Glucoholic - Sugar Free Snacks

Some of our readers have been asking us why we’ve overlooked beef jerky as a low carb snack here at Glucoholic.com. There are actually quite a few low carb staples that we love and want to bring to you, but have struggled with how to make them sexy enough. Beef jerky is one of them. Cheese is another. Anyone who knows anything about maintaining a low carb diet can enumerate several of these staples off the top of their heads, and we’ve been afraid reviewing any of these products would lead to a resounding “duh.” We figured reviewing products like these would be like presenting the Oscar for “Best Tree in a Motion Picture.” That is, until now. Jack Link’s Flamin’ Buffalo Chicken Nuggets are neither beef nor boring. These bite-sized beauties skin the hide off of any beef jerky we’ve ever had.

The first bite of these Jergets™ starts off mild and chewy. As you continue to chew you are overwhelmed by the buffalo sauce’s flavor - this stuff has some kick! You can definitely recognize the difference between the chicken and most beef flavors as well. These nuggets don’t seem to have nearly as much salt as most beef jerky. There’s a heavy quality to each nugget that leaves you feeling like you’ve eaten something more substantial than you really did. This attribute makes these nuggets an excellent low carb snack for when you’re really craving food. In our testing we never needed more than one nugget to feel satisfied, even though the serving size is a whole ounce. The resealable bag insures that your chicken is fresh when you need it. If you’re a beef jerky fan please give Jack Link’s Flamin’ Buffalo Chicken Nuggets a try!

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If you have no self-control, do not read the rest of this review. You will be in danger of unwanted weight gain, debilitating addiction, and possibly painful gastrointestinal upset. Baskin Robbins Sugar Free Very Berry Strawberry Soft Candy is that good! Seriously, The Glucoholic is always reminding our faithful readers to control consumption of sugar free snacks that contain sugar alcohols, but this is the first sugar free candy we’ve reviewed that really required us to practice what we preach. These candies are delicious. Thank goodness they are individually wrapped, because otherwise we would have been tempted to just turn the bag up and fill our mouths until we looked like chubby-cheeked chipmunks.

As you open the bag you are overwhelmed with the strawberry aroma. It smells like you are hovering over a freshly iced strawberry cake. We’re not kidding - this kind of pleasure should be illegal. As you unwrap the first piece of candy the aroma persists, and almost sucks the candy right into your mouth. The texture is a little like salt water taffy, and the strawberry taste is delightful. At this point you are face to face with addiction. Stop now - while you still can. It will probably be some time before we find a sugar free snack that will top this one. Baskin Robbins Sugar Free Very Berry Strawberry Soft Candy comes with our highest recommendation.

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We recently had the opportunity to sample Werther’s Original Sugar Free Hard Candies. Slightly smaller than the orginal Original, we were glad to see that size was the only thing sacrificed when producing this wonderful hard candy. They come individually wrapped and are just small enough that only adult consumption is recommended. The taste is wonderfully creamy and has a strong element of vanilla, which we loved. Like the originals, they give the sensation of smoothly covering your mouth with caramel flavor and make a great candy for after meals. We highly recommend adding this product to your inventory of sugar free snacks.

Serving size is five candies, but we doubt you will need that many to really enjoy these candies. Five candies provides one gram of fat, less than 5mg of cholesterol, 55mg of sodium, and about 7 grams of digestible carbohydrates. The carbs come in the form of isomalt, so the packaging contains the usual warning about laxative effect. Stick to the recommended serving size or less and you should be fine. The packaging also points out that the product contains milk and soybeans for those with allergies. The package also contains the cautionary statement about choking that many hard candies should.

For the licorice fans out there we’ve got a sugar free version of the venerable Red Vines licorice, Strawberry Sugar Free Vines. There’s not too much you can do to put the sizzle on a review of a strawberry licorice stick. You bite off a piece, you chew it, and it tastes like strawberries. Seriously, the fun of these things has always been in the eating. They taste fine and are quite filling. They don’t taste quite as sweet as the original Red Vines, but they are just as chewy, and have about the same amount of flavor.

The package says the serving size is seven twists, but I’m not sure you would have time for all seven if this were really just a snack and not a meal. After two or three we were feeling pretty satisfied. Each serving only contain 90 calories, 15mg of sodium, 1 gram of protein, and about 17 grams of digestible carbohydrate. The product contains no fat and no cholesterol, which is a big plus in our book. The product does contain a lot of Maltitol, so please do not consume more than the recommended serving of seven twists.

It’s been a while since we’ve reviewed a product from the fine people at Murray, so we hit the local supermarket and perused the Murray shelf for a good candidate. We noted two things right away. First, the Murray shelf is getting bigger. It’s refreshing to see more and more sugar free and low carb products hitting the shelves. Second, it’s amazing the impact that effective product design and presentation are in creating permanent memories that influence consumers throughout there lives. It was this factor that immediately drew us to Murray Sugar Free Fudge Dipped Shortbread Cookies. The picture on the package alone screamed “this is going to be a great tasting cookie!” We were not to be disappointed. These cookies are great. The taste is barely distinguishable from the competitors’, and the only slight difference we could detect is that, for obvious reasons, the fudge is not as sweet. The cookies have a good, crisp snap, and the shortbread has an almost moist quality to it once you begin to chew it. We highly recommend these cookies.

Serving size is five cookies, and you will want to stay at or below that since there is some sugar alcohol in each serving. Murray Sugar Free Fudge Dipped Shortbread Cookies are also sweetened with Splenda, which is always a plus in our book. Each serving provides 80mg of sodium, 2 grams of protein, about 16 grams of digestible carbohydrate, and 150 calories. The only real complaint we would have is the 5 grams of saturated fat, but on the plus side each serving does contain 0 grams of cholesterol.