Past Features

Snack Attack

Everywhere you turn there is an opportunity to eat—newsstands, delis, quick service restaurants, coffee shops, gas stations. Even the drugstore has candy next to the register. Close to 25% of our daily calories come from snacks. And an entire segment of the food industry feeds our snacking with an endless array of tempting products, on which we spend more than $61 billion each year.

The good news is that we are starting to pay more attention to what we grab. Snacking on cookies, bakery items, crackers and popcorn cakes is down, while yogurt, food bars and nuts have become the snacks of choice. 100-calorie packs are one of the hottest health trends today. This shows we are getting the message about portion control— eating less is a critical step to controlling weight —but we just don’t have enough self-control to do it on our own.

In quick service restaurants, snack items are a hot trend and most are actually being bought as meal alternatives. That’s a good thing—if you eat a chicken snack wrap rather than a fried chicken sandwich, on average you save 200 calories. Obviously, neither is the best food choice, but less of a bad choice is still progress. We often recommend that people order an appetizer for their entrée; ordering a snack sandwich for lunch is the same principle. Couple that with a side salad plus low fat dressing, and a container of nonfat milk and you’re on the right track.

The snacks being developed today fall into 3 broad categories: healthy, tasty, and convenient. Americans have made it clear with their dollars that they are interested in healthy snacks that promote wellness or support weight control. This spurred the birth of 100-calorie packs, antioxidant-fortified chocolate, and light substitutes.

Next comes taste—no matter how good a food is for you, you’ll only buy it a second time if it tastes good. After taste you want variety. One good tasting energy bar must be followed by a brand extension of 10 more equally good tasting flavors before you become brand loyal. And you wondered why there were so many flavors of your favorite?

And last, portability. With hectic family schedules and longer working hours, snacks have replaced meals, and in some cases are the only meals being served. This is one reason why yogurt is so popular—it fits in a cup holder, doesn’t spill, comes in many flavors, contains good-for-you nutrients, and is low to moderate in calories.

But, indulgent snacks have not disappeared. They still account for two-thirds of the snack market. To make them more appealing producers are developing smaller sizes and adding extras like calcium and antioxidants. Still, processed snack items—energy bars, chips, meat sticks, snack cakes—are generally higher in sodium, fat and calories and lower in vitamins and minerals than, say, an old-fashioned apple.

Bottom line: Do you need to snack? If you think of snacks as an extension of your meals, not an extra opportunity to eat, small, frequent feedings are healthy. People who eat often—think of the old adage of eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full—parallels our natural need for energy throughout the day. If you usually eat cereal with milk, fruit, and coffee for breakfast, have coffee and fruit at home and for your mid-morning break substitute a snack-size yogurt topped with crunchy cereal. You’ve drawn out breakfast into 2 mini meals. Have a small cup of soup mid-afternoon as a prelude to dinner. Save your after-dinner tea and cookies for a TV snack, instead of having dessert plus a TV snack.

Small children with small stomachs need a couple of snacks a day. Active growing teenagers may need extra feedings. People with diabetes benefit from snacks. But in all these categories people are gaining too much weight, so the extra feedings are either too frequent or made up of high calorie, low nutrient choices.

Next time you make a spontaneous snack purchase, take a second and ask yourself two very important questions. 1. Am I hungry or did I just fall for a marketing gimmick? and 2. Will eating this food have any benefit? You might be surprised at your answers.

© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc., February 2008

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