Boulder Canyon Natural Foods

Because I'm a chipaholic, I'm dedicating this post, in its entirety, to one of my fave Whole Foods local vendors, Boulder Canyon Natural Foods.

Now, "Natural Foods" might ordinarily suggest something other than food of the snack variety, and certainly something more than potato chips.

And with the addition of their Rice and Adzuki Bean Natural Salt Artisan Snack Chip (that's a mouthful!) Boulder Canyon does offer more than your average potato chip, much more!

On the topic of "average," if you read the "Nutrition Facts" on your average bag of potato chips, you'll note that the saturated fat content is around 16g and the total fat is around 65g per 7oz serving.

I'm not one to limit my healthy oil intake, but I do like to be conscious of my consumption of saturated fat knowing that it's better for your heart to consume a diet low in saturated fat and high in monounsaturates.

Not that I need to be worrying about my heart at this point in my life, and certainly it's my stomach and taste buds I'm thinking of when I reach for a bag of Boulder Canyon chips, but it never hurts to be conscious of what you're putting in your mouth.

Because Boulder Canyon Natural Foods produces chips with a lower saturated and total fat content than your average chip, and because their chips contain zero trans fats and zero cholesterol, I prefer them over other "average" brands.

The lower fat content is not the only reason though; their plain chip (pic above) contains only potato, vegetable oil and salt. Nothing else! No acronyms or numbers masquerading as food, just three ingredients, which means the taste is unadulterated fried potato!

And the crunch factor ... it's a 10!

Since Boulder Canyon chips first appeared on the shelves at WFs many years ago, they've introduced a lot more flavors (I counted 15 on their website and I've tried about 8 of those) and more recently, they introduced the two Rice and Adzuki Bean chip flavors.

My faves are the a la natural ones in the pic above, Salt & Cracked Pepper, Malt Vinegar & Sea Salt, Balsamic Vinegar & Rosemary, Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper (can you tell I'm a salt fiend!) and the Hickory Barbecue.

At different times, one or more of the flavors goes on sale at Boulder's Whole Foods. The 10 for $10 or $1 a pack (pic above) is an unbeatable price!

Having sung the praises of Boulder Canyon chips, and meant it, I do want to say that I'm an advocate of enjoying snack foods, like chips, in moderation.

And though I attempt to follow my own advice, I'm only human -- in other words, to be honest, I probably go through a pack of a week!