Have you seen all the fruit and veggie chips at the stores lately? They’re like potato chips, only they come in flavors that include tomato, sweet potato, and berry. I haven’t tried them yet, but every time I see them I wonder can you really munch on these chips to score a serving of fruits or vegetables?
FatFighterTV got the scoop on two popular brands of fruit and veggie chips - Flat Earth and Terra. Terra says you can get a full serving of vegetables when you eat one ounce of its Sweet Potato chips.
Tara Gidus, RD, Spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, tells FatFighterTV there is some nutritional value in Terra chips.
“The sweet potato has the most with 50-percent vitamin A in a one ounce serving. The rest of them have less than 10-percent of any vitamins and minerals, though,” says Gidus. “They may have enough actual vegetable to be considered a vegetable serving, but at 130-150 calories per one ounce serving, that will take a lot of calories to get your recommended veggie servings for the day.”
Flat Earth has similar claims. It says its baked crisps have half a serving of real fruits or vegetables in every ounce.
“The Flat Earth brand seems to have the first ingredients as rice flour and potato flakes,” notes Gidus. “They have dehydrated vegetables or powders of vegetables and also do not have a significant amount of nutritional value with the exception of some Vitamin A which appears to be coming from pumpkin.”
Because of the high fat, calories, and sodium in these fruit and veggie chips, the bottom line from Gidus - eat some in moderation, but don’t substitute them for the real deal.
What do you think of the various fruit and veggie chips?
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Tags: Flat Earth, Food & Nutrition, fruit, fruit and vegetable chips, potato chips, Terra Chips, vegetables
