Snacks have become a huge thing in our modern life; it’s like an inalienable right or something like that, how the marketing gurus treat it. A walk through the aisles of supermarkets with a view to identifying snacks is quite interesting. Did you ever do that, just look at the number of snacks? Even the canned goods aisles are about more than just fruits and vegetables. Convenience foods rule the grocery store now.
The problem with all these readily available snacks has to do with what food manufacturers have to do to keep those foods fresh and free of unwanted organisms. BHA and BHT are added to preserve freshness. BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) are synthetic food antioxidants used to prevent rancidity (oxidation of fats or oils). These are fat soluble molecules and some people have a hard time metabolizing them. There is a lot of controversy over whether or not these chemicals have health risks, with some studies showing that they promote cancer in rats and others that they prevent it. Both have some antiviral and antimicrobial qualities, and BHT is being investigated as a treatment for herpes simplex and AIDS.
Sulfur dioxide is another commonly used food preservative that keeps food fresh by three means; antioxidant, antimicrobial and inhibitor of enzymatic processes (anti-ripening effect). Some people are highly allergic to sulfites, but other than those people, sulfites are considered safe. Nitrates and nitrites are something else; we try to avoid them, but they are commonly found in things like bacon and cold cuts, to protect against botulism. This is an important thing, but they react with amino acids (proteins) to become nitrosamines…which cause cancer. So do you want to die now or take a lifetime to do it? In reality, the levels found in meats are not considered much of a problem and far outweigh the risk. The oldest preservatives are sugar and salt; that is why salt was considered more valuable than gold in the ancient world. If only they had known about the antimicrobial uses of silver, but then without electricity we don’t get colloidal silver. Come to think of it, maybe that’s what the Egyptians were doing with those batteries they found at the dig sites.
Back to sandwiches… why not make your own sandwiches that are healthy and not fattening? There’s one simple thing to keep in mind when deciding what kinds of foods to bring to your sedentary spot: calorie count. If you are overweight, give yourself something healthy that is as low in calories, sugar, and fat as possible; which more or less falls into the meat and vegetable categories. If you don’t have a weight problem, you can be a little more resourceful with those little things you put in your mouth. In any case, you should go for the healthier stuff instead of the faster stuff. The next thing to consider is the type of flavor and texture you’re after: crisp and salty or sweet, meaty and chewy, or juicy and sweet. You may also want variety and there are several things you can come up with ahead of time so you can bring a variety of things to your venue. Take some time to plan it out and give yourself something that really gets you through the day with a lot of energy.
©2010 Dr. Valerie Olmsted All rights reserved
