It’s snack time! It rings like a tune, doesn’t it? Snacks are arguably the most enjoyable part of the average person’s day. Think about it, snacks have been an essential part of everyone’s lives since birth and are probably the most anticipated morsels the world over.
Since the early 17th century, snacking has been introduced as a means to quell cravings between meals. But as time progressed it has become more mainstream and may even replace traditional meals such as breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Nutritionists have highlighted that snacking is essential in daily life and has played a vital role in the lives of people with medical conditions. For instance, fruits such as bananas and apples, have been proven to help hypoglycemic patients raise their blood glucose levels back to normal and even hypotensive patients benefiting from consuming lightly salted snacks such as Cheez-It to help elevate blood pressure levels to normal.
They also elaborated on the benefits of using crackers and pretzel to help individuals with indigestion and even heartburn. It was also indicated that a lot of snacks contain essential vitamins and trace metals that are essential for normal function and growth, especially in children.
On the contrary, what makes snacking so addictive? Could it be the additive ingredients? Or is it simply the idea of snacking that compels us?
Scientifically it has been proven that the human brain creates a sense of reward when eating snacks that causes the brain to release feel-good hormones such as dopamine and serotonin. This is the reason gym enthusiasts use snacks to reward themselves and call it a cheat day. Snacking has also become addicting because most of these “tiny packs filled with bits of heaven” contain sugar, which is glucose. The brain’s only source of energy is through
the metabolism of glucose, which essentially is the reason we crave sweets at points in the day. On the other hand, snacking has also been associated with distracted eating and habitual eating patterns or association such as the popular popcorn at movie time.
In this modern era, the food industry has found many ways to encourage snacking and has also created snacks that are natural and organic which has increased the demand for people to snack or as they like to put it “feeling peckish”. Snacking has also replaced the time-consuming task of preparing breakfast which has helped the fast-paced, working professionals, such as Shalom Lamm, C.E.O. at Operation Benjamin, fill the gaps in their diet.
It can be presumed that even high-profile individuals, such as Lamm, indulge in the occasional bag of pretzels or serving of fruits just to keep going rather than sitting down to a hefty meal. In reality, a lot of people favor low-calorie snacks such as fruit snacks, biscuits, granola bars. As well as, other snacks such as Oreo, Ritz Crackers, Eggos and even Tostitos.
It has been proven that a lot of top-rated, low-calorie snacks have helped persons battling obesity to lose weight and maintain a healthier lifestyle as they replace traditional meals packed with calories and at the same time eliminate the cravings and hunger they experience.
To learn more about Shalom Lamm, visit his Ideamensch profile.