Team Crunch: Top 10 Healthy, Crunchy Snacks

We usually divide snacks into team salty and team sweet. I don’t know where that leaves my favorite salty-sweet. Regardless of the flavors you prefer, most of us like to crunch. In LBT, I explain that crunchy is stress relieving (provided of course we are crunching on the right things). In honor of the Super Bowl, my crunchy lineup:

Dang Chips

We cannot keep these salted caramel coconut chips in stock. Yes, coconut oil is an immune booster and good for our “good” cholesterol but these are just about the most delicious chip around.

Halo Chips

Our snack queen brought these for me to taste- seaweed chips hmn. I tasted one and went back to my office and then I wanted more and more. Fortunately the bag was small. These are gluten free, the ingredients are great and a portion of the proceeds goes to help the oceans, nice.

Mary’s Gone Jalapeño

We’ve loved Mary’s Gone products for years. Gluten free with good ingredients quinoa, sesame and brown rice, now we love that Mary’s gone spicy.

Quinn Popcorn

I’ve written about Quinn before but it’s great for when you have people over. We have a shelf in our pantry for Quinn in Vermont. Now there’s a new Quinn, pre-popped Kale and Sea Salt

Food Should Taste Good

Aside from fantastic ingredients, Food Should Taste Good makes the best flavored chips. I adore the Kimchi but there’s still a place in my heart for lime oh and another place for The Works.

Greenola

You’ve heard of granola but what if you swapped the grains for greens? Yup Greenola, pretty great.

Way Better Chips

Perhaps you’re familiar with sprouted bread? Well these are sprouted chips. And they’re delicious too, try the sweet chili tortilla chips. 

Hail Merry Pecans and Bhuja

I’m always on the lookout for nuts and seeds for my beloved nutcase. I fill it with something different every day.  Two new favorites are Hail Merry rosemary pecans and these amazing Bhuja Peas.

Natures All Strawberry

These remind me of Crunchberries, you know Captain Crunch Crunchberry?

A healthier version, these are freeze dried berries. Great for all ages in fact a client’s baby was enjoying the banana flavor during our session.

What do you reach for when it’s “crunch” time? Have you tried any from my crunchy lineup? Which sounds best?

Expo East: 5 of our Favorite Finds

I haven’t been down to Natural Products Expo East in a couple of years. My general rule with food expos is to talk but not taste. I learned early on as an RD if you take a taste, bite or sample size of many, many different items digestive distress ensues. So what did I do when confronted with hundreds of booths to sort through and see? I tasted everything in sight. I could blame this on the brevity of my trip (I only had a few hours in Baltimore) or the enthusiasm of our Snack Queen Joanna Li, at her first expo, who decided it was her “dream day” before we entered the convention hall or but I will fess up- I was in the mood to taste test.

From jerky to juice, smoothies to soup we sipped (and here and there spit out), crunched and

conversed with company reps. Here are some favorites.

Kimchi chips- I’ve written about Food Should Taste Good before. In fact, when we stopped by their booth I wasn’t paying that much attention thinking been there, snacked on that until I saw these Kimchi chips. These aren’t any wallflower, run of the mill snacks; they’re one of the most memorable spicy, vinegary bites I had all day.

I’m an admitted smoothiehaulic and coffee addict and it seems I’m not alone in my dual dependencies. Enter AmazingMeal Café Mocha. I know, I know coffee, greens and hemp protein don’t sound like anything you’d seek out but this was really good. We sampled it mixed with rice milk, I can’t wait to introduce it to the Vitamix, some ice, maybe even a little more cacao. Each packet or serving has 10 grams of protein, 6 grams of fiber delicious.

Iced tea is usually either laced with sugar (or nastier substitutes) or bland and boring. These iced teas from Ayalas are unsweetened and delicious. And as with their herbal waters the flavors are interesting too. I went for nutmeg, cacao, cardamom while Joanna enjoyed the cinnamon rose rooibos (rooibos tea is fantastic for your skin).

Popcorn and coconut oil figured prominently at the expo this year. Joanna beelined it for BoomChickaPop, I fell in love with Ziggy Marley’s flavored coconut oils.  Seems the Marley family had some hemp seeds lying around. I’ve seen their seeds sold (great packaging) for some time but curry and orange, almond infused oils? Cinnamon Orange Almond Popcorn? Coco’mon it is.

As we rounded the corner of the last row of booths, my stomach was rumbling. I think it was a tiny spoon of ghee that didn’t sit well. I was done. And then we saw an adorable booth with a bubbly girl telling us about her juice company that launched that day. I have green juices everywhere and only tasted it because I thought perhaps it would settle my stomach?  So I took a sample sip of her “Duke of Kale” juice, Joanna did too.  We looked at each other nodding, this wasn’t a dirty, too-green juice or a fruit fest. It was refreshing and interesting (I recall dandelion greens). The company is so new that I cannot even verify the other ingredients. Look for Love Sam juices at stores near you.  I will be can’t say the same about that ghee.

Have you tried any of these products? Which sound interesting? How do you do with situations where there are lots of different types of food?

Be Realistic, Give Your Kids Cheetos

I’ve mentioned Fooducate before. Via a supermarket app and blog, Fooducate exposes helps consumers and readers navigate today’s complicated food maze. In early May, I read a post from a fellow nutrition colleague entitled “My Kid Likes Junk Food and That’s OK” that may have had good intensions but rubbed me the wrong way. The gist of the post was that your kids are going to eat junk food due to media exposure and taste. You can serve quality at food home but you can’t compete with Lunchables’ millions of advertising dollars. Be realistic, you can’t live in a bubble (made of “flax and unrefined flour”) if you child wants Cheetos, so be it.

The timing of this post was interesting; I had just come from my 10-year-old's check up. At the end of the annual visit our pediatrician has my son leave the office and then discusses milestones for each age. I was told I was going to get questions about lots new subjects at this age. Dr R explained there were two things not to do when fielding questions. “If you’re asked if you’ve ever been drunk you don’t want to dismiss the question or glorify it." You don’t want to say, “how could you ask such a thing?” or “sure I have and you will too it’s fun.”  Rather, give a little information and move on.  If subtext of the first response is ignore it and it will go away, the second is from the school of “cool parenting”. I see both approaches when it comes to food and they don’t work in this domain either. Even those “cool parents” would think it wildly inappropriate for me to say “I know you’re going to get drunk in the future so here’s a shot of Patron.”

If the intent of “Cheetos are fine” advice is to put parents at ease, I am all for that. However, I think many parents swing way to far the other way in an effort not to be overly restrictive. This was my comment on the Fooducate site.

I like the idea that parents who are new to the healthy table shouldn't feel it's too late to make changes. However, I feel part of my boys' education is teaching them about food, ingredients and health. Though my kids have had Doritos, I don't need to buy them even "sometimes". My kids have tortilla chips or chips but they don't need preservatives, trans fats and food coloring to taste good. I've also worked with the grandparents and other family members suggesting alternatives to some of the things served. When approached without judgment, these substitutions have been well received. I get the "kids will have Oreos and soda in their lifetime" argument. I just feel that despite millions of dollars encouraging kids to eat Lunchables we still, as parents of young children, can have more influence.

I’m grateful to some fantastic companies: Purely Elizabeth, Stretch Island, Hint Water, Glow Gluten Free, Food Should Taste Good, Pirate Brands, Vigilant Eats and Pure Bar.  I’ve brought these foods for carpool, to my children’s sports teams and birthday parties. Treats and “fun” food can be a part of childhood. We just don’t have to do PR for soda or Doritos; they already have plenty.
What do you think is the biggest challenge in feeding kids a healthy diet? What do think of givings kids junk so that they don't feel restricted? Would you buy your children Lunchables if asked? 

Foodtrainers Goody Bag

On Friday I wrote about our first night at Blackberry Farm. The weekend got better and better from there. Friday, I met the boot camp group after they completed a 2-hour bike ride.  As everyone enjoyed a picnic lunch of grilled fish, asparagus, beets, cranberry beans, kale bolts (the word I forgot Friday) and green tea in mason jars I gave a quick talk about my favorite spring foods for training and answered sports nutrition questions. We then hiked 8 miles on the Appalachian Trail back to Blackberry. I met up with my family and heard about their morning of fly fishing (all good until Myles fell in the stream).

The next day was a major step outside our comfort zones as the boys, Marc and I spent the morning horseback riding and the afternoon shooting “clays”.  Our final dinner was in the wine cellar of the barn at Blackberry and included a Strawberry Gazpacho, Swiss Chard stuffed with herbed quinoa and Bison. My closing talk to the group focused on self-compassion.

In the guest rooms we left Foodtrainers’ goody bags (is it goody or goodie, sources seem split) with some of our favorite products.  Want to know what was in the bag?

Eboost a great pre-workout beverage option or as it turns out great pre-hike too.

Barney Butter- the creamiest almond butter around. Their 90-calorie snack packs are now used on Jet Blue flights. Be careful though, airlines may confiscate jars of nut butter (who knew?).

Herbal Water-I’ve written about Herbal Water before. They make both flat and sparkling water in fantastic flavors. The Blackberry boot camp trainees received lemongrass, mint vanilla water.

Food Should Taste Good- I read a great article on Food Should Taste Good founder in Rachael Ray magazine on my flight down to Tennessee. I wish all mini bars stocked these.

Real Bar*- those in boot camp used these for before the final hike of the trip. I love the ingredients and vegan version of this fudgy bar. Most of all, I love the taste. *Beware habit forming

Glow Cookies- these are the best gluten free cookies around.  We included Snickerdoodles in the goody bags. They were all the talk at yoga class the following morning. 

Not bad for turndown snacks, huh?
I cannot thank Blackberry Farm enough for including me, next time I'm signing up for boot camp myself.

When’s the last time you stepped outside your comfort zone and tried a new activity? Have you ever done shooting clays (I quite liked it)? What is your favorite hotel snack or mini bar item?

Foodtrainers' Find

Yesterday was a great day. I finished in the office a little early because I had 2 fun activities planned. At 4:00, I picked my boys up and went to my friend Micheline’s apartment. Four moms gathered, each with our 2 children for an Easter Egg Hunt which was to be outside if not for the rain. The moms munched on crudite and sushi and drank white wine with peach slices (yum) and the kids did arts and crafts and searched for Easter eggs. These are not friends I see every day but we’re all good planners and get together every couple of months at a museum or one of our apartments, with the kids, to catch up. And we catch up and laugh and tell stories; I always look forward to these “play dates”.


I had to leave a little early to get to the second activity. My friend Aidan  was hosting something she called Happier Hour. Happier Hour was aptly named as the guest of honor was Gretchen Rubin the author of the Happiness Project. Gretchen spoke a bit about the book and her blog and made me think about happiness and of course it’s intersection with food and fitness (all of which I will discuss in a later post). I mingled a little and then left with my friend Wendy. I arrived home feeling good and inspired and hungry!

I have an assortment of Food Should Taste Good Chips in my pantry. I have written about these chips before in both Ski Lessons and A Day in the Life of Lauren. I have sampled many of their great flavors and love both the jalapeno and the chocolate (sounds strange but very good). I had never had the Lime. I opened the bag not really expecting anything vastly different than the other varieties. I was so wrong. However elusive and hard to define happiness is, I swear I found it in these chips. There was something about this flavor (and I’m sure the 2+ glasses of wine didn’t hurt) that was interesting and refreshing and so incredibly delicious. I counted out 12 (one serving) and sat down to enjoy them.

In case you’re not familiar with these chips. They are gluten free, lactose free, Kosher and have a good amount of fiber. A serving is 140 calories and was the perfect ending to my day.

Any foods or snacks that make you happy? Do you think food can make you happy? Is this a good thing?