Snacks and Dashboard Dining

You grab a cinnamon roll for the morning commute, chips from a vending machine for the mid-afternoon slump, a few cookies before bed . . . and you may have consumed more calories from "snacks" than from the day's meals.

To avoid this diet downfall, and still satisfy your hunger between meals and on the go, try some of the foods listed below. Include protein for a snack that will carry you through until the next meal.

Quick Nutritious Snacks

Breakfast cereal, dry or with milk and fruit. Try low sugar, multigrain kinds. Keep single serving boxes on hand.
No-sugar-added applesauce, sliced peaches in their own juice, and other single serving fruits.
Fresh fruit, such as pears, apples, oranges, nectarines, peaches, kiwi, grapes, strawberries, and bananas.
Mixed nuts and a single serving can of tomato juice.
Dried apricots, apples, nectarines, etcetera. Keep portions modest to control calories as dried fruits can be high in sugar.
Low-fat milk and a homemade or store-bought low-fat, whole grain muffin. Keep frozen and microwave muffin briefly before eating. Avoid jumbo-sized muffins.
Popcorn (2-1/2 cups) with margarine (1-1/2 teaspoons)
Turkey ham (1 oz.) and soft bread sticks with spaghetti sauce (2 tbs.)
Saltine crackers (4) and part-skim Mozzarella cheese (1 oz.)
A turkey kabob: turkey & cheese cubes (.5 oz. each) with pretzel sticks and low-fat milk (8 oz.).
Packaged, ready-to-eat vegetables such as baby carrots, broccoli florets, and cauliflower pieces with a low-fat dip (2 tbs.)
Chopped vegetables from your own kitchen such as red and green bell peppers, jicama, carrot and celery sticks, snow peas, button mushrooms, and/or broccoli with non-fat ranch dressing.
Boost the nutritional value of any snack with single-serving beverages such as canned or boxed fruit juices (look for 100% juice), and boxed low-fat milk.

Hearty Dashboard Dining

For safety reasons, a driver should never eat while operating a car, but if your passengers are running late in the morning or need a quick dinner on the way to soccer practice, they may want a hearty meal for the ride.

You could pull through a popular fast food restaurant for the 690-calorie steak, egg, and cheese bagel containing 39 grams of fat—but they may enjoy one of the balanced, portable meals described below. Include fruit, vegetables, or 100% fruit juices for their cancer-fighting nutrients.

Fill a baggie with dry cereal, dry roasted peanuts, and raisins. Take along boxed low-fat milk and orange juice. A handful of raisins and 6 oz. of juice provide two servings of fruit—a good start toward the goal of at least five fruits or veggies a day.
Toast whole-grain bread for a sandwich of natural peanut butter and fruit-sweetened jelly. Bring a calcium-fortified orange juice box.
Try a hard-boiled egg, mini-bagel, banana, and a juice box.
Experiment with variations on cheese and crackers: whole-grain, saltine, or reduced-fat crackers with part-skim string cheese, an apple, and bottled water.
Boost your calcium and protein with convenience products like "go-gurt" yogurt in a tube, drinkable yogurt, lunch sized milk cartons, and regular single-serving yogurt (you'll need a spoon).
Fill pita bread with fat-free tuna salad, fresh spinach or romaine lettuce; take along a milk box and a couple fig-filled cookies.
Make a dinner wrap using a low-fat tortilla. Fill with low-fat deli meats and cheeses, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, sprouts, roasted red peppers, black beans, garbanzo beans, and/or leftover grilled chicken. To flavor and hold a vegetarian wrap together, thinly spread low-fat cream cheese or hummus on the tortilla, or add a small amount of low-fat ranch or blue-cheese salad dressing.

Revised 10/2/2006