Snack culture = unhealthiness?

[Jourdain11]

I watched the 1950s episode of Back in Time for Dinner on BBC last night and it was quite interesting that, while the young family members hated the food (which admittedly looked grim), they said that they realised that they didn't actually need to have snacks all the time.

I understand that there are a lot of considerations to take into account when "combatting the nation's obesity crisis", but I really wonder if a lot of the blame lies with snacks?

It seems weird to me that, from nursery onwards, we promote this culture of having constant snacks between meals. Healthy snacks, unhealthy snacks, "treat snacks"... much of which is just unnecessary eating. And also, some of the snacks have grown to the size of small meals!

In France, where I grew up, snacking between meals was not and is not really a thing. You are supposed to feel hungry for meals! The only "snack" we ever had as kids was an after-school snack, and that would be, for example, a piece of fruit, or a yoghurt, or a slice of bread and cheese.

To put it into context, the "3 meals, 3 snacks" model is used in ED recovery programmes, designed for aggressive weight gain, i.e. because it is actually dangerous for the person to remain at their current body weight. Yet it seems like quite a large proportion of the population are also following this model!

This isn't intended as a vilification of British eating habits (as I know this exists in many other cultures also) but it does make me wonder if we have collectively got into a warped mindset about healthy eating habits and hunger, and whether this may be a big contributor to the health crises we face in this country, which have made so many people more vulnerable to serious impact from Covid-19.

As a T1 diabetic I don’t usually bother snacking much because it really has never felt worth doing the carb counting and injecting if not for a meal. Likewise you can’t so easily eat on the go. It does make you notice how much others mindlessly snack though!

@CrunchyNutNC

There are plenty of snacks that won't cause you to produce more insulin (eg anything with almost zero carbs like eggs, cheese etc). So again it's not the act of snacking that's the issue but what you're snacking on.

I agree, but the western snack industry is almost solely about high carb low fat food so it does become about the act for many - my DH won't eat cheese or nuts and his snacking is, by default, carb heavy. I don't think Mosley is looking for zero insulin, but rather recognising that many of us live in almost permanently with very high insulin levels because we eat carbs every couple of hours.

Also the problem is that most on-the-go foods (eg cereal bars etc) are pure sugar and most "healthy" snack foods (eg boiled eggs, avocado) don't really lend themselves to eating on the go unless you're happy to carry lots of Tupperware, freezer bags etc around.

@Trisolaris

As a T1 diabetic I don’t usually bother snacking much because it really has never felt worth doing the carb counting and injecting if not for a meal. Likewise you can’t so easily eat on the go. It does make you notice how much others mindlessly snack though!

Have you tried the pump? My father used to praise it a lit. He used to say it should be given to everyone, especially young people. Obviously you still have to watch what you are eating and how much and change dosage if needed, but it was much more stable than when he was injecting.

@SchrodingersImmigrant I’m on a pump now which is amazing! I agree with your dad. It was a long road to get it.

[quote Trisolaris]@SchrodingersImmigrant I’m on a pump now which is amazing! I agree with your dad. It was a long road to get it.[/quote]
Great you are finding it good. He used to talk about how easier it would be if he had it as a teenager. It should be more available.

@DeeTractor

"great 🤷‍♀️I've never read it before."

You must be new here. Allow me to summarise: Every adult in the UK (apart from those on MN) is a fat gelatinous blob whose only instinct is to constantly feed and drink. You will see this referred to as "gobbling/guzzling/stuffing/gorging/devouring" but never just "eating". This is accompanied by "having a starbucks cup/water bottle" super glued to their massive ham fists from which they constantly suck at like starving wolf cubs at their mother's teat. Similarly, every child in the UK is a clone of Augustus Gloop, except those whose parents post on MN; these children will invariably be tall, skinny and athletic and couldn't gain weight if their lives depended on it. They have also never eaten chocolate and don't know what McDonald's is.

Meanwhile, in continental Europe, there are no fat people are everyone floats around like Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly. They spend their time sitting in little cafes drinking black coffee and smoking entirely too much, but this is OK because it keeps them slim. McDonald's doesn't exist and children only eat crudites and (homemade) hummus.

😂😂

I'm a huge fan of eating when you are hungry, and stopping when you don't feel hungry any more.

Brought son up to be like that, because I didn't want him to be messed up foodwise like I am. I was brought up with 3 meals a day, no snacks, eat what's on your plate, whether you like it or not, and whether it is too much or not.

Son eats as he likes. He snacks. He has meals, or if he isn't hungry due to snacking, he skips them. His body shape has varied over the years - currently, at 19, he is skinny.

He is not messed up, foodwise. He listens to his hunger. I wish I could be more consistently like him.