Ditch the Processed Snacks and Snack Healthy

By Ian Lee, Health Castle

February is National Snack Foods Month. However, many of the items we think of as traditional snack foods are highly processed and loaded with sodium and fat and are bad choices for a healthy diet, especially for kids. 

According to dietitian Gloria Tsang, author of the new book Go UnDiet: 50 Small Actions for Lasting Weight Loss and founder of nutrition network HealthCastle, highly processed snack foods are a key cause of our growing obesity epidemic—even those that claim to be diet-friendly, low in sugar or fat-free.

"Snack foods have been engineered to the point that they no longer resemble real food," Tsang said in a press release. "Then the packages are covered in claims to make them sound healthy and diet-friendly. But wolfing down a product full of artificial ingredients tends to leave you feeling unsatisfied, and leads you to actually consume much more."

Tsang said highly processed foods are "the weakest link" in any eating plan but argues that some processed foods are much worse than others. Here's her five-second scan for spotting the worst offenders when you're looking for quick snacking products, from herbook Go UnDiet.

• Un-cartoon: Avoid snack products that feature colorful characters and cartoons on the packaging. These tend to be jam-packed with sugar. 
• Un-fat-free: Avoid products with "fat-free" claims. Their fat has been replaced with thickeners and other artificial ingredients to simulate the texture of the real thing.
• Un-panel: Don't fall into the trap of relying on the Nutrition Facts panel alone to find the best snacks. Also look for an ingredients list that's not too long and includes ingredients you can actually pronounce. 

Of course, the simplest way to ensure healthy snacking is to keep fresh or dried fruit on hand; reaching for an apple or handful of raisins is a surefire way to avoid highly processed snacks.

Go UnDiet is available in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kindle and iBooks.