Making healthy food choices and controlling portions are difficult when you are starving. However, when you eat healthy snacks, they actually prevent you from overeating and may help with weight management. Snacks also help you get essential nutrients in your diet. Even the new MyPlate guidelines recommend eating healthy snacks.

Here is some important advice on choosing healthy snacks from Fit Sugar.

“Snacking on the right combination of protein and complex carbs can beat an afternoon slump and help get you through the day. Snacking regulates your blood sugar to combat a drop in energy, which can be the difference between skipping an evening workout or powering through one before dinner.”

“One of the most important things to remember with keeping snacking healthy is to make sure that you are prepared. You should plan on eating two snacks a day, says nutritionist Alexa Fishback — one should be under 100 calories and one should be more substantial, 100-200 calories. And, as celebrity trainer Valerie Waters adds, it’s important to time snacks correctly so they help you get from meal to meal.”

NuGo protein bars have between 170 and 200 calories, so you can feel good about eating one each day as a substantial healthy snack. Or, eat half a NuGo bar for a snack that is less than 100 calories. Share the other half with a friend or family member or save it for later. Thank goodness snack time isn’t just for kids!

Dr. Mehmet Oz and Dr. Michael Roizen posted this fascinating article, “Sugar vs. Artificial Sweeteners: Which Is Healthier and Safer?” on the RealAge YOU Docs Daily blog. The two popular doctors coauthored the best-selling YOU books. If you are eating foods with artificial sweeteners, they can have a negative impact on your health and may actually cause you to gain weight, not lose weight!

“In fact, sweeteners have been studied far more than most drugs (there’ve been at least 100 studies on sucralose/Splenda alone). The problem is that they subtly mess with how you react to food.

• Sometimes it’s a mind game. For instance, diet sodas can cloud common sense, making you think your no-cal drink “cancels out” the fat calories in burgers and fries.

• Sometimes they make you eat more, not less. Because no-cal sweeteners essentially don’t register in your brain’s satiety center, instead of satisfying a sweet craving they can send you hunting for something else . . . and then something else. They also train your taste buds to go PING only when they detect intense sweetness.

• Sometimes there’s something going on no one even understands yet. Recent Texas research has linked drinking diet soda to bigger waists — 70% bigger than in people who didn’t touch the stuff. “Huh?” That’s what we said. More to come on this. But Dr. Mike, who used to drink a daily diet cola (or six), is glad he gave ‘em all up over a year ago.”

There’s also evidence that fake sugars and diet sodas don’t help you lose weight, and up your risk of metabolic syndrome, which precedes diabetes, heart disease, and more. So it’s hard to be enthusiastic about them.”

Throughout October, more than 600 bloggers are participating in Vegan Month of Food (VeganMoFo). Each blogger is posting approximately 20 blog posts about vegan food. The blog posts are divided into the following categories with RSS feeds: comfort food, gluten-free, healthy/whole foods, raw foods, soy-free, and sweets and baked good. View the complete list of participating blogs, which includes bloggers from around the world.

Recently, Caren Baginski of New Hope 360 named NuGo Dark as one of her “13 vegan favorites from Natural Products Expo East 2011.” If you haven’t tried our vegan bars, it is now easier than ever. We have four sample packs of vegan NuGo bars:

• NuGO Organic
• NuGo Dark (Pareve)
• NuGO FREE (Pareve, gluten-free, and soy-free)
• NuGo 10 Raw Natural Energy (Pareve, gluten-free, and soy-free)

Each can be ordered for only $6 and free shipping. What a great way to celebrate Vegan Month of Food and enjoy delicious REAL Dark Chocolate in a healthy bar!

With all the research coming out about the health benefits of REAL dark chocolate, we’re big proponents of eating some every day. Not only will you be helping your health (heart, cholesterol, eyesight, etc.) and beauty (skin), but you’ll also be satisfying that sweet craving you likely get at some point during your day.  Not a bad deal, right?

Trying to fit more dark chocolate into your diet is a pretty fabulous problem to have.  Just make sure you’re eating dark chocolate, as the processing in milk chocolate destroys the flavonols. And make certain you’re eating REAL dark chocolate, as opposed to palm kernel oil or other vegetable fats. We coat our NuGo bars in REAL dark chocolate, but you’ll find most other nutriton bars coated in some type of vegetable fat (it doesn’t melt as easily and it’s cheaper to make). Not only does this mean you’re not getting the health benefits of dark chocolate, but it also means you’ll get that icky waxy taste.

Here are a few of our favorite ways to fit more REAL dark chocolate into your diet:

-Make hot chocolate with real dark chocolate, using skim milk.

-Mix a little melted dark chocolate into a container of Greek yogurt (or crumble a NuGo bar into the yogurt).

-Mix a little dark chocolate into your morning bowl of oatmeal (or mix a NuGo bar into oatmeal!)

-Cover fruit in melted dark chocolate… We like strawberries, cherries, and orange slices best.

-Cover nuts in dark chocolate.

-Eat a REAL dark chocolate NuGo bar!

We recommend keeping a NuGo bar in your desk drawer, so you can easily and nutritiously satisfy your craving when it hits. Many of our bars contain REAL dark chocolate, including our brand new Slim bars. Slim bars only have 2 grams of sugar (they’re sweetened by the dark chocolate and chicory root) and are packed with protein (15 grams!) and fiber (9 grams!). We also have an entire line of NuGo Dark bars, including flavors like Peanut Butter Cup and Pretzel with Sea Salt. Our Organic and FREE bars also contain REAL dark chocolate. Trying to stay healthy has never been so fun or delicious!

(Dark chocolate photo courtesy of flickr.com/johnloo)

In April 2011, the Calorie Control Council released statistics that “eight out of ten men and women aged 18 and older are weight conscious.” The data was based on a survey of 1,203 Americans. So, what was the most often mentioned method for weight loss? It was cutting back on foods high in sugar! Additionally, 78% of respondents said they consume sugar-free and low-calorie foods to lose weight. Other popular responses were exercising and reducing portion size. For more interesting diet trends and statistics, view these great charts.

“Just cutting 100 calories a day can prevent the gradual weight gain experienced by most Americans. Continuing to increase regular exercise and eating smarter by reducing portions, and limiting fat and sugar intake will help in both losing weight and maintaining it. It is important to realize that these healthy changes need to be ones that can be maintained for life.”

With our new all-natural NuGO Slim bars, it is now easy to make a smarter snack choice. With 180 calories, only 2 grams of sugar from REAL Dark Chocolate, and 9 grams of fiber from chicory root, NuGO Slim high protein bars are a great option for cutting calories and sugar!