Snack Chat

For Those About To Snack, We've Got Good News!

Growing up, my mother used to tell me snacks were just junk food. However, a study recently published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association might leave her singing a different tune. It found that the more often a person snacks, the higher quality their diet. That is, people who snack have higher intakes of fruit, milk, whole grains and vegetable oils* and lower intakes of sodium.

To conduct the study, the researchers looked at 24-hour dietary recall data from 11,209 adult subjects who participated in the 1999 - 2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Their diets were then assessed using a tool from the United States Dietary Association (USDA) called the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) which measures a person’s compliance with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The results showed that people who snack more, even up to four snacks per day, have higher HEI scores than people who do not snack. The study also found that people who snack eat fewer vegetables and less meat, beans, solid fat (which is high in the “bad” saturated fat that increases cholesterol), alcohol and added sugars.

So what does this mean for you as a Frito-Lay fan? You don’t have to feel bad about having your favorite chips as a snack. Just remember, when you choose your snacks, think about two things: 1) always pay attention to serving sizes and control your portions and 2) try to choose snacks that provide important food groups and nutrients, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, potassium, calcium and fiber, to help you boost your own personal HEI score.  

You can check out the full snacking study here.

- Danielle

*Vegetable oils are considered heart healthy because they are made with less than 20% of the bad saturated fat that raises cholesterol, greater than 80% of the good mono- and polyunsaturated fat that helps to lower cholesterol, and 0g trans fat.

Meet our Creative Fan of the Month, Henrietta Newman!

Every month, we’re highlighting a new Frito-Lay fan and sharing the fan’s fun facts and snacking tips. If you would like to be part of our fan program, sign up here, and you just might be featured as a Fan of the Month in the future!

We’d like you to meet this month’s Fan of the Month, Henrietta Newman (pictured below)! She’s a simple gal who loves chickens and knows how to always be herself!  Read on to learn more about our creative Fan of the Month!    

Favorite Frito-Lay snack:

Tostitos Restaurant Style tortilla chips & Tostitos Multigrain tortilla chips are my favorites – love the satisfying crunch! 

Favorite dip recipe or way to enjoy your chips: 

Honestly, I’m a simple girl and truly love just popping open a fresh jar of Tostitos All Natural Chunky Salsa (mild), grabbing a bowl full of chips and digging in. I wouldn’t turn down a good veggie or spinach dip, though!

If you could be a Frito-Lay chip, which would you be and why? 

I would like to be a Lay’s Natural Sea Salt flavored thick cut potato chip because it’s always best to be yourself!

What extreme ingredient would you like to see our chef use in a Fritos Pie Remix recipe?

My hubby says bacon! Sounds good to me!

Which chips would you pair together to make a new snack mix?

I think Lay’s Balsamic Sweet Onion flavored chips and Lay’s Creamy Garden Ranch flavored chips would be really tasty together!

What are some tips you can share for snacking smarter or living healthier?

Whatever you do, do not forbid yourself from having your favorite snacks! It’s good to indulge once in a while, as long as you don’t go overboard. I find when I try to keep myself from eating something, I just want it more! Eat it, enjoy it and move on.

If you got to work at Frito-Lay for a day, what role would you want to be in and why?

I’d love to be an assistant in the kitchen helping, watching and creating alongside the executive chef! How fun that would be!

Give us 3 fun facts about yourself:

1. I’m a chicken lover – live chickens that is – we have 20 of them in the coop out back. We named one of our roosters Clint Eastwood. : )
2. I’m terrified of tornadoes, spiders and mean people.
3. I love being creative - crocheting, baking, reading, gaming and blogging all keep me (kind of) sane and give me an outlet for the imagination my mom always told me to keep using!

 Most memorable Frito-Lay snacking moment:

I can vividly remember piling a sandwich high with Fritos corn chips as a little girl. That moment when you place the top piece of bread on and gently press down until you hear the crunch is almost as good as the first bite.

Tell us why you are a Frito-Lay Fan:

Growing up with Fritos original corn chips, many, many boxes of Cracker Jack popcorn and other assorted Frito-Lay snacks has made me a lifelong fan. It feels good knowing that I can find both healthier and indulgent snacks that the entire family will enjoy, all from the same big brand that we love! 

A big thank you to Henrietta for being our December Fan of the Month and for being a lifelong fan of so many of our snacks! You can learn more about Henrietta on her blog, A Hen’s Nest, and by following her on Twitter. And, come visit us again next year in January to meet our next Frito-Lay Fan of the Month right here on Snack Chat. 

- Joe

 

Dishing up Frito-Lay Fans’ Favorite Recipes in Our New E-cookbook

How do Sweet Onion Balsamic Bleu Chicken Burgers, Old Fashioned Apple Dumplings and Chipotle Chicken Mac and Cheese sound to you? Delicious, right? Well, now you can try these recipes -- and more -- with our own Tastes from Home by Frito-Lay Fans e-cookbook.

If you’re a regular Snack Chat reader, you probably remember our recent recipe contest and Ustream live event called Tastes from Home with Frito-Lay.  This program for Frito-Lay fans was inspired by our Lay’s Regional Flavored potato chips, which represent the best regional flavors from across the U.S. We asked fans to submit recipes that reminded them of the flavors from their homes or were inspired by Lay’s Regional Flavored potato chips. We received over 140 recipe submissions, and now we’ve compiled them into our first ever digital cookbook, Tastes from Home by Frito-Lay Fans.

You can check out the cookbook and all the delicious recipes fans sent us here, or you can check out the cookbook anytime in the Recipe section of FritoLay.com. So download, dish and devour each page of this tasty creation because we want to hear which recipes are your favorites! 

We’ll be hosting a Twitter sweepstakes December 6 to celebrate our fan cookbook. Watch for a Tweet from @FritoLay, and share which recipe from the collection is your favorite using #FritoFlavors to enter for the chance to win one of our five fun prizes, which include a Frito-Lay apron and five coupons for chips!  See full rules, here.

Thank you to all of our fans who participated in our Tastes from Home with Frito-Lay recipe contest – we couldn’t have compiled such an amazing collection of flavors without your recipes! 

- Kristin

Frito-Lay Gets Physical for Heart Health

High blood pressure and cholesterol are two genetic traits that unfortunately run in my family. Being susceptible to both means I'm also at a greater risk of heart disease. To combat this, I do my best to make sure I exercise regularly and eat right. Mainly, I stay healthy by distance running (that's a photo of my girlfriend and me at a race this summer). I've been known to run close to 40 miles at a time just for the heck of it, and I even picked my new apartment because its proximity would allow me to run to work.

Since I put a priority on my heart health, it's nice to know that Frito-Lay does as well. Around here, it's not uncommon to see people walking the halls instead of using meeting rooms, coworkers utilizing the stairwells as walking paths during their breaks or groups of runners getting in their cardio on our outdoor trail. Because of this and more, Frito-Lay was recently named a Fit-Friendly Company and awarded "Gold-level" recognition by the American Heart Assocation (AHA).

Being a Fit-Friendly Company means Frito-Lay goes above and beyond when it comes to its employees' health. Below are some of the ways we achieved "Gold-level" recognition:

• Offering employees physical activity support by encouraging stretch breaks and giving access to a gym and other fitness resources such as a running trail, personal trainers, yoga instructors and other fitness classes.
• Providing healthy food options including fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and meals designated as heart healthy by the AHA.
• Organizing and promoting employee health programs and having a wellness promotion staff member available to employees for consultation.
• Creating incentive programs such as "60 workouts in 6 months," which rewarded employees for making exercise a regular part of their week. 

The hard work put in by the employees that run our Fitness Center also earned the company a 2011 Worksite Innovation award. The Fitness Center team developed and implemented innovative and effective programs both internally and externally, including a trip to a local high school to promote proper nutrition, physical activity and self-esteem to students. At the school, more than 400 students participated in a yoga class before they learned healthy eating tips and created dreamboards to help boost self-esteem and establish long and short-term goals. Internally, the Fitness Center offers services including on-site mammograms, flu shots and blood chemistry exams as well as other health and wellness programs that align with the AHA's Simple 7.

Does your company offer a health and wellness program? Do you do have tips or tricks you use to fit in exercise throughout the day?

- Joe

We're Heading West for the Food and Nutrition Conference Expo!

Today, we’re excited to introduce a new member of the Snack Chat blogging team, Katherine Francis! Katherine is a registered dietitian who works in our Research & Development organization here at Frito-Lay headquarters. She’ll be blogging on Snack Chat about the work she and her team are doing to advocate sensible snacking and nutrition from product development to consumer enjoyment. Welcome, Katherine! - Kristin

The Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE) is the Super Bowl of nutrition conferences. As a registered dietitian (RD), I have the privilege this week of joining thousands of RDs from all over the country in sunny San Diego to participate in the annual event, which kicks off today! The conference boasts presentations and discussions of current research topics, networking with colleagues, and an enormous exhibit hall where attendees have the chance to talk with industry representatives, sample new products, pick up new educational materials and participate in drawings.

A lot of activity surrounds the Frito-Lay booth this year. The dietitians who visit it will be able to sample new products, including Lay’s Garden Tomato Basil Potato Chips and SunChips Jalapeño Jack Multigrain Snacks – both made with all natural ingredients. My fellow attendees will also be able to sample products to which we have made positive nutrition changes, such as Lay’s BBQ Potato Chips - a great example of how we are reducing sodium by nearly 25% on average across our flavored potato chip lines.

To share a ‘sneak peek’ behind the scenes at Frito-Lay, we often take RDs into our plants to illustrate how our chips are made with simple ingredients by simple processes. This year, we have brought the plant tour to FNCE! By sharing step-by-step information about how we make our snacks, dietitians will understand, how we start with whole corn kernels and end up with Tostitos Tortilla Chips -- and how potatoes become potato chips in less than 15 minutes. In addition to those great activities, we have a surprise for those who want to test their chip knowledge: A ‘Chip Challenge’ they can enter at the booth or on Twitter -- and one lucky participant will win a relaxing day at the spa to relieve that post-FNCE stress!

FNCE is always a very fun weekend for me -- I love running into college peers and professors, as well as networking with other dietitians and having the opportunity to share what we are doing here at Frito-Lay to improve the nutritional quality of America’s favorite snack chips through innovation.

If you’re at FNCE this week, stop by our booth, say hello and take our Chip Challenge! See you there.

- Katherine