During the Movement Control Order, most of us probably had a lot of time to spare at home and during those free moments, you might have picked up some new habits like cooking for every meal, working out every day or snacking every single hour.
The habit of snacking is actually not surprising as many people regard food as a source of comfort. Hence, people eat a lot when they are stressed, anxious or sad. However, over-snacking can cause problems such as obesity among various other health problems.
Now, we’re not saying that you should stop snacking completely, but you should do it in moderation and practice something called “mindful snacking”.
James Kane, Managing Director of Mondelēz Malaysia and Singapore – parent company to brands like Cadbury, Oreo, Ritz and Toblerone – said in a press statement:
“Mindful snacking is an approach that encourages you to eat with attention and to be present in every moment. It also helps you to have a better relationship with food.”
Mindful snacking can be done anywhere, anytime and by anyone in three simple steps.
- Why do I want to snack?
- What do I want for a snack?
- How can I savour my snack?
Simply put, mindful snacking tells us that we should be conscious of what we eat, how we eat and why we eat.
In 2019, Mondelēz collaborated with The Harris Poll to do a survey on global snacking habits. The survey showed that six in 10 adults worldwide prefer to eat many small meals throughout the day, as opposed to a few larger ones whereas younger consumers tend to lean towards snacking instead of meals, which brings us to the importance of mindful snacking.
To ensure that consumers are snacking healthily, Mondelēz is now setting a sugar limit and changing up the salt and saturated fat content in some of their products. This means that they will be offering reduced sugar/sugar-free products (e.g. sugar-free gum).
They will also be expanding the Thins platform, which has fewer calories and less sugar per serving e.g. Oreo Thins which has 30% fewer calories and 1/3 less sugar than regular Oreo, per cookie.
“Since 2012, Mondelēz has removed 154 million pounds of sugar across our global powdered beverages and we will continue to innovate our portfolio in line with changing consumer needs.”
It is certainly great to see an international company that actually cares about their consumers’ feedback and is willing to strive to satisfy them!
With this new-found knowledge of mindful snacking and some low-sugar and sodium snacks, we’ll be new people soon.
Also read: Blackpink’s Jisoo and Jennie LOVE M’sia’s Super Ring, & Now the Snack is Popular in South Korea!