Most Americans prefer snacks to real food. This is according to the latest survey by Nielsen on American eating habits. According to the pollster, Americans would much rather drop by a retailer and grab a bite of cheerios than go to the grocery store and get real food.

We are a nation of snackers. It's a trend and it's all around us. From the office worker munching on a bag of crisps in between shifts to the high school track athlete finishing off a high energy protein bar right before practice, less and less Americans are paying a visit to the grocery store. The Chart below is based on Nielsen's data. It shows how snack sales grew in the U.S for the year ending September 6 2014, as compared to grocery shopping in the same period.

The chart reveals a rise in snack sales by 2% to $374 billion for the year ending. The data also reveals that sales of grocery store products remained relatively unchanged as compared to data from the same period last year.

While conducting the poll, Nielsen asked the poll takers the reason they were snacking all the time. Majority of the 490 Americans polled revealed that they snacked because they enjoyed eating. The second most popular reason for eating snacks by Americans was that snacks satisfied hunger in between meals.

Researchers have come up with various reasons why Americans prefer snacks to real food, even after aggressive campaigns to unpopularize chemically processed or preserved foods have been running across the state. One of the reasons posited is that Americans work a lot. According to a Gallup survey, full time employees currently work for 47 hours a week, on average. In addition, millions of workers across the state are juggling multiple jobs. Finding time to assemble a proper dinner at home is becoming increasingly difficult.

Another reason is the availability of snacks. Their being everywhere and involving no preparation or cooking only adds to their preferential uptake over real food.