Glucoholic - Sugar Free Snacks

Over a year ago we did a review of Archer Farms Diet Orange Cream Soda. We enjoyed that soda so much that we kept an eye out for more diet flavors from Archer Farms, and picked up a four-pack of the Diet Black Cherry Cream Soda flavor to review. After consuming half of a bottle we were horrified to notice that the back of the label reads BEST BY 23/AUG/2009. Awesome! It’s kind of difficult to fairly judge a product’s taste when all you can think about is that product tasting old, so we won’t try. A description of the product’s mature taste would be “not enough black cherry soda, and too much cream soda.” There was also some pretty bad aftertaste uncommon to sodas sweetened with sucralose, but maybe it was fermentation. We’re really not trying to knock Archer Farms’ products - we tend to like them very much.

However, the comments and emails we got in response to our review of the Diet Orange Cream Soda indicated that people get very frustrated with the hit-or-miss nature of finding well-stocked Archer Farms products in Target stores. It doesn’t seem to be improving since now you can’t even count on what’s on the shelves being fresh. Maybe we should have been more careful; but seriously, when was the last time you checked the expiration date on a bottle of soda?

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Happy Columbus Day! Bet you never thought you would see a Little Debbie product reviewed here at Glucoholic.com did you? We’re here to say “that’s a bet worth losing.” Little Debbie Nutty Bar Singles are great little 100 calorie snacks that won’t send your blood sugar through the roof. The Little Debbie Nutty Bars have been a favorite snack for thousands for decades. We ate them by the case in our house growing up. These individually wrapped snacks are a reminder that you don’t have to eat a case to be satisfied. We were glad to find that these snacks haven’t changed in all those years since childhood, and we bet they still taste pretty sick with some low carb peanut butter smeared across the top too! Thumbs up all around for this great low carb snack.

Each individually wrapped bar provides 100 calories, 6 grams of fat, 0mg of cholesterol, 35mg of sodium, 11 grams of carbohydrate, and 1 gram of protein. Unfortunately, if you have food allergies you will probably want to avoid this product.

Federal Trade Commission Endorsement and Testimonial Guidelines Compliance Statement: McKee Foods has in no way paid for this endorsement. No cash or in-kind payment was received from McKee Foods by Glucoholic.com. If McKee Foods would like to pay Glucoholic.com for this review, then we will be glad to accept it and glad to disclose that information with this review. We, for one, welcome our new overlords at the FTC.

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!

Most people love the smell of vanilla. It’s the most popular aroma in the world. We really love vanilla, and we were so glad that Hunt’s Sugar Free Vanilla Pudding caught our eye recently. It is a wonderful sugar free snack. These pudding packs are packed with sweet, rich, creamy sugar free pudding that is quite filling. Each bite starts off mellow, then peaks with a sensation that you are eating vanilla cake icing. The pudding also does not have to be refrigerated, which is great for those that want to keep some at their desk or that do not have refrigerators at work. We’re really happy to recommend these snacks.

Unfortunately, you might have a little difficulty finding them. We looked everywhere on the Hunt’s Snack Pack website and could not find them. We’ve purchased them twice recently at local grocery stores, so we’re a little confused as to why they are not available on the website. We’ll try to contact ConAgra Foods and see if they have an explanation. If you’ve tried these products, and especially if you’ve found them recently, leave a comment and let us know. It would be a shame if these snacks disappeared!

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Let’s say you’ve found a great low carb cake recipe. You really want to try it, but who wants plain cake? You think to yourself “there’s no way I can even think about frosting this cake or I’ll turn a great low carb snack into a sugar-laden, diet-busting disaster!” Worry no more. Pillsbury’s here with a great reduced sugar cream cheese frosting. Don’t get us wrong, you won’t be able to eat a dozen cupcakes slathered with this stuff. You will, however, be able to enjoy a sensible piece of that new cake with a touch of delightful frosting. This frosting tastes very similar to most cream cheese frostings we’ve had before. The texture might be slightly more creamy than your average cake frosting, but this does not detract from the taste at all. We also tried it as a thin coating on some low carb shortbread cookies and it was delightful. Go ahead. Treat yourself - you deserve it! We can’t wait to try the other flavors.

Pillsbury Reduced Sugar Cream Cheese Cake Frosting has 120 calories per two tablespoon serving. There’s 7 grams of fat and 70mg of sodium per serving. This frosting contain no cholesterol and only 2 grams of saturated fat. Total digestible carbohydrates come to about 15 grams. Pillsbury wisely used Splenda to help sweeten this delicious frosting, along with 5 grams of sugar alcohol. This frosting contains soybeans.