Why Snacking Can Stall Weight Loss

“I wasn’t even hungry,” my friend confessed recently. “I had a stressful morning, my coworker brought in hot cinnamon buns, and their waft become too hard to resist.”

Hunger rarely provides motivation to snack. Like my friend, you’re stressed, bored, emotionally unfulfilled, or otherwise want to drown your feelings in a bag of chips or a blondie brownie.

While some experts argue snacking or “mini-meals” can help you lose weight, I’ve found the opposite among three decades working with clients: Snacking can stall fat loss and create weight loss resistance. Among its problems, snacking:

1. Spikes insulin. Whenever you eat, your body secretes insulin, which delivers sugar from your bloodstream to your cells, then to your liver and muscle for storage. These storage units only take what they need. If you've still got sugar hanging out in your blood, your liver repackages that sugar as triglycerides, which insulin stores as fat. Every time you snack, you crank up insulin levels, bolting your fat-cell doors and stalling fast, lasting fat loss.
2. Increases calories. While hormones matter more, calories still count, and eating too much of even a healthy snack becomes unhealthy. Studies show people who eat even a healthy snack subsequently ate the same amount at dinner. 
3. Often becomes habitual. You hear your coworker open a bag of cookie, and even though you just had lunch two hours before, you suddenly gravitate towards the vending machine. Snacking often becomes nothing more than a bad, potentially unhealthy habit.
4. Frequently occurs at night. Dietary catastrophes often occur at night, when a momentary lapse of judgment or maybe a super-stressful day leads you to that half-eaten pint of butter pecan. Studies indicate that nighttime snacking stores more fat. Thirst often comes disguised as hunger. A study at the University of Washington found everyone who drank just eight ounces of water before bed curbed their hunger completely.

How to Break the Snacking Habit

The easiest way to curb snacking is to do meals correctly. Start with a filling protein shake for breakfast and then eat every four to six hours.

Make your meals lean protein, healthy fats, lots of leafy and cruciferous veggies, and slow-release high-fiber carbs. Many former frequent snackers discover once they eat enough at meals and stabilize blood sugar, they no longer hanker for a mid-afternoon snack.

Despite eating healthy at meals, you’ll probably occasionally snack. Maybe lunch didn't satisfy you or you'll need something healthy to resist hot buttery movie popcorn. If you’re legitimately hungry and not habitually snacking, smart options include:

• Celery with almond butter
• Kale chips with guacamole
• Slow roasted or dehydrated nuts and seeds
• Non-dairy, non-soy protein shake with berries, kale, and unsweetened coconut or almond milk
• Hummus with crudité
• Sliced natural turkey with avocado

If you snack, do you notice a pattern where it becomes habitual during a particular time of day? Share yours below.

References:

Arble DM, et al. Circadian Timing of Food Intake Contributes to Weight Gain. Obesity (2009) 17 11, 2100-2102. doi:10.1038/oby.2009.264.

Bachman JL, et al. Eating Frequency Is Higher in Weight Loss Maintainers and Normal-Weight Individuals than in Overweight Individuals. Journal of the American Dietetic Association (November 2011) 111:11, 1730-1734.

Hatori M, et al. Time-restricted feeding without reducing caloric intake prevents metabolic diseases in mice fed a high-fat diet. Cell Metab. 2012 Jun 6;15(6):848-60. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2012.04.019. Epub 2012 May 17.

Hibi M, et al. Nighttime snacking reduces whole body fat oxidation and increases LDL cholesterol in healthy young women. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2013 Jan 15;304(2):R94-R101. doi: 10.1152/ajpregu.00115.2012. Epub 2012 Nov 21.

Kong A, et al. Associations between snacking and weight loss and nutrient intake among postmenopausal overweight to obese women in a dietary weight-loss intervention. J Am Diet Assoc. 2011 Dec;111(12):1898-903. doi: 10.1016/j.jada.2011.09.012.

Maffeis C, et al. Could the savory taste of snacks be a further risk factor for overweight in children? J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2008 Apr;46(4):429-37. doi: 10.1097/MPG.0b013e318163b850.

Marmonier C, et al. Snacks consumed in a nonhungry state have poor satiating efficiency: influence of snack composition on substrate utilization and hunger. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002 Sep;76(3):518-28.

Ovaskainen ML, et al. Snacks as an element of energy intake and food consumption. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2006 Apr;60(4):494-501.

Zizza C, et al. Significant increase in young adults' snacking between 1977-1978 and 1994-1996 represents a cause for concern! Prev Med. 2001 Apr;32(4):303-10.

University of Washington Study. 2002. Reported in Integrated and Alternative Medicine Clinical Highlights. 4:1(16).