The anti-snack brigade are self-righteous, moralising nonsense-merchants.

Who has mentioned "old people"? And how old is old?

My children have experienced roast chestnut sellers and they're in their 30s and 40s. Likewise, hot potato sellers.

I'm 70, so I'm guessing I qualify as old by your standards. A snack in my childhood home was a digestive biscuit during the morning. I wasn't expected to need a snack in the afternoon because I would have a had a school dinner. If I was desperate, I could have an apple or orange. People of my age were brought up by parents who had experienced rationing. My mother was 8 when World War 2 began but rationing went on for so long, it was still in existence when she married and didn't finish until my sister was 2. Offering us a biscuit or a piece of fruit was an act of love, not privation.

You forget that people were generally more active in former times, simply because they had to be. I had a four mile walk to school from the age of 5. My mother walked it 4 times a day because there was no alternative way of getting me there and back.

I think old people forget that they did indeed eat between main meals when given the opportunity!

Just have to read Enid Blyton etc the kids are constantly eating berries and taking cake with them etc

Do they forget they used to have hot chestnuts for sale in the streets in the winter and the like, not exactly your main meal....

And they forget that they were given pocket money and spent it on sweets....

Nobody becomes obese snacking on bananas or rice cakes. If you're active they keep your energy up.

It's when you're not active and are snacking on donuts that the problems start.

The anti snack brigade are often the anti carrying a bottle of water with you brigade too.

My mate's very austere mother is like this. She goes on and on all the time about how people "never used to snack" and basically seems to believe that it is the sole reason why people are overweight and obese. It's also an angle people take on Mumsnet all the time and it is really bringing the eye-rolls from me.

Personally, I couldn't do without my snacks. All these people saying they don't need a snack must be sitting on their bottoms all day.

I do an active job (I don't sit down all day and I also run, walk, lift at work). I need my big bowl of porridge and banana for breakfast, my morning fruit snack at about 10 am (usually another banana) my work lunch (yesterday leftover chilli, salad, apple and orange). I get back at 4 or 5 depending, yesterday had 4 oat cakes and cheddar with chutney, then went to the pool with the kids to swim until 6, then I made our dinner which was white fish and bean stew, new potatoes, broccoli. I had a small piece of a cake I made at about 10pm. FYI I am also LOSING weight (6.5 stone so far, over 3 years), I write down everything I eat. Yesterday's calorie count was 1800, with 2 snacks.

The anti snack thing is just self righteous twaddle, you can spread your food out how you want, I find if I listen to my body and eat when I am hungry I am less likely to over eat, and if I hadn't had my oatcakes there is no way I would have managed taking the kid's swimming (they had a snack too, peanut butter on toast and bananas)

It's not about how often you eat, it's about how much you eat, how much exercise you get, and obviously what you're snacking on. But that said- I have gone through periods of time where those snacks were small bags of crisps/KitKat's etc and still lost weight as calories were equivalent.

I'm anti water bottle brigade but not anti snacking

How did you manage to have 6.5 stone to lose?

Yes, she did. In fact, we moved there 6 months before I was 5, so I was walking the 16 miles too until I started school. It sounds incredible these days, perhaps, but it's true.
She also got everything that needed to be done with the minimum of household gadgets. For a lot of that time, she didn't have a washing machine or a vacuum cleaner and she had to lay a fire in the Rayburn for cooking and heating. In spite of that (or perhaps because of it) the house was clean and so were we.
Why wouldn't I have got anything done at school? I went to school and school was for learning. Which I did.

@Thecows , a fast walker would walk four miles in an hour.

Your mum walked 16 miles a day, 5 days a week? How did she get anything done? Come to think of it, how did you get any schooling done if you had to walk 8 miles a day? My mind is boggling!

Who has mentioned "old people"? And how old is old?

My children have experienced roast chestnut sellers and they're in their 30s and 40s. Likewise, hot potato sellers.

I'm 70, so I'm guessing I qualify as old by your standards. A snack in my childhood home was a digestive biscuit during the morning. I wasn't expected to need a snack in the afternoon because I would have a had a school dinner. If I was desperate, I could have an apple or orange. People of my age were brought up by parents who had experienced rationing. My mother was 8 when World War 2 began but rationing went on for so long, it was still in existence when she married and didn't finish until my sister was 2. Offering us a biscuit or a piece of fruit was an act of love, not privation.

You forget that people were generally more active in former times, simply because they had to be. I had a four mile walk to school from the age of 5. My mother walked it 4 times a day because there was no alternative way of getting me there and back.

Yup absolutely correct, both are completely uneccessary.