Everyday Systems

This is no mere blog.

Abstract here:

http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v29/n ... 2950a.html

Obese subjects were more frequent snackers than reference subjects and
women were more frequent snackers than men. Snacks were positively
related to energy intake, irrespective of physical activity. Sweet,
fatty food groups were associated with snacking and contributed
considerably to energy intake. Snacking needs to be considered in
obesity treatment, prevention and general dietary recommendations.

"Energy" makes it sound so good. Energy = calories.

Reinhard:

Thank you so much for posting this. Just this past week I had yet another woman tell me how important it is to snack. ("A handful of almonds here" and "Just some cheese and apple there") She is getting this advice from a nutritionist. I don't know, if "grazing" works for some and they lose weight that is great but it never worked for me.

Dru

Agreed. Grazing doesn't work for me either. I've pared my No-S intake to 2 platefuls of food per day, and that's enough for me. Snacking would just add unneccesary calories.

I'd rather have my metabolism "snack" on all the stored fat reserves in my body!

I think the tricky bit about grazing is that it does work in the lab. If you could limit yourself to x calories, you'd lose more weight grazing than eating those calories in 3 meals. The problem is we aren't caged lab rats, and by grazing we eat x calories + a lot more. Snacking makes it very difficult to gauge your caloric intake without doing a whole lot of math -- not something that can be automated into unconscious habit, and way too much conscious overhead to sustain for the long term. You have to look at behavior, not just biochemistry.

Another point on this snacking thing, is that, for me, I would rather feel comfortably full when I DO eat, then always on the edge of hunger by eating lots of small meals (aka the grazing approach). If I ate a full meal with each eating experience 6 times a day.....I'd have exploded long ago. I much prefer knowing I can eat to satisfaction three times a day and not have to worry about said explosion.

Peetie

It's simply amazing to note how much more food you eat when you snack plus eating "regular" 3 meals a day. Even if it's carrots, cucumbers, celery, dip or no dip, fat free or low carb, it's all extra calories you DON'T NEED to eat and they all ADD UP no matter how you look at it. A handful of pretzels, some nuts, a drink, a cookie here and there, a slice of bread, half a sandwich, a couple of plums - however it is consumed it's extra stuff! I wouldn't be surprized if the average calorie intake of a snacker vs. a No S'er is between 500 - 1000 calories a day. (I wonder if it's worth it to do some anectodal research on this.)

After a weekend and Labor Day of "S" days, I am actually looking forward to a week of "N" days coming up! I feel bloated after the three parties I went to this weekend.

Related observation -- The last couple of weeks I have been doing too much "virtual plating" and it tended to undercut my no-snacking habit. I had several 'incidents' as recorded in my log. Nothing too horrible, but not what I had planned, and not consistent with no-S'ing.

I think I had just turned too many 3-meal days into 6-snack days. This made me crave little bits of food throughout the day. Habitwise, which is of course where no-S really focuses, it got me into a bad routine of looking forward to food at very short intervals. Then where do you draw the line? I couldn't.

Better to have an actual mealtime, with a mealtime ritual. This week, I'm going to get a plate, a napkin, and a setting of silverware; sit down; and eat a meal -- even if I only have a little time to eat. With a ritual there's no mistaking the difference between a meal and a snack.

With a ritual there's no mistaking the difference between a meal and a snack.

I run into problems when I use 'virtual plating', too. If I was able to so accurately determine portion size just by exercising my eyeballs, I probably wouldn't need the No S one-plate rule to begin with!