LIVINGLIVING
Instead they are sweetened with Stevia.
For those not up on their sweeteners
de jour, Stevia is a natural no-calorie, nocarbohydrate sweetener made from
a
plant commonly found in South America.
It's been traditionally used to sweeten
foods for years, and a few years ago, it
was launched in the UK market as an
alternative to artificial sweeteners. Since
then it's been used to cut carb counts and
calories in all sorts of products. It's also
suitable for diabetics. Now, Chocologic
are using it in their chocolate bars. And,
I have to admit they are really good. If I
hadn't had a press release and labels
proclaiming that this was no added sugar
chocolate I wouldn't have been able to tell
- and The Boyfriend, who, for someone
who says he's not a fan of chocolate
pulled his weight quite nicely during this
particular testing, was also a big fan.
It comes in three varieties - Milk
Chocolate, Dark Chocolate and Milk
Chocolate with Hazelnuts. Of the three,
the Hazelnut one was my favourite, then
the Dark, Milk was nice but a bit bland
compared to the other two. In terms of
calories, carbs, fat, etc., here's how the
three flavours weigh up per serving of
four squares (that's a sixth of the bar).
• Milk - 64 cals, 4,8g fat, 4.5g
carbs (2.5g sugars)
• Dark - 58 cals, 4.6g fat, 2.5g
carbs (0.4g sugars)
• Milk with Hazelnuts - 67 cals,
5,2g fat, 4,2g carbs (sugars 2.6g)
Looks great doesn't it - the only thing is
I defy you to do is to just eat four squares.
We ate the whole 80g bar between us
in one go - so we could multiply each
of the above counts by three. Even then
though, there were still fewer calories than
a Mars Bar, so it's not soooo bad. I'll just
keep telling myself that, shall I? You'll find
Chocologic bars in Tesco.
The Marmite effect
There was a piece recently on the Daily
Mail website dailymail/marmiteface
about the faces Japanese people pull
when they first taste Marmite which
reminded me of a post I did a while back,
with exactly the same theme, what does
your Marmite face look like?
I came across a good idea in a recent
issue of US Health magazine where they
suggested that to boost the variety in your
diet you try a discomfort food every week.
That means either tasting a food you've
never had before, or re-trying a food you
don't think you like. I decided to give it
a go - first up was kale, I'd never tried
it despite it coming out time and time
again as THE most healthy vegetable
you can eat. It's lovely, particularly in
Asian noodle dishes instead of bok choy.
The Boyfriend then pointed out that my
ultimate discomfort food is Marmite.
I loathe it. I can't tell you if I've ever
eaten it as the smell alone makes me
gag but, apparently, it's good for you (B
vitamins and all that) so I figured, okay
we'll see. After all, until a year ago I didn't
think I liked olives - then a one-hour wait
for a table in a Madrid restaurant with a
bowl of them in front of me disproved
that belief. I eat at least five a day now, so
maybe I'm wrong about Marmite.
After all, if I could learn to like it, it
would give a health boost. It's packed
with B vitamins including folic acid and it's
a great source of B12 for vegetarians. It's
low in calories, low in sugar, low in fat and
low GI.
The Boyfriend offered to make it for
me, giggling maniacally as he slapped
it on a bit of toast. He even had the
camera ready…. My first thought was it
doesn't smell on toast - a result -- then I
took a bite. It didn't taste too bad. Then
I swallowed, and the aftertaste hit. Yuck.
It really is the nastiest substance known
to mankind. I had to drink half a pint of
milk to get rid of it. Never, ever again. So,
what's your discomfort food? And are you
brave enough to try it?
notyournormalhealthblog.com/
tag/helen-foster-journalist/
MAKING FACES. Above,
Marmite news for
travellers. Below, Helen's
'before' and 'after' Marmite
tasting challenge.