Michael Pollan argues in his Food Rules that it’s okay to “eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.” Food manufacturers, he says, have made these difficult-to-make treats inexpensive and easy to find. What do you think?
Here's a video from Pollan explaining the idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wixEAOhEmw
More information:
For this mini-challenge, Food Security Network NL's communications guy Elling Lien took on the project of making nacho Doritos — as close as he can get — at home. "Like a lot of people, I like Doritos," he says. "They are a highly engineered piece of food lab wizardry, designed to be as irresistible as possible. And they're not very good for you. This weekend I'm going to attempt to steal some of their magic away by making a batch in my kitchen — as accurately as I can — FROM SCRATCH. Learning about them... making corn tortillas... dehydrating tomatoes and red peppers... tracking down mysterious ingredients. Let's do this." You can track his progress on his Facebook page.
Canada's Food Guide has lots of advice on smart snacking. From the site: "If you make wise choices, snacks can keep you energized and provide important nutrients if you make wise choices. Young children especially benefit from snacks as they have small stomachs and may have trouble eating all of the foods they need at meal time."
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/using-utiliser/snacks-collations-eng.php
Real Simple magazine has lots of excellent snack ideas you can try: http://www.realsimple.com/health/nutrition-diet/nutritious-snacks
