100 Calorie Snacks - Are They Really 100 Calories?

Usually 100 Calorie snacks come in individual servings of 100 calories. The servings could be individual packs, bars or simply several 100 Calorie serving sizes.

Here is the first issue I have with this type of snack...

I personally find the "100 Calorie" sign on boxes misleading. Smart marketers rely on the fact that most people do not distinguish between an entire box and a box, comprised of a number of servings.

What happens is, and this is by the way a desired result, shoppers assume that the entire box contains only 100 Calories, and since the box itself looks of a pretty decent size, they end up buying and eating the whole thing.. or a large part of it.

Let's examine closely what happens in such case...

Say you went shopping, wanted something with a few calories to snack on, got tempted and bought Chex 100 Calorie Snack Mix, for example.

Well, like most 100 Calorie snacks Chex 100 Calorie Snack Mix has not 1, but actually 6 individual 100 Calorie servings.

Not knowing that you quickly finished three of the servings. You ended up swallowing 300 calories!

Issue No two...

This is my personal opinion only, but if you are going to put any type of food in your body, why not give your body everything it needs for the moment?

In other words, foods... and snacks should be nutritionally balanced to provide enough of each major nutrient - protein, carbs (fiber, too), and fats... That's right - fats!

We all need all three macro nutrients in sufficient quantities. Not only that, but these nutrients should be of good quality, too - unprocessed or minimally processed at least!

With most "100 Calories" snacks you can find at Walgreens these days, I can, with almost 100 percent certainty promise you that you may not be able to find a 100 Calorie snack that is nutritionally balanced.. Even less so natural and minimally processed.

In fact most 100 Calorie snacks consist primarily of high amounts of carbs and fat, and low amounts of protein.

If you don't think this is the case, go see for yourself.

Back to our question from the very beginning - are 100 Calorie snacks really 100 Calories?

Here is how to find out: Find a box of snacks that says "100 Calories" on it. Turn on the back. In the Nutrition Facts table find Total Fat, Total Carbohydrate, Dietary Fiber, and Protein.

Take Total Fats and multiply by 9. Remember the result.

Take Total Carbohydrate and subtract Dietary Fiber. Multiply what's left by 4. Remember the result.

Take the Protein number and multiply by 4.

Now, sum up all three results and see what you come up with. If the label is not misleading you should arrive at 100 or pretty close to it.

In closing, 100 Calorie snacks may offer some help in calorie intake control and weight management, but only if you:

1) Keep in mind that each box has several 100 Calorie servings!

2) Are absolutely confident that you can stop after the first 100 Calorie serving!

3) Do NOT snack on too many of the 100 Calorie servings throughout the day!

And, to top it off, you should not care that you are mainly snacking on refined carbs and fats, not a well-balanced nutritionally snack.


Resource:

Ivan Nikolov, a top five natural bodybuilder and founder of VIITALS Specialty Bakery, shares with you his knowledge in general and sports nutrition. To learn more about company go to http://www.myhighproteinsnacks.com.

For more on the high-protein, low-calorie, low-carb snacks VIITALS manufactures go to "Our High Protein Snacks" page.