Healthier Snack Swaps To Improve Your Diet
We all get cravings every now and then for something naughty to plug that gap between meals. Sometimes the wait between breakfast and lunch can seem endless, and when our tummies are rumbling, there’s nothing easier than to pop to the corner shop for a packet of choccy biscuits, or to grab a big bag of crisps from the kitchen cupboard!
Anyone serious about avoiding unhealthy snacks probably shouldn’t have a cupboard stocked with fattening treats in the first place – but this is easier said than done when you share a home with family or flatmates who want to have them on hand!
So here are some canny suggestions for what to stock in your cupboard for those times when your cravings get the better of you and you’d rather you munched on something filling which didn’t drag your health down into the gutter but filled you up with nutrients and good things….
Potato crisps are usually high in fat. Because they’re sliced thinly, the surface area of potato making contact with oil is vastly increased, rocketing the fat content and therefore the calories too.
These fantastic organic crackers from Clearspring have an awesome crunch to them and a deep savouriness from the Tamari sauce. They’re made from nearly one-third black sesame seeds, a great source of plant protein which help lower blood pressure and support healthy bones.
Dip into some hummus, crumble over a salad or just munch straight from the packet – they really hit the spot!
Most cream crackers contain around 1 gram of fat per cracker. This is rather high, and when you consider that a whole slice of white bread only usually contains two-thirds of that, perhaps it’s time we started to limit our intake of this popular snack, especially when they’re usually piled high with butter, cheese, chocolate spread and other high-fat toppings! The Foods of Athenry is a family company based in Ireland, who have been exploring the relationship between food and health since the early 2000s. They proudly proclaim their products have no room for any artificial food additives, and their multiseed soda bread toasta are one of the tastiest snacks we’ve come across. They’re made from ultra-tasty, thin, twice-baked slices of soda bread, and absolutely stacked with healthy seeds (over a quarter of their weight is made up of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and linseeds). They’re magic just munched on their own, or spread with something tasty and good for you like our lovely sunflower artichoke dip.
Instead of chocolate marshmallow snowballs...
Snowballs, those chocolate and coconut-coated marshmallow balls, aren’t usually very good for you at all – sorry! The chocolate coating is usually packed with saturated fat, and marshmallow is a sugary, ultra-processed food which generally offers a big fat zero in terms of health benefits. Coconut does have some health benefits, but with all the other sketchy ingredients in the average supermarket snowball, it’d be like putting a spinach leaf on a pile of chips and expecting it to be suddenly healthy!
We love Bonsan – they make delicious food that’s nourishing, flavourful and fun. What’s more, it’s all vegan and completely free from nasty artifical nasties. This Coconut Dream Cookie Melt is a case in point – delightfully squidgy and delectably delicious, it delivers a luscious, gooey, celebratory explosion of joy in your mouth, but is made with amazingly healthy ingredients like dates and oats, is free from refined sugar and palm oil, and even contains inulin, prebiotic fibre which keeps your friendly gut bacteria happily working for you!
Instead of supermarket cheese puffs...
Most commercially available cheesy puffs are stacked with fat – the UK’s leading brand is a whopping one-third fat, a big whack of which is saturated fat, which clogs arteries and stores up problems for us later in life in the shape of chronic conditions such as coronary heart disease.
Ape Snacks have been providing healthier-than-average snacks for a number of years, cutting the monkey business to make snacks with only the best plant-based ingredients and tastiest natural flavours. These cheese-flavoured rice and coconut puffs are a gorgeously moreish example of what they do – an intensely cheesy treat made with rice flour and natural flavourings that’s only 114 calories per packet. It’ll tide you over until your next mealtime without piling on the pounds. Grab a packet and dive in!
Instead of a sugar-packed peanut bar....
The UK’s most popular chocolate-coated peanut bar is a catastrophe for waist sizes and all-round health, as nearly a half of it is pure fat – eating one of those a day for your elevenses will significantly boost your chances of developing type 2 diabetes and other serious illnesses. If you’re craving a peanut hit and want something other than healthy, plain peanuts, why not give one of these big boys a go? Bounce balls are high in fibre, palm oil-free and made purely from natural ingredients. The emphasis is on protein, and when we eat this it really helps our appetite control and leads to increased feeling of fullness. Best of all, they’re fantastically satisfying to eat – gooey, chewy and full of texture!
There aren’t many unhealthier things you can eat than bacon from pigs. The amount of saturated fat it contains is a calamity for human health. It’s no wonder the UK’s rates of heart disease and stroke are as high as they are when you bear in mind how often we eat this additive-strewn, highly-processed red meat product. Even before you take into account the increasingly evident, appalling damage to our planet from meat production and the shocking, horrific treatment of pigs in commercial farming, it’s clear that the stuff really has no place in a healthy lifestyle.
So why not try this innovative, natural, plant-based product for the same savoury hit? Scattered over a baked potato, crumbled over salad or added as part of a sandwich filler mix, it delivers an intense umami hit which really satisfies the taste buds. It’s gluten-free and the drying process preserves all the nutrients, vitamins and enzymes beneficial to our health. Once you try it, you’ll never look back. Spread the news – bacon can now be good for you!
Instead of a strawberry trifle...
Bear Yoyos are pure fruit – one hundred per cent! When you taste them, you won’t quite be able to believe it, as they taste like the most wonderful, sweet gummy candy – but it’s the straight-up truth. One of these packets even counts as one of your ‘5 a day’! Who knew healthy eating could be this much fun?
Bear Snacks started after its founder read a story about how bears who wandered into built-up areas and started scavenging humans’ food from bins were 30% fatter, 30% less active, and died far sooner than those who stayed in the wild eating natural ingredients. Determined to produce a tasty, nutritious snack to satisfy kids and adults alike without added sugar and using only natural ingredients, Bear developed these pure fruit Yoyos, which come wound into a coil and are a fun, filling, sweet, nutrient-packed wonder available in a host of different flavours. Far better for you than trifle, and packed with beneficial plant compounds and a good whack of fibre for happy tummies!
Traditional meat jerky is usually packed full of sodium, which is added as part of the curing process as a means of drawing out the moisture and thereby preserving it and preventing spoilage. That’s disastrous for someone with high blood pressure or kidney problems. Regular beef jerky can also be stuffed full of saturated fats, which are a no-no for arterial health, and commercial brands often contain questionable ingredients such as high-fructose corn syrup, an additive causing a wave of type 2 diabetes across the United States and further afield.
Primal Spirit offers a delicious range of vegan jerky made from high-fibre, high-protein soy, whose health benefits are well-known. These ultra-tasty little packets of joy deliver an intense savoury hit, and are made using natural ingredients like licorice root and naturally-brewed soy sauce. They contain a tiny fraction of the salt you’ll find in traditional meat jerky too, and have a massively lower saturated fat content. Be kind to your body and your taste buds – give ’em a go!
