Everyone is always on the lookout for healthy snacks that taste good and are good for you, but a new local company, Better Than Good Snacks makes healthy snacks that not only taste amazing, but also help others at the same time.
The founders of the company, Dr. Tina Mahajan and her husband, Katen “Keith” Pabley, are no strangers to healthy snacking. They are the founders and creators of the Good Greens Bars which in 2013 became the #1 selling nutrition bars in Northeast Ohio according to Nielsen/SPINS Data. Pabley says, “We created Good Greens when we realized that most nutrition bars weren’t much better than candy bars, and we wanted to create something better for our kids.”
But when their 4 year old son was diagnosed with leukemia in 2015, healthy snacking and good nutrition became much more important. Mahajan explains, “As our son was going through chemotherapy, he wasn’t eating much of anything. All he would want was junk foods, like potato chips and cheese puffs, and it’s hard to argue with a 4 year old who’s going through cancer.”
“Our whole world was turned upside down,” says Pabley. He continued, “As a parent, you’re always trying to give your kids food that you can feel good about but what can you do when they won’t eat anything but junk, and if they don’t eat, they don’t get better? We tried to find snacks that tasted like chips but were high in protein, and fruits and vegetables, and low in carbs, sugar and calories.
We couldn’t find any, so we decided to make it for our son.” That’s how Better Than Good Snacks was born.
In early 2016 the entire staff started collaborating, took the big step of contracting with a food scientist and began working on developing a high protein whey puff that was infused with 12 different fruit and vegetable extracts containing 25% of your daily vitamins and tasted like your favorite chip or sweet snack. The results are tasty snacks that have 16 grams of protein, but have (on average) only 3 carbs, and 3 grams of sugar with only 110 calories.
Their son was their first taste tester and according to Mahajan, “His favorite flavor is Ranch and he would eat 2 to 3 bags a day. After about 2 months, his albumin count (protein level) almost doubled. His doctor said that he’d never seen a child with that high of an albumin count while undergoing chemotherapy.”
“After we got our son’s lab results, we knew that we had something.” says Pabley. He continues, “But we also saw what happens to a family going through childhood cancer. We wanted to do something to help the families and kids who weren’t as fortunate, so we donate a portion of each sale of Better Than Good Snacks to help sponsor a family going through cancer every month at University Hospitals Angie Fowler Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Center.”
The company launched 4 flavors on Amazon in September, 2018: Ranch, BBQ, Salted Caramel, and Jalapeno Cheddar. You can find them at www.amazon.com/shops/BetterThanGoodSnacks, and they are already an “Amazon’s Choice” for vegetable snacks and crisps. “We wanted to launch online first to get feedback from customers. What we learned is that it’s not only a great snack for kids, but it’s also a good fit for people who are diabetic, on a keto diet, or just looking for something to help with weight loss,” says Hampton.
Pabley added, “We also discovered that moms love Better Than Good Snacks as a quick grab and go breakfast option, because there really isn’t a high protein, low carb, low sugar option for kids in the morning — your choices are Pop-Tarts, Eggo Waffles, or nutrition bars that typically are high in sugar and carbs.”
So far, the Salted Caramel and Ranch are the bestselling flavors on Amazon, but for a limited time, you can discover which flavors you like best at no charge. Through January 31, 2019, Better Than Good Snacks is offering free samples by visiting their website www.betterthangoodsnacks.com.
Better Than Good
