Graze anatomy There's no avoiding it: Americans have become fully entrenched in a snacking culture. But to avoid the calories, it's important to snack smart. By Jeff Schnaufer CTW Features Like many Americans, Leslie Salmon-Zhu always is on the go — whether she's running her two children to school, helping her mother or jetting around the globe as a graphic recorder.She often finds herself eating small meals throughout the day,or grazing, to keep her energy up. "For me, it's really important to keep my brain energy," says Salmon-Zhu, 52, San Leandro, Calif., who has been snacking regularly for 30 years."(With) any type of mental work, it's almost like you need something every two hours." With the growth of the grazing generation since the early 1990s,many food companies continue to launch new products aimed at Americans on the move, from 100- calorie snack packs to energy bars and other pre-packaged snacks. And we continue to gobble them up. Americans spent $6.3 billion for "on-the-go" snacks in 2003,and this figure is expected to increase by 30 percent — to $8.2 billion — within the next several years, according to the market research firm Packaged Facts, Rockville, Md. On average,Americans consume 2.5 snacks per day,according to the 2007 International Food Information Council (IFIC) Food & Health Survey.Nearly one out of five Americans snacks four times per day or more. But unlike Salmon-Zhu, who carefully considers the portions, nutrition and spacing of her snacks and other meals,many Americans aren't snacking smart. According to Packaged Facts, snacking has become so prevalent that a third of Americans regularly skip meals, often grazing on snack foods as a substitute.Americans skipped an average of 62 breakfasts per year in 2003,and this total will rise to nearly 70 missed morning meals per person by 2008 despite the fact that more than 90 percent of Americans consider breakfast the most important meal of the day. And while inherently healthier snacks — food bars,yogurt snacks and nuts — were theTop 3 dollar gainers from 2001 to 2005, these categories are only one-quarter to onehalf the size of the two largest snack categories by total 2005 dollar sales: salty snacks (23 percent of total sales) and snack candy (21 percent), according to Packaged Facts. So it's no surprise that health and nutrition experts say many Americans have yet to learn that more food choices and eating more often does not always translate into healthy snacking habits. "I think for a lot of people who have weight problems, exposing them to more food cues during the day is probably going to be more problematic,"says Dr. Barbara Rolls, a Penn State University (College Station) nutrition professor and author of"The Volumetrics Eating Plan"(Harper Paperacks, 2007)."Your body has adapted quiet nicely to eating three meals per day.This idea that you need to keep eating all the time to even things out is kind of strange,especially if you have food there all the time to tempt you." Yet grazing can be helpful, says Rolls and other experts, for those who want to avoid big calorie boosts that can translate into body fat.And with the rising number of diabetics in the country,grazing can help people maintain healthy blood sugar levels.The American Diabetes Association recommends a moderate breakfast, small snack, moderate to small lunch,an afternoon snack and a moderate to small dinner each day. "I think when you are looking at grazing as a concept it does help people look at portion control and can help people lose weight if they pay attention to how much they are eating and what they are eating," says Dr.Ann Albright, president of health care and education for the American DiabetesAssociation, Alexandria,Va. Making the right choices isn't always easy.Take the latest grazing craze: 100-calorie snack packs. While Albright says 100-calorie packs are good for making Americans think of portion control, they aren't a magic bullet."It's sort of a magic number that Nabisco picked,"she says."You have to look at what you are eating." "I was speaking to a group of people and someone said,'I love 100-calorie snack packs.'And they had eaten three of them,"recalls Bonnie Taub-Dix, spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, Chicago."A lot of people don't think about that. If they eat three of them, that's still 300 calories. I really have to caution people that just because it's in a smaller package doesn't mean it's a health food." But, she adds, if 100-calorie snack packs "gets people eating in smaller portions, it's a step in the right direction." Misdirection, however, is one of the perils consumers face when it comes to snack food labels. Many snack products advertise themselves as low-fat, sugar-free or containing no added sugar. "Sugar-free does not mean calorie-free," Albright says. Budgeting your calories throughout the day,Albright says, is one key to maximizing your grazing.To do so,you should be able to understand food labels.The American DiabetesAssociation'sWeb site (www.diabetes. org) has a virtual grocery tour that helps people to check the calories and ingredients on many food labels, enabling them to assemble their own snack packs before they leave for work, school, etc.The United States Department of Agriculture's National Nutrient Database Web site (www.ars.usda.gov/ Services/docs) also offers an online search of the nutrient content of 7,519 different foods. (See sidebar on tips for buying and assembling your own snacks.) Salmon-Zhu is one of those who makes her own snack pack.A hypoglycemic, she manages it with exercise, snacks and water. "It's easy,"Salmon-Zhu says of preparing snacks."I just use little containers and throw snacks in them. I do a lot of toasting— pecans, almonds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds. I don't add salt.Toasting alone brings out the flavor of them and makes them taste yummier." Salmon-Zhu also drinks a lot of water,which she says"satiates something that feels like hunger,not thirst.To be honest, water for me is almost a snack." If only more people thought that way, saysTaub-Dix. "Some people eat because they are bored, tired or mistake hunger for thirst,"she says."Really, the best line of defense if you are really not hungry is to drink a beverage. It could be a hot mug of tea,water with lemon or coffee with milk. It could also be a low-calorie hot cocoa.Those are all things you can have that are like speed bumps that prevent you from eating when you really don't need to,or eating what you really don't need to eat." Avoiding foods that are too tempting is another key to grazing, lest it lead to overeating. "Foods they have to avoid are the ones they can't eat a small portion of,"Rolls says."It's going to be different for different people." Rolls suggest eating bigger portions of lower calorie foods. "If you eat, say even a tiny bit of a piece of chocolate, it packs so many calories into a gram of food. It's very easy to overeat,"Rolls says."For celery sticks, for the same amount of calories,you get 15 to 20 times the amount of food." Of course,planning ahead is the key. "I think it's hard for people to go out and forage for carrot sticks,"Rolls says."What's in our paths are candy bars. That's what's in the vending machine in the hallway." And yet there are those who, somehow miraculously, can get through the entire day without a single snack. "I had a grandfather who never snacked all his life and just had three squares a day,"Taub-Dix says."That was his metabolism. He was active and he walked. I think a lot depends upon your body type and what you do." The trait was not passed along toTaub-Dix. "I am a grazer,"she says."I always found that during the course of the day, if I had snacks that were healthy, it just kept me more stable and fulfilled." Grazing in the Salmon-Zhu household is already heading into the next generation.With the help of extended family, her two daughters are eating three sit-down meals per day, plus healthy snacks as often as they need. "We have on the table pre-cut apples,nuts and healthy organic crackers," Salmon-Zhu says."They're there all the time.And in the refrigerator are whole-milk baby yogurts. My girls are 6 and 7 years old. I think it fulfills their natural growing process of needing to eat, run and play. It gives them consistent energy.To be honest, it kind of makes them peaceful.They never say they're hungry." © CTW Features