I’m going to say something that goes totally against our modern patterns of eating.
But constant snacking between main meals is not a metabolically healthy practice.
Don’t let the status quo deceive you. While 90% of adults snack today, only 60% of us did in the 1970s. And in a country bombarded with snack food ads, it’s harder to trace the connection between snacking and poorer health outcomes.
The human body isn’t built for constant snacking, and it can harm your metabolic health.
Even if it seems impossible right now, you can unlearn this behavior and reclaim your metabolic health.
So why do we snack?
Metabolically healthy people snack for two reasons: to stop hunger pangs, and to get more energy.
You’ll probably need a snack if you exert yourself physically. Bodybuilders, marathoners, and backpack hikers know the feeling all-too well.
But metabolically unhealthy people — roughly 93% of Americans — snack for different reasons.
Sometimes we’re looking for emotional comfort. Sometimes we’re craving a certain flavor profile (designed by corporations to hack our brain’s pleasure sensors, I might add). Sometimes we’re bored and looking for something to do.
All these things lead to snacking without purpose.
When healthy people snack, they look for sustainable energy in the form of protein and fat.
When metabolically unhealthy people snack, they look for stress relief, flavors, or emotional comfort. This leads to processed food consumption like chips, crackers, and snack bars.
I want you to know this destructive mindset isn’t your fault. It’s an agenda you’ve been fed ever since you were young.
We’ve been told our bodies ‘require’ snacks throughout the day and it helps our metabolism.
We’ve been served hundreds of ads for snack foods on our screens.
We’ve been sold countless lies from the mainstream matrix, such as ‘you can out-exercise junk food’ or ‘take pills’ to melt fat away.
Corporations have exploited your natural love for food and turned it into an addiction — all for their profit.
Why snacking can be a bad thing
Let me be clear: snacking is not inherently unhealthy.
But chronic snacking (and snacking on processed food) can have a significant impact on your metabolic health.
It’s a vicious cycle:
- You feel an urge to eat, so you break out the closest, cheapest, or best-tasting snack you can find. For 58% of Americans, this is a high-carb snack like potato chips.
- The carbs in the potato chips convert into glucose in the body, which spikes your insulin and raises your blood sugar.
- The insulin spike causes you to feel hungry just a few hours after eating, so you grab another snack (this time a granola bar).
- The cycle continues, making you more insulin resistant over time. This encourages overeating and may result in weight gain and obesity.
Repeatedly snacking on unhealthy food can result in long-term health effects as well.
First, we know eating six times a day puts you at a higher risk of disease than eating two or three times per day. We also know it contributes to obesity and noncommunicable diseases.
What I need you to understand is that food is medicine. Taking the wrong ‘medicine’ can have disastrous effects on your body.
You can’t out-exercise the effects of bad food, even if you’re snacking on fewer calories than you would eat during a meal.
That’s why I urge you to reevaluate your snacking behaviors. Are you truly needing energy, or are you looking for comfort?
Overcoming snacking behavior
I’m not saying you should never snack when you’re hungry. When you’re metabolically healthy, hunger is a cue you need more fuel.
But when you’re not metabolically healthy, four or five snacks a day can be detrimental to your metabolic health. Not only are you more likely to eat processed junk, but you’ll prevent your body from resting and restoring itself.
If you want to develop a healthier relationship with snacking, here are some strategies to try:
- Try eating more during meal times so you don’t feel the urge to snack. I give you permission to eat until satiety — there’s no need to hold out or starve yourself to get ‘results.’ There are also some side benefits: if you stay fuller longer, you buy less food. This can save you money during the cost of living crisis (despite it being grossly unprofitable for snack food companies).
- Wait four to five hours between eating. Ate breakfast at 7 AM? Try waiting until at least 11 before eating lunch. As you start to feel less hungry and get rid of impulse cravings, you’ll eventually stop watching the clock and settle into a natural cadence. You may want to try fasting as well to reset your hunger signals.
- Stop eating at least three hours before bed. If you’re a nighttime snacker (like I used to be), try reducing your feeding window by 30 minutes per week. As you get used to eating whole, real foods, you’ll notice the hunger and cravings slowly disappear.
- Consider the emotional impact of what you’re snacking. Do you really want the snack, or do you want the emotions it brings? You can’t let emotional comfort get in the way of your metabolic health.
- If you’re going to snack, choose whole, real foods. The vast majority of snack foods in America are what I like to call ‘near-food objects.’ Be sure to keep an eye on where you snack — hopefully not in front of a screen. It’s much easier to eat an entire block of cheese when you’re focused on your favorite show, for example.
Remember: major food companies make incredible amounts of money by tricking people into associating processed food with pleasure. It’s one of the reasons they spend $14 billion on advertising each year — 80% of which is allocated to snack foods.
Please, don’t let flashy advertisements steal your resolve. It’s time to break the cycle of poor metabolic health.
If you choose to snack, here’s what you should eat
You must eat in a way that’s sustainable for you.
Otherwise, you’re simply getting in your own way.
Many people need time to wean themselves off snacking. If this is you, I encourage you to make metabolically healthy choices.
First, make protein the biggest component of your snacks. I always recommend animal protein, specifically ruminants like beef, lamb, and bison. Boiled eggs are also a great option, especially while on the road.
Cheese is typically a good snack for most people, so long as it’s real (and not processed ‘melting’ cheese). It’s fairly difficult to overdo it — the fat and protein will address true hunger cravings.
If you’re highly active, you can still choose to snack on carbs. Just keep an eye out for ‘carb creep,’ which may encourage you to eat more than you would have otherwise.
What should have been a quick bite today becomes two bites tomorrow, which becomes three or four snacks per day as time goes on.
Snacking for yourself, not corporations
At the end of the day, snacking is completely up to you. If you can’t imagine a life without your afternoon snack, by all means, keep it. Just make healthier food choices.
But if you suspect snacking is affecting your metabolic health, it may be time to take a different approach.
I don’t want you to change any of the foods you’re eating currently. Just cut one snack from your day and see how you feel.
I’m willing to bet you’ll notice a difference.
And what’s more, you’ll be ready to take back your metabolic health.