Snack Foods

What are your favorite snacks? Tell me some of your FAVORITE snack foods

Tell Me Can you think of many events or occasions where food is not present or available in some form? More often than not, if there is an event or occasion, there is expected to be some sort of food – whether it’s a meal or snack or drink.

What Happened? Apparently, we have collectively decided as a culture that it is impossible to take part in any activity without simultaneously shoving something into their pie holes.

Did you mean to eat your money? In the U.S., we consumed $68.1 billion in packaged snack foods in 2008, up from $60 billion in From Packaged Facts, a consumer research group.

We’re Eating More Snacks Between 1977 and 2002, the percent of the American population eating 3 or more snacks a day increased from 11% to 42% - From a large study of American nutritional habits conducted by the Agriculture Department with the Department of Health and Human Services.

We’re Eating Fewer Meals Also, the percent of children who said they had eaten 3 meals on the previous day went down, while those who had a snack went up more than 40 percent.

Snacks Are Everywhere We keep our cars, purses, bags amply packed with pretzels, chips, baggies of cereal, Goldfish crackers, energy bars, candy bars, etc… How many of you have eaten a snack today or have one on you right now? Often times, little bites between meals take the place of meals themselves.

Snacking is NOT Evil! A snack should be a SMALL amount of food eaten between meals. If timed right, snacking can be part of a healthy diet. Snacks actually help people meet their nutritional needs. The average meal takes about 4 to 5 hours to digest, so if more than 5 hours will pass between meals, then planning a sensible snack makes sense to hold you over until your next meal.

Snacking is NOT Evil! Studies show people who eat snacks have more nutritionally adequate diets than those who don't eat snacks. So, we should think of snacks as "small planned meals," not as extra food between meals. There is no reason to feel guilty about eating them if they are planned to complement regular meals, and do not cause you to exceed caloric needs.

Eating Patterns Differ Some people prefer to eat smaller meals more often. In this case, they may need snacks to satisfy their appetite from one meal to another.

Snacking Guidelines Think of snacks as mini meals that help provide nutrients and energy needed Let snacks fill in the nutrient gaps Snacks should be offered/eaten to satisfy hunger NOT to relieve boredom or stress or used as a reward

How To Choose Snacks Choose snacks based on nutritional benefits and how they complement the total diet. For example, yogurt is a good afternoon snack choice. But if you had milk with breakfast and lunch, plus cheese at lunch, but NO fruits or vegetables, yogurt is not the best snack choice.

Try To Limit Processed Snacks Foods closer to their natural state are more nutrient dense than processed foods A snack that carries the word "natural" on a label is not guaranteed to be low in fat, sugar or sodium. Marketers use it to get consumers to buy their products!

What To Look For Snacks should be: Low in calories Low in added sugar Low in saturated/trans fat (why not low in total fat?) High in fiber High in protein Most processed snack foods are the opposite of these guidelines!

We Get To Make Our Own! That’s why we’re going to cook our own snacks this week There are many ways to make your own snacks – including versions of your favorite processed snacks We’ll be making some this week