Your Guide to Fake 'Healthy' Snacks—and What to Choose Instead

guest writer!

Good morning everyone, and welcome to a special edition of Running On Butter.

We’ve got a guest writer today!

As you probably know, I’m a bit protective of these sacred pages. I don’t want Running On Butter to be associated with—or platform—ideas and people that go against what I’m trying to accomplish (world domination).

But I also realize that if we want to see genuine change in the health space, we’ve got to ✨come together✨ sometimes.

I discovered Annie through her Substack, Let’s Feel Good, a few weeks ago. When I first came across it, I braced myself for the usual: another health newsletter that’s boring, unhelpful, uninspiring, and peddling bad nutrition advice.

But Annie surprised me. Her takes are thoughtful. Her food guides? Genuinely helpful. She’s out here doing the Lord’s work. Providing solid, grounded, actually-useful health info.

I became a paying subscriber to Let’s Feel Good last week. Follow her work here.

Without further ado, here’s one of Annie’s invaluable guides:

This is part 3 of our Wellness Guide series on sneaky “health” foods—and what to buy instead.

Even the most mindful eaters can get tripped up by snacks. From protein-packed granolas to clean-looking nut butters and popcorns, the snack aisle is full of products marketed as natural, keto, or sugar-free… but most are ultra-processed, loaded with additives, and designed to keep you reaching for more.

Let’s flip the bag, check the label, and upgrade our snack game 🍿

If you missed the first part of our series on spotting 'fake healthy' foods—where we dive into how to read food labels and cut through the marketing noise to find truly healthy products—you can catch up here.

🚫 Ingredients to Watch Out For Even in “Healthy” Snacks

Before we dive into the better-for-you options, let’s talk about what’s often lurking in snacks that are marketed as healthy — but really aren't.

Just because something says “organic,” “gluten-free,” or “high protein” doesn’t mean it’s good for you. It's the ingredient list that tells the real story.

Here are some common culprits:

🥜 Vegetable & Seed Oils

Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, palm oil and peanut oil are a few frequently used ones. These are heavily processed, refined oils that can promote inflammation in our bodies.

🥔 Modified Food Starch

Modified food starch is a starch from corn, potato, wheat, or tapioca that has been chemically, physically, or enzymatically modified and is used as a thickener, stabilizer, or texturizer in processed foods.

🍬 Tapioca Syrup, Brown Rice Syrup, Molasses, Cane Sugar, Dextrose

These are just different forms of added sugar, and they sneak their way into even the healthiest-looking snacks — including organic or 'natural' ones. They lead to energy dips, cravings, blood sugar spikes, inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction. Added sugars are major contributors to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic diseases.

🧪 Natural Flavors

This vague term can mean anything from fruit extracts to lab-made additives. It doesn’t tell you what you’re really eating and is often a mixture of processed, lab-made ingredients.

❌ Soy Lecithin

Soy lecithin is an additive derived from soybeans and used as an emulsifier. Gums and emulsifiers can irritate the gut. It’s also important to note that most soybeans in the U.S. are GMO and involve heavy chemical use in their production.

Crazy fact: more than 90% of corn and soybeans in the U.S. are genetically engineered!

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🧠 Bottom Line:

Just because a snack is labeled with words like “gluten-free,” “high protein,” or “all-natural” doesn’t mean it’s healthy.

Flip the package. Read the ingredients.
Look out for refined oils, sneaky sugars, and processed fillers — and opt for whole-food-based snacks made with ingredients you actually recognize.

🥜 NUTS & NUT BUTTERS

1. Whole Foods Organic Creamy Peanut Butter Spread - You would definitely think this would just be peanuts. It’s from Whole Foods and is advertised as organic. But when you flip it over you’ll find vegetable oil and cane sugar.

2. Skippy Natural Creamy Peanut Butter - Advertising no preservatives, artificial flavors, or colors—and claiming to be all-natural. But when we look at the ingredient list, we find sugar and palm oil.

3. Planters Nutrition Wholesome Nut Mix - Wholesome nut mix.” It looks super healthy. The front of the package says it contains just “cashews, almonds, macadamias with a touch of sea salt.” But when you flip it over, you’ll find peanut oil on the ingredient list. We can’t take these products at face value—we have to look at what’s actually inside, no matter how good the marketing is.

4. Blue Diamond Almonds - Almonds (and all nuts) are a super healthy snack—but not when they come with a side of processed, inflammatory seed oils. This is a perfect example of thinking you’re doing everything right but still not feeling better. You’re reaching for the almonds instead of the chips, yet your skin is still breaking out, you’re tired, and you feel inflamed. You have to check what else is in your nuts (crazy that it’s ever more than just nuts!). But this very popular brand adds a blend of vegetable oils to their mix. That can derail your efforts to feel better and get healthy—because a “healthy” snack served with a side of inflammatory oils isn’t really healthy at all.

Fat is essential for hormone production, brain health, inflammation regulation, cell structure, and vitamin absorption. Including healthy fats in our diet is key to feeling our best—but quality matters! Let’s swap these nut butters and nuts for cleaner, healthier options.

1. NuttZo 7 Nuts & Seeds Butter - Ingredients include: cashews, almonds, Brazil nuts*, flax seeds*, chia seeds*, hazelnuts*, pumpkin seeds*, Celtic sea salt (indicates dry roasted)* - This is SO healthy and full of so many healthy fats!!

2. Teddie Peanut Butter - Ingredients include: Dry roasted peanuts and salt.

3. Roastery Coast Mixed Nuts - Ingredients include: Almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, pecans, macadamias, pistachios, walnuts. All the healthy fats, none of the inflammatory oils!

4. Organic Dry Roasted & Salted Almonds - Ingredients include: Dry roasted almonds & sea salt.

🍿 CHIPS & POPCORN

1. SkinnyPop - The front is deceiving—it advertises a low-calorie, 'skinny' treat. But when you flip it over, you’ll find it contains sunflower oil, an inflammatory seed oil.

2. Boom Chicka Pop Sea Salt Popcorn - Advertising 'real simple ingredients and nothing fake,' but when you actually read the label, you’ll find sunflower oil and/or non-GMO canola oil.

3. Frito Lay Baked Lay's Original Potato Chips - They advertise that the chips are baked and contain less fat, but when you flip the package over, you’ll find: dehydrated potatoes, modified food starch, sugar, corn oil, salt, soy lecithin, leavening (monocalcium phosphate and sodium bicarbonate), and dextrose.

4. Tostitos Tortilla Chips Scoops Oven Baked - Again, it’s advertised as having 50% less fat and being baked, but when you look at the ingredients, it contains vegetable oil (corn, canola, and/or sunflower oil)—a whole bunch of inflammatory oils.

Now we know what to watch out for—so what popcorn and chips are trulybetter for us? Let’s dive in!

1. LesserEvil Himalayan Pink Salt Organic Popcorn - Ingredients include organic non-GMO popcorn, organic coconut oil, and Himalayan salt.

2. Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil Popcorn -Ingredients include organic popcorn, organic extra virgin olive oil, and sea salt.

3. Siete Sea Salt Potato Chips - Ingredients include potatoes, avocado oil, distilled white vinegar powder, sea salt, serrano powder, and citric acid.

4. MASA Tortilla Chips - Ingredients include organic corn, 100% grass-fed beef tallow and sea salt.

🍪 COOKIES & GRANOLA

1. Quest Soft & Chewy Protein Cookie - Even though it may look like a high-protein treat, when you flip it over, you'll find a long list of processed ingredients. It contains soluble corn fiber, erythritol, and palm oil—all ultra-processed additives often used to provide texture and sweetness without added sugar. You’ll also spot calcium caseinate, sodium caseinate, and sunflower lecithin, which are common emulsifiers and stabilizers. Other ingredients like natural flavors, xanthan gum, and steviol glycosides (a refined stevia extract) are often marketed as clean but are far removed from anything whole or natural.

2. Kind Healthy Grains Clusters - The front advertises 10g of protein, 100% whole grain, gluten-free, and no genetically engineered ingredients. But when you look at the ingredients, you’ll find tapioca syrup, cane sugar, soy protein isolate, canola oil, molasses, natural flavor, and brown rice syrup. That 10g of protein means nothing when it’s served with four different types of sugar, seed oils, and synthetic ingredients.

3. Bear Naked Fit Granola Cereal - Again, the front might fool you with claims like '38% less sugar,' but when you look at the ingredients, you’ll find brown sugar, brown rice syrup, cane sugar, canola oil, and natural flavors. Far from healthy.

4. Nature Valley Crunchy Granola - Ingredients include sugar, canola oil, sunflower oil, brown sugar syrup, soy lecithin, and natural flavors.

Now let’s dive into the LFG-approved, better-for-you cookies and granola! Granola is my personal favorite snack, so having healthy options on hand is essential.

1. Simple Mills Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies - Ingredients include: nut and seed blend (almonds, organic coconut, flaxseeds), tapioca starch, chocolate chips (cane sugar, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter), organic coconut sugar, organic coconut oil, arrowroot, vanilla extract, sea salt, baking soda, cream of tartar, rosemary extract (for freshness).

2. Purely Elizabeth Organic Original Granola - Ingredients include: organic gluten-free oats, organic coconut sugar, organic raw virgin coconut oil, organic sunflower seeds, organic puffed amaranth, organic quinoa flakes, organic chia seeds, organic cinnamon, salt.

3. Purely Elizabeth Grain Free Granola - Ingredients include: organic pumpkin seeds, organic sunflower seeds, cashews, organic coconut sugar, almonds, organic coconut flakes, almond butter, organic medium-chain triglyceride oil from coconuts, organic chia seeds, organic cinnamon, sea salt, vanilla extract.

4. Wildway Dark Chocolate Granola - Ingredients include: organic dates, walnuts, organic sunflower seeds, organic pumpkin seeds, dry roasted cashews (cashews, sea salt), pecans, organic cacao powder, organic coconut oil, sea salt, vanilla bean.

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Once you start making these swaps, you’ll feel the difference!

And the best part is, we don’t need to give up the foods we love—we just need to choose healthier options.