Snacks are fun and easy-to-eat foods that can stave off hunger between meals or help maintain energy levels. Kids, with their small stomachs, need to eat every three or four hours, and most adults eat at least one snack a day.

Desserts offer a sweet conclusion to any meal. Because traditional snack foods and desserts—like potato chips, cookies, and cakes—tend to be high in fat and sugar, they’re considered unhealthy. But snacks and desserts can be part of a healthy eating plan. The key is to look for the good ingredients (fiber, vitamins, and minerals), while keeping the bad (excess fat, salt, sugar, and heavy doses of artificial ingredients) to a minimum, and keeping serving sizes within the recommended amounts. Among the best snack and dessert choices, are, of course, whole foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, dried fruit, yogurt, and whole-grain crackers.