EE2 Snacker's Manifesto

Adam Clark EE2-Eater’s Manifesto Writ-1133 Eric Leake A Snacker’s Manifesto Snacking, everyone does it and it can lead to a healthier diet, but it does just the opposite for many Americans. Not enough time for a meal? Grab a snack. Not hungry enough for a meal? Snack. Friend has a snack? Why not join them. The causes for snacking are endless and often lead to continual snacking. This is where snacking goes wrong. Snacks are not a substitute for a meal and should be had minimally throughout a day, not continually. It is not just the frequency of snacks that have lead to them to become unhealthy, it is what we chose to snack on and what is presented as snacks that result in poor habits. Fruits and vegetables are not often thought as a go to snack, but they can be just as convenient as processed snacks and lead to healthier snacking. I know my snacking habits have fallen to these unhealthy ideals that many Americans have placed on snacking and need to change. Our snacking habit as Americans does not have to disappear, but we need to change our ideas and goals of snacking to healthier ones. Snacking is something that we get brain washed to do at an early age, so it is a hard habit to break. As children, out parents let us snack. In analysis done by Barry Popkin, a professor of nutation at the University of North Carolina, on four national studies done on US youth ages 2-18, the first was the Nationwide Food Consumption Survey done in 1977 and the latest being the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey done in 2006, snacking of kids aged 2-6 increased the most over this time period with an increase of about 1.4 more snacks per day (399). This shows our addiction to snacking starts at a young age when we rely on our parents to make choices with our food. With this increase in snacking at a young age, it is not shocking that overall snacking among all children has risen over the years. In the 1977-1978 study, 74 percent of children studied snacked, but by the 2003-2006 study that number had risen to 94 percent of kids polled (399). It has gotten to the point were almost every child in the US snacks on a daily basis. With processed foods becoming more prevalent and easily accessible, an increase snacking on those products was also observed. The consumption as fruit as a snack has fallen by almost half from 1977 to 2006 while salty snack consumption has almost doubled (401). In the same studies done on adults 19 and older, a similar increase in snacking was observed with 71 percent of adults snacking in 1977 to 97 percent of adults in 2006 (Piernes 325). Our snacking habit is taught to us before we can make our on choices on food, sticking with us for life and has shifted to become less health and more frequent, raising concern. Our snacking today is often not healthy, but that’s by our decisions, consciously or subconsciously on the foods we chose to snack on. Since 1977, both adults and kids have began to snack more on salty foods and shifted away from fruits (Piernes). In a study done by Pascalle Weijzen, a professor of human nutrition conducted a study on male and females in the workplace. The participants were surveyed on which snack they would chose out of two healthy options and two unhealthy options. At a later time the same participants were give then options between the two healthy and two unhealthy and a quarter of those who said they would chose a healthy snack, switched to an unhealthy one while less than 10 percent switched from an unhealthy choice to a healthy one. This shows that many times people intend to have a healthy snack, but when the options are placed in front of us, it can often be hard to resist the unhealthy option. It has been ingrained into us that processed foods are snacks, not fruit or vegetables through medias influence over us. Commercials and advertisement have gotten the idea of convenient processed food as the ideal snack. Inn an article in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Annie Anderson writes “Snack food marketing and advertising represents one of the most successful industry investments of the last decade. The sums of money involved have produced spectacular presentations of bright eye-catching posters and adverts, seen everywhere from vending machines to buses and glossy magazines. Health promotion marketing and advertising pales in comparison” (Anderson). Advertisement is mostly for processed food so healthy food is minimally in ones mind as snack food. The advertisements claim the “healthiness” of their product; and many Americans believe this without question. But we must step back and question how the snack was made with zero fat and can be healthy for us. Fruits and vegetables provide natural and balanced compositions while our snacks today are filled with artificial ingredients. What Americans desire to achieve from snacking has become very unbalanced. We desire a single food that is healthy, balanced in nutrients, and can act as a meal supplement or replacement as needed. Our snack food today though does none of this, though many people treat snacks like they do achieve this. Snacks were intended as small amounts of food between meals to tide one over until it is time for a meal. Snacks were intended to be eaten in moderation, but many Americans struggle with this concept. If we enjoy something we are going to have a lot of that thing, but with snacks, we have begun to eat a disproportional amount of them. It was also intended as a time to take in vital nutrients throughout the day. Snacking on fruits and vegetables provides a small item rich in nutrients. A small snack on healthy food allows for nutrients to be taken in throughout the day and not in mass quantities at a single meal, but also prevents from overeating at meals because people are never craving for a large meal. Denise Webb a nutrition professor at the University of Cambridge talks about the benefits of snacking. In her article she writes that snacking on nutrient rich basic foods can increase daily nutrient count and decrease calorie intake. Snacking can reduce daily calorie intake because people are less hungry at meals and cut back on their calories at those meals. (Webb). Snacking also keeps our blood sugar from spiking which is healthier for both diabetics and non-diabetics. Snacking should not be eliminated, it offers too many health benefits, but it cannot continue as we know it. What comes to mind when someone asks for a snack food? Carrots? Or maybe cookies or chips? Advertising has a large effect on how we view a product. When was the last time you saw a commercial advertising fruit or vegetables as a snack? Processed food? I know I cannot remember the last time I saw fruit or vegetables advertised as a snack. With all the advertising for unhealthy options, they are subconsciously in our mind as good snack food. People must understand with all advertising, the producer is going to make any product appealing hiding its negative effects. We must not just submit ourselves to believe all the advertising about healthy processed snacks. Like meals, we must look for balance in our snacks as well. I am a person who tries to eat fairly healthy. I do not over obsess with healthy food, but I do try to not over eat and watch the fatty foods I eat at meals. This though gets thrown out the door when I snack. I almost view snacks as something that is calorie-less simply because it is not a “meal”. Snacking is not something I think hard about. If I am hungry, I will go get a snack, almost always without question. The issue is more than just getting snacks; it is the quantity and choices of the snacks too. I have the option everyday to grab and apple or banana to go from the cafeteria, but I rarely do that. My snacking is mostly on chips or cookies because they are easily available and have been instilled in me as snack food. Chips are obviously not the healthiest option, but I never question that, nor do I ever question how many I eat. I can easily get a bag of chips and eat the whole bag, which has 5-8 servings in a single sitting. Not only did I pick an unhealthy option, I eat it in ridiculous quantities. If I eat that much as a snack, I will be inclined to skip a meal and snack again later. Though my snacking may be a little extreme, I feel like it is not far off from many other college students. I also feel many people know their snacking is unhealthy but have a minimal desire to change it either because they enjoy the snacking or struggle to find other options. I, like most Americans, need to place a higher value on snacks. I should no long ignore healthy snacking options available in place of what has now become typical snack food nor can I think of it as calorie-less food because it is not a meal. If I can change my snacking habits soon, I can change a negative habit into a beneficial one for the rest of my life. Snacking is a habit, though hard to get rid of; it can be modified. Snacking on more fruit and other healthy options will allow everyone to have healthier daily eating habits by not over snacking, eating small meals and cutting out the over processed, un-nutritional snacks. There are always new diet crazes that people change their diets for, so why not treat healthy snacking as a new diet craze, it could prove to be more beneficial than many diets by balancing nutrient intake and cutting down calories at meals. People go to processed food as snack because of convenience, but can fruit be just as convenient? An apple sitting on the counter is just as easy of a grab and go snack as a bag of chips so why must start to view it that way. Works Cited Anderson, Annie. "Snacking Habits in Adults." Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics 16.1 (2003): 1-2. University of Denver Penrose Library. Web. 1 June 2012. . Piernas, C., and B. M. Popkin. "Trends In Snacking Among U.S. Children." Health Affairs 29.3 (2010): 398-404. University of Denver Penrose Library. Web. 1 June 2012. . Piernes, Cameron, and Barry M. Popkin. "Journal of Nutrition." Journal of Nutrition 140.2 (2010): 325-32. University of Denver Penrose Library. Web. 02 June 2012. . Webb, Densie. "Regular Snacking Is Smart Snacking: Making It Happen." Environmental Nutrition 32.5 (2009): 2. University of Denver Penrose Library. Web. 1 June 2012. . Weijzen, P.l.g., C. De Graaf, and G.b. Dijksterhuis. "Predictors of the Consistency between Healthy Snack Choice Intentions and Actual Behaviour." Food Quality and Preference 20.2 (2009): 110-19.University of Denver Penrose Library. Web. 1 June 2012. .