and biscuits as occasional treats, but not on a daily basis.

A snack is anything that’s eaten in between your main meals. If you choose snacks wisely, they can become an important part of your diet, for instance, by adding nutrition in the form of extra fibre, protein, fruit and vegetables.

The healthiest and most nutritious snacks are those that have had minimal processing and don’t have lots of different ingredients like added sugar, salt, fat or other additives.

Tips for healthier options

Fruit and vegetables are the perfect choice for a nutritious snack. As fruit, and some vegetables such as carrot and pepper, is naturally sweet, it’s ideal if you normally go for chocolate, biscuits or cake as snacks. Bananas, apples and satsumas are just right if you’re out and about. At home, you can indulge in your favourites such as cucumber sticks or sugar snap peas with low-fat hummus, or a medley of strawberries, melon slices and grapes.

Starchy carbohydrates will help to give you an energy boost, which is perfect if you’re snacking because you’re genuinely hungry. If you choose wholegrain carbohydrates, you’ll be adding extra fibre to your diet too. A crumpet, half a bagel, a Scotch pancake, half an English muffin, plain rice cakes or crackers, or a slice of seeded or wholemeal toast are all healthy options. Add a scraping of low-fat spread, low-fat cheese, jam, honey or marmalade for extra flavour.

Plain unsalted nuts, seeds and dried fruit are also nutritious, and they’re great for when you’re on the go. However, they are high in calories, so a snack should be no more than a small handful. Look carefully at the ingredients before buying nut mixes, and steer clear of any with coconut, banana chips, sugar or oil added. You should also avoid raisins coated in chocolate or yoghurt because they are extremely calorific.

Low-fat dairy products, such as yoghurt, fromage frais, cheese, cottage cheese and soft cheese, can also make great snacks when combined with other foods. Cheese adds extra protein to your diet and makes the perfect topping for crackers, oatcakes, rice cakes and other starchy carbohydrates. Avoid flavoured yoghurts with added sugar or sweeteners, including split-pot varieties. Instead, have natural yoghurt and add your favourite fruit to sweeten it.

Get savvy about food labels

When you go shopping, look carefully at the food labels that provide nutritional information about the products. Some food labels use red, amber and green colour coding to show whether an item is high, medium or low in fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt. This is sometimes called the traffic light system. Try to buy fewer items that are labelled red, and more that are labelled green or amber. You should also look at the calorie content of the packaged food you buy. This is displayed in calories (kcal) per 100g and per portion or slice. Ideally, snacks should be less than 150 calories per portion.

The ingredients list is another important piece of information. It lists everything contained in the product, starting with the ingredient that there’s most of (sometimes shown as a percentage) and finishing with the one that there’s very little of. For instance, if sugar or fat is one of the first ingredients, you’ll know that the product is high in sugar or fat.

Don’t confuse labels that say ‘low fat’ with ‘lower fat’ or ‘reduced fat’ because they mean different things. Anything labelled as low fat has 3% fat per 100g. Lower fat or reduced fat items must have at least 30% less fat than a similar or standard product. You often find these terms on things that are high in fat to begin with, for example, crisps and cheese. That’s why a reduced fat version may still have a high fat content, so you still need to check the labels carefully.

Look out for different names for sugar in lists of ingredients. These are all terms for sugar that can be used on food labels: fructose, maltose, sucrose, glucose, syrup, honey, invert sugar, hydrolysed starch and palm sugar.

Be aware that some products that sound healthy and nutritious are often the opposite. Cereal bars are a good example. If you choose one that contains chocolate, coconut, marshmallows or salted caramel, you could be eating as many calories as there are in a chocolate bar!

6 ways to take control of snacking

1. Try to plan ahead by taking healthy snacks to work or to eat on the go if you’re out and about. This means you’re less likely to be tempted to buy something sweet or high in fat instead. The free NHS Weight Loss app encourages you to plan like this for snacks.
2. If possible, stick to a particular time of day for your snacks, for example, mid-morning and/or mid-afternoon, and try not to have more than two snacks a day. Keep a food diary to make sure you’re not snacking more than this.
3. Aim to have fewer ultra-processed snacks from a packet to avoid the extra saturated fat, sugar and salt, and choose snacks that focus on the food groups instead.
4. Cut back on buying less healthy snacks to avoid temptation at home – if it’s not there, you can’t eat it! Mini bags of crisps and fun-sized packets of sweets and chocolate are a good option for controlling portion sizes.
5. At home, put ready-to-eat healthy options in a visible place so you’re less likely to go for unhealthy snacks. This could include a bowl full of fruit in the middle of the table and carrot or pepper sticks at eye level in the fridge.
6. Try to only have a snack when you’re genuinely hungry. If you know you snack when you’re bored or just out of habit, do something else to distract yourself while the craving passes, for example, talk to a friend, go for a short walk or dance around the kitchen!

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10 healthy snacks

1. Slices of apple spread with peanut butter
2. A hard-boiled egg with mashed avocado
3. Homemade plain popcorn with rosemary or paprika
4. A slice of malt loaf with strawberries
5. Mashed or sliced banana on wholegrain toast
6. A plain scone with your favourite berries
7. Red pepper sticks with a reduced-fat hummus dip
8. A fruit salad of strawberries, passion fruit and mango
9. Oatcakes with low-fat cheese and cherry tomatoes
10. A fruit smoothie made with skimmed/semi-skimmed milk or plant-based alternative