Snacks – how much is too much?

Americans love to snack.  Who doesn’t enjoy some snacks?  Most afternoons I enjoy some popcorn as a snack.  Not a bad choice since popcorn is whole grain and actually good for you.  We can fit snacks into our diet, even some not-so-healthy snacks.  But, some of us have no idea how much is too much.  We start to eat a seemingly small portion of a snack and before we know it, we’ve eaten most of the bag or box.  Eat This, Not That! Has some good recommendations on what the correct portion size is for snacks. 

Why watch the portion size?  Many snacks that we enjoy fall into the junk food or empty-calorie food category, meaning the snack food is loaded with calories but not loaded with nutrients.  What are some of those snack foods we tend to eat an over-size amount of?


  • Potato Chips – one of my relatives who loved Pringles said they had to give them up cold turkey.  Why?  Because they would always eat the entire can.  These chips were just too good to stop at a “serving size” of the chips.  In the nutrition class I teach, I bring in a “snack size” bag of potato chips.  Many people think a “snack size” bag is a serving.  But look on the package and some of those seemingly small bags of chips are supposed to be for 2 or more people.  Yet, people buy the bag of chips, eat the whole bag and have no idea of how many calories they just ate.  An 8-ounce bag of Lay’s Classic potato chips is supposed to be for 8 people and a serving size is one ounce or “about 15 chips”.  Who eats only 15 chips?  Eat the whole bag and you take in 1,280 calories.  Eat the “serving size” of only 15 chips and you take in only 160 calories.  
A serving is only 15 chips. 

  • Candy – so much candy comes in huge packages. Buy some jelly beans and it is easy to overeat.  A package of Brach’s Jelly Beans has a whopping 53 servings.  You are supposed to eat only 10 jelly beans for 110 calories.  Many people never look at the back of the package to see how much candy is a “serving”.
Jelly beans - 10 jelly beans is a serving
  • Chocolate – yes, it is “candy” but so many people love chocolate and it is different than any other candy.  For example, chocolate has some health benefits and isn’t entirely junk food.  MedicalNewsToday says chocolate has healthy antioxidants, it may lower your cholesterol levels, and help your brain by preventing memory decline.  But it also recommends eating chocolate in moderation.

  • Soda/pop – Believe it or not, before the 1950’’s, bottles of soda were quite small, around 7 ounces.  Then came the 12-ounce size and now, so many are 20 ounces or more.  Soda used to come in glass bottles, then mostly in metal cans.  Now those 20-ounce sodas are usually in plastic bottles.  Not good for you and not good for the environment.  Soda is truly an “empty-calorie” beverage.  All the added sugar in soda provides lots of calories but virtually no vitamins or minerals.  Interesting, that people who drink their calories in soda, don’t feel as full as they would if they ate those calories in solid food.  Harvard School of Public Health notes that if you drink just one soda a day, over the course of a year you could gain up to 5 pounds, if you didn’t cut back on calories from other foods.  Sodas and other sugar-sweetened beverages used to be a treat but now are an every day and sometimes many times a day “snack” for kids and teens.  Harvard Public Health says teens take in 226 calories a day form sugary beverages and kids 6-11 take in 130-209 calories a day from sugary beverages.  Cutting back on these empty-calories is good for anyone’s health.  Kids and teens should be drinking milk with meals.  Between meals, enjoy 100% juice or water.

Recommendations for healthier snacking:

  1. Snack on healthier choices: popcorn, nuts, fruit.
  2. Chips – choose some whole grain chips like Sun Chips.  If you like potato chips, choose Lay’s chips as they are made with heart-healthy oils.  Lay’s now offers some lightly salted chips with 50% less sodium.  The calories are the same, 160 calories per 15 chips, but there is less salt.
  3. Candy – buy the mini bars of chocolate bars – mini PAYDAY’s, mini-musketeer bars.  Then eat 1 or 2 for a snack treat.
  4. Look for 100 calorie snack packs and pack one bag in your lunch.
  5. Cut back or eliminate the sugary beverages.  Skip the Sunny D and fruit drinks and buy real juice. Drink milk at meals and water between meals.  Or choose the low to no calorie seltzer waters.
  6. Look at the Snack Tips for Parents and let your kids help choose some healthy snacks.
Buy the minis and eat only a few.

Enjoy some snacks this week.  But, look on the label and pay attention to the serving size.  

Choose 100 calorie packs.

Sources: portion size ,  MedicalNewsToday , drink ,  Harvard ,  Snack Tips for Parents   Image Sources:  chips   , Jelly,  Beans   , Chocolate , candy , snacks  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How does coffee and tea affect blood sugar?

Image
Who doesn’t love some morning coffee?   Or, on cold days, a nice hot cup of tea.   Does drinking coffee or tea affect one’s blood glucose levels?    Should healthy adults be concerned about coffee or tea and blood glucose levels?   The Mayo Clinic says that for healthy adults, caffeine will probably have no noticeable effects on their blood sugar or blood glucose levels.   Studies have found that up to 400 milligrams of caffeine is safe for most of us.   A cup of coffee has about 120-180 milligrams of caffeine and most adults drink about 2 cups of coffee a day.   FDA says healthy adults can consume up to 400 mg of caffeine a day which equates to about 4-5 cups of coffee a day, or 10 cans of soda , or 2 “energy shot” drinks.   (See:   Caffeine – good or bad for your health? )     Can drinking coffee or tea reduce chances of getting type 2 diabetes? Some studies have found that coffee, tea, and other drinks with caffeine can lead to weight loss and a lower body mass index (BMI
Read more

Are there drinks that will help lower your blood pressure?

Image
According to the University of Southern California , almost half of Americans over the age of 20 have high blood pressure.   This means an astounding 122 million Americans.   Unfortunately, as you get older it is more likely to have blood pressure increase.   Many people don’t even know they have high blood pressure or hypertension.   The American Heart Association notes at first there are “no obvious symptoms to indicate something is wrong, but HBP can lead to heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure.”    A relative was asking what they could do diet wise to help lower their blood pressure.   We had already discussed the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension).   (See:   Best Diets for Healthy Eating in 2024 .) and physical activity.    Diet wise, they were cutting back on sodium and increasing potassium foods but were wondering if there were anything else like any drinks that could help lower blood pressure?   The Cleveland Clinic talked to cardiologist , Luke Laffin,
Read more

How to eat for better sleep

Image
Having trouble sleeping?   Are there foods you can eat that would help you sleep?   My husband sent me an interesting article, 8 Eating Habits That Actually Improve Your Sleep . According to CDC , “about 1 in 3 adults in the United States reported not getting enough rest or sleep every day.”   A lot of Americans have problems sleeping, about 50-70 million Americans.   You probably heard that drinking warm milk before bed helps one sleep?   Is this true?   What eating habits really do help you get to sleep and stay asleep? Sleep and hunger Did you know that getting a good night’s sleep affects hunger hormones in your body?   A good night’s sleep can lead to less snacking the next day as it keeps hunger at bay.   A professor of nutrition at Columbia University, Marie-Pierre St-Onge, says, “If you eat better, you sleep better and be more refreshed.   And that helps you make better decision for your diet.”      Some tips to eating habits for better sleep:         Focus on tryptopha
Read more