Careful choices beat 3pm snack-attack

Snacks should be whole foods like fruit, nuts, yoghurt or popcorn with little added salt or sugar. Photo / Getty Images

Office vending machines can be ruinous to waistlines, but an expert says choosing real foods limits damage.

The workplace vending machine bender - it happens to the best of us.

But what's the better choice from a selection of salty, sugary and fatty snacks when you ate your porridge at 7am, scoffed your sandwich at midday, and feel famished by 3pm?

The Weekend Herald spoke to AUT University Professor of Nutrition Elaine Rush about what to do when you're swamped with work, have left your carrot sticks and fruit at home, and the vending machine down the hall is calling your name.

Dr Rush ranked 17 snack items by amount of energy, saturated fat, sugar, sodium, fibre, nuts, fruit, vegetable and protein content per 100g of food to see how they stacked up.

The snack that ranked best was a 25g pack of roasted, salted fava (broad) beans, which she said contained a good amount of protein and "simple, whole ingredients" - beans, oil, salt, onion, garlic powder.

But despite their lower rank, she said the best snack of the bunch was a 60g packet of natural, unsalted almonds, cashews, hazelnuts and Brazil nuts, with a glass of tap water, shared with a friend.

"A handful a day is a good rule of thumb, as nuts are high in calories," she said. The nuts were also high in protein, healthy fat and fibre.

For those in need of a sugar rush, a can of Fresh-Up or a low-fat chocolate milk drink were the best choices, because both beverages contained simple, wholesome ingredients (fruit and milk) and natural sugar.

She said fizzy options were "sugar water" and carbonated drinks had carbonic acid - so were bad for teeth.

For that chocolate hit, a peanut slab was the best bet, though Dr Rush warned chocolate was not for every day "and portion size does matter".

"It should be considered a treat, not a snack. Snacks should be whole foods like fruit, nuts, yoghurt or popcorn with little added salt or sugar."

Though they contain things like oats and fruit, muesli bars weren't always a better option, she said, with a Bumper Bar being high in salt, saturated fat and sugar, as was a Cookie Time chocolate chip biscuit.

The best of the chips were the plain, ready-salted type, but no chips were a good choice. "These are high in salt, and though potatoes are a vegetable they should really be viewed as a carbohydrate. They are more nutritious if their skin is left on."

But they were better than Rashuns which contained 19 ingredients.

Some organisations, like the Auckland District Health Board, had banned certain items from their vending machines - including anything exceeding 800 kilojoules per packet, full-sugar carbonated soft drinks, sports drinks, sports waters and flavoured waters with more than 50kJ per 100ml as well as fruit juice and reduced fat flavoured milk in containers exceeding 350ml.

Its recommended vending machines contain 30 per cent to 50 per cent "better choices", which should be placed at eye level, Dr Rush said.