In my battle of desire for crunch and carbohydrates, I really try hard to let cucumbers, celery and carrots win.

They absolutely SHOULD win.  In fact, they MUST win.  That’s what wellness eating is all about, right?  Vegetables that satisfy.  Let’s put THAT on a commercial and see how many people run to the store to get them!

The truth is…food is our fuel.  Our plates and smoothies and even our breakfast eggs should be filled with veggies, organic whenever possible.  This helps to ensure a healthy immune system, sufficient vitamin levels, and to ease the cravings that most of us gladly leave behind when following a gluten and grain free or Paleo dietary lifestyle.

Okay, so now that I’ve made it clear that man cannot be well without eating vegetables (are you SURE you heard me?) every now and then, an otherwise not-perfectly-healthy snack isn’t such a bad thing, as long as it doesn’t launch one into a major craving fest (sometimes carbs can do that).  

For me personally, as long as the snack meets my strict dietary guidelines (gluten free, grain free, soy free, and free of artificial and natural flavorings, colors, and fillers), I like knowing that I have an option to occasionally fill that desire for crunch!  And, I do mean “occasional.”  

Like I tell my coaching clients, if you’re trying to heal your gut or get off of gluten, the transition may be more difficult if you insist on eating a bunch of carb-heavy crunchy or processed foods that will just prolong, or possibly even prevent the healing process.  

So, where do potato chips fit in?

The short answer:  if you are still struggling to make dietary changes, or if a bag of chips throws you into days of carb cravings, or you are diabetic, or your immune system is not fully healed…then they  don’t!

The “lesser of two evils” answer:  if you’re going to eat something worse for you, like Dorito’s or a jelly-filled donut…then choose potato chips!

The longer answer:  During my transition to a grain free life, I worked very hard to balance my omega 3 to omega 6 ratio, and potatoes fried in a bunch of various GMO vegetable oils didn’t appear on the short (or even long) list of items that I could consume.  On the Paleo dietary lifestyle, regular potatoes are not even part of the plan (although sweet potatoes are permitted).

Admittedly, after my long journey of dietary transition (which incidentally didn’t include potato chips) lead me to a new level of excellence in health (read my whole story here), eventually those darn potato chips crept back into my diet.  For a while, I even thought it was okay to consume plain Lay’s chips on a fairly regular basis.  Unfortunately, only then did I really begin to understand that Lay’s were fried in various vegetable oils, not the least of which included corn.  They also most likely utilized genetically modified potatoes and GMO oils.  So, by consuming them, I was throwing off my omega-balance ratio (due to the high omega-6 oils used in the frying process), exposing my newly healed intestinal tract to GMO’s and grains, and the result was that I was experiencing inflammation again. This time, I even had digestive issues.  This is always my body’s warning signal that I better pay more attention to what I’m eating!

So, I mourned for a very short time when I realized that there simply not any chips available on the market that were acceptable for me to consume, and that I had to eliminate them from my diet again.  After a significant time of re-healing, I then discovered these chips from Jackson’s Honest Potato Chips.

Jackson’s Honest Potato Chips

Not only is the company non-GMO certified, they are also certified organic (indicating a reduced risk of  exposure to genetically modified organisms and dangerous pesticides).  Their non-GMO potatoes are cooked in pure coconut oil (very low in omega-6), and I think they may be the only company that makes chips this way!  I’ve seen some other brands cooked in avocado oil and olive oil, but this is the first time I’ve experienced coconut-oil-fried potatoes. They even have a sweet potato variety for all the Paleo peeps out there!

I noticed on their website that they have a few flavored varieties.  The salt and vinegar chips would be great to try, since the company uses apple cider vinegar, but I noticed that those chips and the mango chili lime contain natural flavors and citric acid (I’ll have to investigate those a little further).  Unfortunately for me, the salt and vinegar chips contain rice concentrate, which kicks them off of my grain-free list.

As with most things, sticking to the unflavored and less processed varieties is always a better thing!   Whole Foods = Whole Health.

I’m embarrassed to admit that these chips were so delicious, I forgot to take pictures of the actual chips themselves!  They definitely rank high on the list of yumalicious potato chips.

You can order their chips at this link.  Happy crunching!

-GGF Gourmet