8 hours Ago By [email protected] (Jay Wilson)
How unhealthy Trader Joe's products can be might surprise you. For a company that's kinda built a brand on the image of its food being fresh, wholesome, and well sourced, there are a host of unhealthy items at Trader Joe's that are best avoided. Sadly, a lot of these unhealthy items can be found in the appetizer section.
Trader Joe's has a penchant for creating appetizers that can not only be lacking in nutrition, but shockingly high in certain nutrients like saturated fat, sodium, and sugar. While all three of these nutrients can show up in Trader Joe's appetizers, high levels of saturated fat are among the most prevalent. In many cases, Trader Joe's appetizers have saturated fat levels that add up to a high percentage of the U.
S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended daily limit of 20 grams. In addition, plenty of Trader Joe's appetizers have sodium levels that provide a significant portion of the FDA's 2,300-milligram recommended daily value.
In this article, we primarily looked at saturated fat and sodium content when it came to determining which appetizers at Trader Joe's are the unhealthiest, but we also took into account their added sugar content. We also looked at nutrients like fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals, which are seriously lacking in some of these foods. 1.
Honey Walnut Shrimp Trader Joe's Honey Walnut Shrimp may be mind-bogglingly tasty, but there's a reason for that. This frozen favorite is one of Trader Joe's unhealthiest items , and it gets its flavor from a huge amount of saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars. A single serving of Honey Walnut Shrimp, which is 1 cup, provides 8 grams of saturated fat, covering 40% of your recommended daily value.
In addition, it delivers 670 milligrams of sodium per serving — almost 30% of your recommended daily maximum. All of that makes it pretty unhealthy, but its added sugar takes things to the next level. A serving of Honey Walnut Shrimp has a massive 23 grams of added sugar, which is almost half the maximum amount that you should be eating in a day if you're following a 2,000-calorie diet.
Throw in the low amount of fiber in each serving, and you're presented with a bit of a problem. The combination of high levels of added sugar and low fiber can result in a more profound impact on your blood sugar, and the saturated fat and sodium content will wipe out a significant portion of the amount you can eat elsewhere in the day to keep things healthy. 2.
Mini Brioche Bites Okay, so we're gonna guess that you weren't fooling yourself into thinking that the Mini Brioche Bites from Trader Joe's were healthy. However, if on the off chance you were, we're here to put you right. These bites are wildly high in saturated fat, with just eight pieces containing 8 grams of saturated fat—40% of your daily value.
This saturated fat content comes down to the combination of the buttery, rich brioche, and the brie cheese filling in each bite. That brie is complemented by a generous squirt of apricot jelly, which in turn raises the added sugar levels of this appetizer. Every serving has 5 grams of added sugar, which is 10% of your daily value.
That doesn't seem like a lot, but these things add up. To add to all this, the Mini Brioche Bites also have 390 milligrams of sodium per serving, or 17% of your daily value. The added sugar and sodium are troublesome, but it's the saturated fat content that you really need to watch here.
Consuming too much saturated fat can impact your cardiovascular health, leading to a higher risk of heart disease and stroke, as well as type 2 diabetes. 3. Mini Mushroom Tartelettes There's a world in which these little mushroom tarts could be a healthier option.
After all, they're stuffed with mushrooms, which are a valuable source of vitamin D and beta-glucan, and they're pretty tiny — so how unhealthy can they be? Well, one look at the nutrition facts for Trader Joe's Mini Mushroom Tartelettes will likely shock you. In just four of these mini tarts there are 12 grams of saturated fat, covering 60% of your daily value. On top of that, these tiny bites are surprisingly salty, with 480 milligrams of sodium per serving.
Elsewhere, things don't look much better. The Mini Mushroom Tartelettes have just 2 grams of fiber per serving, and not a lot in the way of vitamins and minerals. However, even if they were full of nutrients, the saturated fat content would still push it into unhealthy territory.
Saturated fat can have a disproportionately high effect on blood cholesterol, which in turn can lead to higher blood pressure. This can then result in a greater risk of chronic diseases in individuals who consume high levels of saturated fat regularly. 4.
Jalapeño & Cream Cheese Crispy Wontons The further you get in the name of this appetizer, the more unhealthy it becomes. You start with jalapeños, which don't seem so bad — and then the words "cream," "cheese," and "crispy" come hurtling straight at you, promising a dish that's high in fat and far from wholesome. Indeed, Trader Joe's Jalapeño & Cream Cheese Crispy Wontons are loaded with saturated fat, containing 9 grams per serving, or 45% of your daily value.
They also have 19 grams of total fat, just under a quarter of your daily value. When you consider that each serving size is a fairly modest 89 grams, this feels like a lot for a small amount of food. Plus, this snack is also saltier than you might think.
Trader Joe's Jalapeño & Cream Cheese Crispy Wontons have 460 milligrams of sodium per serving, covering 20% of your daily value in just a few bites. While we're pleased to see 3 grams of fiber in there (which makes them slightly more filling) and no added sugars, this appetizer is far from healthy. 5.
Pastry Bites with Feta Cheese & Caramelized Onions These little bites may be delicious, but you're likely not going to want to eat too many of them. Trader Joe's Pastry Bites with Feta Cheese & Caramelized Onions have two ingredients that promise high amounts of fat — which are, of course, the pastry and the cheese. As you might expect, this translates into some pretty wild nutritional stats: Four pieces of this appetizer (which is just 80 grams of food) have 12 grams of saturated fat, 60% of your daily value.
Fat is largely inescapable when it comes to pastry, particularly the puff pastry that these bites are made from. The fat serves a vital function in creating a barrier between the layers of pastry, which then allows it to puff up when heated, becoming flaky and light. However, it also naturally raises its saturated fat content considerably because the fat has to be solid at room temperature to work effectively.
Unfortunately, if you're looking for nutrition elsewhere in these pastries, you'll be largely disappointed. Each serving has a mere single gram of fiber, just 5 grams of protein, and barely any vitamins or minerals. 6.
Fried Olive Bites Okay, even we've got to admit that the Fried Olive Bites from Trader Joe's sound pretty fun. However, what they're certainly not is healthy. As you'd probably expect, the fact that these are fried makes them fattier than most appetizers out there, and with 3.
5 grams of saturated fat and 14 grams of total fat, they provide a fair bit of it in one go. Each of these quantities covers 18% of each respective daily value for these nutrients. However, things really start to go downhill with the sodium content in this appetizer.
Every serving — which is, it must be said, just 77 grams — has a massive 900 milligrams of sodium in it. That's almost 40% of your entire daily value, in four single bites of an appetizer. Wild, huh? This sodium content naturally comes fairly heavily from the salty olives, but just because they're a plant doesn't mean they're good for you.
Too much sodium is a significant issue in diets around the world, and it can significantly impact your blood pressure and cardiovascular health if consumed in high quantities regularly. Excess salt intake can also affect kidney function and lead to poorer sleep. Is that really worth it for a few olives? 7.
Savory Squash Pastry Bites Don't let the presence of squash in this appetizer fool you: It may seem like it might be healthy, but it's anything but that. Trader Joe's Savory Squash Pastry Bites are surprisingly high in saturated fat, providing 8 grams per four bites — which is 40% of your daily value. Despite the squash in the appetizer, they aren't really healthy elsewhere, either.
Every portion has only 1 gram of fiber, there's just 5 grams of protein per serving, and the vitamin and mineral content is low (which is strange, considering the wide range of vitamins and minerals found in this fruit). Saturated fat in your diet can be troublesome for a fair few issues, but one thing we don't consider very often is its impact on eye health. Over time, high levels of saturated fat can impact the ability for blood to flow through your blood vessels, and this can lead to higher blood pressure in your ocular veins and damage to your retina.
This is particularly concerning when it comes to this appetizer because squash is fairly well known for being good for your eye health, thanks to the vitamin C and beta-carotene in it. Don't let one cancel out the other, folks. 8.
Breaded Cheddar Cheese Curds Wait, breaded cheese bites are unhealthy? We're shocked! Okay, yes: We know it's probably not a huge surprise that Trader Joe's Breaded Cheddar Cheese Curds aren't going to win any health awards, but it's still important to point out just how unhealthy they are. First off, these cheese curds are pretty high in fat, with 5 grams of saturated fat per serving. This fat comes from the one-two punch of these curds first being made of cheese, and then being fried.
Delicious, yes; healthy, no. However, while the saturated fat may be troublesome, it's actually the sodium content that stands out the most here. Every serving (which is just four pieces) has 620 milligrams of sodium, covering 27% of your daily value.
This combo of saturated fat and sodium is far from ideal, given both of their impacts on blood pressure and cardiovascular health. Although this appetizer does have a few positives, like its high protein content of 9 grams per serving and its higher levels of calcium, it has enough drawbacks to make us question whether they're worth it. 9.
Parmesan Pastry Pups Hot dogs wrapped in puff pastry and sprinkled with cheese? Yeah, we're gonna go ahead and put these firmly in the "unhealthy" camp. Sure enough, one look at the nutrition for Trader Joe's Parmesan Pastry Pups confirms our suspicions. In every four pups, you get 9 grams of saturated fat, nearly half of your maximum daily value.
There are also 20 grams of total fat, covering 31% of your recommended daily limit. To add to this, the duo of salty mini hot dogs and parmesan means that these pups are high in sodium, with 490 milligrams per serving. The worst part is that they don't even have any other positives to balance things out: Although there are 8 grams of protein, this feels pretty low, and there's less than a gram of fiber in each portion.
Plus, that high saturated fat and sodium content may contribute to certain health outcomes you may not expect. Research has found that high saturated fat intake has been associated with lower bone mass density, with high sodium intake also contributing to reduced overall bone mass. These pups may be tasty, but they should probably be eaten in moderation if you're trying to keep your diet healthy.
10. Brie En Croûte Trader Joe's Brie En Croûte may be one of its classiest appetizers, but unfortunately it's one of its most unhealthy too. As you've probably gathered, this appetizer is very high in saturated fat.
There are 12 grams of saturated fat per serving and 27 grams of total fat, which comes in just a quarter of the brie. This might sound like a generous serving size, but the problem is that the brie isn't that big to begin with: Each serving is just 85 grams, and the fat content is boosted by the fact that it's wrapped in a flaky, buttery pastry. Trader Joe's Brie En Croûte is also relatively high in sodium, and each serving has 400 milligrams.
Unfortunately, when you're eating cheese, this sodium is fairly inescapable. Salt is an essential part of cheesemaking, and it's used with brie (which might one day become extinct ) specifically to help develop its rind. The saving grace of this appetizer is that it has a pretty high level of protein content, with 10 grams per serving.
It also provides 15% each of your iron and calcium daily values. However, that saturated fat level kind of cancels out any potential healthiness. 11.
Gluten Free Breaded Shrimp We'll say it until we're blue in the face, y'all: Just because something's gluten free, it doesn't mean that it's healthy. If you need evidence of this, check out Trader Joe's Gluten Free Breaded Shrimp. This shrimp, which uses tapioca starch and coconut flour as a coating, has 7 grams of saturated fat per serving — 35% of your daily value.
Interestingly, it has as much saturated fat as it does protein, which is hardly appealing given that most people eat shrimp as a lean protein option. Trader Joe's Gluten Free Breaded Shrimp is also a salty option, and 113 grams of this shrimp will deliver 480 milligrams of sodium — just over one-fifth of your daily value. Now, we don't want to take away the fact that this appetizer is seriously attractive to folks who can't eat gluten.
However, it's a good reminder that gluten-free foods can be just as high in saturated fat, sodium, or added sugar as regular options, despite their reputation for being more wholesome. As food technology gets better, we can expect to see more unhealthy gluten-free products out there on the market, and so it's wise to check in with how healthy they actually are. 12.
Breaded Mozzarella Cheese Sticks If you were somehow under any illusion that Trader Joe's Breaded Mozzarella Cheese Sticks were healthy, we're here to shatter it for you. Yep, that's right: This appetizer is far from wholesome and contains a high saturated fat and sodium content. There are 7 grams of saturated fat in every serving, and at just 77 grams, the serving size is way smaller than it is for most other Trader Joe's appetizers.
In addition, there are 480 milligrams of sodium serving — 21% of your daily value. If these were just regular, uncoated mozzarella sticks , things wouldn't be so bad: This snack has a good amount of protein with 13 grams per serving, and 20% of your daily calcium value. The problem, though, is that they're fried.
Fried foods may be delicious, but you shouldn't underestimate their impact on your health. A 2021 study published in the journal Heart found that individuals who ate higher amounts of fried foods were 28% more likely to experience cardiovascular issues than those who ate less of them. 13.
Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese Bites Sometimes, supermarkets will create a product with one healthy ingredient in it and use it as a way to soften the blow for the item's otherwise-unhealthy qualities. This is the case with Trader Joe's Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese Bites. You might expect these little bites to have a lower saturated fat content and for their creaminess to come from the silky, smooth squash.
Unfortunately, that's not the case: Each three bites has 7 grams of saturated fat, or 35% of your daily value. Plus, just take a look at the length of that ingredients list. With dozens of items in it, this Trader Joe's appetizer has all the hallmarks of an ultra-processed food.
These foods tend to be high in ingredients like saturated fat and lacking in many of the other potential health benefits that whole foods can have — and they may also be more impactful on our gut health. You don't really get any of the potential benefits of the squash in the mac and cheese bites here. Instead, you just get its taste, and then a whole lotta fat.
14. Uncured Bacon Wrapped Scallops Trader Joe's went all-out with this fancy appetizer but also produced an item that's pretty unhealthy. Trader Joe's Uncured Bacon Wrapped Scallops are very high in saturated fat, with 11 grams per serving.
In just three pieces, you're getting 55% of your daily value. In addition, they have a massive 30 grams of total fat in every serving, and they're also wildly salty, providing you with 600 milligrams of sodium. If this appetizer didn't have bacon, things would be a different story.
Scallops themselves are high in protein and low in fat and are a good source of various minerals like phosphorus, iron, and potassium. However, it's the bacon that boosts their fat content and contributes to the sodium levels here too. It's also potentially problematic in a different way.
Like other processed meats, bacon has been associated with a higher risk of colorectal cancer when eaten regularly. It's recommended that you limit processed meat consumption whenever possible and stick to lean sources of protein — like scallops on their own..
