Is Snacking Bad or Good for Weight Loss and Blood Sugar?

Is snacking bad for you? Or is it good for you? Maybe you heard snacking is good for weight loss. Or that snacks are important if you have diabetes or prediabetes. Here’s the scoop + some of the best snacks for your health.

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Everyday Matty wakes up, washes his face and rips open a chocolatey-peanuty bar of at least 250 calories. He eats his first snack before breakfast to “jump start his metabolism.” And he follows each of his 3 meals with a snack. In all, he eats at least 7 times a day.

I don’t know too many people who pre-breakfast in the first minutes after pulling themselves out of bed, but I know lots of folks who wonder if it’s good to snack or if snacking is bad for weight loss and blood sugar.

Should YOU Snack?

Let’s look at what science says about snacking and weight loss and blood sugar. I’ll toss in some of my professional experience too, so you can decide what’s best for you.

Americans snack a lot!

Too much? Probably.

The calories from our snacks is the equivalent of a 4th meal. And for someone like Matty, snacks are like a 4th and a 5th meal.

We consume more calories today than we did a few decades ago. And most of those extra calories come from between-meal noshing – not from meals. As calories increased, so did our rates of overweight and obesity.

For some people, snacking is out of control. I’ve heard that our rates of snacking continues to jump during the pandemic.

Does snacking boost metabolic rate?

Only sort of.

Every time you eat, your metabolic rate jumps a little because you have to burn calories to digest, absorb and assimilate nutrients from your food. This is called the thermic effect of food (TEF), and it contributes approximately 10% of your metabolic rate. The TEF is why some people recommend snacking to lose weight or to “keep your metabolism humming.”

Though the theory sounds good, it’s flawed.

The TEF is related to what you eat, not how frequently you eat. If, for example, you eat 1600 calories in 3 meals per day or eat the same food in 3 meals and 3 snacks per day, your 24-hour metabolic rate barely differs. So, in reality, snacking does not boost metabolic rate.

Is snacking bad for prediabetes and diabetes?

I get this question a lot. And its corollary, is snacking good for blood sugar control. People have very strong opinions about snacking and blood sugar, but like most things related to the complex human body, it’s not so clear cut.

Years ago, when the only diabetes medications available caused low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), most people with diabetes needed snacks to prevent their blood sugar from dropping too low between meals. That’s no longer the case because we have many newer medications that don’t cause hypoglycemia. If your medications don’t have the side effect of low blood sugar, you likely have much more flexibility about your meal and snack schedule. Check in with a member of your diabetes care team.

Another consideration is this: does snacking raise your blood sugar too high if you have prediabetes or diabetes? It might.

Let’s say you eat lunch, which of course raises your blood sugar. Before it levels out to pre-lunch numbers, you eat again, so your blood sugar rises more. And you eat again before your blood sugar levels drops to baseline, so it rises even more. Then it’s time for dinner, but your blood sugar level is already too high.

In this case, each meal and snack stacked together, so blood sugar failed to drop to healthy levels. This was a problem for one of my clients with prediabetes. More than a snacker, she was an all-day grazer. Her blood sugar steadily inched up throughout the day. Once she allowed longer periods between eating, her A1C level improved.

Again, you might be nothing like my former client, so her strategies may not be best for you.

Does eating more often help control appetite?

Yes, sometimes.

Research suggests eating at least 3 times daily is better for appetite control than eating fewer than 3 times daily. Whether or not you need to eat more frequently than 3 times each day depends on you. And it probably depends on the day. You’ll likely be hungrier on days you’re more active. Of course, you should eat if you’re hungry. To me, being more than just a little hungry is painful. So I’m going to snack when I’m hungry to avoid painful hunger later on.

Ask yourself the questions when deciding to snack or not to snack.

• Do I like to snack?
• Does it help me manage my hunger?
• Does it fit into my day and my routine?
• Does it contribute to a nutritious diet?
• Do I need to snack for blood sugar control? If you do not know, ask your healthcare professional.

Is snacking bad or good for you?

You decide: To snack or not to snack?

• Enjoy a planned snack if it helps you tame your appetite. If a piece of fruit on your afternoon commute keeps you from raiding the refrigerator when you get home, a snack is a smart idea. This was my practice when I used to drive an hour each way between home and work. A piece of fruit or another snack made me a nicer mommy when I walked in the door too.
• Don’t snack to boost your metabolic rate. It doesn’t help. Want to know what else doesn’t help and what might help a little? Here’s a post on metabolism boosters.
• Snack when you’re hungry and a meal is more than a short time away. Regardless of what you’ve heard, being hungry doesn’t mean you’re starving, wasting muscle, digesting your stomach lining or suffering blood sugar swings. It simply means you haven’t eaten for awhile. It’s nature’s way of reminding you to get nourishment.
• Don’t snack because others are eating, because you’re bored or because it’s your habit. None of these is a smart reason to eat.
• Eat a planned snack to fit in wholesome foods. Ask yourself what you’re not getting enough of at meals. The answer is a good snack choice.
• Snack if you need to fuel a workout or replenish after a workout. There’s often no need to snack before or after a light or short workout.

15 Healthy Snacks

If snacks are right for you, create a list of healthy snack ideas. This list will help you make smart decisions instead of leaving you scrambling when you’re hungry. Strategies, not willpower!

Research doesn’t support that snacking is required for weight loss, but the quality of your snack sure matters. Here are 15 healthy snacks to help you get started on your list.

1. Any fresh, frozen, or canned fruit, preferably without added sugars
2. ½ peanut butter sandwich on whole grain bread (I like Dave’s Killer Bread – any variety of whole grain thin sliced)
3. Apple and peanut butter or almond butter
4. Avocado toast
5. Hummus and veggies or hummus and whole grain crackers (I like Wasa and Triscuit Thin Crisps)
6. Open-face sandwich with protein and veggies. Check out this amazing dish I ate in Denmark. Smorrebrod is like a mini meal. I ate it after touring Copenhagen on bicycle.
7. Strained yogurt (Greek or Icelandic) with fresh or frozen berries. Strained yogurt is a good choice for people with prediabetes or diabetes because it’s a little higher in protein and lower in carbohydrate.
8. Lowfat cottage cheese (Try my favorite: mix with diced tomatoes, black pepper and fresh basil leaves
9. Lowfat cottage cheese and fruit
10. Smashed hard-boiled egg on cucumber rounds
11. 1 ounce roasted chickpeas (Biena and Bush’s are delicious) and 1/8 cup dried fruit
12. One ounce of nuts, about ¼ cup
13. Fruit and nuts, such as a small pear and 1/8 cup walnuts
14. Tuna in a single-serve cup or pouch
15. Vegetable juice and reduced-fat cheese (like Cabot and BabyBel)

Cheers to happy, healthy, planned snacking!

If you want a jumpstart on reversing prediabetes, download this free guide for 5 speedy hacks.

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