A friend gave us a pack of figs as a gift. We carelessly popped 2-3 as a snack as we flitted around the house. We stick one piece on a weighing scale. The number? 20 grams. We look at the label on the pack. Each fig we popped in was 55-60 calories. That's a 150-180 calorie snack that we didn’t even count as a snack. That’s 8-12 percent of daily required energy intake for the day. For many trying to eat better, that’s the difference between fat lost and being stuck on a plateau. Dried fruit are like that. Apricots, dates, prunes, raisins etc. Easy to pop in, even easier to underestimate. 

As for the micronutrient benefits, there are more energy-efficient ways to get the job done. And when it comes to food choices, play rock, paper, scissors between micronutrient content, energy density and macronutrient content. Energy density should always beat micronutrient content.