11 of the Best 100-Calorie Snacks to Keep You Full

For many people, counting calories is a way to track how much food you are taking in every day. The math sounds simple: take in fewer calories than you eat, and you’ll lose weight.

Unfortunately, these calorie-based diets are far from fool-proof. They might not take your age and current level of activity into consideration, or the different caloric needs depending on your gender.

These factors all play a critical role in determining how many calories you need to take in every day to keep your body happy and healthy. Of course, these needs can change daily depending on how fast your metabolism is burning fat, what stage you are at in your weight loss journey, and a multitude of other factors.

In short, there is no one-size-fits-all caloric intake need, and your own needs can vary from day to day. This is where delicious, 100-calorie snacks come in to save the day. These small, perfectly portioned snacks are the right choice for satisfying your cravings, providing a little pick-me-up when you get hungry in-between meals.

Best of all, these 100-calorie snacks actually taste good, too. Who thought there would be a snack that was both delicious and low-calorie?

It sounds too good to be true, and many people will claim that it is impossible.

It’s time to prove those people wrong, and start enjoying your snack time again.

In this article, the team at Youtopia Snacks will cover some of the toughest misconceptions about calorie counting, what it means to snack on a low-calorie diet, as well as 11 of our favorite 100-calorie snacks.

It can be confusing to determine whether you should count calories or not. Half of dieters and scientists alike say that counting calories is a time-tested way to lose weight, while another half suggests that it increases your weight gain.

Your diet may require you to count calories, but in today’s world, counting calories has gone out of style. Now, it’s more important to portion out your meals (1) and stick to a regular eating schedule where you eat more frequently but less in one sitting.

“Counting calories can help you maintain a healthy weight, but 100 calories looks very different depending what foods you eat.”

– bhf.org.uk

When it comes down to it, neither party is wrong. Counting calories can help you lose weight, but without pairing it with the right foods and getting enough exercise, you are going to gain weight.

It is a bit confusing, so let’s break it down:

Calorie counting is an effective way to lose weight, but not because you are eating fewer calories than you are burning. The methods of measuring how many calories you burn are outdated and tend to be only marginally accurate, and calorie counting can be difficult to keep track of.

For many people, counting calories is an inaccurate way to represent the nutrition and food you are putting into your body, and should NOT be the sole indicator of a good or bad diet.

Of course, this seems like common intuition, but many old fashioned diets still require you to be on a strict caloric limit, but your food options either taste like cardboard or you have completely free reign to fill up your calories with empty carbohydrates and refined sugars. That’s not a healthy diet!

Counting calories is effective because you can monitor your food intake, identify unhealthy eating patterns, and it gives you a better understanding of the food you eat every day. This awareness is key to achieving a better relationship with your food (and your snacks) and can help you lose weight by simply being aware of the numbers, however accurate, and modifying your habits and eating patterns to better fit your goals.

Beyond that, tracking calorie count in the snacks you eat can help you eat smaller portions. Figuring out portion sizes can be a battle of its own, and 100-calorie snack packs make snacking easier.

Snacking is indeed healthy for you, so long as you eat the right things. If you stuff yourself with junk foods that contain refined sugars and empty carbohydrates, then you are going to see some fat gain.

By eating healthy snacks, however, you can give your body much-needed nutrition to help keep you full until mealtime. These snacks don’t need to be 100-calories or less since the important factor is feeling full and satiated until your next meal. By eating these snack packs, you can, however, stay conscious of how many calories you are taking in each day.

If you’re looking for a fun way to eat your 100-calorie snack packs, you may want to try saving them for when you’re not hungry but still have a craving to satisfy. These snack packs provide the perfect portions for satisfying your cravings even if your body says it’s not hungry.

“Just because you always grab a granola bar and coffee at 10 a.m. doesn’t mean you should. Don’t snack because it’s part of your daily routine; do it when you’re a little bit hungry.”

– Lisa Whitmore

Of course, a habit can mimic hunger, so give yourself some time to let your body decide whether it is hungry, or if it just feels hungry because it’s craving something particular or if you are used to eating at a certain time of day every day. (2) Habit is a powerful obstacle, and one of the main reasons why people fall off of their dieting schedules.

Overall, snacking is incredibly healthy for you, as avoiding food or fasting can set your body into “survival mode.” This is a natural response your body has when it has been hungry for too long and will begin storing excess energy where it can. This storage of excess energy can turn into fat stores on your body, leading to weight gain.

Of course, we aren’t running from bears or foraging in the woods for our food anymore, and many people lead a sedentary life, making this bodily response problematic.

By snacking, you can keep this storage of excess energy at bay. A consistent snacking schedule is the best thing you can do for your body, even if that means snacking during the workday.

Empty, junk food calories may reverse the beneficial effect of consistent snacking, however, so it is important to snack on healthy foods that your body can derive real nutrition from. Whenever possible, you should eat whole foods or snacks that are as minimally processed as possible to help your body break it down slower.

It can be tough to determine when you should snack, but research has found that you should ideally time your snacks and meals to be eaten between a 12-hour timeframe of 6 AM to 6 PM. This decreases the risk of health problems related to eating too close to bedtime and can help promote weight loss.  

For example, if you tend to snack when you’re in front of the television in the evenings, you might find that you snack more than you should, and this mindless overeating can lead to weight gain. (3)

“Contrary to popular belief, it can be healthy and helpful to snack when you're trying to lose weight. But if you eat at your desk or in front of the television, it's easy to mindlessly overeat. This is especially true when you don't portion your snack ahead of time.”

– Jennifer R. Scott

If you get cravings late at night, you can satiate them by drinking water or non-caffeinated tea and switching to an activity that better engages your mind.

While early morning snacks might be your ideal choice, studies have shown that it is better to have a large, full breakfast and begin snacking once you reach lunchtime and afternoon hours. This way, your metabolism has a way to gear up thanks to the large breakfast, and you can keep your hunger sustained throughout the workday with proper snacking.

Of course, your needs will be different from the next person’s so if you are worried about what time you should snack, especially if you have pre-existing medical conditions, you should talk to your dietitian and figure out a schedule that works best for you.

If your snacks aren’t just as delicious as their junk-food counterparts, then you are already fighting a losing battle with your taste buds.

It is important to find snacks that are both healthy and tasty. Forget eating those corner-store ‘healthy snacks’ that traded refined sugar for refined chemicals and stop eating foods that taste like cardboard.

The team at Youtopia Snacks has curated a list of the top 11 most deliciously mouth-watering snacks that you could ask for. These snacks will keep you satisfied, keep the hunger away, and will not make you feel guilty at the end of the day.

After all, you deserve to enjoy yourself, celebrate the food in your life, and put your mental energy to something you care about, rather than counting calories all day long.

These snacks provide the perfect solution to hunger in-between meals and simple craving fixers, with a variety from whole fresh foods to easy grab-n-go snack packs.