Americans love potatoes – just in Idaho Producing over 12 billion lbs. About one of those years.
Potatoes are versatile and can be mashed, fried, or baked, and are packed with a variety of nutrients. vitamins and minerals. Andy Weir’s astronaut protagonist famously survived on Mars by eating nothing but potatoes in his 2011 fiction novel. “Martian” These are starchy vegetables, meaning that even though they have more calories and less fiber than other vegetables, they contain carbohydrates that your body breaks down and uses for energy, helping you feel full. means.
So if potatoes are healthy, what’s so unhealthy about potato chips? And are there healthy potato chips?
What are the healthiest chips?
There are two major health concerns with potato chips. It’s not the vegetables or grains used in your potato chips, it’s how they’re prepared and how much you eat.
A 2017 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that frequent consumption of French fries was associated with symptoms such as: increased mortality, On the other hand, the consumption of non-fried potatoes is not. Although small amounts of oil are a good source of healthy fats, consuming large amounts can cause health problems.
Basically, potato chips can be made (even at home) using three ingredients: potatoes, salt, and oil. Certified nutritionists say the closer you get to these core ingredients, the better. Abra Papa.
“I love incorporating potatoes into really healthy, balanced meals,” she says. “What happens when you thinly slice a potato and fry it in a vat of oil… changes the quality of the food that may support health.”
The store’s healthiest options, says Papa, are chips fried in high-quality oils such as olive, avocado, and coconut oil. You can also try baked or air-fried chips.
“Just potatoes, salt, and avocado oil? That’s a pretty good chip,” says Papa. “No, it’s not a health food by any means. No, I still don’t think you need to eat it every day, but it’s certainly an upgrade from a vegetable oil frying scenario.”
The obvious solution here is: Make chips at home in the oven or air fryerUse a mandolin to thinly slice the potatoes.
You can also look for alternative chips, such as crispy chickpeas or chips made with other vegetables, lentils, or beans, but it’s still important to turn the bag upside down and read the ingredients. Sweet potato chips are no healthier than regular potato chips when fried in the same way.
But the bigger message for chip lovers is that if an alternative “healthier” chip doesn’t exactly fit your cravings, there’s no need to force yourself to switch.
“Kale chips are delicious bites of crunchy kale, but they’re not potato chips,” Papa says. “Don’t let these things replace the feeling of eating potato chips.”
The next best thing may be to control how much you eat.
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Are there any healthy chips?
Chips aren’t a nutritional food like vegetables or protein, but there are ways to get them in moderation. The problem, says Papa, is that we often eat too much of them.
Chips are a very palatable food, and the combination of fat, sugar, sodium, and carbohydrates makes them addictive. artificially reward eating. Ray’s commercial from the 1960s makes scientific sense – “Betcha he can only eat one” How do food manufacturers stock shelves? And Americans’ mouths are full.
“Really, potato chips are an occasional food,” she says. “Going back to that and not thinking of them as daily or weekly foods…that sets up a slightly different situation in terms of how we interact with it.”
But it’s a fun snack regardless, and Papa claims you’ll actually enjoy every bite more if you have guardrails in place. How she suggests enjoying chips in moderation:
- Serve yourself a bowl from a bag of potato chips
- Purchase individual sized chip bags
- At parties, eat your snack before leaving the chip bowl.
But everyone is different, and people with cardiovascular health concerns may not want to moderate at all, Pappa says.
Are sun chips good for your health?
Sunchips may be given a halo of health. made with whole grains In contrast to potatoes. Starch is digested more quickly than grains, so sunchips made with corn, wheat, rice, or oat flour may not provide as much benefit. blood sugar spike.
However, Sunchips is still fried Use the following combination of vegetable oils with canola oil, the same as Lay’s potato chips. “Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, and/or sunflower oil”
Are baked chips good for your health?
Baked chips are a healthier option because they are not cooked in large amounts of oil, but it still depends on the type of oil used in the baking process.
“You can incorporate it into any healthy diet, but we always want to go through the process…what type of oil is used?” Pappa says Masu. “You probably prefer crisps fried in a nicer oil to chips baked in vegetable oil.”
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