“Low Calorie” doesn’t mean “Healthy”

Everyone seems to be obsessed with the term “low calorie”. Companies market their product as a “low calorie” meal or snack, which as a result, leads consumers to believe they are buying a healthy product. Unfortunately for us, “low calorie” doesn’t mean that it is “healthy”! This concept is a huge misunderstanding that I would like to clear up for everyone.

When Low Calorie doesn’t mean Healthy

I went searching for what consumers thought was a great low calorie snack for weight loss. Here are some of the most common low calorie snacks consumers suggested to others, and my suggestions of healthy alternatives.

•JELL-O Brand Gelatin and Pudding Snacks- The low calorie snack packs make this product easy to consume on a daily basis, which is concerning once you read the label and see what ingredients are listed in the product. They may be labeled as sugar-free and fat-free, but there are tons of artificial sweeteners and unhealthy ingredients you just shouldn’t be putting into your body.

Alternative- You can make your own Pudding using Dr. Oetker’s Organic Pudding mix. You can make a small batch and divide it into small serving size containers to enjoy throughout the week. This product still contains sugar, but I think this is a better alternative than the snack packs mentioned above, but still should be used only in moderation.

•Quaker® Rice Cakes - What’s not healthy about a low calorie snack that is gluten free containing 9 grams of whole grains in it? Lots of sugar and corn syrup. Once you add the sugar and corn syrup (among other things) to the healthy ingredients, it’s no longer healthy.

Alternative- If you are looking for a yummy whole grain, check out Arrowhead Mills® Organic Puff cereals. You will find that there is only one ingredient in this product, just how it should be! They taste fantastic plain or with your choice of milk.

•Popcorn- These are usually full of ingredients that are anything but real butter. Lots of chemically altered ingredients and additives.

Alternative- Buy popcorn with nothing added or make it yourself.

•Frozen Desserts- Consumers recommended Sugar-Free Fudgsicles, Low-Fat Ice Cream Bars from The Skinny Cow®, and Sugar-Free Ice Pops. Notice a common theme here? Companies are selling frozen desserts in small quantities and replace the sugar and/or fat with even more harmful artificial ingredients and tell you that they are now healthy because they have fewer amounts of calories. Sadly, a lot of consumers fall for this gimmick.

Alternative- I love Organic Blackberry Sorbet Bars by Julie’s Organic. Natural ingredients with no sugar or artificial sweeteners added. You can also try making your own healthy desserts, such as frozen grapes!

•Dannon Light ‘n Fit Non-Fat Yogurt- This is made with Splenda®, and goes along the same line as the gelatin and pudding snacks.

Alternative- All Natural Yogurt or Greek Yogurt with no added ingredients.

•100 Calorie Snack Packs- These low calorie snack packs were highly suggested by consumers, mainly due to taste and because it’s a “mindless alternative”. You can choose from cookies, crackers, and chips. Low calorie? Yes. Healthy? Not one bit. The company just provided small portions that are prepackaged and sold as low calorie. These products are full of sugar, which creates fat in your midsection. Not something you should do for fat loss, right?

Alternative- There are plenty of healthy crackers or other snacks to much on, without all of the processed ingredients, additives, and preservatives.

•Fiber One® Chewy Bars- Consumers suggested this low calorie snack because they taste like a candy bar. Not surprised, considering these snacks contain a lot of sugar and high maltose corn syrup (a sneaky way of adding a cousin of “high fructose corn syrup” into products).

Alternative- Looking for a chewy bar that tastes delicious? Check out all of the Fruit and Nut Bars by LÄRABAR®. Most of the flavors are made with healthy ingredients, with only six ingredients or less. The Pecan Pie flavor, for example, only has three ingredients; dates, pecans, and almonds. You wouldn’t believe these are healthy and low calorie once you taste how delicious these bars are.

•Campbell’s® Healthy Request® Soup- The soup may only have 90 calories per serving, but with two servings per can, most people are going to eat more than one serving. 180 calories still isn’t all that bad, but considering there are 410 mg of sodium per serving, that means you would be consuming 820 mg of sodium in just one serving. This soup may be marketed as “Heart Healthy”, but that still doesn’t make this soup healthy for you. It’s crazy how marketing works sometimes.

Alternative- Make your own homemade soup. Even if you buy an Organic or All Natural Soup with very few ingredients (think Amy’s Kitchen soups), you are still going to find more sodium than you bargained for.

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Image Credits: arrowheadmills.com; larabarstore.com

Tags: all natural, artificial ingredients, Dessert, gelatin, Healthy, Healthy Alternative, healthy snack, jell-o, Lara Bar, low calorie, low calorie snack, Nutrition, Organic, Popcorn, pudding snacks, snack, soup, sugar, USDA Organic

deluxe honeydrop™ Products

I am so excited to introduce to you healthy beverages that are new on the market! Since learning about the company’s origins, USDA Certified Organic products using simple yet beneficial ingredients, and learning how I can make my own adorable custom “bee tee”, I have recently become obsessed with this fabulous new company! The company is called deluxe honeydrop™, and I’m sure you are going to fall in love with their products as much as I have.

How it all started…

Cancer survivor David Luks developed deluxe honeydrop™ during cancer treatments at Sloan Kettering two years ago where he learned about the benefits of an organic lifestyle. With that knowledge, he decided to create a drink from the land, not the lab.

I got the idea for honeydrop in the wake of having survived cancer. One day, my nutritionist handed me an article about honey and honey’s many health benefits. The article explained that honey is a naturally sweet byproduct of pollination that contains antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins.

Like many of us, David realized that the brands that were promoting their use of honey in products were actually using mostly refined (white) sugar. This of course, defeats the purpose of trying to have a healthy beverage.

Luckily for you and me, David decided to create these healthy and delicious beverages for us – without adding sugar, corn syrup, or artificial products.

Healthy Beverages

Currently, deluxe honeydrop™ includes two organic honey infused organic juices and one organic tea. These beverages are comparable to drinks like Vitamin Water – except these are actually good for you. The beverages contain only 40 calories per serving (2 servings per 16.9 oz PBA-free, recycleable bottle) and each bottle has a spoonful of real honey from Brazil.

The flavors include:

Bee Calm – Chamomile, Tea & Honey

Bee Strong – Blueberry & Honey

Bee Alive –    Blood Orange & Honey

Benefits of Honey

Honey protects against obesity and hypertension; it is lower on the glycemic index (64) relative to sugar (100), making it a more ideal sweetener for diabetics.

Honey is also a great alternative for athletes since it contains glucose and fructose; glucose burns slowly for lasting energy, and fructose burns fast for instant energy and performance.

Honey also naturally helps alleviate sore throats, and contains antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

I seriously wonder why anyone would anyone want to use processed sugar over honey!

Where to Buy

This is still a relatively new product, so you will want to make sure that you find or request honeydrop™ beverages at your local grocery or health food store!

Right now,  there are 125 Whole Foods stores across the country carrying deluxe honeydrop™ beverages,  with more expansion planned in 2011.

Enjoy the delicious low calorie beverages, and let me know which one is your favorite – I know, hard to choose which one, right?!

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Image credits: honeydrop.com

Tags: antioxident, athlete, bee, beverage, Blood Orange, Blueberry, chamomile, David Luks, deluxe honeydrop™, diabetic, Fructose, glucose, Health, health food store, Healthy, healthy lifestyle, honey, honeydrop™, hypertension, low calorie, minerals, natural sugar, obesity, organic living, processed Sugar, product review, Sore Throat, sugar, sweetener, tea, USDA Organic, vitamins, Whole Foods

Organic Flax Plus Maple Pecan Crunch by Nature’s Path

This cereal has wonderful ingredients to truly benefit from, such as rolled oats, wheat bran, pecans, flax, brown rice flour, sea salt, cinnamon…you name it! As many of my readers know, I am a huge fan of Organic products. I know and appreciate the nutritional value of Organic products, and this is a certified USDA Organic cereal.

What is this cereal missing? Well, it does NOT include things like Trans Fat (which are formed when liquid oils are made into solid fats…not so good), it has Zero Cholesterol, and if you are a Vegetarian…you are in luck! This cereal doesn’t have any ingredients that come from meat, such as fish, fowl, or eggs, which you can thank the wonderful founders for, since it agrees with their personal beliefs and lifestyle.

So this cereal has a lot of healthy “stuff” in it. So the next important question is, “Does this cereal even taste good?” Let’s put it this way. This is seriously one of my favorite cold cereals right now. It has all of Nature’s love packed into one cereal! You will actually look forward to eating breakfast again! This cereal tastes great, and is something you will truly enjoy!

Serving: ¾ cup

Calories: 220

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Tags: brown rice, brown rice flour, cereal, cinnamon, delicious, flax, Healthy, healthy breakfast, no high fructose corn syrup, no trans fats, nutritious, Organic, pecan, rolled oats, sea salt, tastes great, USDA Organic, Weight Loss, wheat bran

Gluten-Free Chicken Strips

This is one of those easy recipes for dinner that the entire family will enjoy!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Brown Rice Flour

1 teaspoon Chicken Seasoning

1 1/4 cups crushed Corn Flakes 

1/2 cup Coconut Oil, melted

8-10 frozen Chicken Tenderloins (strips)

Instructions:

Step 1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Step 2) Combine flour, seasoning, and crushed corn flakes in a shallow dish.

Step 3) Place melted coconut oil in a separate bowl.

Step 4) One at a time, dip pieces of chicken in coconut oil, then coat both sides of the chicken with flour and corn flake mixture.

Step 5) Place on Cookie Sheet.

Step 6) Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, or until Chicken is fully cooked.

Side Notes:

I use Coconut Oil rather than Butter because of the wonderful health benefits of Coconut Oil. I use the Simply Organic® Chicken Seasoning, but you can use whichever one you have on-hand.  Also, when I buy the Corn Flakes, I get them from Nature’s Path and I buy the one that is “Fruit Juice Sweetened”, since no sugar is added.

As the name of the recipe implies, this dish is Gluten-Free and Wheat-Free and 100% delicious! Enjoy!

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Tags: brown rice flour, chicken, Chicken Seasoning, coconut oil, dinner, easy recipe, Food, gluten free, Healthy, lunch, Organic, Recipe, USDA Organic, wheat free

Mini Whole Grain Sandwich Cookies by Late July

These cookies have it all –Better Nutrition, a Worthy Cause, and Great Taste!

Nutrition

What I like about these cookies, is that they are a good source of whole grains (8 grams per serving), calcium (10% of Daily Value), and they are USDA Organic. This product does not have Trans Fats or Cholesterol,  they are low in sodium,  made without any artificial sweeteners, and they do not have any High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Yes, there is sugar in this cookie. Remember, it is supposed to be a treat, not a meal.  Keep in mind, this treat is not “healthy”, but considered a much healthier alternative when compared to other cookies on the market.

Worthy Cause

The Mini Whole Grain Cookies have the “Good For All” Seal, which is Dr. Jane Goodall’s seal for ethically produced products.  Ten Percent of Profits from these Mini Cookies are being donated to the Jane Goodall Institute, which raises awareness for Endangered Animals such as the Leatherback Sea Turtle, Red Wolf, Chimpanzee, Sumatran Rhino, Pygmy Rabbit, Black-Footed Ferret, and the Giant Panda. Know when you are buying these cookies, not only are you getting a great treat, but you are also supporting a wonderful cause.

Taste

From Late July’s products, expect nothing but the best. Not only is health and nutritional value important, they don’t sacrifice taste in any of their products. Mini Whole Grain Cookies are no exception to the rule, and they taste great! There are two flavors to choose from, which is “White Chocolate” and “Milk Chocolate”. I can’t decide which one is my favorite- both taste great!

Serving: 10 cookies

Calories: 140

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