Diets and Calories

Mini Easter eggs – Maltesers Mini Bunnies, Cadbury Daim, Terry's Chocolate Orange

2021-03-18T15:34:00.000+00:00

You know Easter is around the corner when chocolate Easter eggs start taking over supermarket shelf space. And with a weakness for all things mini, I was unable to resist the lure of the bright shiny wrappers on packets of mini Cadbury Daim eggs, Mini Terry's Chocolate Orange eggs and Maltesers mini white chocolate bunnies.

All things in moderation as the saying goes. That's why I happily indulge in mini versions of my favourite chocolates. These three packs are just a few of many out there.

I decided to pick up one by Cadbury – Daim mini eggs, one by Terry's – Orange eggs and one by Mars – Maltesers Mini Milk Bunnies.

The Maltesers Bunnies and Cadbury Daim eggs are individually wrapped but the Terry's Orange eggs are loose in the bag – so a little bit of self control is needed here!

The Terry's Chocolate Orange mini eggs have a crisp outer shell with a solid milk chocolate inside.

The Maltesers Bunnies have little bits of Malteser honeycomb distributed throughout the chocolate while the Daim mini eggs have a solid chocolate centre with bits of Daim distributed inside the chocolate egg.

Each pack of Maltesers Bunnies contains 5 bunnies – each worth 63 calories.

Maltesers Mini Bunnies

63 calories per mini bunny

63 calories for each bunny

Each pack of Cadbury's Daim mini eggs contains 7 mini eggs, each worth 59 calories.

Cadbury's Daim mini eggs

59 calories per egg

Each pack of Terry's Chocolate Orange mini eggs contains 20 mini eggs, each worth 20 calories.

Terry's Chocolate Orange Mini Eggs

20 calories per egg

You can find mini packs of Easter eggs in most major supermarkets.

© Diets and Calories

Kellogg's All Bran Oaty Clusters low sugar cereals

2021-02-22T12:19:00.002+00:00

Finally, cereal manufacturers are catching on to the idea that cutting the sugar in breakfast cereals is a good idea. Not long ago the only low sugar breakfast cereals included not much more than plain oats, Weetabix and Shredded Wheat. Now there are loads more to choose from (see post), including these two offerings from the Kellogg's All Bran range: Kellogg's All-Bran Prebiotic Oaty Clusters Original and with Almond & Pumpkin Seeds.

In keeping with the high fibre credentials that has always been All Bran's selling point, these Pre-Biotic clusters are still very high in fibre AND low in sugar. However, it's the addition of prebiotics for gut health that these cereals are mainly promoting.

Kellogg's All Bran Oaty Clusters - Original

Gut health has gained lots of media attention in the last couple of years. And for good reason. They key to good health starts in the gut - so that means what we put in it can make all the difference to our health!

One way of supporting gut health is to eat foods containing probiotics and prebiotics which help boost the number of overall friendly bacteria. Prebiotics are food for probiotics to feed off. The prebiotic in All-Bran Oaty Clusters is called chicory root fibre. This fibre contains a substance called inulin which is a prebiotic and is often found in prebiotic supplements. It can also help with constipation, which of course, fibre does too.

Kellogg's All Bran Oaty Clusters - Almond & Pumpkin seeds

So there are two boxes – the Original Oaty Clusters and the Oaty Clusters with Almond & Pumpkin seeds. Both are low in sugar and high in fibre. The Oaty Clusters original contains 5.4g of chicory root per serving and the Almond & Pumpkin contains 4.9g per serving. Although the boxes are emblazoned with the word 'NEW' on the front, they have actually been around since March in 2020.

What they say on the box:

"All-Bran cereals are high in superior wheat bran fibre, feeding a healthy gut. Prebiotic Oaty Clusters contains natural prebiotic chicory root fibre, helping support digestive health by increasing levels of important bacteria living in your gut, nourishing your gut microbiota. Helping you feel at your best every day!"

Looking at the picture on the front of the boxes, the cereal looks very much like a granola. But, while it does have a similar texture, it tastes very different, mainly because most granolas are loaded with sugar.

This cereal is mildly sweet as there is a small amount of added sugar, and the chicory root provides a bit more sweetness. However, don't expect it to taste sweet like regular granolas. It's very crunchy but softens a bit after leaving it soaking in your favourite milk.

They both have a high fibre content but the Almond & Pumpkin seed variety has a few more calories than the regular with 414 per 100g compared with 388 per 100g. Or 186 calories per 45g bowl compared with 175 cals per bowl. This is due to the addition of the seeds and nuts.

If you're buying this cereal for a larger family, it could prove expensive as these boxes are on the small side, with just 8 x 45g servings per 380g box. And if you're not measuring out exactly 45g, as many of us don't, you'll probably get even fewer bowls out of these boxes.

Both cereals are suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

Kellogg's All-Bran Oaty Clusters cost £2.00 per box at the time of writing in Sainsbury's, but are generally around £3.00 for a 380g box.

Nutrition per 100g: All-Bran Prebiotic Oaty Clusters Original Cereal

Calories: 414 (186 per 45g serving); Fat: 16g, Sat fat: 1.8g, Carbohydrate: 42g, Sugars: 4.7g, Protein: 15g, Fibre: 21g (9.5g per 45g serving), Salt: 0.28g.

Ingredients: All-Bran Prebiotic Oaty Clusters Original Cereal

Cereals (46) (Oats, Puffed Barley), Wheat Bran Piece (Wheat Bran, Rice Flour, Wheat Flour, Sugar, Barley Malt Extract, Salt), Chicory Root Fibre, Sunflower Oil, Wheat Gluten, Brown Rice Syrup.

Nutrition per 100g: All-Bran Prebiotic Oaty Clusters Almond & Pumpkin Seeds

Cereal Calories: 388 (175 per 45g serving); Fat: 12g, Sat fat: 1.3g, Carbohydrate: 45g, Sugars: 4.9g, Protein: 14g, Fibre: 22g (9.9g per 45g serving), Salt: 0.31g.

Ingredients: All-Bran Prebiotic Oaty Clusters Almond & Pumpkin Seeds Cereal

Cereals (41%) (Oats, Puff Barley), Wheat Bran Piece (Wheat Bran, Rice Flour, Wheat Flour, Sugar, Barley Malt Extract, Salt), Chicory Root Fibre, Sunflower Oil, Wheat Gluten, Almonds (5%), Pumpkin Seeds (5%), Brown Rice Syrup.

© Diets and Calories

Sainsbury's Hot Cross Buns - Be Good to Yourself Review

2021-02-11T10:49:00.004+00:00

You know Easter is around the corner when hot cross buns start featuring on the bakery shelves. I think they might even be lurking around most of the year, but they're especially noticeable now, in February. And who doesn't love a hot cross bun?

My family sure do, so last week in Sainsbury's I hovered around the different varieties and contemplated whether to buy one from the Be Good to Yourself range or their regular offering. Not having time to check out the nutritional values, I grabbed a pack of the Be Good to Yourself hot cross buns hoping they were in some way 'healthier' than the regular. But are they?

As Sainsbury's are signed up to the traffic light nutrition labels, you can quickly scan the front of the pack and see they have a green light for fat and saturated fat but yellow for sugar and salt. The Be Good to Yourself label is the most noticeable section on the front with 186 calories and 'less than 3% fat' prominently displayed alongside. So it's all looking quite reasonable for a sweet bread snack.

Sainsbury's Be Good to Yourself hot cross buns

Comparing the nutrition with the regular Sainsbury's hot cross buns, there is actually very little difference. Here's a summary of the differences below:

Per Bun	Be Good to Yourself	Regular
Calories	186	200
Fat	2.0g	3.8g
Sugar	11.6g	12.0g
Protein	5.0g	4.7g
Fibre	1.9g	2.0g
Salt	0.3g	0.3g

Looking at the nutrition comparison, it's hard to see what is 'good' about the Be Good to Yourself version. Sure, they have fewer calories, a whole 14 calories less per bun. The fat is almost half but the regular version is only just into the medium range. Sugar difference is negligible, with the Be Good to Yourself having just 0.4g less per bun. Protein and fibre difference is also negligible and salt is the same for both.

So when it comes to making a choice between the two, it really depends on taste. You're not being really 'Good to Yourself' by purchasing that version. And as I only bought the Be Good to Yourself pack, I can't give any comparison on taste. I can say that no one complained when they ate them!

The buns were nice and soft on the day of purchase but everyone decided to have theirs toasted. They smelled delicious too.

On a personal, note, I'm suffering with a long Covid symptom called parosmia where taste and smell becomes horribly distorted. There are many many foods I can no longer taste properly or tolerate, but strangely, toasted hot cross buns are something that smell exactly as I know they should.

Sadly, I couldn't get much taste from them, but the family assured me they were nice, although they would have preferred a little more fruit. Incidentally, this is one of the reasons why the Be Good to Yourself version has less sugar than the regular hot cross buns, because they have less added dried fruit.

These two versions of Hot Cross Buns in Sainsbury's cost £1 for a pack of 6 at the time of writing.

Ingredients: (Be Good to Yourself)

Fortified British Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamine), Moistened Mixed Fruit (21%)(Sultanas, Raisins, Water) Water, Yeast, Orange and Lemon Peel (2%), Wheat Gluten, Sugar, Emulsifiers: Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Mono- and Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids; Maize Starch, Rapeseed Oil, Ground Mixed Spice (Cinnamon, Coriander, Clove, Nutmeg), Salt, Soya Flour, Flavouring, Palm Oil, Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid.

Allergy Advice

Not suitable for customers with an allergy to milk, egg, barley, rye or spelt (wheat) due to manufacturing methods.

Nutrition per 100g:

Calories: 266 (186 per bun); Fat: 2.8g (2.0g per bun), Sat fat: 1.0g (0.7g per bun), Carbohydrate: 51.7g (36.2g per bun), Sugars: 16.5g (11.6g per bun), Protein: 7.1g (5.0g per bun)g, Fibre: 2.7g (1.9g per bun), Salt: 0.43g (0.3g per bun)

Ingredients: (Regular)

Fortified British Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Moistened Mixed Fruit (25%) (Sultanas, Raisins, Water), Water, Yeast, Rapeseed Oil, Orange and Lemon Peel (2%), Sugar, Invert Sugar Syrup, Wheat Gluten, Maize Starch, Emulsifiers: Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Mono- and Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids; Palm Oil, Salt, Ground Mixed Spice (Cinnamon, Coriander, Clove, Nutmeg), Flavouring, Soya Flour, Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid.

Allergy Advice

Not suitable for customers with an allergy to milk, egg, barley, rye or spelt (wheat) due to manufacturing methods.

Nutrition per 100g:

Calories: 285 (200 per bun); Fat: 5.4g (3.8g per bun), Sat fat: 2.1g (1.5g per bun), Carbohydrate: 51.0g (35.7g per bun), Sugars: 17.2g (12.0g per bun), Protein: 6.7g (4.7g per bun)g, Fibre: 2.9g (2.0g per bun), Salt: 0.43g (0.3g per bun)

Supports Sustainable Palm Oil.

Smoothies – are they as healthy as they seem?

2021-01-17T18:01:00.010+00:00

Grabbing some bits and pieces in a branch of M&S the other day, I noticed an eye catching display of bottled smoothies. They looked colourful and so healthy. But are they really?

Picking up one bottle, a delightful flavour combination of Mango, Avocado, Pear & Matcha, I scanned the nutrition label just to check.

This particular smoothie (M&S Heart Smoothie) is called a 'super smoothie' with the word 'HEART' prominently displayed on the front of the label. Underneath is the declaration 'high in potassium'. This will be its heart credentials, as potassium, together with sodium, is vital for healthy heart function. But does this mean it's a healthy drink?

Next I checked the calories per 100ml. This flavour has 78 calories per 100ml with a sugar level in the medium range at 13.1g per 100ml or 3 teaspoons.

This may be okay if only drinking 100ml. But when pouring it from the bottle into a glass, we're likely to decant way more than this, probably twice or even three times this much. A 200ml glass would then provide 156 calories and 6 teaspoons of sugar. With the government recommending we eat no more than 7 teaspoons of free sugars per day, you can see how easy it is to consume too much sugar.

For anyone watching their weight, this is bad news (unless you're actively exercising before or after). The free sugars in this type of drink are readily absorbed and if not utilised through exercise, will convert to fat. As the fibre content in this drink is low at 0.5g per 100ml, there's nothing to slow down the blood sugar spike that a sugar hit like this will provide.

Oh, here's another thing. The name of this smoothie is somewhat misleading. It's called a Mango, Avocado, Pear & Matcha smoothie, but the main ingredient is banana, a high sugar fruit. The second is apple, also high in sugar and not mentioned in the name. It isn't until we get to the third ingredient that mango is mentioned – and this is another high sugar fruit. Really it should be called banana, apple and mango!

Below are the ingredients and nutrition breakdown for this smoothie. Below that is a table with 39 different smoothies I found in various supermarkets. The table shows the number of teaspoons of sugar and calories per 750ml bottle.

Ingredients: (M&S Heart Smoothie with Mango, Avocado, Pear & Matcha)

Banana Purée (26%), Pear Juice (22%), Apple Juice (17%), Apple Purée (13%), Alphonso Mango Purée (10%), Avocado Purée (5%), Cucumber Purée (2%), Potassium Lactate, Acidity Regulator: Citric Acid, Matcha Green Tea Powder, Spirulina Extract, Safflower Extract

Nutrition per 100ml:

Calories: 78 Fat: 1.6g, Sat fat: 0.4g, Carbohydrate: 15.0g, Sugars: 13.1g, Protein: 0.7g, Fibre: 0.5g, Salt: 0.03g

Popular Smoothies - 750ml bottles

Brand	Name	Calories per bottle	Tsp sugar per bottle
Naked smoothie	Lean: Watermelon & Raspberry	203	9
Savse Smoothie	Super Green	293	13
Naked smoothie	Green Machine: Apple, kiwi, pineapple, spirulina smoothie	300	15
Naked smoothie	Mango Machine: Fruit Juices and Purees with Apple Water, Turmeric	300	15
Naked smoothie	Strawberry ZING: strawberry, banana & lime smoothie	308	15
Savse Smoothie	Super Blue: Blueberry, blackcurrant, beetroot, strawberry, kale, spinach, orange and apple	323	16
Sainsbury's Smoothie	Cucumber, Kiwi & Lime	338	17
Innocent Super Smoothie	RECHARGE: Mandarin, carrot, apple, ginger & flax seeds with vitamin	338	18
Sainsbury's Smoothie	Berry	353	19
Naked smoothie	Mango ZING: mango, carrot and lime	353	15
Naked smoothie	Red machine: apple, raspberry and strawberry with sour cherry and blood orange	360	18
Naked smoothie	Tropical ZING: Pineapple, Passion Fruit Kiwi & Lime smoothie	368	18
Naked	Blue Machine: Apple, blueberry, goji berry	368	18
Innocent smoothie	Gorgeous greens: apples, pears & kale	368	18
Sainsbury's Smoothie	Strawberry & Banana	368	18
Innocent Super Smoothie	ENERGISE: strawberry, cherry, apple, guarana & flax seeds with vitamins	390	18
Innocent smoothie	Seriously strawberry: Strawberries & bananas	398	18
Tesco smoothie	Strawberry sensation	398	18
Innocent Super Smoothie	INVIGORATE: kiwi, cucumber, apple. matcha & flax seeds with vitamins	405	20
Innocent smoothie	Magnificent mango: mangoes & passion fruits	405	20
Innocent Super Smoothie	Blue Spark: guava, pineapple, apple & blueberry spirulina with vitamins	405	18
M&S smoothie	Strawberry & Banana	420	19
M&S Super Smoothie	'DEFENSE': with vitamins B6 & B12. Apple, kiwi, spinach & lime with moringa.	420	16
Innocent Super Smoothie	CULTURE CRUSH: mango, coconut milk, apple, ginger & cultures with vitamins	428	18
Innocent smoothie	Culture crush: Mango, coconut milk, apple, ginger & cultures with vitamins	428	18
Sainsbury's Smoothie	Pineapple, Banana & Coconut	443	21
Innocent Super Smoothie	Berry protein strawberry, raspberry, apple & coconut milk with soya protein	443	17
Innocent Super Smoothie	UP & OAT: oat, apple banana & cinnamon with vitamins	443	17
Sainsbury's Smoothie	Mango & Passionfruit	450	23
Tesco smoothie	Green escape: apple, banana, white grape, mango, kiwi, cucumber and lime	450	18
Innocent smoothie	Pomegranate magic: pomegranates, blueberries & acai	458	23
Tesco smoothie	Mango & passion fruit	465	20
M&S smoothie	Super Berry	473	21
M&S Plant Kitchen smoothie	Carrot, mango & turmeric	495	19
Innocent smoothie	Totally tropical: pineapples, bananas & coconuts	495	21
Tesco smoothie	Pomegranate Crush: apple, white grape, pomegranate, blueberry, acai and lemon	495	26
M&S Juice Drink	Alcohol Free Pina Colada	548	28
M&S Super Smoothie	'PROTECT': with vitamins C & E. Orange, lemon, ginger with linseed	570	13
M&S Super Smoothie	'HEART': Mango, Avocado, Pear & Matcha	585	23

Naked Tropical Zing

Naked Strawberry Zing

Naked Green Machine smoothie

Naked Blue Machine smoothie

M&S Super Berry smoothie

M&S Strawberry & Banana smoothie

M&S Super Smoothie Protect

M&S Alcohol Free Pina Colada

M&S Super Smoothie Heart

M&S Super Smoothie Digestive

M&S Super smoothie Defence

Innocent Berry Protein Smoothie

Innocent Smoothies: Invigorate; Blue Spark; Energise

Naked Lean Smoothie

Naked Mango Zing

Make your own healthy smoothies at home

Making your own healthy smoothies at home with fresh ingredients is always a better choice and you can use lower sugar fruit and add in more vegetables.

For inspiration here is a fantastic smoothie recipe book and two of the most popular (for a reason) NutriBullet blenders.

NUTRiBULLET 600 Series - Nutrient Extractor High Speed Blender

The Best Smoothies for Weight Loss Book:

60 Healthy Drinks Smoothies Recipes for Weight Loss Diets

NutriBullet 900W Blender Champagne Multi-Function

Cold Beverage Smoothie Maker

© Diets and Calories 2021

Kombucha - The healthier alternative to fizzy soda drinks

2020-10-21T17:07:00.001+01:00

If you're partial to fizzy drinks, particularly the full sugar variety, you might like to try drinking kombucha. This naturally fermented fizzy drink is made from back tea and sugar. Yes that's right. A healthy drink made with sugar. But don't worry, the sugar is broken down during the fermentation process, leaving a healthy, low calorie drink.

A few years ago I sampled some kombucha at a health show, and to be honest, it was the most vile stuff I'd ever tried. But these days there are lots more flavours to try including this one by Kevita called Master Brew Kombucha.

It's organic, low in calories with delicious flavours including Pineapple Peach; Tart Cherry and Ginger.

What the label says:

" We believe the world would be a better place if we all tried new things. Being invented and fermented in California by a nutritionist and a winemaker, KeVita wants to inspire people to live a life of wellness and discovery. Our Master Brew Kombucha comes in a variety of bold, delicious and invigorating flavours to help you enjoy exploring life."

KeVita is made by blending a proprietary Kombucha Culture, sweet tea and sugar, with a very subtle alchemy of flavours to give it the unique KeVita taste.
Served cold, KeVita is great for any occasion - whether you want to cool down after your morning yoga or mix a late night mocktail with friends, there's the perfect booch for you.
Organic Organic, Live cultures, Fermented kombucha culture, Lightly carbonated, Alcohol less than 0.5% vol, Low calorie

I bought a bottle of Pineapple Peach to try out. Although I'm not a fan of fizzy drinks (the bubbles hurt my mouth for some reason), I was tempted into buying this because of the flavours and the additional health benefits.

To me, this was exceptionally fizzy so I couldn't drink too much at once. But the taste was so sweet and refreshing I did enjoy it after coming home from a bike ride.

Some may find it a little too sweet as it does have added stevia, but I have a really sweet tooth so it suited my taste buds just fine.

What's even better is knowing that drinking kombucha is providing added health benefits, something which can't be said for the average fizzy soda drink.

Some of the health benefits include B vitamins (especially B12), probiotics and antioxidants. And because it is naturally low in calories, could help with weight loss if it's replacing a high sugar drink.

They're available in 450ml bottles in selected health food stores, Sainsbury's and Ocado online. Suitable for vegetarians. Allergen Information Free From Dairy.

Ingredients:

Sparkling Water, Kombucha Base* 8.8%, Filtered Water, Cane Sugar*, Bacillus Coagulans, Ginger Extract* 0.1%, Black Tea Extract*, Caffeine (Green Coffee Bean Extract*), Black Tea Essence*, Green Tea Extract*, Sweetener: Steviol Glycosides* (Stevia Leaf Extract), *Certified Organic Ingredients

Nutrition per 100ml:

Calories: 15 Fat: 0g, Sat fat: 0g, Carbohydrate: 3.3g, Sugars: 3.3g, Protein: og, Salt: 0g

© Diets and Calories

Do you want to be a health coach?

2020-10-14T14:10:00.003+01:00

The demand for health coaches is increasing. People are more interested in what they can do to help themselves be healthier and this is where health coaching can help.

This is the link to use: CNM Health Coach Diploma

© Diets and Calories

How many calories in your sliced bread?

2020-10-02T12:54:00.002+01:00

If you eat bread on a daily basis, changing your loaf size could an easy way of cutting calories and losing weight without doing much else. From a survey I did of a range of popular sliced loaves, the highest number of calories per slice was 156 and the lowest just 45.

These days we're spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing our bread, but it wasn't that long ago the only offerings were white or brown, sliced or unsliced.

Now we have white, brown, wholemeal, seeded, high protein, low carb, high fibre, as well as varied thickness and loaf size. But with all this variety comes a wide difference in calories per slice.

If you're partial to some types of bread, you could be eating more calories than you realise. For example, a slice of Hovis Tasty Wholemeal from a 400g loaf has 64 calories, compared with 88 calories for a medium slice from an 800g loaf or 104 calories from a thick sliced loaf.

Generally the 400g loaves have the least number of calories per slice with those from a thick sliced loaf having the most. But some 800g loaves also have slices at over 100 calories each. Seeded varieties are usually higher in calories because of the seed content which increases the fat calories.

Suppose you have one or two slices of toast or a couple of slices of bread for a sandwich. If you decide to make your sandwich from two slices of Warburton's medium Soft White from an 800g loaf, you're starting off with 196 calories (98 calories per slice) before you add the other ingredients such as butter and any fillings. But if you switched to the 400g loaf, 2 slices of soft white sliced bread is only 116 calories (58 calories per slice), a saving of 80 calories.

This may not sound like a huge amount, but if you do this every day over a year, that's a calorie saving of around 29,200 or 8lbs of weight loss. And this is for only 2 slices of bread per day

Making little changes like this with different types of food can have a long term effect on your weight. Usually it's working the opposite way around. We overeat in small amounts on a daily basis without noticing, and over the years the weight creeps up. It can work the other way around too.

Below is a table showing the calorie comparison of popular bread varieties available from major UK bread manufacturers including: Hovis, Warburton's, Kingsmill, Vogel's and Burgen.

They're listed in calorie order from lowest to highest, per slice.

Bread slice calorie comparison guide

Brand	Pack Size	Slice size	Name of bread	Calories per slice
Kingsmill	400g	Medium	No crusts Tasty Wholemeal	45
Warburton's	400g	Medium	Milk Roll White	46
Kingsmill	400g	Medium	No crusts 50/50	47
Kingsmill	400g	Medium	No crusts Soft White	49
Hovis	400g	Medium	Nimble Wholemeal	50
Warburton's	400g	Medium	Danish Malted Weight Watchers	51
Warburton's	400g	Medium	Wholemeal	55
Warburton's	400g	Medium	Soft White	58
Warburton's	400g	Medium	Premium Brown	60
Warburton's	400g	Medium	Lighter Danish White	63
Hovis	400g	Medium	Tasty Wholemeal	64
Warburton's	400g	Thick	Wholemeal Weight Watchers	64
Hovis	400g	Medium	Wheatgerm	65
Warburton's	400g	Medium	Soft Farmhouse	66
Kingsmill	400g	Medium	50/50	68
Warburton's	400g	Thick	Toastie	70
Warburton's	400g	Medium	Gluten Free Toastie Loaf	75
Warburton's	300g	Medium	Gluten Free Multiseed Loaf	78
Warburton's	400g	Thick	Wholemeal	79
Warburton's	400g	Medium	Multigrain & Seeds	83
Hovis	400g	Thick	Granary	84
Warburtons'	400g	Thick	Seeded	85
Hovis	750g	Medium	Best of Both	86
Hovis	800g	Medium	Tasty Wholemeal	88
Kingsmill	850g	Medium	50/50 Vitamin Boost	88
Hovis	400g	Medium	Seed Sensations	92
Hovis	800g	Medium	Soft White	93
Kingsmill	800g	Medium	Tasty Wholemeal	93
Kingsmill	800g	Medium	50/50	94
Warburton's	600g	Extra Thick	Tiger Bloomer White	94
Kingsmill	800g	Medium	Soft White	95
Hovis	800g	Medium	Granary	97
Hovis	400g	Medium	Lower Carb Deliciously Seeded	98
Warburton's	800g	Medium	Soft White	98
Warburton's	400g	Medium	Wholegrain & Oats	98
Hovis	400g	Medium	Seed Sensations Sunflower & Pumpkin	99
Warburton's	400g	Medium	Old English White	99
Vogel's	800g	Medium	Seeded Wholemeal	100
Hovis	600g	Medium	Glorious Grains	101
Vogel's	800g	Medium	Soya & Linseed	101
Kingsmill	800g	Thick	Tasty Wholemeal	102
Kingsmill	800g	Thick	50/50	103
Warburton's	800g	Medium	Wholemeal	103
Hovis	800g	Thick	Tasty Wholemeal	104
Warburton's	800g	Medium	Soft Farmhouse	104
Kingsmill	800g	Thick	Soft White	105
Hovis	600g	Medium	Fabulour Fibre	106
Hovis	750g	Thick	Best of Both	108
Warburton's	400g	Medium	Malted Grain & Seeds	110
Hovis	800g	Thick	Granary Wholemeal	111
Hovis	800g	Thick	Granary	112
Warburton's	800g	Thick	Toastie	116
Hovis	800g	Thick	Soft White	117
Warburton's	800g	Medium	Bloomer White Lancashire's Thorough	120
Burgen	800g	Medium	Soya & Linseed	126
Hovis	800g	Medium	Seed Sensations	131
Warburton's	800g	Thick	Seeded	134
Warburton's	800g	Extra Thick	Super Toastie Soft White	140
Hovis	800g	Extra Thick	Soft White	156

Rough and ready photos of various sliced bread loaves below.

© Diets and Calories

Light & Free Fat Free Cottage Cheese Review

2020-08-19T11:38:00.001+01:00

Once again it's a Light & Free product that's caught my eye but this time it's not a yogurt, but a cottage cheese. Varieties are Plain or Grilled Vegetables and Thyme. Like the yogurts, they're 0% fat.

Light & Free Grilled Vegetables & Thyme Cottage Cheese

I was looking for something to mix into a shop bought ready made salad that came without dressing and I decided the Grilled vegetables and Thyme might work. The Grilled vegetables cottage cheese has 160 calories for the whole 210g pot.

Light & Free Plain and Grilled Vegetables & Thyme Cottage Cheese

I haven't seen another cottage cheese with this flavour and anything that includes vegetables gets my vote. When it comes to cottage cheese, I don't go for the fat free versions as they always come off worse in the taste test compared with the full fat versions and the calorie saving is usually negligible so not worth it.

On opening the tub, I could see right away that the cottage cheese itself had the typical liquidy appearance of a fat free cottage cheese. There were a few small bits of vegetables which I hoped would make up for the lack of fat.

Light & Free Grilled Vegetables & Thyme Cottage Cheese

I ate some on its own, but wasn't bowled over by the flavour. Mixing it in with my salad provided a form of dressing but it was quite thin and not at all creamy which is what I much prefer from a cottage cheese.

Strangely, the sugar and carbohydrate level is higher than a regular higher fat cottage cheese. For example, comparing the Light & Free Plain with Waitrose Essential plain cottage cheese, the Light & Free has 6g of sugar per 100g compared with 1.7g of sugar for the Waitrose. This can make a real difference if you're eating low carb or low sugar. The higher fat version will be more filling too.

Light & Free Grilled Vegetables & Thyme Cottage Cheese

If you like cottage cheese, I would always recommend going for the regular, non fat free versions. The calories are not much more and the sugar levels lower. I feel the marketing industry hasn't yet caught onto the fact that fat free is rarely a good choice.

However, I do like the Light & Free yogurts and although fat free, they are creamy and low in calories.

25g protein per 210g pot (Vegetables) and 27g per pot for the Plain. Found in a branch of Waitrose.

Ingredients: (Grilled vegetables & Thyme)

Cottage Cheese (Milk), Grilled Vegetables (5.7%), Red Pepper (3.7%), Zucchini (0.7%), Aubergine (0.7%), Onion], Salt, Maize Starch, Garlic, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Olive Oil, Thyme (0.03%), Black Pepper, Natural Flavouring, Rosemary, Preservative (Potassium Sorbate)

Ingredients: (Plain)

Fat Free Cottage Cheese (Milk), Salt

For allergens, see ingredients in bold

Nutrition per 100g: (Grilled vegetables & Thyme)

Calories: 76 Fat: 0.5g, Sat fat: 0.1g, Carbohydrate: 6.4g, Sugars: 6.0g, Protein: 12g, Salt: 0.65g

Nutrition per 100g: (Plain)

Calories: 79 Fat: 0.5g, Sat fat: 0.1g, Carbohydrate: 6.3g, Sugars: 6.3g, Protein: 13g, Salt: 0.53g

© Diets and Calories

Light & Free Oat based Yogurt Review

2020-08-04T13:05:00.005+01:00

Light & Free have a wide range of different flavoured dairy yogurts. Now they've brought out a new 0% fat yogurt which is oat based, making it suitable for those following a vegan diet.

At the time of writing there are two flavours: Vanilla and Natural. Its description is: 'Fermented oat product with added calcium, vanilla extract, natural flavourings, live cultures and with sweeteners.'

I'm already a big fan of oat milk, especially Oatley, so I was curious to see what an oat yogurt tasted like. And since it's a Light & Free product, it's also low in calories with just 46 calories per 100g.

I love the Light & Free yogurts, especially the Strawberry version which is always in my fridge. Besides their lovely flavour, they are creamy and low in calories. They come in single 115g pots which may not be the most environmentally friendly way of packing them, but I find it helps so much with portion control. When I buy a big pot of yogurt, more often than not I'll start eating it straight out of the pot and then next thing I know, half the pot is gone!

The Light & Free Oat based yogurts are in a big pot, well biggish, at 350g, so around 3 portion sizes. I purchased the vanilla flavour and was very hopeful of enjoying this. After peeling back the foil lid, the first glimpse wasn't too promising. It was a bit grey looking but there were at least specks of vanilla. Putting my spoon into the yogurt, I could tell instantly the texture wasn't at all yogurt like. I would describe it as gloopy. I expect that's to do with certain added ingredients such as the acacia gum and the tapioca and potato starches which would be used to thicken it.

Yes, there was a hint of vanilla and the taste wasn't bad, but I couldn't really get past the texture. I simply didn't enjoy it. If I was a vegan or was not eating dairy, I'd consider using this yogurt in a smoothie or something where it's mixed with other food, but not as a yogurt on its own. My daughter who is a vegan, agreed with me.

She informed me that there are dairy free yogurts out there that do taste like yogurt - Tesco's own brand, Free From Passion Fruit Raspberry Soya (but this has more calories and sugar). My favourite non dairy yogurt has to be Alpro's no added sugar Mango yogurt which doesn't taste like soya at all and this has 61 calories per 100g.

And if you are after an Oat yogurt that actually does taste nice with a yogurt texture, I'd recommend Oatley's yogurts. They are higher in calories - the Greek style has 146 calories per 100g and the plain has 84 calories per 100g. This is definitely a case where taste and texture is worth foregoing the extra calories, but just eat a bit less of it!

Ingredients:

Oat Base (90%) (Water, Oat Syrup), Modified Maize Starch, Starches (Tapioca, Potato), Acacia Gum, Tricalcium Citrate (Calcium), Pea Protein Isolate, Acidity Regulators (Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate), Stabiliser (Carrageenan), Bourbon Vanilla Powder, Natural Vanilla Flavouring with other Natural Flavourings, Natural Flavourings, Sweeteners (Acesulfame K, Sucralose), Dairy-Free Cultures (S. Thermophilus, L. Bulgaricus, L. Lactis)

Nutrition per 100g:

Calories: 46 Fat: less than 0.5g, Sat fat: less than 0.1g, Carbohydrate: 10g, Sugars: 1.2g, Protein: 0.6g, Salt: 0.02g, Calcium 147mg

Dietary Information:

Suitable for Vegans For allergens, including Cereals containing Gluten, see ingredients in bold. Contains Oats May Contain Soya Contains Sweeteners.

© Diets and Calories

5:2 dieters risk undoing their good work by overeating and under-exercising on non-fasting days

2020-06-01T09:39:00.003+01:00

I'm a big fan of the 5:2 diet or intermittent fasting for weight loss. And as long as you don't go crazy by eating way more than you normally would on non-fasting days, then it works really well.

However, a new study suggests some people on the 5:2 intermittent fasting diet may be over eating and reducing their physical activity in preparation for their restricted diet days.

Nutrition and exercise scientists at Nottingham Trent University, who carried out the work, argue that doing this makes the diet about half as effective as it should be for producing a calorie deficit.

The 5:2 diet involves two days of heavily-restricted calories and unrestricted food intake on the other five days.

As part of the study – which also involved Loughborough University – male participants undertook two separate three-day trials, which differed only by the diets they were given on the second day.

Both trials involved participants being allowed to eat and drink freely on day one after being told that on day two they would receive either a low-calorie diet of approximately 700kcal or a normal diet of approximately 2,700kcal. On the third day they could eat an unrestricted breakfast.

Food intake was monitored on the first and third day, and participants also wore activity monitors to measure the amount of calories they burned through physical activity across each day.

The researchers found that participants increased their food intake – without reporting feeling hungrier – both the day before and the morning after their calorie intakes were restricted. They also reduced their physical activity before and during the day their intake was restricted.

The researchers, writing in the journal Appetite, say that this change in participants’ behaviour was sufficient for half of the 2,000 calories ‘saved’ from the restricted eating to be replaced. They say that the change in eating behaviour and activity from participants was largely not a conscious decision.

Few studies have looked at the role of exercise within intermittent fasting diets, and the team argues that their work shows that it should be considered more.

Mindful eating and incorporation of some exercise should take place alongside period of severe calorie restriction to help improve the effectiveness of the 5:2 diet, they say.

“Our findings reveal a passive overconsumption of food and reduced physical activity among intermittent fasters,” said lead researcher Dr Dave Clayton, a lecturer in nutrition and exercise physiology in Nottingham Trent University’s School of Science and Technology.

He said: “Suffering through a day of severe calorie restriction, where you consume only 500-700 kcal for the day, is only about half as effective as it might have been because of this. We got a snapshot as part of a three-day study, but if this behavioural pattern continued then people may not get the returns they expect from this type of diet.

“There are also potential health implications in relation to acute overeating and reduced physical activity.

“The assumption with intermittent fasting is that you fast – or severely restrict – your intake for a few days and then do what you want the rest of the time. Our study suggests intermittent fasters won’t be very effective with this mind-set.

“Another key point is the change in physical activity, particularly because participants’ reduction was mainly from already ‘low intensity’ activity, which are very subtle movements that most people may not even consider.”

Related Article:

Outline of the 5:2 diet - Read Post

DISCLOSED: 4 Vital Supplements for a Vegan Diet

2020-05-21T18:47:00.002+01:00

Across the UK there has been an increasing number of people that have taken up a plant-based diet and vegan way of life. Supermarkets are catching on and cashing in on this growing lifestyle, with Sainsbury’s launching a 31 product vegan range at the end of last year, Tesco producing a vast range of vegan options, and fast food giants such as McDonald’s, KFC, and Burger King introducing plant-based options.

With the UK’s number of vegans rising from 150,000 in 2014 to 600,000 in 2019, it’s fair to say this lifestyle is an increasingly preferred choice for many. 42 per cent of the UK’s vegans made the dietary shift in 2018 and are forecasted to make up a quarter of the British population by 2025.

Although this is a positive change, there are concerns that vegan diets don’t give the body all of the vitamins and minerals it needs to function healthily and in optimum performance. With veganism garnering more attention and a demand for education, Google Trends data reports that the term ‘vegan supplements’ is often searched for in the UK, with a particular spike in early January 2020, likely after the indulgence of the Christmas period.

Although, this isn’t to assume that vegan diets aren’t healthy — in fact, a plant-based diet has many nutritious benefits. However, there are some nutrients we may need health supplements for if we can’t get them solely from plants. With good planning, you can make sure you’re not missing out on anything important. If you find yourself wondering ‘what vegan supplements do I need?’, here, we’ll look at the most important additions you should be taking on a vegan diet.

Number one: Vitamin B12

B12 is derived from foods from animal sources and is arguably one of the most important nutrients vegans need. There’s a common misconception that vegans who eat the right kind of plants don’t need to be wary of a vitamin B12 deficiency. Unfortunately, there is no research to confirm this. Vegans are at higher risk of B12 deficiencies, so it’s important that adults consume around 1.5 micrograms of B12 every day.

The health of the nervous system, brain functionality, the development of oxygen-carrying red blood cells and protein metabolism are all supported by Vitamin B12. If not enough B12 is consumed, this can lead to anaemia, nervous system damage, infertility, and bone and heart disease. Humans used to get B12 from natural water in soil, however with declining soil quality from intensive farming and filtered water, this isn’t the case anymore. Taking supplements or fortified foods such as soymilk, nutritional yeast, meat substitutes, and breakfast cereals.

Number 2: Iron

The transportation of oxygen around the body, DNA development and red blood cells are all improved by iron. Therefore, an iron deficiency can result in anaemia. Symptoms of anaemia include a decreased immune system functioning, fatigue, weakness, dizziness, and difficult concentrating. Iron is derived from meat, chickpeas, lentils, tofu, cheese, and cruciferous vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage, kale, broccoli, and pak choi.

However, it’s important to only take iron supplements if you’ve been told to by your GP since too much iron can be harmful and prevent the absorption of other vitamins and minerals - but it’s worth being aware in case you start to feel the symptoms and aren’t sure why.

Number 3: Vitamin D

Acting as a fat soluble nutrient, Vitamin D helps with the absorption of calcium and phosphorus from our guts. Not only that, it helps encourage healthy bone, teeth, and muscle growth. Vitamin D is comprised of two forms — vitamin D3 is taken from animal products such as oily fish, red meat, liver, egg yolk, and butter, whereas vitamin D2 comes from plants, like mushrooms, and fortified foods.

There are a limited number of foods that Vitamin D can be derived from, therefore the recommended daily intake of 10 micrograms a day is sometimes a struggle to meet. It is primarily derived from sun exposure, which is why the NHS recommend vitamin D supplements, even for carnivores, in the darker winter months.

Number 4: Iodine

Maintaining healthy thyroid functioning can be done by consuming an adequate amount of iodine. This is a regulator of your metabolism. Good sources of iodine include sea fish, shellfish, dairy, and some plants and grains depending on the level of iodine in the soil in which they grew. If not enough iodine is taken, you can experience low energy, dry skin, forgetfulness, depression, and weight gain — so it’s recommended that adults consume 0.14mg of iodine each day.

In comparison to vegetarians, vegans have up to 50 per cent lower iodine levels in their blood -according to research. Ultimately, this makes them more susceptible to risk of iodine deficiency.

When changing to a vegan diet, to make sure you’re consuming an adequate level of vitamins and nutrients we recommend getting your blood taken at your GP to find out what you should do.

Sources:

https://www.vegansociety.com/news/media/statistics
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44488051
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&geo=GB&q=vegan%20supplements
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/7-supplements-for-vegans#1
https://www.riseofthevegan.com/blog/b12-is-not-just-a-vegan-problem
Watanabe, F. and Bito, T., 2018. Vitamin B12 sources and microbial interaction. Experimental Biology and Medicine, 243(2), pp.148-158.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-d2-vs-d3#section2
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-d/
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/iodine/

© Diets and Calories written in conjunction with Pharma Nord

Three meals a day no longer the norm for Brits

2020-05-01T14:58:00.001+01:00

It is officially the end of ‘three square meals a day’ with a third of Brits eating two times or fewer, research has revealed.

While the staple for most adults is breakfast, lunch and dinner, the survey of 2,000 UK adults found 27 per cent were only having two meals per day on average.

And five per cent admitted eating one main meal per day.

This is according to research by lifestyle nutrition company Swisse Me, which looked at Brits' diet and exercise regime.

Men are more likely to skip a meal, with 62 per cent of women having three meals per day compared to 56 per cent of men.

It also emerged the average adult was snacking twice per day.

Swisse Me's nutrition product manager said:

“Snacks play an important role in diets, helping to gain essential nutrients and maintaining energy levels when needed.

"The need for convenient and portable options is matching our modern active lifestyles, and our healthy recipes are designed to tick all your boxes.”

Swisse Me investigated what people consume as part of their fitness and wellness regime.

One third of the respondents said they had vitamin and mineral tablets such as iron and cod liver oil.

When Brits are working out, 37 per cent will stop and have a snack, while 40 per cent don't eat while exercising. A quarter don’t tend to take a break while working out at all.

Fruit is the snack Brits are most likely to have after a workout, followed by an energy bar and chocolate.

Making up the top five snacks are biscuits, smoothies and protein-based shakes.

The top 10 most popular post-workout snacks are:

Fruit
Energy bars
Chocolate
Energy drinks (RedBull)
Biscuits
Diet snacks
Fruit smoothies
Raw vegetables
Crisps
Sausage rolls

Heinz Tomato Soups – Comparison

2020-04-27T18:46:00.000+01:00

If you've been stocking up on cans of soup during this horrible Coronavirus time, you may have noticed that Heinz Tomato soup is available in three different types.

There's the regular Tomato soup we all know, then there's a low sugar version and also an Organic version. So what is the difference?

Crunchy Shitake Mushroom Snacks - Healthy or not?

2020-03-10T18:13:00.004+00:00

I thought I was savvy when it comes to nutrition labels but was caught out when I bought these - Crunchy Shitake Mushrooms by Other Foods UK.

All the positive marketing labels convinced me to make an impulse buy - vegan, gluten free, nut & dairy free, 1 of your 5 a day, 100% natural ingredients, GMO free. They had everything going for them, plus mushrooms are so good for you and low calorie. And the front of the pack clearly states in BIG numbers - 99 kcals. What a find! I love my snacks to have 100 calories or under.

I should know better. I didn't read the small print.

I'd never seen a mushroom snack before and thought these might make a change from my usual crackers and chickpea snacks. I found them in Holland & Barrett who are always bringing in new ranges of snacks.

I couldn't wait to try them. Opening the pack reveals lots of small, but completely whole mushrooms. Biting into them, they are quite hard at first but soften once you get chewing.

To be honest, if I'd had a blindfold on I wouldn't have known they were mushrooms. The added ingredients (not many), have somehow altered the mushroom taste. They are slightly salty with an almost sweet taste, slightly oily and pleasantly crunchy. In fact, they were so tasty I knew there had to be a lot more to these mushrooms and just mushrooms!

First off, the '99' calories on the front of the pack is misleading. The tiny writing underneath states - the pack contains 2 servings, so the whole bag has 198 calories. Not such a low calorie snack after all.

So where are all the calories coming from?

Mushrooms alone are exceedingly low in calories with around 44 calories per 100g. These crunchy shitake mushrooms have just under 500 calories!

This is where you have to read the small print a.k.a. the ingredients and nutrition label.

The ingredients include palm oil which it states is sustainably sourced. Some might disagree with this, saying it isn't possible to sustainably soure palm oil. Also in there is vegan maltose (which is sweet) and some Himalayan salt. There is vitamin B6, D and iron. Fat is high and saturated fat is very high at 12.8g per 100g. Sugars have a mediuml level with 19g per 100g.

Although I wasn't happy with the high fat and relatively high sugar content, I did like the taste of these snacks. I do feel misled though that they are really not the healthy snack they might at first appear to be.

This is clever marketing playing on the latest foodie trends of gluten free, vegan, free from etc so just be aware that looking at the ingredients and nutrition label can tell you a lot more about the food you're about to buy than the marketing on the front of the pack.

Ingredients:
Shitake mushrooms, sustainably sourced palm oil, vegan maltose, Himalayan salt.

Nutrition pack (40g):
198 Calories, 8.8g fat, 5.2g saturated fat, 27.2g carbs, 7.6g sugars, 5.4g fibre, 2.2g protein, 0.24g salt. Vitamin B6 50%, VItamin D 38%, Iron 17%.

© Diets and Calories

Light & Free Kefir Milk Drink Review

2019-10-15T10:34:00.002+01:00

Light & Free by Danone have a great range of lower calorie flavoured yogurts. Now they’ve brought out their own range of kefir.

Like their yogurts, Light & Free is promoting their kefir on the fact that it has 0% fat and no added sugar. This brings the calories right down.

At the time of writing there are three varieties: Plain, Pomegranate & Blueberry and Cucumber & Lime. I didn’t fancy the idea of the cucumber & lime so I purchased a bottle of Plain and Pomegrante & Blueberry. These have just 93 calories for the whole 265ml bottle.

Kefir is so popular right now. This fermented, mostly milk based liquid has a consistency of pouring cream. It’s becoming widely known for its health benefits, such as improving gut health due to the large amounts of probiotic bacteria it contains.

I’m a big fan of kefir and drink it every day.

What they say on the bottle:

'Good vibes come in special packages.

Enjoy our deliciously tangy Kefir with a punch of pomegranate and bursts of blueberry goodness blended with fermented milk full of live cultures from more than 15 different strains.

Treat your taste buds to Light & Free, the uplifting taste experience with 0% fat and 0% added sugar**

**Contains naturally occurring sugars

0% fat, High in protein and calcium'

Most kefir isn’t particularly high in calories anyway, with an average of around 60 calories per 100ml. But the Light & Free Kefir virtually halves this to just 35 calories per 100ml.

The first one I tasted was the plain. It’s much thinner than the other kefir brands I’ve tried, only slightly thicker than milk. It has a very mild taste with not much sweetness. It’s really too thin to pour over fruit and is better as a drink on its own, or to use in a smoothies.

The Pomegranate had the same very thin consistency. It was an interesting flavour, one which unfortunately I didn’t much like. I couldn’t taste the blueberry and the pomegranate didn't remind me of the fruit at all!

Although I love that these are so low in calories, this is one case where I would rather not compromise and instead choose the variety I prefer. At the moment my favourites are Bioutiful and The Collective Dairy

You can find Light & Free Kefir in branches of Sainsbury’s and Ocado online.

Ingredients: Pomegranate & Blueberry
Pasteurised Skimmed Milk, Pasteurised Whole Milk, Blueberry Puree from Concentrate (1.3%), Pomegranate Juice from Concentrate (0.7%), Modified Maize Starch, Flavourings, Fruit and Vegetable Concentrates (Black Carrot, Grape), Acidity Regulators (Sodium Citrate, Citric Acid), Thickener (Pectin), Kefir Cultures and other Lactic Cultures

Nutrition per 100ml: Pomegrante
35 Calories, less than 0.5g fat, 0.2g saturated fat, 4.1g carbs, 3.9g sugars, 3.0g protein, 0.12g salt. 119mg calcium. Suitable for vegetarians.

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Oppo Ice Cream Sticks Review

2019-10-01T15:07:00.005+01:00

This summer saw a glut of new lower calorie ice creams all vying for space in the supermarket freezers. And here’s another one from Oppo. This time it’s in the form of ice creams on sticks with a chocolate coating, Magnum style.

There are two varieties: Madagascan Vanilla & Roasted Almond which has 120 calories per ice cream and the Salted Caramel with just 110 calories. I purchased a box of both.

Each box contains 3 x 80ml ice creams at £3.99 per box! At the time of writing they were on special offer of 2 for £6 which brings the cost down to £1 each.

What Oppo say:

‘Healthy Food and Drink Award winner

An indulgent Madagascan Vanilla & Roasted Almonds ice cream, coated in a thick layer of deliciously rich Belgian ‘no added sugar' milk chocolate, and scattered with chopped almonds. Full of flavour and the highest-quality natural ingredients, but with up to 60% less sugar and calories than traditional ice cream. You won't believe it's only 120 calories.’

My family were extremely happy to see these appear in the freezer. Needless to say, they didn’t last long and were devoured before the day was out. Of course, I needed their opinions on the taste.

I’m not a big ice cream eater, but these flavours really appealed to me. I love all things vanilla, salted caramel and nutty.

I tried the Madagascan Vanilla & Roasted Almonds first. The outside coating is a delicious chocolate which is crisp with the crunchy bits of almonds scattered throughout. Although the coating itself is thinner than what you’d find on a Magnum for example, it was enough to provide a lovely chocolate contrast to the creamy vanilla ice cream inside – also delicious.

Oppo Madagascan Vanilla & Roasted Almonds Ice Lolly

The Salted Caramel was also a big hit with the same chocolate coating but minus the nuts. The ice cream inside was very sweet with such a moreish caramel flavour.

Everyone in the family liked them all with possibly the vanilla winning overall.

These ice creams do save quite a lot on calories, for example, a Magnum Almond Ice Cream stick has 272 calories although the Magnum is a tiny bit bigger at 100ml.

But while they are lower in calories and sugar, they are still high in saturated fat and have a medium sugar level, but per ice cream this is around 1 teaspoon of sugar. The Salted Caramel flavour is high in salt but that is to be expected considering it’s ingredients.

You can find Oppo ice cream lower calorie ice cream sticks at Ocado online.

Contains fruit extracts and sweeteners from natural sources, Gluten-free, No artificial colours or flavours, Vegetarian Society Approved.

Nutrition per ice cream stick (80ml) Vanilla & Almond:
120 Calories, 7.8g fat, 4.1g saturated fat, 12g carbs, 4.4g sugars, 1.6g fibre, 3.6g protein, 0.08g salt.

Nutrition per ice cream stick (80ml) Salted Caramel:
110 Calories, 6.4g fat, 4.0g saturated fat, 13g carbs, 5.1g sugars, 1.0g fibre, 3.3g protein, 0.19g salt.

Ingredients Madagascan Vanilla & Almond:
Fresh Skimmed Milk, Sweeteners: Apple Fruit Extract, Maltitol, Erythritol and Steviol Glycosides (Stevia Leaf Extract), Milk Solids, Cocoa Butter, Roasted Almonds (5%), Cream (Milk) (5%), Soluble Gluco Fibre, Starch, Virgin Coconut Oil, Natural Vanilla Flavouring, Cocoa Mass, Ground Vanilla Seeds, Emulsifiers: Mono-and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids and Soya Lecithin, Stabilisers: Guar Gum, Locust Bean Gum, Carrageenan (derived from Seaweed), Safflower Extract, Lemon Extract

Allergen Information:
Contains Almonds, May Contain Eggs, Free From Gluten, Contains Milk, May Contain Nuts, Contains Soya, May Contain Wheat.

Ingredients Salted Caramel:
Fresh Skimmed Milk, Sweeteners: Apple Fruit Extract, Maltitol, Erythritol and Steviol Glycosides (Stevia Leaf Extract), Milk Solids, Cocoa Butter, Cream (Milk) (6%), Soluble Gluco Fibre, Starch, Virgin Coconut Oil, Burned Sugar Syrup, Natural Flavouring, Lucuma Powder, Cocoa Mass, Salt, Emulsifiers: Mono and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids and Soya Lecithin, Stabilisers: Guar Gum, Locust Bean Gum and Carrageenan (derived from Seaweed).

Allergen Information:
May Contain Eggs, Free From Gluten, Contains Milk, May Contain Nuts, Contains Soya, May Contain Wheat.

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Oppo Lower Calorie Ice Cream Salted Caramel Review: Read Post
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Deliciously Ella Nut Butter Balls Review

2019-09-24T17:47:00.005+01:00

As a follower of Deliciously Ella on Instagram, it’s impossible not to view the daily stories relating to her nut butter balls. I’ve held off buying them for a long time, but finally succumbed while waiting at a checkout in my local health food store.

I purchased a box of the Apple, Cinnamon & Almond nut butter balls and a pack of Raspberry & Cashew nut butter balls at a cost of £1.99 per box, virtually £1 per single ball.

I have bought Deliciously Ella’s energy balls in the past and reviewed them here. As a snack, they are very energy dense, a.k.a lots of calories in a tiny amount of food!

The nut butter balls are also energy dense with 145 calories per pack for the Apple, Cinnamon & Almond and 148 calories per pack for the Raspberry & Cashew. This gives a single nut butter ball an average of 73 calories.

After sampling each of the these flavours, I have to say I can see why they’re getting so much praise from fellow nut butter ball munchers.

They really are in a class of their own when compared with other energy and protein balls. Many others are very dry or ‘musty’ tasting, but these are perfectly squishy and soft which is helped by the nut butter inside which is also slightly runny.

The flavours are incredible. The Apple & Cinnamon tasted like apple pie with a good hit of cinnamon which doesn’t drown out the apple. The almond nut butter inside is creamy and smooth, almost like a sauce.

Apple, Cinnamon & Almond Nut Butter Balls

The Raspberry and Cashew has dried raspberries within the outer part and also mixed with the nut butter inside which is a mixture of cashew and almond butter. It’s a perfect combination. It’s very easy to get through these without thinking too hard, so I cut them in half and dished them up to family members.

Raspberry & Cashew Nut Butter Balls

It’s fair to say everyone in my family enjoyed these nut butter balls and I will be buying these again. They are very handy as an emergency snack if you’re out and about and they have a decent shelf life of around 6 months.

Looking at the nutrition, the Raspberry is high in saturated fat (from the nuts) and high in sugar (mainly from the dates). They are both high in sugar with the Apple nut butter balls containing nearly 2 teaspoons of sugar each. While this isn’t added sugar (free sugars) it will eventually be broken down in the body in the same way.

Naturally they are vegan and gluten free.

Available in a wide range of health stores such as Holland & Barrett and many larger supermarkets and Boots.

Ingredients: Apple, Cinnamon & Almond
Dates, Roasted Almond Butter (22%), dried apple (12%), almonds (8%), gluten free oats, cinnamon.

Ingredients: Raspberry & Cashew
Dates, Roasted Almond Butter (26%), Roasted Cashew Butter (7%), cashews (5%), gluten free oats, freeze dried raspberries (4%).

Nutrition per pack of 2 balls (Apple, Cinnamon & Almond):
145 Calories, 5.9g fat, 0.5g saturated fat, 19.4g carbs, 15.9g sugars, 3.5g fibre, 3.0g protein, 0.00g salt.

Nutrition per pack of 2 balls (Raspberry & Cashew):
148 Calories, 7.0g fat, 0.8g saturated fat, 17g carbs, 14.1g sugars, 3.2g fibre, 3.4g protein, 0.01g salt.

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Kombucha Drink by Pro Fusion Review

2019-09-17T09:47:00.004+01:00

Improving digestion is a big concern for many people with a healthy gut being linked to a healthy body and mind. One way of promoting gut health is by regularly topping up good bacteria with fermented food and drink.

There aren’t that many to choose from when it comes to drinks. One way is to drink Kefir which is fermented from milk, and another is to drink kombucha which is fermented from tea.

Kombucha can be drunk as a super healthy alternative to fizzy soft drinks because it’s naturally low in calories, naturally fizzy and can help increase levels of good bacteria. I purchased a bottle of Kombucha made by Pro Fusion Organic Living which has just 18 calories per 100ml.

Some of the benefits of drinking and eating fermented food and drink includes fewer food cravings, weight loss, improved mood, clearing up skin problems, reduced inflammation, balancing hormones and increased immunity as well as reducing symptoms relating to IBS such as bloating, wind and stomach pains.

As a nutritional therapist I was very excited when I first discovered Kombucha. Although I don’t drink fizzy drinks, I loved the idea of a healthy and naturally low calorie drink that will actually provide some health benefits.

Unfortunately, the first time I tried some was at a health food convention held at Olympia in London. There were a few tiny cups with different flavoured kombucha to try, and I have to admit, I nearly gagged as soon as I caught a whiff of it. I tried drinking it and after one mouthful had to spit it out. I had absolutely no interest in trying any again!

But that was a couple of years ago.

More recently I was tempted into purchasing a bottle of Kombucha in my local health food store because the flavours sounded amazing. I bought the Maca, Coconut and Pineapple which sounded absolutely delicious, like a pina colada.

It has to be kept in the fridge and when I purchased my bottle, it had a couple of months of shelf life left. Once it’s opened it must be finished in 4 days.

It has a slight fizz and smells as sweet as it tastes. This kombucha was a totally different experience to my first. The flavour was fruity and just sweet enough for me and this was very drinkable. A great healthy alternative to regular soft drinks.

Other flavours by Pro Fusion include: Baobab, Mint Pomegranate; Turmeric, Ginger & Lemon.

Pro Fusion Kombucha is described as:

‘A lightly sparkling, fermented green tea drink, with a refreshing fruity taste enhanced with superfoods. Our organic Kombucha is organic, raw and all natural.’

It’s vegan, raw, organic, fermented superfood, unpasteurised. 330ml bottle. At the time of writing a 330ml bottle costs £2.79.

You can find Pro Fusion Kombucha at: Amazon, Whole Foods Market, Abel & Cole, Real Foods, The Vegan Kind Supermarket and various independent health food stores.

Contained in a recyclable bottle. Keep refrigerated between +2C to +5C and once opened keep refrigerated and consume within 4 days.

Ingredients:
Filtered Water, Golden Cane Sugar*, Sencha Green Tea* Coconut Pineapple Tisane (1%) (Apple*, Coconut Chips* (13 %), Aronia Berries*, Hibiscus*, Pineapple Chips*(8%), Fennel*, Rosehip Peels*, Natural Flavour, Amaranth*, Cornflower Petals*) Maca*(0.5%), Kombucha Culture*
*=Certified Organic Ingredients *certified organic ingredients.

Nutrition per 100ml:
Calories: 18, Fat: trace, Sat fat: trace, Carbohydrate: 4.5g, Sugars: 4.5g, Fibre: trace, Protein: 0.2g, Salt trace.

Missfits Protein Wonderballs Review

2019-09-05T17:17:00.004+01:00

I picked up a couple of packs of Missfits protein balls in Sainsbury's a few weeks ago. I wasn’t actually looking for protein balls, but these caught my eye because they were mini protein balls, rather than larger ones.

I purchased a pack of Cacao at 138 calories per pack and a pack of Coconut with 117 calories per bag..

Each 35g bag contains 7 mini protein balls.

I don’t usually buy snacks such as protein balls because they're so calorie dense. As I spend a lot of time at my desk, I don't have a need for a lot of energy while just sitting, tapping away at my keyboard!

Some protein balls have over 200 calories, but because the Missfits balls are minis, they have fewer calories each. The Cacao protein balls have 20 calories each and the Coconut protein balls have just 17 calories each.

I tried the Cacao protein balls first. They have an attractive shiny appearance with an earthy, chocolately aroma. I was looking forward to eating these. However, they were quite dry and slightly crumbly with an almost musty taste. I was hoping for something with a bit of moisture and chewiness, but sadly they didn’t achieve this.

Missfits cacao protein balls

The Coconut protein balls are sprinkled with a coating of shredded coconut and are much paler in appearance. While they were still a little dry, they did have a more chewy texture with a very nice coconut flavour. I would happily buy this variety again.

Missfits Coconut protein balls

Also available is an Almond Butter variety with 144 calories per bag,

If you are vegan, the Coconut protein balls are suitable for you, and there is a Cacao Orange variety with just 103 calories per bag. The vegan protein balls contain vegan protein in the form of pea protein.

They are all suitable for vegetarians and have no added refined sugar.

With dates as the main ingredient, it's no surprise that they're high in sugar. The protein content is high thanks to the added whey or pea protein and they have a decent amount of fibre too which should help with satisfying hunger.

The ingredients also include healthy sunflower and pumpkin seeds.

You can find them in branches of Sainsbury’s, Ocado online, Tesco, Holland & Barrett and Amazon.

Ingredients (Coconut):
Dates, Pea Protein Crispies, Tapioca Fibre, Desiccated Coconut (7%), Pea Protein, Coconut Oil (4%), Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Sunflower Oil, Emulsifier: Sunflower Lecithin, Natural Coconut Flavour (0.6%)

Ingredients (Cacao):
Protein Crispies (Milk Protein Concentrate, Rice Flour, Salt), Dried Dates, Honey, Cacao Powder (5%), Whey Protein (Whey Protein Concentrate (Milk), Emulsifier (Soy Lecithin)), Natural Vanilla Flavouring, Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Coconut Oil

Nutrition (Coconut) per 35g bag:
117 Calories, 7.1g fat, 3.2g saturated fat, 14.4g carbs, 9.6g sugars, 4.7g fibre, 10.6g protein, 0.36g salt.

Nutrition (Cacao) per 35g bag:
124 Calories, 3.0g fat, 1.6g saturated fat, 12.3g carbs, 8.1g sugars, 1.1g fibre, 11.4g protein, 0.2g salt.

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Mochi Ice Cream Little Moons Vanilla Review

2019-08-27T12:19:00.001+01:00

To be honest, I’d never heard of Mochi ice cream until my daughter kept talking about them, then demanding I buy ingredients to make them!

But a much easier way of sampling a mochi ice cream is to buy them and Little Moons sell a wide variety of flavours. Each box contains 6 mochi ice creams with calories per mochi ranging from 64 up to around 84 calories.

Mochi is type of Japanese rice cake and mochi ice creams have a layer of of this rice cake wrapped around the outside.

I decided to buy a box of vanilla Mochi ice creams as that's my favourite ice cream flavour. They are already portion sized with an average of around 70 calories each. They’re not cheap though at £4.99 for a box of 6 x 32g mochi ice creams.

They come packed inside a cardboard box with each mochi sitting inside a hollowed out space in a plastic tray.

If you want you can eat the mochi holding it in your hand as the mochi outer prevents the ice cream from melting in your hand. It is a strange texture if you haven’t tried it before. It’s sort of chewy and slightly grainy with a sweet taste. It then dissolves in your mouth. The ice cream is delicious, smooth and creamy with a subtle vanilla taste.

What they say:

‘Some ice creams can consist of up to 90% air, not ours. The higher density of our gelato means it's not as soft straight out the freezer but results in a more intense flavour with patience.’

They are high in sugar with each mochi containing around 2 teaspoons of sugar.

I’d definitely buy these again, but not too often because they are expensive!

There are lots of varieties to choose from. They include:

Little Moons Vanilla Mochi: 73 calories
Little Mons Italian Roasted Hazelnut Mochi: 79 calories
Little Moons Vegan Passion fruit: 69 calories
Little Moons Matcha Green Tea: 74 calories
Little Moons Mango Mochi: 64 calories
Little Moons Coconut Mochi: 81 calories
Little Moons Salted Caramel Mochi: 73 calories
Little Moons Vegan Chocolate Mochi: 69 calories
Little Moons Honey Roasted Pistachio Mochi: 71 calories
Little Moons Yuzu Lemon Mochi: 70 calories
Little Moons Strawberries & Cream Mochi: 83 calories

Available at Ocado online, Waitrose, Whole Foods, Selfridges and various independent stores.

Also available from Amazon Fresh

Ingredients per vanilla mochi:
Fresh Milk, Sugar, Rice Flour, Water, Fresh Cream (Milk), Trehalose*, Skimmed Milk Powder, Emulsifier (Mono and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids), Stabilisers (Guar Gum, Locust Bean Gum, Cellulose Gum, Carrageenan), Tapioca Flour, Ground Vanilla Beans, Salt, Soya, *Trehalose is a source of Glucose

Nutrition per 32g vanilla mochi:
73 Calories, 2.3g fat, 1.4g saturated fat, 12g carbs, 8.8g sugars, 0.9g protein, 0.05g salt.

Dietary gluten free, No artificial flavourings, colours or preservatives, Suitable for vegetarians

Sainsbury's Apple & Cinnamon Rice Cakes Review

2019-08-22T15:05:00.002+01:00

I discovered these rice cakes by accident while looking for breadsticks for my daughter. I used to buy apple rice cakes made by Mrs Crimble. But for some reason they stopped producing them. I wondered whether these would be similar.

Sainsbury’s Apple & Cinnamon Rice Cakes are described as ‘Apple and Cinnamon flavour cake with wholegrain brown rice, white rice, oat flakes and millet’. They’re gluten free and bags contains 4 packs of 2 rice cakes. Each rice cake has just 35 calories.

Although the picture on the front shows a rice cake topped with sliced apple, I prefer eating flavoured rice cakes just as they come.

They’re a decent size, and you get quite a lot for your 71 calories. They’re slightly sticky on the outside with a pleasant crunch when you bite into them. They apple flavour is most dominant, giving them a slightly sour taste which is nice if you don’t like a very sweet rice cake. I can’t really detect much cinnamon taste.

These rice cakes are handy if you’re not hungry for a full on meal, but just want a crunchy snack without eating something too energy dense. These are light and reasonably satisfying at the time of eating, but they won’t keep hunger pangs at bay for too long.

Although the sugar levels have an amber (medium level) traffic light, each pack of 2 rice cakes has less than half a teaspoon of sugar and this is provided by the apple as they don’t have any added sugar or sweeteners. So they are low in sugar, low fat and low salt.

The ingredients are simple with no nasties.

Unfortunately the packaging is not recyclable.

Gluten free / Flavouring from natural sources. Available in Sainsbury’s supermarkets.

Ingredients:
Wholegrain Brown Rice (49%), White Rice (28%), Concentrated Apple Juice (13%), Gluten Free Oat Flakes (4.5%), Millet (4.5%), Flavouring, Emulsifier: Sunflower Lecithin; Ground Cinnamon.

Nutrition per pack of 2 rice cakes (18g):
71 Calories, 0.5g fat, 0.3g saturated fat, 14.9g carbs, 1.6g sugars, 0.5g fibre, 1.5g protein, less than 0.01g salt.

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Natures Store Mini Organic Chocolate Rice Cakes: see post

© Diets and Calories

Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate 30% less Sugar Review

2019-08-16T19:06:00.004+01:00

After reading some negative reactions towards the new Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate 30% less sugar version, I was intrigued to see how true the reviews were.

Cadbury Dairy Milk was always my absolute favourite chocolate bar but now I only buy dark chocolate (for the 'health' benefits). However, I really wanted to see how the reduced sugar version compared with the original as well as the differences in calories.

I’ve only found the lower sugar chocolate bar in the 85g size, but their website says it’s also sold as a single bar. The 85g bar has 24 squares with 6 squares worth 107 calories. This means one square has around 18 calories.

Cadbury Dairy Milk less sugar chocolate

Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate regular version

The table below shows the nutrition comparison between a regular block of Dairy Milk and the new less sugar version:

	30% less sugar		Regular Dairy Milk
	Per 100g	Per 6 chunks	Per 100g	Per 6 chunks
Calories	503	107	534	147
Fat	31g	6.5g	30g	7.4g
Saturated Fat	18g	3.9g	19g	5.1g
Carbohydrate	42g	8.9g	57g	16g
Sugar	37g	7.8g	56g	15g
Fibre	18g	3.8g	2.1g	0.5g
Protein	5.8g	1.2g	7.3g	2.0g
Salt	0.18g	0.04g	0.24g	0.07g

As you’ll see, the reduced sugar Dairy Milk has a lot more fibre and this comes from the soluble maize fibre. It has slightly less protein and the sugar is down from 56g to 37g, or around 4.5 teaspoons less per 100g. It still gets a high (red) traffic light. Fat and saturated fat is still very high.

The squares are thinner than the regular bars which reduces the calories per square as well.

Onto the taste test. I offered the new chocolate to my family who were all happy to oblige in this little test. My youngest thought it tasted just as good as the regular Dairy Milk. I haven’t eaten Dairy milk in a long time, but it tasted every bit as good as I remembered. It does taste very sweet and this is without the addition of artificial sweeteners.

I think they’ve done a good job. It’s not a huge saving in calories. But if you’re actively looking to cut down on sugar and still want to eat Dairy Milk chocolate, this seems like a reasonable swap.

However, it does come in at a higher cost, as is so often the case with reduced sugar foods. At the time of writing, the reduced sugar Dairy Milk costs £1.49 for an 85g bar whereas the 110g regular Dairy Milk costs £1.50 (although it’s on special offer at £1.00).

What Cadbury says:

30% less sugar
Helping chocolate-lovers to manage their sugar intake better, the new bar has been two years in the making. Our team of scientists, nutritionists and chocolatiers have been working away to achieve the much-loved Cadbury taste, with 30% less sugar, no increase in calories, and absolutely no artificial sweeteners.

The science behind the bar
With their understanding of flavour technologies and material science, our development team have successfully replaced the physical functionality of sugar with fibre, preserving the structure of the chocolate and the unique texture of Cadbury Dairy Milk!

Delicious taste
And it’s not just the smooth texture that makes Cadbury Dairy Milk with 30% Less Sugar so delicious – it tastes great too! Our consumer research throughout 2017 and 2018 received fantastic feedback, with an official ‘Outstanding’ score in the most recent tests.

A wonderful world of choice
This new addition to the Cadbury Dairy Milk range is just one of a number of lower sugar alternatives that we have planned over the next two years. It’s part of our commitment to giving chocolate-lovers the opportunity to enjoy their favourite treats in moderation, and as part of a balanced lifestyle.

Ingredients:
Milk, Sugar, Soluble Maize Fibre, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Vegetable Fats (Palm, Shea), Milk Fat, Skimmed Milk Powder, Emulsifier (E442), Flavourings, Milk Solids 20 % minimum, Cocoa Solids 20 % minimum, Contains Vegetable Fats in addition to Cocoa Butter.

Allergen Information
Contains Milk, May Contain Nuts

Suitable for Vegetarians.

Partnering with Fairtrade Foundation to impact the lives of coca farmers and their communities. www.cocoalife.org

Halo Top Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sticks Review

2019-08-09T18:51:00.002+01:00

We love Halo Top ice cream in my house, with various members of the family always accusing each other of finishing off the tub.

Now Halo Top have a new addition to their lower calorie ice cream range with the arrival of Halo Top Ice Cream Sticks.

Each box contains 3 ice creams on a wooden stick and there are four flavours - each have 100 calories or less per ice cream.

The four varieties available at the time of writing are:

Sea Salt Caramel – 80 Calories
Birthday Cake – 90 Calories
Strawberry Cheesecake – 100 calories
Peanut Butter Swirl – 100 calories.

I purchased a box of Peanut Butter swirl because my daughter loves peanut butter. To be honest, I only purchased them on this occasion because they were on a special offer, half price at £2.50.

I liked the peanut butter flavour and especially the swirly bit. They are a full sized lolly, not a mini version so they’re not gone after a couple of mouthfuls.

The consistency is very similar to the ice cream itself, smooth and quite light, almost fluffy. You don’t need to wait for them to soften like you do with the ice cream which is very hard straight out of the freezer. If you’ve ever eaten the Skinny Cow iced lollies, the Halo Top Ice lollies have a very similar consistency to those.

Looking at the ingredients, they’re not the same as the Halo Top Peanut Butter Cup ice cream. The ice lollies have more peanut butter and while both the lollies and the ice cream use the sweetener stevia, the ice lollies also have sugar and maltodextrin, while the ice cream adds sugar and erythritol.

They’re a reasonable source of protein and fibre with 4g of fibre per bar and 5.3g of protein.

They still have a lot fewer calories and sugar than regular ice cream and if you’re calorie counting, these can be helpful for satisfying a sweet tooth craving for very few calories.

Available at Tesco and Ocado at the time of writing.

Ingredients: Peanut Butter Swirl

Skimmed Milk, Peanut Butter (13%) (Roasted Peanuts, Sugar, Peanut Oil, Salt), Sugar, Maltodextrin, Whey Protein Concentrate, Milk Protein Concentrate, Cream, Eggs, Sweetener (Erythritol), Cocoa, Sea Salt, Natural Peanut Flavour, Stabilisers (Arabic Gum, Carob Bean Gum, Guar Gum), Sweetener (Steviol Glucosides)

Nutrition per 100ml: Peanut Butter Swirl

Calories: 172 (100 per bar), 8.6g fat, 2.5g saturated fat, 16g carbs, 12g sugars, 6.9g fibre, 9.1g protein, 0.38g salt.

Rude Health Chilled Oat Unsweetened Review

2019-08-01T11:50:00.004+01:00

After enjoying my first experience of Oat milk courtesy of Oatly’s Skinny, I felt confident enough to try another brand as long as the calories weren’t too high. After checking all the nutrition labels, it seems that Rude Health’s Organic Chilled Oat Drink has the lowest calories – just 35 calories per 100g.

Rude Health’s Oat Drink is a dairy free, organic and gluten free dairy alternative with no added artificial ingredients. It’s available as chilled or long life.

For some reason the long life variety includes sunflower oil as one of its ingredients. This pushes the calories up to 43 calories per 100ml.

After experimenting with Oatly’s drink in my various beverages and finding success with hot chocolate and turmeric lattes and even in regular black tea, I was hopeful this organic Rude Health Oat drink would have similar results.

I first drank it on its own. It seems to have a thinner consistency than Oatly’s and for some reason I didn’t like the taste. Yes, the oat is there, just not to my liking as much.

I next tried heating it for a latte and no success with getting the slightest froth on top. So my oat lattes were just flat. But, after reading the side of the carton, it actually tells you to not heat it as much as regular milk if you want to froth it. So I tried heating it less, and managed to produce a thinnish frothy top.

It tasted ok in a turmeric latte and hot chocolate, but didn’t add anything to it. It wasn’t at all creamy. In my tea, it split, leaving an unappetising looking drink. And the taste was just too insipid for my liking.

I do like Rude Health’s products, but this one wasn’t for me.

Because it’s organic, it doesn’t have any added extras which means it’s not fortified with calcium, B12 or iodine. So if you’re replacing dairy milk with plant based milks, keep this in mind. Non organic versions of plant based milks do fortify with calcium, Vitamin B12 and iodine to the same levels as dairy milk.

Nutrition Information per 100ml:
35 Calories, 0.7g fat, 0.2g saturated fat, 6.1g carbs, 4.1g sugars, 0.8g protein, 0.3g fibre, 0.1g salt.

Ingredients:
Spring Water, Organic Pure Oats (11%), Sea Salt.

Kinder Ice Cream Sticks Review

2019-07-25T07:43:00.007+01:00

I purchased these new Kinder Ice Cream sticks purely on impulse. They were definitely not on my shopping list, mainly because they are new and I’ve never seen them before.

Without investigating the nutrition, I had a quick check of the calorie content as shown on the front of the box – only 62 calories each.

Since they were on offer I popped them into the trolley as a dessert choice for the family who like something sweet after dinner (and who doesn’t like Kinder eggs)!

Kinder Ice cream sticks come in a box of ten individually wrapped lollies – each lolly is 27g. They’re basically a soft white ice cream on a wooden stick with the top part covered by a thin crispy layer of Kinder chocolate.

The ice cream is soft and icy with a sweet, creamy milky taste while the chocolate provides a crunchy contrast with the familiar Kinder taste. I found them very tasty but I do have an exceptionally sweet tooth. The rest of the family loved them too.

Here’s what they say on the box:

‘Kinder joins the ice cream world together with Wall’s/HB to launch a new range of ice cream responsibility made for kids.

Kinder ice cream is made with care and attention, by creating small portions and using milk as our main ingredient. It can be enjoyed as part of a balanced diet and active lifestyle.'

Will I buy them again?

To be honest, even though we all liked them, they won’t be a regular purchase, mainly because the ingredients leave a lot to be desired.

Although they are a low calorie snack, this is because they are a small portion, aimed at kids. If you were watching your weight a wanted an ice cream treat, then they’re a better option than something like a Magnum which has around 4 times the calories.

But the ingredients, as shown below, are high in fat and sugar – so many types of sugar! It comes from: sugar, glucose-fructose syrup, glucose syrup, fructose syrup, and the natural sugars in the milk. Per portion you’re getting around 1.5 teaspoons of sugar.

Found in Sainsbury’s.

Ingredients:
Pasteurised Whole Milk, Reconstituted Skimmed Milk, Sugar, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Glucose Syrup, Cocoa Butter, Whole Milk Powder, Cream (Milk), Fructose Syrup, Butter Oil (Milk), Cocoa Mass, Skimmed Milk Powder or Concentrate, Emulsifiers (Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Soy Lecithins), Stabilisers (Guar Gum, Locust Bean Gum, Carrageenan), Flavourings.

Nutrition per stick:
62 Calories, 2.9g fat, 1.82g saturated fat, 8.1g carbs, 6.1g sugars, 0.8g protein, 0.03g salt.

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