Redefining “HEALTHY” Snacking!!
I spoke with my mother on the phone yesterday (boy do I love her!! ☺), and she happens to be one of my inspirations to help America combat our food addiction. She was talking to one of her friends, who mentioned that she had just done a colon prep for a colonoscopy. For those of you who don’t know what is required for a colonoscopy, let me sum this up for you: Prior to the procedure, you take a very potent laxative to rid your body of any waste left in your gastrointestinal tract. After drinking this laxative a person can lose up to about 15 pounds of weight, mostly because the person is left extremely dehydrated. After being completely cleaned out, you have a scope inserted into your rectum to inspect for any suspicious lesions. We as physicians recommend you do this once every 10 years after the age of 50 (Based on findings this recommendation can change). If we find any suspicious lesions, we will then biopsy them and determine the etiology of the lesion. This is not a risk free procedure and is not intended for lasting weight loss.
Getting back to the topic, – it seems that everyone in America wants the “Lose Weight Quick” diet. Let me say one thing, there isn’t one. Most fad diets have a person regaining the weight they dropped during the diet within the following week to month after the diet (1). The real trick to losing weight fast and keeping it off is true, unadulterated lifestyle change.
Lifestyle modification can be hard, but if you follow a “Personal Paleo Code” or some other sustainable change this can be done. When I was talking with my mother I knew one thing, she definitely has a sweet tooth and a carb addiction. (If this sounds like something your battling, keep reading!!) I know that out of any modification that I can do for my mother, I need to make sure that she has options for healthy snacks for between meals. In the next few paragraphs I am going to discuss common “healthy snacking” options, as well as truly healthier alternatives for them, which will abide by “Your Personal Paleo Code.” Just because the packaging on foods says it is “heart healthy”, and or “low-fat” does not make the item good for you! I am going to take a look at a salty snack, a sweet snack, and one that is both sweet and salty!!
Salty
Pita chips, potato chips, or any sort of chips:
Bad Example:
Stacy’s Simply Naked Pita chips: Enriched wheat flour (Wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), Sunflower Oil and/or Canola Oil (High in omega-6 fatty acids and/or trans fat), sea salt, whole wheat flour, and less than 2% of: Organic Cane Sugar (ADDED SUGAR), oat fiber, yeast, malted barley flour, rosemary extract, and ascorbic acid. If you are going to add any flavoring, then add more calories and ingredients.
Stacy’s Pita Chips
Good Substitute:
Original Black Bean Beanitos: Whole black beans (Big improvement from Enriched wheat flour), whole grain long brown rice and/or long grain white rice, pure sunflower and/or safflower oil (See above, good oils are expensive), guar bean gum, sea salt
Original Black Bean Beanitos
For the person with a Sweet tooth:
Chocolate Chip Cookie or brownie
The Bad Example:
Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie (one serving): White Flour (Processed), whole raw eggs, unsalted butter, semisweet chocolate, brown sugar, granulated sugar (SUGAR, SUGAR, SUGAR), vanilla extract, salt, and baking soda.
Nutrition Facts
Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie: Happens to be Pinterest’s most popular pin!!
Serving Size: 1 Cookie
Amount Per Serving
Calories 147.9
Total Fat 7.8 g
Saturated Fat 4.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.4 g
Cholesterol 24.3 mg
Sodium 101.1 mg
Potassium 60.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate 19.4 g
Dietary Fiber 0.7 g
Sugars 8.8 g
Protein 1.5 g
Vitamin A 4.0 %
Vitamin B-12 0.6 %
Vitamin B-6 0.6 %
Vitamin C 0.0 %
Vitamin D 0.3 %
Vitamin E 1.2 %
Calcium 1.0 %
Copper 4.3 %
Folate 3.8 %
Iron 4.2 %
Magnesium 3.4 %
Manganese 6.8 %
Niacin 2.4 %
Pantothenic Acid 0.9 %
Phosphorus 2.7 %
Riboflavin 3.6 %
Selenium 5.5 %
Thiamin 4.3 %
Zinc 1.6 %
*Based on a 2,000 calorie diet
Let’s be honest with ourselves, no one can eat just one Chocolate Chip COOKIE!!
The Better Substitute:
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Quest Bars: Protein Blend (Whey Protein Isolate, Milk Protein Isolate), Isomalto-Oligosaccharides (Prebiotic Fiber), Almonds, Water, Unsweetened Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, Erythritol. Contains Less than 2% of the following: Sea Salt, Stevia (Low calorie Natural Sugar), Natural Flavorings, Sucralose (Small amount of added sugar).
Quest Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bar
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 (60g)
Calories 190
Calories from Fat 70
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet
Amount/Serving
%Daily Value*
Total Fat 8g 12%
Saturated Fat 3g 15%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 5mg 2%
Sodium 280mg 12%
Vitamin A 0%
Vitamin C 0%
Magnesium 8%
Phosphorus 10%
Amount/Serving
%Daily Value*
Potassium 125mg 4%
Total Carbohydrate 21g 7%
Dietary Fiber 17g 68%
Sugars 1g
Erythritol 1g
Protein 21g
Calcium 10%
Iron 10%
Contains almonds and milk-derived ingredients.
With the pre-biotics and the high dietary fiber the carbohydrates here are virtually all but negated.
Sweet and Salty
Granola Bars:
These items are definitely not part of “Your Personal Paleo Code”, they are usually chock-full of added sugars.
Bad Example:
Kashi Crunchy Granola & Seed Bars, Chocolate Chip Chia: You may think, as many others do, “Oh this bar has CHIA, it must be good for me!” But let’s take a closer look at the ingredients – this bar is loaded with sugar and soy.
Whole Grain Oats, Whole Grain Blend (Whole: Barley, Buckwheat, Hard Red Wheat, Rye, Triticale And Quinoa), Dried Cane Syrup (ADDED SUGAR), Semisweet Chocolate Chips (Dried Cane Syrup, Chocolate Liquor, Cocoa Butter, Soy Lecithin, Vanilla Bean), Expeller Pressed Canola Oil (High in Poly-unsaturated Fatty Acids and possibly contains trans fat), Invert Cane Syrup (ADDED SUGAR), Unmodified Cornstarch (ADDED SUGAR), Chia Seeds (Moderate benefits), Brown Rice Flour, Coconut, Whole Oat Flour, Evaporated Salt, Molasses (MORE SUGAR at least natural source), Vanilla Extract, Sodium Bicarbonate, Soy Lecithin (a lot of problems to be discussed later), Spice Extractives.
Kashi Chocolate Chip Crunchy Chia Granola and Seed Bar
Good Substitute:
Paleokrunch Bar:
Raw almonds, almond meal, shredded coconut, raw sunflower seeds, raw pumpkin seeds, coconut oil (high in good saturated fats), honey, vanilla extract, and baking soda.
Steve’s Paleogoods Original Krunch Bar
Original Krunch Bar
They also make a Dark chocolate espresso version very similar to this.
Here are some other “HEALTHY” (not really) options that I came across in the store the other day:
Skinnygirl Tasty Nutrition Bar: Looks good for you until…
Skinnygirl Tasty Nutrition Bar nutritional information shows the amount of added sugar!
Brown Rice Syrup is another name for added sugar. Organic sugar, even though it is organic is still added sugar. The food industry does a great job at deceiving the public!
My alternative to this bar:
Larabar is a healthy alternative: Blueberry Muffin is not paleo but still very nutritious
Nutritional Information for the same Blueberry Muffin Larabar with ingredients.
Also, anyone can grab fresh fruit or vegetables for consumption if they need a boost! You would be amazed at how few calories are in some of the vegetables we consume everyday. In one bag of spinach there are roughly 100 calories. I hope you read this mother, I love you ☺!!
My mother and I!
If anyone has any specific weakness for a certain snack, feel free to e-mail me @ Ronald.Torrance@med.lecom.edu and I will try and find some healthy alternative for you!
Now that you have the alternatives, go throw out those “healthy snacks” and pick up some of my good alternatives!!
Diet soda is okay though…Right?
In truth diet soda is the opposite of okay and may be more detrimental to your body than regular soda. This raises the most common question…how can diet soda be detrimental if it is “zero calorie” and/or “fat free?” These phrases are an example of a food/beverage industry that has very misleading national labels to the average consumer. Society has engrained in us that the more “zeros” on a nutritional label, the better. This could not be farther from the truth and the more you learn about real whole foods, the more you will understand. But let’s stay focused on the current topic.
First and foremost, diet soda leads to a state of mind that makes people believe that they are saving a little on the soda, so they can splurge more on other sweet indulgences. Wrong. Sweeteners are sweeteners whether in the form of sugar, aspartame, agave nectar, fructose, Splenda and the list goes on. There is no doubt that regardless of form or claim, these sweeteners are going to provoke a reaction from your body when consumed. There is evidence that suggests consuming artificial sweeteners only perpetuates the need to intake sugar. (1,2) Regardless of calories or effect on glucose levels, your taste buds are telling the brain you are consuming something sweet. The desire for sweet is not being eliminated but rather reinforced. There is a correlation that exists between a person’s regular intake of a flavor and the desired intensity or frequency to have that flavor (2). What America needs to do is eliminate the desire for “sweet” on a regular basis. It was never meant to be a daily staple in our diets!
So we can all agree that this is the extreme case, but what are artificial sweeteners doing to us that can have a short-term impact on our health? There is no question that diet sodas are causing an increase in the obesity rate. There have been numerous studies that have discredited strictly substituting artificial sweeteners for normal sweeteners such as cane sugar had no effect on weight loss (2). If anything these calories are negligible (empty-calories) and will never satisfy a nutritional need thus typically leading to the consumption of additional empty calories. I’ll toast some Doritos to that Diet Coke! This raises a question. Is the introduction of artificial sweeteners having a major influence on the current obesity epidemic in the United States? Let’s take a look at the graph below.
We can definitely see some correlation here. Artificial sweeteners became very popular in our diets towards the late 90’s and hasn’t looked back ever since. Neither has our BMI (body-mass index aka how much fat is on our bodies). A question I always like to ask is what is my food doing for me? I strive to answer this every time I eat or drink. This is not to insinuate we need to be fleshy robots that purely eat to fuel. There is always room for exceptions, but a good habit to form is questioning what the food or drink you are consuming is doing for you. Green tea for sure. Diet Soda, not a thing…
The cause for concern over artificial sweeteners is only growing and I haven’t even gotten into the detrimental effects that they can on our overall health. Hold tight though for more to come!
RonTorranceDO 
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