SunChips, Original

Bonnie: Yes, it’s true. I am a registered dietitian and am recommending a chip. No, not for everyday eating. But when you do reach for a chip, which most people do more than occasionally, I suggest you try original SunChips.

These tasty morsels are good for you and for the environment. SunChips contain 30 percent less fat than regular potato chips (that’s only 6 grams instead of 9 or 10 grams total fat per serving). They’re deliciously crisp and delicately salty, only 120 milligrams salt per serving.

SunChips — currently Frito-Lay’s best-selling brand of chips — are made with all-natural ingredients: whole corn, sunflower oil, whole wheat, rice flour, whole oat flour, sugar and salt.

What’s most remarkable is that a serving contains 18 grams of whole grains, which is more than one of the three servings recommended daily. That, plus 2 grams of fiber.

And, the chips are packed in compostable packaging and made with the help of solar energy instead of fossil fuel — at least at their plant in Modesto, CA, one of eight locations where the snacks are made.

Bryan: Potato chips are terrible for you, right?
Well, it turns out that this is not exactly true when you really take a look at it. To turn an Orwellian phrase: “All chips are equal, but some chips are more equal than others.”

Though most standard “potato chips” servings are heavy on saturated fat and sodium while light on just about everything of positive nutritional value, SunChips has somehow found a way to turn this equation on its head. I’m not about to tell you that a bag of chips-a-day will keep the doctor away, but there are certainly servings that will do more good than others.

Let’s look at the “bad” stuff first:
A one-ounce serving of normal potato chips on average has values of 175 calories, 10 grams of fat (3.1 saturated) and 150 milligrams of sodium, with saturated fat noted as 16% of RDA. This is a pretty dramatic contrast to a serving of SunChips, which has 140 calories, 6 grams of fat (1 gram saturated) and 120 milligrams of sodium, with both saturated fat and sodium levels noted as 5% of RDA. The SunChips rate lower on everything “bad,” and are a dramatically better food in terms of their saturated fat (what keeps us all on the treadmill). Round One – SunChips.

On to the good:
SunChips has 2 grams of dietary fiber compared to 1 gram for normal potato chips. Two grams of dietary fiber! That’s 9% of your RDA! That’s a pretty amazing improvement. Though it may seem like the difference between 1 gram and 2 grams is small (it’s 1 gram for all of you counting at home) — this is TWICE as much fiber in the same serving. That’s a lot! Round Two – SunChips.

Bite of the Best has long been promoting great products we’ve come across that try to increase dietary fiber content in everyday foods, from whole wheat pasta to Kellogg’s FiberPlus bars. There are many choices we make every day at the supermarket and we figure you might as well get the best nutritional value for your money.

The FDA has long noted that a diet rich in whole grains and low in saturated fat and cholesterol will help reduce the risk of heart disease. So, if you’re going to snack, you may as well snack smarter. And, oh yeah, they’re tasty — but you probably figured that by now.

Eric: Healthy chips that taste good: an oxymoron, or a simple truth? In recent years, with food companies and the FDA implementing buzzwords such as “heart healthy” and “all-natural,” there have been many products vying for the top position in the consumer’s shopping cart – even within the so-called “junk-food” industry. In past Bites we’ve written on ice cream, tortilla chips and even dips that are for the health conscious, so why should potato chips be any different? SunChips have been around for years, but it wasn’t until recently that consumers and nutritionists have cited the chips for their health benefits, especially pertaining to fiber and whole grains.