It’s 4pm and you are fidgeting in your seat, trying to ignore your growling tummy. A colleague passes over a couple of burfis, adding 280kcal to your day. Resistance is evidently futile. So you think you might as well take a tea break.
“There are three main reasons (why) people feel hungry in the afternoon. They missed lunch or it was not satisfying; they are bored and want to munch mindlessly; or someone else is snacking,” says Ishi Khosla, consultant nutritionist and proprietor, Whole Foods, New Delhi.
“Snacking per se isn’t bad,” she adds, “it won’t make you fat. In fact, snacking can increase your metabolic rate and stimulate your body to burn more fat.” As long as you are smart about it, you can avoid gaining weight. “Snacking does not have to mean high-fat, high-calorie food,” says Jyothi Prasad, chief dietician, Manipal Hospital, Bangalore.
What you want is 100-150kcal with a good balance of nutrients. “Print a list of healthy snack options and keep it handy. So that when the craving strikes, you know what to order,” she says.
Another choice is portion size. “Just having one vada, instead of two, can help keep things under control,” says Jyoti Arora, team leader, nutrition and dietetics, Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon. “Remember: Snack to satisfy hunger, not boredom.”
The bad bets
Samosa
Calories: 240kcal (one big or two small ones)
Samosa is a popular snack as it is widely available, filling and tasty. The crust is made from maida, or refined flour, and the filling is usually boiled or fried potatoes
Why it is bad for you: It is high in calories, which mostly come from carbohydrates and fat. It is deep-fried, so is full of the worst kind of fats—trans fats—as the oil is reused over and over again. Experts say trans-fats are worse than even saturated fats for the heart (see ‘Beware’). Plus, you can’t really be sure of the type and purity of the oil used.
Vada Pao
Calories: 370kcal (1 vada = 160kcal, bread = 100-120kcal, butter/oil = 90kcal)
This is really a variation of bread pakoda (see below). Though bigger in size, the ingredients are the same: One white pao bun, a mashed potato fritter and a little chutney.
Why it is bad for you: The refined flour bun and deep-fried fritter of besan-coated potato mash mean high carbohydrates with a full meal’s worth of calories. Also, there are those dangerous trans fats from the deep frying. The meagre helping of chutney adds little to the health quotient.
Potato Chips
Calories: Approx. 540kcal for a 100g pack; 164kcal for a small (30g) bag
Potato chip are not usually even real slices of potato, just reconstituted potato mush with lots of salt.