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A Healthy Snack Substitute You’ll Want to Try Today
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A Healthy Snack Substitute You’ll Want to Try Today

General Health

Author:

Charlotte Pearse

Honey instead of sugar, nuts as a source of protein, and much more!

It can be difficult to eat healthy, sometimes, especially when healthy food doesn’t taste as good as the sweet, sugary stuff. However, eating clean is actually much easier than you think, if you just go about it in the right way!

Start thinking outside of the box. You shouldn’t have to give up the flavors you love just because of the calorie count, but it turns out you don’t have to! If you have a sweet tooth, honey tastes just as good as sugar— if not better —and it has many more health benefits. 

In addition, nuts are a good, healthy way to introduce more protein into your diet. There are a lot of foods you can replace with healthy substitutes that are much better for you but taste just as good.

Honey and nuts are two surefire ways to get you on the right path toward a much more balanced diet. And, at the end of the day, you might want to try one or both of the strategies outlined in this article regardless of their health benefits, because honey and nuts can make for some pretty delicious snacks, like our Simple Squares!

Keep reading to find out honey as a substitute for sugar and nuts as a source of protein can benefit you in more ways than one, and how both are included in our new product, which you’ll definitely want to try!

Honey as a Healthier Sugar Substitute

So, why should you forget the sugar bowl and make a jar of honey your new best friend? Well, honey is a great healthier alternative to sugar, though they’re made up of a lot of the same ingredients.

In fact, honey is primarily made from water and two sugars— fructose and glucose. You may be wondering why you should make the swap if the two are so similar, but there are a lot of differences between the two.

For starters, there are over 300 different kinds of honey, all with slightly different flavors and colors, so when it comes to honey, you’re definitely spoiled for choice. There’s no way that you wouldn’t be able to find at least one you like!

Many types of honeys contain antioxidants called “flavonoids,” which have anti-inflammatory qualities. This is just one of the many health benefits to honey!

Honey also contains trace amounts of various vitamins and minerals, and raw honey contains local pollen as well. This can help to mitigate allergic reactions, and it’s also interesting that honey even can be eaten raw— unlike sugar.

Honey goes through way less processing than sugar does, so it takes less time for it to get from the bees to your table and into your tea, or wherever you’d like to put it. Honey will also likely last you longer, as small amounts of honey still result in the desired amount of sweetness.

An image of honey being poured over broken up Simple Square bars. There are nuts and chocolate chips scattered across the table, and a leaf and glass bottle of honey in the background.
Though honey is an ingredient in all of our Simple Squares, we certainly couldn’t fault you for wanting to add more, though you certainly don’t need to! These snacks are plenty sweet already, and honey’s delicious in moderation or in excess.

If you stuck to sugar, you’d constantly have to sprinkle and stir in more if you found your tea wasn’t sweet enough, but honey is largely a one-stop shop. The fact that honey is higher in fructose as opposed to glucose means that you can use honey more in moderation— fructose is sweeter!

Honey has many other benefits, too! It has the potential to kill germs due to its microbial properties, it can soothe sore throats, and even minor burns and wounds when used as a salve.

The uses for honey really are endless, so why use sugar when all it really does is act as a sweetener, and honey is a healthier sweetener anyway?

Besides, eating large amounts of sugar can negatively affect your energy levels by causing them to fluctuate depending on how much you’ve had--rising or falling very abruptly.

Sugar is more often used in processed foods than honey, so you may be including more of it in your diet than you even realize, and too much sugar can put you at risk for heart disease or type 2 diabetes. People with diabetes have to be especially careful with sugar and how it affects their blood sugar levels.

All in all, honey definitely seems like the better choice. But making this change isn’t the only easy way that you can incorporate more healthy foods into your snacking schedule.

Value of Nuts for Protein

A lot of vegans have long since been relying on nuts for protein, and for good reason— they really are a great way to get the nutrients you need in a healthy and organic way.

Many people actually end up overestimating the amount of protein they need, which is when it can get into unhealthy territory. But it still is very important to include protein in your diet, and nuts are a great way to do that!

Peanuts— while they may not be technically a nut —have the highest level of protein, 25.8 grams per serving. Almonds and pistachios are both also a great source of protein, with over 20 grams per serving each, and cashews as well at just over 15.

Pecans and macadamia nuts are the two with the lowest level of protein, but even they are still super good for you!

Nuts are one of the best sources of proteins for vegans, particularly on the 100 gram level. In that zone, they’re only outdone by certain seeds and specific foods such as vital wheat gluten.

However, you should still make sure to include a lot of vegetables in your diet if you’re looking for protein per calorie. 

In addition, a lot of nuts aren’t as rich in amino acids, so you’ll have to be sure to include foods high in methionine and lysine into your diet if you’re relying on nuts for a lot of your protein.

An image of a Chocolate Chip Honey Nut Simple Square bar sitting in a bowl of nuts and chocolate chips.
If you’re looking for a small, easy way to boost the amount of protein in your diet, nuts are the perfect way for you to do so! By definition, they’re small and easy, and so are our Simple Squares! They’re a great way to introduce nuts to your body as a protein source via a delicious snack.

Protein isn’t the only plus side of incorporating more nuts into your diet, however! They can also have a lot of other great health benefits.

Just like honey, as it happens, walnuts specifically contain antioxidants that can combat inflammation. Research has found that they can also reduce risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and depression. Cashews have been shown to reduce the risk of the former two, as well.

Some other nuts can be beneficial from a weight-loss standpoint. Cashews have been found to decrease levels of “bad” cholesterol, and though macadamia nuts have a higher calorie count than most other nuts, the fats they contain are very heart-healthy.

The fiber in almonds will make you feel full, so you’ll be less inclined to keep snacking. In the same vein, the slower process involved in eating pistachios will also ensure you snack in moderation.

There are many other beneficial properties of specific nuts, but suffice it to say that making nuts into a bigger part of your diet is definitely a good choice, for a multitude of reasons.

Our Product

If you’re looking for an easy way to incorporate more honey and nuts into your pantry for regular healthy snacking— which you should be —we’ve got the perfect product for you!

Recently returned to our site are the Simple Botanics Squares, a big favorite of our customers in the past, and they’re already making a quick comeback. The two new flavors offered right on our website are Honey Nut, and Chocolate Chip Honey Nut.

In addition to being a great healthy snack choice made from natural ingredients, the new and improved Simple Squares are dairy free, soy free, gluten free, refined sugar free, and non-GMO to boot.

They’re great for those with dietary restrictions, though keep an eye out if you’ve got an allergy— both of these Simple Squares contain tree nuts.

And they really are new and improved! New, better-tasting flavors and a new look come together in this product to take a product a lot of people already loved and bring it back better than ever!

Did we mention they’re even fewer calories this time? The Honey Nut squares are just 130 calories, and if you opt for chocolate chips it’s still only 190!

An image of the two different Simple Square flavors broken in half with honey and nuts put on top of them.
These Simple Squares don’t just look better than their predecessors— they taste it, too! But you don’t have to take our word for it. Feel free to try them for yourself, especially if you’re considering the health benefits of honey and nuts. After all, our products include both!

Now, keep in mind that our Simple Squares aren’t a replacement for a full meal, but they’re definitely a great treat to bring with you on the go or just grab when you need something to snack on.

The Honey Nut Simple Squares contain cashews, organic gluten-free oats, almonds, honey, allulose, almond butter, organic coconut flour, salt, and vanilla.

The Chocolate Chip, for customers with a bit of a sweeter tooth, are made up of all of those same ingredients plus almonds, kosher salt, and of course chocolate chips (cane sugar, unsweetened flour, and cocoa butter).

You don’t have to compromise when it comes to sweetness, just like with the honey that all of our Simple Squares contain— a snack being healthy doesn’t mean that it has to taste any less good, and this product is evidence of that.

Ever heard that the proof is in the pudding? Well, actually, it’s in our Simple Squares. You can purchase a box of 12— of either flavor —on the Simple Botanics website for just $23.99.

Simple Botanics started with a goal to create treats for customers that were as delicious as they were authentic, and that’s exactly what’s been achieved here. 

If you want to reap the benefits of honey as a healthier replacement for regular sugar and nuts as a new source of protein, this product is a great way for you to do that.

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