Why Americans Are Eating So Many Snacks

With Americans stuck at home, snack food has become a valuable commodity for the pandemic stressed consumer. North American sales of savory snacks like chips, popcorn, and pretzels climbed to $56.9 billion in 2020. In stressful times, people turn to snacking for comfort and Covid-19 has transformed kitchens across the U.S. into giant vending machines. So, has Covid-19 put an end to the shift to healthier snacks?

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[bonniegaither]

I started eating healthier during the pandemic. Snacks include almonds, carrots, olives. Added more fruits to my line up, oranges, blueberries. I’ve actually lost 7 lbs during the pandemic.

[lindanilushaba]

I'm always amazed by the variety of snacks the US has, I swear my country only has 25% of these.

[EhteshamShahzad]

1:08 That graph is a bit deceiving. Would look less dramatic if the base was set to 0 instead of 50.

[dean]

Please don't present graphs like 4:37
Use 0 as the base. There's no need to overly-zoom on the delta.
It can be misleading to the average viewer.

[tamishgoyal]

When I moved to US and lived with my American flatmates, I realize how unhealthy they Every grocery shopping was like a hunt of different snacks. Like one third of all were snacks and unhealthy things. Even the things they cooked were high on calorie and low on nutrients. They only eat brocoli like once a week.

[Hyla]

What’s so funny about this, is that all of those company execs don’t even touch the products they sell. They’re eating healthy and working out on their pelotons.

[perseusarkouda]

When your kitchen looks like a vending machine, then it's a game over.

[sundaypm]

After years of experience of losing weight and living healthy, I just don’t keep snacks at home at all. That definitely helps if you know the concept from atomic habits. Set up a system, instead of using your willpower. If I really want some chips, I’ll head over to cvs to get a bag of lays and that’s it. High recommended folks

[letrat]

0:54 "it's not just Frito-lay seeing a boom in its business"
"diabetes medication manufacturers are also seeing a boom"

[nunyadambusiness]

I just got back from the grocery store, and snacks are like 20% of my whole grocery cart. Thanks for exposing me lmao.

[vasiovasio]

“We choose to eat crap and other things, not just because they are easy, but because it is hard to eat healthily!" John F. Kennedy September 12, 1962

[kaypat]

Feel sick knowing that those shiny packets are really hard and almost impossible to recycle, just clogging up the landfills and ending up in poorer third world countries. In Malaysia, I literally just found out that those snack chip packets can't be recycled and I've cut down on eating snacks ever since. I think we just need to make more conscious effort to think about out impact on the environment when we eat snacks...

[avarmauk]

I remember visiting America and the portion sizes were so big my wife and I never needed to buy more than a meal between us.

[PwonedFTW]

Weed is Legal in NYC now. The snack industry is about to grow ten fold XD

[blakkholebeats]

More snacking less exercising, obesity is going to skyrocket even more than it already has before the pandemic.

[larrydavd]

snack: 8 servings per bag

me: lol 1 serving

[skyking]

Over the past 2 years I've lost 125 lbs. I'm not gonna snack to pass boredom or to cope. I put it it healthier activities. Walk hit the gym draw paint study etc etc.

[jfrank]

Cause in the brightest of days and the darkest of nights, SNACKS WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR YOU 😂🤦‍♂️. Moderation is key tho 😅

[The_Horizon]

all of these graphs are misleading because they don't start at 0 lmao

[EarlyBirdCraft]

I worked in a photography museum as a summer gig. One thing I noticed. In the photos before 1940s, I could barely see any overweight people. Only tad overweight people were the older people. It got me thinking maybe back in the days people don’t snack as much. People had proper home made meals 3 times a day and did a lot of mechanical work since not everything was super electronically advanced as today. People had to hand wash their clothes, rode bikes to the grocery store, prep their meals, enjoyed physical activities as there wasn’t cell phones.
The fact that people are blaming hormones and thyroids for their overweight problems is ridiculous.