Product: The Good Bean Sweet Cinnamon Chickpea Snacks – $2.99+
I love snacking. No really…I do. And, it can be done in a healthy manner too. Oh yes. Snacks don’t have to mean chocolate and chips…not all the time. In fact, one of my favorite snacks these days come in these little 2-serving pouches. They are nothing more than roasted chickpeas. Yep. Roasted chickpeas. You read that right. Made by The Good Bean, these snacks have a lot going for them. And I was not the least bit hesitant to snatch up a couple of different flavors this last time…because the Sea Salt variety I tried a month or so again rocked my world. I was prepared to once again be wowed.
You see, I’m moving into a Clean Eating diet, prescribed by my sports nutritionist. Less processed food, more natural food. It’s an easy balance to strike for me, as I much prefer fresh produce and and fresh ingredients. I don’t even mind making my own snacks. In the past I have baked up my own granola bars and the like. Currently, however, the problem is I don’t have a lot of extra time…between working full time, training, and everything else I’m already trying to squeeze into the time I am awake to the time I go to sleep…well…I’m out of hours before even I know it.
Sometimes…you just have to find the cleanest, healthiest choice out on the market.
When it comes to following a Clean Eating lifestyle, I have discovered that The Good Bean’s products fit the bill. In fact, on their Web site, The Good Bean points out the fact that they use clean ingredients, meaning their products contain ingredients that are non-GMO, Hexane-free, fair trade, and follow good manufacturing practices…so that cross-contamination is not an issue with their products. It’s a snack food I can trust from a company that has high standards and actually cares about the quality of the product they are putting out on the shelves.
With the success I had with The Good Bean Sea Salt chickpea snacks, I was very excited to be giving their Sweet Cinnamon vareity a taste on Friday. After all, everyone benefits not just from the healthy aspect of the chickpeas, but the added health qualities of cinnamon. Nutritionally speaking, this snack is a powerhouse of awesome ingredients that are beneficial to everyone. A serving size is 1/4 cup (or 35 grams if you weigh your food like I do), which is exactly half of the contents of the pouch. In this serving you will be getting 140 calories and 3.5 grams of fat. Not bad for a snack, right? It gets better. This serving also only sets you back 160 mg of sodium and 6 grams of sugar. But, because these are made from actual chickpeas, you get a healthy 6 grams of fiber and a protein punch of 6 grams in each serving.
As for ingredients…it’s so easy and basic…no wonder these are clean eating. All that go into The Good Bean Sweet Cinnamon chickpea snacks are roasted chickpeas, brown rice syrup, Sumatra cinnamon, vanilla, coarse salt, gum arabic, and non-GMO expeller-pressed canola oil. Seven ingredients definitely falls into the clean eating profile. All of which are ingredients I recognize and don’t question. Nothing fake. Nothing processed. Just a whole lot of flavor and good ingredients in one small package.
So…how about taste?
Crunchy. Sweet. Savory. It’s everything packed in one very healthy 1/4 cup. Tons of flavor. And it hits every note on the flavor palate. It’s what the ultimate snack should be. Great crunch, fantastic texture, sweet but not too sweet, with the savory note of the chickpeas themselves. It’s like eating cinnamon toast without having to toast, butter, and dust the bread. This snack basically captures the very essence of cinnamon toast, but leaves out the fat, the white flour, the unnecessary carbs, the calories, the gluten, the sugar, and yes…the butter. This low-fat, gluten-free, high in filling fiber, and have less fat than nuts. How can you not like that? Every crunchy bite leaves me reaching for more. As much as I’d love to savor them…they just beg you to keep popping them. Better than popcorn and chips…The Good Bean totally wins with their chickpea snacks. Even more…the sweet cinnamon is a tasty, sweet, but sinless treat that will leaving you returning to your serving and devouring until the very last one is gone.
I am so impressed so far with the two flavors of The Good Bean chickpea snacks. I absolutely fell in love with the Sweet Cinnamon. The spice of the cinnamon and allspice with the sweetness of the vanilla makes this snack everything your taste buds could ask for. Trust me. I’m ready to rush out to the store and buy more.
The Celiathlete 