Solving the world's problems while fitting in our pants

Solving the world's problems while fitting in our pants

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

May is Mediterranean Diet Month



Did you know that May is Mediterranean Diet Month? This diet is much more than what you might think of when you hear the word “diet” – it is a healthy eating lifestyle that has been shown to reduce risk of numerous diseases. In fact, an analysis of more than 1.5 million healthy adults showed that people who followed the Mediterranean diet had lower risk of death from heart disease and cancer. They were also at lower risk of getting Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s diseases. Ready to reap the rewards of this healthful diet? Here are some tips to get you started.
  • Focus on produce. Include fruits like mangos, the Dietitian Pick of the Month, and vegetables at every meal. Enjoy them for quick, healthy snacks as well.
  • Go whole grain. Choose whole-grain breads, cereals and pasta and try other whole grains too, including brown rice, quinoa and farro.
  • Bring out the beans! Dried beans and lentils are low in calories, but full of fiber, protein and other important nutrients.
  • Make fish your new meat. Seafood is packed with protein and a top-source of healthy omega-3 fats.
  • Choose healthy fats. When cooking, swap butter for olive or canola oil to get the heart-healthy benefits of mono- and poly-unsaturated fats.
  • Go nuts! Since nuts are calorie-dense, limit servings to one to two ounces a day to get their nutritional benefits without breaking the calorie bank.


~Crazy

Monday, May 9, 2016

Crazy Cool Chow Down and Low Down: Review of Enlightened Ice Cream and Novelties




Crazy's Comments:


With the summer months quickly approaching us, ice cream is one of those food essentials on our grocery lists.  Well at least mine anyway. I am always in search of a healthier option and I stumbled upon the Enlightened line of ice cream and bars.


What caught my dietitian eye was the lower calories and fat, higher fiber and protein and an ingredient list containing words like milk and cream. For all flavors, there is less than 100 calories per serving, 4-6 grams of sugar, 6-7 grams of protein and around 4 grams of fiber.


With quite a few flavors to choose from in the ice cream, Enlightened also has varieties of novelties including bars and sandwiches. We each chose the flavors most appealing to our palates:  Sea Salt Caramel, Mint Chocolate Chip, Frozen Hot Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Caramel Oatmeal Cookie Crunch (all pints) and Frozen Hot Chocolate and Mint Fudge Swirl bars.


As I was getting my spoon ready to dig into my first pint of Mint Chocolate Chip, I quickly realized this ice cream was FROZEN solid. This was true of each of the pints. We quickly determined it is best to let the pint sit out for about 15-20 minutes to eat and to appreciate it's creaminess. Once it was thawed, the Mint Chocolate Chip did not disappoint. It had a great mint flavor and crunchy chips of chocolate.


The next one I tried was the Sea Salt Caramel bar. I also recommend this to be thawed for about 5 minutes prior to eating. This was delicious!  There was a perfect swirl of caramel throughout the whole bar, which is a really nice and satisfying size. No skimpy bars in this line.


I moved onto the Mint Fudge Swirl bar and enjoyed it even more than the Mint Chocolate Ice Cream. Again, perfectly swirled fudge throughout the whole bar.


Hands down, these two bars were my favorites. I would pick the bars over the ice cream first and foremost for better portion control. I am much more disciplined when I have a portion to eat instead of an open pint container.


The other ice cream flavors were ok. The Frozen Hot Chocolate Ice Cream was better than the bar because the Marshmallow swirl was more plentiful in the ice cream. In the novelty, it made the bar fall apart while eating it. The cookie flavors were nice and I enjoyed the chunks of cookies in both, but there could have been more (there can always be more when it comes to chunks of sweet treats in ice cream, but that's just me).


I would recommend purchasing this product as a dietitian and as a human being who enjoys ice cream. I felt really satisfied with this healthier alternative!
 





Cool's Comments:

So I took this product review very seriously and tried each ice cream a couple different times just to make sure I was being an equal opportunity taste tester.  My children and I love ice cream and at least 4 times a week we go on "ice cream walks."  It's just a walk after dinner in the nice weather and we enjoy ice cream cones or novelties and we talk about the day, run, and enjoy being outside.  They love it and look forward to them and in turn it makes me happy.  The problem is that when I am trying to eat healthier ice cream isn't really in the "healthy diet" plan.  I have tried anything from not eating ice cream on our walks and dodging questions from the kids "... But mom why aren't you having any? You love ice cream."  I've also tried just not buying the kinds I like and so that works out pretty well except I've never been very good at eliminating a specific food just because it wasn't healthy.  Lately I have been just having a small baby cone with the kiddos and this has seemed to work well.  When I saw this Enlightened ice cream and novelties I was excited that maybe I could have an adult portion of ice cream without having the guilt and calories.

When I tried the ice cream I was taken back on how hard they were.  We then found the set out to achieve maximum creaminess label on the packaging and that made a world of difference. 

The Salted caramel ice cream bars: YUMMO! This was my favorite, hands down.  It was nice and creamy and had some delicious smooth caramelness running throughout the bar.  It wasn't overly "salty" but very nice and subtle.  I recommend this one as a good one to try  if you are going to try this product. They have the ice cream or bars in this kind and both are delicious.  I like the bars for portion control but again I love ice cream cones so I'm sure I will be buying both the ice cream and bars on a regular basis.

We also tried the Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream and bars and this was my second favorite kind.  It wasn't overly minty, and had chunks of chocolate chips that were delicious.  

The frozen hot chocolate was one that I didn't like at first but lucky for you I tried it 2 more times to make sure I was giving it a far chance.  The description sounded delicious but when I tried it it just tastes like an alright chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips.  Well the description said that it had marshmallow cream running throughout it and I wanted to find it.  I thawed out the pint of ice cream for about 30 minutes and then inspected the container.  I found the white marshmallow  ribbon in the bottom so I flipped that ice cream out and tried the bottom of it.  Oh man was that a whole new delightful experience?  Could it be that that just made the ice cream unbelievable?  I think it could of!  So my opinion was changed about this particular kind and I like it a lot as long as you have some of that magical marshmallow goodness in every bite!  

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Caramel Oatmeal Cookie Crunch were also consumed and they were alright I just don't know if I would buy them again.  

I hope you guys try out these new ice cream and bars.  I recommend them and hope the product stays around for awhile.