What is the healthiest snack food?
A common question I hear is, “What are the healthiest foods for snacking?”
Answer: nothing (with a few exceptions)
Here’s why: For most of us, snacking isn’t necessary, and can create weight gain and metabolic problems, increasing our risk of disease.
First, frequent snacking increases our risk for insulin resistance in several ways.
Snack foods like chips or sweets add empty calories and cause weight gain. Excess body fat encourages insulin resistance.
High fat, and high saturated fat meals decrease insulin sensitivity. A habit of eating high fat snacks can create insulin resistance.
Insulin levels rise every time we eat. When insulin levels are chronically elevated due to frequent eating, insulin sensitivity is reduced and insulin resistance occurs.
Insulin resistance is a metabolic condition that is associated with an increased risk of obesity, and type 2 diabetes.
Second: Hunger makes good sauce!
There’s value in being hungry when a meal comes. When we’re hungry, food tastes better. We all know this intuitively; now we have research to support this idea.
This is important because the better the food tastes, the more satiated we will be. Satiation is the feeling of satisfaction that food brings. Have you ever eaten a meal and not felt satisfied? What happens? Often, we look for something else; a dessert, or another piece of bread and butter, or maybe another drink. We are more likely to overeat when we’re not satisfied.
When we are satiated, we are satisfied with less. Starting a meal hungry can actually help us eat less.
When snacking is a good thing:
Type 1 and 2 diabetics who take insulin may need planned snacks for regulating their blood sugar. This should be coordinated with an endocrinologist and / or dietitian specializing in diabetes.
If you experience hypoglycemia (in non-diabetics) regularly
If your schedule prohibits you from having regular meals, having healthy snacks available may be necessary
If you have medications that require food, and are taken outside of regular meal time
If you are underweight and are trying to gain weight
Elderly individuals who find it hard to eat meals large enough to sustain their weight
Other, individual needs related to your specific health condition
What should you snack on if you truly need a snack?
A good snack combines a complex carbohydrate food with a good source of protein and healthy fat. Here are a few good choices:
A small apple with an ounce of nuts (~25 almonds)
A piece of string cheese with 4 whole grain crackers
2 Tbsp hummus with 2 large carrots
¼ cup cottage cheese w/1/2 cup pineapple
For most of us, it’s best to get our nutrition from healthy meals. If you often find yourself truly hungry (vs. emotional hunger) in between meals, try increasing the amount of protein and fiber in your meals, or even increasing the size of the meal, before making regular snacking your fix.
Resources:
How hunger makes food taste better
Constant, high insulin levels can create insulin resistance
High fat meal/diet increases insulin resistance
The 5/10/15
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