Top Healthy Food Brands You Can Trust for Nutritious and Delicious Choices

In today's fast-paced world, maintaining a healthy lifestyle can be challenging. With countless food options available, it's essential to make informed choices about what we eat. This article explores some of the top healthy food brands that offer nutritious and delicious products to support your well-being.

Understanding "Healthy"

The term "healthy" can be nebulous, but when it comes to snacks, it generally refers to options that are satiating and nutrient-rich, going beyond the typical apple or handful of nuts. These snacks often include protein from sources like nuts, beans, or meat, as well as healthy fats and fiber.

Featured Healthy Food Brands

Fall Favorites

Seven Sundays: Known for its oat protein cereal, Seven Sundays offers a variety of flavors, including the seasonal Pumpkin Spice Oat Protein Cereal. This cereal features a short ingredient list with recognizable foods like corn, oats, maple syrup, and coconut oil. The pumpkin spice flavor comes from real pumpkin puree and a blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. It can be enjoyed with yogurt, milk, or as a standalone snack.
Siggi's: Siggi's is known for its creamy, thick, protein-packed yogurt. Their pumpkin spice yogurt, especially when paired with granola and toasted pecans, is a popular autumnal treat.
Bjornqorn: This brand uses reflective mirrors to focus the sun's rays on kettles to pop its corn, resulting in delightfully airy popcorn. With just the right dose of salt and nutritional yeast, Bjornqorn's popcorn is addictively tasty. The spicy version with added jalapeño pepper is a fan favorite.
Wilde Chips: These chips are made from chicken breast, egg whites, and bone broth, resulting in a deeply savory, ultra-crunchy snack with ten grams of protein per serving. Available in flavors like Nashville Hot, Sea Salt and Vinegar, Barbecue, and Himalayan Sea Salt.
Spirit Almonds: These Japanese-flavored, dry-roasted almonds come in umami-packed options like miso, curry, seaweed, and koji salt. Each single-serving pack has seven grams of protein and three grams of fiber, making them a great travel snack.
Elavi Protein Brownies: These vegan, gluten-free, and refined sugar-free brownies are packed with 11 grams of protein. They make for a guilt-free post-lunch dessert.

All-Time Favorites

Hu Kitchen: Hu Kitchen is known for its fairtrade organic dark chocolate bars in flavors like almond butter with puffed quinoa and crunchy mint. The hazelnut butter-filled dark chocolate bites and hunks (almonds and cashews dipped in dark chocolate) are also popular choices.
Nufs: Nufs makes crackers free of gluten, dairy, and seed oils, available in sea salt, hot honey, and everything bagel varieties. These crackers pack just enough subtle flavor without being overpowering and are the perfect size for snacking.
Chia Smash Bites: These jammy, nut butter bites taste and look homemade, packing in seven to nine grams of protein. They feature chia-studded fruit jams sweetened with date syrup and lemon juice, combined with nut butter. Flavors include peanut butter with grape jam, sunflower butter with strawberry, cashew butter with blueberry, and chocolate peanut butter with raspberry.
Jackson's Sweet Potato Chips: Kettle-cooked in avocado oil, these chips come in flavors like spicy jalapeño, farmhouse ranch, and habanero nacho. There are also wavy varieties in cheddar and sour cream or sea salt.
Stellar Eats: Stellar Eats offers single-serve portions of gluten-free baking mixes like banana bread, carrot cake, and fudge brownie. These instant treats are ready to eat in less than two minutes.
Ella’s Flats: This family-owned brand makes savory crisps from seeds like sunflower, pumpkin, and flax, and spices like cumin and caraway. Ella’s Flats are sturdy enough to dip into hummus or work as a bread substitute for avocado toast.
Chomps: Chomps offers meat sticks in beef, turkey, and venison, containing no sugar or fillers. These sticks are a satisfyingly savory snack that’s great for on-the-go consumption.
Amazi Dried Fruit: Amazi makes dried fruit with craveable flavors like ginger turmeric or chili lime jackfruit, moringa hibiscus pineapple, and salted olive oil plantain chips. All flavors are free from added sugar and boast just three ingredients in every bag. The brand sources and produces the snacks in Uganda.

New and Noteworthy Products of 2024

KIND Protein Max Bars: These protein bars are lower in added sugars compared to many other options on the market.
Fishwife's Albacore Tuna in Olive Oil: This canned tuna is packed with a high-quality tuna filet under a glossy layer of luscious olive oil. It's available in both regular and spicy versions.
Manitoba Harvest’s Bioactive Fiber: This fiber supplement can be added to smoothies and oatmeal.
Goodles Cheddy Mac: This gluten-free mac and cheese has 14 grams of protein per serving.
Purely Elizabeth’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Granola: This granola offers a delicious and convenient way to enjoy the flavors of chocolate chip cookies.
KIND Banana Peanut Butter Granola Clusters: These granola clusters offer a balanced combination of banana and peanut butter flavors.
Whisps Popped: These cheesy bites are crunchy, savory, and craveable, offering a high-protein, low-carb snack option.
OLIPOP Barbie Peaches & Cream: This low-calorie treat is sweet, fruity, and fizzy.
Ithaca Jalapeno Lime Hummus: This chickpea spread offers a perfect balance of spicy and tangy flavors.
HeyDay Canning Co. Beans: These beans come in fun flavors like Coconut Curry, Kimchi Sesame, and Tomato Alla Vodka.
MALK Creamers: These creamers are available in Lightly Sweetened Oat, Caramel Almond, and Vanilla Almond flavors.
Beyond Meat Beyond IV: This plant-based meat alternative now uses avocado oil as its main oil and has reduced sodium levels.
Bloom Pineapple: This product helps consumers get in the summer mood.
Hodo Tofu Dips: These tofu-based dips are a category-creating product.
Chosen Foods Chocolate Hazelnut Spread: This spread offers a healthier alternative to traditional chocolate hazelnut spreads with lower sugar content.
Lesser Evil Summer-Inspired Products: This line of products offers a variety of healthy snack options.
Clean Simple Eats Clear Protein: This protein water is a refreshing and tasty way to increase protein intake.
The Only Bean Dried Edamame Beans: These edamame beans are a salty and spicy high-protein snack option.
Pipcorn Honey BBQ Twists: These twists offer a healthy alternative to fatty potato chips with a delicious barbeque seasoning.
Graza Extra Virgin Olive Oil Refills: These beer can refills make it easy to replenish your supply of high-quality olive oil.
Spring & Mulberry Mulberry Fennel Chocolate Bar: This 72% cacao bar is sweetened with dates and mulberries, offering a refined sugar-free chocolate option.

Top 20 Credible Natural Food Brands

Eden Foods: Known for BPA-free cans, organic soy, and a commitment to organic, local, and traditionally made foods.
Bragg's: Renowned for apple cider vinegar and its health benefits.
Food for Life: Offers sprouted grains with no fillers and impeccable quality.
Nature's Path: A go-to brand for organic cereal with a commitment to non-GMO ingredients.
Traditional Medicinals: Provides pharmacopeial grade herbs formulated by professional herbalists for effective teas.
Big Tree Farms: Offers revolutionary products including coconut palm sugar and works with thousands of farmers in Bali as a cooperative.
Dr. Bronner’s: Known for the world’s best soap, but also offers Fair Trade coconut oil.
Bob’s Redmill: Best known for solo ingredients rather than mixes.
Artisana: Offers high-quality clean nut butters in glass jars.
Theo Chocolate: Provides organic and Fair Trade chocolate varieties.
Equal Exchange: Emphasizes Fair Trade coffee and chocolate.
Field Roast: Offers clean mock-meats that are wheat-based and non-organic.
Sunshine Burger: Provides a soy-free, wheat-free veggie burger option.
Mary’s Gone Crackers: Offers gluten-free, whole grain, and clean ingredients for snacking.
Reed’s: Known for ginger sodas, but they do contain a lot of sugar.
Tofurky: Generally offers clean organic tofu products, but some processed items contain questionable ingredients.
Lundberg Farms: Offers packaged risottos, but be aware of "butter flavor."
Kettle Chips: Stick with the organic options.
Rejuvenative Foods: Offers high-quality fermented foods.
Wildwood: The organic sprouted tofus are GMO-free, but some processed foods may contain ingredients to avoid.

The Importance of Whole Foods

While these brands offer convenient and healthy options, it's essential to remember the importance of whole foods. Buying ingredients instead of "products" is the best way to ensure a truly healthy meal. This includes fresh fruits and vegetables (preferably local and seasonal), as well as bulk grains, beans, seeds, and nuts. Making meals from scratch decreases the risk of consuming excess salt, sugar, trans fats, and other undesirable ingredients.

Building a Healthy Diet

To fuel your day, eating a balanced diet is important. A simple formula to follow is grain + protein + veggie. Start with a protein like grilled chicken, steak, tofu, or chickpeas, then choose a grain like brown rice, quinoa, or whole wheat pasta. Incorporate vegetables like steamed broccoli, roasted zucchini, or fresh spinach. By mixing and matching these ingredients, you can create a variety of nutritious and interesting meal combinations.

Social Media Engagement of Healthy Food Brands

Many healthy food brands have found success on social media by engaging with their fans through creative content, collaborations, and giveaways.

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams: This brand dominated social media with colorful and creative collaborations, like their partnership with Apple TV's "Ted Lasso."
RIND Snacks: RIND Snacks teamed up with brands like Sweet Nothings to create limited-edition flavors, earning strong engagement rates on Instagram.
Chobani: Chobani shared delicious ideas for edible cookie dough made with its yogurt as a base, earning a high engagement rate on Instagram.
Spindrift: Spindrift engaged its fans with creative giveaways, like a chance to win a one-of-a-kind art piece made from recycled Spindrift cans.
Unreal Snacks: Unreal Snacks used humor to showcase its products, creating a carousel of its products next to celebrities dressed in outfits that resemble the brand’s packaging.
Beyond Meat: Beyond Meat shared news about its awards and offered a visual comparison for shoppers who might be on the fence about plant-based meat.
OLIPOP: OLIPOP leveraged its partnership with Camila Cabello to engage fans on Twitter, earning high engagement rates.

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