banana chips and cinnamon covered almonds. good or bad?

vengefullilac

I bought some healthy foods yesterday to kick start weight loss and I bunch saladas and soups along with healthy snacks. I got banana chips and accidentally cinnamon covered almonds (it was too late to return as my mother reopened it and I just found out this morning.)

so good or bad snacks? was the money wasted?

Spartan_Maker

It's hard to imagine anything wrong with cinnamon covered almonds: both are good for you, by any measure. Cinnamon has loads of proanthocyanadins -- maybe more than anything on earth. Almonds are loaded with micronutrients that many people are lacking -- magnesium readily comes to mind. Cinnamon also aids in controlling blood sugar and insulin spikes.

AmyFett

my kids LOVE banana chips, they make me gag. I think they're nastyyyy, something about a hard, dry, crunchy banana.. yuck

arcticfox04

They should be good for you.

LisaB55

I think they are fine. As with most things, moderation is the key. While they are both pretty healthy--at least the almonds are--eating more than a few really adds a lot of calories.

themetra

Personally, I rarely eat dried fruit because it tends to be much higher in sugar. The cinnamon covered almonds don't sound too bad. I eat almonds all the time, and I put cinnamon in my coffee. I don't remember exactly what I had read, but cinnamon is very good for you and changes how the body metabolizes sugar. So i would say the cinn/almonds are good, as long as they don't have sugar and other stuff in them. As for dried fruit - better than a candy bar, just be aware of the sugar/carb counts.

Hope that helps.

MichelleLaree13

Most store bought banana chips are covered with oil, sugar and salt... not so good for you. The homemade kind are just dried bananas... good for you. It is important to remember like 12 banana chips equals a banana so dont go crazy.

omgiacobbi

Both are fine, just in moderation.
I LOVE banana chips. So amazing.

enliven_mal

Well, I am Canadian, and if I buy banana chips, I am buying them from Bulk Barn (which is just a store to buy bulk, loose food from). They list ingredients and nutritional information on their website, so I pulled up banana chips.

http://www.bulkbarn.ca/en-ca/products.html?product=2558&search=banana+chips

With a 100 gram serving, it has over 500 calories. If you are measuring and weighing your food, no worries - you can control that. I have a hard time. They are also sweetened with sugar and contain banana flavour. Gross.
In my opinion, I would just eat a banana instead.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1846/2
You don't have to sweeten it with sugar, and it is already quite banana-y tasting!

Eating food in it's most pure form is always more healthy than eating 'chips!'

As for the almonds - think about what the food manufactures are doing to cause the cinnamon to adhere to the almonds, and then not go rancid.
Roasting your own almonds at home are better, but I suppose if you had to choose between a chocolate bar, and one of your snacks, you've made the right choice.

ediths6

no bad foods
these are high in calories and contain many nutrients

moderation theyre yummy sounding and energy dense so carefull with that otherwise ENJOY!

ALH1981

guys - hate to break the news but banana chips are usually friend and baked. Hence lots of oil.

Refer below - 1/3 of a cup is about 150 calories - realistially thats acually only a few pieces!!

http://www.sparkpeople.com/calories-in.asp?food=dried+banana+chips

And while cinnamon is great, and so is almonds (althoguh again high in calories, albeit good fat) its very likely that to get the cinnamon on them they were first sugar coated or raosted - again hence alot of calories!

http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/emerald/cinnamon-roast-almonds/

nutitonally they are both probbaley better than candy bars but they are high in calories for dieters!

vengefullilac

so WHAT DO I do?? throw it all away and waste my money???

daffodilsoup

so WHAT DO I do?? throw it all away and waste my money???

Just fit them into your daily allotment of calories. It might help if you portion them out into individual baggies though.

MelissaGraham7

agree with the above - dried foods typically not a great choice and although almonds are great, anything covered with something usually gets there by added fats and sugars. Bottom line is read the label. If it has added sugars and fats, you probably don't want it as a "healthy" snack. However, if you just want it and watch the portions, treats are fine (I had homemade oatmeal cookies for breakfast so who I am kidding? :blushing:

126siany

so WHAT DO I do?? throw it all away and waste my money???

Just fit them into your daily allotment of calories. It might help if you portion them out into individual baggies though.

I do this with any dry, calorie-dense snack. I bring the package and the snack-sized ziplock bags right over to the food scale and portion everything out as soon as I get home from buying it!

ALH1981

i know this will bring alot of anger when i say it but 'wasting your money' might be an excuse to eat crappy food... (!!!) - if it were me, i'd take the hit on the 7 dollars you spent and think abotu my weightloss journey... 7 dollars in the big scheme of things...??? YOur call.

or yes, you can just fit into your calorie allowance - although i'm thikning it wouldnt be much to really put the calorie allotment through the roof!!!

Lift_hard_eat_big

Enjoy the yummy eats :-)

CarmenSRT

In moderation both are fine. Personally I like home dried banana chips. I dry them in my dehydrator. They are wonderful. :bigsmile: