Are veggie chips healthy or not? A dietitian explains

W

ith everything from lentil chips to broccoli bites crowding the nosh aisle, food manufacturers have caught on to the shocking notion that people are looking for healthy options to pair with their lunch than a base of Lays. But are vegetable chips in truth all that and a bulge of, well, chips ? That is, are vegetable chips healthy ? ( After all, technically potato chips are vegetable chips … ) To find out fair how healthy these “ better ” options actually are, we turned to Ashley Koff, RD, a celebrated nutrition expert, to get the abject on whether you can replace your kale salad with a bowling ball of kale chips. Plus, she shares her pro tips for figuring out in under 30 seconds whether the bag you ‘re eyeing in the nosh aisle is a good-for-you as it claims.

These are the 5 things you need to know about navigating the veggie chip aisle.

1. Veggie chips should have actual, you know, veggies in them

“ neglect everything on the presence of the software, which is precisely going to tell you precisely what you want to hear, and flip it over to look at the ingredients, ” Koff says. sum red flag if the type of vegetable chip you ‘re buying—whether it ‘s kale chips, Brussels sprouts chips, or lentil chips—is n’t the beginning or second gear ingredient listed. “ sometimes you ‘ll see a distribute of things listed and the vegetable is actually the survive thing, or it might be listed as a dust and not the vegetable, like a ‘kale dust ‘ for exemplar, ” she explains. Another thing to keep an eye out for : “ flakes ” rather of the actual vegetable, which Koff says is besides no good. “ You do n’t want pieces and parts, you want the actual vegetable. ”

Related Stories

When eyeing the label, do a quick run-through and see if all the ingredients listed are things you could find and make at home. If not, put it back on the ledge. “ Is it a vegetable ? Is there an oil ? Is there some seasoning and some salt ? That ’ s all going to be wholly fine, ” Koff says. Anything listed that ‘s retentive, wyrd, and you have no theme what it is ? Skip it.

2. When in doubt, go “unsalted”

excessively much strategic arms limitation talks is a sure way to turn an otherwise healthy bite into something you might want to think doubly about. “ When we dry out vegetables and add salt to them, we are going two steps into dehydrating the body : salt is keeping the water out, and we ‘re besides pulling the water out, ” Koff says. That means most of the nutrients are being lost in the process. What you ‘re gaining is that satisfying crush. “ Chips between 200 and 300 magnesium of sodium per serving are fine, ” Koff says. “ But it ‘s crucial to think about how much you ‘ll actually eat. Something might be labeled ‘lightly salted ‘ but it ‘s not ‘lightly salted ‘ anymore if you eat the whole udder. ”

3. The nutritional values don’t lie

After you know precisely what ‘s in the chips, Koff says to see if the nutritional value measures up to your expectations. “ If I ‘m eating onion chips, or Brussels sprouts chips, I ‘m not expecting a significant sum of protein there, but if I ‘m eating lentil chips, I am, ” she says. In this case, if the protein value is about nothing, it ‘s a gestural that the legume has been sol refined that it ‘s about not tied in there anymore.

4. Just because it’s made with vegetables doesn’t mean it can replace your salad

“ This is where we much go so wrong, ” Koff says. If the nutritional value looks fair but the serve size is only a few chips, it ‘s easy to get tricked into snacking on something you think is healthier than it very is. The dietician notes that it ‘s important to remember that while vegetable chips can be an amazing bite, they are n’t meant to replace actual salad or the steam fresh stuff. As she puts it, “ At the end of the day, they ‘re still chips. ”

5. Know who to trust

While Koff shies away from endorsing specific brands, here are a few ( though surely not all ! ) popular vegetable chip brands that get a aureate asterisk by meeting all the criteria on her list : Brad ‘s Raw Chips, Rhythm Superfoods, Boulder Canyon, Beanitos, Go Raw, and Danielle. Nothing sneaky or eldritch inside these picks, so nosh away ! Inspired to solely stock your kitchen with good-for-you foods? Check out the healthy staples every kitchen needs. And if you’re grabbing treats for a party, sneak a peek at this list of superfood party snacks.