Does this stuff work? Does any of it taste good? I decided to find out. I want to lose 6 pounds. Everyday for the next three weeks I am going to at least two new products a day. So far, I've already tried six.
I will rate them for you in case you are interested in any of these products, but afraid to spend the money (they are expensive) on something that won't work or tastes gross.
I will rate them based on taste, nutrition, hunger control and cost. I will also let you know how my weight loss is going. If I don't lose any weight, I will be pretty disappointed with this expensive experiment.
Here are the products I've tried so far:
BARS:
Clif Kid Chocolate Brownie Z Bar
I have been buying these for Meagan for months. She thinks they are candy bars so
she loves them. I have loved them because they give her a bunch of fiber and other nutrients, but I never tried them until yesterday. They are actually pretty good! Here's how I rated them:Taste: 8
Nutrition: 6 (good amount of fiber and potassium (3 g), but too many carbs
Hunger control: 7.5
Cost: 8 (they are expensive, but on sale a lot. They are also bigger than most other bars)
Overall Score: 7.375
Curves Chocolate Peanut Chewy Granola Bar
These were actually in the granola bar section rather than the health bar section. Not sure why, but it made me think they had less functional value.
Taste: 7
Nutrition: 6 (While it had 5 grams of fiber it didn't have any vitamins and it had 3.5 g of fat)
Hunger control: 6.5 (It was small)
Cost: 8.5 (They work out to be about $.50 a piece. Cheaper than most)
Overall Score: 7
Slim-Fast Optima Chocolate Peanut Nougat Bar
I was a bit afraid to try these. I never saw myself as a Slim Fast consumer, but because I was planning to compare all bars and I really like nougat, I thought I'd give them a shot.
Taste: 9.5 (These are by far the best nutrition bars I have tasted. They actually tasted just as good as a candy bar. I took off a half point though because they are too squishy and you can just pull it out of the package in one piece.)
Nutrition: 5.5 (While the box says "15 Vitamins and Minerals" they are pretty small percentages of them. Also there is only 1 g of fiber and 5 g of fat! And the bar is TINY.
Hunger Control: 4.5 (The bar was too tiny and there wasn't enough fiber. I think I will just use these as dessert replacements)
Cost: 4.5 (at almost $6 these are the most expensive in a box. I wouldn't buy them twice because there isn't enough value)
Overall Score: 6
BEVERAGES
Promise Activ Super Shots - Raspberry
I actually decided to try these because a colleague of mine got some coupons for free packages of 4. He shared one with me because he wanted my opinion. I have to say, I was scared to try them and assumed they came in teeny tiny bottles and were called "shots" because they would taste gross. I actually did shoot it as fast as I could. The after taste wasn't horrible, but it was a lot more tart than a yogurt.
Taste: 6
Nutrition: 5 (I don't really have a cholesterol problem, so there isn't a lot of value for me here. In the tiny shot it has 3.5g of fat! It is only 70 calories and does have 35% of B6 so that makes it a little better)
Hunger Control: 6 (Better than a tiny bar, but still - tiny and no fiber really)
Cost: 3 (Way too expensive for me. It was on sale for $4. That means $1 a piece and you are supposed to have 2 a day if you are trying to lower cholesterol)
Overall Score: 5
Safeway brand Weight Loss Shake - French Vanilla
If this experiment works and I actually do lose weight trying these products, I will definitely buy these shakes again. They are actually pretty yummy. I was so surprised. Like I said earlier, I wasn't really a Slim-Fast kind of person. Also, Slim-Fast shakes are expensive so I thought - why not try the store brand? I'm glad I did. I would even bother with Slim-Fast now. In fact, I don't think Safeway should be trying so hard to make their shake look like a Slim-Fast knockoff. They should just put it under the EatRight brand.
Taste: 9.5 (I couldn't bring myself to give it a full 10. I real vanilla milkshake deserves a 10)
Nutrition: 9 (I couldn't give it any higher because, while it's only 170 calories and has 5 grams of fiber, it also has 5 grams of fat.)
Hunger Control: 7.5 It works pretty well, but I wish I wasn't hungry afterward for at least a few hours. I am usually hungry within an 1 1/2 - 2 hours.
Cost: 9.5 (Of course, I would love it if these were $.50 a piece, but they are still the cheapest you will likely get that will offer what the others offer AND taste good. They cost $5 for 6 on sale from $6.
Overall Score: 8.875
SOUP
Campbell's V8 Butternut Squash
I was kind of disappointed. I saw this soup advertised in a few women's magazines and was excited to find it at Safeway. It's expensive, but I thought - if it offers all the taste of V8 juice, more nutrition than regular soup and low calories, than I will eat it all the time. So far I have only tried the Butternut Squash. I bought a few boxes of the red pepper so I am hoping I'll be happier with that.
Taste: 5 (It wasn't horrible, but nothing like the strong taste I was hoping for coming from a V8 product)
Nutrition: 8.5 (It's pretty good for a soup! It has 3 g of fiber and only 140 calories per serving, plus 40% of Vitamin A.)
Hunger Control: 8 (Not too bad. It kept me satisfied for a couple of hours.)
Cost: 8 (While it is what I would expect to pay for a functional soup, it's still expensive for a bring to work lunch so I couldn't justify giving it a higher score.
Overall Score: 7.375
So, stay tuned. I'll keep you updated on my weight loss success, or lack there of and continue testing these products so you don't have to - until you know they are good(:
Today's favorite things: Functional food and beverages done right - making weight loss easy
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