Snack, or Mini-Meal?

If the word "snack" makes you think of something out of a wrapper, you're not alone — the food industry built that association. The original concept of a snack, though, is a small honest meal between bigger ones. A handful of nuts and a piece of fruit. A small bowl of yogurt and seeds. Half an avocado on a piece of toast. When the three p.m. thing is a mini-meal, the four p.m. mood holds and the seven p.m. dinner stays a reasonable size. When it's a wrapper-snack designed to be eaten quickly and never quite satiate, the eating doesn't end at four p.m.; it ends sometime after dinner, often around the kitchen counter, sometimes with regret. This is not a moral story. It's an engineering one. Wrapper-snacks are designed to fail to satiate. Mini-meals are designed to feed you. Pick the one that does the job.