Make your snack attack worthwhile

By Anna Niec

Let’s talk about eating habits: snack attacks and meals on wheels.

When and not just what we eat can make a difference to our waist.

Some eating habits predispose us to consuming more kilojoules throughout the day.

Let’s have a brief look at how snacks, main meals and the timing of both can influence our kilojoule intake and therefore, our waist.

Snacks can contribute a significant amount of kilojoules to our daily energy intake.

Grazers (people who snack often throughout the day) often consume more food energy from the snacks than from the main meals they eat.

There are two main reasons for this: grazing on food does not create a feeling of fullness which we get after consuming a main meal – hence it is easy to keep on snacking even after we have consumed a large amount of kilojoules.

Second, many snacks are packed full of fat and/or sugar, making them energy-dense foods.

Examples of snacks, which contribute very little to satiety and are very energy rich are chips, crackers with a high fat content, mini sausage rolls, lollies, chocolate, and pastries.

We are likely to consume more snacks if we skip meals.

People who skip breakfast often find themselves eating a pastry or a sausage roll on the way to work in an attempt to stop feeling hungry.

Further, they are more likely to look for snacks throughout the morning and until they sit down to their first main meal, which for some people can be as late as dinner.

Typical examples of snack attacks due to irregular meals are stopping at the petrol station to fuel up the car and an empty stomach with a chocolate bar and Coke, and responding to a bright neon sign with a sharp left turn and a request for a greasy burger.

Skipping meals creates another disadvantage – it slows down our metabolism, the rate at which we burn kilojoules (food energy).

Eating more than five hours apart could lower our metabolism.

If you skip a meal now and again this will not have a detrimental effect on your metabolism, however, for people who skip meals chronically, and especially if they consume only one meal a day, this would become significant.

Is there an ideal meal pattern that we should aim for during the day?

It appears that eating three main meals a day and two to three snacks in between the main meals is the way to go.

Choosing low-fat, nutritious foods for snack helps to limit the total kilojoules consumed in a day.

Reaching for fruit, yoghurt, raisin toast or wholemeal crispbreads more often than for high-energy, nutrient-poor choices will help to keep you in shape.

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