Chips and other salty snacks are under renovation.

Of course, you can still buy a bag of Lay's, Tostitos, Doritos, or dozens of other old standbys. But now you can also find dozens of new varieties-with whole grains, vegetables, soy, less or no salt, less or no fat, or 0 grams trans. And many are tucked into sleek designer packages worthy of a spot on your coffee table.

The question is: are the snacks inside any better for you? Most aren't. With a few exceptions, their underlying flaw isn't salt or bad fat. It's the same problem that has dogged salty snacks since day one; they're calorie-dense, hard-to-resit foods with few redeeming nutrients.

That's why we handed out no Best Bites and only a handful of Honorable Mentions to chips made from sweet potatoes. At least they supply some vitamin A and a bit more fiber to help offset their potential to expand your belt size.

The bottom line: 1-oz. serving of chips-typically 12 to 20-won't hurt you. But even if the come without salt or fat or with whole grains or sweet potato, you've got to watch the calories.

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Honorable Mention Chips () have sweet potato as the first ingredient. They also contain no more than 1 gram of saturated fat (none have trans fat) and 150 mg of sodium in a one-ounce serving. (No white potato, tortilla, or corn chips or pretzels had enough nutrients for an Honorable Mention.) Check the package's Nutrition Facts label to see how much is in one ounce. If it doesn't say, assume roughly 15 potato chips, 12 tortilla chips, 1 large hard pretzel, or 20 mini pretzels. Snacks are ranked from least to most bad fat, then least to most sodium and most to least fiber. (Download this chart)

	Potato & Vegetable Chips	Calories	Saturated+ Trans Fat (g)	Sodium (mg)	Fiber (g)
	Kettle Bakes	120	0	150	2
	Pringles Fat Free	70	0	170	1
	Lay's Light or Ruffles Light	70	0	220	1
	Terra Unsalted	150	.5	0	1
	Michael Season's Reduced Fat, Unsalted	140	.5	10	1
	Terra Sweets & Beets	150	.5	10	1
	Terra Taro or Parsnip	150	.5	70	4
	Michael Season's Reduced Fat - except Unsalted	140	.5	170	1
	Lay's Baked or Ruffles Baked	120	.5	210	2
	Kettle Unsalted	150	1	0	2
	Terra Sweet Potato (buy)	160	1	10	3
	Lay's Lightly Salted	150	1	90	1
	Terra - Mediterranean or Original	150	1	100	3
	Terra Spiced Sweet Potato (buy)	160	1	150	2
	Kettle - except Bakes or Unsalted	150	1	160	2
	Ruffles - Reduced Fat or Natural Reduced Fat	140	1	170	1
	Lay's Stax	150	1	190	1
	Lay's - except Baked, Lightly Salted, Light, or Stax	150	1	230	1
	Pringles Select Cinnamon Sweet Potato	150	1.5	20	1
	Pringles Select - except Cinnamon Sweet Potato	140	1.5	190	1
	Ruffles - except Light, Baked, or Reduced Fat	160	1.5	190	1
	Pringles Reduced Fat	140	2.5	140	0
	Cosi Kettle - Cooked	150	2.5	170	1
	Pringles - except Fat Free, Reduced Fat, or Select	150	3	190	1

	Tortilla & Corn Chips	Calories	Saturated+ Trans Fat (g)	Sodium (mg)	Fiber (g)
	Guiltless Gourmet Baked, Unsalted	110	0	30	2
	Tostitos Light	90	0	110	1
	Guiltless Gourmet Baked - except Unsalted	110	0	180	2
	Garden of Eatin' Unsalted Blue	140	.5	10	2
	Tostitos Natural	140	.5	80	1
	Garden of Eatin' - except Unsalted Blue	140	.5	100	2
	Tostitos Baked	120	.5	150	2
	Doritos - Light or Baked	110	.5	210	2
	Tostitos - except Natural, Baked, or Light	140	1	110	1
	Doritos - except Light or Baked	140	1	200	1
	Fritos	160	1.5	200	1

	Pita Chips	Calories	Saturated+ Trans Fat (g)	Sodium (mg)	Fiber (g)
	Athenos	120	0	280	1
	Nabisco Toasted Chips, Pita Thins	120	0	320	1
	Stacy's - Bagel or Pita	130	.5	270	2
	New York Style Bagel Crisps, Whole Wheat	120	2.5	180	2
	New York Style Pita Chips, Whole Wheat	120	2.5	350	3

	Pretzels	Calories	Saturated+ Trans Fat (g)	Sodium (mg)	Fiber (g)
	Snyder's Unsalted - Hard Sourdough or Mini	110	0	90	1
	Snyder's Honey Mustard & Onion Nibblers	130	0	100	1
	Newman's Own Organics Unsalted Rounds	110	0	110	1
	Snyder's Olde Tyme	120	0	120	1
	Snyder's MultiGrain - Olde Tyme or Lightly Salted	120	0	170	3
	Snyder's 12 Multi Grain Sticks	130	0	180	3
	Newman's Own Organics 5 Grams of Protein	120	0	230	4
	Snyder's - Hard Sourdough or Mini	110	0	250	1
	Snyder's Organic	120	0	250	1
	Newman's Own Organics - except Unsalted Rounds or 5 Grams of Protein	110	0	320	1
	Rold Gold - except Mini Sticks	110	0	480	1
	Rold Gold Mini Sticks	140	1	180	1
	Snyder's MultiGrain Honey Mustard & Onion	140	1.5	150	2
	Snyder's - Pieces or Sandwiches	140	3	230	1

	Soy Snacks	Calories	Saturated+ Trans Fat (g)	Sodium (mg)	Fiber (g)
	Michael Season's Soy Protein Chips, Original	110	0	220	4
	Glenny's Organic Soy Crisps	110	0	280	3
	Stacy's Soy Crisps	130	.5	250	3
	Robert's American Gourmet Soy Crisps	110	.5	270	2
	Genisoy	120	.5	280	2
	Quaker Soy Crisps	120	.5	340	2
	EatSmart Soy Crisps	160	1	330	5

	Puffs, Stix, Mixes, etc.	Calories	Saturated+ Trans Fat (g)	Sodium (mg)	Fiber (g)
	Robert's American Gourmet Veggie Booty	140	0	130	0
	EatSmart Baked Sweet Potato Crisps	110	0	310	1
	EatSmart CheddAirs	130	.5	140	1
	Good Health Veggie - Stix or Chips	140	.5	260	1
	EatSmart Veggie Crisps	140	.5	370	2
	Terra Stix Original (buy)	150	1	110	3
	Sun Chips	140	1	140	2
	Flat Earth Baked Veggie Crisps	130	1	200	2
	Snyder's MultiGrain Cheese Puffs	130	1	240	2
	Munchies Snack Mix	140	1	240	1
	Cheetos Baked	130	1	240	0
	Nabisco Toasted Chips - Wheat Thins or Ritz	130	1	300	1
	Cheetos - except Baked	160	22	270	1
	French's Potato Sticks	180	4.5	190	1
	Bugles	160	7.5	320	0