The Worst Ingredients To Find In Your Snacks

We’ve talked already about the factors that make a snack healthy, but what about factors that make a snack unhealthy? After all, for every healthy snack delivered to your office thanks to our Variety Box subscriptions, there are seemingly dozens of other unhealthy options available at the nearest gas station. So, if you have to choose a snack that isn’t from Simpalo, which ingredients should you avoid? We’ve put together this list of some of the worst ingredients to find in your snacks so you know to avoid them.

Know Thy Enemy

The unfortunate reality is that most Americans don’t eat well, which includes their snacks. In fact, almost 60 percent of the calories that we consume on a daily basis is made up of processed foods. This means that we’re eating more salts, fats, and sugars than our bodies can handle. The result is that our diets are poor, and the snacks we find in most stores aren’t doing us any favors. That’s why it’s important to limit the amount of these nasty ingredients we eat.

High Fructose Corn Syrup

While Americans as a whole have been consuming less refined sugar over the last few decades, we’ve been steadily increasing the amount of high fructose corn syrup in our diet. Research conducted at Tufts University suggests that we ingest more calories from HFCS than any other source. But why is HFCS bad? Well, it increases the number of triglycerides in our bodies, which boosts our fat-storing hormones that encourage people to overeat and ultimately gain more weight.

Artificial Sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners have proliferated in the last few years as people look for “healthy” alternatives to sugar. You might recognize names like aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose as common ingredients in popular snacks, gums, or additives for coffee. Despite their popularity and their reputation for being healthy, these artificial sweeteners may actually be more harmful than they suggest. These sweeteners can trick the brain into disassociating sweetness from calories, meaning that individuals will eat more of these sweeteners. You’ll find that you're ingesting more calories than if you were to simply use regular sugar.

Artificial Colors

Brightly colored foods might look tasty, and probably do taste good, but they should be avoided if at all possible. It’s not uncommon for unhealthy snack makers to use artificial dyes like blue 1 and 2, green 3, red 3, and yellow 6 in the production of their snacks. These additives have been linked to a range of terrible diseases and illnesses including cancers of the thyroid, adrenal glands, bladder, kidney, and brain. A good rule of thumb is that if your snack is a color that isn’t found in nature, then it shouldn’t find it’s way into your body.

Shortening

Shortening is used to create trans fats in foods. These trans fats are what keep foods “fresh” on the shelf of a store for so long. Of course, this is an unnatural way to store food, and the result is that these trans fats are introduced into your body. Shortening only serves to clog your arteries and lead to obesity. Put this unhealthy ingredient on the short list of things to avoid, and instead choose treats that use healthier monounsaturated fats, including peanut, olive, and canola oils.

Of course, you can easily avoid all of these unhealthy ingredients by simply having healthy snacks delivered to your office by Simpalo Snacks. All of our snacks are made with real ingredients and taste as good as they look. We offer a Variety Snack Box subscription so that you can have healthy snacks delivered every week, every month, or every time the mood strikes you. Every box is filled with a different selection of tasty and healthy treats. Sign up for your subscription service from Simpalo Snacks today!