Chips can be healthy, and with over a half a billion meals containing home made chips consumed every year in the UK, there is no denying their popularity.

With a wide variety of chips on the market, including frozen, oven cook and microwaveable, knowing which chips are healthy can be difficult.

So, in recognition of National Chip Week, NHS Suffolk has produced a short help list that will help make tasty and healthy chip making as simple as possible:

Things to remember for healthy, tasty chips:

– Check the labelling on packets of chips to see how much saturated fat and salt the product contains. The Recommended Daily Limit for saturated fat is 20g for women and 30g for men and 6g of salt

– Consider your cooking technique – frying uses far more fat than oven baking, so cooking chips in the oven is far healthier

– Thick chips absorb less oil than thin ones so are more healthy

– A portion of oven chips will provide a 1/3 of your recommended daily amount of vitamin C

– Skin-on oven chips contain extra fibre and additional vitamin C

– Try eating your chips without any added salt – you’ll taste the real potato and soon discover the natural taste

Sally Hogg, Head of Health Improvements, NHS Suffolk said:

“There is nothing like the delicious taste and smell of a plate of chips, it’s something we all love. With recent studies showing that chip-eaters feel an increased level of calmness and cheerfulness after consumption, there’s no doubt the chip is an important and influential food stuff. By making our chips as healthy as possible they are no longer a guilty pleasure and instead are a great tasting source of vitamins and fibre.”

For further hints and tips on healthy eating, visit the Healthy Ambitions Suffolk website at www.healthyambitionssuffolk.nhs.uk