Heathly nutrition can include snacks,

Just in moderation.

But the truth about this advice?

It’s fuckin hard.

I understand that a handful of Peanut M&Ms or a couple chips with salsa isn’t going to ruin my day.

I mean logically I get it, but snacking isn’t necessarily feeding off of our logical reasoning.

We evolved to chow down on delicious treats and even worse, the food industry has spent billions of dollar trying to combat one of our strongest defense mechanisms:

Sensory specific satiety.

Yes, I am full for this food, but I could NOT be full for some other food.

Ever notice how after downing a plate of enchiladas, if you sit there long enough with those chips and salsa staring at you, all of a sudden you’re polishing off the rest of the basket?

The food industry layers textures and flavors to keep you eating.

Peanut M&Ms. Chex Mix. Chips made specifically for dipping. They’ve got us trained to do the food layering for ‘em!

All the change in flavor and texture keeps flavor fatigue at bay. Meaning all of a sudden, that yellow bag of M&M’s is dunzo.

Genetically Engineered Snacking Machines

And if that wasn’t hard enough, smashing sweet treats by the handful is in our DNA.

Caveman Jesse walks up to a bush of blueberries and they might as well be a family pack of Double Stuf Oreos. You better believe Caveman me is grabbing as many blueberries he can before a sabertooth-bear-mountain-pig thing comes up. Scary shit man.

The problem is I don’t gorge myself on blueberries. It’s Oreos ‘til I pass out that gets me.

Again mixing it up.

Between milk dunking, sans milk, and stacking ‘em for a quadruple stuffed Oreo, I’m pretty entertained.

*cue Russell Crowe in the Colosseum*

All that variety of texture and flavors? 

Damn right Russell, I am entertained.

what the hell should we do?

Friction

Create friction between that sudden impulse and action. There is no prehistoric-sabertooth-bear-mountain-pig coming to steal your snacks. You’ve got time to logically consider if this is something you actually want or is the billion dollar marketing getting to ya?

Portions

Decide how much you’ll eat before going in. One cupped hand of trail mix should do just fine. Try not to snack right out of the bag, use a small bowl or plate and portion out what you intend to eat before going. This can also act as a visual cue that you’re done eating.

Enjoy

Slow down while snacking. This allows you to enjoy and savor your snacks, helping you snack less often.

What It Means

Both our genetic disposition for delicious treats and millions of dollars of marketing are teaming up to get us to blow cash and calories.

With a little practice, these three tips will absolutely help.

Jesse

P.S. 

Share this blog with anyone who’s trying to stem the tide of a tsunami of snacks.