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.

What is the water bottle brigade?

I think healthy snacks are good..But some people eat crap main meals, ultra processed food then snack on sweets, crisps, biscuits and cakes

That's where main problem lies

Yes, l live in an area where the Virtue Signalling. Anti Snack Woke Brigade are well established.

You know the ones, that bring up there children on perfectly balanced diets of virgin foods and organic well water.

I agree that healthy snacks are less of an issue.

But were people less active in those days? If not, how come they were mainly OK without snacks?

I'm not sure how healthy rice cakes are.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&rct=j&url=www.healthline.com/nutrition/are-rice-cakes-healthy&ved=2ahUKEwjKxdLAkcaTAxUfQvEDHctODjoQ1fkOegYIAQgCEDM&opi=89978449&cd&psig=AOvVaw29N6cQyWZ9JYeB6YW5FvYG&ust=1774909024806000

Does Enid Blyton reflect real life though?

A lot of the books with lavish food descriptions were written during rationing,which continued into the 1950s. They're there partly because real life then wasn't like that. Similar to the wonderful meals in The Little White Horse.

This

Misread the title of this is smack and thought wow what rage bait!

I love snacks, they are probably more justified when you’re on the go like you’ve described - couldn’t agree more! x

When I see self-righteous and moralising I do think the people using it have massive chips on their shoulders

I have nothing against snacks but I do have issues with people who need to label other people

This. You put on 7 stone in Covid yet you are lecturing others about their eating habits and patterns, like you are some sort of dietician/ healthy eating guru?

I mean, thanks for pointing out the totally obvious…”it’s about calories in vs calories out” I guess….

I don’t snack because I never feel hungry now anyway. But I don’t judge others - up to them. In the end, weight is generally about calories in vs calories burnt off.

Although, obviously, metabolism and some types of medication can also affect things.

Doesn’t matter how you eat though, whether it’s through little and often or 3 square meals a day. 🤷‍♀️

Do you not work?
I tend to have a sandwich, soup or salad for lunch as I only get a half hour lunch break.

I'm not a snacker as I tend to find meals keep me going until the next meal. Also, if I snack it puts me off my next meal.

I admit to wondering why people post on forums asking for snack ideas for a two hour train journey that leaves at 2 pm, for example. Surely they will have just had lunch and can wait for more than two hours before any food passes their lips again? Yes, I admit to sounding judgemental here.

I’ve always eaten 3 meals and and at least 2 snacks a day. I’ve read threads on here where people seem really bothered about others snacking and find that really odd. Why would anyone care if others eat snacks?

There is a faintly judgemental and critical tone to your posts. It’s often people who were overweight and then become slim, that become almost evangelical about food/diet and condemn other people’s food choices and eating patterns

Yep.

I lecture absolutely NOBODY on their eating habits, I am simply baffled at the idea that snacks are evil and put forward my example as one where snacks are incorporated and I am losing weight. I would never, ever tell someone else how to eat, and my thread was inspired by anti-snackers (haha) jumping on a thread about COL/saving money on snacks saying that they should JUST STOP SNACKING as it was an absolutely terrible thing to do anyway. It isn't, there are many ways to eat healthily. I know "calories in calories out" is flipping obvious!! That's why it baffles me that people go on about snacking. Snacking is fine as long as it is within calorific limits. I'm just pointing out the obvious to those it appears to have escaped.

You clearly didn't read my whole thread- like most people my weight crept on for a number of reasons, not just COVID, though anxiety, suddenly not doing my active job, and not walking miles to work did mean I put on 4 stone in 2020-2021, during COVID. I was already 3 stone overweight at that point.

Before that, I was half a stone overweight anyway when I injured myself badly and was immobile for 9 months, the rest of the weight was baby weight that I never lost. Not that putting 7 stone on during COVID negates your ability to potificate about the absurdity of snack-revulsion- it doesn't.

Losing 6.5 stone is an absolute slog that requires commitment, experimenting, getting it wrong... For yourself. On doing so you know a lot about how YOU lose weight successfully. For me that includes snacks, for other people maybe it doesn't.

I’m just curious as to what job you do? I’d love a job so active

Agree! I need my snacks! These types, normally insecure women, only seem to police other women’s eating habits, never men’s.

The odd rice cake between meals won't make you fat though.

Well a small healthy snack when you’re hungry is
fine, but these days a lot of people don’t snack in that way. My old boss would snack every day on crap foods- a pastry in the morning and then a bag of crisps and a chocolate bar in the afternoon for example…and then wonder why she had a weight problem. At school pick up you see parents fussing about snacks- some are handing out bananas to their kids, but others are handing out awful options- haribo, doughnuts and one little girl I know, who has a significant weight problem, was recently handed one of those huge pretzels you can buy. I recently went out with a friend for a park trip (max 2 hours) and she took a whole back pack full of snacks- little cakes, crisps, yoghurt coated raisins, strawberries, smoothies.

So snacks aren’t bad or wrong in moderation, but in my experience snacks aren’t really snacks, they’re a constant stream of just eating for the sake of it, and usually of poor nutritional value.

I snack on crap but I run so just about get away with it. It is boredom mostly. Funny enough though my dd had anorexia and we told told she had to have 3 meals and 3 snacks a day. Eating through the day sends signals to the brain and stops it going into starve mode. Nothing wrong with snacks obviously just not going over the top.

I've always snacked but I eat the right foods. Fruit, nuts, and minimal processed crap. Never been over-weight.

It's WHAT people snack on that is the problem.

Being overweight is just to do with energy intake vs energy burned. Anyone can lose weight if they want to.

I personally enjoy food, so do lots of exercise to compensate for this.

I think a lot of people are in total denial about how much they eat and how much exercise they don't do.

This.

We all are

When I was at secondary school, we had a bun lady that used to come round at 10.30 breaktime and sell us all iced buns, chelsea buns and doughnuts. We could buy a book of 'bun tickets' that allowed us to buy them. School dinners were a stodgy main and pudding and Mum also regularly stopped at the bakery on the way home from school to get bread and a cake for each of us. My favourite were cream buns. I wasn't fat despite eating this most days on top of three meals.

Me and my sister used to take the piss out of our brother for his snacking habits. He was obsessed with Coke (the full fat stuff) for a while and drank several cans a day. Also not fat. Not sure how we got away with this without piling on the pounds but I think it was just that everyone was more active, on average, than people are now - with no smartphones or devices (other than the Gameboy, which was still pretty niche) we used to do more sports and play out more. And every household didn't have two cars, so people used to walk more.

Well, from what I remember our primary school had a fairly late start - I think it was 9.25 - so I doubt we left before 8. It was a long time ago (I started primary school in 1961), it was rural and although my sister and I famously had the longest walk, other kids had a couple of miles to walk, each way. Not one pupil was brought by car and all of the teachers who lived in the town, also walked or cycled. It was just a different mindset, I suppose.

I'm not up for sharing my profession, but there are many like mine where we really get our steps in- nursing, care work... My mate is an A&E doctor and he gets a fair few too. Another friend does a warehouse job, picking and packing, again plenty of exercise. I've never been one for sitting still and have only ever done an office job 6 months in my whole life, hated it.