Power Up trail mix is a reasonably healthy snack, especially compared to many competitors on the shelf. The mixes use whole nuts, seeds, and dried fruit with zero added sodium in most varieties and no artificial ingredients. That said, the calorie density is high and some varieties include added sugar in the dried fruit, so portion size matters more than most people realize.
What’s Actually in It
Power Up offers several varieties, but the ingredients follow a similar pattern: whole nuts, seeds, and dried fruit. The Mega Omega mix, one of their most popular, centers on walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and other omega-3-rich ingredients. The Antioxidant Mix includes dried cranberries, raisins, walnuts, dark chocolate chunks, pecans, and dried blueberries.
The ingredient lists are short and recognizable, which is a genuine advantage. You won’t find hydrogenated oils, preservatives, or artificial colors. Several varieties, including the High Energy, Antioxidant, and Mega Omega mixes, are certified gluten-free and vegan. The nuts are not roasted in salt, and the Antioxidant Mix, for example, contains 0 mg of sodium per serving.
Calories and Macros Per Serving
A quarter-cup serving (30g) of the Mega Omega mix contains roughly 140 calories, with fat making up close to half those calories. A larger 64g portion comes to about 290 calories, 16g of fat, 6g of protein, and 3g of fiber. The overall macronutrient breakdown skews toward fat (around 48%), followed by carbohydrates (44%) and protein (8%).
That fat-heavy profile isn’t a red flag in this case. The fats come primarily from walnuts and seeds, which deliver unsaturated fats your body actually needs. But the calorie density is worth paying attention to. A quarter cup looks modest in your hand, and most people pour well beyond that when snacking from a bag. If you’re eating two or three handfuls while working at your desk, you could easily consume 400 to 500 calories without registering it as a meal.
The Nuts and Seeds Are Genuinely Nutritious
The core ingredients in Power Up mixes, particularly walnuts and pumpkin seeds, carry real nutritional weight. Pumpkin seeds are rich in magnesium, a mineral involved in over 300 processes in your body, from energy production and muscle function to blood pressure regulation and maintaining heart rhythm. They also supply potassium, which supports kidney and heart function, and selenium, which plays a role in thyroid health and immune defense.
Walnuts and pumpkin seeds both provide omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential building blocks for cell membranes throughout your body. Omega-3s support heart, lung, and immune system function. Pumpkin seeds also contain vitamin E, which helps your immune system fight off bacteria and viruses and keeps blood flowing smoothly through your vessels.
These aren’t marginal benefits. Eating a serving of mixed nuts and seeds daily is one of the more consistently supported dietary habits in nutrition research. Power Up gives you a convenient way to do that.
The Dried Fruit Is a Mixed Bag
Here’s where the “healthy” label gets more complicated. The dried cranberries and blueberries in several Power Up varieties contain added sugar and sunflower oil. Cranberries are naturally very tart, so virtually every dried cranberry product adds sugar to make them palatable. The Antioxidant Mix ingredient list confirms this: cranberries with sugar and sunflower oil, blueberries with cane sugar and sunflower oil.
Dried fruit also concentrates natural sugars into a much smaller volume than fresh fruit. A handful of raisins contains far more sugar than the same-sized handful of grapes, simply because the water has been removed. This doesn’t make dried fruit unhealthy, but it does mean the carbohydrate content of these mixes is higher than you might expect from something marketed around nuts and seeds. If you’re watching your sugar intake, check the label on the specific variety you’re buying.
How It Compares to Other Trail Mixes
Power Up sits at the cleaner end of the trail mix spectrum. Many grocery store trail mixes add candy pieces, yogurt-coated nuts, salted and oil-roasted nuts, or sweetened coconut flakes. Those products can contain 200 to 300 mg of sodium per serving and significantly more added sugar. Power Up’s zero-sodium approach and shorter ingredient lists set it apart from those options.
It’s not quite as clean as making your own mix from raw nuts and unsweetened dried fruit, but it’s close. The main tradeoffs are the added sugar in the dried fruit and the sunflower oil used to prevent clumping. Neither is a dealbreaker for most people.
Portion Control Is the Real Issue
The official serving size is a quarter cup, which weighs just 30 grams. That’s roughly a small palmful. Most standard bags contain many servings (the brand sells bags ranging from single-serve 1.5 oz packs up to 26 oz club-sized bags), and eating from a large bag makes it very easy to double or triple a serving without thinking about it.
If you’re using Power Up as a snack between meals, pre-portioning into small containers or buying the single-serve packs is the simplest way to keep calories in check. One serving delivers a solid combination of healthy fats, fiber, and protein that can hold off hunger for an hour or two. Three servings delivers the calorie equivalent of a full meal without the same staying power.
For what it is, Power Up trail mix is a solid choice. The ingredients are high quality, the nutrient profile from the nuts and seeds is genuinely beneficial, and the lack of added salt is uncommon in the category. Just measure your portions and treat it as a nutrient-dense snack rather than something you graze on endlessly.