nutritious junk

Well, i am usually not a wheat thins fan (i am more of a triscuit gal) but an ad in SELF magazine that i was skimming while in line at the store somehow got me to give new cinnamon wheat thins a shot. looking at the nutrtionals, i am shocked it was advertised in health-type magazine! a serving is 39 gm which i am assuming is about 7 crackers, each serving is 140 calories, 5 grams of fat (1 saturated), 1 pathetic gram of fiber and 5 grams of sugar. ok, i realize this is better than cookies, but there are way healther crackers out there. It still had the signature wheat thins taste which i am not head over heels for, with a very very faint essence of cinnamon. I didnt hate it, but it was extremly underwhelmed cause i looooove cinnamon. Going against their tag like "looks good, feels good", this looked good, and umm....

Ever since Atkin's revolutionized pop culture with everyone shunning bread and pasta, it seemed that pasta would never see kitchen tables again, well, if you were watching your weight anyway. In turn, many companies have prounced on the opptunity to develop a healthier, lighter, and more fiber filled alternative. Shiritaki is very popular as a noodle subsitute, but to be honest, its does not cure my pasta craving. Enter, Fiber Gourmet which according to them is, "a food technology company. We’re dedicated to creating reduced-calorie, high-fiber products that taste good and are good for you. " And thanks to their free sample they sent me, i gave this pasta a taste. I like that is was actually white and not brown like other lower carb pastas. a serving has 130 calories with a very impressive 18 grams of fiber. It didn't taste gritty, but more "floury" if that makes sense. Its not bad at all, and i bet with a good sauce, an Italian won't know the difference. If its the real pasta essence you want (and not just limpy noodles like Shiritaki), give this pasta a shot cause its close (although defienetly different) to the real deal. You can purchase it online http://www.fibergourmet.com/Default.aspx

And thank you Ari for sending me a free sample!

I cant get over the name of this product, cute, very cute, and extra points for the colorful packaging. I am a devotee of La Tortilla Factory's low carb tortillas cause those are damn good and packed with fiber and only 50 calories for the normal sized tortillas. But i decided to give "flat out" a try. 1 flat bread is 90 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 9 grams of fiber, and 9 grams of protein. nutritionally, very good! i tasted the Italian herb kind, and thought is might taste like the tortillas, but no, there is a BIG difference. the flatbread is a lot more floury, or "doughy" and a tad bit gritty, although not bad at all. the flavor was great, like a good herb infused Italian bread. But what really got on my nerves wad the tiny whole in it! my filling totally leaked, you definitely need dry fillers for this bread. Its nicely sized, tastes pretty good, and impresses nutritionally so overall, a good alternative to standard white lavash bread. I still will be devoted to the tortillas since they are more promising in the filling dept thought. I didn't "flat out" (come on, i just HAD to use that pun as cheesy as it is) love it, but it get a thumbs up from me, albeit not an enthusiastic one.

Again i try a "diet" product, and as many of you know, i hate buying "diet" stuff like weight watchers and special K and all that. Anyhow, i didn't purchase these, but they were giving out samples at Costco today. I tried the peanut butter chocolate chip snack bar given to me by old costco lady employee with a hairnet and gloves (as if she's cooking cafeteria food??? all she did was dice up the bars and put them in plastic cups!). It was pretty good, reminiscent of chewy bars but actually, not so much the Fiber One bars. I prefered the Fiber One bars, these were fine, but the chocolate taste was barely noticable (and i love my chocolate shining through the food they're laced in). As promised, these indeed are 100 calories each with an impressive 8 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber. I am assuming this nice protien fiber combo can curb hunger pangs but i am sorry to say i cant validate this since costco only gave me about 1/8 of a bar :(. But i dont think i'll by buying this, the taste wasnt worth the humiliation of buying a "diet" product. Believe me, i get enough eye rolls for buying diet sunkist.

I appologize for the redundant cereal reviews, i promise i'll do other stuff not cereal related next time. But i had to post about Kashi Go Lean Crunch because they are giving it away on their site! MMMM....free food! but ya know, my soyjoy bars were free, and they tasted like clay, so i figured the company was desperate to get these gross things out there since their taste alone wouldn't do the trick. But no, Kashi people got the right idea, because one taste of this cereal, and yes, you actually would go out and buy it. Nutrtionally, its not terrible. A heavy 53 gram (1 cup) serving is 190 calories, 3 grams of fat (no saturated fat thank god), an impressive 9 grams of protien, and 8 grams of fiber. Pretty good, although the sugar content is a teeny bit high (13 grams) but its no where close to other conventional cereals out there. Plus, the protein and fiber content is so impressive, i am beginning to forgive the slightly high sugar. Anyhow, they taste just GREAT. its like their puffed kashi, only clustered and extra crunchy and sweet (dont worry, not too sweet). I could definetly eat this as a snack instead of popcorn or on top of yogurt or baked apples. Come to think of it, i really like the Kashi company, i haven't tried one of their cereals that didnt taste good. And when i heard they were giving out FREE cereal, i logged on right away and got my free box. Go get Go Lean Crunch!

Fiber One should have a myspace page. Seriously, it would have so many friends, way more than me (cause i dont provide you with you daily fiber dose nor am i crunchy and delcious). Fiber one has a number of hits under its belt, their classic cereal is great fiber insurance, their honey clusters are a nice and sweeter take, and lets not forget their new yummy bars. But they have another product to wow us over, their raisn bran clusters. Nutrtionally they are ok, 170 calories for a heavy 1 cup weighing in at 55 gm serving with 11 grams of fiber. But looking at he ingredients, i must say i was quite shocked. Cause guess what, the third ingredient is, yup, sugar. A couple ingredients down is some more shockers like corn syrup, salt, brown sugar, and brown sugar syrup. hmmmm....why all the sweetners? The Optimum Power Breakfast tasted sweeter than this one and it didnt have all these added sugars! Anyhow, taste wise, i must say i was a bit disappointed too. Maybe cause i am biased and dont fancy raisins all that much, but really, these flakes were not something special and actually tasted a little strange. I dont even like raisin bran, but i'd say the raisin bran flakes taste better than these mock ups. I know, its tempting to buy new products especially from a tried and true company like Fiber One, but skip this one. Get the original Fiber One or get Raisin Bran, its like getting a "Prado" bag instead of a Prada one. So dont fall for this silly imitation.