An article from the food-industry research group The Food Institute reports that this year’s top three snacks for teenagers are Goldfish, Lays, and Cheez-Its. Savory is what Gen Z is craving. Given that eating added sugars regularly is a sure-fire way to gain weight1, this savory trend can potentially be a good thing. The problem is, although these top snacks are savory and not sweet, they are still very high in carbohydrates—the kinds that digest rapidly, causing a spike in blood sugar and therefore insulin. When comparing potato chips vs pork rinds, pork rinds come out on top because they allow for a crunchy snack without the spike in insulin that ultimately causes us to store fat.
Why Potato Chips Encourage Weight Gain
In a previous article, I broke down the research on the poisonous 5 P’s (the five foods some experts claim we should avoid in order to live long lives and reduce our risk of weight gain). One of the foods suggested that we avoid is potatoes. In my article, though, I explain that the research shows that the method of cooking is what makes all the difference. Potato consumption, itself, is unrelated to BMI. But fried potato consumption is directly associated with having a higher BMI2. In other words, the more frequently a person eats potato chips, the more likely that person is to be overweight.
Potatoes have a relatively high glycemic index, meaning that when we eat them, the carbohydrates are broken down by our bodies very quickly. This causes a spike in blood sugar levels. To bring the blood sugar levels down, our pancreas releases insulin, which instructs our fat cells to not only uptake glucose from the blood, but also to make and store triglycerides (fat). It may be that, when hot-oil fried, potatoes may become particularly fattening because of the creation of trans fats3 and/or acrylamide4 which may disrupt our bodies’ fat cells.
Making the Switch: Potato Chips vs Pork Rinds
Pork rinds are crunchy, yet have zero carbs! They are an awesome snack for many diabetics who are trying to keep their insulin levels at bay. Many reddit users under r/diabetes claim that they have never had a significant increase in blood sugar after eating pork rinds. If you want to prevent weight gain, break the trend and swap those Cheez-Its, Goldfish and Lays for pork rinds.