Healthy Snacks

Fruit and Nuts

You want fresh fruit in your home always.  Choose a variety that you enjoy.  Grapefruit and other fruits must be cut up and carried to work or for travel in a plastic container.  Bananas and other fruits come ready-to-eat.  Buy both.   Nuts, both in and out of the shell, are healthy snacks as well.   Limit yourself to a handful a day if you wish not to gain weight.

Low-fat yogurt

Energy Bars

Packaged bars are harmful to your health if you eat them in lieu of fruits and vegetables. They are beneficial as food during travel, for emergency use when circumstances prevent eating more healthful food, or, in certain circumstances, to replace a higher-calorie meal.

When choosing a bar, avoid

• dl-tocopherol
• hydrogenated or partially-hydrogenated oils

Especially if the bar is to replace a meal, look for a bar with

• at least 2 and preferably 3 grams of fiber
• at least 10 grams of protein
• less than 15 grams of sugar
• at least 15% of the calcium RDA

Choose a bar under 250 calories for a weight-losing meal replacement, or 200 calories for a snack.  Lower calorie bars will necessarily have lesser amounts of the above nutrients. 

Books for Help with Diet

A new diet book comes out about once a month, so you're unlikely to find a doctor who has read your favorite.  These are the books recommended by physicians with the most experience treating weight gain.

• The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan
• The Ultimate Weight Solution
• Thin for Life

Reliable Websites

Promising something for nothing is an ancient line of work.  Today the internet provides a wonderful marketplace for that activity.  The following sites do not promise something for nothing.  If you are ready for a real payoff, you can find competent advice here.

Shape Up America! is an advertiser supported online resource that provides realistic solutions.   Count your steps, know your sweeteners, pay attention to your children's health and weight, and much more.

If you don't want to attend one of the many local support groups for people losing weight, you might want to subscribe to CalorieKing.    They provide personalized diet plans, an online food database, calculators, motivational tools, and online group support. 

These free sites let you count calories, do weight calculations, or get help with exercise.

All these sites have met with approval from physicians specializing in weight gain.

7/16/07