Baked Classics: A Healthy Snack?

Snacking can often make or break a person's healthy eating resolution. Afterall, most packaged snack choices are full of fat, sugar, and white flour.

I was recently sent some Baked Classics made by Classic Foods in order to put them through our healthy food test. These all natural, gluten free crisps look promising, but we know labels can be deceiving. So, let's see what's on the inside.

Taste wise, these crisps faired pretty well. Both the flavor and texture was nice and I easy finished the bag. In my experience, baked "healthy snacks" can sometimes seem a bit cardboard-like, but this wasn't the case. They just seemed a tad too salty to me. I think if they could reduce the salt a bit, they would still taste good, but this would reduce the sodium content some, which right now is comparable to regular chips.

Nutrition: A 1 ounce (28g) serving contains;
110 Calories3.5g of fat0g trans fat (really zero) and 0mg cholesterol 260mg of sodium19g total carbs 1g of fiber2g of sugar2g of proteinThe ingredients are all natural and nothing stands out as a red flag. The only thing that I would question is the oils used. They list canola, corn, sunflower, and/or safflower as possibilities. canola would have the lowest amount of omega-6 fatty acids which have questionable health effects. I think they would be a tad healthier if they would only use canola.

For those that prefer a sweet snack, these fit the bill. Again, the taste and texture were nice and I easily finished the single serving bag. They tasted sweet, but not too sweet and I was surprised at the low sugar content.

Nutrition: A 1 ounce (28g) serving contains;
120 Calories4g of fat0g trans fat (really zero) and 0mg cholesterol60mg of sodium19g of total carbs2g of fiber4g of sugar2g of protein
The ingredients are all natural with brown rice flour and whole grain corn flour being the primary ingredients, which are both good choices. Again, I would question the use of multi-types of oil and suggest that they go with just canola oil. They use the ingredient maltodextrin in the vanilla frosting flavoring, which is a sweet starch and is probably why the crisps taste sweet, but only contain 4 grams of sugar. Maltodextrin is absorbed as rapidly as glucose, so it could still spike insuline levels, but it's not clear how many grams are actually in the product.

Are Baked Classics as good as snacking on some vegetable sticks or a piece of fresh fruit? Of course not, but they are an excellent alternative to chips and cookies. If you are just dying for some chips or cookies, I think Baked Classics would make a good substitution. They will satisfy your craving and with only a little more than 100 calories, they won't break your diet.

They wouldn't be suitable for someone on a low carb diet and I thought the sodium was a bit high in the BBQ flavor, but other than that, they are made with ingredients you can feel good about eating and are perfect for those on a gluten free diet.

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