may be useful to review some of the most common foods that are eaten in our times, especially those most publicized of which probably are the most purchased and consumed. A premise is to make honest approach to food without any negative prejudice, one thing is certainly true fact that no food is harmful in itself, but may become so if the drinker is under particular physiological or if it makes a widespread abuse.
said that one wonders why the snacks do not have a good reputation and are often accused of being the primary cause of childhood obesity. Without going into detail of the nutritional characteristics of each snack, making a small test to supermarkets, reading good nutritional data imposed by law on the packaging, with papers in hand, the data that is immediately evident is a high amount of kilocalories per gram, a value ranging from 3 to 4.5 which means a candy bar that weighs about 45 grams may contain from 120 to 200 K.cal an amount of energy equal to that provided by a plate of pasta with garlic and olive oil 70 gr. We understand now that a snack per day is already providing substantial energy input but it is not uncommon to hear of the boys who consume at least 2 or more occasions during the day.
If we lived in a country where malnutrition is a risk for adolescents, this food would be a panacea, and in a small space in a very convenient and fast it can provide a large amount of energy, but as we know in our countries the problem is just the opposite: the food is most often high calorie and the increasingly sedentary life especially among the younger age groups does not generate a daily energy expenditure sufficient to dispose of as ingested.
On the other hand those who are aware of this and wants to follow a reduced calorie regime is facing an ever greater effort which is difficult to impose on a child. In this regard a useful tip for managing a healthy diet is to eat meals at set times, in this will educate the body to feel hungry only at those times of day when we are willing to fill it with some snacks. Very often the snacks being always available in our pantries are quickly consumed and discarded without regard to time or what it is eaten in main meals, making a gesture almost mechanical.
A fresh fruit, a cup of yogurt, milk and biscuits, two slices of bread with a small amount of meat and cheese are all foods that require minimal preparation time, which leads to a greater awareness of what you are doing, giving the act of eating the right amount. Foods that certainly do not give a caloric higher than that of the packaged snacks, but which produce a feeling of satiety without doubt the most effective.
A final point should be addressed to the misinformation on the web. I refer in particular to the website dedicated to "Italian snacks" curated by the Italian confectionery industry with the approval of medical experts who act as the snack food, needless to say, "with full formula" describing it as almost the best food for adolescents. The data stoned in interviews that can be seen are certainly true, but almost always full of omissions, is the old trick of putting light on the side of the coin that suits them. One such example: it is said that the snacks contain a "fair amount of vitamins A, B1, B2, calcium and iron," but does not say that these "moderate amounts" are actually a fraction of those provided, for the same calories for example, from a fresh fruit.
short, the general good sense, which tends to discourage the snacks to the young people can be shared and verified by simple empirical observation made by anyone willing to learn and discover what lies behind the product of a cheek advertising campaign.
