Easy healthy snacks can help you stick to a diet or enhance your nutrition. The easier they are, the more likely you'll be to have them on hand or make them when you're hungry.

Studies show that snacks play an integral role in your diet. They fill that empty midmorning or mid afternoon hole in your stomach to help you stick with a healthy eating plan and provide extra nutrition in your diet.

When you choose snacks, keep them simple and easy, but also nutritious. If you're on a calorie restricted menu, less than 100 calories. Luckily, it's easy to do. Many different types of snacks fit this description. Some of them are obvious, such as fresh fruits and vegetable snacks. Others require a little preparation but you can store them in the refrigerator and have them ready for action.

Prepare Ahead Snacks:

Do you want something special to stop those cravings when they appear? Here are some simple snacks to make ahead and have ready to snag when your hunger screams at you.

Wheat Germ Peanut Butter Balls

There are no exact measurements for this snack, so the calorie count isn't precise. However, it normally is less than 100 calories for 3 balls, if you make them the size of a jawbreaker.

Ingredients

Peanut butter

Honey

Wheat germ

Tools

Mixing bowl

Aluminum foil

Mixing spoon

Prepare a piece of aluminum foil by rolling up the edges to form sides. Pour enough three tablespoons of wheat germ on the foil.

Mix a little bit of honey with peanut butter until it suits your palate. Add enough wheat germ to make the combo easy to roll into the shape of a ball. Break off a bit the size of a jawbreaker, roll into a ball and then roll on the aluminum foil with the wheat germ until the outside is no longer sticky and is easy to handle.

Place the ball to the side on a separate piece of foil and continue until all the peanut butter mixture is gone. Store the balls in the refrigerator to keep firm. They soften when warm.

Homemade Trail Mix:

You can keep your trail mix lower calorie by using Chex cereal as a filler to replace some of the nuts and dried fruit. Small pretzels added to the mix also reduce the calorie count and increase the bulk. Remember, these additions also lower the amount of nutrients you receive in each handful. The healthiest nuts to use are raw walnuts, pecans, cashews and almonds but the first three are high in calories.

Ingredients:

Raisins, craisins or other dried fruit

Nuts of choice (lower calorie choices are sunflower seeds, dry roasted peanuts and almonds)

Small pretzels

Chex cereal

Tools:

Plastic Bag

Put handfuls of the ingredients in a bag. Close the bag and lightly shake to mix. If you are on a calorie-restricted diet, measure out the amounts you put in each bag.

You can add fruit to low calorie yogurt, stuff celery with peanut butter or cream cheese or keep a bowl of freshly cut watermelon, pineapple or other fruit on hand. If you love dip with your veggies, add some spices to low fat cottage cheese to keep your calorie count down and health benefits higher. There's no end to the number of easy healthy snacks to make, it simply takes a few minutes of planning.