ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS

Diet Bites, an authoritative source on weight loss.

   Diet Bites - The best weight loss program & free diet site online. Return to Diet Bites

Fast Food Diet Tips & Articles

Newsletter

Calculate Calorie Needs

Master Sitemaps

Sitemaps by Subject

Calories in Fast Foods

 

Tahini - Calories & nutritional information. continue

Pregnancy & Postpartum Daily Diet - Answers to common dietary questions relating to pregnancy & postpartum. continue

Male Menopause - Symptoms and healthy advice relating to male menopause. continue

Rich, Low Fat Recipe for Devil's Food Pound Cake - A delight for Diet Angels. continue

Lycopene - The healthy benefits of this powerful antioxidant. continue

Adipex-P Oral - Side effects and health warnings. continue

Sugar Alternatives for Diet Sugar Ants - Naturally satisfying that lust for sugar without fake sugar alternatives. continue

The Hypothalamus & Weight - A tiny cherry-sized zone in the brain called the hypothalamus holds a key in controlling weight. continue

Complete Proteins - How to use food combining to create complete proteins. continue
 
Is Your Diet Worth its Salt? - How monitoring salt intake may help drop those extra pounds while increasing level of health. continue
 

Nutrition-Wise, How Do Your Potato Chips Stack Up?

Potato Chip Nutritional Values

Yeah, yeah, yeah - so potato chips aren't the healthiest food on the planet. However, they remain one of the most-favorite foods in the daily diet - particularly the American Daily Diet. Without potato chips, a perfectly good sandwich can look totally abandoned. A yummy dip can do a fatal flip without its familiar sidekick, Mister Potato Chip.

Yet - too much of a good thing can result in panic-stricken numbers on the weight scales - whether it's potato chips or yummy dips. While a serving of potato chips may contain a considerable stash of fat and sodium, the potato chip is not totally striped of nutritional value. We've researched the nutritional values and plugged them into the nifty chart below. To accompany our nutritional comparison, whenever you are smitten by the Potato Chip Fairy, the following tips may be of help:

Count when gambling with potato chips. The label on the potato chip bag or can sets forth the number of chips which equal a serving size. It's too easy to grab 20 chips only later to discover that the recommended serving size was 10 chips. Now one is dealing with double the calories, double the fat and so forth.

Placing the chips on a paper towel or napkin can help absorb a few fat calories.

When pairing potato chips with dips, opt for light versions of dip.

Do a little dusting with your finger to remove salt which is notoriously connected to water retention.

Nutritional values, particularly calories are close so enjoy the potato chip of your choice. (We've put an 'Olestra' note in our summary.) Opting for reduced fat varieties of potato chips won't save many calories, but it can cut the fat grams in half.

And of course, our favorite tip - eat those potato chips slowly.

POTATO CHIP NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON

Data Based on 1 Ounce

Potato Chip Variety

BBQ

Cheese Flavored

Fat Free

'Olestra'  Based

Shoestring

 Dried

Plain

Reduced Fat

Sour Cream & Onion

Baked

Calories (kcal)

139

141

107

72

148

158

155

134

151

159

Protein (grams)

2.18

2.41

2.73

1.64

1.90

1.67

1.86

2.01

2.30

1.70

Fat (total grams)

9.19

7.71

0.17

0.24

9.75

10.89

10.62

5.90

9.61

6.19

Carbohydrates

14.97

16.36

23.75

15.88

15.11

14.46

14.10

18.97

14.60

24.28

Fiber (grams)

1.2

1.5

2.1

1.8

1.0

1.0

1.2

1.7

1.5

1.6

Calcium (mg)

14

20

10

8

5

7

7

6

20

42

Iron (mg)

0.55

0.52

1.01

0.35

0.64

0.43

0.46

0.38

0.45

0.27

Sodium (mg)

213

225

182

157

71

186

149

139

177

312

Cholesterol (mg)

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

In Summary

When it comes to potato chip calories, they are almost too close to measure - with the 'Olestra' based potato chip aside. Because Olestra based products tend to trigger digestive upset in some individuals, as well as influence the taste of the product, they may not be one's first choice.

So if you're going to enjoy a serving of potato chips, grab the bag or can that you enjoy. And don't forget to - count those calories.

Finally, common sense alerts us that a baked potato is a much wiser choice than a serving of potato chips - but as mentioned above, when the Potato Chip Fairy glides through your craving center and nothing but potato chips will do - then do them as wisely as possible.

There are over 1,000 diet tips located at Diet Bites. Check them out to take the drama out of your Dieting Adventure.  

 
Diet Bites™
Why Buy the Cow When You Can Get the Skim Milk for Free?
Copyrighted Sky At Dawn Publishing - All Rights Reserved
Diet Bites is a Trademark

Site Disclaimer & Copyright Notice

Return to Article Index Within This Section 

Return to Diet Bites