To Snack or Not To Snack

One of the classes I took last year had a lot of client case studies.  Part of those case studies was a question of what, when, and how much they ate.  One of the things that surprised me was that all the people without exception had at least one snack each day. Many had two snacks and some three.

My plan was to write about how snacking is not good for you and why.  I was sure I would find research that would support my thoughts on the subject.  The research studies that I found showed snacking does not support health.  Some of the articles I read indicated that snacking was good for you.  I generally look to good quality studies more than articles with no citations.

Let’s look at the discussion points one at a time.

Discussion Point: The problem with snacking is that “snack” foods are not good for you. 

Well maybe, but that is up to you.  You can snack on a bag of chips, a sugar filled protein bar, a muffin or you can snack on some nuts, a piece of fruit or vegetables and hummus. 

This one is neither pro, nor con snacking.  It is up to you.

Discussion Point: Snacking makes you gain weight or keeps you from losing weight.

One controlled study showed that men who had a 200-calorie snack 2 hours after breakfast ate 100 calories less at lunch which net them 100 calories higher than the group that didn’t get the snack.  I didn’t find any studies that showed snacking curbed your appetite more than what you ate for the snack, just a lot of web articles that say so.

This would point to con snacking.

Discussion Point: Snacking increases your metabolic rate.

Again, many articles that say your metabolic rate is increased if you eat the same number of calories in a day, but spread them out between meals and snacks.  Numerous studies show there is no difference either way in metabolic rate if you eat all your calories in two meals, three meals or three meals and snacks.

Neither pro nor con snacking.

Discussion Point: I am hungry if I don’t snack.

You might be hungry, or you might be craving food.  Feeling hunger is ok – probably a good thing.  Our bodies do some cellular repair when we are in a non-fed state.  We need to know what it feels like to be hungry, so we know when it is hunger and when it is a food craving.  One of the differences is that a craving will subside, usually in a short amount of time.

This one is con snacking.

While there are many articles that are both pro and con snacking, I land on the con snacking mostly due to the cellular repair done during the non-fed state.  If you do your research and fall on the pro snacking side, it is clear and no surprise that what you snack is a big deal since traditional “snack” foods tend to be high in sugar and unhealthy fats.  Make good choices.