Congratulations to my loyal snackers September 18, 2006 To all of you out there counting your snacks: I'm proud. Very proud. You've done right here by stopping in to the Virtual Snackcident Prevention Headquarters. Know this: you've made it to step one. Heck, you're at step 9 right about now. By coming to the Snackcident Files and submitting your evidence, you're admitting your weaknesses. I guarantee you this though: you are certainly gaining strength. Strength that is unmatched by many snackers out there today. Strength that you will use to climb mountains. Strength to run 43 miles, non-stop. Strength to be happy and joyful in life. I congratulate you. As the Snackcident Sergeant, I feel proud to see the Prevention I'm witnessing. Now remember to take step 10 and reach out for that LesserEvil snack! And prevent those snackcidents! Posted by The Snackcident Sergeant | comments Did you ever wonder why Twinkies... August 22, 2006 ... don’t have an expiration date? When I was a teenager, some friends used to kid around that Twinkies didn't have an expiration date. I never cared much about expiration dates. If I knew that I was going to grow up and become a nutrition researcher, I would've saved a few vintage boxes of Twinkies to bring to each of my high school reunions to test them out and see if they were still edible. I do think Twinkies are one of my most favorite snack foods from childhood – perfectly golden and delicious. Kids today have so many more options (big kids, too)! Now that the government has gotten more serious about food labeling, the Twinkies boxes do have expiration dates. I stumbled upon an absolutely hysterical website where some folks actually did scientific research with Twinkies www.twinkiesproject.com – this really brings food testing to a new level! Posted by Felicia, The Resident Nutritionist | comments NOTyo Cheese August 1, 2006 After a long long hot weekend, and sweating off pounds I felt that it was necessary to replenish my soul as well as my gut. What better way to satisfy your hunger needs, than crossing the border. No, I'm not speaking of "Yo Quiero Taco Bell", I'm talking about authentic Mexican food best of all NACHOS. Oh man,everything you could hope for in a meal crunch, cheese, salsa, meat, and almost anything else you can imagine. Oh you should have seen the look on my face as the waiter brought the mound of tortilla chips to my table. I immediately began getting dirty forget about forks and knives this was a mans meal and men us their hands, right? Needless to say, 10 minutes later I encountered a bare naked plate. I actually felt kind of bad leaving it naked and exposed, but what could I do? Well I'll tell you what I did, I ordered another round, and let me tell you that I physically couldn't move after eating that 2nd large plate of nachos. I was forced to loosen up the straps around my waist and waddle out of the restaurant. I successfully made it outside to the curb where I had to take a minute to catch my breath. I put my head down and my hands on my knees and before I knew it those nacho were not mine anymore they belonged to the street now. Posted by The Snackcident Sergeant | comments National Lampoon's vacation Snackcidents July 12, 2006 You know, vacations are meant to be fun – they involve a change of environment, routine and are meant to be mentally therapeutic. Have you even been to any theme parks? Every five feet, you can trip over some food vendor. The people are always walking around with something edible in their hands. You know what happens – the brain gets to work filling your mind with feelings of hunger because you just saw and smelled something wonderful. You can just about taste the ice cream, cotton candy or popcorn! The excuse of over-eating on vacation doesn’t fly over here – unless you are scheduled to be executed and this really is your last "supper" (although if that were the case, you wouldn't really be on vacation). The good habits you practice during the year, can and should be carried over into your vacation. The guilt afterwards just isn't worth it! Posted by Felicia, The Resident Nutritionist | comments Marshmallow June 27, 2006 I’ll begin with these words: “don’t judge.” I worked from home for a few days and it was great! I took phone calls while wearing sweatpants and tee shirts, sent emails while sitting Indian-style, and did a little yoga while on a conference call. The best (or worst) part, however, was snacking. I found a great little creation of cool whip and marshmallow fluff to dollop atop my fruit salads and banana peanut butter sandwiches. YUM! I brought some of this sugary deliciousness into the office today and was not only gawked at and made fun of, but I was informed that my concoction is a total snackcident. Apparently it is reminiscent of the days when tobacco “calmed your nerves” and cola “soothed your stomach”. They say old-fashioned and unhealthy, I say retro. They say cavity-causing, I say it reminds me to floss. Either way, my coworkers are right: my snack is very, very bad. As are my snacking habits. I’m not a very good resident snacker, am I? In fact, between my marshmallow whip, jalapenos tortilla chips and coffee-flavored suckers, I’ve gained an unmentionable double-digit number of pounds within the past two months!! For crying out loud – I’ve got a bathing suit and a bridesmaid dress to fit into this summer!! So I’ve got to shape up a little. If anyone has suggestions for me, feel free to pass them along! Here’s what I ate yesterday: 1 orange 1 serving of non-fat yogurt 1 small cup of coffee with low-fat milk 2 cups of fresh fruit with 2 tablespoons of marshmallow whip 1 chicken breast in mojito sauce with whole wheat cous cous 6 mini sandwiches: low-fat wheat crackers, cheddar and salami 1 coffee-flavored sucker LOTS of water Posted by Andrea, The Resident Snacker | comments Water cooler mishaps – the office Snackcident June 5, 2006 Do people in your office love to go to the supermarket the day after a holiday and buy all the half-price candy? My favorite are the cakes, donuts and cookies that are mysteriously left near the coffee machine. Are we the human garbage cans for our co-workers!? No recycling going on here! They think they are doing everyone a favor, but no, they are actually saboteurs! It can be so difficult to walk past a candy dish and not stick your hand in and pull out a sweet treat! In the office where I do my graduate research, we replaced the candy with almonds. For real. They are nutritious and the good fats that they contain can help to decrease those hunger pangs! You should try it! Posted by Felicia, The Resident Nutritionist | comments Spicy Spicy May 27, 2006 I'm normally a sweet person. Let me rephrase. I'm still a sweet gal, take my word for it. What I meant to say is that I normally prefer sweet snacks: candy and cake and ice cream... yummmmmmm. Recently, however, I've been on a salty kick and have found the devil of salty snacks: habenero tortilla chips. I've only seen them at a store near the house where I grew up and gooooood night Irene, they are addictive! You get this great tingling sensation in your mouth and the powdered flavoring cakes up on your fingertips. The spicy makes your chest heat up and your stomach begins to boil a little. When you finish off the bag (y'all know I eat the whole bag) and lick off the orange stuff, you're guaranteed heartburn in about 15 minutes. It's the best heartburn I've ever had. So to weene myself off of these chips, I picked up jalapeno sunflower seeds instead. Boo yeah! Posted by Andrea, The Resident Snacker | comments Don’t think you have a problem with snacking? The May 18, 2006 So, do you think that if you eat between meals that it doesn’t count? If you eat a cupcake against your will at a kid's birthday party or chocolate when you're PMS-ing... that it doesn’t count? Tipping the snack bag to get every last potato chip crumb in your mouth? Just a bite here, another bite there. Can't control yourself? Can't abide by Nancy Reagan’s words, "just say no." Acknowledging that you have a problem is the first step. Getting help is the next step. Consider surrendering to a higher power. Know that Snackcidents happen, but you can always make better choices. Keep healthier snacks on hand for those emergency situations. Finally, find a sponsor that will help you when you are having that emergency and someone who will offer you support and talk you into obtaining a better snack! Posted by Felicia, The Resident Nutritionist | comments Beverages – The Fluid Snackidents. May 8, 2006 Solid or liquid – calories come in all states of matter. You think it doesn't matter because you sip it versus chewing. Well... have I got news for you! One place where we love to get "empty calories" and take them for granted is in beverages (okay, it's because we're just lubricating our food to go down our throats). The exception would be calorie-free beverages. However, things like soda, sports drinks and yes, my favorite - coffee - can be loaded up with calories. One of my friends asked if she could still have her coffee at Dunkin Donuts light & sweet... I asked her if she'd eat a jelly donut every day. She looked at me in horror and said, "NO." I explained that she was probably drinking it. If I were to have that kind of snackcident daily, then give me something to chew on! Remember, all calories count at the end of the day. Drink plenty of water every day - it's free - free from calories and in most cases, free of charge! Posted by Felicia, The Resident Nutritionist | comments Good Fat, Bad Fat, Thin Fat, Phat Fat? April 27, 2006 Everyday we learn something different and often conflicting in the media. One day fat is good, the next day it is bad. It will heal us. It will kill us. Are there phat fats? In our culture "phat" means "first rate." It's also a Vietnamese first name that means "wealth." Well, fats are essential to the human body because they carry fat-soluble vitamins, provide a good source of calories and are an excellent way to store extra fuel. Without a whole biochemistry lesson, let me put it clearly: you do need some fat. The better fats are the mono and polyunsaturated fats and essential fatty acids (found in oils). The bad fats are the saturated fats and the trans or partially hydrogenated oils (boo!). In 2006, food manufacturers were required to report the number of grams of trans fats in their products on the Nutrition Facts Label. So you know what many manufacturers did? They took that ingredient out of the foods. Silly companies... they made the foods just fine without it. People are slowly, but surely getting to know trans fats and their effects. By all means, steer clear, but you still have to pay attention to the other fats as well. See what's phat and what's not. Post comments with any questions for me - it's a complicated subject, but once you get it, you get it. And you'll be happier, fending off those snackcidents left and right. Posted by Felicia, The Resident Nutritionist | comments The Breakfast Snackcident April 25, 2006 I'd like to take a moment to thank my co-workers. While I acknowledge that self-control comes from within, chocolate covered pretzels come from without, or outside. Well, you know what I mean. All together now, let's say our office motto: "If you bring it, she will eat it." Thanks, gang! To my credit, however, I only had one serving (7 pretzels at 130 calories). The bad news is that those 7 pretzels were my breakfast. I know, I know – a snackcident for breakfast is a zillion times worse than an afternoon snackcident (isn't it?). While my morning sweet tooth is fixed, I feel horrible for subjecting myself to those empty calories so early in the day. I can console myself with the little bit of iron and calcium I may have received, but I need another kind of strength – a strength that is seeped in will power! A strength that will restrain itself from chocolate covered trans fats and sodium-filled whodily-ha! Power to Andrea!!!!! Go me!!!! Posted by Andrea, The Resident Snacker | comments Those Office Snackcidents... April 12, 2006 Okay, I’m not pointing fingers. However, I walked into work today and sitting on the community table were these horrible candy monsters made of chocolate, marshmallows, caramel, and pecans. Who on earth would buy these and bring them to work? Everyone knows that I eat everything! Yes, I had one. And I could feel my teeth rotting with every gooey bite. Okay, so I had two. Ahhhhh! Bad Andrea! Snacking self-control is what’s lacking. But you know when that sweet tooth just starts talking to you and there is a package of sugary-something calling your name every time you walk to the copier? And as the hours pass and the phone rings and you answer emails and the sugar keeps calling you and your computer freezes and that sweet tooth – your own tooth betrays you… next thing you know, its your hand betraying you. I watched myself unwrap those chocolate-covered cavity makers and wept. Yep, I wept. Honestly, I had three. And I ceased adding sugar to my coffee because of them. Those three little candy globs (at 250 calories a piece, mind you) had enough refined sugars to send my organs into overdrive for years to come. I hang my head in shame as I lick the last morsels of processed chocolate from my lips. Posted by Andrea, The Resident Snacker | comments How Many Servings Are Really In That Bag? April 12, 2006 Have you heard that Americans are gaining weight? Ever wonder why? Our portions have gotten so out of control. Remember the movie Super Size Me? The long story short is that we have gotten accustomed to eating more (larger quantities). Candy bars have gotten larger (have you seen the ones @ the movie theatres… are they grown under power lines or what???), snack bags have gotten bigger AND even the cup holders in cars have increased in size to accommodate the larger cups being placed into them. You can take the Nancy Reagan approach & just say “no” to large portions… you don’t have to eat the whole thing! When you look at any food stuff that has a Nutrition Fact Label on it – look to see what a serving size IS and how many serving in the package. You don’t have to be precise, but do try to eat only one portion of that food… because eating more is how Snackcidents can happen! Posted by Felicia, The Resident Nutritionist | comments The five stages of Snackcident Prevention March 31, 2006 Consider the strategies for behavior modification - do you want to change? Are you ready to take action? Really take action? Do not revert to your old ways! First, acknowledge that Snackcidents happen at work, in the car, at the mall, at parties, etc. Second, you need to have a plan of action. Start by eating at least three meals a day (don't skip any). Third, map out your snacks between meals! Yes, I said snacks between meals! Why? Because you will be less likely to OVEREAT at your next feeding opportunity. It helps to keep your blood sugar constant (your brain functions on sugar alone). It doesn't mean a pint of ice cream or a box of cookies! Fourth, bring snacks with you - leave them in your backpack, desk, glove compartment, pocketbook, wherever you may be when you're in need of that food fix. Finally, practice makes perfect...keep up the good work & keep snacking on your better snack choices! Be creative with your snacks and add some variety to your routine! Posted by Felicia, The Resident Nutritionist | comments Traveling Snackcidents March 31, 2006 Does ANYone know how to prevent snackcidents while traveling?! Y'all know what I'm talking about, right? I mean, traveling does for my diet what a convertible does for Diana Ross's hair: let me tell you, it ain't pretty. On my trip out to Cali, I hadn't even left New York and already I'd equipped myself with two bags of sunflower seeds (one regular, one nacho cheese flavored) and a Butterfinger. While the latter is bad, bad, bad, I've convinced myself that sunflower seeds aren't sooooo horrible: at least I get lots of Vitamin E and magnesium, right? I mean, where ELSE am I going to get them - eating aloe? Well, I'll end up eating my snackcident somewhere between LA and San Francisco. I could balance it by eating a healthier dinner here at the airport and saving the seeds and candy for a midnight crisis, I suppose. But as I look around the airport, all I see is Dunkin Donuts, Cheeseburger Cheeseburger, Mex and the City (real cute)and Create Your Own Salad. Hmmm, that's a possibility! It'll only cost me my cab ride here to eat a not-so-terrible dinner. Maybe I'll take my chances on airplane food. Outside of pre-packing a snack in an already overstuffed carry-on, what do ya do while on the road or flying around? Posted by Andrea, The Resident Snacker | comments To You Snackcident Violators March 30, 2006 Just like ole Saint Nick, Snackcident Sergeant sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. Knows when you've been bad or good. And he knows when you're committing a snackcident! I'm coming to a town near you so be on the lookout for my Snackcident Prevention Team and me. If you're caught, there will be violations issued and healthier snacks distributed. Believe me, we don't want to give out our Snackcident Violations. We don't want to issue free snacks (ok, maybe we do). What we really want to do is prevent snackcidents. We'll do this by any means possible. As I like to say: prevention requires retention. If we catch you, please don't let it happen again. I will find you. I will cite you. And I will report you. You will go down in the book. And I'm not talking about the book of love. For goodness sake, STOP BAD SNACKING! Any complaints, comments, concerns - you know where to reach me. Posted by The Snackcident Sergeant | comments Home | Latest Evidence | Latest Confessions | Submit Evidence | Save A Friend Snackcident Blog | Snackcident Prevention Team | LesserEvil, Inc. © 2006 LesserEvil, Inc.