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The Snack Food Diet

When I first moved into my current place, one of my housemates compared my eating habits to a middle schooler's. At 24, I guess I'm not "eating my age."

I'm sorry - actually, I'm not sorry - I will never be the person who gets his nosh on with a bag of baby carrots and a dipping bowl of baba ghanoush. OK, once in a while, maybe, but all the while I'll be trying to fool my taste buds into believing that what I'm actually consuming are extra-buttered popcorn and Mentos.

I'm way more into salt than I am into sugar. My favorite snacks list includes jerky (I'm jonesing for some of the fake kind as I write this), sauerkraut, salted pistachios, sunflower seeds, and I'm the only person I know who salts his French fries, every time. I know high sodium intake's bad for you, but I drink six glasses of water per day...so it balances out, right?

Admittedly, you can do amazing things with really healthy, simple ingredients - witness the vegetarian masterpieces at Café Gratitude, Chez Panisse or Greens Restaurant here in the Bay Area - but if I didn't think it would kill me, I'd totally go for a strict snack food diet, of which chips would undoubtedly be a major food group (with four or so recommended daily servings).

My favorites? Got to be the Kettle Chips. If you've never tried them, and can trust the opinion of a crazed wishes-he-could-survive-off-junk-food-person like me, go for the (non-organic) Cheddar Beer and Sea Salt & Vinegar and the new organic Krinkle Cut Salt & Black Pepper. If you are of sound mind and have taste buds, you will like them.

-Toshio... off to enjoy a bag of Cheddar Beer Kettle Chips...
Posted by: tmeronek on 03/28/2007
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Celia  on March 28, 2007 at 08:07 AM 1
Toshio, you're a man after my own heart. A tip for you and other salty-snack-loving Biters: Last weekend I happened upon these AMAZING Tangy Tomato Ranch Veggie Crisps from Flat Earth (a division of Frito-Lay). Fantastic stuff! I am extremely picky about my "healthier version" junk foods and I highly recommend you pick up a bag.
the other JB  on March 28, 2007 at 08:33 AM 2
I LOVE Kettle. My favorite is the Thai flavor. Why must they be so delicious?
Amanda  on March 28, 2007 at 09:30 AM 3
I work for an organics distributor. This means we often have samples in the house. I hardly ever ate chips before I started working for them but now they are just there. My favourites are Good Health Organic and Solea Olive Oil Chips. The Good Health Chips are super thick cut and the Solea ones while not organic are so tasty and have a low salt content.
Jean C  on March 28, 2007 at 09:50 AM 4
Did you actually use the expression "as addictive as crack"?? And to think people were criticizing Heather for saying she was a "cosmetics whore"... Being sassy is great and I appreciate all the extra flavor added to the Daily Bite. Still, I have to say that a glib reference to crack addiction was unsettling. And it certainly didn't do anything to make me want to try that product... Thank you :)
sandrine  on March 28, 2007 at 09:58 AM 5
You have (more) fans: http://cookthink.com/blog/?p=378 :)
Ansley  on March 28, 2007 at 10:34 AM 6
I looove Terra chips. I don't think they are organically made, but they are excellent. ( :
Sarah Krasley  on March 28, 2007 at 12:09 PM 7
Lundberg Family Farms Rice Chips are also delicious! I like the sesame seaweed ones best. They are organic AND are produced using Green-e certified renewable energy. You can taste the wind in every bite! Ideal! Here's the link: http://www.lundberg.com/products/chip.shtml
Healing Frog  on March 28, 2007 at 12:45 PM 8
How about saving the bag from the trash by making your own organic chips? Like sweet potatoe chips,sliced thinly,drizzle olive oil,seasoning you desire,and bake them. Also make your own potato chips by the similiar method. I feel guilty every time I toss out the chip bag in the trash. If I could recycle them I wouldn't feel so bad.
Cara  on March 28, 2007 at 05:46 PM 9
Some snack foods really are designed to be healthier and taste good -- check out www.winningfoods.com/snacks.html. Only a few are organic, but all meet taste and nutrition criteria. Great for us "serial snackers." PS: I tried to print today's tip, but when I pressed "print this tip" it took me to the Web site, which proceeded to print out 5 pages of frames rather than the one page I wanted with the tip content (turned out to be page 3 of the string of frames, even though it looks like page 1 on the site)! Frustrating and a waste of paper. But at least I found the correct place to add a blog comment re this tip (no direct link from the e-mail/newsletter version). Don't worry, I reused the reverse side of the unwanted printouts.
Monica  on March 31, 2007 at 03:51 PM 10
I was surprised to see Frito-Lay mentioned in the tip! While they might have an organic choice or two, Frito-Lay's ingredients will usually and almost always include MSG. Pick up any other bag of Doritos and it will read Monosodium glutamate in the ingredient list-so we know FRITO-LAY USES MSG. This ingredient is natural but a neurotoxin. It tricks your brain (specifically through receptor sites in your taste buds) into thinking your noshing on something super tasty but you lose cells with every bite! The snacks you mentioned do not specify MSG in the ingredients but do list "Natural Flavors". Almost anything natural can be fall under the ingredient listed as Natural Flavor(s). Be very wary!!
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