14
Feb
08
Your Thoughts Wanted: Office Snacks
Posted in
Food,
Thoughts
Last year I was something of a cookie monster. Maryland cookies are awesome, and it is (as I’ve mentioned elsewhere) physically impossible to leave cookies in an open pack, uneaten. Scientists are stumped, unable to conduct any experiments to find the cause of this problem - whenever they open a pack of cookies to conduct some experiments, the cookies are eaten before any tests can begin. C’est la vie.
I don’t mean to imply, either, that cookies were my only vice. Yorkies were often found … well, actually, the wrappers were often found … around my desk. (In fact, if you really want to see the sort of snacks I used to eat … it’s not pretty, but I’ve written a list of the 10 snacks I miss most.)
This may go some way to explaining away a few of my many extra pounds.
When I started writing this blog, I knocked the snacks on the head, mostly. I still indulge occasionally, but it is rare now - I view chocolate and snacks as rare treats.
Today, I brought such a treat into work - chocolate covered coffee beans. These things are awesome. I’d advise against just eating a handful - if you do, you’ll be bouncing off the walls in no time.
I also think they’re (as snacks go) reasonably healthy. A little dark chocolate is good for you, and even though the merits and faults of caffeine are still discussed at length, I’m still of the opinion that coffee is good for you. You can’t eat too many of these things, either, or you’ll go crazy with caffeine-madness.
Which got me thinking about snacks at work. Obviously, snacks should be avoided as a rule, but presumably some are better than others? Are there snacks that are good for you? Snacks that actually benefit you? Should you eat fruit between meals? Dried fruit? Nuts? Seeds? Steak?
Do you snack? What do you eat, if you snack between meals?
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February 14th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I am a baaaad snacker. Or a good snacker, depending on your perspective. I DO snack, but I avoid the various cakes and candies that people bring in and scatter about the office like fat crumbs waiting to collect on my ass. My snacking routine is usually a banana with ~5 almonds at 10am, then in the afternoon at 3ish, I have an apple or some raw veggies. Sometimes I bring in plain chickpeas to munch on, or a clementine orange (which I love to dip into natural yogurt!). On top of that, I drink copious amounts of tea.
I think “avoiding snacks as a rule” is necessarily true. If you can spread out your calories over smaller meals, a couple of nutritious snacks a day can actually keep your metabolism fired and you burn more calories as a result. Of course, this takes a bit of discipline… and planning… I did the 6-meals a day thing for a while and it was ROUGH. But it’s true that it stoked my metabolism. I was energetic and constantly hungry at the same time! Kind of cool, and kind of annoying. Now I have 3 meals a day and my 2 snacks. It works for me…. for now….
February 15th, 2008 at 9:47 am
“fat crumbs waiting to collect on my ass”
That may be the best phrase I’ve ever heard.
I hear what you’re saying about 6 meals vs 3 meals + snacks. That’s pretty much my thinking. I eat meals that are too large (I have bad portion control), so I’m looking at ways to spread my calories through the day.
2 lunches should be easy to start with, both smaller that my current 1. It’s the evening meals that are really tricky though - I have lunch at 1 and dinner at 8 (or later). After a 7 hour break, I’m ravenous and eat far too much. Maybe a couple of snacks in the meantime will help.
February 16th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Pumpkin seeds! Not the white ones in their shells with tons of salt, but the hulled green ones. Lots of protein and fiber. The raw ones are very good and probably the healthiest. They take time to chew, which is sort of a boon. (Slow eating means less eating.) Best of all you can eat and keep your hands clean, so as long as you don’t drop them in the keyboard, they are workstation safe. But the salted roasted pumpkin seeds are sooooo delicious. The roasting puffs them up light so they’re a little easier to chew. Salt gets on your hands though, so not workstation friendly. The ultimate would be roasted unsalted, but I’ve never seen those.
I also recommend an apple peeler device that peels and cores and slices apple thin with one crank motion. If URLs work you can see lots here http://images.google.com/images?q=apple+peeler I could almost live off nuts and fruits.
February 20th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Hi Dave,
I don’t snack at work. I don’t bring snacks to work, I have no way of buying them at work and I don’t feel the need to drop everything mid-afternoon to go buy snacks. So that’s that!
I do, however, eat like a warthog at lunch. I wonder if it is wrong to avoid eating a 250cal chocolate bar at 11am in favour of eating a 500cal slab of cake at lunchtime? I’ll let you know when I find the answer…
Maybe it’s worth expanding your question to what people eat in the office in general, regardless of snacking?
February 21st, 2008 at 4:49 pm
I’m not opposed to eating snacks throughout the day as long as they are under the 200 calorie mark. Anything over this and I almost consider it a meal. If I’m starving between meals I may buy a bag of peanuts and eat only half the bag (1/2 serving) instead of the whole bag with 300+ calories. Other snacks I like are dried fruits and nuts like the others have said.
A good idea though is to drink lots of water or black coffee or unsweet tea throughout the day. This will put something in your stomach without adding any calories to your day.
March 25th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Great Question! I lost 60lbs last summer, and I could not have done it without the occasional snack to keep me full.
I love trail mix (1/4 cup at a time). It’s easy to scarf down, so watch out, but if you eat it slowly it can be very filling.
I also love bananas with a little peanut butter (1tbps per banana) or Apple’s and peanut butter.
March 31st, 2008 at 11:37 am
TPod: Given the amount you run, I don’t think you’re going to have much of a problem with a slive of cake at lunch once in a while! 
Brandon: I’ve cut down on sugar in tea (half a treaspoon now) and none at all on coffee, plus drinking plenty of water. Occasionally, though, I find myself craving something sweet.
60lbs! Wow, Jeremy, that’s good work! Peanut butter as a snack I hadn’t considered, but that sounds great.
April 1st, 2008 at 4:12 am
I use a three-pronged technique to keep my weight from getting out of control:
Pre-portioned snacks. usually those 100-calorie snacks that come from several manufacturers in many varieties. And a few “free” foods like baby carrots and celery.
The other part is paying close attention to exactly what I’m craving for at the moment and eating it, so I feel satisfied faster. Cuz sometimes I want sweet or salty or crunchy or spicy or quantity specifically.
For when I simply need to chew, I keep a bunch of flavors of sugarless gum.
