The other day while strolling the aisles at Giant supermarket (without a shopping list so shame on Posner) I passed the “cracker” section. I took the time to look at the wide assortment of crackers and started wondering how these crackers sandwiching peanut butter, cream cheese & chives and cheese could all sit out in the non-refrigeration section of the store. Heck, all the other cheeses in the store seem to need refrigeration to stay non-infected.
One look at the nutritional content of these seemingly “healthy” snacks will show otherwise. The ever-increasing use of processed foods are one of the main reasons why the obesity rate in America has soared over the past several decades. Clearly, there is no better definition of “processed” foods than the cheeses found in these crackers.
Here is one example of the nutritional content of one of these types of crackers: Ritz Bits made with cheese, 1.5 oz single serving: 220 calories, 13 g total fat, 4.5 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 480 mg sodium. The other crackers containing the cream cheese & chives and peanut butter have similar contents.
The ease of opening a package of crackers and eating these make for a very convenient snack. However, this is not the type of snack conducive for long-term weight control efforts. Concerning crackers: Take a pass.