Glucoholic - Sugar Free Snacks

About six months ago we reviewed SoBe Lifewater Black and Blue Berry flavored water. We said that we were looking forward to tasting some of the other flavors. We should have stopped while were ahead. The Yumberry Pomegranate Lifewater flavor is a real disappointment. First off, what is a yumberry? It turns out that yumberry is another miracle fruit. Given the other 42 miracle fruits we’re supposed to be consuming for our health each day it’s getting a little hard to keep up with. This low carb, low calorie water is not horrible - it’s just that we were expecting so much more. The flavor is a little too tart and not nearly sweet enough. If you really enjoy those grass blends you can get at the juice bars, then you might like it. It’s got dandelion in it. Otherwise, stick with the Black and Blue Berry.

On a positive note, the nutrition information is almost exactly the same as for the Black and Blue Berry Lifewater. Each serving contains 6 grams of carbohydrate and 25mg of sodium, and a respectable amount of Vitamin C and other vitamins. You could do worse, but we would rather have the taste and the nutrition. Better luck next time SoBe!

Happy Labor Day to all of our U.S. readers! Welcome to another great product review to everyone out there. This week we’re testing EAS Advantedge Chocolate Fudge Shakes. We’re happy to say that these shakes taste fine and are easily competitive with competing products from Atkins and Slim-Fast. They are so similar that it would be hard to pick a winner out of the three. The chocolate flavor is good and the shake seems to be a little less chalky than some of the other brands’ shakes. We’re happy to recommend them, especially if you can find them at a good price.

Nutritionally, the EAS Advantedge Chocolate Fudge Shakes are very competitive with other brands. Each 11 ounce shake contains only 110 calories, 3 grams of fat, 20mg of cholesterol, 280mg of sodium, and 2 grams of digestible carbohydrate. You’ll also get 540mg of potassium and 17 grams of protein in every shake. You’ll get twenty percent or more of twenty different vitamins and minerals in each shake as well. These shakes are sweetened with sucralose and acesulfame potassium, and contain milk and soy.

It’s really happening. The Glucoholic is going to recommend back-to-back products sweetened with aspartame. It seems impossible, but we’re not joking. We started testing Turkey Hill Diet Green Tea Mango with a great deal of reservation, given that it contains two ingredients we’ve never really become comfortable with - green tea and aspartame. These reservations were unfounded. This tea is a wonderful find. First, there’s none of that tobacco taste you get with most green teas. Second, the mango flavor makes this sugar free drink seem more like a fruit drink than a tea. Third, there’s also a little honey and ginseng hidden in each serving - it’s like a little gift. The aspartame is not really detectable, and the mango flavor lingers long enough to make sure any aftertaste is properly dispatched. We really liked this tea, and look forward to trying some of the other Turkey Hill teas.

A serving of Turkey Hill Diet Green Tea Mango has no calories and only 10mg of sodium. The one gram of carbohydrate probably comes from the honey, and there’s only about 20mg of caffeine per serving. As an added bonus, this tea is gluten free. We highly encourage you to check out the Turkey Hill product finder, and to pick up some of this great tea!

You’re not going to hear us praising products sweetened with aspartame very often, but this time we feel we should make an exception. Diet Vernor’s Ginger Soda is one unique ginger ale. The labeling informs us that this ginger ale is barrel aged for three years, and that it has bold taste. “Bold taste” is one of those phrases that you usually ignore as quickly as when your boss says things as inspired as “total dedication” and “commitment to excellence.” We’re not big on the cliche’ ’round these parts, and that’s why we like to make special note when a company actually provides what they say they will. Bold taste is probably the tersest way to accurately describe the taste of this sugar free drink. The taste starts out refreshingly cool, and about the time you are expecting to notice the aspartame you get this powerful rush of ginger taste. And this taste sticks around. It’s got some kick. We could barely tell we were drinking a soda sweetened with aspartame.

Each twelve ounce serving provides 25mg of sodium and nothing else, other than powerful ginger taste. This sugar free soda is caffeine free. We’re glad we did not let the aspartame scare us away from this unique ginger ale. If you think you’d enjoy a ginger ale with a little something extra, then we encourage you to give this fine sugar free drink a try.

The good folks at Sunny Delight were nice enough to send over all six flavors of their new Fruit2O Essentials line for us to review. Essentials flavored waters are fortified with vitamins and minerals. Competition has really heated up in the fortified water market, and we think that Fruit2O has a very good offering. The flavors are interesting and we enjoyed each of them.

The kiwi strawberry flavor was our favorite. Of the berry flavors we thought it had the best taste in terms of both quality of flavor mix and strength of flavor. It reminded us a little of the same flavor in the Propel line of flavored waters. We would recommend starting with this flavor.

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