Day 19 - In A World Where Crunch Equals Fat

The second axiom of nutritional eating, behind "if it tastes good, it must be bad for you," has to be "if it crunches then it must be made with fat."  Think about it.  Crackers, chips, all the great salty snacks in the world are usually loaded with fat. Even "baked" junk food has fat to make it crunchy.  I'm sure without fat, all snack foods would be limp and bland.   There is probably some chemist or physicist out there who can tell me why this is, but it was brought home when I went out and tried to find a cracker that didn't contain fat.  You'd think it would be easy since there are fat-free cookies.  But then I realized that in baked sweets, the fat is replaced by something sweet, usually more sugar.  And a cracker can really be sweet -- or it would be a cookie.

The closest I could come to a fat-free cracker was the KaMe brand of rice crackers -- until I stumbled across the Feng Shui band of rice crackers.  And there it was -- absolutely no fat!  Also, no gluten.  It's not whole grain, but for the occasional handful of crackers, I'm not going to feel guilty.  I know this shouldn't be a big deal, but texture can become very important when a craving strikes and the crunch of a potato chip or a cracker is just one of those things that you have to experience.

Of course, if you can't find them at your grocery store, you can find them online, direct from the distributor, Roland Foods.  They come in Nori, Wasabi and Original flavors.  And I can testify that they are especially good with hummus and some sliced crudite.

Another great choice is JJ Flats flatbread crackers.  Only one of the varieties is no-fat and that's the seven-grain.  This is a substantial cracker, very crisp, actually hard.  But it's great with hearty soups and you don't need a lot to get that feeling of "crunch."  Note that the ingredients don't contain any added oil, but they do have a small amount of fat from the whole grains.  I consider this no-fat.  You may feel differently,

I make my own hummus now since the store brands have added oils which means added fat -- disproving the reverse of my axiom that all crunch equals fat--not all fat equals crunch.   And there are so many tasty things to chop up and add to hummus.  It's like chip dip for healthy eaters.  I'm not very accurate on my measurements here because you should experiment and add garlic and cumin to your own tastes.  But I always try to keep a small container of hummus in the fridge for those times when I need just a little something to eat.

No (Added) Fat Hummus

1 15 oz. can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
2-4 cloves of garlic
1 t. ground cumin (more to taste)
small amount of vegetable broth or water

Whip up in food processor or blender until smooth.  Add more liquid as needed.  Add roasted red peppers, dry pack sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, or small amount of kalamata olives  They can be blended in or chopped and stirred in.  Refrigerate overnight to let the flavors intensify.