Does anyone know if there's something specific underlying the proliferation of 100 calorie "snack packs"? They're *everywhere*, now (at least here in Canada), and the figure of exactly 100 calories is so universal that I assumed it was the result of some sort of government-imposed rule, but I can't find any such thing referenced online, so far. If it's not coming from the government, that seems to leave sudden industry-wide consensus on the size of snack packs as the explanation ...
Maybe there's something special about 100 calories in the diet world? I did find a *lot* of articles about the joys of 100 calorie snacks, when Googling around. (And also, to be fair, quite a few about how those snack packs are a terrible idea, because they lure people into eating more, a bit at a time, and because they tend to be the worst kind of empty calories. There was one interesting study that said, paraphrasing, that people with "diet head" would end up eating more when confronted with 100 calorie snack packs, while people who had more of a healthy relationship to food would eat less when given smaller packs.)
Anyway, I was curious if people here knew anything about the significance and origin of this strangely uniform value of 100 calories. Is 100 the dominant number, where you live?
100 calorie snack packs
Moderators: Soprano, automatedeating
Yep... I listened to a podcast interview of him at the Rudd Center for Food Policy, and he said something like, "The goal shouldn't be to learn to eat mindfully. It should be to learn to eat mindlessly in a moderate way." I think The No S Diet achieves that goal splendidly. You aren't munching all the time becuase you've developed a habit of not snacking. His idea was to snack on limited portions.
Kathleen
Kathleen
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Strawberry Roan
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leafy_greens
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I agree with Kathleen. The only thing "special" about 100 calorie packs is $$. Companies make lots of money selling those to us and we get less and pay more. 100 is a nice round number and people seem to like it. However, I've seen several studies that say most people don't know how many calories they should eat in a day so it seems unlikely that they are using the 100 calorie packs to limit their snacking. Probably the contrary, people eat a 100 calorie pack, think to themselves "wow I just did a good job of eating "heathfully". And then later they eat less healthfully because they have healthy "credit" from earlier.
I hope it's a fad that wears off.
I hope it's a fad that wears off.
This version of myself is not permanent, tomorrow I will be different. --BEP
Re: these 100 cal snack items- I think in recent years there have been several diets (the Special K one comes to mind) where you are encouraged to eat 1200 calories in 3 meals of 300 cal ea., and 3 snacks of 100 cal ea. I think these 100 cal snacks are trying to catch the market of those dieters who want to know they're getting exactly the cal they wanted.
-Sonya
No Sweets, No Snacks and No Seconds, Except (Sometimes) on days that start with "S".
No Sweets, No Snacks and No Seconds, Except (Sometimes) on days that start with "S".
I remember back when I was doing strict calorie counting, when I really WANTED to be able to buy smaller portions of junk food. I would have snapped up those 100 calorie packs! A "normal" candy bar has 230-270 calories, which I couldn't "afford" on a low-calorie diet. So, I would buy one and immediately throw half away... a smaller pack would have seemed like the perfect solution to me then.
Of course, not eating that kind of junk every day is a better choice... but that's not how I was thinking at the time.
Of course, not eating that kind of junk every day is a better choice... but that's not how I was thinking at the time.