It’s test time! Before reading this post further, head to the kitchen, open the cabinets, refrigerator and freezer, and take a long hard look at the contents.
How many of these foods are snack foods? Has the amount increased over time? And, most importantly, how many of these snacks include bad-for-you ingredients?
Snacking is surging across the U.S. In fact, the 2024 IFIC Food & Health Survey reported that 74% of Americans snack at least one time per day, with 56% of Americans replacing regular meals with snacking or by enjoying smaller meals.1 This shift is due to a variety of factors, such as the need for convenient on-the-go-items for busy lifestyles (often due to work and family obligations), flavor profiles that are common to snack foods (very sweet, super salty, etc.) and that much-needed energy boost (especially mid-day).
So, what are we to make of this increase? In many cases, it’s a natural evolution, considering that the fast pace of life simply comes with a more urbanized society, and the expectation for immediate satiation even outside of eating. When it comes to snacking, here is much more to unpack – or, perhaps, unwrap.
A Delicate Dance
In truth, snacking may not be all bad, playing a significant role in body balance – it maintains/stabilizes blood sugar, curbs hunger to avoid overeating, delivers crucial nutrients, boosts energy naturally, strengthens focus, and assists with weight management/loss.
Highly Processed Foods (Empty Calories) vs Healthy Snacks
Snacking positives can be quickly shifted to negatives. Consider one of the unmentioned factors that contribute to snacking: the desire for a “treat”, which can quickly become multiple treats, especially when it’s in response to stress levels or the need for comfort. Before long, a person’s diet is filled with unhealthy ingredients, which set them up for very serious health issues, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity and much more.
What’s more, this kind of consumption at a young age can spill over into adulthood, opening the floodgates for serious health conditions down the road.
Snacking is much more complicated than it may seem, and one of the biggest issues that further tangles the web is around feeling full.
When Sugar Takes the Reins
Snacking is often used to stave off hunger between meals, to “tide you over” until that next dish. Unfortunately, when sugar becomes the major source of a snack, feeling full goes out the window. This is because sugary snacks are quickly digested and absorbed in the body, which ultimately causes a sudden spike in blood sugar.2 A release of insulin is quicky triggered, which then leads to a quick drop in blood sugar levels, making a person feel hungry again very soon after eating… and the loop continues on and on.3
However, healthy amounts of fiber (which slows digestion) and protein (which decreases hunger), as well as antioxidants, help a person stay full and relieve sugar-related cravings (eliminating the potential for overeating).
Run Fast from These Fan Favorites
Whether introduced to a person at an early age or they come across them later in life, these bad-snack staples have wedged their way into our eating habits, bringing with them the aforementioned health repercussions. Below are some of the biggest snacking culprits, filled with fat, sodium, sugar, preservatives and more:4
- Doritos Nacho Cheese chips
- Oreos
- Cheetos
- Rice Krispies Treats Cookies ‘N’ Créme Dunk’d Bars
- Ruffles Queso Cheese Flavored Potato Chips
- Clif Bar Chocolate Brownie
- Snyder’s Cheddar Pretzel Pieces
- Pop-Tarts
- Gushers
- Mott’s Fruit Flavored Snacks (a brand that many parents have come to know and trust)
- Hot Pockets
- Orville Redenbacher’s Pour Over Movie Theater Butter Popcorn
This is a very short list of snack foods that can cause serious health issues for consumers, and it may surprise you how many well-known brands (including those that tout themselves as “heart healthy” and “good for you”) are neck deep in the production of unhealthy food products.
Healthy and Tasty Snack Alternatives
It’s true that many bad-for-you snacks are tasty – if they weren’t, it would be much easier to cut them out of a diet. Luckily, there are plenty of healthy snacks that are delicious and will provide important nutrients to promote good health. Great examples include:5
- Pears dipped in fat-free/low-fat cottage cheese
- Vegetables paired with hummus or tzatziki
- Cherry tomatoes
- Roasted chickpeas
- Air-popped popcorn
- Nuts and seeds (un-salted)
- Whole grain bread of toast with low-sodium nut butter
- Fat-free/low-fat cheese
- Fat-free/low-fat plain yogurt (add fruit or honey for sweetness)
- Smoothies that are fruit- or vegetable-based
- Whole grain crackers or rice cakes
- Apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon
- Unsweetened dried fruits
What’s great about items like fruits and vegetables is that they can be used in a vast variety of ways to create healthy options, either by themselves or incorporated into larger snacks. How’s that for convenience!
If You Have to Snack, Snack Right
Whatever the reason, be sure to remember that snacking isn’t the enemy – it’s how you engage with snacking. By selecting snacks that are rich with important vitamins and minerals, fiber, protein, and antioxidants, you will actually be doing your body a favor, leaning into a natural process that is set up for proper bodily regulation.
Methods to counteracting the madness are simple: always read the ingredients on product labels, as well as educate yourself on what good nutrition looks like. Can’t pronounce it? Put it back. Does the level of protein and fiber align with the dietary guidelines laid out by the USDA?6 Go for it. With these two actions, you can act as your own amateur dietician and ensure you are on a good path.
Happy snacking!
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References
- Sweet & Savory Insights: New Consumer Research Reveals What’s Behind Americans’ Snacking Surge. International Food Information Council website. https://ific.org/media-information/press-releases/sweet-savory-insights-consumer-research-snacking-surge August 15, 2024.
- Why Am I Always Hungry? WebMD website. https://www.webmd.com/diet/ss/slideshow-why-hungry August 4, 2023.
- Why Am I Always Hungry? WebMD website. https://www.webmd.com/diet/ss/slideshow-why-hungry August 4, 2023.
- 50 Unhealthiest Snacks on the Planet. Eat This, Not That! website. https://www.eatthis.com/unhealthy-snacks/ October 17, 2024.
- Healthy Snacking. American Heart Association website. https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/add-color/healthy-snacking October 23, 2024.
- Dietary Guidelines for Americans. USDA website. https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/dietary-guidelines-americans April 21, 2025.
