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Microwave pork rinds are a wonderful way to help lose weight if you are on a no carb or low carb diet. (They are also great if you just love pork rinds.) The Atkins Diet, Sugar Busters, South Beach, and many other low carb diets recommend pork rinds as one of the very few crunchy, salty treats you are allowed to have. That's because pork rinds have zero carbs.

Unfortunately, the remaining nutritional values of traditional pork rinds are pretty grim. They are loaded with fat, salt, cholesterol and calories. That's because traditional pork rinds are deep fried. However, there now exists a far healthier version of pork rinds - microwave pork rinds. Microwave pork rinds are not deep fried. They are cooked in a microwave oven which makes them have 65% less fat, 33% less salt, 32 mg less cholesterol and 40 calories less per serving than regular deep fried pork rinds.

Per one ounce serving, microwave pork rinds have only 120 calories (only 30 calories from fat), 3.5 grams of fat, one gram of saturated fat, zero trans fat, 10 mg of cholesterol, 370 mg of salt, zero sugar and 23 grams of protein. This makes them much healthier than most potato chips - plus, no carbs.

Microwave cooking makes all the difference in the world as far as the nutritional aspects of pork rinds. Contrary to popular opinion, pork rinds are not deep fried pork fat. They are deep fried, dehydrated pieces of pork skin. It's the deep frying that makes regular pork rinds so fattening.

Microwave pork rinds used to be available in super markets in small bags similar to microwave popcorn. These versions have been discontinued by most major manufacturers. One main reason is because of the different strengths of microwave ovens. A customer would follow the directions on the package only to end up with poor results because their microwave's strength varied from the one used by the manufacturer.

Now there is a version of microwave pork rinds that solves that problem. You can now buy the microwave pork rinds in bulk. There are 10 one ounce servings per container. The first batch you cook will kind of be a trial run. If some pork rinds don't puff up all the way, or if some burn, you can adjust the cooking time and solve that problem for the remaining other nine batches. (Most, if not all, of the pork rinds in your first batch will turn out fine also.)

Cooking microwave pork rinds couldn't be easier. Just put a small handful of the pre-cooked pork rinds (about one ounce or cup) into a regular sandwich bag. Fold the end of the bag shut and lay the bag on it's side in the microwave. Shake the bag so the pork rinds are not stacked up on top of each other. Microwave for about 99 seconds. Adjust the cooking time for future batches, if you need to. The pork rinds are great with salsa, dips, or cheese melted over the top of them.

Once customers find a source for microwave pork rinds, and try them, they become hooked on them. They look and taste just like the deep fried kind except they are less salty and lighter in taste. When you pour them out of the bag into a bowl, they are still snapping, crackling and popping - just as fresh as can be. You can make just one ounce at a time and don't have to worry about them going stale. You can also buy flavoring powders such as BBQ, Ranch, Hot & Spicy, Cheddar Cheese, etc.

Due to the difficulty in finding microwave pork rinds, and because of the dramatically healthier features they posses, when customers do find them, they tend to order large amounts of them at a time. Many customers save a huge amount in shipping costs by ordering $50.00 and $60.00 worth at a time. Plus, they figure that if the source for them ever dries up, at least they will have a large stash of them to last them for a while.

It's surprising that so many people buy microwave pork rinds for the flavor and freshness features as they do for the healthy aspects. Nevertheless, they are a God send for people watching their weight. If other people like them too, well, that's just fine.

James L. Miller is the owner of Microwave Pork Rinds Online
http://www.microwaveporkrindsonline.com and Cherry Orchard Foods
http://www.cherryorchardfoods.com and Kid's Entertainment Business
http://www.kidsentertainmentbusiness.com