NatNews

Grumpiness, irritability, lack of concentration, headaches, dizziness, impatience—hanger is all too real.

Snacks have entered the chat.

According to the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, research conducted by the Food & Health Survey from the International Food Information Council revealed that approximately 25 percent of Americans surveyed said they snack multiple times a day, while roughly 33 percent confirmed that they snack at least once daily. Nearly 40 percent said they sometimes replace meals by snacking, citing lunch as the most common meal replaced. As indicated with these results and observations of children and adults alike, snacks are important components of many people’s lives. Dallas-area resident Ivan Alonzo is no exception.

“I’m constantly hungry, and as such, I am a chronic snacker,” he said. “Despite eating hefty meals with plenty of protein, I stay hungry throughout the day. I rarely sit still, as I tend to keep busy with high-mileage running, cycling, and chasing and chauffeuring the littles around to various other activities.”

Alonzo said it’s difficult to narrow down what snacks are on the top of his list, though most of them tend to be carb-centric.

“I enjoy eating fruits, pretzels, granola bars, and PB&J sammies,” he said. “I can’t say that I have a favorite, but with two littles in the house, there is no shortage of snacks here.”

Dallas-area resident Stephanie Hone also has two kids who ensure that her home is fully stocked with snacks, though she said she would be a snacker with or without children. Her choice snacks tend to vary based on her mood and situations in which she finds herself.

“If I’m being healthy, it’s a wise food choice—usually like fruit or Greek yogurt or a protein shake,” she said. “If I’m not being healthy, I’m an animal in the wild. Chips? Duh. Cheese sticks? Understood. Queso? Que pasa and duh.”

Hone’s oldest, a 3-and-a-half-year-old daughter, said her favorite snacks are beans, chicken, and waffles, though she said she didn’t want to talk about why at the time, maybe later. Regardless, those aren’t the options available in her snack bag that her mom totes around with her.

“Let me be clear, that girl’s diet is snacks—yogurt, Cheez-Its, fruit snacks, bananas,” Hone said. “If it’s a snack, she will want it.”

Dallas resident and registered dietitian Lyndsey Kohn said snacking can be greatly beneficial when done strategically, especially if a person is focused on a specific goal (e.g., weight loss or muscle gain) or while training for a particular event (e.g., a marathon).

“Snacking can help with regulating your blood glucose levels, hitting your protein goals, muscle recovery and maintenance, and keeping your energy levels up throughout the day,” she said. “The key is to be strategic and mindful of your snacks and meal choices. For snacks for the general population, I’d focus on a 2:1 or 1:1 ratio of protein to carbs, but note that it depends on your goals, so do your research on what you need because nutrition is very nuanced.”

Kohn said some options for quality snacks include turkey roll-ups with a cheese stick, cottage cheese and blueberries (or one’s fruit of choice), hard-boiled eggs and an avocado, Greek yogurt with chia seeds and/or fruit, oatmeal and whey protein, low-fat chocolate milk, and smoothies with protein powder with at least 20 grams of protein.

“If you are focusing on general post-workout recovery, a higher protein-to-carb ratio is what I’d recommend to maintain your muscles and hit the window of optimal muscle recovery,” she said. “If you are focusing on weight loss or just general satiety, I’d focus on a higher protein-to-carb type of snack to keep you satisfied and fuller longer. And if you are intensely training for a race or other high-energy physical activity, you want a higher carb-to-protein ratio to replenish your glycogen and make sure that you maintain your muscle. A classic example is chocolate milk.”

While whether or not a person snacks or how often he or she does so is contingent upon that individual’s preferences and needs, Alonzo said snacking, like many things in life, is all about balance.

“If you have a well-balanced diet, you can use snacking to enjoy some treats,” he said. “I meet most of my protein needs via regular meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), so I use snacks to get in additional carbs—ones I know I’ll use while being active.”

For Hone, the balance also comes in ensuring that she’s snacking on the right foods that will fuel her in the right ways.

“If you eat protein-enriched snacks, they are filling for longer and can still nourish your body,” she said. “Junk-food snacks just make me feel junky. I’m not a dietitian, but I feel bad when I eat badly. But I love a good snacky snack to get me through the day.”

Kohn said she believes that snacking sometimes gets a bad rap as a result of criticism around how to eat right, especially as an athlete. However, she said snacks are often essential to ensure that a person gets all of the nutrients he or she needs for better overall health and well-being.

“If I have ever worked with anyone on this, I like to remind folks that you are meant to eat to fuel your body,” she said. “Food is literally here just like sleeping, water, community, etc. in order for you to sustain the life you want to live. What an incredible gift we have to fuel a body that moves.”

The first known vending machine, which was located in Egyptian temples in the first century A.D., dispensed holy water.

In the past, subtitles were generally used when watching foreign movies that needed translations on screen or by those with hearing disabilities. However, this is the present, not the past, and some people’s preferences have changed. It’s now more common to see dialogue on screen when individuals are enjoying movies and television shows at home.

A recent NatNews research initiative revealed that 67 percent of dear readers who participated in the online survey conducted want subtitles when watching programming, while 14 percent do not, and 19 percent sometimes use subtitles or generally have no strong opinion either way. Dallas-area resident Nikki East, who averages approximately two hours of TV most days, said subtitles are always on at her house.

“I also think I have converted a person or two, so if I am at their homes, the subtitles tend to be on,” she said. “I prefer them because they help me keep up with what’s going on a bit more easily. They help me ensure that I am hearing things correctly, especially if I am watching something with characters who have different accents.”

While different individuals have various reasons for opting to use subtitles on their TVs, East said her preference to adopt this practice in the last couple of years is a result of getting older.

“I don’t really like the volume on the TV to be too loud, but I also can’t always hear every single thing,” she said. “And I am not someone who will continuously change the volume between when the music is blaring and then when it returns to soft dialogue.”

Craig Stewart, who lives in England and is known by his Dallas friends as British Craig, said he watches television and movies once or twice per week and only turns on subtitles for movies.

“They’re useful in movies with lots of gunfire, radios, and whispering,” he said. “It makes it easier to pick up on things.”

British Craig said he is not truly bothered either way and that certain movies don’t need subtitles, but he also understands why some people prefer to use them more often.

“Actors speak less clearly, and there’s more bass in films, so it’s harder to hear,” he said. “Also, captions have become huge on social media, so this has probably transferred over to people liking them for movies, too.”

But then there are those individuals, such as Fort Worth-area resident Sam Parnell, who only want to hear words, not see them. Parnell, who runs all post-production activities at a creative video production company, said he watches several movies each week and thinks that subtitles are a distraction.

“Even if it is clear, easy-to-understand dialogue, you are instinctively going to be looking at the words on the screen, not at what is happening on the screen,” he said.

Parnell also conducted his own personal poll at his workplace and discovered that among the 12 people asked, five prefer subtitles, and seven do not. Everyone who said yes is in his or her 20s, and everyone who said no is older than 30. National research indicated similar findings, with 70 percent of Gen Z respondents polled in a survey saying they use subtitles frequently, compared with 53 percent of millennials, 38 percent of Gen Xers, and 35 percent of baby boomers. In the aforementioned NatNews survey, age was less of an indicative factor.

Parnell did admit to being a “movie snob” and having a media room with a high-quality sound system, making it easier for him to hear. He said most TVs don’t have the best built-in sound, so he recognizes that people may not always be able to understand what is said by the actors on screen. He also acknowledges that there are other reasons for the increased use of subtitles by many individuals.

“People are used to not paying attention when watching,” he said. “So, outside sounds (e.g., screaming kids, bad TV audio, etc.) can be loud and distracting. It’s not a ‘shut out every outside force and focus on the screen’ thing.”

Parnell also pointed out that Apple TV now has a feature that allows viewers to rewind in 10-second increments with subtitles turning on solely for that time. This becomes beneficial during those moments when people are unsure of what someone said, as it’s easy to skip back and read the subtitles, and then they automatically turn off.

While personal preferences are rather simple to implement in one’s own home, when watching TV and movies elsewhere, people might be required to adapt to their environments or other people’s viewing habits. East said there are situations, such as at a movie theater, in which she can still enjoy watching movies without the comfort the words on screen offer her.

“Typically, though, subtitles do add to my enjoyment of whatever I’m watching,” she said. “It’s nice to really have a clear understanding of what is going on in the show or the movie, and subtitles provide that for me.”

WEEKLY PHOTO OP

The NatNews staff + some dear readers celebrated PRs and speedy races for other dear readers over the weekend 

Monday, February 3: Dallasites101 Pickleball Mixer at At Fault
Tuesday, February 4: Free Rooftop Movie — Easy A at Sundown at Granada
Wednesday, February 5: National Girls and Women in Sports Day; Speed Dating & Singles Mixer (ages 35–45) at Sidecar Social Addison
Thursday, February 6: National Frozen Yogurt Day; Readers Collective at The Wild Detectives
Friday, February 7: Emerald City Band at Legacy Hall
Saturday, February 8: WRRC Saturday run from Taco Joint; Mavs vs. Rockets at the American Airlines Center; Get Lit — Grown-Up Book Fair at Four Corners Brewing Co.; Lunar New Year at the CORE District
Sunday, February 9: Super Bowl LIX; Community Beer Co. Cycling Group Ride; Valentine Tea at the Alexander Mansion