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

[SpangleTwangle]

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.

How did you manage to have 6.5 stone to lose?

The mindset of trying to force your eating into three set meals and that those meals need to meet all your requirements and you shouldn't eat in between them if probably pretty damaging. The poster who mention she and her husband eating when they're hungry throughout the day and feeling better for it sounds much more intuitive.

It's just not true that kids never snacked. Humans have snacked for centuries.

You've said it yourself that you and your friends had biscuits coming in from school... That's snacking...

1. immobility due to injury for around 9 months, 1 stone weight gain
2. birthed two babies, didn't lose all the weight each time, 1.5 stone weight gain
3. COVID meant I didn't do my usually active job, or walk 4 miles a day to work and back any more, for around a year. I also stopped going to the gym for 2 years... I also found myself really anxious and ate a lot of my anxiety. This accounted for 4 stone!!
4. genetics

Also, as my late dad always used to point out when anyone said this - people absolutely did used to snack. ‘Elevenses’ was always a thing, and stopping for tea and biscuits mid-afternoon. My parents started working in offices in London c. 1960 when a tea lady used to come round with a trolley twice a day with tea, buns, biscuits etc.

But how many people with an opinion on snacks (and voicing them) is anyone, including the OP, meeting? I just can't imagine how this is even a thing that registers with anyone. For example, there may be cake or biscuits at work and someone might say they're not having any, because they're trying not to eat so much sugar or snack less generally, but I've never heard anyone say that they don't think anyone should eat between meals.

Whats this anti water bottle stuff about ?

People don't believe in drinking water?

I have water with me 24/7, am I being judged

It's just this mate's mum really, and a bunch of people on Mumsnet if you look at any post that mentions snacks...

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 typically don’t eat things like sandwiches.

For lunch, I tend to eat pasta, chicken and rice, stir fry etc and then I don’t feel like eating anything afterwards.

And then I don’t typically eat desserts either.

So most of the fruit I get comes from snacking.

That's one person though, so you could just roll your eyes and forget. I only opened your thread because it came up in active, I don't look at any diet/weight loss boards, so maybe it's a thing on there? Of course, someone could be sat on their sofa shoving Pringles into their mouth, whilst posting rubbish about how others should eat.

I'm in the anti snack camp but only because it works for me in the sense that my weight hasn't changed in 40 years, I can eat whatever I like and have never counted a calorie. The times in my life when I've changed these habits (breastfeeding mainly) I've put weight on.

I'm pretty greedy and enjoy my food but I also enjoy it better if I'm properly hungry. I get twitchy if I don't eat at very set times though.

Those who can eat small amounts spread through the day are not really the ones eating fattening snacks on top of large meals.

.... So you did snack...

Well done for losing it.

You mention eating away your anxiety, was this from snacking in between meals?

The reason I ask, this may have been the cause of your weight gain and then this would fit into your friend’s mums argument.

Why do people insist they never snacked and then go in to give examples of them /family/friends snacking?

Is there a different definition that I'm unaware of?

Everyone has different needs! I eat constantly but I’m very active. I don’t think I often go more than 3 hours without eating something and generally go for toast/ sandwiches/ cheese and crackers between meals. Maybe it will hit me one day but for now it works. My kids are the same, sporty, slim things who constantly need fuelling. My parents on the other hand eat their meals and maybe the occasional biscuit if they’re in company. I grew up having a biscuit at school break time and crisps and fruit after school. I don’t really like crisps or biscuits now! I wish people could just do their thing and stop worrying about what other people think.

I was just giving you examples as you found it impossible to imagine any kind of meal that included fruit 🤷‍♀️

This post was inspired by a recent post I found where a woman was asking how to save money on the snack part of her food shop, and she was inundated by people telling her to stop snacking entirely because snacking is the BANE OF MODERN LIFE (I'm being facetious but that was the gist) but I've come across it a lot actually, and no I don't hang around weight loss threads tbh.

Sure…..tho I hate bananas soz 😊

You say you can eat what you want, but do you actually only 'want' a pretty healthy diet? If eating what you wanted meant a packet of biscuits and a whole share bag of Kettle Chips, it wouldn't make a difference if you ate it at lunchtime alongside your usual meal, so technically not 'snacking', or if you ate it an hour later.

I've never not snacked so hard to say really but generally I'd say most of my extra calories personally came from piling on extra pasta/rice/potatoes at actual mealtimes, as well as choosing much larger snacks, so full sized chocolate bar or big wedges of cake as opposed to mini KitKats and weighed portions. I weigh everything now as personally it's portion control that was problematic. If stressed I would sit and eat all the leftovers at an evening meal.

The other Biggie as you can see from my reply is that I very suddenly did an absolute fraction (like we are talking 1000+ calories worth) of my previous amount of exercise, without adjusting intake.

Some people need to eat occasionally and others frequently and that’s just how people are

you are better eating healthy snacks than unhealthy UPF filled main meals

but people are weird and unable to see beyond their own noses

Yes, we did. Who said we didn't? I was countering your rather generalised (and accusatory) post, as one of the, you know, "older people". We snacked (not sure the term was used as a verb when I was a child though) though snacks were different, I suppose, and fewer. But yes, we sometimes had a between meals biscuit or some fruit.

I prefer to spread my eating out through the day. I snack through the day and then have an evening meal. Works for me!

this is all very boastful, did we really need your day menu. Could you not just have been honest 'Hey look what I eat in a day, aren't I doing well' without all this irrelevant snack commentary.