Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Where is everyone?

So, where is everyone?  The traffic on Jorge's website has virtually come to a stop.  Is it due to the holidays or is it due to a lot of folks being really unsatisfied?  The Accountability Buddy site has had comments holding steady for each group for a week now.  The Emotional Emergency site is seldom used.  In fact, I am the last one to post an issue.

I have an admission.  I think I'm obsessed with the BFC website.  I mentioned in an earlier post that I spent hours pouring through the posts, well, I'm not getting that now and it bums me out.  How pathetic is that?  The blogs are great but like me, not everyone posts something everyday.  Guess I'm feeling pretty isolated in this too.


Jane and Amber, thank you for attempting to help me.  I am unable to figure the whole comment thing out.  The comment box never shows my name nor when I chose any of the profiles does it actually post the comment.  Oh well.  But thank you so very much :)

Sunday, December 6, 2009

I need tech help

I really appreciate you following my blog.  I have tried numerous times to post comments to each of you who have been kind enough to leave me one and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do it.  So to all I say "THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU".
If one of you understand how to do this or know what it is I'm doing wrong, please post here so I can fix it.  This is very frustrating for me.
Again, much thanks and I hope to see you all in class tomorrow night :-)

Product Review-Dark Chocolates

I am reviewing 3 dark chocolates

Cost Plus/World Market 99% Dark Chocolate
Lindt Excellence 90% Dark Chocolate
Green & Blacks 85% Organic Dark Chocolate

I'll add a picture later I wanted to get the text done now.

Cost Plus/World Market 99% Dark Chocolate
$1.99
1/2 bar
14g carbohydrates
7g fiber
1g sugar
5g protein

Um, run away.  Far, far away.  This is a very hard and bitter chocolate....even gritty.  I know that the higher the cocoa count, the more bitter the chocolate gets and I'm okay with that.  It is the texture that really was a turn off for me.  Once I could actually break a small piece off once I started chewing it it just crumbled in my mouth.  I'll probably melt the remainder of the  bar to cook with and I won't be purchasing this again.


Lindt Excellence 90% Dark Chocolate
$1.79 at Target

4 squares
14g carbohydrates
5g fiber
3g sugar
5g protein


This is a good dark chocolate and it is very affordable.  It is bitter but doesn't crumble into pieces when you chew it like the above reviewed chocolate.  It does melt in one's mouth but not as quickly nor as creamy as the next chocolate I review.  If you are tight on funds and want a good high cocoa chocolate, this is a good choice and readily available.  This is my "go to" bar for typical days I want some chocolate.  I found my bar at Target in the chocolate isle in the food dept.



 Green & Blacks 85% Organic Dark Chocolate
$3.79


12 pieces
14g carbohydrates
5g fiber
6g sugar
3g protein


This chocolate is by far the best I've tried.  To me, it is the Cadillac (oh, wait, maybe I should say Prius) of chocolates.  It melts beautifully in your mouth and coats it. The lower cocoa count and higher sugar count definitely satisfy any sweet tooth and I daresay any chocolate lover.  The cost of this chocolate can be prohibitive as well as its availability.  I have found it at my local co-op and it was on sale 2 for $5.  I have also seen it at Whole Foods and Food Lion.   I save this bar for my "emotional" days be it a celebratory day or a day I could do some pretty destructive stuff.

 

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Fast Food Nutrition Sites

So as I sit here listening to my White Christmas radio station on Pandora I thought I'd post some fast food nutritional websites for easy referral.  I actually did pretty good yesterday with my choice at Wendy's http://www.wendys.com/food/NutritionLanding.jsp.  I ordered the Chicken BLT salad with grilled chicken and left off the croutons and only used a light drizzle of Italian dressing.  It was a 5/1...only 10 grams of carbs!  My choice at Taco Bell http://www.tacobell.com/nutrition/calculator/ wasn't so good :(  I ordered a chicken fiesta taco salad and then went home and added a healthy dollop or 3 of sour cream and 2 packets of wholly guacamole...the total damage was 8/4...75 grams of carbs!  At McDonald's http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/nutrition_facts.html  it looks like the McNuggets are the best choice if you aren't in the mood for a salad and if you do want a salad the side salad is actually a 2/0, then there are the caesar salad with or without chicken is one carb serving and the bacon ranch salads.  At this point I'll just list the restaurant and the link. Chick-Fil-A http://www.chick-fil-a.com/#nutritiondata 


Hardee's/Carl Jr.'s http://www.hardees.com/menu/

 Arby's  http://www.arbys.com/nutrition/

 Starbucks (you have to put in your zipcode) http://www.starbucks.com/retail/nutrition_freshfood.asp

Panera http://www.panerabread.com/pdf/nutr-guide.pdf

I'm going to call it quits for now but I'll edit and add more as I continue the search. 

Product Review-Steaz Zero Calorie

http://www.steaz.com/

 Steaz Zero Calorie sparkling green tea IS zero!  This refreshing bubbling beverage is sweetened with organic erythritol, stevia and organic purple carrot juice for this particular flavor.  It comes as a 4 pack and at my local co-op was $5.99.  I have not had the opportunity to check out other stores to see if they carry it or if it is cheaper elsewhere.  For the BFC plan it is 0/0 and heaven knows we need as many of those as we can find :-)
I attempted to make a sparkling cocktail with this using vanilla vodka & Steaz Zero blueberry pomegranate.  I thought it was pretty good-different of course and my husband wasn't sold on it.  The tea threw the flavor for him.  Cocktail or not, I highly recommend this product to those who enjoy sodas and miss them.  Unlike Zevia, which is a BFC 0/1,  Steaz Zero is 0/0.  So enjoy!

Product Review-Water


http://www.herbalwater.com/

This is delicious water!   It is flavored with herb extracts and vanilla.  It comes in several flavors and is zero everything.  I found 3 varieties of it at Cost Plus/World Market.  The two shown here and cinnamon orange peel. You can get it online cheaper from Vitacost.com but they only have 2 flavors.









MetroMint is also very delicious water that is flavored with extracts of mint and fruits and they now even have chocolate mint.  I discovered this water 2 years ago when I was going to the gym regularly and really having a difficult time cooling down during the summer workouts.  I have found MetroMint at Whole Foods, Fresh Market and World Market/Cost Plus.  It is on the pricey side like Herbal Water but it is a nice treat and certainly makes getting some of the 80 oz. I should be drinking everyday more pleasant.  I highly recommend both of these waters.


Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Sugar: The Bitter Truth

So I watched the latest video post from Jorge and was completely floored. I had no idea how bad sugar was outside of fruits and vegetables. Fructose is a poison just like ethanol (alcohol). So much for the red grape that Dr. Oz extols. The silver lining however, is that I can't look at a candy bar, baked goods, Dr. Pepper or A LOT of things the same way ever again. I am already a label/ingredient list reader but I will be ever more vigilant in my inspection of food products.
Within the last year I discovered Nature's Own organic wheat bread for my kids. It does not contain HFC and has whole grains in it and a decent amount of fibre. What is even better is that I buy it at the bread thrift store so I pay $1 to $1.50 per loaf depending on their sales. I have a chest freezer so I load up on it when they have it. My last trip I bought 16 loaves and 4 packages of the HFC free whole wheat hamburger buns.
I also learned that fibre, fibre, fibre is key for many reasons. The video also touches on why it is absent from fast food and why so many food producers don't include it in their products.....shelf life and shipping to other countries. If we were to follow a Paleolithic diet, we would only eat raw foods and our fibre intake would be around 100-300grams.
An amazing video with lots to think about. I went so far as to try and find the book Pure, White and Deadly the Dr. mentions and I did find it on Amazon for $662! So much for reading.
I highly recommend that you watch the video.