#FoodScience #Nutrition #Potatoes #Calories
Hey there foodies! 🍟 Have you ever wondered why potato chips are so high in calories while potatoes themselves are relatively low? I mean, it’s basically the same vegetable, right? 🤔
I’m asking this question because I recently noticed that I can munch on potato chips all day long, but when it comes to eating a plain baked potato, I feel full after just one. What gives?
Let’s break it down together – It turns out that the difference lies in the way potatoes are cooked. When potatoes are fried to make chips, they absorb a lot of oil which leads to those extra calories. Plus, the added salt and seasonings don’t help either!
On the other hand, when you bake or boil a potato, it retains its natural nutrients and fiber, making it a healthier option with fewer calories. So next time you’re reaching for a snack, maybe opt for a baked spud instead of a bag of chips. Your waistline will thank you! 😉
What do you think? Do you prefer potato chips or potatoes? Let’s discuss further in the comments below! 💬 #HealthyEating #SnackChoices #PotatoPower
The potato isn’t the problem. 🙂 Chips are boiled in fat to get them crispy and some of that fat soaks into the potato. Fat’s about 9 calories per gram and because chips are awesome, those grams pile up fast.
Potatoes are actually pretty high in calories too, since they are mostly comprised of starch, which is a form of sugar. Potato chips however take this starch and then fry it in oil, so you are essentially adding fat to sugar, which is going to result in a very high calorie snack.
Potatos don’t contain fat and have 75% water. So 100g potato is actually just 25g of food.
Potato chips don’t contain water which already multiplies the calorie amount by 4. Also during the frying process 50% fat is added which drastically increases the calorie count.
Normal potatos contain 70kcal per 100g.
If you dry them, 100g potato have 280 calories.
And if you add 50% fat to it (50g) you have 280kcal + 50g × 9kcal = 730 kcal per 150g. (1g of fat contains 9 kcal)
Devide that by 1.5 and you have 490kcal/100g which is a really close estimate to the real calorie count of potato chips.
It’s the oil that the chips are fried in. That’s where most of the calories in chips comes from. By weight, it’s also the relative ration of potato starches, etc. to water, which is reduced when frying.
Potato chips are high in calories because they’re fried in oil and have extra fat. Potatoes are low in calories because they’re mostly water and starch. The cooking method and added ingredients make the difference.
They used to be that way because they used to be boiled in typically lard / shortening/etc though nowadays a lot of the major brands have been switching to lower calorie oils like sunflower oil making this less of a concern
Potatoes have calories but they’re less concentrated, since most of the volume is water and fiber. Potato chips don’t have that (at least not nearly to the same degree a normal potato does), so you need to eat more of them if you’re trying to get as full as you would from eating a potato.
Oil. Oil has an insane calorie density. For reference, 100g (half a cup) of olive oil has same amount of calories as 3 ½ Big Macs.