Snack Packs

I recently saw an interesting advertisement in a magazine I was thumbing through. At first I thought it was an article about healthy eating. It showed a family and they were unloading their groceries and it described how busy their lives were. I noticed the "article" kept coming back to how they were so glad to be healthy and include chips in their diet. I thought it was a little strange until I realized it was a clever advertisement by a chip company promoting their new chip-snack-packs. The message encouraging eating chips was so hidden within the dialogue about how healthy this family was that it completely caught me off guard.

Essentially chip companies have found a creative way to anchor themselves within the typical American diet simply by repackaging their high calorie, high fat snack option into little baggies. Most people know that chips wouldn't be the healthiest snack in the bunch, but this advertisement went ahead and put chips on the list with apples, bananas and oranges. How confusing for most, right?

Not so fast. While it is an extremely clever way for makers of higher calorie, higher fat snack items to sustain themselves amongst the ranks of most utilized snack options, it isn't the answer to healthy snacking.
I see snacking as a tiered system, similar to the Stop Light Diet concept. Red-stop, rarely consume these foods, Yellow-better, but still limit frequency and amount, Green-go full speed ahead. Many packaged snacks actually fall into the red and yellow categories. In fact looking at some of the labels you will see that although they contain 100 calories in each baggie, they also bring with it 3-5 grams of fat, most of which comes from artery clogging saturated fat. Also, the list of ingredients go on and on and include things that are unrecognizable and even difficult to pronounce. Most seem to be glorified candy, repackaged for "healthy snacking".

The only pros that I can see with these 100 calorie snack packs is that they are pre-portioned, so as long as you do not go back for 2 or 3, you don't have to guess how many calories have been deducted from your daily calorie bank. They also may help people avoid feelings of restriction by enabling them to splurge on something that they normally wouldn't be able to control the portion of, like cookies. When you restrict yourself or your children, there tends to be a backlash effect that leads to eventually over consuming the restricted foods. Children of parents who are never allowed to partake in "kid foods" are actually more like to crave and overeat the restricted foods when they are on their own away from parental influence. The snack packs at least serve as a teachable moment for children because they show what a proper portion looks like.

My suggestions would be to use these processed snack packs infrequently. Situations that call for the use of these snack packs may be:

• They are the best choice in the bunch at the time! This might be if you are on a road trip for example and did not pack snacks ahead of time. You find a convenience store and you have the option of the big bag of chips or the 100-calorie-snack-pack...grab the snack pack!
• You are craving a cookie, ASAP-You think you can't control having a whole bag of regular size cookies in the house because you will undoubtedly eat way more than 100 calories worth...again, grab the snack pack!
• You have a child-I suggest that you create a snack box with your child to eliminate the ever frequent question of "what can I have for a snack now....how about now.....what now?". If you have the snack box for the week that they fill on Sunday night, you can make sure that they put in mostly fruits and homemade snack packs (examples below), but you can throw a few "treats" in there that are still within calorie limits. This means the child will not feel restricted and will also learn about moderation.
• Add fruit or veggie slices. Every time you eat one, pair it with a fruit or veggie. At least then you get some added fiber and nutrients and you get on serving closer to your 5-9/day!

Make your own snack packs with foods that pack more of a nutritional punch. While this takes a little bit more effort, it is truly worth it. Here are some combinations that are equal to about 100 calories. (100 calories isn't a magic number, it is just easy to remember by the way).

• Babybell cheese (light) + fruit
• 17 pretzels
• 2 tsp of nutella or peanut butter + rice cake or fruit slices or graham cracker sheet
• pudding
• 3/4 cup Honey Nut Cheerios
• Oatmeal packet (~160 cals)
• 4 oz cottage cheese (skim) + jam or simply a 4 oz 2% cottage cheese
• 1 slice deli meat + fruit or veggie slices
• 1 hardboiled egg + fruit or veggie slices
• 10 Kashi TLC cracker
• 8 wheat thins
• 1/2 cup Kashi Crunch
• Popcorn-100 calorie mini bag
• 1 frozen waffle with a little pb or jam
• applesauce
• 2 tbsp hummus + veggies, tortilla chips

7-Day Goals: Ready for the weekend? Here it is again. Think back on last weekend. Was it a blowout or did you make some positive strides in your healthy eating plan? If not, try again this week. Don't give up!

~K