"snacking" news and stories

We've already heard all the reasons why soda is bad for kids, so we won't go into them. Again.

However, we will say that just as bad as soda is the thing that makes kids thirsty for soda in the first place: salt. According to a British study published in an American Heart Association journal, kids who eat salty snacks and meals get thirsty and often turn to sodas to quench their thirst. Researchers go on to say that the salt isn't coming from the salt shaker, but from manufactured food.

The solution? Cut back on salty, processed snacks.

As if we needed to say that.

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Apparently, when it comes to food, absence does not make the heart grow fonder. Out of sight, out of mind is actually closer to the truth (shall we see how many more cliches I can use before the first paragraph is done?). According to scientists, humans have a very hard time resisting the siren song of the candy jar, because if we see it and it's easy to get to, we're going to have a hard time keeping ourselves away.

Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab has been studying the way people eat, both at home and at work, for years now and have determined that if we see it, we want to eat. According to Brian Wansick, the head of Cornell's Lab, "what really influences our eating are visibility and convenience." Their results make sense to me. If I know that there's ice cream in freezer, it calls to me all evening until I break down and liberate it from it's icy home. However, if I know that there isn't any in there, I may still want it in the abstract, but I'm not going to run out and buy a pint.

What do you guys think? If you know that a treat is only as far away as your co-worker's desk or the freezer or the cabinet over the fridge, how hard is it to resist?

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Professional football players have heavily regulated diets, but regardless of what they're eating when they're off the field, they're clearly working off those pounds when they play. The same cannot be said for the rest of us. During the Super Bowl, it is estimated that 30 million pounds of food, of which 4 million is fat, will be consumed across the country. Chips are the most popular snack, with 11.2 million pounds of potato chips sold for the game. Other snacks put up impressive numbers, as well: 8.2 million pounds of tortilla chips, 4.3 million pounds of pretzels, 3.8 million pounds of popcorn and 2.5 million pounds of nuts. And it doesn't look as though they counted calories from beer, sodas and other drinks in these numbers.

To avoid packing on the pounds during the game, there are a few simple things you can do:

• Eat breakfast or lunch before the party, so you won't be as hungry and as likely to binge.
• Try and go for a walk/run in the morning before the game and burn off a few extra calories.
• Try drinking diet soda or water to avoid the hundreds of calories that come from drinks alone.
• When it comes to snacks, make a low fat/low calorie dip to bring to the party, such as salsa, a bean-based dip or a yogurt dip made with nonfat yogurt.
• Limit your chip consumption by sticking to veggies or lower fat crackers for dipping - especially if you're planning on chowing down on pizza or buffalo wings.

One last suggestion? Stand up and cheer for your team when they get a first down and do your own little touchdown dance when they score. Taking the opportunity to burn off a couple of extra calories never hurt.

Every year, over $20 billion dollars is spent on snack foods in the US, so it is easy to see why the snack industry is so interested in trying to find the next big product - or better yet, the next big flavor. Most snack products have been around for a long time and are met with only slight variations. Popcorn is healthier or more indulgent and cookies can be chewy or crispy. The flavors, however, can be used across the board in all different types of snack foods. Cheddar, for example, is a very American flavor and everything from chips to popcorn to aerosol "cheeses" come in cheddar flavor, making it one of the most popular snack flavors around.

In their efforts to come up with the "next cheddar" the snack industry uses snackologists, who observe the snacking habits of their target audience "to identify flavors the public will like and then find ways to package those flavors into irresistible morsels." A lot of research is done at restaurants, where trends are introduced to the mainstream. Chipotle and jalapeno were some of the most recent snack flavors to spring from the restaurant industry and snackologists are now pondering whether teriyaki, curry and other Asian flavors can make it into the US snack mainstream successfully. These masters of munching aren't going to reveal anything more specific just yet, but you'll know who the idea came from the ext time you see the word "New!" emblazoned on bags in the snack aisle.

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When was the last time you ate something while sitting on the sofa? Did you pull up the coffee table or a tray, or did you just hold the plate/bowl while you ate? The Sofa Hanger is an innovative little shelf that is designed to provide a convenient place to set your snacks while you're watching TV.

It may not look like the sturdiest thing to set a hot cup of coffee on, but the pictured shelf is made of aluminum that is much stronger than it appears to be. There are several alternatives to this shelf design, as well, including ones made of solid wood that look more like desks than tray tables. You can specify the width of the hanger so that it will fit snugly on the armrest of your sofa.

I'm still not sure that I would trust it with a big, hot mug of coffee, but it does seem like it would work out well for popcorn or other lightweight snacks that are unlikely to ruin the carpeting in the event that they fell.

[via cribcandy]

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