Why Potato Chips Are Evil

Have the pounds crept up on you over the years? You’re not alone.

A study that tracked more than 120,000 Americans for more than two decades found that people gain an average of 3.35 pounds every four years.

Why?

Well, they exercise less and watch more TV as they age. As far as diet is concerned, big contributors to weight gain include the consumption of red and processed meats, sugary beverages, and potatoes (as in mashed or French fries).

But the biggest weight-gain culprit is potato chips. “The coating of salt, the fat content that rewards the brain with instant feelings of pleasure, the sugar that exists not as an additive but in the starch of the potato itself—all of this combines to make it the perfect addictive food,” reports Michael Moss in the New York Times article “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food.”

This is why no mere mortal can eat just one chip. The aforementioned starch spikes the glucose levels in your blood, which makes you want to eat more and more chips.

If you’re a potato chip junkie looking to wean yourself from your habit, try this vitamin-rich sweet potato chip recipe instead.