The Case of Low Carb Chips
Recently the market has become flooded with new "Low Carb" chips of all kinds. I spent some time walking through the chips isle of several stores and came up with a few of the following choices available to us.
The labeling lures you into thinking that these products are good for you. Afterall, they ARE made with SOY and FLAX SEED, and "GOOD OILS". The zucchini and green beans and mushrooms show through the clear plastic bag (along with the carrots and taro and sweet potato).
Being a carb addict myself, and crunchy being one of my comfort foods in response to stress, I unfortunately succumbed to the pressure of purchasing a few bags. The problem with being a stress eater is that I cannot stop with one serving of a comfort food. Once the bag is open, if I do not immediately divide it into portion sizes, I find myself overindulging and can easily eat the whole bag. What is a tortilla chip without salsa and a bit of sour cream?
So, if you take the TJ's Vegetable Chip Mix and eat the whole bag, you end up with 780 calories in a 66-6-28 balance. Definitely not a good thing to do to yourself.
Bottom line: You could bump up the protein by adding some shredded chicken, or eating a bit of beef jerky with the chips, but this definitely should not become a habit to replace healthy snacks such as fresh veggies and cheese/meat or a piece of fruit and cheese/meat.
You have made a decision to change your lifestyle. Part of this lifestyle is to change what you are eating and how you eat, not substitute old habits.
| Product | Serving Size | Servings Per Bag | Calories | Total Fat (g) |
Sat Fat (g) |
Chol (mg) |
Sodium (mg) |
Carbs (g) |
Fiber (g) |
Sugar (g) |
Protein (g) |
Balance |
| GenSoy Soy Crisps | 25 crisps | 3.5 | 110 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 160 | 17 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 60-25-15 | GenSoy Low Carb Tortilla Chips | 15 chips | 5.5 | 140 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 160 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 34-14-51 | Trader Joe's Soy Flax Chips | 15 chips | 12 | 130 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 50 | 13 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 35-16-49 | Trader Joe's Vegetable Chip Mix | 1 ounce | 6 | 130 | 4 | 1.5 | 0 | 115 | 21 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 66-6-28 |