Work at Home Offers

Looking for work? Beware of work from home offers. Here's what the Better Business Bureau says about them:

"Legitimate companies do not hire people to work at home stuffing envelopes, clipping coupons, assembling crafts, doing data entry, reading or selling advertisements on the Internet. Legitimate companies would never ask you to send money, they simply hire you and pay you."

That's the big tip off; most of these companies charge you a fee in exchange for employment. And that's illegal in B.C.

Think about it -- you walk down the street looking for a job -- they don't charge you a fee to get that job. Working at home is no different. Period.

Other tip offs, the BBB reports that 'earn money at home' schemes generally require you to buy something before you can begin work. If you answer an ad offering you income for a work-at-home plan, for which there is supposedly a great demand, and which will require no experience on your part, you will probably wind up spending money instead of earning it.

While ads claim high earnings and short hours with little or no experience, Better Business Bureau files nationwide indicate no evidence of anyone making the promised money except the company "selling" jobs.

How do Veggie Chips Stack Up

The good old potato chip has been around since 1853 when chef George Crum invented them by accident. He had a very annoying customer who thought his French fries were too thick.

To get revenge, George cut his fries super thin-- too thin and too crisp to eat with a fork. But the customer loved them -- and soon everyone was asking for George's - chips

Well, here we are 155 years later -- chips are still with us -- and now they are made out of more than potatoes. We asked potential testers what they thought of the idea of a veggie chip.

"Unusual," said one wary tester.

"Sounds healthy," suggested another.

Veggie chips sound healthier -- but are they really?

"It's basically like a less evil potato chip," said registered dietician Patricia Chuey.

She says once you make a vegetable into a chip you're going to get more calories than you need.

"You're going to get more fat because they're still fried or even baked in some oil and sodium or salt is going to be much higher than if you were having fresh vegetables," she warns.

She advises don't eat them as a replacement for fresh fruits and vegetables.

But how would they stack up as a sometimes snack food? We put two head to head.

The Terra brand Zesty Tomato has 250 calories in 18 chips and almost one gram of fat per chip. The Flat EarthVeggie Crisps, which boasts 'half a serving of real vegetables', has about half the fat but almost the same amount of calories.

"A" was the Terra Zesty Tomato.

And "B" the Flat Earth Tangy Tomato Ranch.

"B tastes more like a cheesy," noted one little tester.

"I like A better because these ones taste like cardboard," complained another.

When the votes were counted 40 per cent liked the Terra Brand, and 60 per cent preferred Flat Earth

Some testers said they'd still prefer a regular potato chip as a snack food.

If you want to check to see if you are eating well, check out the Canada Food Guide:

it's designed to meet your needs for vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.

As well as reduce your risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and certain types of cancer and osteoporosis.

One of the things it recommends is reading labels to really know what's in side a package.

Here's a general rule of thumb. The more processing involved, the further the food is from its natural state, the less healthy it is. It may not be unhealthy but it's often missing something that was there in the original, like fiber for example, or things are added in like sugar, sodium, oil and fat.

With a report by CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen.