Why is trail mix healthy

But is it good for you? Well, like most foods, that depends. Trail mix can be a part of a healthy diet, but if you want it to be a go-to snack, there are ways to make it healthier. Trail mix is typically a mix of nuts and dried fruit, sometimes with chocolate, seeds, cereal or pretzels mixed in. Trail mix is perfect for hiking because you get a lot of energy in a small package. It keeps for a long time in a backpack too.

You can make your own or buy premixed packages. The nutrition facts will vary based on what brand you choose and the ingredients that are in it. Whether you call it gorp, scroggin as they do in Australia and New Zealand , or trail mix, you might have noticed that the nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and—sometimes—chocolate combos once reserved for activities in the great outdoors have crossed over into everyday snack territory.

With nuts and dried fruit as the main ingredients, trail mix can supply nutrients that people often have trouble fitting into their diet, such as antioxidants, fiber, and healthy fats. At the same time, though, consumers are also stressed, and in search of snacks that feel like a treat, Nielsen says.

And they can be both if you choose carefully. The good nutrition in trail mix comes primarily from the nuts and dried fruit. Take yogurt-covered raisins. And while yogurt itself packs bone-building calcium and gut-healthy probiotics, the bit of powdered yogurt found in coated raisins is unlikely to contain much of either.

The calories in one serving of chocolate-containing trail mix may even be roughly the same as one without chocolate, because nuts and chocolate have about the same number of calories ounce for ounce.

But the addition of chocolate will increase the added sugars in your snack, which the American Heart Association recommends keeping to a minimum in your diet providing no more than to calories per day.

A serving of some trail mixes can up your sodium intake for the day, particularly the ones that are tossed with more savory flavors. Adults should get less than 2, mg of sodium per day, so one serving of this provides about 9 percent. That may not sound like much, but a handful here and there can add up. Sodium content can vary widely even among products made by the same brand.

Added sugars in trail mix can also sneak up on you. Whether you're a hiker looking for easy eats, a mom on the go or a busy professional, you turn to trail mix as a guilt-free, healthy snack with sweet ingredients.

Is trail mix really good for you, though? If you're wondering about the true nutritional breakdown of this much-loved mix, we're here to help. From a breakdown of trail mix ingredients to suggestions for healthy trail mix recipes, we'll boost your confidence and better your habits in trail mix snacking.

First created by outdoorsman Horace Kephart — who helped develop plans for the Appalachian trail — trail mix has been hailed as a healthy snack for a century.

However, since its definition and variants have changed over time, so has its nutritional content. Is trail mix healthy? It really depends on what it contains. Most trail mixes rely on a base of different nuts, seeds and dried fruits — classically, raisins and peanuts, but also expanding to more unique ingredients like cashews, sunflower seeds, pecans, craisins, dried pineapple and banana, along with other goodies.

It is, if you're hiking and forest bathing, but not if you're sitting in front of your tent, scrolling on your phone and eating s'mores. That's kind of what this trail mix is: the dessert parts of trail mix without any of the good parts.

Made with vanilla-flavored granola, honey roasted peanuts, milk chocolate candies, marshmallows, cocoa almonds, and graham crackers, it's really a bag of junk food. You'll be eating a long list of different kinds of sugars, wax, paragons, and hydrogenated palm kernel oil.

At face value, this doesn't seem to necessarily be a 'bad' trail mix. But look closely at the components: seasoned almonds and peanuts, corn nuggets, and honey-roasted sesame sticks. The corn nuggets and honey sesame sticks are not a nutritionally valuable addition like, say, dried fruits.

With milligrams of sodium, this savory trail mix is the most sodium-heavy of the bunch. While that's still only 10 percent of the daily value, think about how that starts to add up once you're snacking on this by the handful. This trail mix is everything you want in a monster cookie: peanuts, chocolate chunks, chocolate candies, and raisins.

But it all comes under the guise of a healthy snack. With 5 grams of added sugar per serving, you're better off giving into your craving and eating a small version of the cookie you actually want. This isn't the only trail mix on the list that has raisins, nuts, and chocolate candies, but if avoiding artificial coloring in food is important to you, skip this one.

Since it is Costco-sized, remember that 3 tablespoons is a very small portion of this bag, and that the nutrition value is based on an even blend of all the ingredients.

When it comes to nuts, dried fruits, and other sweet mix-ins, less is more. Eat This, Not That!