Sunday

The "Better for you" chip?

Snack brands make huge claims on their packaging to lure you in.  Claims like All Natural, Fat-Free, Sugar-Free, and so on.

Regardless of what the claims on the front of the bag are, there are 5 things I look for when I'm browsing the chip aisle at my local grocery store.

1.)  Does the package have a USDA organic or at least a Non-GMO project verified stamp?  If not, keep moving!  Most snacks that don't have these labels are going to be made from corn or soy that may have genetically modified ingredients in it IE yucky toxins for your body and freaky FAKE foods created in labs! Please note that foods can be labeled 100% Organic, Organic, or Made with Organic ingredients.  To see the criteria for the different organic standards click this link to go to the USDA site on organic labeling:  http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELDEV3004446&acct=nopgeninfo

2.)  Does the label list any sort of "Natural Flavors?"  Natural flavors can be ANYTHING found in nature.  Be wary and investigate packaging that says "All Natural" or "made with natural ingredients".  These "natural" ingredients can still be highly processed and not good for you!

3.)  Am I getting the MOST nutritional bang for my buck?  IE is this simply an organic corn chip or has the brand added in other nutritional ingredients like Chia Seeds, Quinoa, etc.  I know that in general snack foods are supposed to be indulgent, but I actually do like the flavor of whole grains and I feel better eating a more nutritional snack food vs. the alternative.

4.)  What is the sweetener that the brand uses?  For personal reasons I don't eat agave, stevia, fake sweeteners like splenda, and I try to avoid refined sugars as much as possible but I will take plain white sugar over chemical sweeteners any day.  I prefer honey, molasses, coconut palm sugar, or even raw sugar.  Most packaged snack foods ARE sweetened in some form, so I try and pick a snack that uses a sweetener that I'm comfortable with.

5.)  Does this snack have MSG?  I do like salt, but I try to avoid MSG in the highly processed state that it's in on grocery store shelves.  MSG is basically highly concentrated salt.  In it's natural state, MSG is essentially an amino acid that humans produce in their bodies.  However the MSG in most processed foods is so highly processed that it can cause health problems like skin rashes and irritation.

My current favorite chip is from the brand Live Better.  It's the Simply Sprouted Way Better Tortilla Chip.  I am in love with the Simply So Sweet Chile version.  These SUPER tasty chips are made from sprouted flax seed, quinoa, daikon radish seed, chia seed, and sprouted broccoli seeds.  Sprouting ingredients helps our bodies with digestion.  These are NOT funky cardboard hippie chips (no offense hippies) these are LEGIT delicious.  NOTE:  I don't have a gluten allergy but I do find that my body likes sprouted ingredients better than traditionally processed flours.

These chips are still definitely in the "snack food" category, meaning I probably shouldn't eat the whole bag in one sitting...but hey if it happened it happend.  Dont judge me because they do have some amazing ingredients packed into them!  Take a look below:


I like these chips on their own, with salsa, or with guacamole and I buy mine at New Seasons!

In my household we also like to indulge in the Kettle Brand potato chips.  Recently we picked up the Maple Bacon flavor and they were DELISH.  These chips are pretty clean-they are non GMO, no MSG, no trans fat, and and they use real sugar and dried cane syrup as a sweetener.  Kettle also puts maltodextrin in their chips-if you don't know what maltodextrin is it's basically a potato or corn starch (Kettle Brand uses non GMO maltodextrin) that brands use as a thickener or binder.  It is obviously more processed than plain corn or potato, but it is made from a whole food and is the lesser of evils when it comes to packaged snack foods. Kettle chips do have Natural Flavors including smoke, chili pepper, and paprika extract-however I'm happy that this brand actually lists the natural flavors they use instead of hiding them like some other brands use.  Again, I can't be sure of how highly processed the natural flavors are, so these chips are an INDULGENCE and not a weekly grocery staple for me.  We have also tried the Honey Dijon flavor (our favorite but super hard to find in Portland!  We get ours at Whole Foods).

I hope this post was helpful in guiding you through the snack asile!  Happy and healthy snacking to you!


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