Are you trying to slim down and shed a few extra pounds by munching on, what you think are, healthy snacks throughout the day? Are you keeping your metabolism regulated and consuming the appropriate number of meals and snacks throughout the day, but hitting up the vending machine due to lack of time and picking out what seems the best choice, those itty bitty one hundred calorie snack packs of cookies or crackers? Have you ever wondered how this factors into our diet and whether or not they’re worth it? Will they help keep you filled up without adding onto the inches you are trying to lose?
Dieters rejoiced when these tiny one hundred calorie snack packs hit the market. Not only were they still able to enjoy their favorite snacks, but they could now do so without having to test their will power and limit their portion size. The snack packs come pre-portioned and guarantees consumers only a pre-counted one hundred calorie intake. While these snack packs might seem helpful in this way, allowing dieters to enjoy and indulge in the snacks we most love to eat without the added stress and drudgery of having to portion the food out themselves, think again. Because of the smaller portion size and labeled calorie count, most people often consume twice as much than usual without thinking, defeating the true purpose of limiting the portion size.
And because these snack packs are just shrunken down versions of the food we should not really be eating anyway, they tend to be empty calories. Instead of functioning as true and healthy filler, keeping us going throughout the day and in between meals, they leave us still hungry and still wanting more. They have no nutritional value and inevitably lead to further snacking. Small handfuls of fruit, nuts, trail mix, fiber bars, or other food items falling along these lines can contain the same amount of calories and fats, but because they have higher levels of hunger controlling nutrients like fiber and protein, they tend to stave off hunger much longer than the lauded one hundred calorie snack pack.
Compared to their predecessors, the larger portioned cousins to the smaller sized snack packs, the price of the convenience of pre-packaged calorie counting is much higher. A typical box of six snack packs can range from three to four dollars; however, this is comparable to a larger bag of chips or box of cookies or crackers. And because the larger portions take longer to consume entirely and replace, they last longer which equals out to less money spent. A six count box of snack packs may only last a couple of days before they need to be replaced, and that money can add up. And because they are so small and still leave you hungry, they’re easier to eat without thinking about how much you have eaten. Whereas it is easier to keep track of how much you have consumed when it comes to the larger portions of the same snack foods.
Dana Livingston is a writer for a culinary school website where you can browse schools and the latest trends in the culinary arena.
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Thank you for posting this. I totally agree and have never been fond of those 100 calorie snacks. I’ve tried to tell people that but they don’t listen.
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so true. I would buy boxes of this shizzle and end of going through a box in 2 days….if I want a REAL oreo, those “crackers” aren’t gonna satisfy me!
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Great post! I’ve never been one to buy or eat those snack packs, but that’s because they’re pretty much junk food and heavily processed. Whenever Jeff eats these he always overdoes it. He can never stick to one but instead of eating one and a half eats two and more often three. I also look at the cost and think they’re a waste of money. Especially when you consider how easy it is to portion out your own snacks.
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This is SO true, I think 100 cal packs are ridiculous and a waste of money and truth be told – they create so much unnecessary garbage! It’s easier to portion things out yourself and munch, or get a more filling and nutritious snack!
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What a good post! Anytime I ate a 100 calorie pack, it tasted like cardboard and never satisfied my hunger or a craving so I wound up pigging out.
Plus the 100 calorie packs usually eliminate the best part of the treat being downsized. Oreo “thin crisps” is the classic example. Hello, the best part of oreos is the “cream”.
And Meg is so right that they produce so much garbage too!
I would much rather have a square of dark chocolate and a handful of nuts, an apple with peanut butter, or here’s a thought: one REAL cookie or brownie
Bess @ I Dream of Greenie recently posted..Just Because…
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I’d rather eat just a little bit of the real deal than some of these snacks. They don’t really hit that spot!
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I don’t really agree. The problem is that people lack discipline, don’t understand portion control, and don’t understand food and nutrition. For example; a new franchise has opened in Australia that deals exclusively in salads. Because of their healthy image, people have gone crazy over it. But a quick look at their nutritional info shows that many of their more popular salads are bordering on 1000 calories per serving and only three out of like fifteen salads are 300 calories per serving. Secondly, because they are salads, people often eat twice as much because of salads aren’t very rich or filling. This is the exact same problem as the 100 calorie snacks, people perceive them as being healthy and ‘not counting’ even though they add up quickly.
Only through food education can unhealthy eating be stopped and weight loss be successful. In my case, snacks like these helped me to lose weight generally because I kept a food diary, planned what to eat each day; including snacks, and often drank things like coffee with them to curb my appetite. But then, if everyone did that, we wouldn’t need companies to separate our snacks for us in the first place.
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