Purposeful and Smart Snacking
Snacks can be a purposeful and satisfying part of a healthy diet. These little fillers are beneficial for helping you manage your weight, manage your hunger, and keep your energy up. Lately, in my nutrition class, I have been asked what is the hype about having 5-6 small meals per day and snacking?
THE PURPOSE
The purpose of 5-6 small meals is to keep your metabolism active and stimulated through out the day versus slamming your body into action for a couple 500-1000 calorie meals all at once. With the 5-6 method you are keeping your body charged with small 200-500ish calorie meals at more frequent intervals. I recently had a man come up to me and say "here is my food journal...what is wrong with it? I eat breakfast...then I feel like 3 hours later I am hungry again...so I eat a snack...maybe a couple crackers or nuts or something and so on." I was pleased to inform this man that nothing, honestly, was wrong with his food plan. He was following his natural hunger cues...which can be very challenging in this food driven and highly marketed world. He ate roughly every 3-4 hours with moderate portions and varied food groups based on his needs to FUEL his body.
THE DOWNSIDE
The down side to the 5-6 method is that it can lead to weight gain if you become the never ending snack monster and/or grazer. There is a difference between eating for fuel versus grazing for pleasure. If you are incredibly active you may need to keep eating at various times throughout the day to balance your energy out BUT take the time to notice your hunger cues, gauge your energy levels, and overall feelings. There is a difference between truly feeling hungry and eating a yogurt versus eating the warm cookies on the table next to you because they look DELICIOUS.
RULES OF SNACKING
NOT an Extra - Snacks are not to be considered an "extra" to your diet. Snacks are utilized to keep your body fueled between meal times and within your calorie needs. Try planning a snack into your day. Keep a nutritious snack at hand so you wont be tempted to go to vending machines or candy/cookie jar. The next trick is even if you have that snack, choosing what you brought OVER something else. You brought something yummy, trust yourself, and it is most likely more nutritious then whatever tempting goody you are looking at :). Mckinley Illinois University emphasizes using a snack as an opportunity to "compliment your meals and add variety to your diet. For instance if you mainly eat meats and starch at meals, snack on fruits, vegetables, milk, cheese, or yogurt." This is an amazing point. Use your snack as an opportunity to enhance the nutrition you have given your body already that day.
Portions A snack is SMALLER than a meal. A snack is not meant to make you feel full but satisfied until your next meal opportunity. Consider choosing snacks between about 100-200 calories. If you are active you may require something higher around 200-400 calories for replenishment. The 200-400 calorie range is leaning more towards the small meal versus a snack.
Conscious Hunger NUMBER ONE try to avoid mixing snacking with distracting activities. Alright, raise your hand if you have ever been chatting away with someone on the computer with a bag of ANYTHING sitting next to you. If you were to judge...do you think you would have eaten the same amount if you poured an amount in a bowl or were sitting at your kitchen table until your hunger was satisfied? A study was published by Cornell University in 2007 called "Mindless Eating," this study found that humans overlook about 200 food decisions per day and of the 31% studied who overate, 21% denied overeating, 75% stated they were hungry, and 4% based this off of an internal cue. These results emphasize that we do not always realize how small aspects of our environment can trigger our responses. Just because a bowl was bigger people "assumed" they were served the correct amount and were hungry until the meal was completely finished.
Am I Hungry? This leads me to my next and final point. Really learn to evaluate how you feel and your hunger. Once we become adults our natural hunger cues are often challenging to reconnect with. This can be caused from always being told to clean your plate, knowing you only have certain times to eat at work, your kids schedules etc. etc. etc. either way, there are things going on in our lives that we try to plan food into vs. having food available and ready when and if we want it. Evaluate yourself. Ask yourself, am I hungry? If not, you do not need a snack or perhaps you just recently ate a meal etc. and you can go a little while longer before that snack is truly necessary.
SUMMARY
The 5-6 method is a great approach for keeping your metabolism active and consistently working versus slamming your body with food. Think of this method as many small meals or decent snacks throughout the day. Another way to think of the 5-6 method is still having 3 main-ish meals + 1 planned snack...and you can have a 2nd or 3rd snack if your true internal hunger cues are suggesting you need more nutrition. Use snacks as that opportunity to fuel your body with the nutrients you have been lacking from your current days intake.
100-200 calorie snack examples
(be sure to read labels to be within suggested calorie amounts)
Interesting Reads
References
www.mckinley.illinois.edu/handouts/snacks_smart.htm
Wansink B., Sobal J., "Mindless Eating - the 200 daily food decisions we overlook," Environment and Behavior, January 2007 vol. 39 no. 1 106-123 http://eab.sagepub.com/content/39/1/106.short
THE PURPOSEThe purpose of 5-6 small meals is to keep your metabolism active and stimulated through out the day versus slamming your body into action for a couple 500-1000 calorie meals all at once. With the 5-6 method you are keeping your body charged with small 200-500ish calorie meals at more frequent intervals. I recently had a man come up to me and say "here is my food journal...what is wrong with it? I eat breakfast...then I feel like 3 hours later I am hungry again...so I eat a snack...maybe a couple crackers or nuts or something and so on." I was pleased to inform this man that nothing, honestly, was wrong with his food plan. He was following his natural hunger cues...which can be very challenging in this food driven and highly marketed world. He ate roughly every 3-4 hours with moderate portions and varied food groups based on his needs to FUEL his body. THE DOWNSIDE
The down side to the 5-6 method is that it can lead to weight gain if you become the never ending snack monster and/or grazer. There is a difference between eating for fuel versus grazing for pleasure. If you are incredibly active you may need to keep eating at various times throughout the day to balance your energy out BUT take the time to notice your hunger cues, gauge your energy levels, and overall feelings. There is a difference between truly feeling hungry and eating a yogurt versus eating the warm cookies on the table next to you because they look DELICIOUS.
RULES OF SNACKINGNOT an Extra - Snacks are not to be considered an "extra" to your diet. Snacks are utilized to keep your body fueled between meal times and within your calorie needs. Try planning a snack into your day. Keep a nutritious snack at hand so you wont be tempted to go to vending machines or candy/cookie jar. The next trick is even if you have that snack, choosing what you brought OVER something else. You brought something yummy, trust yourself, and it is most likely more nutritious then whatever tempting goody you are looking at :). Mckinley Illinois University emphasizes using a snack as an opportunity to "compliment your meals and add variety to your diet. For instance if you mainly eat meats and starch at meals, snack on fruits, vegetables, milk, cheese, or yogurt." This is an amazing point. Use your snack as an opportunity to enhance the nutrition you have given your body already that day.
Portions A snack is SMALLER than a meal. A snack is not meant to make you feel full but satisfied until your next meal opportunity. Consider choosing snacks between about 100-200 calories. If you are active you may require something higher around 200-400 calories for replenishment. The 200-400 calorie range is leaning more towards the small meal versus a snack.
Conscious Hunger NUMBER ONE try to avoid mixing snacking with distracting activities. Alright, raise your hand if you have ever been chatting away with someone on the computer with a bag of ANYTHING sitting next to you. If you were to judge...do you think you would have eaten the same amount if you poured an amount in a bowl or were sitting at your kitchen table until your hunger was satisfied? A study was published by Cornell University in 2007 called "Mindless Eating," this study found that humans overlook about 200 food decisions per day and of the 31% studied who overate, 21% denied overeating, 75% stated they were hungry, and 4% based this off of an internal cue. These results emphasize that we do not always realize how small aspects of our environment can trigger our responses. Just because a bowl was bigger people "assumed" they were served the correct amount and were hungry until the meal was completely finished.
Am I Hungry? This leads me to my next and final point. Really learn to evaluate how you feel and your hunger. Once we become adults our natural hunger cues are often challenging to reconnect with. This can be caused from always being told to clean your plate, knowing you only have certain times to eat at work, your kids schedules etc. etc. etc. either way, there are things going on in our lives that we try to plan food into vs. having food available and ready when and if we want it. Evaluate yourself. Ask yourself, am I hungry? If not, you do not need a snack or perhaps you just recently ate a meal etc. and you can go a little while longer before that snack is truly necessary. 
SUMMARY
The 5-6 method is a great approach for keeping your metabolism active and consistently working versus slamming your body with food. Think of this method as many small meals or decent snacks throughout the day. Another way to think of the 5-6 method is still having 3 main-ish meals + 1 planned snack...and you can have a 2nd or 3rd snack if your true internal hunger cues are suggesting you need more nutrition. Use snacks as that opportunity to fuel your body with the nutrients you have been lacking from your current days intake.
100-200 calorie snack examples
(be sure to read labels to be within suggested calorie amounts)
- popcorn
- tortilla chips and salsa
- fruit - apple, pear, 1/2 cantalope/melon, kiwi's etc.
- graham cracker with peanut butter
- cereal and milk
- apple with low fat cheese
- kale chips
- low fat yogurt cup + berries
- 1/4C nuts
- banana + 1tbs peanut butter
- 8oz of milk
Interesting Reads
- Wansink B., Dyson J., "From Mindless Eating to Mindlessly Eating Better" Journal of Physiology and Behavior vol 100 issue 5, 14 July 2010, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S003193841000199X **This interesting article review explains reasons why and how our environment influences our daily food decisions.**
- Eat what you love, love what you eat - Michelle May M.D. www.amihungry.com
- Intuitive Eating - A Revolutionary Program That Works By Evelyn Tribole R.D. and Elyse Resch R.D.. www.intuitiveeating.org
Referenceswww.mckinley.illinois.edu/handouts/snacks_smart.htm
Wansink B., Sobal J., "Mindless Eating - the 200 daily food decisions we overlook," Environment and Behavior, January 2007 vol. 39 no. 1 106-123 http://eab.sagepub.com/content/39/1/106.short
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