Snacking: Friend or Foe?

I’m a snacker. Period. The end. I prefer to graze like a cow than to sit down and eat a decent meal. While some argue that eating 5 small meals a day is the best way to eat, I completely disagree. For me, the more often I eat the hungrier I get. I go from 5 “snacks” to 5 “meals” a day which immediately turns into 5 extra pounds where it should’t be – must be the 5 theme, I don’t know!

A lot of people, including personal trainers, will tell you to eat 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day – as this is supposed to speed up your metabolism. The problem with this theory is that it’s targeted toward people who are extremely active (and by extremely, I don’t mean 1 hour on the elliptical.) So, this way of eating -if you’re not extremely active- will essentially make you gain weight.  Now, if you’re eating celery or veggies as your snacks you clearly will not be gaining weight, but most people turn to processed foods like the “100 calorie packs” because they are portioned and incredibly easy. The problem with these snack foods (regardless of the organic title) is that, firstly, they are extremely processed and secondly, they have absolutely no nutritional value. Which also leads me to the whole calorie counting – as a form of dieting – thing. You can eat 1200 calories worth of “100 calorie pack” snack foods and probably still lose weight, but I can guarantee you that you’ll be starving in the process and you will be starving your body of nutrients. The key is to incorporate nutrient dense foods in your diet!

If you look at the way Europeans eat you’ll notice that they rarely – if ever- snack. They eat three meals a day – the second is the largest- and they are also walking everywhere. So, if you have a 9-5 office job and you’re munching all day long – I’m sorry to break it to you, but if losing weight is your goal you probably wont succeed unless you really amp up your workout routine. Basic Ayurvedic principles for weight-loss state that the first -and most important- goal is to get yourself to eat three meals a day. This means you need to eat enough for breakfast to get you through lunch and enough for lunch to get you to dinner without snacking. I’m borderline hypoglycemic so I always believed that I needed to eat smaller meals more frequently to stabilize my blood sugar, but I decided to put this Ayurvedic theory (also states that this way of eating helps reverse hypoglycemia) to the test to see how it would affect me. Well, ladies and gents, I must say that it’s a winner and I think I’m gonna keep it!

I will never forget my good friend, snacking. She will always be there, but I’m gonna try and keep her for social gatherings only! In fact, this past Wednesday my cousin threw a “Bridesmaids” viewing party which consisted of a lot of delicious snack foods – some healthy, some not – and you better believe I had plenty of both! That was my third time watching that movie and I laughed just as hard as the first time. Seriously- one of my favorites, ever!!

Here are some pics from the party: (we actually paused half-way through the movie to go for seconds – or thirds in my case)

The healthy set of snacks:

The not so healthy set of snacks:

I really believe the best times in life are ones spent with your family and good friends. It really doesn’t get any better than that 🙂

We are now in the lovely month of October – Breast Cancer Awareness month. I’m sure many of you know someone – friend or family-  who has been affected. If there are any 5k’s in your area supporting this cause – or any cause-  I encourage you to sign up and rock it!

PS: Shout out to my mama and Ms. Fabulous Rita for being rock-star survivors 😉

*I only got two stars this week because this weekend was super busy, but I did have a full day of moving so that probably counts for something. Also, there was a lot of food involved this weekend… pics will be up soon!

Nutrition Label Deception

Cover of Food Rules: An Eater's Manual

Nutrition labels. Most people – including myself – have been led to believe that the most important part of food labels are the nutrition facts (Calories, Fats, Sat. Fats, Carbs, Sugars etc.) While these are important, yes, it is also crucial to check the ingredients and here’s why.

Trans Fats have recently been introduced to us as more detrimental to our health than saturated fat. The USDA finally found it important enough to make manufacturers label  how much trans fat is in each product. Great, right? Wrong. I bet you didn’t know that the USDA allows .5 grams of trans fat, otherwise known as hydrogenated oils, per serving and still allow manufacturers to claim 0 grams on the nutrition facts label. (Or maybe you did know because you’re brilliant!)

Here’s an example of this:

To the left is the Nutrition Facts label for Coffee Mate non-dairy creamer. Next to trans fat there is a nice big 0 g. If you scroll down and look at the ingredients list, you’ll notice that the third – I repeat- third ingredient is partially hydrogenated soybean and/or cotton seed oil aka Trans Fat. So, the reason why they are allowed to claim 0g is because they have .5 g or less per serving. Let’s think about this logically. A serving size is 1 tbs and I’m sure most people use more than a tbs. Each tablespoon has .5 gr or less, so when you calculate how many servings per bottle – it’s false to say there are zero trans fats! Another good example of this is peanut butter (like skippy or jiff.) If the ingredient list has more than peanuts and salt – it’s clearly not natural so, READ INGREDIENTS!!!

According to Michael Pollan’s “Food Rules,” rule number 3: “Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry – Ex: Ethoxylated diglycerides, Cellulose, Xanthan gum.” and rule number 6: “Avoid food products that contain more than 5 ingredients.” This can be very difficult to do, but the point of this is to try and make as much food as possible at home. Most products that have over 5 ingredients have been extremely processed in order to have a longer shelf life – even products that claim “natural” on the box. The bottom line here is – it’s always better to make it yourself than to buy it off a shelf!

My friend Lea shared a delicious recipe – she made up and likes to call accidentally Indian – with me that I will now share with you! It’s in season too 😉

Ingredients:

Sweet Potato

Green Onions

Asparagus

Mushrooms

Steamed Lentils (Trader Joes sells them)

Tofu

Spices: Garlic Powder, Rosemary, Salt, Pepper

Butternut Squash Soup (low sodium)

The Process:

1. Saute a chopped sweet potato with green onions and garlic

2. Chop up a handful of asparagus and mushrooms

3. Add in about a cup of steamed lentils

4. Use tofu marinated in beet juice  http://recipesforjuicing.information2know.com/tofu-     marinated-in-russian-beet-marinade/ (Optional if you’re not a tofu fan)

5. Use garlic powder, rosemary, salt and other spices (maybe tarragon)

6. Make sure you don’t throw in all the ingredients at once. First sear the potatoes with           rosemary, salt, and garlic until they are soft.  The other vegetables take much less time     to soften so you want to put them in afterwards to avoid overcooking.

7. Add some butternut squash soup (low sodium from trader joe’s)

    stir and turn off heat, keep lid on and let simmer for about 10 minutes and SERVE!

Quote:

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Suess

Read- read -read Ingredients 🙂

Related articles:

• Fat Talk: Trans Fatty Acids (fitsugar.com)
• Is Trans Fat Sneaking Into Your Diet? (fitsugar.com)