In our quest to eat healthy, it’s easy to jump to conclusions about which foods you should cut out. “I’m quitting sugar!”, “I’m going cold turkey on alcohol,” and “No more snacking for me” have all come out of my lips at one point in time. These blanket statements sound really appealing- but usually by lunchtime I find myself thigh-high in cookies or halfway through a bag of chips.

For many people (including yours truly), complete denial of our cravings usually leads to binging out on that very food a little later. I find I’m much more successful in losing weight when I approach it through moderation and finding healthy alternatives to my favorite unhealthy foods. Enter:

Healthy chips, 3 ways!

 Cheesy Carrot Bits, Spicy Zucchini Crisps, and Rosemary Garlic Potato Chips.

Let’s get to it.

Cheesy Carrot Bits:

• 7 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inches
• 1 TB coconut oil
• 4 tsp nutritional yeast
• Salt + Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil two baking pans with coconut oil, line with carrots and top with nutritional yeast, salt and pepper.

Bake for 20 minutes. Take out of oven, use tongs to flip carrots. Bake another 10-30 minutes, until brown around the edges and crispy. Lay on cooling rack to cool, sprinkle with more nutritional yeast, and enjoy!

Spicy Zucchini Crisps

• 2-3 TB flour
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp Cayenne pepper
• Salt+Pepper
• 2 medium zucchinis, sliced 1/4 inches (slightly thicker than a quarter)
• 1 TB coconut oil

 

Mix together flour, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil two baking pans with coconut oil. Dip your zucchini slices in the flour mixture, then lay on the baking sheets. Flip once so that both sides have a small coating of oil.

Bake for 10-15 minutes. Take out of oven, use tongs to flip zucchini. Bake another 10-20 minutes, until just brown and a little crispy. Lay on cooling rack to cool.

Rosemary Garlic Potato Chips:

• 3 medium sized potatoes or 6 small potatoes, peeled and sliced very thin on a mandolin
• 2 tsp rosemary
• 1-2 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper
• 1 TB olive oil

Put potato slices in a bowl, cover with cold water, and refrigerate at least an hour (this helps the chips get extra crunchy.) Dry thoroughly with a towel. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil two baking pans with oil. Lay out potato slices on pan, flip once to coat both sides. Bake for 15 minutes, take out of oven and use tongs to flip. Bake another 20-30 minutes until brown and crispy. Put in a big bowl straight out of the oven and mix with rosemary, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Lay on cooling rack to cool.

Serve the chip (or chips) of your choice with lots of hummus and fresh veggies!