The Difference Between Healthy Fueling and Snacking

You live a fast-paced, active, dynamic life. You’re on the go all day (and evening!) at work, with your family, in sports and fitness, and in your community.

You believe in healthy sit-down meals when there’s time. But on action-packed days when that just isn’t in the cards, what happens?

Too often, you’re forced to grab convenience food in a hurry when you’re busy or low on energy. It happens to all of us—no matter how informed, how high our standards, or how good our intentions!

But if time is short and energy is squeezed, is snacking the answer?

It depends on the nutritional quality of the snack. Is it a “for you” snack,  “good for you ” snack, a “better for you” snack or a “great for you” snack?

Let’s deep dive here…

• For you – it could be any quality of snack that’s provided by a food company.
• Good for you – highly subjective to say the least; most food companies position their products as good for you. Problem is, often they’re not really healthy even if supplemented with a few key nutrients here and there or lower in fat etc…
• Better for you – a good example is Way Better Snacks, a snacking company that actually sprouts all of the ingredients in their chips. These chips are better for you and they are lower in sodium compared to all others. Just keep in mind they still do have refined and added salt and oil and they are baked; so they are better for you, but not great for you.
  
  Recommended, if you are going to eat a store bought chip and they are tasty!
• Great for you – a good example (and a shameless plug) are our (NRg) Superfood Infusions. These are organic non-gmo foods that are as close to their natural state as possible with a shelf life. They are literally vegetables, fruits, and seeds in a pouch for you to consume anytime, combined with daily essential supplementation like Vitamin D that are crucial to health. The only major difference between our products and the original apple, mango or kale is the packaging. Carefully processed (not refined) they infuse your body with superfoods that nourish and detoxify your body, stabilize and strengthen your immune system and ultimately optimize the way you eat in general.

Which brings up the main point of this post:

Snacking is not necessarily healthy fueling, but a healthy fuel could be a snack.

No one goes for a bag of chips (of any quality) to fuel their body, unless it were a very unusual situation like you are stranded on a snowy tundra and that’s all you have left in your backpack. People turn to chips or most other snack foodstuffs, with the exception of perhaps energy bars and beverages, when they want to snack. They turn to real foods and natural products when they want to “fuel” their body right, especially on-the-go. And today, with the snackification of our food supply, it’s real important to know the difference between healthy fueling and snacking.

Healthy Fueling, is when you consume a natural food product that provides some or all of the following – vegetables, fruits, seeds (potentially nuts), beans, and grains and essential supplementation, without substances that your body does not need from nutritional sources, in or as close to it’s original state as possible. Hence, the reason the aforementioned foods are all plant based, nutrient-rich foods.

Nutrient-rich foods do not contain substances like saturated fat, cholesterol, refined and added salt, oil or sugar, which are also not part of a clean label, and will only distract a clean body from operating efficiently. They clog, inspire active and untimely detoxification that is often uncomfortable, and create an addictive response that can be challenging to break.

When we are “fueling,” particularly during times of the day when we are fully engaged and don’t have time to shop, prepare, sit down, clean up, or even eat out; we want the nutrient-rich superfoods that taste great and promote performance. Naturally, those are going to be healthy foods.

The more plant-based nutrient-rich foods you eat (when you are hungry) the better you get at healthy fueling and healthy eating in general. Studies show that when you eat healthy during the challenging times of your day, you will usually eat healthy or healthier during the rest of your day.

On the contrary, snacking could be any quality food stuff. And foodstuffs that contain substances your body does not need, including but not limited to refined and added salt, oil or sugar, are the drivers of “nutrient” poor, unhealthy eating.

Healthy fueling is relatively new concept, but it’s essential to know if you want to stay healthy, productive and perform at your best.

So what’s fueling you, nutrient-poor food or nutrient-rich super foods?

Learn more about Nutrient Rich Superfood Infusions.