Are potato chips nutritious? As a matter of fact, yes!
On a recent grocery trip, my husband slipped a large bag of potato chips into the grocery cart. As he'd anticipated, my response was a smile and eyes rolling heavenward in a low key rebuke. I've never been much of a junk food fan, while he's a die-hard devotee. He's always trying to pack a few pounds on me, claiming I 'eat like a bird'. Which may be a little bit true, because I never eat unless I'm hungry. However, potato chips are a weakness I try not to indulge too often, because I've thrown the lovely, plain potato chips in the junk food category, thinking there's really not much nutritional value, right? Well, he proved me wrong that day.
The day was plenty hot and when we got out to the car, he ripped open that bag in a hurry. Here, the salt's just what you need on hot days, have some! I didn't put up much of a fuss over it. Encouraged, he went on to apprise me of the nutritional content of a potato chip, using the handy food value chart right on the package.
Here's what I learned. This particular brand of chip called a serving size 15 chips. This number works out to 150 calories. Based on a 2000-calorie daily intake, this works out to about 7.5% of your total calories. This isn't terrible, even if you're on a diet. Small pleasures are necessary.
Of the 150 calories, 90 calories are derived from fat. Although there are 10 grams of fat, there is no trans fats or cholesterol in this potato chip. Only 1 of the 10 grams is saturated fat.
Most processed foods are heavily laden with both salt and sugar, so I certainly expected that to be the case with chips. The food value chart on the package revealed that this serving size supplies just 7% of your RDA for sodium and contains no sugar whatsoever. The chips are starting to look better and better.
How about vitamins and minerals? Here's where I thought the potato chip would fail miserably. I was shocked to discover that these 15 chips provide 10% of your RDA for vitamin C! Protein in the amount of 2 grams, which amounts to 10% of the protein a body actually needs to be healthy. Most people eat much more than that in practice, but this still is significant, any way you cut it. Other nutrients include 9% of your requirements for potassium, 6% of both niacin and vitamin E, 4% each of phosphorous, vitamin B6 and magnesium. You gain just 2% of your necessary iron and thiamine. If you're on a low-carb diet, this chip treat weighs in at just 5%, with 1 gram of dietary fiber which is subtracted from the carb grams.
Who would have thought? Potato chips are now on my list of semi-healthy snacks. Now, no one said anything about dip!
8:24 PM