Which are healthiest sweets and snacks? You may be surprised

Which are healthiest sweets and snacks? You may be surprised

Which sweets and snacks are healthy options?

ARE you craving some sweets and snacks or want to make sure you give your kids the healthiest options? Read on, we think you’ll be surprised about which the healthiest sweets are.

Healthy:

Choose peanuts, for protein and fibre – such as peanut M&M’s, Snickers, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

Sugar-free gum, mints and boiled sweets.

Licorice

Unhealthy:

Steer away from Smarties, which have no nutritional value; Gummy Bears and Jelly Beans, which are basically just sugar. If you do enjoy them, go for the sugar free varieties.

Where possible, choose dried fruits as a sweet snack instead, such as cranberries, raisins, banana, apricots, apple, pear, pineapple. Nowadays, there are so many options to choose from that it’s easy to find something you enjoy and now you know which are the healthiest sweets and snacks.

If you’re dieting

Dieting is hard, and being successful in your diet can depend a lot on your daily routine.

If you’re sitting at a computer all day, especially working from home, it can be easy to start snacking between meals.

Here are a few options to make this habit healthier:

Nuts: very filling, they can also help to reduce the risk of heart disease and depression.

Guacamole, hummus or cream cheese: they can be enjoyed with healthy crudités such as red pepper, carrot, celery, cucumber, etc.

Greek yoghurt: a great source of calcium, add berries to make it tastier.

Apples: high in fibre, they can be eaten on their own or with peanut butter.

Cottage cheese: full of protein and filling, it’s great to eat with health flat breads or crackers.

Dark chocolate: can help blood pressure and heart disease.

Cherry tomatoes: full of vitamin C.

How many peanuts can cause a reaction?

A new study has attempted to discover how much peanut protein is needed to cause an allergic reaction in people who do not have a severe allergy

The study, by Dr. Lynne Haber, senior toxicologist at the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine, published in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology, showed that the ‘trigger dose’, that is the amount of peanut protein that causes a reaction in a percentage of peanut- sensitive patients.

Some 481 patients were given increasingly large doses of peanut protein, in a controlled manner, until they had an allergic reaction.

The trigger dose in one per cent of patients was 0.052 milligrams of peanut protein, about the weight of a single grain of salt.

The dose that caused the reaction in five per cent of the patients was 0.49 milligrams, the equivalent to the weight of a grain of sugar.

Author badge placeholder
Written by

Jennifer Leighfield

Jennifer Leighfield, born in Salisbury, UK; resident in Malaga, Spain since 1989. Degree in Translation and Interpreting in Spanish, French and English from Malaga University (2005), specialising in Crime, Forensic Medicine and Genetics. Published translations include three books by Richard Handscombe. Worked with Euro Weekly News since November 2006. Well-travelled throughout Spain and the rest of the world, fan of Harry Potter and most things ‘geek’.

Comments