Yahoo Finance 31 Low-Sugar Snacks That Will Satisfy Your Cravings, from Trail Mix to Cookies (Really)
To snack or not to snack? That is the question. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, snacking can curb your appetite to prevent overeating and provides a boost of energy between meals—that is, if you choose your treats wisely. That means high protein, high fiber choices like nuts and trail mix, plus fresh fruit and low-fat dairy—not an entire bag of gummy worms (oops). After all, studies have shown that too much sugar can increase your risk for cardiovascular illness, and many processed snacks rely on added sugar to increase flavor (and thereby decrease nutritional value). Instead of beelining to the candy jar or relying on a granola bar, reach for any of these 31 low-sugar snacks whenever you feel a craving strike.
RELATED: The 12 Best Low-Sugar Fruits for Snacking, According to a Dietician
1. Rip Van Wafels
Think stroopwafel, but with a fraction of the sugar. Each serving contains 120 calories and 6 grams of fiber to keep you full, and since they’re sweetened with monkfruit, just 3 grams of sugar. Choose from flavors like Snickerdoodle, Birthday Cake and Chocolate Brownie, or stick to the original Dutch Caramel.
2. Alani Nu Fit Snacks Protein Bars
We hate to break it to you, but a lot of the protein bars you see at the store are just glorified candy bars. The healthiest ones are high in protein and fiber and low in sugar, and Alani Nu’s line fits the bill. Each bar contains 5 grams of fiber, 4 grams of sugar and 16 grams of protein. They’re also a far cry from the chalky meal replacement bars you’ve tried in the past, thanks to creative flavors like Peanut Butter Cup, Confetti Cake, Blueberry Muffin, Fruity Cereal and Cookies and Cream.
3. RIND Chewy Dried Fruit Snacks
The fruit snacks of your childhood were probably sugary, shaped like dinosaurs and undeniably delicious. RIND’s fruit snacks are more like chewy, skin-on dried fruit, with 8 grams of sugars, zero added sugars and 5 grams of fiber per serving. Choose from medleys like Straw-Peary, Tropical and Orchard, or single flavors like kiwi and coconut. Says one reviewer of the coconut-watermelon combo: “The right amount of flavor and sweetness of the watermelon. Love the chewiness with a bite!! The coconut has a great crisp & isn’t too sweet like other dried coconut.”
4. RIND Chips Dried Fruit Snacks
What’s that? You’re team crispy? In addition to their chewy fruit snacks, RIND makes “chips,” aka crispy slices of thin-cut, dried fruit. There are apple chips for snack purists, but more adventurous snacks can try the inventive orange and kiwi varieties, too. As with RIND’s chewy snacks, the chips contain no added sugar, 13 grams of naturally occurring sugars and 3 grams of fiber (plus just 100 calories per serving).
5. Magic Spoon Grain-Free Cereal
Yep, you can still enjoy that mid-afternoon bowl of cereal while watching your sugar intake. Magic Spoon is known for being keto-friendly, but you don’t have to be on the low-carb diet to enjoy its benefits. The flavors are inspired by childhood cereal favorites (think honey nut, fruity, cocoa and frosted), and each serving contains zero grams of sugar, 13 grams of protein and 4 grams of net carbs. It’s sweetened with a blend of monk fruit and allulose, and also happens to be gluten and grain free.
6. Hu Kitchen Snacking Gems
Step away from the leftover Cadbury mini eggs. These chocolate bites from Hu Kitchen contain just 9 grams of sugars per serving (plus 3 grams of fiber), but still satisfy your hankering for chocolate. What’s more, they’re vegan, paleo and fair-trade certified, so you can feel good about your daily sweet treat.
7. Bjorn Qorn Savory Popcorn
Popcorn is already one of our go-to healthy snacks—it’s a complex carb that’s naturally low cal and high in fiber. Add nutritional yeast for a savory punch and you’re really cooking with gas. One 2.5-cup serving of Bjorn Qorn contains just 140 calories, no sugar, 3 grams of fiber and 4 grams of protein, so it’s all but guaranteed to keep you from creeping to the pantry in 30 minutes. (It’s also vegan and tastes like cheese—just saying.)
8. UNREAL Dark Chocolate Crispy Quinoa Peanut Butter Cups
You can officially add candy to your list of low-sugar snacks, because UNREAL’s Dark Chocolate Crispy Quinoa Peanut Butter Cups contain just 3 grams of the stuff per serving. They’re gluten free and vegan, and most importantly, contain a layer of rich dark chocolate over a peanut butter center that’s studded with crispy puffed quinoa bits. Need we say more?
9. Pan’s Mushroom Jerky
This plant-based, vegan-friendly jerky (it’s made from shiitake mushrooms) is sweetened with just a touch of coconut sugar, clocking in at 5 grams per serving. It also has a whopping 6 grams of fiber per serving, so it’ll fill you up without an energy slump later. We love that it has a meaty texture and flavor, but with a lower carbon footprint than traditional beef jerky.
10. One Mighty Mill Whole Grain Sea Salt Pretzels
One serving of these whole grain pretzels contains just 1 gram of sugar, plus 2 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein. Up the ante by dipping them in another low-sugar fave, hummus.
11. MUSH Overnight Oats
You know oatmeal is a filling, healthy breakfast option, but don’t overlook its snacking power. If you’re not about to whip up a batch in the afternoon, try MUSH’s premade overnight oats. Each of the flavors (like strawberry, blueberry and coffee coconut) contains about 7 to 12 grams of sugar, plus fiber and protein to increase satiety.
12. west~bourne Sun Pop
Good luck stopping at a single handful with west~bourne’s Sun Pop popcorn—you’ll want to eat the whole bag. It’s crafted with turmeric, nutritional yeast, onion powder, salt and cayenne, and zero sweeteners or sugars for a savory, good-for-you snack. It’s also fancy enough to set out at your next cocktail party, hint hint.
13. Pipsnacks Cheddar Heirloom Corn Snack Crackers
Instead of white flour, these cheese crackers are made with corn flour as a gluten-free swap. They contain zero grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein and 1 gram of fiber, making them a smart choice when only cheesiness will suffice.
14. MadeGood Crispy Chocolate Chip Squares
These light, crunchy rice squares are studded with chocolate chips and flavored with cocoa and vanilla for a snack that’s reminiscent of a cookie without the sugar crash. In fact, each serving contains just 7 grams of sugar.
15. MadeGood Chocolate Chip Mini Cookies
Speaking of cookies, MadeGood also offers packs of gluten-free minis that are kind of like the ones in the white box you like to pick up at the grocery and eat by the handful—just with more nutritious ingredients. Each pouch contains 7 grams of sugar from cane sugar syrup and brown sugar.
16. Terra Sweets & Carrots Vegetable Chips
With 150 calories, 3 grams of fiber and 5 grams of sugar in each serving, these savory-sweet vegetable chips are a great way to get your daily chip quota. (That’s a thing, right?) They contain 16 grams of carbs and 8 grams of fat, compared to a regular potato chip, which clocks in around 23 grams of carbs and 15 grams of fat.
17. KIND Thin Bars
For a quick, 100-calorie sweet snack, KIND Thin bars contain about 4 grams of sugar, plus 2 grams of fiber and protein each. The variety pack comes with Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt, Caramel Almond & Sea Salt and Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate flavors.
18. Highkey Vanilla Wafer Cookies
With 1 gram of net carbs, 4 grams of protein and less than 1 gram of sugar per serving, these keto-friendly wafer cookies are an excellent low-sugar replacement for those vanilla wafer cookies we all know and love. Bonus, they’re gluten free, relying on almond flour instead of all-purpose.
19. GourmetNut Power Up Protein Packed Trail Mix
Trading the usual chocolate bits for raisins and dried cherries is one way this protein-rich trail mix keeps it light in the sugar department. It has 11 grams of sugar and 7 grams of protein per serving, a win-win.
20. Hippeas Vegan White Cheddar Organic Chickpea Puffs
These chickpea-powered puffs contain 5 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber per serving, plus just 4 grams of naturally occurring sugars. They’re gluten-free and vegan, so everyone can join in snacktime.
21. Puffworks Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Puffs
When a candy craving hits, reach instead for these chocolaty peanut butter puffs. They have just 4 grams of sugar per serving, with all the creamy sweetness of a PB cup (and some crunch for good measure, too).
22. Quinn Creamy Peanut Butter Filled Pretzel Nuggets
Crunchy, gluten-free pretzels filled with creamy, salty peanut butter and just 2 grams of sugar per serving—what more could you ask for in a snack? Maybe 3 grams of protein, which these bites also happen to have.
23. Smart Sweets Sourmelon Bites
True sugar fiends know that once you open a bag of candy, little can stop you from devouring the whole bag. Good thing these sour watermelon gummies contain just 3 grams of sugar in the entire bag. They’re sweetened with allulose, which the brand describes as a non-artificial sweetener found in foods like raisins and figs that the body doesn’t absorb.
24. Karma Cinnamon Wrapped Cashews
These cashews are coated in just enough cinnamon-sugar to make them taste like a sticky bun without all the actual sugar (just 6 grams per serving here). They’re also air-roasted skin-on for extra texture.
25. SkinnyDipped Almonds
These dipped almonds keep the coating light, so they contain as little as 6 grams of sugar per serving (depending on the flavor). They’re also a good source of protein and fiber for a low-sugar snack that won’t let you down an hour later.
26. The Good Bean Sea Salt Chickpeas
Crunchy snack lovers, listen up: These roasted chickpeas contain 5 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber and just 1 gram of sugar in each serving. They have all the texture of a nut but just 120 calories and 3 grams of fat to boot.
27. Frubites Freeze-Dried Strawberries
Behold, freeze-dried fruit, which is basically a more convenient way of eating regular fruit. By that we mean, there’s no added sugar (and just 2 grams of it to begin with), plus all the fiber of the fresh stuff.
28. Dang Coconut Chips
These sweet, toasted coconut chips taste like a tropical vacation, and you can totally keep the feeling alive no matter where you are (even back at your desk), since there’s just 11 grams of sugar in each serving. They’re made with just three ingredients: coconut, cane sugar and salt.
29. Pirate’s Booty Aged White Cheddar Rice and Corn Puffs
Your kid was onto something. These satisfyingly crisp rice and corn puffs contain just 1 gram of sugar per serving, plus 3 grams of filling protein. They’re also allergy-friendly—no gluten, peanuts or tree nuts in sight.
30. Hummingbird Dark Chocolate Covered Hazelnuts
Chocolate and nuts are a match made in heaven, but the sugar can sneak up on you. These cocoa-covered hazelnuts have just 7 grams of sugar per serving, so they’re sweet but not cloying.
31. Nature’s Heart Everything Bagel Cashew Crunch
You had us at “everything bagel,” and again at 1 gram of sugar, 7 grams of protein and 1 gram of fiber. Happy snacking, y’all.
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