by Anita Muniz | Aug 23, 2016 | Food for thought, Partner, Recipes
They’re Vegan and better than ever!
In 2008 Dandies Marshmallows arrived on the scene. It all started with a Dad who had wanted his son to enjoy Marshmallows around the campfire. The only issue was all Marshmallows contain this ingredient called gelatin – collagen obtained from various animal raw materials. His son being a Vegan could not eat them. This is when Ryan Howard a Food Process Engineer went to work on creating the first vegan marshmallow. Dandies Marshmallows are 100% vegan – made with no gelatin, but that’s just the beginning of this marshmallow make over.
They are Gluten free, Non GMO Project Verified, free of Corn Syrup (HFCS) and of the most common allergens (peanuts, tree nuts, milk, egg, wheat etc.) soy aside. In other words starting with removing gelatin, these marshies are raising the bar one real ingredient at a time.
Check out this ingredients list!
If you’re a kid at heart and you enjoy S’mores around the campfire or simply seeing your kiddos happily snack on them, then you’re going to love this.
Dandies Marshmallows has an in house chef and delicious mouth-watering recipes on their website. Enjoy your first batch of:
Dandies Classic Crispy Treats
Click here for recipe.
Caramel Coffee Pistachio S’mores
Click here for recipe.
Check out Dandies and try their vegan marshmallows you’ll never want to turn back! Also, share them with your friends, vegan or not these little treats are changing the campfire game.
by Anita Muniz | Aug 15, 2016 | Food for thought, Partner
The truth is Marshmallows we enjoyed as kids are not as innocent an indulgence as our parents might have thought. We can always count on a little marshmallow to satisfy a sweet tooth. No guilt right? I mean it’s a marshmallow what’s there to feel guilty about? The answer might surprise you.
If you take the time to read and see what makes up a Marshmallow, you will surely think twice before reaching for the next bag. After enjoying them in hot cocoa, desserts, s’mores and so much more one starts to wonder, “What am I really putting in to my body?” The answer: Some serious empty calories and something that one would dare to call food. As a Nutritionist I give it an F and that’s not for food.
We turned to the Nutrition Facts label and what we learned next was less than appetizing.
You can always count on the ingredients so start there. We first read High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Dextrose, Modified Corn Startch…
The issue.. the most natural sounding ingredient, or at least the one we could easily understand was ‘sugar’ or technically Dextrose the most naturally occurring form of sugar, yet still just another way of saying more sugar.
Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate, TPPS (Whipping Aid)
- Other than a Food Additive it is used as a Water Softener and Detergent Builder. TPPS has been shown to be toxic to Humans in small amounts. Specifically it is alkaline and irritating. Here’s a tip: if you have stress, skin issues or inflammation probably good to eliminate this from your diet.
Artificial Color, Artificial flavor, Gelatin (animal based ingredient, or the reason our vegan friends have never tried Marshmallows).
Once we discovered all of this, our only hope was to find a healthy marshmallow. Anyone with a sweet tooth and a love of camping would understand our struggle.
Then we found them, Dandies Marshmallows. Dandies made their debut in 2009 at Expo West as the first Vegan Marshmallow! This little vegan marshmallow has come a long way since and Dandies only continues to improve it. Check out their awesome timeline for details and see how Marshmallows became an actual guilt free food alas. Also, check out our next blog, the full Dandies story to come!
by Arielle Rubenstein | Aug 2, 2016 | Food for thought, Partner, Uncategorized
Attention meat lovers: Fortified Nutrition’s Harvest Sticks are about to be your go-to protein snack. Your July Fit Snack box included their Grass-fed Beef with Uncured Bacon and Organic Apple.
These ain’t your momma’s beef “jerky” old–these beef sticks are tasty and good for you, too.
Fortified Nutrition created their Artisan meat snacks with the idea that we need more grab-and-go organic, whole food snacks. Each Harvest Stick has a list of easy to read ingredients, and are hand crafted in small batches for the best flavor. This company aims to Bridge the Nutritional Gap, where diet meets lifestyle and nutrition meets flavor.
Perfect for after a solid workout or for keeping you tied over till dinner, these sticks are also 100% grass-fed beef, have no added nitrates, and are a great source of Omega-3’s – 5x more than the competition. Even better, the beef is from free roaming, pasture raised cattle. Oh, and it’s also gluten/GMO/ hormone/dairy/soy free.
Talk about a snack you can feel great about!
Craving more? Check out their
website.
by Arielle Rubenstein | Jul 19, 2016 | Partner, Uncategorized
This delicious all natural, gluten free, high performance energy bar is the true breakfast bar of champions! This bar has it all. When we learned it was developed by elite athletes we had expected nothing less than perfection and Arrow Bar delivered. Now here is an energy bar you can count on packed with nutrients from ingredients you will recognize and the perfect taste!
Chocolate chips and oatmeal are a match made in heaven. Trust us, add a few chips to your next bowl of oats and it’ll be hard to go back to plain.
Hence our excitement at finding Chocolate Chip ArrowBars – an all natural energy bar made with chocolate chips and oatmeal! These delicious, gluten free bars provide clean energy to fuel whatever sport you play–without an annoying sugar crash.
Even more awesome is the fact that each of the nine ingredients is recognizable, so no weird chemical flavors or additives!
ArrowBars are totally perfect for a pre or post workout energy boost. If you check out their Instagram @arrowbar you’ll see all of the pros who love having these bars on hand. We know we do! This summer we have had some amazing Fit Snack adventures from camping to hiking to mountain biking and we have enjoyed every last bite.
Arrow Bar saved the day, while we were trail running Mesa Trail in Boulder, Co
“Life is a sport, are you playing?”
by Arielle Rubenstein | Jul 10, 2016 | Partner
We all know that protein supplements are a great way to build muscle, but let’s be honest– the taste is often bitter and a bit bleh. Enter Emerald Essentials’ amazing Action Whey Protein Bars. These bars are a far cry from the chemical and sugar loaded protein bars of the past. What makes them different? Read on to see why we’re so excited to include them in Fit Snack!
1.) All Natural:
- No pesticides, no Chemicals, no GMO’s and no Hormones (rBGH) = No worries!
2.) Not a Candy Bar:
- No added sugars, sugar alcohols, or artifical sweeteners (Your dentist would approve!)
3.) Premium Whey Protein from Grassfed Cows:
- Healthy, happy cows=quality whey
4.) Boosts Your Immune System:
- BioCysteine3® works with the Action Whey to boost your bod’s immune system and antioxidant production
5.) Yummy Peanut Butter Taste
- Grassfed cows produce whey that actually tastes good!
Check out how Action Whey Protein Bars stand out from the competition:
by Anita Muniz | May 25, 2016 | Food for thought, Partner
Last month we featured a summer staple, sunflower seeds! This month we wanted to shift our focus to a different type of seed, Chia Seeds from Get Chia! This company has a variety of chia based snacks and bars that you can count on for your Super Food boost. Check out the Get Chia store to get your fill of delicious snacks created with Certified Organic Chia Seeds.
Here are some perks these small but mighty seeds provide:
-Healthy Heart
-Weight Loss
-Energy
-Anti-Aging Antioxidants
Fit Snack Facts:
- Chia seeds contain SIX TIMES more calcium than milk, and more protein than soy
- They are grown on the Salvia Hispanica plant, which is related to mint
- “Chia” is the ancient Mayan word for “strength”
Your May Fit Snack box includes a Strawberry Blast FruitChia Bar. You won’t find any added sugars or preservatives here, just apple puree, apple concentrate, strawberry concentrate, and chia seeds. This is a yummy way to get your daily servings of fruits in, as one bar packs two full servings of fruit and contains over 1000mg of Omega-3. If you’ve tried them in our Fit Snack box, you have likely fallen in love, you can get more of these nutritious bars at www.getchia.com.
Aside from these convenient and delicious bars, chia seeds alone have a light nutty taste making them easy to add to recipes. Be sure to add Get Chia’s other products in your next salad, green smoothie or cup of Greek yogurt!
Can you believe that 30 years ago, chia was mostly used to grow overnight animal plants? Thank goodness companies like Get Chia have brought their A game so that we can benefit from this super-seed and get the most out of our snacks!
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