photo courtesy of Lakeshore Entertainment (She's The Man)

According to Iree Velasco, resident dietitian of the Weight Management Center at St. Luke’s Hospital, a good diet means taking three regular meals and two to three light snacks a day. Be sure to snack the healthy way with these tips.

1. Snacks are in-betweeners.
   - They should not replace lunch or dinner.
2.  Learn to pass!
   - Skip the extra chocolate sauce on your ice cream or the creamy ranch dip for your chips.
3. Read food labels.
   - Check the serving size to see how much to munch. If your bag of chips contains five servings, eat only 1/5.

Serving Size Guide

• Soda - One serving is equal to eight ounces. A can of soda is about 12 ounces and one bottle is 24 ounces.
• Ice Cream - A scoop should be enough.
• Popcorn - Two tablespoons of un-popped corn kernels, which is about four cups of popped corn.
• Pretzels - One serving is an ounce, about 17 pieces.
• Cookies - A good portion size would be about two to three cookies.
• Chips - A standard serving for chips is 28 to 30 grams, that’s about 25 regular-sized tortilla chips.
• Chocolate Bar - A serving size, which is one bar, has about 280 calories—so only snack on this if you’re really craving.

Snack Showdown

• Pretzels vs. Potato chips
  - An ounce of pretzel chips has 106 calories, a gram of fat, and 380 mg of sodium. Potato chips have 153 calories, 10 grams of fat, but only 147 mg of sodium. 

• Soda vs. Iced Tea
  - Iced tea has only 60 calories; a can of soda contains 97 calories.

• Iced Café Latté vs. Iced Blended Coffee
  -A tall iced cafe latté has 105 calories and only five grams of sugar, while a similar-sized iced blended coffee has 200 calories and 34 grams of sugar.

• Chocolate Bar vs. Chocolate Chip Cookies
  - Three cookies have only 160 calories and about eight grams of fat, while a chocolate bar has 280 calories and 14 grams of fat.

• Ice Cream vs. Chocolate Cake
  - A scoop of ice cream has 145 calories while a slice of chocolate cake (with frosting) has about 235 calories.

• Popcorn vs. French Fries
  - Popcorn has lower fat and sodium content.