Healthy Snacks Under 200 Calories [Made Easy!]

It’s 3pm and hunger strikes. What now??

Whether you are trying to lose weight, stay healthy or another reason altogether, snacking poses challenges. It can be even harder if you’re away from home, at the office or in an unfamiliar location. FEAR NOT! Simpl Snacks machines do feature healthy snack options (many under 200 calories). Learn more below on why you can aim at 200 calories for a snack and how healthy snacks under 200 calories can play an important role in your overall diet and health. Finally, we’ll discuss what are some filling options when you are on the go and come across a Simpl Snacks vending machine.

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Healthy Snacks Under 200 Calories — Why does 200 calories matter?

Weight gain happens slowly, then all at once. The same can be said for weight loss too. The thing that both of these have in common is calories and how many you are eating in a day. Now, you’ve probably heard that the average daily calories you need is ~2,000 calories per day. In reality, the daily calories that YOU need are likely different from what I need and from what 10 other people will need in a day.

We use ~2,000 calories per day as a “guess-timate”. And, it is good for sizing how much you should eat for meals and snacks. If you eat 3 meals and 2 snacks per day — 400 calories for breakfast, 600 for lunch and 600 calories for dinner — that leaves ~400 calories for you to eat in the form of snacks. A 200 calorie snack likely won’t replace a meal — that’s ok! It can be useful to keep you on track and within your daily calorie budget. Check out FeastGood’s post from a nutrition coach to explain more about 200 calories.

Don’t fear! Snacking serves a purpose

That’s right — if you think about snacks as a bridge between meals, then snacking holds benefits. Don’t take our word for it though. Harvard’s School of Public Health discusses the pros and cons of snacking (check out Harvard’s post on the science of snacking). On the one hand, snacking prevents your appetite and hunger from getting out of control. This keeps you from overeating when it is time for a meal. ASSUMING the snack isn’t a splurge! Snacking on a 200 calorie treat falls in the sweet spot that Harvard recommends (150-250 calories). An energy boost when you’re feeling sluggish sometimes might be exactly what you need to get through your afternoon at school or power through a gym workout.

What makes a snack healthy? Nutritional requirements you should consider

While we are talking a lot about the size of the snack (since this is an article about healthy snacks under 200 calories), that’s not the only consideration you should make when picking a snack. Macronutrients, sodium, fat… These are all important nutrition considerations that factor in. However, deciphering nutritional labels is beyond the scope of this post. What we can do though is give you some pointers in terms of what parts to focus on when looking at nutrition labels.

• Protein content. Protein might be useful to give you a longer-acting energy boost. And protein is always great for building muscle! Healthy snacks under 200 calories that have protein are probably going to fall under the category of nuts or trail mix.
• Fiber. Again, something that might help you feel more full. A good option in our machines will be Kind Bars. The almond, dark chocolate and sea salt variety offer 7g of fiber per bar. Check out their site for more nutritional information.
• Fat. Put this in the something to avoid category. Probably self-explanatory.
• Sodium. All snackers should try to avoid excess sodium intake. Although we totally get it that sometimes a bag of Lay’s chips just hits the spot! If you’re looking for healthy snack options under 200 calories then try to aim at lower sodium snacks. Perhaps Veggie Straws is another option.