[Kick 6]

Chassis wins this thread so far.

There are many degrees to the term "healthy" and depending on how far you want to go, it's a rather lengthy discussion. The best way to determine if something is healthy is to ascertain what effect the snack will have on your microbiota. Basically, what does the food do to your GI bacteria? Does it increase pro-inflammatory cytokines like high levels of IL-6 or does it increase anti-inflammatory cytokines like IL-10.

As an example, celery was mentioned above. Celery is a low calorie snack that many consider a "healthy" food. It does contain flavonoids, fiber, beta carotene, and some ascorbic acid so it does have healthy components to it. Did you know it is one of the more pesticide laden foods we can eat? A vast majority of celery that is not organically grown has more than one pesticide residue in it. That won't help your GI bacteria very much and can make some people less healthy.

Sausage was mentioned in one of the posts. I think it's safe to say that it is a very inflammatory food and does not help your GI bacterial ratios. I'm not going down the processed meat road in this thread.

Seeds in general can be good snacks as long as they aren't treated with oils and preservatives and many are.

Here is a rule of thumb. The more fiber a product contains, the better it is for you. Of course there are outliers, but for younger people, this rule is often true.

As we age, our nutritional requirements change. What we need to eat at 20 years old isn't the same as what we need to eat at 80. Our GI bacterial ratios determine what we need to eat and they gradually change throughout our lifetime because of a poor diet. And that includes me and all the other healthy eaters on this board.