Organics spreading to snack food aisles

The trend has even started to draw in more traditional food companies. Kraft Foods Inc. now offers an organic version of its macaroni and cheese, for example, and big food corporations have started either buying up or launching their own natural and organic brands.

That’s a far cry from how things were when Nell Newman got started in the organic snack food business in the early 1990s. Recalling one kind of pretzel available at the time, she said, “You could break a tooth on them, but you felt good about eating them.”

Newman, president of Newman’s Own Organics and daughter of the actor Paul Newman, set out to make foods under the motto “great tasting food that happens to be organic.” The product line now includes pretzels, cookies and even dog food.

Newman said products such as Newman-O’s, a chocolate cream cookie that doesn’t scrimp on fat or calories, are for people who “want a treat, but they don’t want the pesticides.”

Other natural treats also aren’t necessarily low in calories.

A 2.5-ounce serving of Annie’s Shells & White Cheddar, unprepared, has 270 calories, including 40 calories from fat. By comparison, Kraft’s Macaroni & Cheese has 260 calories, including 25 from fat.

John Brecher / MSNBC.com Newman-O's are for people who  'want a treat, but they don’t want the pesticides,'  says company president Nell Newman.

Annie’s Foraker says the company’s unprepared product is higher in fat and calories because it uses more real cheese in its base, and he notes that notes that Annie’s product is lower in fat than Kraft’s when prepared under Annie’s guidelines.

The most popular Amy’s frozen meals, such as pizza and lasagna, aren’t necessarily low fat, although the company’s product line includes things like low-fat, low-sodium and dairy-free alternatives.

Amy’s Web site also offers tips on how to use some of its prepared meals to lose weight. Berliner said one reason they’ve become popular with dieters is because the microwavable dishes allow people to control portions.

If you’re going to eat a bag of chips or a plate of cookies, clinical dietician Diane Javelli with the University of Washington said it is better to choose those that are free of preservatives or hydrogenated oils, or that are lower in salt or sugar. Still, she warns, people need to remember it’s an indulgence.

With or without hydrogenated oils, she said, “A potato chip is still a really high-calorie, low-nutrition food.”

Blackman, who raised her now twentysomething children on natural and organic foods, said the more mainstream acceptance has been good for people like her, who want to choose natural alternatives even when they treat themselves.

Before, she said, the thinking was that natural and organic food is good for you, so you better get used to how it tastes.

Now, she noted, “It’s gotten less grim.”

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