Here are a few healthy snack ideas for you that will satisfy those cravings, but also keep you on track for your weight loss goals:

High Fiber Diet Cookie Recipe

4 cups of oatmeal (not instant or quick cook)
1 can of cannelloni beans (15 oz), drained
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped raisins or dates
½ cup flaked coconut
½ cup chopped walnuts

Place the oatmeal in a blender and blend until the consistency of flour.    Pour into a bowl and set aside.

Place the beans in the blender and blend until smooth.   Stir in the white sugar, brown sugar and vanilla.

Combine the ground oats, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon – blend with the beans.

Stir in the dates or raisins, coconut and walnuts.  Drop heaping spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 325 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.

Source: loseweightandgethealthy.com/2011/04/healthy-snacks-for-weight-loss/

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons light or regular mayonnaise
3 tablespoons fat free sour cream
3 tablespoons Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs (panko crumbs can be substituted)
3 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1 can (6 1/2 ounces) crabmeat (or 1 cup fresh crabmeat), rinsed and drained well
Dash or two Tabasco
Black pepper to taste
18 medium sized mushrooms, stems removed

Preparation:

Preheat slow cooker to high heat.
Meanwhile, in small bowl, combine mayonnaise, fat free sour cream, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and garlic. Fold in the crabmeat. Add Tabasco and black pepper to taste.
Spoon heaping teaspoons full of crab filling into mushroom caps.
Arrange mushroom caps (crab side up) in the bottom of the preheated slow cooker. Add cover and cook on HIGH for about 2 hours. Reduce heat to LOW and serve the crab-stuffed mushrooms from the slow cooker if desired.

Yield:
Makes 9 servings (2 mushrooms per serving)

Nutritional Information:
Per serving: 59 calories, 5 g protein, 4 g carbohydrate, 2.5 g fat, .6 g saturated fat, 16 mg cholesterol, .5 g fiber, 177 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 38 percent.

Source: medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=98067

Spinach Squares

Ingredients:

1 egg
1/4 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup low-fat milk
1 cup unbleached or all-purpose flour (whole wheat can be substituted for half of the flour)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp butter or canola margarine, melted
1/3 cup fat-free or light sour cream
8 oz reduced fat Monterey Jack cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 10-ounce boxes frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained (gently squeeze excess water with hands)

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Coat a 9x9-inch baking dish with canola cooking spray.
2. Beat egg, egg substitute, milk, flour, salt, baking powder, melted butter, and sour cream in mixing bowl on medium-low speed until smooth batter has formed.
3. Stir in cheese cubes and spinach. Pour into prepared pan, spread evenly with spatula, and bake about 35 minutes. Test center to make sure it isn't runny. Let sit about 10 minutes before serving.
4. Cut the spinach squares after they come out of the oven, then keep them refrigerated. Just eat them cold as a snack or warm what you need in the microwave. These are a low-calorie, higher protein snack with only 17 grams of carbohydrate per serving.

Yield:
9 side servings or snacks

Nutritional Information:
Per serving: 188 calories, 12.5 g protein, 17 g carbohydrate, 8 g fat (4.5 g saturated fat), 45 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber, 525 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 38%.

Source: medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=59552

There’s a good reason why those initially added college weight-gain pounds are referred to as the freshman fifteen.  Everybody identifies with it.  In my case, it was more than fifteen, too.  I remember being so excited with my new wardrobe when my first year of college started, but by homecoming in late October, my pants were getting tight and my mid section was beginning to resemble a small inner tube.  You know what I’m talking about ladies; the infamous muffin top.  And this was in a traditional university where I always had access to healthy cafeteria selections, too.  For people getting an online degree it’s really important to make good food choices, because what’s in your kitchen is going to be your only study break food option.

Don’t Have Things Handy That Are Bad For You

Fortunately, I got things under control by making sure that I paid attention to getting good exercise and changing my diet.  The biggest trick for me was being really strict about my shopping habits.  You can’t pig out on items that aren’t in your kitchen.  Just not having a large bag of potato chips available is half the battle.  So, step one for healthy study break recipes has to be making very thorough grocery lists and then sticking to them when you’re in the store.

Cut Down on Salad Dressing

One of the first things I did was cut out salad dressing altogether.  I had been eating a lot of salads and thought I was eating healthy.  But when I started looking at the labels on my favorites—bleu cheese and ranch—I was shocked at the amount of calories I had been slathering on my salads.  One of my classmates used lime juice as a salad dressing and I found the idea a little revolting, at first.  But the more I used lime juice in place of salad dressing though, the more I liked it, until I actually began to crave the refreshing citrus tang.

Actually Read Food Labels

It’s really easy to think that you’re eating appropriately sized food portions.  But if you’re not paying attention to food labels, it can be difficult to know what your daily calorie consumption is.  Don’t get me wrong, you shouldn’t be obsessing about caloric intake, but getting an idea of what your average caloric intake ought to look like and what different foods actually contain calorie-wise can help you trim unwanted empty calories.  The math is pretty easy really.  If you consume more calories than you use in a day, your body adds it in fat weight.  If you burn more calories than you consume, you’ll lose some weight.

Avoid Prepared Foods in the Center of the Supermarket

Obviously it’s okay to indulge in your favorite guilty food pleasure occasionally.  But it should be the exception rather than the rule.  It should be a treat, not a lifestyle.  A great way to do this, along with your carefully prepared grocery list, is to stick to the safe zone of the groceries perimeter.  Almost every supermarket has the same layout.  All of the fresh fruit and vegetables are typically among the first things you encounter on the outermost lap of the store.  Next comes the dairy section with milk and soy milk options.  Eggs can typically be found here as well.  Then, the deli section, where you’ll want to be careful.  Past the deli section you can find lean meats.  If you make the majority of your grocery purchases from the outer perimeter of the grocery, you’ll be eating fewer empty calories and trimming those freshman-fifteen in a hurry.

This has been another guest post by J.S.. Visit her website: online degree

With that in mind, I have recently started experimenting with a new vegetable I found called Moringa. Moringa is a plant that has many different nutritional properties and can be prepared in a multitude of ways. Almost every part of the Moringa tree can be eaten, from the bark to the pods, leaves and flowers—and each part of the plant provides all the essential amino acids and many vitamins.

Moringa leaves have more vitamin A than carrots and more calcium than milk (though some of the calcium is in the form of calcium oxalate crystals, which isn’t available to the human body). The leaves are often used to replace spinach in recipes, and it’s no wonder why, because Moringa leaves have more iron than spinach itself does. The leaves of the plant contain more potassium than bananas and more vitamin C than oranges, and the protein level in the Moringa plant is equal to that of milk and eggs.

It’s more common in places like India, where people eat every part of the plant, similar to how Native Americans would eat the entire buffalo. It’s becoming more popular in the United States though, and there are many great recipes that include this super food. Here are a couple different ways to use Moringa as a healthy snack.

The leaves are often used like spinach, but they can also be dried and crushed, creating a type of powder that can be used on top of salads or in soups, sauces and dips. The pods (usually called drumsticks) can be prepared like green beans—but they taste more like asparagus.

One of the easiest snacks though is to take out the seeds from the pods and eat them like you would nuts. Once the seeds are dried, you can roast them, or you can sauté them or eat them raw. If you roast them, they’ll last a lot longer and you can snack on them for some time.

A healthy morning snack is to put about 2-4 teaspoons of Moringa powder in your smoothie. The taste blends really well with berry smoothies (think strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries) rather than with fruits like apricots or oranges.

For a little bit more inspiration, try out these steamed Moringa muffins, where you can either dry out your own leaves to crush into powder, or simply buy the powder itself. The muffins will turn out a bright, vivid green, which is great for enticing kids to be more healthy, plus, who can resist healthy muffins?

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup powdered milk (skim, if you want to be more healthy)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons Moringa powder
• 2 eggs
• 2 ¼ cups water
• 2 tablespoons vanilla

Directions:

Mix all the dry ingredients before adding in the wet ingredients. Mix until there aren’t any lumps. Pour mixture into a muffin tin, filling the molds ¾ full. Steam (not bake) inside a steamer for 10-12 minutes.

When you find yourself reaching for a snack, keep Moringa in mind as a healthy alternative to store-bought, packaged foods.

Today's post is from guest blogger Myln from, weightlosshelpandtips.net.

Interval snacking is the key to long lasting weight loss. As weird as this may sound it is proven that if you want to lose weight and keep it off you need to adopt an eating pattern consisting of 6 small meals throughout the day instead of the traditional 3 big meals. In order to lose a pound of weight or fat you need to create a calorie deficit between the amount of calories your consume and the amount of calories you spend on physical activities. The best way to achieve this without creating problems to the normal body functioning is by eating less calories during your meals and more meals throughout the day, and this is where interval snacking has a key role.

Interval snacking helps you lose more fat because it challenges the body in a similar way as interval training. Rather than delivering the same amount of calories at the same set times each day, it asks you to shift your intake based on your exercise output. Also, it helps elevate your metabolism, and thus burn fat, by offering similar-sized meals at several points during the day. This will eventually pass a signal to your body to generate heat – rather than eating two massive meals, such as lunch and dinner, which prompt body at storage.

GET SNACKING

Snacking can be the difference between five and six. No, not dress sizes, but the number of times you eat each day. The core of the interval-eating diet still revolves around the meal structure, but these meals are balanced in calories and healthy nutrients to assist lean muscle formation and fat loss. Add a mid-morning snack such as an apple and peanut butter or plain yogurt with berries. On the days that you do exercise, make sure you chase each workout session with a snack, such as a protein-and-fruit shake. These meals and snacks, as long as they’re low-glycemic and rich with nutrients will help you burn off more fat.

GET YOUR METABOLISM GOING

Never cut down your calorie intake too fast because that causes the body to think it’s starving and, for a while, it will not let body weight drop. So, if you want to lose weight healthily, never even try thinking of skipping a meal because it will not only help you lose weight, it is also dangerous to your health. Also, consider eating a healthy breakfast because it is one of the best ways to jump-start your metabolism and get the system going.

Weight comes down in stair steps. There are periods when the body is adjusting to lower calories or more exercise, but if you truly stick to the lower calories (on off days) or burn more calories than you take in, it will lower you to the next step. Fat loss plateaus will still occur, but by sticking to your food-and-exercise plan, your body-fat percentage will eventually drop down another notch.

Consider interval snacking the wake-up call your body will learn to love for healthy weight loss.

Contrary to popular belief, snacking is actually very beneficial. It helps to refuel your body, maintain blood sugar and energy levels and control your appetite.

Healthy snacking will help your body get the nutrients it needs and help you avoid overeating at meal times.

Indulge in these guilt-free snacks. Remember we encourage an anti-inflammatory, low-glycemic, paleo-style diet for weight loss and wellness. A body must get healthy before it can lose weight.

1. Fruit and Yogurt Parfait.Organic plain yogurt is best. Yogurts with added flavors are higher in sugar. Instead, flavor your yogurt with fruit. Blueberries are an excellent choice as they have a lower glycemic content that will help balance blood glucose and insulin levels.

2. Romaine Lettuce Wrap With Organic Turkey and a Slice of Raw-Milk or Skim Mozzarella Cheese.

Romaine lettuce contains the highest nutritional and fiber content of all lettuce. Turkey is 94% protein which helps you to lose weight by boosting your metabolism and decreasing hunger. Adding raw milk grass-fed cheese not only adds flavor but also adds calcium without any harmful hormones or preservatives. A great source for grass-fed wild meat, game and poultry is at U.S. Wellness Meats.

3. Veggie Sticks With Cottage Cheese Dip. Non-starchy vegetables contain almost eight times the amount of fiber found in whole grains. Fiber is essential for a healthy digestive system. Fat-free organic cottage cheese makes an excellent low calorie snack.

4. Shrimp Cocktail Shrimp is 90% protein. Try dipping it in some cocktail sauce for a low calorie, high protein snack.

5. A Handful of Nuts. Walnuts are the best choice as they're rich in protein and fiber but they also contain a high dose of omega 3 fatty acids (good fats) as compared to other nuts. Healthy fats help lower your risk of disease. Omega-3s are anti-inflammatory, meaning they help prevent inflammatory diseases such as stroke or heart disease. People who are overweight are actually suffering from an inflammatory condition.

6. Celery Sticks and Almond Butter. This is a great combination of protein, monounsaturated fat and energy. Almond butter is a healthier alternative to peanut butter as it contains no added ingredients or preservatives and better fats. (peanuts are a legume not a nut)

7. Deviled Eggs. Eggs are very high in protein which makes them a great snack. My Guacamole Deviled Eggs are a great high-protein healthy snack with good fats.

8. Herring Wraps. Buy a few tinned containers in a few different flavored sauces such as tomato or tangy mustard, herring fillets are high in omega 3 fish oils. Don't but if they are in soybean oil. Try wrapping them in a few leaves of romaine lettuce.

9. Banana Nut Pop. Dip a banana in plain organic yogurt and roll in walnuts or coconut. Freeze. Yummy!

Bananas are a great source of fiber and potassium. They do have a high sugar content so eat in moderation. Coconuts have anti-microbial, anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties and are one of the best sources in the world for MCFA (medium-chain triglyceride fatty acids)

10. Lemon Tuna Avocado Snack. Halve an avocado and scoop out the flesh. Mix with lemon juice and tuna. Serve in the shells. Good protein, good fat.

Avocado's are high in monounsaturated fat and potassium. Tuna is a great source of protein, omega-3 fatty acid and is very nutrient-dense. Protein builds muscle which in turn burns more calories to help you lose weight.

And here's your BONUS snack idea....

*Smoked salmon.

Don't get salmon that's been smothered in brown sugar. Salmon is one of the best sources of protein and healthy fats on earth. Always try to buy wild-caught and not farmed raised (fed grains). http://denverchiropractor.com Dr. Ron Spallone, D.C is a health and wellness expert who practices Ortho-Molecular Medicine, chiropractic and natural sports medicine. He writes around the web. He strives to help people achieve new results with the latest in all-natural science.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?10-Healthy-Snacks-For-Weight-Loss-and-Wellness&id=2347835 10 Healthy Snacks For Weight Loss and Wellness

When you get an attack of the munchies it seems like the attraction of the cookie jar or that bag of chips seems incredibly strong, right? What if there is no one around to see you 'cheat' and grab some junk food. Comfort food seems to hold a power over us sometimes and the hungrier you get the less power you have to resist it.

If you are on a new diet or just starting a weight training regimen, your appetite will skyrocket in the beginning sending you foraging in the cabinets to satisfy that ravenous hunger that comes after a strenuous workout.

One strategy is to avoid buying those naughty 'trigger' foods that often send you on a downward spiral. If those forbidden foods are in your house eventually you will eat them. You might be able to exert your will power initially, but you will give in eventually as most of us will. So, what's the alternative? How do we keep from slipping back to this destructive behavior that only ends up adding to our hips and thighs?

A smart solution is to replace those unhealthy snack foods in your house with healthy snack alternatives. But what do those healthy snacks taste like?

Well, Carolyn Hansen, the author of 100 Healthy Raw Snacks And Treats, knows all about this problem. She was determined to find snack recipes that did not include the usual ingredients: sugar, flour, butter, and she has replaced these with healthy substitutes that she could live with as a bodybuilder looking to maintain a healthy diet during her preparations for physique contests. That was some years ago now, and today she is making the recipes she came up with during that period available to anyone who could benefit from being able to grab low-calorie snacks on the run that also taste great.

If you could take a look at some of the pictures of the snacks and treats that she has come up with you would not hesitate to volunteer to be a taste tester in her kitchen. Carolyn shares how you can make cheesecake alternatives that use no dairy but look and taste just as delicious? This is just one of the recipe types that fill her book.

For more information on this mouth-watering topic I recommend you go to her site at 100 Healthy Raw Snacks and Treats, and quickly grab yourself a copy of her recipe book and put your blender to work. Do you know the nice thing about Carolyn's recipes? You don't even need a stove to prepare them - these are all no cook recipes made from natural ingredients that can go right into your mouth! How convenient is that? Healthy snacks that are easy to prepare.

Please welcome guest blogger, Chris, from the http://www.howtoloseweighthealthy.com blog.

Many people have the misconception that to lose weight you need to completely cut down on snacks. This is wrong and misleading because not all snacks are harmful to your weight loss efforts and health. There are various snacks that are healthy, tasty and can help you lose weight at the same time.

One of the secrets of weight loss is eating smaller meals every 3-4 hours instead of the classic three main meals. By doing so you will gradually increase your metabolism, you will consume fewer calories, you avoid hunger, you stabilize blood sugar and the digestion process becomes easier and more efficient.

So eating snacks throughout the day can help you lose weight, the problem is eating the right type of snacks and the proper quantities.

What are Healthy Snacks?

Usually when we think of snacks our mind goes to sweets and other items that are high in fat, sugars and calories. This type of snacks certainly cannot help you save pounds; on the contrary regular consumption of these will increase your weight and may cause other problems to your health. The type of snacks you should eat is the healthy ones. These have the following characteristics:

The best way to avoid unhealthy snacks is to get rid of them. Examine your kitchen cupboards and refrigerator and throw away anything that does not meet the above criteria and make sure the next time you go to the grocery store to fill your refrigerator with different fruits and vegetables and other healthy snacks

As mentioned above the quantity of snacks you eat is also important. Healthy snacks can help you lose weight if you eat them at moderate quantities. If you eat large quantities of healthy snacks then the results will be the opposite. As a rule of thumb each snack meal should be between 150-200 calories. For example: an apple and low fat yogurt or a handful of nuts hazelnuts. Examine the food labels and find out the calories of each snack and plan your meals accordingly.

Finally some easy tips to follow for easy snacking:

Happy healthy snacking!

Please come and become a 'fan' of the healthy snack blog on Facebook. I just finished setting up the page and it's looking quite bare at first. I am cooking up a contest to create a bit of an incentive, so toss out any ideas you can think of that I can use to entice people to join us--aside from the fact that they will be getting lots of fabulous information about healthy snacking!

crackers, cheese, grapes

Having a good variety of healthy snack options available at home, at work and on the go helps to keep you from getting too hungry. When you go too many hours between meals your blood sugar drops and your metabolism begins to slow down. At your next opportunity to eat you may then feel the urge to over-eat because you are so hungry.

Giving your body a steady quantity of high-quality fuel helps to keep your blood sugar on a much more even keel, and it can keep you from over-eating.

You should always choose snacks that will support your healthy living goals. Make it a habit to factor snack
supplies in to your grocery shopping trips. When you are calculating your daily calories if you are on a weight
management routine, always remember to include a healthy snack and you will never be hungry and more likely to stick with your diet.

If you have a safe place to keep your snacks at work, be sure to keep a good supply on hand so that you will not be tempted to make unhealthy choices when you get hungry in the mid-afternoon. When we travel it's not always easy to find healthy snack options. Roadside convenience stores are filled with chips and candies and sugary sodas, but you do not have to be at the mercy of these stores. Take the time to plan ahead and pack some convenient snacks in your travel bags. A great side benefit to this practice is that you can save money by not purchasing those expensive, unhealthy snacks.

Here are a few simple, healthy snack ideas that you can keep on hand:

• Cut-up vegetables (fat-free dressing for dip)
• Fresh fruit
• 1 oz. low-fat cheeze with whole/multi grain crackers
• Handful of mixed nuts
• Low-fat or fat-free yogurt sprinkled with Flax seed or fresh fruit

Eating healthy snacks in between your regular meals can be a good way to keep you on track with your weight loss or weight maintenance plan. They can rescue you from the temptation to satisfy those mid-afternoon munchies with sugary, salty or fattening snacks that you will surely regret later.

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Edamame

I must confess that I have a teensy bit of an addiction to this simple little snack. How much easier can a snack be to prepare? Steam them, sprinkle with coarse sea salt and enjoy. They make a great, light appetizer, too, and they make a simple, lovely presentation.

Edamame is just green soybeans. They are grown in China and frozen. You can purchase them either in the pod, or out of the pod. For some reason, popping them out of the pod makes them fun to eat, but that's just me.

Edamame

1 package frozen edamame pods

sea salt

Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add edamame pods and steam for 4-5 minutes. Drain and sprinkle with sea salt. Serve warm or chilled.