h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have to say that as far as healthy snacks go, dried fruit is up there with the best of them.

Dried Mango, prunes, and apricots are the faves ... particularly the mango ... it's sweet but not sugary and just makes you go ooh ...

Dried banana should be avoided at all costs and dried pineapple was a working model for satans celery fields ...

Beyond that, fruit in general is never lost on me ... anything that doesn't require peeling or throwing away is always a bonus which narrows the list somewhat but then apple cores are I'm sure the best part of the apple and there's always kumquats ...

I'm a huge dried fruit fan. Among my favourites are little snack bags of tropical fruit with shavings of coconut. They're so yummy it's like eating a bag of sweets. Also dried bananas (not banana chips) are divine. Actually, I'm not sure if any of these are actually healthy, but they're not chocolate so, in my mind, they're practically calorie free

My definition of healthy is "Not Chocolate" ... having said that put Organic infront of the word chocolate and it's just got to be good for you!

I always feel very virtuous when I eat organic chocolate

Technically, fruit has sugar in it, and sugars are molecules with a lot of stored energy in them, so they do indeed have calories... but calories are just a measurement of energy, and it's important to get energy from your food. Relative to some other things, fruit is a pretty healthy way to get calories.

My family have always eaten dried fruit as a snack and I used to make my own mixture up for the children that included sunflower, sesame and pumpkin seeds.

However, don't forget that when one eats too much dried fruit, one's "nether regions" start producing embarrassing rumbling sounds followed by rather fruity farts!

I've read that it is inadvisable to give children too much dried fruit or roughage in their diet because it means that their bodies don't get time to absorb nutrients from food.

Roughage is good for kids (and everyone else) because it is fibre and that is good for the bowel. It does cause a bit of flatulence but that goes away if you keep on eating fruit etc. The longer food stays in your digestive system the more nutrients you absorb and the less that food is processed the longer it will stay in there.

Naturally roughage and fresh fruit is good for people (including my own children who eat fresh fruit regularly) but too much roughage, especially in the form of DRIED fruit is not supposed to be good for children or their parents, who end up having to clean the toilet bowl and seat!

I speak from a recent personal experience here, as my autistic son asked my hubby to give him a bowl of raisins without telling him that I had already given him one helping. Dried fruit is now strictly rationed in our house!

Dried fruit is great for you for all the reasons above. It's important to remember though that it does contain concentrated levels of sugar, and sugar can be stored as fat, and can contribute to tooth decay.

Chocolate can be good for you, and the quality stuff contains antioxidants. The possible negative with chocolate is its oxalic acid content, is believed to render any calcium in the digestive tract at the time useless to the body.

The idea with the seeds is a great one. Sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds especially have amazing stuff in them.

I think that the secret here is moderation and balance. You've got to balance snacks with stuff that is good for you, but the emotional and happiness benefits of having something that you are going to genuinely enjoy shoudn't be discounted.

F-Reek.