The time it takes to lose the weight that is gained by eating snacks from a vending machine adds up almost as fast as the extra calories. Snacks are usually dense in calorie content, making them expensive in terms of the effort that is required to burn an equivalent amount of energy.
Some vending machine snacks contain more than one portion or serving size. A small package may seem relatively harmless to a person who watches the scales, but it may have twice as many calories as it appears to have. The label has to describe the nutrients accurately, and it provides a good way to evaluate the food worthiness of a snack.
Peanut butter sandwich cookies may contain as much as 250 calories, and a 160-pound person needs to canoe for an hour to work them off. Cheese flavored crackers have a few less at 174, so about a half hour of low impact aerobic exercise can take care of them. Animal crackers are at the lower end of empty calories at 120, but it still takes 20 minutes of playing baseball or softball to negate their effect.
Chocolate is particularly rich in calories, so it takes more effort to nullify their impact than most cookies require. The label usually indicates the calories for an extremely small amount of chocolate coated candies, offering a somewhat misleading estimate of the amount that most people choose to consume as a single serving.
Chocolate coated malted milk balls have 190 calories for only 18 pieces, chocolate coated peanuts have 210 for ¼ cup, and 211 calories are in ¼ cup of chocolate covered raisins. Running at 5 miles per hour for 20 minutes can take care of one serving of any of these delicacies. A small piece the size of 1/8 of a 56 gram chocolate bar delivers 280 calories that require a person to play volleyball for an hour just to get even.
Tasty potato chips, a favorite of many people who enjoy snacks, have 150 calories for a one-ounce serving, and walking at 2 miles per hour for 45 minutes uses the calories consumed. Corn chips are only 10 calories less than chips.
Companies that produce snacks for sale in vending machines do not show the amount of physical activity that is required to expend the extra calories in their products. The items are usually depicted as attractive and tasty food items. A person who visualizes a physical activity such as running, canoeing, or playing active sports can readily understand the impact of snack foods on a healthy diet.
