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.
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 😂
Yeah, but those are my only calories so it’s obviously healthy.
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.
Only one!? … I mean, yeah. I too only eat 1ish meals worth of snacks a day. I’m a normal snacker, yessiree
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.
Same here. I drive for a living and get out of the house early as hell. If I do have something for breakfast like McDonald’s I usually try to push it until 10am or so. Most of the time though I don’t eat anything for breakfast and sometimes not much for lunch. I keep jerky and meat sticks around for a hunger quench when I feel like I need something.
Intermittent fasting or even one meal a day is the ultimate way to regulate blood sugar and there is something about fasting that has you burning even more calories when you enter ketosis even when you get all of your calories and maybe more in one meal at the end of the day.
“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.
Between the extremes, I’ve heard one or two meals with light snacks throughout is better for our metabolism. I’m no nutritionist though.
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For me, I don’t have a fuel guage in me. I don’t mean it to be a smart ass. I mean like, I’m always hungry until I am full. That’s my food fuel guage and it sucks. If I’m not full, I’m hungry. I dropped 60lbs over a year or two by dieting. Not necessarily eating healthy, but reducing my calorie intake to 1200-1800/day. That’s it. I dropped so much weight and was able to fit in my old size from high school. Here’s the kicker. I was hungry the entire time. I refused food, but I was hungry. I woke up hungry. I went to bed hungry. I wouldn’t call it gluttony because I didn’t ever enjoy it but I don’t have the same thing you do. My body doesn’t tell me, “that’s enough food” until it’s screaming, “too much food!”
It’s been my whole life. I can lose the weight. I can gain it back. I can diet, I can control it, but I also will never do it comfortably. I will never be able to eat a small portion like my friends and say I’m good. I always feel like I’m the odd one out.
To all those who feel like I feel, you can do it! It sucks the entire time, but it’s possible. 1200-1800 calories per day. Don’t dive in. Just make adjustments until you get there. You never would’ve realized how many calories you’re putting in. Also, I lost the weight not going to the gym. I fucking hate the gym. Going to the gym is good for you heart, but to lose weight, it’s calories.
Keep it up, friend. You can always message me if you need help.or inspiration.
Uh, it’s normal to be hungry. No one ever told you that?
I struggle with it every day. Fuck you.
Edit: I am loving these numbers, lemmy. Let’s kick the fat shamers and dipshits back towards reddit. Good God, reddit was a cesspool of fat haters. Even those of us doing well to control our condition were met with hate if we dared to speak or appear. Fuck that. Reject hate masquerading as “common sense” when we all know damn well we would never choose to face these difficulties.
It’s normal to be hungry. I’m sorry no one every told you that. But you don’t have to be packed full all the time.
Realizing that was a big deal to me about a decade and a half ago. So you know the Rage Against the Machine song called “Freedom”? If not, please go give it (and everything they ever made) a listen. At the end of each verse, lead singer Zac De La Roca whispers “Anger is a gift.” Well, I warped his words to help me push myself. “Hunger is a gift.” I would growl this to myself if I felt hungry. It would help me keep going.
It is a FUCKING STRUGGLE every day, and whether you meant your words to mock me or side with me doesn’t matter to me in the slightest. If you side with me, thank you, and I hope other who need to see all this see it. If you meant to mock me, it’s truly hilarious. As if any person could amount to the pain my own obsessed mind has caused me in my life. The mockery of others means very little anymore.
