Americans love potatoes – the state of Idaho alone produces more than 12 billion pounds of them per year.
Highly versatile in mashed, fried and baked forms, potatoes are packed with vitamins and minerals. Andy Weir’s astronaut main character famously survived off of potatoes alone on Mars in the 2011 fiction novel “The Martian.” They’re starchy vegetables, which means they have carbohydrates that our body breaks down to use as energy and help us feel full, even if they do have more calories and less fiber than other vegetables.
So if potatoes are good for us, what makes potato chips unhealthy? And are there any healthy potato chips?
Baked chips offer less fat overall than regular chips, making them only slightly lower in calories, which will have a minimal impact on your overall calorie intake for the day. Moreover, both contribute very similar amounts of saturated fat and sodium.
Are Sun Chips healthy?
Sun Chips are sometimes given a health halo because they’re made with whole grains as opposed to potatoes. Starches digest faster than grains, so Sun Chips, which are made with corn, wheat, rice flour and oat flour, may not give you as much of a blood sugar spike.
But Sun Chips are still fried in canola oil, the same as Lay’s potato chips, which use a vegetable oil combination of “Canola, Corn, Soybean, and/or Sunflower oil.”
Are any chips healthy for you?
Chips aren’t a nutritional food in the way vegetables or proteins are, but there are ways you can still enjoy them in moderation. The problem is that we often eat them in excess, Pappa says.
Chips are hyper-palatable foods, meaning their combination of fat, sugar, sodium and carbohydrates makes them addictive and artificially rewarding to eat. Lay’s commercials in the 1960s make scientific sense – “Betcha can’t eat just one” is how food manufacturers keep shelves stocked and American mouths full.
“Really, potato chips are a once-in-a-while food,” she says. “If we go back to that and not thinking about them as an every day or every week food … that sets a little bit of a different scene in regards to how we’re interacting with that.”
But they’re an enjoyable treat regardless, and Pappa makes the case that you’ll actually enjoy each bite more if you set up some guardrails. Here’s how she suggests enjoying chips in moderation:
- Serve yourself a bowl from the bag of chips
- Buy individual-size chip bags
- Grab a helping and then move away from the chip bowl at parties
Everybody is different, however, and those with cardiovascular health concerns may not want to chance moderation at all, Pappa says.
How To Tell If Baked Chips Are Healthy? #shorts
FAQ
Are baked chips any healthier?
Can oven chips be healthy?
Are baked crisps healthier than normal crisps?
Are baked chips better than regular chips?
Enter baked chips, the lesser-fat version of regular chips that sound like a better bite. Baked chips bypass the frying process, and manufacturers chips by using dried potato starch and forming them into a potato chip shape. Then, the potato chips are baked in large batches, then sprayed with oil, so less fat goes into their processing.
What are the healthy alternatives to chips?
Starchy foods like potatoes when cut into thin slices and fried in oil, they retain a lot of oil and calories, hence making the chips energy dense and calorie dense food. Healthy alternative for chips are: 1) Home made sweet potato chips. 2) Pop corn. 3) Crunchy cucumber pieces. 4) Carrot pieces. 5) Healthy fruits like apple. 6) Mixed nuts. 7) Kale chips.
Are baked potato chips healthy?
Yes? One ounce (about 15 chips) of baked potato chips has 14% fewer calories (153 vs. 131), 50% less fat (10 grams vs. 5 grams) and 67% less saturated fat (3 grams vs. 1 gram) than traditional potato chips. If you’re looking at the calories and fat alone, then you would assume it was the healthier choice. No?
Are chips healthy?
Chips aren’t a nutritional food in the way vegetables or proteins are, but there are ways you can still enjoy them in moderation. The problem is that we often eat them in excess, Pappa says. Chips are hyper-palatable foods, meaning their combination of fat, sugar, sodium and carbohydrates makes them addictive and artificially rewarding to eat.