Nimble Blog

Sucker Punched By My Snack!

When you’re on the run, finding a healthy snack can be challenging. The other day, I managed to spot some trail mix hidden in a sea of candy bars and potato chips at the local deli. The bag was fairly small, labeled “Snack Size,” and contained a mix of peanuts, almonds and yogurt-covered raisins. It was a satisfactory choice considering my options. As I ate my snack, I wondered about the “snack size” labeling and what that meant. The first thing I noticed (in big bold letters) was the calories: 140. Next was the total fat, 8g, and then the sodium, 50mg. Not optimal, but manageable numbers. The carbohydrate total was 15g, of which 11g were sugar. That’s a little high, but again, manageable for a guy my size. Then something caught my eye that made me almost choke. Hidden in the second line from the top under serving size was the total servings contained in the bag, which was 3. That’s THREE, as in, “I just ate 420 calories and 24g of fat!” How could this be? The label clearly says, “snack size” on the front of the bag! I was duped.

Making the right food choices in our society, where we’re overloaded with options, is hard enough. Deceptive food labels make that choice even harder. Snack labels are advertisements, basically, with one goal: to get you, the consumer, to buy their product over the competition. The only way to really know what you are putting into your body is by reading the nutrition label, and as we’ve seen, even that can be tricky. We are ultimately responsible for our choices, of course, so the more knowledge we have when it comes to packaged foods, the better prepared we will be to make good choices.

Here are some tips to help you avoid my mistake and make a better-informed decision the next time you are looking for a snack:

1. Pay attention to the column called “%DV” or “Percent Daily Value.” Interpret it like this: Let’s say the food label for an energy bar says “60%” next to fat; that means you are getting 60% of that day’s entire recommended allowance of fat in one serving of the energy bar. And that’s only half the story. A typical energy bar is 2 or more servings. Eat that entire bar and you’ve just had 120% of your entire day’s worth of fat. That’s too much, and from a snack that took only 45 seconds to eat!

2. More important than the %DV for total fat is the amount of saturated fat. Unsaturated fats are healthier and more important for a well balanced diet. If its high in saturated fat, skip it.

3. Know your ingredients. The healthiest snacks are the simplest—they come from nature. An apple, for example, has one ingredient – apple. But there are many ingredients, found in all different kinds of snacks, which you should avoid. High Fructose Corn Syrup is an artificially produced sweetener that has no nutritional value. Other ingredients found in common snacks include sorbitol, mineral oil and carnauba wax–the same stuff used in beauty products like mascara, deodorant, and lipstick.

4. Avoid large amounts of these “bad” ingredients as much as possible: saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and sugars. In contrast, try and maximize your total of the “good ingredients”–fiber, protein, and vitamins.

5. Not all carbohydrates are created equal. The higher in sugar and lower in fiber, the worse the carbohydrate is for you. Fruits, for example, contain simple sugars but also contain fiber, water, and vitamins, which make them a healthy choice. Muffins and candy, on the other hand, often have large amounts of added sugars and no fiber.

Antonio Sini