When we’re looking to buy pre-packaged snacks, the first thing we always look at is the number of ingredients listed — the fewer the better. From there we try to find products that use mostly (or all when possible) whole, unprocessed food, and don’t contain crazy amounts of sugar. Taste is of course also important; there are lots of products out there that fit the criteria but that taste like chalk. We’re always on the lookout for new snacks and are excited to see more and more healthy options hitting the market, particularly homegrown Canadian products. So to help you navigate the snack aisle, we’ve rounded up some of our go-to healthy snacks that you can feel good about eating and that taste good too.
Nagi energy bars & makaroons
It’s fitting that the word “nagi” means naked in Polish, as this Canadian brand of energy bars and “makaroons” use very minimal, clean ingredients in their products. All of their bars and makaroons are organic, non-gmo, vegan, as well as gluten-, soy-, and dairy-free, with no preservatives, additives or artificial flavours. And each ingredient like pea and brown rice protein, fruit, seeds, quinoa and coconut nectar are carefully sourced based on their nutrient density. Nagi offers five energy bar flavours like lemon goji berry coconut and chocolate almond coconut, and offer their makaroons (which we absolutely love) in chocolate almond and vanilla almond.
Rawcology superfood coconut chips
Another Canadian brand we love is Rawcology who offer superfood coconut chips in Smoky Cheeze, Rock’n Ranch, Chocolate Cinnamon and Matcha Latte. A holistic nutritionist, certified raw food teacher and culinary instructor, founder Tara Tomulka created her superfood snack as a better-tasting alternative to what’s currently available on the market. And since cooking food at high temperatures can destroy its enzymes, vitamins and minerals, their coconut chips are dehydrated in small batches at a low temperature to preserve their powerful nutrients and maintain flavour.
Powerplant energy bars
Looking at the ingredients, you would be as surprised as we were at how good these actually taste. We first tried their Almond butter and Veggies bar (which is of course coated in chocolate and is deliciously chewy), which contains almond butter and a dehydrated veggie blend of carrots, spinach, broccoli, kale and beets, along with pumpkin seed protein, sprouted flax, pumpkin seed, sprouted chia, sprouted quinoa (and only a few more ingredients). Eating this many superfoods at once has never been so easy.
Go Macro energy bars
Okay, so these are not Canadian, but we still love them, particularly as they are a family owned company. Go Macro offers nut butter-based energy bars made from simple, clean ingredients, that are all vegan, gluten-free and organic. Their high protein, high fat bars are the perfect way to stay full and energized between meals without the blood sugar spike conventional, high sugar bars cause. And the flavour options are endless — they have 13 different bars, including banana almond butter, cashew caramel and cherries and berries.
Prana Kilimanjaro mix
When it comes to trail mix, the Kilimanjaro Dark Chocolate Mix is as good as it gets. You still get a little sugar fix from the dried cranberries and chocolate, but this is balanced by the protein, fat and fibre from the nuts. If sweet and salty is more your thing, Prana offers lots of different trail mixes options, and other healthy snacks.
