What's Your Snack Identity?

I’ve noticed something recently:  snacking is an art.  Everyone I know seems to have a different way of doing it.

Lee’s snacking has two components.  1–He only snacks when he’s bored.  He’s much better at resisting the siren call of the kitchen if he’s occupied.  2–He’s a grazer (this particular characteristic drives me up the wall).  He walks through the kitchen periodically, grabbing a handful of whatever is available.  Sometimes that’s a delicious baked good, but as often as not, it’s dry Cheerios.  He then leaves a trail of whatever he grabbed all through the house.

My kids are activity-based snackers:  some activities (television and movies being the primary one) require a snack.  Toby will just grab a container of something and take it with him to the vegetating location; Delaney will prepare herself a lavish spread, including plate, napkin, silverware, and drink, and then sit in front of the television to eat it.

I’m more of a time-of-day snacker.  I tend to eat a small snack around 4:30, hoping that it will prevent the hunger-induced meltdown at 5:30.  I’m also a prepared snack person; if, for instance, I’m having cheese and crackers, I get out a specific number of crackers, line them up on a plate (and put the cracker box away), top each one with a little postage-stamp of cheese, then I sit down at the table and eat them very deliberately.

Some people (who are those people?) snack when they’re hungry.  Some people view a snack as an opportunity for a treat, while others view it as a chance to get in more of whatever nutrient they need more of.  Some are grazers, while others would rather sit down and eat a mini-meal.  Some people don’t even notice when they’re snacking–they roam through the grocery store, trying all the samples, or they eat that bar-mix stuff by the handful, without even realizing they’re doing it.  If food is available, it must need to be eaten, right?

Interestingly, the diet programs that I’m familiar with all incorporate snacking into their daily menu plans.  The importance of not allowing yourself to get absolutely famished is widely recognized:  if you get so hungry you could chew off your own arm, you’re much more likely to eat more than you need, and choose poorly, at your next meal.  Moderate hunger is reasonable (and necessary, if you’re trying to lose weight); the feeling that you’re starving to death is not.

It seems to me that if you are going to the trouble to think carefully about what you put into your body at meal time, it would be a shame to abandon that good sense between meals.

What kind of snacker are you?