Thinking about buying your lunch from a vending machine? Or just hungry for a snack? You address the machine and contemplate horror stories of junk food. You wonder if there are any healthy vending machine snacks.
Most snacks other than the basic ones like a banana or other raw fruit will have nutritional labels. One way to eat healthy is to never eat anything with a nutritional label (because it is unprocessed), but this is not generally practical with vending machines. The other problem with nutritional labels and vending machines is that you can’t generally read the label until after you have bought the food. Imagine a systematic approach here, a lab book with a history of vending machine nutritional labels. White coat optional.
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.
What about fat? Fat has lots of calories, but its reputation in general is not as bad as it was a few years ago. Avoid trans fat, also known as partially hydrogenated oil or fat, at all costs. This was hailed as a breakthrough in food technology a few years ago, but have been found to be very unhealthy.
Vegetable oils are in most cases monounsaturated or polyunsaturated. They are general considered healthy in reasonable amounts. Butter and meat contain saturated fats, which are not as healthy, but do not need to be totally avoided.
Determining the amount of fat to eat is a balancing act. Fat, which includes oils, is relatively high in calories. However, the presence of fat in food slows down the rate at which the digestive system processes sugars. This is a good thing as it reduces the intensity of sugar highs and lows.
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.
As long as you are reading the nutritional label, check the caffeine contents. You may be surprised at the foods that contain caffeine. Cola and chocolate are well known to have some, but it is also added to somethings that you would not suspect. Caffeine can be a good thing, tests indicate that it makes you a little bit smarter. If you are a typical American, there is a good chance you are actually addicted to caffeine. Once again, moderation is good.
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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