Smart snack strategies

If you're trying to improve your diet, between-meal snacks can either help or hinder your efforts. Several simple strategies can keep you on track, whether you're trying to manage diabetes, ward off heart disease, or lose weight.

Perhaps the most important tip is to upgrade the quality of your snack choices. "Many people favor starchy snacks, such as chips and bread," says Marc O'Meara, a dietitian at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital. Many of the veggie chips people believe are healthy are just potato chips with vegetable powder added for flavor and color, he notes.

Better balance

You're better off choosing more nutritious carbohydrate-based foods, such as fruit or whole-grain crackers, and to balance them with a little bit of protein or healthy fat. Doing so will release the carbohydrate into your bloodstream slowly over a longer time. That gives your body more time to burn the calories, and you're also more likely to feel full and satisfied until your next meal.

When you eat low-quality carbs like candy or potato chips, you're often hungry again within an hour (see "The sugar cycle"). You then end up eating even more calories, which are then stored as fat, foiling your attempts to lose weight and control your blood sugar, O'Meara explains.

Snacks can help you get the recommended four to five servings of fruits and vegetables daily, a goal most Americans don't meet. But instead of having a whole apple or banana, have just half, and pair it with a small handful of nuts, such as unsalted almonds or peanuts (for other ideas, see "Healthy snack suggestions"). If you need a portable snack, all-natural bars made with dried fruit, nuts, and dark chocolate can be a good option. Look for brands made with whole foods, not highly processed products.

Hunger — or habit?

By curbing hunger between meals, snacks may help prevent overeating during meals. When people get too hungry before dinner, they're often tempted to get quick but high-calorie take-out meals instead of spending the time to cook a healthy, homemade meal, says O'Meara.

But sometimes, people snack out of habit rather than hunger, he says. For instance, maybe you treat yourself to a cookie every day at 3 p.m. But there are probably days you aren't actually hungry, because you had a filling lunch or skipped your workout. "Before you grab a snack, ask yourself, 'am I really hungry, or am I just following a routine?'" says O'Meara.

Many people snack after dinner. But if you eat a well-balanced dinner around 6 or 7 p.m., it takes about four hours for your body to digest that food. That means you shouldn't be hungry again before you go to bed at 10 or 11 p.m.

Mindless snacking while watching television is very common, so try to watch less. Enjoy your favorite show, but once it's over, stop. Don't stay on the couch or your favorite chair — move to another part of your house that's far away from the kitchen. Do another activity, such as reading or a hobby, during which you won't be tempted to nosh, O'Meara says.

Another trick he recommends that you can use any time of the day is to sip a hot beverage instead of having a snack. "A mug of herbal tea or decaf coffee fills you up and blunts your appetite," says O'Meara. This practice may even encourage weight loss, according to some research.

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