I had an aha! moment as I tasted my way through nearly six football fields worth of products at the Specialty Food Association’s Summer Fancy Food Show in NYC this year. The show is (mostly) divided by country, where each has space to highlight its regional specialties and product innovations. As I walked around the show it dawned on me that the US section was flooded with highly processed, packaged snack products, whereas other countries had hardly any. The difference was startling, but not really surprising. We love our snacks —so much so that, on average, they make up nearly a quarter (22%) of an American adult’s daily intake.
That is not necessarily a bad thing. Whether snacking helps or hurts us depends on how we approach it. Of course, what we choose to nosh on can make all the difference. Many highly processed, packaged snack foods are designed to make us grab for more and more, compelling us to overeat, while offering no real nutritional value beyond calories. (Although, many new products boast being high in protein, a selling point that imparts a health halo, but doesn’t necessarily make them healthy. At the show I saw protein chips, protein cookies, protein puffs, and more. At one point, I thought my head would explode if I saw any more protein marketing.)
It’s no big deal to have a snack purely for pleasure now and then—I actually encourage that— but if a quarter of our intake is comprised of snacks, it’s important to make the majority of them add up nutritionally too.
But it’s not just what we choose to eat, how we snack matters too. One issue is that we tend to nibble all the time, whether we are hungry or not. It’s baked into our culture. When my daughter was a toddler, I took her to a 45-minute music class. About 20 minutes in, it was snack time and all the kids got crackers to munch on. Did my kid really need to eat during a class that lasted less than an hour? No. But we are conditioned from a young age to make every event a snacking occasion.
With all of this in mind, I’m sharing a few ways to avoid common snacking snafus and make snacking work for you, not against you.
Plan Ahead
Since snacks make up such a large percentage of our intake, it is helpful to make them an official part of our daily meal plans, rather than munching haphazardly all day. Our bodies function more optimally with a regular eating pattern, and a couple of strategic snacks throughout the day can keep you feeling energized and well fueled, whereas nibbling randomly can lead to overeating and impulsive food decisions.
Figure out when you need your snacks most, then schedule them just as you would your three squares a day. I personally need a nosh in the afternoon at around 4PM, when my energy starts to flag, and the evening at 9:30PM when I get a bit hungry after an early dinner.
Once you pin down the best snack times for you, decide on the kinds of foods that serve you best at those times, and make sure you have them on hand when you need them. This will prevent you from grabbing whatever is lying around the breakroom at work or succumbing to the allure of the giant cinnamon bun at the food court.
For my afternoon snack, if I am home, I will often eat leftovers, enjoying a cup of soup or stew, some cooked chicken or egg on an avocado toast, or some cut vegetables and hummus. If I know I will be out and about, I’ll grab a yogurt and piece of fruit as I am walking out the door or keep a little bag of nuts and dried fruit in my backpack. In the evening, I might go for something crunchy and fun, like the recipe for Maple Peanuts and Popcorn, below.
Find Balance
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