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Best choices for pre-packaged snacks

It's easy for parents to feed kids healthy snacks at home, but the choices at the grocery store are wide-ranging.

Courtesy NBC News

It's easy for parents to feed kids healthy snacks at home, but the choices at the grocery store are wide-ranging.

All the choices aimed at kids can make a mom's eyes roll and head spin.

"With both of us working, we try to go for the healthiest as possible snacks, and sometimes we have to rely on packaged stuff," says mom Maia Lucier.

Enter clinical dietitian Lisa Cimperman of University Hospitals Case Medical Center.

No one is suggesting prepackaged snacks are as healthful as a handful of carrots, but according to Cimperman, many are way better than brownies.

"Teaching children that you can have treats every once in a while and in moderation will go a long way towards making them healthy adults," she says.

On her list of the "best" packaged snack foods:

Popcorn, Indiana Brand popcorns, Bear Naked Trail Mix, Quaker Oatmeal 25% Less Sugar Granola Bars and pretty much anything made by Kashi.

"A good rule of thumb is no more than 3 grams of fat for every 100 calories," she says.

Cimperman also says that snacks should max out at 100 to 200 calories per serving.

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