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Nut Free Snacks Nightmare: 5 Deadly Snacks to Avoid (And Substitutes)

WARNING: THIS PRODUCT MAY HAVE BEEN PROCESSED IN A FACTORY CONTAINING NUTS

Don’t you just hate food allergies? They can range from skin irritation to constricting your blood vessels. This can be especially tough on those with reactions to nuts. A majority of the snacks out there are usually processed in a building where nuts come into close proximity and can’t be guaranteed not to be cross-contaminated with each other, making it more dangerous for the nut-allergic.

Fortunately, there are nut free snacks out there to satisfy the appetites of those who can’t munch on their nutty counterparts. Not only are the following snacks nut free, they’re actually healthier for you as well. Even if you don’t have nut allergies, with these simple swaps, you can enjoy the same great taste as the regulars without having to worry about allergies or your waistline.

Don’t Snicker at Doodles

Let’s start off with the “Om-nom-nom Monster of Snacks,” cookies. Originally created in the 7th Century, it can be defined as a “thin, sweet, usually small cake.” In fact, cookies have many multi-national names such as biscuits, galletas, and biscottis to name a few. And one such cookie would be the always lovable snickerdoodle.

Mrs. Fields Snickerdoodle Cookie

Calories: 120

Calories from Fat: 45

Total Fat: 5 g

Saturated Fat: 2.5 g

Total Carbohydrate: 17 g

Sugars: 9 g

Protein: 1 g

Enjoy Life Soft Baked Snickdoodle Cookies

Calories 130

Calories from Fat 40

Total Fat 4.5g

Saturated Fat 0g

Total Carbohydrates: 21g

Sugars 14g

Protein 1g

Snickerdoodles are sugar cookies that have been rolled in cinnamon sugar. Mrs. Fields is well known for its cookies having a soft, moist texture. Unlike most home-baked cookies that harden overnight, their cookies tend to stay soft, giving that “fresh out of the oven” taste (especially if they’re warmed up).

Unfortunately, this doesn’t bode well for those with nut allergies. These cookies are manufactured in factories where nuts are used and can sometimes be cross-contaminated without anyone knowing. Imagine biting into what seems like a harmless sugar cookie, only for the allergies to break out without warning. Fortunately, there happens to be a snickerdoodle that doesn’t have that problem.

Enjoy Life Soft Baked Snickerdoodles seem to be slightly smaller, but they’re thicker, giving a much more satisfying texture. Although the Nutritional Facts don’t seem that much of a difference to its Mrs. Fields counterpart, keep in mind that the Serving Size is TWO cookies. Plus, it has less fat and no Saturated Fat, which is always a good thing if you want to avoid the childhood obesity epidemic.

Chips Off The Old Cookie

For those of you who like chocolate chips, you’re probably familiar with many cookie companies such as Chips Ahoy or Famous Amos. Created in the 1930s, chocolate chip cookies were created at the Toll House inn by Ruth Wakefield being supplied with chocolate from Andrew Nestle. You might know someone who you’d like to share cookies with (because it’s a sharing type of food after all), but they’re probably allergic to one of their many ingredients.

Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies

Calories 150

Calories from Fat 60

Total Fat 7 g

Saturated Fat 3 g

Total Carbohydrates 20 g

Sugars 9 g

Protein 1 g

Enjoy Life Soft Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies

Calories 130

Calories from Fat 45

Total Fat 5 g

Saturated Fat 1 g

Total Carbohydrates: 21 g

Sugars 12g

Protein 1 g

The Famous Amos cookies contain Eggs, Milk, Soy and Wheat, perfect for most people, a bad product line for those with food allergies. Their cookies are created in places that have nuts in them, so they’re not the most ideal company to purchase from.

You’re probably wondering how a cookie with chocolate chips not have the dairy that comes in milk chocolate. Fortunately, Enjoy Life uses non-allergic ingredients in every single product, including the use of Non-Dairy Cocoa Butter for its chocolate.

Enjoy Life, Not Planters

Trail Mix can be seen as the best, portable hiking and mountaineering food ever created. After all, whether you’re traveling across great distances or just working your body to the absolute limit, nothing beats having food on hand to stoke your metabolism. The origin of trail mix is disputed between 1958 and 1968. Unfortunately, most trail mixes include nuts which leave the nut-sensitive scrambling for options.

Planters Trail Mix, Nuts and Chocolate

Calories 150

Calories from Fat 80

Total Fat 9g

Saturated Fat 2.5g

Total Carbohydrates 14 g

Sugars 12 g

Protein 4 g

Enjoy Life not nuts! Mountain Mambo Nut Free Trail Mix

Calories 140

Calories from Fat 80

Total Fat 8 g

Saturated Fat 1.5 g

Total Carbohydrates 12 g

Sugars 9 g

Protein 5g

Fortunately, Enjoy Life’s Nut Free Trail Mix delivers that option with open arms, matching and even surpassing Planters Trail Mix. It also delivers an extra 4% of Protein and less Sugar.

You’re probably wondering how can it be trail mix if it doesn’t have nuts? The nuts are replaced with sunflower and pumpkin seeds which are still just as enjoyable and have slightly more fiber than the nuts in Planters. Plus, the chocolate chips are created with Non-Dairy Cocoa Butter, which makes this trail mix perfect for dairy-sensitive people as well.

Beware of Nuts After Dark

Who doesn’t enjoy chocolate? Believe it or not, dark chocolate has many beneficial properties such as lowering blood pressure and decreasing risks of heart disease. In fact, the closer chocolate is to pure cocoa, the more healthier it is. Now if only companies would stop adding sugar to them, they’d actually be considered a health food.

Dove Dark Chocolate Bar

Calories 210

Calories from Fat 120

Total Fat 14 g

Saturated Fat 7 g

Total Carbohydrates 21 g

Sugars 17 g

Protein 3g

Enjoy Life Boom Choco Boom Dark Chocolate Bar

Calories 200

Calories from Fat 130

Total Fat 15 g

Saturated Fat 9 g

Total Carbohydrates 22 g

Sugars 17 g

Protein 2g

You’d probably be surprised that Dove’s Dark Chocolate contains almonds. Not a good thing if you’re nut-sensitive. It also contains lactose, if you’re dairy sensitive. Fortunately, Enjoy Life’s Boom Choco Boom Dark Chocolate Bar has the advantage of containing only THREE ingredients. Seriously, it only has Evaporated Cane Juice, Natural Non-Alcoholic Chocolate Liquor, and Non-Dairy Cocoa Butter.

Something to take to heart, the fewer the ingredients, the more likely it’s healthier as it means that it hasn’t gone through too much processing. The more processed something is, the less likely it still retains any nutritional benefits that the ingredients are known for.

Insert Corny, Not Nutty Joke Here

If you haven’t gotten nuts from the overuse of the word “nut” yet, then congratulations. And if you’re tired of seeing the word “nut,” you still might want to stick around for more snacks that don’t involve N-U-T-S.

Now Corn Nuts aren’t really nuts at all. They are actually corn kernels deep-fried in oil. Originally created by Albert Holloway in 1936, these “nuts” were originally named “Brown Just Toasted Corn.” However, it’s this oil that makes this snack actually more dangerous than it lets on.

Corn Nuts Ranch

Calories 130

Calories from Fat 40

Total Fat 5 g

Saturated Fat 1 g

Total Carbohydrates 19 g

Sugars 0 g

Protein 3 g

We’re Not Nuts – Cool Ranch Toasted Corn

Calories 100

Calories from Fat 20

Total Fat 2 g

Saturated Fat 0.3 g

Total Carbohydrates 20 g

Sugars 1 g

Protein 3 g

The We’re Not Nuts contains more corn than the regular Corn Nuts. It has a lower Fat content and unlike the Corn Nuts which contains “Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Canola Oil” (aka Trans Fat), We’re Not Nuts contains “Non-Hydrogenated Sunflower Oil.”

Thanks to a FDA loophole, companies are allowed to claim their products as Trans Fat-free if the content contains less than 0.5 g. Of course, many companies take advantage of that loophole and Trans Fat happens to be one of the causes of heart disease and childhood obesity. That’s why when it comes to Trans Fat, don’t trust the Nutritional Facts and read the Ingredients List. If it says “Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil,” avoid it like the plague. This is true whether you have allergies or not. You don’t need heart plaque to constrict your arteries.

Cheesy and Dangerous

Like the trial mix, the origin of cheese puffs is disputed, but agreed that they were created in the late 1930s. When you think cheese puffs, the first brand that comes to mind is probably Cheetos. After all, they seem to have popularized the entire franchise with Chester Cheetah (replacing the Cheetos Mouse) and continues to be famous to this day. But something that tastes this good can’t possibly be bad for you, right?

Cheetos Puffs

Calories 160

Calories from Fat 90

Total Fat 10 g

Saturated Fat 1.5 g

Total Carbohydrates 15 g

Sugars 1 g

Protein 2 g

Pirate’s Booty, Aged White Cheddar

Calories 130

Calories from Fat 45

Total Fat 5 g

Saturated Fat 1

Total Carbohydrates 19 g

Sugars 0 g

Protein 2 g

Here’s a case of a no-brainer. Yes, Cheetos can be addicting. But they don’t call it “Dangerously Cheesy” for nothing. Compare this with its healthier counterpart below. Not only is it dominated in almost every category in the Nutrition Facts, but it leaves off one important fact: it contains Trans Fat. It states that it doesn’t, but just like the corn nuts, the Ingredients list Partially Hydrogenated Soybean/Canola Oil. Once again, the FDA loophole comes into effect and the 0.49 Trans Fat is subtly hidden from consumers.

Granted, Pirate’s Booty pieces seem much smaller, but do you really want to risk all that Trans Fat clogging up your heart and raising your blood pressure?

Allergies Can’t Hold You Back Any Longer

It should come as no surprise that every popular snack brand has a delicious, nut free counterpart. However, the Enjoy Life line of products are guaranteed to be allergy free! All of their ingredients have no gluten, dairy, nut, soy, egg or casein, giving those sensitive to certain foods more options to snack on. They’re also “school-safe,” which means that they can be enjoyed by virtually anyone.

Kettle Brand Chips are also a great alternative for those who like to snack on potato chips, but have gluten or nut allergies. However, it’s highly recommended to avoid Back to Nature products. Although healthy, they have many products containing nuts, so it’s not a good idea to have them.

You might be thinking to yourself, “Where exactly can you get these delicious and consumer-sensitive snacks?” It’s true that they’re not widely available in regular vending machines, so it can be tough to find foods that won’t cause your body to start reacting violently.

Fortunately, all of these nut free snacks can be found in our healthy vending machines. They make a great addition to any school looking for vending machines that can be available for students whether they have food allergies or not. Those interested in taking the next step for a healthier student body may contact us for a personalized, nut free offering. We’ll work together to customize your vending experience and make snack favorites more available than ever.

skelly
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