9 Healthy Ways to Get Your Pumpkin Spice Fix

The pumpkin spice latte has kicked off an exceptionally long-lasting food trend. Starbucks introduced it 2003, and every year since, an increasing number of pumpkin products have appeared on the market. And Americans are, well, eating them up. According to the market research firm Nielsen, 37 percent of people said they purchased a pumpkin product in 2014.

But many of these foods—breakfast pastries, chips, chocolate truffles, cookies, doughnuts, muffins, pudding, pumpkin spice liquor, and sugary cereals, to name a few—aren’t so diet-friendly.

Take the pumpkin spice latte itself. Made with whole milk and topped with whipped cream, a 16-ounce Starbuck’s Grande has 420 calories, 10 grams of saturated fat—half of the maximum you should have in a day—and almost 13 teaspoons (50 grams) of sugars. Switching to nonfat milk and skipping the whipped cream lowers the calorie count to 260 and saturated fat to 0 grams, but you’re still drinking 49 grams of sugars.

But healthy eaters who want to satisfy their pumpkin spice craving have several options. Consumer Reports’ panel of nutrition experts and professional tasters developed a carefully curated list of 20 products that they deem to be nutritionally acceptable and did taste tests of them all. Here are the 9 that made the cut.

Cheerios Pumpkin Spice Cereal

These O’s contain real pumpkin purée and give you a big hit of spice, with cloves being the most dominant. Nutritionally, it's similar to Honey Nut Cheerios in calories, fiber, and protein, but it has 1 less gram of sugars and 60 mg less of sodium. Still, because of its sugars content—the equivalent of 2 teaspoons in ¾ cup—think of it as an occasional treat rather than a morning staple.
Nutrition per ¾ cup: 110 calories, 2 grams fat, 0 grams saturated fat, 2 grams protein, 2 grams fiber, 8 grams sugars, 120 mg sodium.
 

Chobani Greek Low-Fat Yogurt Pumpkin Spice Blended

This clean tasting, tart yogurt has a nutmeggy flavor. The added pumpkin purée means this yogurt supplies 8 percent of your vitamin A daily needs (compared with 0 percent in many Chobani flavors). Don’t confuse it with Chobani “Flip” Greek Yogurt Pumpkin Harvest Crisp. Its shortbreadlike topping detracted from the pumpkin flavor and negatively affected the nutrition.
Nutrition per 5.3-ounce container: 130 calories, 2.5 grams fat, 1.5 grams saturated fat, 12 grams protein, 0 grams fiber, 12 grams sugars, 60 mg sodium.

Imagine Organic Creamy Pumpkin Soup

It lives up to its "creamy" description, even though it contains no cream (the pleasant thickness is due in part to the tapioca starch) and slightly sweet with some brown spice notes. It has some added sugars in the form of honey and evaporated cane syrup—just about 1 teaspoon per cup, and some of that comes from the sugars naturally present in the pumpkin, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots in the soup. Those veggies also account for the soup’s decent vitamin A content, supplying 20 percent of your daily needs per cup. Like most soups it is high in sodium—590 mg per cup, or 25 percent of the maximum amount you should have in a day.
Nutrition per 1 cup: 60 calories, 0.5 grams fat, 0 grams saturated fat, less than 1 gram protein, 1 gram fiber, 5 grams sugars, 590 mg sodium.

Kashi Pumpkin Spice Flax Crunchy Granola Bar

Made with whole grains and flax and pumpkin seeds, this bar is crunchy and sweet, with well-rounded flavors of honey and brown spice. We’d like to see the sugars count be a bit lower, but we kept it in our picks because of its fiber content—14 percent of your daily needs. Each individual pack has two bars, so you could shave off sugars by eating one and saving the other for later.
Nutrition per two bars: 170 calories, 6 grams fat, 0.5 grams saturated fat, 4 grams protein, 4 grams fiber, 10 grams sugars, 90 mg sodium.

Kind Nuts & Spices Caramel Almond Pumpkin Spice Bar

This bar is dense and chewy, with big pumpkin spice flavors and a sweet caramel-flavored coating. It’s low in sugars and high in fiber.
Nutrition per bar: 200 calories, 15 grams fat, 3.5 grams saturated fat, 4 grams protein, 7 grams fiber, 5 grams sugars, 15 mg sodium.

Noosa Finest Yoghurt Pumpkin

This thick and creamy yogurt could be a stand-in for dessert. It’s blended with real pumpkin (supplying 8 percent of daily vitamin A needs) and has a hint of brown spice. Noosa flavors come in 8-ounce containers; other single-serve yogurts are typically 5 to 6 ounces. That plus the fact that it’s made with whole milk means this yogurt is rather high in calories and fat per serving. Our suggestion is to eat half a container at a time.
Nutrition per 8-ounce container: 290 calories, 12 grams fat, 7 grams saturated fat, 12 grams protein, 1 gram fiber, 29 grams sugars, 110 mg sodium.  

Peanut Butter & Co. Pumpkin Spice Peanut Butter

This flavored nut butter has just a bit more sugars and a bit less fat than the company’s old-fashioned smooth peanut butter. The brown spice flavor is distinct and complements the nuts.
Nutrition per 2 tablespoons: 180 calories, 14 grams fat, 2.5 grams saturated fat, 6 grams protein, 2 grams fiber, 4 grams sugars, 90 mg sodium.

Purely Elizabeth Pumpkin Fig Ancient Grain Granola + Puffs Cereal

If you have a hankering for granola but want to keep your sugars intake down, this whole grain (amaranth, oats, millets, and quinoa), dried fruit, and seed cereal is a good option. The crunchy cinnamon oat clusters and figs give it a natural sweet flavor. It has 1 teaspoon of sugars per ½ cup, some of it added and some from the figs.
Nutrition per ½ cup: 130 calories, 4.5 grams fat, 2 grams saturated fat, 4 grams protein, 2 grams fiber, 4 grams sugars, 80 mg sodium.

Trader Joe’s Fall Harvest Salsa

With jalapeños, garlic, and cumin, this dip gives “pumpkin spice” new meaning. The low-calorie mix of pumpkin, tomatillos, apples, butternut squash, onion, red peppers, and tomatoes packs some big heat. It supplies a healthy dose of vitamin A (20 percent of your daily need) in just two tablespoons. Use it as a dip or as a topping for chicken or fish.
Nutrition per 2 tablespoons: 10 calories, 0 grams fat, 0 grams saturated fat, 0 grams protein, 0 grams fiber, 2 grams sugars, 75 mg sodium.

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