Results tagged “sugar free”

Chocolite Crispy Caramel Bites

By: Ellen | Nov 13, 2009

Looking for an alternative to Hershey's Krackel? How about with a little caramel thrown in there for good measure? Look no further than Chocolite Crispy Caramel Bites, which combine the crunchy rice taste of Krackel with a rich, delicious caramel center. However, each Chocolite treat is sugar free, has just 30 calories and a whole 6 grams of fiber.

See more on: Candy & Cookies , candy, sugar free

Chocolite Peanut Chews

By: Ellen | Nov 13, 2009

I've heard so much about Chocolite chocolates that I was incredibly excited when I saw them for sale at a little health foods store near me; after all, I wanted to be sure I liked them before ordering a bunch online! I decided to pick up the Chocolite Peanut Chews. If I could find a substitute for all those not-so-good-for-you chocolate goodies that sneak their way into my diet, I would be ecstatic. Plus I'm a big peanut fan, and chocolate goodies are amazing.

See more on: Candy & Cookies , candy, high fiber, high protein, sugar free

Sweet Leaf Stevia

By: Tanya Patrice | Sep 14, 2009

Let's put aside the debate between using 'artifical' sweeteners or not, and accept the fact that some people do and some people don't. I do. I cannot tolerate a lot of sugar in my diet - it's like crack to me or something, because it makes me crave more and more foods - not just sweet foods. So, I use artificial sweeteners - mainly Splenda - in coffee or tea, and in a few of the foods that I eat.

With Stevia being the latest sweetener to be approved for use by the FDA, I decided to check it out. Stevia is a naturally sweet plant native to Paraguay whose leaves are 30 times sweeter than sugar in its unprocessed form. When purified, it can be 250-300 times sweeter than sugar. SweetLeaf Stevia was one of the first zero calorie, zero glycemic index alternatives on the market.

I tried it in many different ways - I added it to coffee, Fage Fat Free Greek Yogurt, made lemonade, iced tea and even used it in a few recipes that called for sugar.I didn't detect any bitterness at all (which you can from the liquid supplements) and it's quite versatile since it can be used to cook with (unlike Splenda).

See more on: Condiments , sugar free, sweetener

Smucker's Sugar Free Breakfast Syrup

By: Emily B | Jul 22, 2009

Smucker's did a pretty decent job with their Sugar Free Apricot Preserves so I decided to try another one of their sugar free products and opted for the Smucker's Sugar Free Breakfast Syrup. I had really high hopes for this syrup, and luckily it delivered.

I had it in mind to use it to jazz up a bowl of canned pumpkin (hello Libby's Canned Pumpkin) by adding some maple syrup and zap it in the microwave. It sounded so good in theory, that I purchased the syrup and went home to try and create my pumpkin syrup mash-up. Let me tell you - this is, by far, the best sugar free syrup I've tried! . Often times low calorie/sugar free syrups tend to be watery and 'un-syrupy,' but Smucker's Sugar Free Syrup is thick and sweet. This tasted amazing in a bowl of pure pumpkin, and I am sure it would be fantastic in oatmeal, on pancakes and in any other situation where syrup is a necessity

See more on: Condiments , spread, sugar free, syrup

Diet Trash: Murray Sugar Free Fudge Dipped Vanilla Wafers

Diet Trash is about the food products you might eat because you think you're doing something better for your diet, but you'll be surprised to know, they're not.

Sugar free products sometimes get a bad rap as being low in sugar but high in fat. That's not always the case, but in this instance, it's accurate. One serving of Murray Sugar Free Fudge Dipped Vanilla Wafers is 4 cookies that has 30% of the RDA for saturated fat, 2 grams of trans fat and 15% of the RDA for total fat.

Trans fat can be treated like saturated fat for the purpose of the nutrition facts added up to 40% of the RDA. This may be sugar free but it is certainly not something that you should eat if you're on a diet. You're better off getting York Sugar Free Peppermint Patties which has less fat.

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Polaner Sugar Free Blueberry Topping

By: Lizabeth | Feb 4, 2008

There are days when I get the strong urge to whip up a batch of pancakes. It just seems like the thing to do on a beautiful weekend morning. Nutritionally, you could do worse than a stack of pancakes if you make them with whole grains and minimize the amount of butter added to them. Until, of course, you drown them in a calorie laden syrup, which will set you back a whopping 200 calories per 1/4 cup (I'm looking at you Aunt Jemima).

Having the craving for blueberry pancakes, I naturally desired a blueberry syrup to top them with. Lo and behold, I spotted Polaner Sugar Free Blueberry Topping at my store. It comes in a little jar lacking a pour-spout, which meant that I had to spoon it out onto my pancakes - that was a little different. The texture, however, was surprisingly thick and ... syrupy. It has a wonderful blueberry flavor, and it's not as sweet as a traditional blueberry syrup, but it's still sweet enough.

See more on: Condiments , sugar free, syrup

Smuckers Sugar Free Apricot Preserves

By: Lizabeth | Jan 3, 2008

The first thing that I want to say about this product is that the name is a misnomer. This is most certainly a jelly, not a preserve. There are no fruit chunks in this as there should be in a preserve - despite what they may say. Instead, this is essentially jellified fruit juice. However, for a jelly, I was actually quite happy with the taste. It's sweet, a bit tart, and unmistakably apricot. I detected no odd flavors or aftertastes despite being sweetened artificially with sucralose (Splenda). It spreads well, though you can really tell that this is mostly water. I think that because of this, it soaked into my toast more than usual, which made it seem as if I was eating jam on an un-toasted slice of bread. The solution was to spread the jelly on the un-toasted side, but that felt like a sacrilege.

See more on: Condiments , jam, spread, sugar free

Jell-O Sugar Free Chocolate Vanilla Pudding Snack

By: Lizabeth | Dec 27, 2007

For me, pudding elicits fond memories of lunch boxes and brown bags for me, but since I'm trying to cut down on the calories, I decided to try Jell-O's Sugar-Free Chocolate Vanilla pudding.

There's a layer of vanilla right in the center of this pudding. I suppose I'm supposed to dip my spoon in and come out with the picturesque chocolate-vanilla-chocolate pattern on my spoon. However, stirring it together just until it was swirled seemed more logical to me. The flavor is shockingly good for a sugar-free product: sweet, but without that saccharine metallic after-taste. The chocolate flavor wasn't overwhelming, and I could still taste the vanilla even though I had emulsified it; that in and of itself is a testament.

See more on: Cold Snacks , chocolate, pudding, sugar free

Kraft Handi Snacks Sugar Free Pudding

By: Caroline Yoder | Aug 30, 2007

When Jell-O started making their sugar-free pudding cups, I discovered a new best friend. Great for thickening up smoothies/shakes, I stocked up on multi-packs at Sam's and sampled several varieties. So many flavors and only 60 calories each! However, Jell-O now has a new competitor in the sugar-free pudding market: Kraft Handi-Snacks.

Kraft recently introduced their own low-calorie, no-sugar pudding in three flavors: chocolate, vanilla, and caramel. All three Handi Snacks are tasty, and the consistency of this pudding is a bit thicker than Jell-O puddings: thicker than yogurt but thinner than ice cream. This pudding is also very very sweet, but I detected none of that distinctive aftertaste that many sugar free products have. To get rid of some of that sweet taste, I use Kraft Handi Snacks pudding to thicken my protein shakes - blend it with milk, ice, and protein powder (one of my faves is Aria Protein Powder for Women ).

See more on: Cold Snacks , pudding, sugar free

The Original Brand Sugar Free Popsicle

By: Tanya Patrice | Aug 3, 2007

The Original Brand Sugar Free Popsicle is sugar free, fat free (of course) and only 15 calories per 51 gram popsicle - which is a bit on the small size. I tried the box with the Orange, Cherry and Grape flavors, and all 3 were the same with only a slight variation in flavor. At first I was really pleased with the taste. The popsicles were sweet but with a slight tartness a the end. But then the aftertaste hit. It's like a slight leftover sweetness in my mouth - I've tasted this before in products that use artificial sweeteners. Usually a few sips of water will get rid of it - and this is an inconvenience, but if you're on a diet, then this might be a small price to pay for a low calorie treat.

There is a sharp bite at the end, which might be citric acid, or might be an effect from the artificial sweeteners.

See more on: Cold Snacks , popsicle, sugar free

Roddenberrys Northwoods Sugar Free Syrup

By: Ann H | May 25, 2007

Because of my waffle/ pancake obsession, I have become somewhat of a syrup connoisseur. I picked up the Roddenbery's Northwoods Sugar Free Syrup at the store out of curiosity, and more so because my usual Log Cabin Sugar Free syrup was out of stock.

I can sum up the taste of the Roddenbery's Syrup in one word: Blaaaahhhhhhh! It was flavorless, thin and runny, and had an unusual metallic-like after taste. The back label of the syrup contains the statement: "Enjoy thick rich sugar free syrup based on an over 100 year tradition of quality ingredients." This claim rubbed me in all the wrong ways, mainly because it is a bold face lie for this syrup was by no means thick or rich!

Also, I don't know in what world cellulose gum, phosphoric acid, sodium hexametaphosphate, and acesulfame potassium qualify as "quality ingredients." Y'all should know that there is little else on this Earth that I detest more than false advertising and this is a perfect example. I was extremely disappointed in this product and I couldn't help feeling like I had wasted 2 perfectly good Van's Multi-Grain waffles by covering them in this quasi-syrup concoction.

See more on: Condiments , sugar free, syrup

JellO Sugar Free Chocolate Mint Fudge Pudding Snack

By: Tanya Patrice | May 15, 2007

After having reviewed the JellO Fat Free Pudding Snack I still wasn't a big fan of pudding because the texture weirds me out. Nevertheless, a few comments recommended I try the Sugar Free Jell-O pudding cups, so I grabbed a hold of the Chocolate Mint Fudge Sundae variety.

First of all, if you are not a fan of 'artificial sweeteners', then this might not be the product for you, because they use a little bit of almost everything - xylitol (sugar alcohol), sucralose (Splenda) and acesulfame K - no aspartame. All those sweeteners contribute to a very sweet taste but surprisingly, I didn't detect any off flavors or 'chemical' taste. The 'mint' flavor was very light and honestly, I didn't even detect it until I re-read the box and realized that it was supposed to be there. I am not even going to spend too much time commenting on Jell-O's use of the word 'fudge' and 'sundae.' I will simply say that those two words do NOT belong on the product description. I am not even sure which of the two layers is supposed to be the fudge and which the sundae.

One thing pudding is good for, it's to thicken protein shakes - some people don't like using bananas, and so I made a Double Chocolate Shake with GNC Pro Performance Chocolate and Caramel Whey Protein - so head over to IntheGym.net and get the recipe [link].

See more on: Cold Snacks , chocolate, pudding, sugar free

Airforce Slender NutriSoda

By: Tanya Patrice | Mar 29, 2007

Anything with the name Nutrisoda has to bought and reviewed ASAP, especially a "nutrient-enhanced sodas with zero sugar, caffeine, sodium or aspartame." There are quite a few varieties available including Calm, Focus, Flex, Immune, Radiant, Renew, Energize and Slender - which is the first one I tried.

The Slender variety is flavored with pink grapefruit and guava. From the website, Slender "facilitates healthy weight management" and is "is full of the right stuff to help you healthily manage your weight." Love the name of the sodas - HATED the taste . It has a very acidic, metallic and medicinal taste. I love tart beverages, but this just goes way overboard (citric acid is the 2nd most abundant ingredient after water). It turns out that this 'soda' is nothing more than a glorified energy drink. It contains the usual supplements of carnitine, tyrosine, and something called garcinia cambogia - a plant containing hydroxycitric acid which has been found to suppress fatty acid synthesis, food intake, and promote induced weight loss.

See more on: Beverage , soda, sugar free

Eat Well Be Well Whole Grain Cereal Bars

By: Tanya Patrice | Jan 22, 2007

Eat Well Be Well Cereal Bars are diabetic friendly, sugar free and made with whole grains. There are 2 varieties to choose from, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and Cinnamon Apple Crisp, which is the one that I bought. They could have called this bar just about any name they chose because you really can't taste any cinnamon or apple flavoring. I also found the taste to be slightly below average when compared to other cereal bars previously reviewed [check out the 'bar' category]. The Eat Well Be Well Cinnamon Apple Crisp bar wasn't very sweet, which is fine when there are other flavors to compensate for this. Unfortunately, the only other flavor is a sort of chemical-like taste, which I can only attribute to a taste I have experienced when there is too much artificial sweetener in the product.

See more on: Bars , diabetic, sugar free

Fifty50 No Sugar Added Chocolate Coated Peanut Butter Snack Bars

By: Tanya Patrice | Oct 4, 2006

Fifty50 makes low glycemic, sugar free foods primarily for diabetics. The name fifty50 is indicative of the fact that they contribute 50% of their profits to diabetes research. I decided to try their "No Sugar Added Chocolate Coated Peanut Butter Snack Bars" and I really wanted to like it because the company is doing such a good thing - but I didn't.

The Fifty50 chocolate coated peanut butter snack bars looks like two squares of chocolate. If you just take a bite off the edge so you get a taste of only the chocolate coating, it does remind me a little bit of chocolate. It has the smooth texture you would expect from chocolate but it is not as sweet or as creamy - sort of like chocolate's 2nd cousin - not too far removed, but far enough. The peanut butter middle layer is like a wafer. It doesn't have a very strong peanut butter taste - thankfully because I am not really a big peanut butter fan (sad but true) - and if you can forgive the fact that it is not as sweet as you expected (it is after all 'no sugar added') then I think you might like find the taste not entirely unpleasant. If you are diabetic, then this would be a good substitute. If you are just avoiding chocolate because you're on a diet - forget about this. The print on the wrapper says, "Not a low calorie food" and there is a good reason why.

See more on: Candy & Cookies , chocolate, sugar free

TastyKake Sensables Sugar Free Chocolate Chocoalate Chip Soft Cookie Bar

By: Tanya Patrice | Aug 2, 2006

Tastykake Sensables is a new sugar-free line of snacks from TastyKake. I tried the chocolate chocolate chip cookie bar, but they also make chocolate chip cookie bars as well as chocolate chip and orange finger cakes. The TastyKake double chocolate chip bar has a deep brown chocolatey color and I could see quite a few pieces of chocolate chips too. Maybe that is why I was expecting it to be very sweet, and I was somewhat disappointed when I tasted it and it wasn't as sweet as I expected. I think my expectation may have clouded my judgement a little since my 10 year old cousin tried it and loved it! She didn't think it wasn't sweet enough, and she especially loved the chocolate chips.

But if you're thinking you are going to have a low calorie treat for your kids with these TastyKake double chocolate chip bars, think again! There are 1.5 grams of trans fat in each bar. Most people who eat sugar free products are concerned about their health or have health issues, so I expect companies that make sugar free products should not use ingredients that promote health problems! Find an alternative. There are also 2.5 grams of saturated fat and if you add the trans fat to this, you would be getting 20% of the daily requirement of saturated fat (I add them together since trans fat is just as bad for your health (if not worse) as saturated fat).

See more on: Candy & Cookies , cookie, sugar free

Jones Sugar Free Root Beer Soda

By: Tanya Patrice | May 10, 2006

Jones soda seems to have a cult following, probably due to the fact that they have some oddball flavors, like Tangerine, Blueberry, Green Apple, Blue Bubblegum, MF Grape, Crushed Melon and Fufu Berry ... just to name a few. So with all these interesting and unique flavors, why is it that all my local grocery store [Kroger] had in stock was diet Root Beer! And it was $4.00 for a 4 pack! Nevertheless, I thought it would be a good idea to try some other brands of soda - sometimes even I get tired of Coke and Pepsi.

After chilling the sodas in the refrigerator for a while, I twisted off the cap of one and took a big gulp. I was NOT pleased! There is a strong taste of "Winterfresh chewing gum." Have you ever had Winterfresh gum? It tastes like toothpaste - and that's just what this soda tasted like. Actually, it's not the taste of the soda, but more of an aroma. When I pinch my nose so I can't smell anything, I don't get a toothpaste taste. Then, the soda tastes sweet, with a light fizz and not unpleasant - but I detected no hint of root beer anywhere.

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Milano Sugar Free Cookies

By: Tanya Patrice | Mar 31, 2006

Milano cookies are just plain excellent. Fortunately for me, God did not bless me with a sweet tooth, but if he did, Milano cookies would be my weakness. Milano Distinctive Cookies have 180 calories 10 grams of fat, and 11 grams of sugars for a 3 cookie serving size. Milano Sugar Free Cookies have 170 calories, 9 grams of fat, no sugars but 6 grams of sugar alcohols and a little added sucralose [brand name: Splenda] per serving (3 cookies). Not much difference really, except for the sugars, but still a lot of fat from just 3 cookies. I think this is one case where sugar free doesn't mean a whole lot!

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AquaDrops Sugar Free Mints

By: Tanya Patrice | Mar 29, 2006

AquaDrops has to have one of the most interesting marketing food strategies I have come across in recent years. These are hydrating mints. Somebody, please tell me just what exactly is a "hydrating mint?" I personally think its food marketing at its finest. I found a review for EDiets.com written by Becky Billingsly that said "the drops make you salivate enough that, if you are thirsty, you're appeased for several minutes." Come on Becky! Do you really believe that saliva can "appease your thirst?!" And like the European experts said in June 2004, when they asked Mars (makers of AquaDrops) to remove the main claims from its advertising for being misleading [BeverageDaily.com], "even sucking a stone in the desert causes the mouth to salivate."

See more on: Mints & Gum , sugar free

York Sugar Free Peppermint Patties

By: Tanya Patrice | Dec 30, 2005

York Peppermint Patties are chocolate covered patties with a peppermint flavored center - about the size of an Oreo cookie. Bite into one and you will immediately notice that the pattie just melts in the mouth, and there is a nice cooling sensation due to the peppermint. The original peppermint patty has a sweeter taste, but the sugar is not missed in the sugar free version, because the other sensations contribute so much more to making this a very good tasting candy /pattie.

See more on: Candy & Cookies , chocolate, sugar free