nutritious junk

My dad’s distant cousin owned an apartment on 83^rd and Broadway in New York. If you are well acquainted with New York, you know that this is basically the location of the infamous H&H bagel shop.

Bagels are cool. I mean they look like donuts (or oversized cheerios), come in a variety of flavors, and you can eat em for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! But, they are usually calorie packed and some came rack up to as much as 400 calories! Although most have little to no fat, its usually the dense white flour that adds a lot of carbs to them. So thankfully, Western Bagel has churned out "The Alternative Bagel" or bascially, a lower calories, lower carb bagel. Now looking at the label, this bagel looks good: 110 calories per bagel and with a good source of fiber (made with whole wheat flour, not white). And, its tastes pretty good too! i thought it would be airy and kinda weird, but it tasted like a bagel. When i looked at some other "regular" bagels' lables, i realized Western Bagels little trick: their bagels are only 2oz whereas most other bagels are three, four, and even five oz! But most bagels seem too big to me anyways, so i am content. They come in a variety of flavors but my favorite in cinnamon spice!

Being half Israeli and visiting Israel so often, i am always exposed to pitas stuffed with falafles and the like. In some cases this Mediterrainian type cuisine it actually pretty healthy. I must admit Israel doesn't boast many obese or fat people for that matter. But at least the pitas I've seen around here (in the States) can be loaded you what i like to call, "stupid calories" meaning its basically all from refined, white flour. Thankfully, there is a product called "The Alternative Pita" which offers a very impressive 7 grams of fiber and a mere 110 calories per pita! ok, so we know the nutrition is good, but how is it in terms of taste? Well, to be honest, I have had better pita, but the better pita was freshly baked and from a steet vendor in Israel (who can compete with that?). For a pre-package pita it was pretty good and didn't taste like it would be reduced cal food. What I really like about the pita is the possibilities it has! you can go savory and put some low fat cheese and fresh tomato sauce with some basil, stuff it with your favorite protein fillings, etc..or you can go sweet and spray some butter-spray (or Pam) and dust some cinnamon and splenda on it! Its about the same price as the rival regular pitas, so it'll keep your wallet nice and fat (although it'll leave you slim, i promise)