When I ask most people to name a few of their favorite snack foods, they usually smile and mention chips, pretzels, cookies, and similar sweet foods. Some of us will add " fruits" to the list. So many of us feel guilty snacking, but we humans are in fact born with a sweet tooth as a survival tool based upon our evolutionary biology. Our bodies need fuel to supply energy and our brain requires and uses only sugar as its source of fuel (care to rethink the low carb craze?). If we were to ask most people to trace their sugar cravings or late night binges, we'd probably find that they hadn't eaten for hours. Why? Our brain sends a signal that we need sugar when our blood sugar levels fall low, which results in our craving sweets among other things. Newborn infants exhibit this survival mechanism too, since studies show that our preference for sweets is innate versus learned.


So, this brings us back to our topic for this week, snacking, weight loss and health! When we eat often, we maintain adequate blood sugar levels necessary for our energy requirements and cognitive functioning. This in turn helps us to maintain a positive mood. Ever experience hunger, fatigue and moodiness together? Ever go too many hours without eating only to feel like eating the entire refrigerator later in the evening? Snacking often can help our mood, energy and cravings. Aside from these "snack often" benefits, our body acts as a furnace every time we eat, raising our metabolism (this is a reason we may not feel like eating in the heat, but we can eat small!). So, we'll actually burn more calories when we eat more often, even if we take in the same number of total calories for the day. Lastly, because we are eating more often, we are using food as our energy source not our stress hormones, which means a higher energy level and mood while we're physically less stressed even in hot weather (of course we're drinking more water too)!

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