Lately my favorite pre-run snack is a couple of fake Fig Newtons. I take a slice of Healthy Goodness bread, tear it in half, wrap a single date in each half, fold them up and eat.
It feels like a sweet carb boost — and tastes somewhat like Fig Newtons — but two of these are only 75 calories and a single Weight Watchers point. (That’s assuming you’re using fresh dates, which are freebies, rather than dried, which are not. Nothing I’ve read online completely clarifies the difference between the two, so just to be safe, and because they’re such sugary fruits, I rarely have more than two.)
For me, the biggest factor isn’t the calorie savings so much as the fact that I avoid opening a package of cookies, which is always potentially dangerous.
I suppose in a taste test I might prefer the real deal, depending on what kind of a mood I’m in. But this is a really satisfying snack that works for me.
I bet it’s because dried fruit has a higher concentration of sugar than fresh fruit.