You don't have to give up your favourite treat, just reach for healthy snacks more often

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What do you do when a snack attack hits? Buy a chocolate bar? Make a sandwich? Have some ice cream? It might be time to re-think your snacking habits.

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Snacking can be healthy, as long as you avoid junk food and try to stick to healthier choices, like fresh fruit and vegetables.

"Snacking is a way of life," says dietitian Susan Kastuk-Ridlington, "so we should try to develop healthy snacking habits."

Susan has a B.Sc. In Food Science from McGill University, and is a member of the New Brunswick Association of Dietitians and Dietitians of Canada.

She has been practising for over 25 years, and is the owner of Meals and More, a business which for 12 years has been delivering healthy frozen meals to homes in southeastern New Brunswick.

"Snacking is part of our total nutrition, and you should try to consider the foods that are recommended by the Canada Food Guide," says Susan.

Consider, for instance, fruits and vegetables instead of traditional snacks. At home, have some peeled and sectioned oranges or apples ready to eat in your fridge. Or some washed berries, carrots, or celery or turnip sticks.

Then, when the craving for a snack hits, you can satisfy it right away, without the delay of peeling, slicing and washing. That is, after all, one of the characteristics a snack attack: it has to be right away.

"Fruits and vegetables cut up like this travel well, too," says Susan. "Take some with you on your outings and hikes, as well as a bottle of water."

Cereal and granola bars travel well too, and are generally regarded as being healthy snacks. Susan recommends close examination of product labels, though, to check for sugar, fat, and salt content.

And when you're in the frozen foods aisle at the grocery store, compare labels for that cooling summer snack.

"If you want a frozen snack, compare the sugar and fat contents of ice cream, frozen yogurt and sherbet," Susan suggests.

"Then choose a product you enjoy and eat moderate portion sizes. You can add fruit to make it healthier."

But you're out on a hot day and there's an ice cream stand at the corner. Do you have to pass it by?

"Not necessarily," says Susan, "but buy small portions, and don't let less healthy treats become part of your regular snacking pattern."

So, fruit, vegetables, cereal or granola bars. What else? What about things like milk or cheese?

"Yogurt is good," replies Susan, "and so is cottage cheese. Milk is fine too, especially if it's low in fat, and though chocolate milk has more sugar than regular milk, it does have the same nutrients."

Something that Susan repeatedly comes back to is the importance of reading labels and comparing products.

If reading labels is an exercise in confusion for you, she offers a workshop on that very topic for small groups.

You can set up a workshop for you and your friends by calling her at 536-8102.

She also recommends checking out the Canada Food Guide and dietitians.ca for healthy eating tips and information.

"The goal is to make healthy eating as simple as possible," Susan says, "because then more people will be likely to do it. Healthy snacks are part of healthy eating."