Healthy Swaps for Your Favorite Junk Foods

We all love junk food… including WAG Nutrition Coaches. Although most anything is okay in moderation (including the “junk” below) if you’re trying to minimize hunger or just want to make a (slightly) more nutritious choice, healthy swaps for junk foods are available.

Healthy Alternatives to Popular Junk Foods

Here are some easy and taste-tested swaps for common junk food cravings.

White Cheddar Smartfood

10F/14C/3P for 28g serving

• White Cheddar Popcorners: 6F/17C/2P 28g serving
• Lesser Evil White Cheddar: 4F/16C/2P 28g serving
• Kudo Protein Popcorn: 9F/11C/5P

Although carbs are similar in all options, the lower-fat alternatives can help you minimize your daily intake and get your dietary fat from healthier options like avocado, nuts, seeds, and eggs.

Lay’s Classic Potato Chips

10F/15C/2P for 28g serving

• Lay’s Baked Potato Chipps: 3.5F/22C/2P for 28g serving
• 40% Less Fat Cape Cod Potato Chips: 6F/18C/2P
• Snack Owl Baked Potato Chips: 2F/15C/2P

Like the popcorn alternatives, these lower-fat options allow more wiggle room to enjoy larger serving sizes or get fat from other sources. Looking for chips with a bit more flavor? Quest also has lots of yummy chip options with different flavor profiles.

Cheetos

11F/15C/1P for 28g serving

• Lesser Evil Power Curls: 5F/14C/6P for 28g serving
• Baked Cheetos: 4.5F/16C/ 2P for 28g serving 
• Hippeas Chickpea Puffs: 4.5/19C/4P for 28g serving

The options above not only provide lower-fat alternatives, but all three also provide more protein per serving. If you struggle to hit your daily protein, these tag-along macros add up and make a difference.

Coca-Cola

0F/39C/0P for 12 fl oz

• Zevia Cola: 0F/0C/0P for 12fl oz
• Poppi Classic Cola: 0F/7C/0P for 12fl oz
• Olipop Vintage Cola: 0F/16C/0P for 12fl oz

Oh, soda. We’re not going to dig into the minutia of artificial sweeteners here. Instead, let’s chat numbers. You're much more likely to find yourself hungry when you spend carbs on a drink instead of high-volume foods.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

14F/37C/3P for 59g

• Quest Soft Chewy Chocolate Chip: 17F/19C/15P for one cookie (about 59g)
• WICKED Chocolate Chip Cookie: 8F/24C/13P for one cookie (about 59g)
• Lenny & Larry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie: 5F/35C/8P for ½ cookie (about 57g) 

This is a “if you want to enjoy a few cookies in moderation, plan for it and enjoy” situation. At the end of the day, these “healthier” cookie options do have more protein per serving. But nothing can really compete with your grandma’s secret recipe or a traditional Toll House. If you’re looking for another healthy cookie option, try WAG’s Peanut Butter White Chocolate Cookies.

French Fries

11F/31C/3P for ~80g of McDonald’s French Fries

• Alexia Frozen Fries: 4F/19C/2P for 84g
• Dr Praeger’s Veggie Fries: 8F/16C/3P for 84g
• WAG’s Zucchini Fries: 2F/12C/5P for 150g

Swap out the deep-fried fast food options for an oven or Air Fryer to cut back on fats. Get even more vitamins and minerals (and cut back on carbs) by subbing traditional potato-based fries with other veggie alternatives.

Pop Tarts

9F/70C/4P for two Strawberry Frosted Poptarts (~96g)

• Legendary Foods Protein Pastries: 7F/22C/20P for one pastry (~60g)
• English Muffin with Reduced Sugar Preserves: 1F/28C/5P
• A healthy protein bar - Macros vary 

Chocolate Ice Cream

9F/23C/3P for 88g Chocolate Breyers Ice Cream

• Chocolate Halo Top: 2F/21C/6P for 85g
• Chocolate Fudge Yasso Bars: 0F/15C/5P for 1 bar (~65g)
• Enlightened Chocolate: 4F/14C/4P for 65g

Like chocolate chip cookies, sometimes you just need the real thing. Planning ahead for (and around) some “real” ice cream can allow you to enjoy this fan-favorite dessert. But if you want a larger serving or don’t want to consume too many macros with one meal, the alternatives above can help curb your craving!

There you have it! Healthy swaps for your favorite junk food options. Enjoy!