Snacks during your work day...

[Chooky]

after gym, if you go before you run the risk of cramps, etc.

your body is trying to digest your meal and therefore not focused on putting in 100% effort to a workout

[Mekon]

failing that yeah, eat [...] a banana

Probably not the best advice.

Don't get me wrong, I love bananas... but sugar content-wise, one banana is the equivalent of 2 whole punnets of strawberries (or in more relevant terms, 30% of your RDI of sugars). Great for people leading active lifestyles who need the energy, but terrible for people trying to watch their weight.

[discobrad]

its good sugars though, not refined sugars. a banana is always a better option that most snacky foods that someone wanting to drop weight wants to avoid

[Mekon]

Sugar is sugar, really: excess energy that gets converted to fat if your body doesn't need it.

edit: Besides, the sugar in fruit is fructose (which is the "bad" sugar) as opposed to glucose (the "good" sugar). So why do people recommend including fruit in your diet if it contains "bad" sugar? Because they also contain fibre (which sates your hunger) and, obviously, vitamins and minerals.

The trend towards labelling everything fat-free or low fat is completely missing the point (and misleading to boot). Given the choice between a product low in sugar and a product low in fat, you're better off taking the fat hit and missing out on the sugar. Clearly, avoiding too much of either is probably wise - pay attention to the nutritional boxes on things and try to follow the RDI values (keeping in mind that particularly active individuals may need more of key nutritional types).

[Auld]

Eat after the gym definitely.

Also what Mekon says, if you are trying to watch your weight snacking on fruit is not a great idea. Especially dried fruits. Get into your cottage cheese if you can stomach the taste, sugar free jelly if its an option. I like to buy a bag of the microwave vegies for work, great if I need something to fill me up for a while. Anything high in fibre like celery etc.

[Elmtailye]

I like to snack on those small tins of snack tuna and a few ryvita grain biscuits. One of those a day inbetween meals keeps the wolves at bay