Craving something crunchy or salty or sweet?
Well you’re in luck! We, Curry Girls, are hooking you up with our Top 12 “Better for You” Gluten Free Snacks. And guess what? None of them require cooking.
Obviously, we love to cook. And from a wellness perspective, the rule of thumb is: if you can make it, do it. BUT sometimes you just don’t have the time for that kind of energy! These are the snacks you can easily grab at the grocery store or pre-stock in your pantry for days when you just “can’t even.”
What makes them “Better for You?”
Last week, we talked all about Eating for Benefit, a mindful eating practice that prioritizes the body’s individual needs. As you may remember, a major pillar of this practice is choosing high-quality foods. Here’s the hang up: on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the best, most packaged foods found at the grocery store are a solid 1. Yikes. They tend to be stuffed to the brim with additives, GMO’s, and cheap, harmful oils.
Luckily not all packaged foods are created equal. There are conscious manufacturers out there. It just so happens that the more harmful products tend to have better name-brand-recognition. This is good news for us, because it means we can still eat for benefit and enjoy a packaged treat from time to time. The solution is as simple as swapping those low-quality snacks with higher-quality alternatives. These swaps are what we call “crossover foods” and they are total game changers!
So, if you’ve been on the hunt for healthy-ish packaged snacks that actually taste good, look no further!
Gluten Free Snacks
TOP 12 EASY, TASTY Healthy-ish Gluten Free Snacks:
- Whole food snacks: AKA organic fruits, organic veggies, and raw nuts. These are the highest-quality treats out there and they come straight from Mother Nature. Hit up that produce isle and pick your favorite portable fruits and veggies. (psst: Don’t skip over jicama. You can often find it cut into matchsticks which is awesome for snacking. Plus, it’s a prebiotic so it feeds our good gut bacteria, aiding in healthy digestion.)
Nuts are a wonderful source of beneficial fat and they make for amazing snacks. For the highest-quality option, always pick raw over roasted. Once nuts and seeds are cooked, cracked, or ground, they release their natural oils. These oils then start to oxidize. The longer they sit on the shelves the closer these nuts get to rancidity. Oof, no thank you. Instead, try toasting them yourself. Just pop your raw nuts on a heated pan with a teaspoon of sea salt and turn frequently. Take off of the heat after a couple minutes or once fragrant. Then let them cool, and enjoy! (Or just eat the nuts raw. So yummy)
- Crackers: Simple Mills almond or seed flour crackers, Breton, Mary’s Gone Crackers and Real Thins,
- Potato Chips: Swap Pringles for The Good Crisp company. Did you know, Pringles are actually made from pressed flours. Only about 42% of the chip is actually potato! Mind. Blown. For a potato chip, try Only 3 ingredients and Non-GMO. Not into potato? Try seaweed snacks-GimMe organic roasted seaweed snacks
- Tortilla Chips: Swap Doritos for Late July tortillas, Super Greens Forager, Siete Dip chip, FoodShouldTasteGood blue corn tortillas.
- Veggie Chips/ Puffs: everything From The Ground Up Snacks carries is delicious. Peg’s personal fave are the Cauliflower Stalks. They are so damn good!
- Cookies: Swap Famous Amos for Simple Mills Chocolate chip cookies. Other faves include: Pamela’s cookies, and Tate’s Cookies
- Chocolate Bars: Swap Hershey’s for Hu’s Kitchen and Chocolove bars
- Nut Butters: Swap Skippy or Jiff for Maranatha nut butters or any other no-stir Organic Peanut Butter.
- Ice Cream: So Delicious coconut ice cream bars Holy sh*t! Amazing! They are all gluten free, dairy free, and vegan. Peg’s Fave is the Mocha Almond Fudge.
- Protein Bars and Granola: Elemental Super Food Seedbar is a high-quality fat and protein alternative. Soy free, dairy free, plant based! Pegs loves to grab her favorite grain-free granola and pour some in a bag when she goes out on an early morning bike ride. Her favorites are: Paleonola, Steve’s PaleoKrunch, Lark Ellen, Purely Elizabeth Chocolate Peanut Butter!
- Dip: Swap Lipton Onion Soup Dip Mix for Simply Organic Onion and Chive Dip Mix (they also carry other flavors of MSG-free dip.) OR when you just don’t have the time or energy to make your own hummus, try these store-bought options: Swiss Chard hummus and Avocado Cilantro Hummus. Pair with your fave veggies and crackers, and you basically have yourself a bomb charcuterie board. For more charcuterie how-to’s check out Meg’s blog post here: [LINK]
We know you’ll love these simple, Healthy-ish snacky treats! But if you want to learn how to LEVEL UP your pantries even more, check out our upcoming course: Damn Good in the Kitchen. It’s a sure-fire way to start your health journey on the right foot and optimize your pantries for ultimate healthy yumminess. Click the link for more information:
In the meantime, GET SNACKIN’