“Snackle”

I was recently at the QT gas station when I noticed some advertisements above the gas pumps for a “Snackle.” The tag line read: “Is it a snack? Is it a meal? Yes.” I looked around the station and saw versions of the same advertisement with pictures of soft pretzels, slices of pizza, ice cream cones, etc. The ads made me laugh and I liked that QT was advertising that any food could be a snack or a meal. Part of intuitive eating is being flexible with your food choices based on your body’s needs at present/in the near future, your hunger level, and what foods would satisfy you.

Yo-yo dieters often equate a snack with something light like a piece of fresh fruit, microwave popcorn, or a carton of yogurt. If you’ve eaten lunch at 12:00 pm and are not planning to have dinner until 7:00 or 8:00 pm, a light snack is unlikely to meet your body’s fuel needs or be satiating. A snack doesn’t have to be one small food item- this is a “diet culture” rule. A sandwich, a slice of pizza, a cheese and cracker plate, a milkshake, a banana with peanut butter, etc. could be satiating snacks for when your body needs more fuel or when your next meal is several hours away. Alternatively, sometimes we’re not hungry for a plate of food at a regular meal time and a single food item will satisfy us. An ice cream cone, slice of pizza, sandwich, or energy bar may be what we are craving. Who said that you can’t eat dessert as your dinner? The fun part of being an adult is getting to make that choice!! Being flexible with your eating is part of a peaceful relationship with food. We experience real food freedom when we release ourselves from the rigid rules of “diet culture.”

Nurture Notes- July 10, 2019