As healthy eating continues to evolve, high-protein snacks are increasingly part of conversations about metabolic health, weight management, and sustained energy. Rather than relegating...
Social media platforms like TikTok have now turned celebrity snacks into viral obsessions, whether they are healthy or not. From dirty sodas to pickle...
A new study from UCLA researchers is the first to discover food-seeking cells in a part of a mouse’s brain usually associated with panic – but not with feeding.
Activating a selective cluster of these cells kicked mice into “hot pursuit” of live and non-prey food, and showed a craving for fatty foods intense enough that the mice endured foot shocks to get them, something full mice normally would not do.
If true in humans, who also carry these cells, the findings could help address the circuit that can circumvent the normal hunger pressures of “how, what and when to eat.”
In America, estimates are that nearly a quarter of daily caloric intake comes from snacks. A recent study published in Appetite from Penn State may have implications for helping people to better understand how their eating behavior impacts calories and sodium intake, finding that the size of an individual snack piece influences both how fast a person eats it and how much of it they eat.
Many people are undoing the benefits of healthy meals with unhealthy snacks, which increases the risk of strokes and cardiovascular disease. A study published in the European Journal of Nutrition describes the snacking habits of 854 people enrolled in the ZOE PREDICT Study, finding that the participants were not matching their healthy meals with healthful snack options.
A study from the University of Toronto recently published in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that short bursts of exercise, or activity snacks (like 2-minute intervals of squats or walking) throughout the day, may help a person break up periods of prolonged sedentary sitting time and build muscle by using more amino acids from the foods they eat.
If you cite that you don't have enough time to exercise as an excuse to neglect your health you may want to consider taking advantage of exercise snacks to get moving more, as research has found that even small bursts of activity can be just as useful as longer gym regimes.
Exercise snacks such as vigorous bouts of stair climbing are suggested to boost heart health. To enjoy the health benefits, even a few minutes of using flights of stairs every 2-3 hours can help to greatly improve the health of the heart. This form of snack is not food but rather exercise that can be easily incorporated into the day at any time or place.
