Whether you’re relaxing at home or busy and on the go, snacks are an inevitable part of life. Sometimes we need a little extra in between meals or need a quick pick-me-up while out doing something physically demanding. Whatever the reason, we all need snacks sometimes. The problem with this, though, is that there are so many options out there – many of which are simply not healthy. The best snack brands can be harder to find, but are worth the search.
It’s okay once in a while if you want a treat, but eating sugary, salty, processed, and artificial snacks on a daily basis can eventually have an effect on your overall health. Fortunately, there are plenty of healthier options, you might just have to look a little harder sometimes. The best snack brands use natural, healthy ingredients and simplify their processes to ensure nutrients aren’t lost and the need for artificial additives is minimized.
Common healthy snacks include snack bars with things like grains, nuts, and fruit, or healthier baked veggie chips. That said – the options are endless if you want to get creative! If you make some simple changes to your diet like replacing the usual sugary snacks with something healthier, your long-term health will thank you and you may find you even feel better.
Check out some of the great brands below, all of which are a great place to start. Many of the products are also available in stores, which the websites can help you locate!
The Best Snack Brands
1. Hippeas
Hippeas has a range of healthy, tasty snacks that are centered around chickpeas. The two main formats are puffs and tortilla chips – two things that are universally loved but are certainly not healthy. In fact, many cheese puffs and chips can be truly harmful to your health with their high levels of sugar, sodium, preservatives, and other unwanted things.
Hippeas on the other hand uses chickpeas and other nutritious ingredients to create their crunchy, craveable snacks. They have several flavors to pick from, with their vegan white cheddar puffs being a popular choice. This snack has 170 calories per serving, with about four servings in a bag. Each serving has only 4.5 grams of fat, 15 carbs, three grams of fiber, only three grams of sugar, and four grams of protein. Ingredients include chickpea and rice flour, tapioca starch, some spices, and rosemary extract. Almost all the ingredients are organic.
Exact nutrition information and ingredients will vary slightly from flavor to flavor, but the details above are a great example of what you can expect! Other flavors include nachos, barbeque, ranch, sea salt, and more.
2. Terra
Crunchy, salty potato chips are a favorite all over the world – but too often are filled with undesirable ingredients that many simply ignore for the sake of flavor. With Terra, though, you can enjoy this classic experience without all the bad stuff, and with some nutrition in there, to boot!
Terra uses a variety of vegetables to make their chips, and even their process is much healthier than that of regular potato chips. Their original variety includes a range of chips with many different flavors – some savory and some a little sweeter.
The ingredients even vary a little bit in proportion, but the original bag of chips contains taro, ruby taro, sweet potato, ruby sweet potato, batata, yuca, parsnip, and beetroot juice with a bit of oil and salt – that’s it! The website has more information on each of the veggies used if you’re curious.
Each serving of these chips has 200 calories with three grams of fiber, only three grams of sugar, and one gram of protein. There is also a small amount of vitamin A, calcium, and iron.
3. Kashi
Kashi is a widely known and easily accessible brand of healthy, natural snacks. They have a fantastic range of snack and granola bars with all kinds of fruity and nutty flavors. They have soft-baked cereal bars, crunchy flax and quinoa bars with seven different grains, and chewy wholegrain bars with tasty nuts and fruits baked in.
The peanut butter chewy bar is a great example of a simple, healthy snack with a great, universal flavor. It’s the perfect mix of sweet and salty with a solid list of ingredients including whole grains, roasted peanuts, dark chocolate, peanut butter, brown rice flour, sea salt, oat fiber, peanut oil, and a few more.
One of these bars has only 140 calories, six grams of fat, 21 grams of carbs, five grams of fiber, six grams of sugars, and three grams of protein. It also has a decent list of other nutrients like potassium, calcium, iron, niacin, phosphorus, magnesium, and a high level of manganese! This particular bar is also kosher-friendly.
There are many other flavors available if the sweet and salty peanut butter isn’t for you. The ingredients and nutrients will vary but the ones above act as a good guideline.
If you like their flavors, Kashi also has a range of cereals to help you start your day off right. There are plenty of styles and flavors but they all follow the same philosophy of natural ingredients and good nutrition.
4. Perky Jerky
Although chips, granola bars, and crunchy goodness are popular choices for snacking, sometimes you want a little more protein! Perky Jerky is the perfect solution for a tasty, meaty, robust snack full of protein and nutrients.
Most jerky is highly processed and packed full of salt and preservatives before it hit the shelves. At Perky Jerky, though, they do things a little differently. Their all-natural jerky marinates in a mixture of healthy and natural ingredients before being packaged in its much healthier state. This jerky contains no nitrates, no preservatives, no added MSG, and is gluten-free.
It’s also low in calories, fat, and carbs while being high in healthy, powerful protein. It’s also perfect for on-the-go as it’s quick to eat, easy to grab, and easily packed up in your lunch or backpack.
They have many flavors and varieties to choose from, including turkey, beef, pork, and more. They even have a vegan option! You can buy your favorite flavor on its own or get a variety pack. The turkey jerky is one of the best-sellers with only 70 calories per serving and 10 grams of protein. The ingredients here include turkey breast, gluten-free soy sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, garlic powder, and black pepper – that’s it!
5. Lesser Evil
Lesser Evil is a fantastic company that covers one of the other biggest areas of snacking – popcorn! On its own, corn, even popped, is not an unhealthy food. But, on its own, it’s quite bland. For this reason, you can get popcorn in just about every flavor imaginable. The problem is that in order to create these flavors, many companies use sugary ingredients, toxic seasonings, and cheap processes.
Lesser Evil, on the other hand, focuses on creating a healthy popcorn snack that’s still delicious! They feature a variety of classic flavors like cheesy, spicy, salted, and more. They even have a few fruity flavors for summer, like watermelon and cherry. These aren’t typical popcorn flavors but you’ll be surprised by how much you love them – and their health benefits!
Their popular cheesy flavor has only 120 calories per serving with six grams of fat, four grams of fiber, less than a gram of sugar, and two grams of protein. The ingredients include coconut oil, rice flour, yeast extract, and organic butter flavoring. Even the cheesy flavor doesn’t actually come from cheese – yes, this cheesy popcorn is healthy and vegan!
While popcorn is their focus, they also offer a variety of other snacks like puffs, cookies, veggie sticks, and more.
Homemade Healthy Snacks
It’s certainly nice to have some healthy and delicious boxed snacks on hand for when life gets busy or you need to plan ahead. The brands listed here are excellent choices and you can never go wrong with their simple, natural ingredients and great flavors.
That said, there are plenty of healthy, all-natural snacks you can make at home, with few ingredients and minimal effort. You can even make healthy replicas of your favorite sugary treats like cookies and chips!
These peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are an excellent example. They are gluten-free and contain only five ingredients – eggs, salt, natural peanut butter, brown sugar, and semisweet chocolate chips. The cookies are easy to mix and quick to make.
Homemade potato chips are also just as crispy and delicious when made properly – without all the preservatives and artificial crap they put into the chips on the grocery store shelves! This recipe from The Spruce Eats is a simple one to follow and will help you yield great results.
It’s also possible to make granola bars with oats and healthy chocolate bars with melted dark chocolate or organic cacao powder! The options are endless when you decide to get just a little creative – and you’ll feel better long-term.
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