If you're anything like me, snacking can be your downfall. Luckily for people like us, there is a simple way to fix this, and most of them are pretty straightforward.
The biggest problem facing people in the US is portion sizing. Because we feed people so much, we often have difficulty telling what is a proper portion size. Couple that with a lack of knowledge of how to read nutrition facts (which I will get into if I can) and it becomes a recipe for disaster. The first thing you should look for when looking at the portion size and the caloric content so that you can judge if this is a good snack option for you; if it's not, shelve it and move on. For example, if you like to munch on something for a while, Oreos are probably not a good idea because a serving on the nutrition facts is 3 cookies, which are about 180 calories per serving. If it is, put the snacks in individually wrapped bags to help eliminate temptation. If you don't want to do this, go to an Asian/Pacific Island market; a lot of other countries, most notably Koreans and Japanese, tend to package their snacks in individual containers, which makes it easier to gauge what we're eating. For those of you who are looking at saving money, you can also use this to judge how many servings you can get for it and thus get more bang for your buck.
As I mentioned above, a lack of knowledge of nutrition facts can lead to other problems. One of the biggest factors is to look at the proportions. If it has more than 30% of your daily value of a given nutrient, it's high in that nutrient. This can be a good or bad thing, however. For example, it would be a good idea to eat half a cup of orange sections if it has 40% of your daily value of Vitamin C, but eating a food that has that proportion of carbohydrates wouldn't be such a good idea.
Most of us think of protein bars as a good healthy snack. Unfortunately, some of them are about as good for you as candy bars, and others are more like meal replacers than actual snacks. One of the reasons for that is added sugar content. Most people should not consume more than 25 grams of added sugar per day. To put that into perspective, a can of soda easily has at least twice that. The best way to do this is to look at the ingredients list; anything with the suffix -ose, the word syrup, honey, molasses, or cane juice is just a fancy word for sugar. If, like Will, you have a sweet tooth, you probably don't wish to waste your added sugar in one fell swoop.
I hope this helps. Do you have some tips on snacking that I didn't mention? Please comment below; I love it when people contribute to this.
