5 Healthy New Finds For You and Your Kids
We scoured this year’s Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo to find the best new healthy snacks, products and foods about to hit store shelves. Here are our top-five choices.
Nourish Snacks
This line of good-for-you snacks was developed by Joy Bauer, nutrition and health expert for NBC’s Today show. Nourish Snacks (pictured above) carry 35 snack blends, like Mediterranean Spiced Pistachios and Toasted Coconut-Chia Oat Clusters. All offerings contain no more than 200 calories, and are naturally gluten-free, dairy-free and vegetarian, without any GMOs. I really loved all the combinations, and there’s a wide variety of options — something for everyone.
Bolthouse Farms Kids Veggie Snackers
Kids love to dress up their veggies. Instead of a dip, Bolthouse created a spice packet that you shake onto baby carrots, which comes in flavors including ranch and chili lime. The sodium is also within very reasonable limits at 200 milligrams, or 8 percent of the daily recommended amount. It’s a great way to add zing to everyday carrots!
Cook Simple
Say goodbye to the laundry list of ingredients and preservatives found in many of those old-school convenience dinners. Cook Simple created a line of nutritious meal kits designed for the home cook, in varieties like All American Sloppy Joe and Alaskan Salmon Patty. They were developed with a registered dietitian and contain a short list of ingredients that even my 7-year-old can pronounce.
NutraLeaf Burgundy Leaf Lettuce and Burgundy Romaine
These new varieties of lettuce were created from regular red leaf lettuce through a natural breeding process (no GMO). The gorgeous hue not only adds color to your dishes, but also provides antioxidants (vitamins A and C, and manganese) and fiber. These striking lettuces are grown at Coastline Family Farms in Northern California.
Luvo
Now there’s a line of burritos that’s wholesome and delicious. The CEO of Luvo, Christine Day, is the former CEO of Lululemon. My favorite burritos are the Organic Roasted Eggplant & Quinoa Burrito and the Organic Apple Coconut Curry Burrito. The calories for each burrito are around 300, fiber is about 6 grams and sodium is kept in check at around 15 percent of the daily recommended dose. It’s a perfect quick and easy meal to warm up in the microwave or oven.
Toby Amidor, MS, RD, CDN, is a registered dietitian and consultant who specializes in food safety and culinary nutrition. She is the author of The Greek Yogurt Kitchen: More Than 130 Delicious, Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Day.