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| Cheese-flavored puffs used to be my guilty pleasure. |
Investigative journalist Michael Moss just finished a whole book on how food manufacturers and their scientists conspired to create salty, fatty and sugary foods that target the pleasure centers in our brains, similar to what cocaine does.
His Salt Fat Sugar book makes a compelling case for the food industry's role in our current obesity epidemic -- similar to what the tobacco industry did to hook people on smoking cigarettes. When food manufacturers dialed back one ingredient, reduced the fat as an example, they amped up the other two: sugar and salt.
I am now an avid label reader and try to keep processed food purchases to a minimum.
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| Snacks dominate near the checkout lines in grocery stores. |
But now, I am trying to go even further.
When one of my favorite blogs, Nerd Fitness, suggested a no snack challenge, I was ready. These two sentences rang true for me:
"I try to explain my answer, the thing they don’t want to hear: Stop snacking!
"If that sounds like a ridiculous concept to you, you’ve been brainwashed by the Empire!"
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| Even veggies are verboten as snacks. |
The blog suggests you ask yourself these questions before you mindlessly reach for food:
*Are you REALLY hungry?
*Maybe you're thirsty?
*Did you not eat a big enough breakfast or lunch?
*Are you bored?
The more you pay attention to your cravings and know about them, the greater chance you will have in succeeding.
Ready to go cold turkey?
So my dear readers, I am challenging you to give up snacking with me. Be sure to keep a bottle of water with you at all times and let me know in the comments section below how you fare on this no-snacking challenge. Together, we can make this change!
Support for Surfr
Nicholas Mohnacky, the West Palm Beach idea man/surfer behind the Surfr app, reports that he has received seed money and the app development is underway. The app combines info and data on surfing sites, plus a social media aspect that allows users to post photos and receive alerts when the surf is kicking up at a favorite location.
Go here to see the app in progress.
And now, for my numbers
I had my best walking day last week on Sunday, April 21, 2013, when I walked:
Steps: 11,197
Miles: 5.6
Hm. I could be interested in trying to give up not-so-healthy snacks, but I've read a lot of good things about having a healthy snack -- like how it can keep you from becoming famished at meal time and eating like a pig. At school, for example, I may have lunch at 12:30. But we often don't eat dinner until 7:30 or 8.... or sometimes even later. So I am definitely ready to eat between 4 and 5. I'd probably be bad about this, though, even if I ate dinner earlier. Snacking is my major weakness!!
ReplyDeleteMine, too. I no longer snack in the mornings, but you are right about the late afternoon lull in energy. I usually have a healthy snack then -- an apple or some almonds.
ReplyDeleteToday, though, I thought I was doing well until I went to Costco in the late afternoon and succumbed to the allure of smoked salmon on a water cracker. It was delish, but I was disappointed that I broke the no-snacks pledge on the first day!
Thanks for taking the time to comment on my blog.