Snack Attack: Why Kids Who Eat Junk All Day Get Fat
photo by wynlok
So it seems the consensus is that The Man should get his butt to the personal training table and sign up for a couple sessions. That’s what he plans to do and, after that, he’ll decide whether he’s ready to go forth on his own or stick with a trainer until a list of exercises is burned into his brain. Or until we go broke. Thanks for all of your feedback. Did I ever tell you that you guys rock?
Today during lunch (at which time I ate a heavenly turkey bacon BLT and wondered why I don’t pack those more often) I read a great article on the New York Times Well blog. In it, the writer explained how over the past 30 years American kids are getting more and more calories from snacks. What she didn’t mean was that kids are eating six small, snack-like meals a day consisting of yogurt, fruit, nuts, veggies, and whole grains. What she did mean is that kids are supplementing three full meals with the kind of crap you find at 7-Eleven: chips, cookies, and sugary drinks, probably including those mysteriously bright-colored Slurpies. The kids are eating pretty much ’round the clock, according to research.
“My underlying fear is that we’re moving away from being hungry and eating for satiation to just eating,” said Barry M. Popkin, co-author of the study and director of nutrition epidemiology at the University of North Carolina. “Food is there, and we eat.”
What with the current obesity epidemic—thanks to which most kids will live shorter lives than their parents and end up with diseases like type 2 diabetes—the nonstop snacking sounds about right. I guess eating packaged foods will do that to you.
(I want to clarify: We’re not talking about healthful snacking here. It’s not such a bad thing to eat several smallish meals during the day and call them snacks.)
The question is, what’s made kids constant snackers? I feel like an old fogy saying this, but in my day we at three meals a day plus one post-school snack that kept us full between 1 p.m, when school got out, and some time around 6.
No kid should be expected to eat breakfast at 6 a.m., lunch around 11:30 and dinner at 6 p.m. But the type of snack? That’s another issue. Perhaps kids’ afternoon snacks have morphed from healthy fruit and whole grain crackers or popcorn to quick-and-easy Doritos or some other food that turns fingers orange.
photo by bunchofpants
Remember these? I used to beg my mother for Hostess Sno Balls.
Or it could be a matter of hunger. Chips and cookies and all the other fun stuff keep most people full for a good 4 to 5 minutes before they tell your brain to fire up the hungry hormones. It could be that kids are so snacky because they aren’t eating stuff that fills them up, like apples, which are high in fiber, or some whole wheat (fiber) crackers and yogurt (protein).
Maybe things in school have changed since I walked those hallways. We never had vending machines to fuel our mid-morning salty-crunchy craving. And we didn’t have soda machines to answer the afternoon call for sweets. There was breakfast—the DIY kind you make at home before the bus pulls up at the ungodly hour of 6:45 a.m. Then there was lunch—usually a bring-your-own version, but it might be something the lunch ladies cooked up if you were forgetful, lazy, or just unlucky. Maybe all the snacking is coming from junk eaten between classes.
I’m not sure what the solution is—this is a blog, people, not a manifesto I plan to hand-deliver to the powers that be. Some responsibility must obviously lie with the parents. It’s their job to teach their kids about nutrition and what makes for a healthy meal. And, frankly, it’s their job to say “No” when a child asks—for the 7 gazillionth time—to have a candy bar an hour before dinner. What’s the point in being a mother if you can’t crush their little dreams every once in a while? (Kidding.)
But perhaps health class should also focus on healthful eating. I can’t remember exactly what I learned about in health—aside from that year in fifth grade when they split up the boys and girls—but I don’t think it was anything earth shattering. A little primer on nutrition might be better than describing the ins and outs of peer pressure yet again.
What are your thoughts on Generation Snack? Are you a snacker?
24 comments
I am not a parent but I do believe healthy habits start at home. I don’t feed myself a lot of processed foods, why would I feed them to my kids? (Easy said from someone that doesn’t have kids, right? ;-0)
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Tracey Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:47 am
Joanna–I don’t have kids either, so I guess it’s easier for me to say, too. I think a lot of parents give their kids snacks out in public so they’ll behave. I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same if my kids were driving me (and everyone around me) crazy.
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I used to find myself falling into the category of a snacker. And when I was, meals just were never as enjoyable. I found myself nibbling several times between meals, and finally saw it as a problem. Now that I’ve stopped doing so much snacking, meals taste so much better. It’s really worth it to cut the habit, for both kids and adults.
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I was raised with snackie parents, and that habit has rubbed off on my brother and I. I’m so much better at this and really listen to my body. My husband was not raised by parents who snack, and he’s not a snacker.
This is something I want my daughter to learn. That just because food is around doesn’t mean she has to eat it
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We were the same way…breakfast, lunch, post school snack and then dinner. Even in the summer time we weren’t huge snackers. With that said, if we were hungry we were always allowed to eat. But typically my snacks were fruits, vegetables, peanut butter and crackers, bowl of cereal…I don’t ever remember eating cookies as a snack! That did NOT fly in my house. Cookies were desserts and treats not for mindless mid-day munching! As for school…we did have vending machines in high school but by then I think my eating patterns were set and I usually never went for any of that junk…maybe preztels every so often but again that was rare.
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So important! My parents were big on meal times, and I got used to it. I’m a fan, personally. Even for kids, I think structure is a good thing, but meeting their needs is also important.
As for hostess, I used to eat those coconut snowball/egloo thingies!
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Very important, my nieces seem to get 10 times the junk food from when I was a kid from many school parties, etc. What really surprises me is the amount of junk food parents bring into day cares and preschools to share with the whole class for their child’s birthday – why can’t they bring in little puzzles or games instead?
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Tracey Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:12 pm
Christine–thanks so much for visiting my blog. You’re so right…everything with kids seems to revolve around food.
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We never had snacks growing up – at least not once I got past the age of about 8 or so. But kids these days not only eat all day long, but their choice of snacks are often unhealthy things like chips, soda, and cookies.
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It’s so important for kids to get out in the fresh air and get some exercise every day. Things have changed so much over the last 50 years; with video games, computers, tv, etc, kids have so many indoor distractions and coupled with the rising consumation of junk snacks that you mentioned, this is just a recipe for disaster!
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Tracey Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:16 pm
Empower me photo guy–Thanks for stopping by my blog. You make a good point I didn’t even tackle in this post: lack of physical activity for kids today compared to 30 years ago. So true!
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I am not a snacker but my 5-year-old wants a snack every 5 minutes. Luckily she eats pretty healthy things like fruit and crackers and cheese. I wasn’t much of a snacker growing up so I’m not sure what happened to her!! She is pretty thin though so it isn’t that worst thing in the world for her to eat every few hours!
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I think this is a great discussion you’ve started, Tracey. It’s true that kids don’t really move much- between the TV, video games, and the computer, but they are eating all processed foods that do nothing to satisfy their true hunger. You’re absolutely right that if they had balanced meals and snacks that incorporated whole grains and protein, then maybe they’d need fewer crappy snacks. But truthfully, I think our society has just changed from eating for hunger to emotional eating. I did that for years (and was 135 lbs overweight because of it). Kids have this instant gratification from sugary foods and I don’t think they learn enough in schools about proper eating. I don’t think I ever really learned about what to eat until I ended high school!
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Tracey Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:26 pm
Andrea, I think it’s so great that at such a young age (I think post-high school is pretty young) you changed the way you ate and lost all that weight. It’s really inspirational!
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Great post!
I have three boys ages 12, 10 and 8. Whenever they say they are hungry between meals, they know they are allowed to have a healthy snack, such as yogurt, fruit, veggies, cheese, etc. NO cereal bars, granola bars, chips, cookies or anything like that. I hear some parents complain that their kids are overweight, but when I am at their house their kids are eating junk at all hours of the day and night and drinking soda. I think soda is SO bad for kids!
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Tracey Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:28 pm
Carla…Thanks for stopping by my blog! It is funny how some people don’t put soda and empty calories together!
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ugh the issue of nutrition in schools drives me INSANE! i just want to wave a magic wand and fix the whole system, it’s so screwd up!
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I am a snacker…to much
….usually healthy though?? But yeah , it’s an epidemic…great topic chick !
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Yup, I’m a terrible snacker. Usually, on the good stuff (fruit, oatmeal, yogurt) but I’ve noticed that if I get my mitts in the candy bowl at work, I just want more of it. Thank goodness I never fell for sodas.
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This is an idea I struggle a lot with. Two of my four kids are pretty healthy eaters. We have a very large fruit bowl that they snack out of and are quite happy to chow down on carrots while I get dinner ready. The third little guy though… well, he’s refused to eat anything fresh for about two years now. And it isn’t for lack of availability! I put it out the same for him as I do for his brothers but he just refuses to eat it. He’d rather snack on crap instead. Now, we don’t have much junk food in the house – I hate the stuff but my husband likes his IBC rootbeer, skittles and Doritos and so they’re around sometimes and when they are the little guy thinks of nothing else. (True story: the only produce I’ve got him to ingest is apple sauce, bananas and once I got him to lick a green bean.) Anyhow, my mom always tells me that by making treats the forbidden fruit I’m setting them up for a lifetime of binging (a situation she remedies by plying them with candy at every turn). So what’s the solution? Taking the stigma off of treats or locking them away??
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Tracey Reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 9:20 am
Charlotte, I’ve thought about what I’d do about that when I have kids, too. I was raised where everything was OK to eat. We mostly ate healthy meals and snacks but if we wanted chips, my mom never denied us. We just didn’t ask for them so much. In fact, I always preferred and apple to dessert, maybe because dessert was available and not this big mystery or forbidden “fruit.” The Man grew up with unhealthy foods being totally off limits, and now he has no control around them–as if he’s still rebelling. All that said, I know people who grew up eating only healthy foods and they continued with that way of eating into adulthood. And I know people who ate junk as kids and still do. It’s so confusing because it doesn’t seem like the outcomes are uniform–that they vary from person to person.
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I eat 6x a day
Its hard to say with kids — I wish there could be the “no extremes” rule….focus on just loving a simple walk in the fresh air, reading, writing, laughing with friends and family, and eating (without too much obsession or too much bad or good — although indulgences and “oops-ate everything in sight” is expected
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Hi Tracey,
Very interesting questions you are raising here. Today, i stumbled upon another study from the University of North Carolina admitting that “children are now consuming 168 more calories from snacks than kids did in 1977″. Snacking shouldn’t turn into extra meals, nutritionists generally agree on the fact that a healthy snack for kid should range from 60 to 160 calories. And you are right, it’s up to the parents to educate their little ones !
The study :http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2010-03-02-snacking02_ST_N.htm?csp=usat.me
Laurent / social media manager – Materne
http://www.materne.us
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Tracey Reply:
March 5th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Laurent–Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving this great comment. The study you mentioned is the one I’m talking about. I agree: snacks shouldn’t be small meals–they should be snacks!
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