Many dieters have discovered fiber helps weight loss. It helps us feel fuller, and keeps everything moving and healthy from the inside out. But when we think of high fiber foods, we usually think of bran muffins or beans or cardboard. If you’d like to try something new and tasty, try a Gnu Bar! Gnu Bars contain a whopping 12 grams of fiber in a 130 calorie snack bar. Gnu Bars are made of a high fiber mixture combined with fruits and other natural ingredients. They are chewy and sweet. They come in flavors like chocolate brownie, banana walnut, cinnamon raisin, orange cranberry, and peanut butter. We tried them and really liked them! They all taste a little like raisins, with other layers of flavor. They are dark and very dense. It takes a while to eat one, so they have time to satisfy the munchies.

More good gnus - There’s not any high fructose corn syrup, refined sugars, preservatives, hydrogenated oils, artificial flavors, hard to pronounce chemicals, or cardboard in Gnu Bars!

To learn more about Gnu Bars visit http://www.gnufoods.com/

A lot of people ask us which protein bars are good. If you ever go to a supplement store, the assortment of protein bars can be mind boggling. Which ones are good? We’ve tried a lot of bars, and have been disappointed many times. A lot of bars have an off taste that isn’t pleasant, especially when they contain high amounts of protein. Others are more like candy bars with just a little extra protein. I tried Detour Bars a couple of years ago, and I really don’t remember why I never bought them again. I guess I didn’t care for them. Detour recently came out with several new varieties that sounded worth trying, so I gave them another shot.

The new Detour bars are ‘Activity’ bars designed for specific sports. Detour Runner bars contain ingredients to help improve joint health and function. Detour Core Strength bars contain an ingredient which is claimed to boost endurance and promote muscle recovery after exercise. Detour Biker bars offer to enhance muscle energy and stamina during exercise.

Do they live up to their claims? I have no idea. But I do know that the new varieties taste good, and there are so many varieties that you won’t get bored! You’ll find flavors such as Chocolate Chip Cookie, Lemon Yogurt, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Toffee Almond, Raspberry Dark Chocolate, Caramel Peanut, and Chocolate Caramel. My favorite was the Lemon Yogurt. My least favorite was the Toffee Almond, because it left a slightly bitter aftertaste in my mouth. Each of the varieties that I tried were sweet and they were satisfying because they took a while to eat. They aren’t wimpy bars!

The Detour Activity bars contain 12 grams of protein, which is a decent amount for a supplemental snack. The bars average 210 calories and are low fat. They have a lower sugar bar which has fewer calories, but I haven’t tried it.

If you try any of the Detour products, let us know what you think!

We love trying new foods, and it’s not often that one of the big 3 frozen dinner companies introduces a new variety. Weight Watchers new Dragon Shrimp Lo Mein sounded too good to pass up! This new dish is low in fat and calories, and high on flavor. However, we found that ours was also missing something else very important.

We cooked the frozen dinner in the microwave as instructed on the package, then carefully plated it onto a beautiful red dish. Actually it’s a saucer, so don’t get too excited by the edge to edge presentation in our photo The noodles seemed perfectly done and had just enough sauce on them. The mixture was loaded with crunchy water chestnuts, which were a nice contrast to the noodles and sweet sauce. True to the photo, there were exactly 3 sugar snap peas in our dish. The meal tasted pretty good, and it was filling enough.

What’s wrong with this picture? If you haven’t noticed, our Dragon Shrimp Lo Mein is missing the shrimp. We had a huge helping of water chestnuts, but zero shrimp. Three sugar snap peas, zero shrimp. Our cluck has quickly turned into a squawk! Shame on quality control for letting this one out the door.

Weight Watchers Smart Ones Dragon Shrimp Lo Mein contains 240 calories, 4 grams fat, 3 grams fiber, and 5 WW points. Protein is listed at 14 grams, but that may depend on the presence of shrimp What’s in your box?

Note: This is an update to our original review from last year. Fiber Gourmet has created a new and improved version that is even more like regular pasta, with a smidgen more fiber!

Are you getting the recommended amount of fiber to help prevent heart disease, diabetes, and some forms of cancer? This past year, we reviewed Fiber Gourmet Light Pasta, which packs an enormous amount of healthy fiber in each serving. They recently came out with an updated formula that packs up to 20 grams of fiber in each bowl - 2 more grams from the previous recipe. This could be the perfect ‘diet food’, because the excellent fiber content alone may subconsciously prevent us from overeating! We don’t fancy the effects of 40-60 grams of fiber in one go! Add a touch of marinara to the pasta, or blend in with sauteed vegetables, and you have a delicious and very healthy fettuccine style pasta to pair up with a salad or lean meat. Extra fiber means slower digestion, which means this will be a satisfying meal that will stick with you for quite some time.

It’s hard to resist a steaming hot bowl of pasta, dripping with fresh tomato sauce and veggies! But pasta is the devil, right? Not if it’s Fiber Gourmet! This new pasta is loaded with a whopping 18 grams to 20 of fiber and has fewer calories than regular pasta! Fiber Gourmet is available in regular, spinach, and tomato flavors. How does it taste? We put each flavor variety to the test.

We love pasta, but it doesn’t pack a lot nutritionally, and it’s just an occasional treat in our house. When we heard that Fiber Gourmet pasta contained just 130 calories and 18 grams of fiber, we couldn’t wait to try it. We started with the Classic flavor, but it didn’t have a lot of flavor. But who eats pasta plain! We added our favorite sauce and we couldn’t tell the difference between this and regular pasta. The texture was exactly the same, and it was filling! We then tried the spinach and tomato flavors, and they each had a nice, mild flavor that didn’t need a heavy sauce. Each of these varieties also cooked up al dente and were very satisfying.

How can this pasta contain just 130 calories? Fiber technically has 4 calories per gram, but the body doesn’t digest it. It just passes right through your body. You can safely deduct the calories from fiber from the total calories to learn how many calories you are really consuming. Since Fiber Gourmet contains 18 grams of fiber, they deduct 72 calories and let us know we are really just getting 130 calories per serving. That’s not the only benefit you get from the fiber. It helps us feel full and satisfied from a normal portion of food. Plus fiber helps keep us regular, fights cancer, and helps lower our cholesterol. Maybe this is a pasta of angelic proportions!

If you’d like to try Fiber Gourmet pasta, check out their website at www.fibergourmet.com

It’s the beginning of a new year and most of us are thinking about ways to eat less and lose weight. Sadly, there are millions of hungry children that desperately need to be fed. Amazon has stepped up to the plate to help feed children through the United Nations World Food Programme. When you purchase an exclusive FEED bag through Amazon, you will feed lunch to one child every day for a year! Since the children are fed through the school lunch program, families are encouraged to send their children to school so they benefit from education as well as nutrition.

Amazon has taken a bold and important step in teaching us about world hunger and making it easy for us to help. According to Amazon:

• Hunger and malnutrition are the #1 risk to global health, killing more people than AIDS, malaria, and TB combined
• Every 5 seconds a child dies because he or she is hungry
• In 2005 WFP fed 21.7 million children in 74 countries
• Research shows that free school lunches can increase attendance rates by 100% and boost academic performance

What is the Amazon FEED bag? It’s a very large tote bag that is reversible with burlap on one side and white canvas on the reverse side. Each side has large stenciled lettering that says FEED and is made to resemble the bags of food that are distributed to schools around the world. The bag has pockets on the cotton side to make it a convenient and practical tote. We bought one and were surprised by the large size and how well made it was. Our only reservation is that some of the ladies may not want to walk around with a burlap FEED bag since it also resembles livestock feed bags. However, it’s casual, roomy, practical, and it makes an important statement that will hopefully give others something to think about.

We’re all concentrating on our diets right now, and it’s so easy to become focused on our own appetites and meal plans. We can’t think of a better time to help feed the children. When we’re cutting back on restaurant food and unnecessary snacks to improve our own health, lets consider sending the money saved to worthwhile organizations such as the World Food Programme.

When you purchase the bag for $59, $20 goes to the WFP and pays for lunch for one child for an entire year. Visit Amazon for more information.

If you’d prefer to donate the entire $59 or any other dollar amount and bypass the bag, you can do so by visiting the WFP website.

Are you tired of Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice dinners? We gave those up ages ago. They are usually boring, bland, and the quality has been questionable. Check out their ingredient panels and you’ll see what we mean! If you are looking for something better, we think we’ve found it. Seeds of Change offers a frozen dinner line that is certified organic, and has all natural ingredients that don’t require a food scientist to decipher. Best of all, they are extremely flavorful, filling, and still low in calories and fat!

We haven’t tried all of their varieties yet, but what we’ve tried so far have quickly become favorites. The Spinach Lasagna di Parma in particular is out of this world! It’s so cheesy and creamy and rich that you’ll never guess it only has 340 calories. It also has a whopping 20 grams of protein! Another favorite is the Spicy Yucatan Frijoles & Vegetables. This dish combines a variety of vegetables, rice, and tofu with exotic seasonings from the Yucatan for an unusual - and addicting - flavor combination.

If you like the convenience and portion control of frozen diet dinners, but are ready for something new, try Seeds of Change frozen dinners. You may have go to your local natural foods store or a Whole Foods to find them, but the variety and quality is worth the trip!

To learn more about their products and locate a store that carries them, visit www.seedsofchange.com today

Not all dieters give up snack crackers or other nibbles while losing weight. 100-Calorie snack packs have become very popular among calorie counters, and include treats such as reduced fat Oreo cookies, potato chips, and cheese crackers. I’ll bet some of you pack them in your kid’s lunch bag so they have a healthier dessert. They can be a good way to have a controlled snack, but they still contain questionable ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated fats that make us cringe. We found an alternative that made us cluck!

Sisters Gwen Solberg and Debbie Reynolds, both are also moms, created a healthier organic snack cracker called Healthy Handfuls. They are designed for kids, but are perfect for you if you usually include this type of snack in your diet. They offer several varieties such as Cheddar Cheese Lucky Duckies, Lemon Vanilla Koala Crackers, and whole wheat Chocolate Chip Chimpies. The Lucky Duckies taste like Pepperidge Farm’s Goldfish crackers, but they won’t leave your fingers slippery from fat. The Koala Crackers remind me of animal crackers, but taste lemony and lightly sweetened. You can taste the whole wheat goodness in the Chimpies!

The ingredients are organic and all natural. You won’t find corn syrup, preservatives, or artificial colors in them. They are available in regular boxes as well as individual bags that are portion controlled and just right to satisfy a craving. Each packet contains between 100 and 120 calories, depending on the variety. Portion control is very important to dieters, and so is avoiding junk food. An apple or some raw veggies and hummus would make a better snack. But if your diet plan incorporates chips and sweets, try Healthy Handfuls for a step up in quality that still satisfies. They were made for kids, but you’ll like them, too.

Learn more about Healthy Handfuls at their website www.healthyhandfuls.com.
You can buy them at Amazon at very low prices!

Dining out can be very difficult if you want to enjoy a meal without feeling guilty afterwards. We recently tried the Grilled Salmon Salad from Panera Bread and were amazed by how good it was, especially for a low calorie meal!

The Grilled Salmon Salad consists of a variety of lettuce, topped with a large grilled and chilled salmon fillet, with red onions, wheat berries, green beans, roasted red bell peppers, and a Meyer lemon vinaigrette. They didn’t skimp on the salmon, or anything else. The wheat berries added a nice contrast in texture. The salad was large, delicious, and very filling. Every bite was flavorful, tangy, and satisfying. We still can’t stop clucking over how they managed to put so much delicious food on the plate for only 340 calories! You can choose to add a whole grain baguette on the side, or choose an apple, but of course you’ll need to add up the extra calories. If you prefer, you can order a half of a salmon salad for only 170 calories, and add a cup of a low calorie soup on the side. Either way, you can’t go wrong! It’s all guilt free

The details: 340 calories, 14 grams of mostly good fat, 32 total carbs, 6 grams fat, 23 grams protein, 820 mg sodium (drink plenty of water!)

Sometimes you want a little something sweet and a bowl of grapes isn’t going to cut it. You want cake, but you know you can’t stop at just one slice. Hostess has joined the “100 Calorie Pack” club and now offer tiny little cupcakes, complete with frosting, for just 100 calories per pack of 3 cakes. We gave them a try to find out if they were worth clucking about, or would cause us to squawk!

Hostess 100 Calorie Pack cupcakes are not for everyone. A lot of dieters count calories and allow themselves a small amount of sweet treats every now and then. Portion control is very important, so the Hostess cakes may just fit the bill. There are also plenty of dieters that scrutinize ingredient panels and carefully choose how they spend their calories.

The Hostess cakes do contain 100 calories per pack, and are also low in fat with just 3 grams per serving. The chocolate packs contain 5 grams of fiber, which was surprising. This brings their Weight Watchers point total to just 1 point! The vanilla and carrot cake varieties contain 3 grams of fiber, so they teeter the edge at 2 points. They are tasty, very sweet, and nicely portable for lunch boxes or office snack breaks. Don’t be misled by the picture, the cakes are about the size of quarters and you’ll probably get two bites per cake. We photographed them next to a regular size Penny’s muffin that contains 120 calories.

On the flip side, and this is where we squawk a little, the ingredient list wasn’t too impressive. The first ingredient is sugar, which may not be surprising for a cake. Close to the top of the list you’ll also find partially hydrogenated oils and/or beef fat as well as high fructose corn syrup. These items will cause a lot of you to cross Hostess cakes off your shopping list.

Everyone seems to offer a 100 calorie snack these days, and they can be a dieters dream - but only if you can stick to just one pack. If you eat more than one per day, then you quickly lose the benefit. Though the lure of just 100 calories may be just the nudge you need to buy this type of snack, make sure you read the ingredient label to be sure you know what you are getting. Stack it up against other snacks that contain the same amount of calories.

Suggestions: Cinnamon rice cakes spread with nonfat cream cheese; hummus and veggie sticks or even hummus with light wasa crackers; nuts; apple slices and peanut butter; a BIG bowl of berries; light microwave popcorn; a fresh summer salad.

Fat makes everything taste better. It makes our salad dressings creamier, our baked goods moister, and makes everything taste better because it’s a flavor carrier. It also does a fantastic job at increasing our spare tires and thunder thighs. So, you’ve decided you can live without the thunder thighs, but do you really need to sacrifice the good qualities that fat brings to our foods? Z-Trim can help you reduce calories by replacing up to half of the fat in your favorite recipes without adding any calories or affecting the flavor or texture.

Have you heard of Z-Trim? You probably haven’t heard of this new product because it’s not in stores yet. In You on a Diet, authors Drs. Oz and Roizen mentioned Z-Trim as a substance that could eventually change the way we eat by reducing fat and calories in our favorite foods. Z-Trim is a fat free, calorie free, and taste-free natural product that is made from the bran of corn, oats, and other grains. It is used to replace some of the fat in our recipes and can make a substantial difference in how many calories we consume. We were curious, so we decided to try it out.

Z-Trim isn’t available in stores, but it can be purchased online at www.ztrim.com. It is available as a gel or powder. The gel is ready to use and can be squirted from the bottle directly into your recipes. The powder should be blended with water to create a gel before using. The powder can also be added dry to increase fiber content of your recipes. Weight Watchers members should love it because it can help reduce points per serving in some recipes by reducing fat and calories.

You can’t use Z-Trim to replace ALL of the fat in your recipes, just part of it. The texture or consistency of your foods would suffer. Plus, we need some fat in our diets for good health. We just don’t need as much as most people get. Z-Trim recommends replacing between 25% and 50% of the fat with their product. Different recipes will react differently, so you may need to experiment and start with 25% replacement and gradually move up.

We tried Z-Trim in several recipes with great success. First, we baked two batches of oatmeal cookies from a mix. The package said to add 1 stick of butter, and we decided to try a 50/50 split of butter and Z-Trim. We then passed the cookies around a family gathering and asked for opinions without telling them what we had done. There were subtle differences between the two cookies. The Z-Trim cookies raised a tiny bit more than the regular cookies, so they were slightly cake-like, but still very moist. Most people preferred this texture. Everyone also said the Z-Trim cookies were not as sweet as the regular cookies, which was not expected. However, they also said the preferred them over the regular cookies.

We have a fat-free coffee cake recipe that we love, but can be a little dry, especially the next day. We added a small amount of Z-Trim to the recipe to see if it made it moister, and it worked! They were still good a few days later. We haven’t tried it, but we’ve heard that Z-Trim can also be added to lean ground beef recipes to replace the moistness lost when you choose a very lean mixture.

To be honest, replacing the fat in your cookies or cakes will only make a small dent in your daily calories. Our cookies were only reduced by 11 calories per cookie. Unless you have blue fur and live on Sesame Street, then you probably won’t benefit as much from this change. We’d suggest just eating fewer cookies.

The best use for Z-Trim may be to extend and reduce fat in salad dressings, mayonnaise, and similar products. On to our next experiment!

We love spinach dip - who doesn’t! Recipes vary, but we followed one that used a cup of sour cream, a cup of mayonnaise, chopped spinach, water chestnuts, and Knorr soup mix. A two-tablespoon serving contains around 95 calories and 10 grams of fat. We left the sour cream alone, but we replaced half of the mayonnaise with Z-Trim. This dropped the calories down to 62, with just 6 grams of fat. The recipe was still perfect and no one could tell we’d changed anything. Since we must admit that we can’t stop at just two tablespoons of spinach dip, this small change reduced the calories by one third, and one third less guilt means a lot at the end of the day.

Fat-free salad dressings are easy to find, but not everyone likes them. Sometimes the flavor isn’t as good, or the ingredient lists are scary. We usually buy regular dressings and measure very carefully. We decided to combine Z-Trim with with some of our favorite dressings and every test was a success! Instead of replacing the fat in a recipe, adding Z-Trim actually extended purchased dressings so we used less, and it lasted longer. We had good luck with creamy dressings such as Ranch, as well as a good balsamic vinaigrette made with olive oil. We also combined a 3 to 1 mixture of mayonnaise and Z-Trim and couldn’t tell the difference.

The last time we heard a buzz about fat replacers, we were handed Olestra. You know the one - foods made with Olestra are found near the Depends adult diapers. Z-Trim doesn’t have any nasty side effects. The only down side is that you can’t fry with it. And it wouldn’t be much fun to spread it on your toast. Otherwise, it’s a great way to cut the fat and reduce calories in some of your favorite recipes!

To learn more about Z-Trim or to make a purchase visit www.ztrim.com