Diapers, iPods... even shoes. You can buy almost anything out of a vending machine these days—so why is it so difficult to find a healthy, satisfying snack? Considering those innocuous-looking cheese crackers? They might come stuffed with artery-clogging trans-fats. Or that chewy fruity granola bar? Might just have more sugar than a Snickers (and only trace amounts of actual fruit!). The worst part is that you can’t know for sure until you’ve already made your selection. You might as well punch letter-number combinations at random—your chances at striking a relatively healthy option might be better than if you were to try and guess.
That’s why the writers behind the best-selling weight loss series
Eat This, Not That! have compiled the ultimate vending machine survival guide. No matter what flavor you’re in the mood for, we’ll let you know which items to pick and which ones to pass. Making simple swaps like these each day can mean the difference between an energy boost and a mid-afternoon crash—and not to mention, pounds of fat lost over the course of a year!
Chocolate BarsEat This!
100 Grand
190 calories
8 g fat (5 g saturated)
22 g sugars
Not That!
Snickers
280 calories
14 g fat (5 g saturated)
28 g sugars
When you’re in the mood for chocolate, make 100 Grand your first choice. We haven’t found any other full-sized chocolate bars that weigh in under 200 calories, making this the safest bar we’ve come across. On the flipside, the only thing Snickers satisfies are the requisites for a sugar crash. A simple swap like this each workday will save you 450 calories a week—that’s about 7 pounds in a year!
Cut pounds even faster: Follow the quick and easy diet plan outlined in the
Big Book of Exercises, new from the editors of Men’s Health. You'll have twenty years of cutting-edge secrets at your fingertips.
Crunchy Chocolate BarsEat This!
Nestlé Crunch
220 calories
11 g fat (7 g saturated)
24 g sugars
Not That!
Mr. Goodbar
250 calories
17 g fat (7 g saturated)
22 g sugars
The Crunch bar is less dense than pure milk chocolate, which means less fat in each bite. As for the Mr. Goodbar, the only way to make this a truly “good bar” would be to increase the ratio of peanuts to milk chocolate.
ChipsEat This!
Baked! Lay’s Potato Chips
110 calories
1.5 g fat
150 mg sodium
Not That!
Sun Chips Original
210 calories
10 g fat (1.5 g saturated)
180 mg sodium
Baked! Lays are the best chips in the vending machine. The sodium’s low and the saturated fat’s nonexistent. And while Sun Chips used to be considered a “healthier” potato chip alternative, new standards and actually healthier fare have muscled them out of the spotlight. Plus, with its inflated serving size (1.5 ounces rather than 1 ounce), an individual pack of Sun Chips has about twice as much damage potential as Baked! Lays.
Cheese CrackersEat This!
Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Cheddar Crackers (55 pieces)
140 calories
5 g fat (1 g saturated)
250 mg sodium
Not That!
Cheez-It Original Crackers (1 package)
180 calories
9 g fat (2 g saturated)
290 mg sodium
The Cheez-Its are about 40 calories worse than your average bag of chips. They’re also 40 calories worse than the cheesiest alternative—goldfish over “cheez” squares is a swap everyone should make.
CookiesEat This!
Mini Chips Ahoy! (1 bag)
140 calories
7 g fat (2 g saturated)
8 g sugars
Not That!
Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies (1 bag)
240 calories
10 g fat (4 g saturated)
13 g sugars
The bigger Famous Amos bag will cost you more than a hundred extra calories. Stick with Chips Ahoy! It’s hardly a nutritious snack, but its modest size makes certain that you won’t overindulge. If you can avoid the vending machine, consider this list of the
125 best grocery foods.
Fruit SnacksEat This!
Welch’s Fruit Snacks, Mixed Fruit
195 calories
0 g fat
37.5 g sugars
Not That!
Original Fruit Skittles
250 calories
2.5 g fat (2.5 g saturated)
47 g sugars
Here’s the base of every Skittle: sugar, corn syrup, and partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil. That’s why the fat is completely saturated, and there’s nearly as much sugar as 6 Dunkin’ Donuts Chocolate Frosted Cake Donuts in one rainbow-colored pack. The Welch’s Fruit Snacks, in comparison, are made with real fruit and fortified with vitamins C, A, and E. They might not be as good as real fruit, but it’s as close as you’ll get at the vending machine.
Those extra vitamins are nothing to scoff at. Thanks in part to breakthroughs in medicine and nutrition, a forty-something today has a chance to live longer, stronger, and leaner.
See for yourself.
------------
TW-Eat This! Follow Eat This, Not That on Twitter!
Raise happy, healthy, well-adjusted kids—big or small—with the help of the new magazine, Children's Health.
Get more nutrition, health, and fitness secrets from Men's Health: Subscribe today with this special offer and save 50% off the cover price.

Get the new book! Buy the original!


For Kids! Supermarket Guide