Happy Tuesday everyone. I’m going to make a left turn and jump off the beaten path and camp out on the subject of snack cakes. Snack cakes, you ask? Ahh yes, the delectable little treasures in their trophy like cellophane wrappers we all have had at one time or another to suppress the cravings of our chocolate and sugar and cream filling indulgences. For decades past there has been what I like to call a “snack cake revolution.” These tasty little cakes can be found anywhere from grocery stores to vending machines and eventually wind up in the guts of many looking for a quick snack.
In the Scissors & Drumsticks household, we are no strangers to food. In fact, we are in love with food so much that we decided to eat more. That’s right…..MORE. You see, in years past we would fill our pantry, lunch boxes, and snack time with all sorts of snack cakes and sugary packaged delights with my favorite being Snowballs. We are a growing family and these things are a god send to folks like us on a budget as the average cost of a box of any variety is around $2.00. That’s cheap!
We quickly realized we were eating more and more of this overly processed sugar and fat laden non-food stuff. That’s right, NON-FOOD. Food nourishes the body, this stuff does nothing. Sure, I’ve heard and made the jokes in the past saying it has eggs, milk, cream, & flour. But once it’s processed in this fashion it quickly becomes non-food. This stuff has no vitamin supplement benefit nor any minerals or dietary fiber. It does contain wax, fat, processed chocolate, and loads of sugar. Wax? Sure it does. All those chocolate coatings contain paraffin which is one reason why they have such a long shelf life. Let’s look at what these snacks offer our bodies:
- Loads of processed sugar/24-54 grams per cake
- Extreme amounts of fats/20-40 grams
- Chocolate is usually imitation containing paraffin wax
- Cream fillings are completely comprised of sugar and fat
- High caloric intake from 250-500 calories per cake
- The average honey bun contains 50 grams of sugar, 20-30 grams of fat, and weighing in at a cool 400-500 calories
There’s not much in the way of nutritional value in these snacks. The amout of sugar alone is horrifying. The downside is, most the sugar can and will be counted as fat gram for gram. Add it all up and you have 44-94 grams of fat per cake, many of which people consume multiple times per day.
I am proud to announce we no longer purchase many of these non-foods. This is where I say we eat MORE. More of naturally occuring sustainable foods. Sure, our pantry still has a few granola bars, snack crackers, and a few other items here and there. But, packaged snacks and cakes are no longer the focus in our snack food locker. Scissors is a wonderful baker and has upped the antie by baking sweet breads from scratch when needed. As a matter of fact, she is tantilizing my taste buds as I write this with fresh batches of Amish Friendship Bread Muffins in the oven from which she creates with a fermented sourdough starter that has been a part of our family quite some time now. Most of the baked goods get consumed outside of our home, as we give them to family, friends, neighbors, & my co-workers. On occasion I have been known to whip up a batch of fresh home made ice cream that the family loves. We have also replaced a lot of the sweets with fresh fruits bought twice weekly. Our kids grab an apple, orange, banana, tomato, grapes, kiwi, cucumber, or whatever else they desire. We have told them they can eat as much as they want and never have to ask for such. Just grab and go. Let’s have a look at what the new snacks offer our temples:
- Vitamins A,B,C,D,E-Full day’s supply with 3 pieces of fruit or vegetable
- Protein
- Natural sugars the human body will process and use, not store as fat
- Fiber
- Amino Acids
- Iron
- Folic Acid
- Potassium
- Calcium
- 65-80 calories per piece of fruit
- Fat FREE!
I’m sure I missed a few, but you can definitely see the benefits of eating natural foods greatly outweigh the processed junk food by far. I even quit taking pill form vitamins as a result which saves us a few coins every couple months.
What’s in your snack closet? What kind of changes has your family gone through for better snacking and eating? Always felt like you needed a change, just not sure where to turn?
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My situation is a little different. I have a daughter of 26 and a grandson of six. My daughter is a snack junkie but if left to his own fruition the grandson would eat only fruit, nuts, and berries. I certainly hope that the natural eating wins out over the sugar snacks in his life. As for the daughter she takes after her mother. Even though her Mom passed nearly ten years ago she lives on through my daughter as a junk food junkie. As for me I have a weakness for chips but never keep any in the house because of it. I indulge on occasion but it’s not too often any more. The non processed food challenge becomes more and more difficult when shopping at the big box store. It’s even invading the frozen section of stores. I am trying to grow more out of the five raised garden beds of the back yard.
Have a great non processed food day.
Our two year old is like a natural born vegetarian (aren’t we all until we screw it up?) as she eats fruits, some veggies, cheese, and all the sorts. We have tried to get her to eat meat, she merely pushes it aside. I think we all have a little bit of junk-food-junkie in us, it’s to what extent we allow ourselves to be as such. I too, love me some chips. But, they have to be corn chips and salsa. Big box stores are the worst places to shop for food as they are drenched with ads for crap non-food items. Unfortunately, we have to shop there, so a great amount of self control is needed. Thanks for chiming in Dave. I love all your responses!
She’s an Ethan. He eats little very little meat, and NO beef or pork. He’ll eat a little chicken, some fish and shrimp.
I don’t mind Riley not eating meats and such, but it sometimes worries us that she’s not getting enough of what she needs.
Good for you! I have done much of the same, and over the past 2-3 years, I’ve lost about 75 pounds. I have tried to remove as many processed foods as possible, and the benefits have been overwhelming. I went to the doctor yesterday and now have a colesterol value of 152! Breakfast was the hardest meal to adjust since I had become so dependent on boxed cereals. I have found a way to incorporate steel cut oatmeal instead of the processed cereal that does not take getting up an hour earlier each morning. Every week-end I put the oats and water in my crockpot with a few sticks of cinnamon. I let it cook all night, and in the morning I dish it up in glass storage containers with a measuring cut to make sure the portion size is right. These can last up to 2 weeks at a time. In the morning, I add a small handful of walnuts and dried cranberries, microwave for 2 minutes and stir in a little 1% milk and some Truvia. It is great, and the steel cut oats pack more of an immune punch-something an elementary teacher is always concerned about.
The natural weight loss is amazing as most folks don’t realize a change of diet will result in a good amount of lb’s prior to working out. Good for you! Breakfast is definitely the most important meal of the day as it gets the metabolism furnace a burnin’. I never thought of preparing oats ahead of time. Definitely going to try that. Thanks for reading and commenting.
I just have to say, rock on with the loss of 75 pounds Grandpam!!!!!
That’s awesome. I love hearing other people’s food journey’s and what they are currently doing. Especially people like you who have a family and kids. Great to instill those habits and keep it family.
Lately I’ve been makin and crushing on some wheat, gluten and dairy free chocolate chip pumpkin muffins.
I tell ya Mike, it is tough at times changing the mind of a kid who has been swamped with ads for less than nutritious food since birth. We made food changes and now allow them to make the decisions on their own with a good amount of guidance. I love the blank stares I get from them when I read aloud nutrition information. Funny thing though….They throw it back at me when they find a product they like. HA! My evil plan is working.
I’d like to have that recipe for the chocolate chip pumpkin muffins. I wanna crush on one too!
It’s the sweet potato bread recipe from here http://www.anotheronebitesthecrustblog.com/?p=960
I used pumpkin instead of sweet potato.
1 cup or quinoa flour and 1/2 tapioca flour instead of the all purpose
Also use 1 cup of pure maple syrup and 1/4 cup of applesauce instead of the water, oil and sugar.
Yup. That’s it.
Well, dang on! Looks simple enough. I’ll pass this on to Scissors (Nadine) and let you know how they turn out.
Thanks bro.!
I am pretty sure I would prefer the sweet potato myself. I am a sweet potato man (have at least 3 bakes ones a week in lieu of white) and they grow so abundantly in this part of the country. Great recipe though. I love seeing the use of applesauce. My momma does that a lot and I always thought it odd. I’ll have to tell her my Brooklyn hippie friend uses it too! hahahahaha
The sweet potatoes are mad good too. Lemme know what you thinks.
Adam will bring that crap home from the grocery store. I do not. Most of our snacks are fairly healthy…yogurt, whole grain cereals, cheese and crackers, fruit.
To each his own I reckon. Seems like you guys have a balance though.