To Snack… or Not to Snack

Snacking may very well be the most overrated dietary strategy out there today.

Okay, okay. Maybe I’m overstating things a LITTLE bit, but many people force themselves into a habit of snacking when there really is no good reason to, and they may be doing more harm than good.

Although there are some contexts where snacking is a good idea–and some snacks that are better than others–most people shouldn’t be forcing themselves to snack if it doesn’t work for them, and should instead focus on eating enough at their REAL meals that they aren’t hungry again in a couple hours.

“Healthy Snacks”

One of the most popular diet topics is snacking–what to snack on, how often to snack, and why it’s so important to snack in the first place.

But this cultural obsession with “healthy snacking” wouldn’t even be around if we weren’t living in a culture that was extremely calorie-phobic. After patting himself on the back for eating that “healthy 300-Calorie” lunch, you can be damned sure that the Average Joe will be jonesing for a snack come 3pm.

So he starts Googling “healthy snack ideas” and taking notes before heading out to the supermarket, filling up his cart with 100-calorie packs of chips and cookies to keep at home and at work.

Of course, this doesn’t last long, and eventually he gets so hungry that he eats half the fridge, no matter what is in it, and reverts back to his old (unhealthy) eating habits ‘cuz it’s just plain easier. (Hey, I’ve been there!)

For these people, I’ve got some bad news: you are trying to force yourself into an eating habit that will never work for you in the long term. It’s time to find something better.

Busting the Metabolism Myth

Who thinks that eating six small meals a day is better than eating three?

This little gem of wisdom has been passed along through the nutrition community and accepted as one of the gospels.

As the reasoning goes, frequent meals keeps your metabolism elevated, burning maximum amounts of fat while minimizing muscle wasting due to going into “starvation mode.”

Well, if you were to look up the original data that the guys who came up with this idea used to support it, you would find… NOTHING.

That’s right, the genesis of this idea comes from a bold conjecture that nobody bothered to back up  in the first place. Over the years some studies have come up, but they all tend to be poorly-controlled, and no more compelling than the research that supports fewer, larger meals.

Here’s the truth, son: your metabolism is the amount of calories that your body burns when it is at rest. And there is absolutely no data to support the idea that meal frequency has any effect on this.

What eating DOES affect, however, is calories burned as a consequence of the thermic effect of food (TEF). In short, your body needs energy to break down the food that it turns into energy. Crazy, right?

But the TEF isn’t affected by meal frequency as much as it is by caloric volume.

In plain English, the thermic effect of 2,500 Calories is the same whether it’s eaten in one meal or spread out across twenty.

Riding the Glucose Rollercoaster

Another justification people often use for multiple small meals over few small ones is that it doesn’t raise insulin levels as much.

For those of you who aren’t diabetic or low-carbers, here’s the skinny: insulin is perhaps the most infamous of all hormones. As the story goes, carbohydrates are broken down into glucose after eating, raising the body’s blood sugar. It then sends out a squadron of insulin to get the blood glucose into the body’s cells. But one of the other functions of insulin is fat storage, so anything that causes insulin spikes also causes fat gain.

I don’t have time to get into how flawed this argument is (look here if you’re interested), but here’s what you need to know in regards to meal frequency.

Just as the TEF remains constant over the long term for any given amount of food, so does insulin. Even though you might get big insulin spikes after a big meal, you will get big insulin dips later after the meal. When insulin levels are that low, the fat can then escape from your cells where it can easily be used for fuel.

Bottom line: Unless you are a diabetic, you shouldn’t worry in the slightest about blood glucose and insulin.

Getting Over Your Fear of Fullness

But perhaps the most sinister, the most diabolical, the most eeeeeeeevil reason behind the snacking epidemic is, paradoxically, our culture’s obsession with low-calorie diets.

We live in a world where we are told that obese people are just lazy, and that if you want to look and feel great you need to use an immense amount of self-control.

As a result, most of us recoil at the thought of eating a high-calorie meal of something such as pot roast and mashed potatoes, and instead look at the nutrition facts label and go for something with a low listed calorie count.

Unfortunately, this worldview completely ignores the fact that we people have limited amounts of willpower, and most of us can put it to far better use than trying to eat less and exercise more. Instead, you should…

Eat when hungry, stop when full.

This is the way that wild animals do it. This is how people who haven’t been exposed to hyper-processed food do it. AND THEY ALL TEND TO BE VERY FIT AND HEALTHY.

The problem isn’t with you not stopping yourself from eating too much, it’s from you not eating the right food to begin with.

Although the science isn’t there to back it up as much as I’d like it, the limited work that has been done–along with observations and my own experience–all point to the idea that if you eat the food your body has been designed to eat, you’ll wind up in much better shape as a result.

Snacking, NOT Cheating

Perhaps the biggest problem I have with snacking is that it seems to inherently condone falling off the wagon and eating less-than-healthy foods.

While I have no problem with people NOT following super-strict diets, I’m concerned about making it a constant day-in day-out behavior, especially when I don’t know exactly what you’re eating.

For most people, snacks are often candy, chips, cookies, and all sorts of other foods that they wouldn’t make a full meal out of. Something about “snacking” just seems to give people license to eat poorly.

On the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got protein bars, shakes, gels, powders, and all sorts of other meal-replacements concocted in a laboratory and marketed in a way to take advantage of the public’s perception of nutrition.

While there may be some legitimate cases where this stuff might work, I think that most of the people who use it shouldn’t be, and that they are overusing it BY FAR.

Eat real food.

The reasoning behind this philosophy is simple. The human diet has changed drastically in just the last couple hundred years. Although much of this stuff has been considered healthy or harmless from the get-go, it has been because it takes science a while to catch up with these food products to see how they really affect people.

So keep some protein bars in your desk if you want, just don’t eat them every day.

Okay, You Win. Some REAL Healthy Snacks!

Alright, with that all out of the way, I’ll concede that there are legitimate reasons for snacking. First and foremost if you are hungry and don’t have enough time to sit down to a full meal.

If you just need to get some quick fuel before moving on, here are some tips.

Beef jerky, canned sardines, hard-boiled eggs. Perhaps your best option, these energy-dense foods are tasty and healthy. Jerky and sardines (or any other canned fish) are readily available at the supermarket. And you can hard-boil eggs in bulk if you’re a fan of them.

Cut veggies. Here’s one that many people do, but it is not without its problems. The first being that the food doesn’t have many calories and you’ll probably be hungry an hour after eating them. The fibrous vegetables that most people carry along with them for snacks–including carrots, celery, broccoli, and tomatoes–doesn’t have the “oomph” that potatoes and yams do.

They’re still excellent foods, but they won’t really do what most people are looking for–stop their hunger and give them fuel.

The second problem is that most people douse them in sugar- and vegetable oil-filled sauces that completely negate their health benefits such as commercial salad dressings. If this is you, try using a homemade vinaigrette instead.

Nuts and Fruit. Here’s another great option, particularly for when you’re on the go. Fresh fruit such as apples, oranges, and pears can be relatively energy-dense, but don’t shy away from dried fruit, either. They usually travel better and aren’t all crudded up with additional ingredients.

Bagged or canned nuts are easily available, and usually have a good dollar-per-calorie ratio. A lot of people worry about the fructose in fruit or the omega-6 fats in nuts. But as long as you are keeping this stuff as occasional snacks (which you should, ‘cuz I can’t imagine a meal of cashews and bananas), you will be fine.

Cheese, Deli Meat, and Crackers. Again, not the sort of thing that you should be eating a ton of, but WAY better than candy bars and a soda.

Yogurt and Fruit. Another solid option, but buyer beware. You’ll need to make this stuff yourself. The yogurt-with-fruit you’ll find at the supermarket is also loaded up with sugar. Instead, look for plain yogurt that isn’t “low fat” or “fat free.” It might be difficult, but I’ve found most places still carry some full-fat yogurt. Then add some berries and you’re on your way.

Do What Works for You

Ultimately, my goal here isn’t to convince you to NEVER EVER eat another snack ever again, but to challenge you to stop it if you are making yourself do it with the idea that there’s a consensus in the health community about this.

There isn’t.

In fact, the exact OPPOSITE seems to be making headway these days, with intermittent fasting (IF) proponents pushing everyone to drastically decrease the amount of meals they eat.

I tend to kindasorta follow this advice myself, but more so because my crazy schedule means it’s just more convenient to skip a meal or two each day and make up for it with an epic dinner.

But I don’t hold up IF on a pedestal. I think things like eating real food, eating when hungry, stopping when full, and occasionally cheating by eating your favorite foods are far more effective, and they work for the largest amount of people, in other words, these are the “big wins.”

If snacking gives you the results you want while remaining easy to follow, by all means keep it up. But if you struggle with it, just know that there are MANY other strategies that have track records that are just as good.

Are you a snacker? If so, what are some of your favorites?

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Tagged as: snacking, snacks