Glucoholic - Sugar Free Snacks

Just in time for those low carb Christmas buckeyes, we were fortunate enough to find Jif Natural Creamy Peanut Butter. Now don’t worry, we’re not turning this into a “natural products” review site. The truth is, if we hadn’t gotten into the habit of checking labels on all new products we see, we would have passed on this one under the assumption that this peanut butter was full of carbs. Natural or not, this peanut butter is low in carbs and is absolutely delicious. It is very creamy and sweet. Whatever magic mixture of peanuts, oils, fats, salt, and sugar was concocted to make this peanut butter taste so great is the work of geniuses.

Seriously, if it weren’t for the lack of massive amounts of Omega fatty acids, this peanut butter would have taken over first place for our favorite peanut butter from Smart Balance. We also noticed that the packaging mentioned that there was no need to stir this peanut butter. On the nutrition label there is a statement about natural oil separation, which seems to be a contradiction. Most natural peanut butters we have tried really needed to be stirred quite often. We’ve been sampling this peanut butter for the better part of a week and have not been tempted to stir it in the least. This peanut butter will make you happy.

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We were pleasantly surprised with the great flavor of Designer Whey Cranapple Protein Water. Having consumed just about every protein shake on the planet, we were looking for something new, and boy did we find it. This protein water was smooth, flavorful, and sweet. There was only the slightest hint of the dreaded vegetable-juice-blend taste, and the sweet cranapple taste more than made up for it. It has a little body, but is not like syrup. If you are looking for an alternative to mixing protein shakes, then you should definitely give this protein water a try. Its packaging is also cool, with a graduated scale on the rib of the bottle that shows how much protein you have consumed. We really liked this product, and we look forward to trying some of the other flavors from Designer Whey.

Each sixteen ounce serving of Designer Whey Cranapple Protein Water contains only 60 calories, 2mg of cholesterol, 25mg of sodium, and one gram of sugar. These are very good numbers, especially since each serving also provides 40mg of potassium, 12 grams of protein, and 5 grams of fiber. This protein water is sweetened with sucralose. The only allergent listed is milk.

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We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday! We ate all the turkey and ham we could get our hands on, and now we’re back to bring you another great sugar free snack. Over the last couple of years we’ve reviewed several of the Murray sugar free cookies. They have all been solid snacks, and the Chocolate Chip with Pecan cookies were no different. Adding pecans to a chocolate chip cookie was a great idea. Each bite marries the sensation of surprise and familiarity, and that’s not an easy task. As soon as you are about to say “this doesn’t taste like a chocolate chip cookie” you hit a chocolate chunk and all is right with the world. The pecans pieces are small and their texture somewhat reminds you of a macadamia nut cookie’s macadamia nuts. As most of its high carb competitors do, these cookies have more of a crunchy, powdery texture than the ones you usually bake at home. We would put these cookies up against those competitors any day. The other thing we’ve noticed about Murray cookies is that they always look so great. You’re pretty sure this is going to be a good snack when you open the container. This is another great product for the Murray brand at Kelloggs.

Each cookie is about 53 calories, 3 grams of fat, 42mg of sodium, and about 5 grams of digestible carbohydrate. Each cookie also provides about a gram of fiber and protein, and is sweetened with acesulfame potassium and Splenda. Based on the extensive list of allergens on the label, we would suggest staying away from these sugar free snacks if you have any food allergies. Otherwise, we hope you enjoy them!

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People have been asking us for months why we’ve not reviewed any of the Propel products. We’ve actually been drinking Propel longer than we’ve been doing these reviews. Unfortunately, the first few years in the Propel history were marked with lots of flavor changes. This happened so often that as soon as we settled on a favorite flavor it would disappear. Late last year we started hearing that 2009 would hold big changes for Propel, so we decided to hold off until those changes seemed stable. We’re finally to that point.

We’ve been purchasing Propel Grape for months now. The new bottling is nicer and more eco-friendly, and now that some customer feedback has led Pepsi to get back to the original sweetener mix, we’re very glad to say that Propel Grape is an awesome low carb sports drink. Actually, we’ve never been disappointed with a Propel drink at all. We do think the grape flavor has now risen to the top of the group however. It’s got a really smooth quality with the right blend of fruit flavor and sweetness. Nothing beats it for rehydrating, especially when it’s ice cold. We highly recommend this low carb sports drink.

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First off we would like to send out a special Thank You to all of our nation’s Vets on this important holiday! The Glucoholic appreciates you all! A couple of months ago we reviewed Old Orchard Healthy Balance Apple Juice. We’ve noticed more and more of Old Orchard’s juices popping up on store shelves and have been eager to sample another flavor. We took the grape flavor for a spin and really enjoyed it. It wasn’t quite the grand slam that the apple flavor was, but it’s great. We found that it tasted more authentic than some of the other overly-sweetened brands. If you like grape juice, you should give Old Orchard’s Healthy Balance Grape Juice a try.

The nutrition information for the grape flavor is slightly different than the apple flavor. Each eight ounce serving contains 32 calories, only 5mg of sodium, and 8 grams of sugar. Each serving is also loaded with 75mg of potassium and all the Vitamin C you will need in a day. Sweetness is augmented with Splenda and acesulfame potassium, and this product is gluten free.

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