The Search For Healthy Vending Machine Snacks

July 28th, 2010 |

You’ve got 15 minutes to eat lunch. That limits your options to whatever is in the vending machine. You eye the racks of snacks. What to do? How to find some healthy vending machine snacks?

The nutritional labels on most items can be very helpful in making good choices. The catch is that you usually have to buy something before you can read the label. If you want to be scientific you could build a snack health database, or a scrapbook of nutritional labels. Or, you could just try to remember what is in what.

Diabetics are trained to be very careful about sugar levels. This is good advice for anyone. Large amounts of sugar tend to cause wide swings in blood sugar level from sugar high to crash. The term empty calories is quite appropriate.

A few years ago people were highly focused on reducing fat intake. The current nutritional advice is much more moderate. It is true that fats provide lots of calories, but some fat is actually a good thing. Fat in food helps you feel full, which can help you limit your overall food intake. Transfats, also known as partially hydrogenated oils or fats, are now known to be fairly toxic and should be avoided.

Saturated fats, such as in butter and meat, can be eaten, but the level should be controlled. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, generally vegetable oils, are actually healthy in moderation.

Fat in food can help control the blood sugar roller coaster as it slows down your digestion and processing of sugars. Fats are high in calories though, so it is good to watch how much you eat.

Salt levels have also received attention, as high amounts of dietary salt can sometimes contribute to high blood pressure. Salt tastes good, and food processors compete on taste. Thus processed food generally has added salt, sometimes in very high quantities. Another area you should watch on the nutritional labels.

If you see nuts or raw fruit in the vending machine, those are probably very good choices. Less processed foods are typically healthier than more processed foods. Snack mix or granola would usually be preferable to cookies or doughnuts.

It is good to be aware of your caffeine intake as well. Of course many beverages have caffeine, but sometimes it will be in solid food as well. Caffeine is not a problem in moderation, it actually does appear to raise one’s intelligence. However, it is easy to lose track of one’s consumption of it. Caffeine addiction is very common these days.

It is work to eat well from a vending machine. Some experimentation is called for. Of course your own preferences are going to be very important. But a little effort can lead you to healthy vending machine snacks.

healthy vending machine snacks

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