Snack Attack - Guilt Free! :: Health and Disease

> Health and Disease > Heart/Cardiovascular

Snack Attack - Guilt Free!
by author Simone Gabbay, RNCP

“I hope you don’t mind,” said my friend Lynn as she unwrapped a cereal bar while riding in the car with me one morning. “My breakfast. It lets me sleep in an extra 15 minutes.”

Lynn’s breakfast routine is typical of a growing number of Canadians who eat snacks to replace meals while on the go. Some are munching on snacks morning, day, and night because their schedules are too crowded to accommodate regular meals. Many, including children, spend much of their day away from home and depend on portable meals. The biggest snackers, according to NPD Canada’s 4th Annual Eating Patterns in Canada Report, released in 2002, are families with young children below the age of 12. One out of every five snack foods is eaten in school.

What’s in a Snack?

With more and more snacks serving as meal substitutes, we need to pay closer attention to the types of snacks we consume. Which snacks are safe to eat without guilt? Common sense tells us that safe snacks must not only be free of harmful substances such as refined sugar, preservatives, and artificial colour and flavour, but must also make a nutritional contribution to our diet. In short, they must provide us with food value instead of polluting the body with toxins.

Let’s look at some yummy, nutritious snacks that we can feel good about eating, whether at home or on the run:

Fruit and Veggie Power

Sliced fruit or veggie sticks are a great way to get your daily quota of this important food group. If you’re too busy to cut up your own, purchase them already prepared and ready to eat. For an even more portable and less perishable snack, choose from the wide variety of delicious dried fruit bars offered in health food stores. Children love dried fruit snacks, which offer concentrated vitamins and minerals, including iron. Be sure the dried fruit you purchase is organic, as sulfites and pesticide residues from non-organic fruit is concentrated in the snack as well. Some of the organic fruit bars in health food stores are formulated with vegetables and green food concentrates for superior nutrition.

Nuts, Seeds, and Cereal Bars

Nuts are flavourful, satisfying, and high in nutrients, including fibre, heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin E, as well as magnesium, potassium, and folic acid. Some of the organic energy and protein bars in health food stores are based on nuts and seeds, such as sesame seeds, which are a good source of calcium. The addition of whole grains, such as oats, in a cereal/nut bar complements the protein profile of nuts and seeds. Added dried fruits, such as raisins, apricots, or dates, provide extra flavour and nutrients. Energy bars are the most popular snack food with adults, and for good reason - they pack a powerful nutritional punch!

Crackers, Chips, and Pretzels

In the snack food aisles of your health food store, you can find healthy versions of popular staple snacks, such as potato and corn chips, and preservative-free crackers and pretzels made from organic grains and all-natural ingredients without trans-fatty acids and other harmful substances. Enjoy these snacks in moderation. Although they are made with natural ingredients, their nutritional value is limited, and they should not be consumed as a meal replacement.

Chocolate - A New Health Food?

Too long defamed and misunderstood, chocolate has gained new respect in recent years, as research has shown its main ingredient, cocoa, to be rich in antioxidant flavonoids, which help to keep undesirable LDL cholesterol in check and protect the arteries. Cocoa-rich dark chocolate has higher concentrations of flavonoids than milk chocolate. Cocoa is also high in phosphorus, iron, and vitamin E, as well as other essential minerals, including potassium. Cocoa also contains a mild heart stimulant and phytochemicals that help to relax muscles and cope with stress. Occasional chocolate cravings may signal greater requirements of those nutrients.

Remember, however, that not all chocolate is created equal. Organic chocolate available in health food stores is made with organically produced cocoa and natural, wholesome ingredients, including whole cane sugar and, in the case of milk chocolate, organic milk. It is far more nutritious than many commercial chocolate varieties that are high in refined sugar and artificial flavourings, and are often produced with chemically extracted, refined vegetable oils.

Whether you use snacks to suit your busy schedule, to satisfy hunger, or just to indulge occasionally - you don’t need to resort to junk food. Your health food store offers delicious, nutritious alternatives that you can feel good about and safely enjoy.

Simone Gabbay, RNCP, is a registered nutritionist, writer, and editor in Toronto. She is the author of Nourishing the Body Temple and Visionary Medicine: Real Hope for Total Healing (A.R.E. Press).

Source: alive #261, July 2004

Whole Foods and Your Metabolic Needs
Roman healer and philosopher Lucretius observed 2,000 years ago that "One man's food is another man's poison." Like other great medical thinkers, he recognized the importance of physiological individuality..

Protein
Nature supplies a variety of different protein sources, with varying degrees of quality. This difference has become a topic of interest for athletes.

Optimal Fuel for High Octane Workouts
One of the biggest areas of confusion for people who exercise is what to eat (if anything) before and after activit.

Backpack Snacks
If you've planned it right this year you're heading into the wilderness for fun, sun and relaxation in one of Canada's big beautiful parks. You've got your bed roll, tent, poles, global positioning system and maps..

More Nutrition for Less Money
A nutrient-rich diet is important at any age, but even more so for seniors. Bone loss and physical degeneration means that seniors need to maintain their nutritional balance in order to lead a healthy, active life. One major stumbling block is that seniors generally live on a fixed income.

Whole Food for Thought
"It has not fully dawned on the medical community that there is a directed relationship between the decline of proper nutrition and the rise of disease." The old saying "You are what you eat" is valid now perhaps more than ever.

Eating for Energy
The human body is a highly efficient battery and power generator. It can reach peak performance levels for lengthy periods of time on very little fuel.

Getting Enough Minerals?
"Athletes and active people have higher metabolic needs." The most famous example of the importance of minerals for athletes is basketball player Bill Walton.

Basic Sports Nutrition for Men
Nothing compares to that feeling of well-being you get after working up a good sweat in the gym, on the courts or out on the field. It's one of the benefits many men strive for through sports and exercise. We may even have embraced the benefits of a better diet, including nutritional supplements, to keep us strong and vital..

Balancing Act
Many people hear the word "electrolytes" but have no idea how necessary they are to good health. Electrolytes are minerals capable of transmitting electrical charges within fluid.

Whole vs. Processed Foods
The modern food industry has changed the way we think of food.

Physician Speaks Out for Whole Foods Nutrition
Thomas Cowan, MD, keynote speaker at the "Organic Goes Mainstream 22nd Annual Organic Agriculture Conference, held Jan. 23 to 26, 2003, at Guelph (Ontario) University Centre, drew a standing ovation for his talk stressing the importance of whole foods in human nutrition. Dr.

Heart Pains
Heart disease accounts for the death of more Canadians than any other disease with about 79,400 deaths annually. Yet, many Canadians do not understand, or perhaps refuse to believe, the potentially life-saving power of food.

The Advantages of Whole Food Nutritional Supplements
Everyone knows whole foods are essential to a healthy diet, but can the benefits of whole foods also be found in nutritional supplements? Yes they can, if you get the right kind.

Great Greens for Health, Heart, and Head
Eating an abundance of fruit and vegetables may reduce cancer incidence by up to 50 percen.

Beyond the Food Guide
For optimum nutrition it is critical that we move beyond the recommendations of Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Living by choosing whole, non-processed foods from each food group every day.

Prepare for Winter with These Veggie Dishes
When the cooler months come rolling in I like to combine the earthy elements of mushrooms and autumn vegetables with reminders of summer such as cool and crisp fruits and lettuces.

Fast Food
Time-starved or just plain starved, many of us are reliant on searching for a convenient and healthy "meal replacement to complement our fast-paced lifestyles.

Eat to Win
Last year Tom decided he was going to take his fitness to the next level. Over a period of two years he had lost an astonishing 95 pounds, transforming himself from an office-party Santa to a stand-in for Vin Diesel.

Proper Protein Portions
Parents with sport-oriented children want to be involved and informed in both their child's athletic activities and nutritional need. One of their common questions is about protein, which plays a vital role in children's development as well as in their performance.

Go Wild for Garlic

Is There a Cookie in the House?
We all enjoy baked goods, especially at this time of year when curling up with a warm cuppa and cookie is an antidote to the winter doldrums. Is it possible to prepare or purchase cookies that contain no overprocessed or chemical ingredients and are also satisfying and delicious?

Food for Fuel
Food choices can boost performance in any sport. Whether you're cycling, running, swimming, or going to the gym, your body needs a proper balance of carbohydrates, protein, fats, and water.

Whole Food Nutrition No Fad
That's the opinion of Loren Cordain, PhD, author of the new book, The Paleo Diet. Meat is a rich source of protein, Cordain says, and we need plenty of it.

FitFacts

Are you a scale slave? Do you step on the nefarious little box and pray that the numbers don't add up? Many people fall into this habit when trying to establish a healthy body weight.

Here's to health
Those who drink alcohol, coffee, tea, and colas or eat chocolate are robbing their muscles of precious water, which can lead to a decrease in muscle strength and reduce muscle hypertrophy (enlargement).

Nu-Life
When the low-carb diet craze exploded, companies from nearly every food-related industry responded by rushing to develop low-carb products. As these companies scrambled to cash in on the dieting trend of the year, store shelves filled with low-carb cereals, low-carb ice cream, and even low-carb beer.

Relieve PMS with a Vegetarian Diet

Eat Early; Eat Less

High Fibre for Healthy Colons

Beautiful Foods

For a Picture-Perfect Smile, Eat Raisins.

Male Beauty Trap

Vegetarians Show Reduced Rate of Cancer

Foods for Cancer Prevention

Happy Hemp Harvest

Fill up on Fibre

Tired? Headaches? Hydrate Yourself

Wonders of White

Fight Cataracts with Veggies and Grains

Pomegranate Protects Prostate

Life Makeovers
The editors of alive would like to extend thanks and admiration to our two life makeover superheroes, Rob Klettke and Toni Hadgraft, who endured six months of having their lives turned upside down during this process.

Fountain of Youthful Metabolism
Youth is synonymous with a healthy robust metabolism that helps keep us lean, even though we may consume the wrong foods-far too often.

A Natural Foods Revolutionary
Everything starts with a single seed. In 1971 when Alice Waters opened her restaurant, Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, California, she launched what has now become a North America-wide food revolution.

Get Your 5 to 10 a Day!
Winter is here and local farmers' markets are closed. Getting your fruits and vegetables can be a challenge. Should you reach for frozen? What about juice? What is the best way to get your 5 to 10 a day when the fresh produce of summer is just a distant memory?

Organic Supplements
Though we know that we should get as many of our vitamins and minerals as possible from the whole foods we eat, supplementing is sometimes necessary for good health.

Health From the Vine
There are few fruits that can rival the flavour of a just-picked, ruby red tomato still warm from the summer sun. It turns out they're hard to beat when it comes to nutrition, too.

Whole Foods to Go
I was raised by devout picnickers. My mother thought nothing of packing a picnic dinner of salmon sandwiches, milk, fruit, and cookies-nothing fancy.

Lycopene & Bone Health
Osteoporosis is known as the silent disease. This metabolic bone disease occurs primarily in women over the age of 50 due to estrogen loss at menopause. It not only affects one in two women-it also affects one in four men.

Sooke Harbour House
A pedigreed renegade with a penchant for doing the right thing, Sinclair Philip has called Vancouver Island's Sooke Harbour House home for long enough to entrench its reputation as one of the country's most eco-minded retreats.

Mushroom Magic
I owe my awe of mushrooms to Hollyhock Centre on Cortes Island, BC. It was there, in a four-day workshop, co-led by mushroom aficionados Paul Stamets and Dr. Andrew Weil, where I began to awaken to the enchanted world of mycelium.

Spotlight on Diabetes
Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in Canada and affects approximately 5 percent of the population. According to Statistics Canada, rates are significantly higher in the eastern provinces.

Soluble Fibre
To your body, all carbohydrates equal sugar, so you may wonder, "If food turns into sugar in our bodies anyway, why are refined sugar and white flour so bad?

Frozen Assets
Thankfully, good-for-you frozen dinners, pizzas, and lasagna are finding more grocery store freezer space and may even offer a nutritious option when the daily grind leaves little room for home cooking.

Deal Out Cancer
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, about 40 percent of women and nearly 45 percent of men in this country will face a personal battle with this fearful disease.

Frozen fare: To eat or not to eat?
Most of us don't have time to make dinner every night, but rest assured-popping a frozen entrée in the oven isn't as bad for you as you may think. Of course it's important to read the ingredients listed on the label.

Chocolate chocolate everywhere
Chocolate has been catapulted from a little treat you buy at the corner store to an antioxidant superstar with health claims.

Stress Less
Many Canadians suffer from stress. It’s the root cause of numerous health challenges we experience. Finding ways to reduce stress is essential to improve our health and our quality of life.