US adults found to eat a meal's worth of calories in snacks each day
US adults found to eat a meal's worth of calories in snacks each day
Snacks constitute almost a quarter of a day's calories in U.S. adults and account for about one-third of daily added sugar, a new study suggests.
Snacks constitute almost a quarter of a day's calories in U.S. adults and account for about one-third of daily added sugar, a new study suggests.
Researchers analyzing data from surveys of over 20,000 people found that Americans averaged about 400 to 500 calories in snacks a day—often more than what they consumed at breakfast—that offered little nutritional value.
Though dietitians are very aware of Americans' propensity to snack, "the magnitude of the impact isn't realized until you actually look at it," said senior study author Christopher Taylor, professor of medical dietetics in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The Ohio State University.
Is it just me, or did snacking get really expensive? I'm more amazed how people are allowing companies to fleece them like that. And then there are the sugar drinks for adults, brought to you by Starbucks & co.
I’m pretty sure normal boxes of Cheez-It used to be 16oz. Now they are 12.8oz and cost $5 unless on sale.
The spicy ones are basically crack though.
Researchers will be shocked when they find out half of Americans eat 1000 cal or more in snacks each day. Btw: try the new candy cane triple sugar frappuccino at Starbucks™.
Starbucks really should be louder about their cal counts...
They're dumping literal sugar syrup into most of their "specialty" drinks, adding several hundred calories. I would love to see the calorie counts right there on the menu in-store and online in large, bold text.
The again, studies have shown time and again that people are awful at understanding how many calories are in their meal, so I'd wager there would still be plenty of people still thinking "oh, only 480 calories. Good thing I'm having a salad for lunch!"
I'm in this photo and I don't like it 😂
The top five sources of calories aren't even food fit for human consumption. 😵😵😵
And with people allegedly unable to afford food, it really makes me wonder if it's because they are spending all their money on these (expensive) top five calorie sources, rather than... I don't know, real food? 🧐
Or maybe people eat this kind of food because they live in food deserts where fresh food is unavailable, or because highly processed junk food is cheaper than real food and the cost of living is rising much faster than wages, or because people who are forced to work multiple jobs to survive don't have time to cook healthy meals.
I would disagree, and here's why:
The bulk of our calories should be coming from carbs, and healthy carb staples are very cheap and readily available anywhere: rice, flour, pasta, etc.
Food deserts, while I don't deny exist, aren't a problem for the majority of the population. Most people living near any city over 100,000 likely have access to multiple grocery stores.
The cost argument falls flat when you consider that junk food, alcoholic beverages, meat and dairy, and high calorie nonalcoholic beverages cost a lot more than real food staples.
Availability and cost really only impact fruit and vegetable consumption, but historically, most Americans have never consumed enough regardless (unless they were vegetation/vegan). It's a cultural thing, I'm sure.
A breakdown of food spending also indicates that a large proportion of food spending tends to be "eating out", which is not cost effective and gives a good indication that people are often misspending their food budget.
The issue of time is also not a good reason when throwing ingredients in a basic pressure cooker, rice cooker, or , slow cooker takes minutes and you can batch cook an entire week's worth of food with minimal cost and effort. As with the point above, it takes more time to eat out, and learning to prepare basic meals is a skill that every adult should have.
Eating cheap and healthy isn't impossible, but someone needs to be willing to at least break their poor eating habits first.
Humans are not cattle or other herbivores, we are not meant to graze every waking minute.
Three meals a day and nothing in between.
You don't even need 3 meals. Most days I eat 1 or 2 meals. Sometimes breakfast is closer to lunch and then I eat dinner a bit later.
I agree. I have been intermittent fasting (only eat during an 8 hour period each day) for about 5 years now and usually only have two meals but just getting most people to stop the endless snacking was would be a big win.
Telling people to actually allow yourself to be hungry now and then and not run to the fridge is way to scary.
Many people eat out of habit or what I call emotional eating, rather than when they are actually hungry.
Between the extremes, I've heard one or two meals with light snacks throughout is better for our metabolism. I'm no nutritionist though.
"Not meant" according to who?
Primates don't eat a few large meals a day... They forage and spend most of their time eating small quantities of food throughout the day. They "snack", but they aren't snacking on junk food. That's the biggest difference.
The idea of eating a few large means a day, I'm pretty sure, is simply a result of being on a work schedule.
They "snack", but they aren't snacking on junk food. That's the biggest difference.
That’s the trick there isn’t it. No Uber eats to bring you a mcfrosty at 2pm because you crave it. Not when you’re a primate. But humans have that access and is bad. Primates also had little choice as food was not always there.
I’ve lived in both USA and Europe, and let me tell you that in Europe, I was snacking randomly on things like… fruit, snap peas, maybe a slice of cheese if the craving hit. Ice cream was harder to come by and eat I could buy as only 2 servings fit in my ice box. I’m back in the USA right now, laying in bed contemplating on getting dressed so I can drive .3 miles to my fave breakfast burrito place or order it on Uber… at least until I saw this post. Now I’ll just eat some overpriced fruit I picked up because I know better, but damn is it easy to get out of that habit when I can’t just walk 200m to the mercato and pay reasonable prices for healthy food.
Yeah, but those are my only calories so it's obviously healthy.
Only one!? ... I mean, yeah. I too only eat 1ish meals worth of snacks a day. I'm a normal snacker, yessiree