Diet Food Faves

I have a few diet products that I absolutely love. Yup, I have no qualms about going on and on about food.

Alvarado Bakery Essential” Sprouted FlaxSeed Bread: This bread is incredible. One serving is two slices, that add up to a barely-there 80 calories. A lot of “light” or diet whole wheat breads can boast 2 slices per serving, but most of those use tricks like slicing the bread very thin, or the loaf is shrunk so that a slice of bread is about the size of a slice of American cheese. But this bread is generously sized, hearty, and flavorful - like you’re eating a piece of regular whole wheat bread at 150 calories a slice. It toasts up so well that I look forward to eating it plain! It comes out of the toaster crispy on the outside, yet fluffy and flavorful on the inside. Really, this bread is amazingly good.

Today I was reminded of another reason I like this bread - it doesn’t crumble or fall apart like many of the diet breads. Nick did the shopping last time, and I can’t really fault him for his misses, but he picked up a loaf of Orowheat light whole wheat bread. I hate to just ignore that there’s a full loaf of bread to use up, so I used it to make a tuna sandwich this afternoon for lunch. What a mess! The bread falls apart starting from the crust line, and just doesn’t add any flavor to the mix. The flax seed bread makes the whole sandwich taste better.

Cameo Apples: Where have these perky little fruits been all my life? They are perfect. I love an apple that’s sweeter than the tart, sassy Pippin. It has to have a skin that doesn’t ruin the taste, like the cruelly named Red Delicious that dominated my childhood. Oh, how I detest those Red Delicious! I thought that I didn’t like apples until I had a Fuji at age 20. Between Red Delicious and the bland, soft horror that is a Golden Delicious, I was convinced people named apples to fool kids into liking them. Note to growers: it ain’t happening. I still hate both of those varieties.

Enter the plucky little cameo, an apple I had never heard of before this growing season! It has a pleasant, mottled stripey thing going for it that catches the eye. No dark red bitter skin to put me off my fruit for the day. The taste: sweet without cloying. The flesh: delightfully crisp.

There’s nothing worse than biting into a soft, fleshy, tasteless mass. Cameos may not have the high gloss of the traditional Red Delicious, but they shine nonetheless.


Laughing cow cheese:Who can resist this jolly bovine? Maybe all the cows in Switzerland are happy. Maybe this one likes to moo just to hear the echoes bouncing off the snow-capped peaks. So who cares if it's nothing resembling Swiss cheese -- it’s creamy deliciousness formed into a delicate, aluminum-wrapped wedge. You feel like you’re unwrapping a treat - a mouthwatering, gooey mess of a treat that will melt in your mouth with processed cheesy goodness. Mmmmm. Probably can't hold a candle to raclette, but it's guilt-free. And there's that happy cow. She's bright red, and she's wearing her own milk products as earrings. I find the combination irresistible.

Italian-Style Turkey from Trader Joe’s: I originally bought this because I thought it would taste a bit like salami/peppery flavorings on the edges of the turkey. That’s what it looks like in the package. But it turns out to have a lot of sage in the herb mixture. It ends up tasting just like you cut off a hunk of turkey right out of the refrigerator the day after Thanksgiving, and you smeared the meat with a helpin' of stuffing. Mmmm. This is what I eat for "second breakfast" after working out: toasted flax bread, sage-flavored turkey, FF cream cheese, and a smattering of lettuce for “second breakfast.” My mouth is watering as I type this.


Much as I love the NS "Nutriflakes", I wanted to find something comparable for when I'm not on NS anymore. Not to mention, one serving of the NS cereal costs a buck forty-five, which is well on your way to purchasing a whole box, wouldn't you say? I'm thrilled to report that I found this big box o'heaven in Trader Joe's. Take a look at these stats:

100 calories per 3/4 cup (140 with FF milk)
1.5 g fat including 500 mg Omega-3 fatty acids
190 mg sodium
Carbs 22 g
Fiber 7 g (making the carbs 15)
Protein 4g (with FF milk, 8 g)

500 mg of Omega-3 fatty acid in a serving! This beats the heck out of stirring fish oil in my coffee! Okay, I never actually did that, but I thought about it.

I love the taste and crunch of these flakes, but it's hard to recommend a cereal to someone else because I think we're all picky about breakfast. It's the most intimate meal of the day. You've left the quiet land of dreams and are preparing yourself for the enslaught of chaos that comes with the waking world. It's not the time to stir fish oil in anything.

As for me, I can't handle sweet cereal. Anything sugary first thing in the morning makes me queasy. Even in my pre-diabetic days, you wouldn't catch me eating a doughnut for breakfast. A big ole' bag of bacon and cheese biscuits from McDonalds, yes, but never a Krispy Kreme. So somehow, this cereal with its high fiber/protein/Omega-3 stats and its crunchy, slightly nutty taste is a wonderous amalgamation of healthy and oral satisfaction. It's quite a mouthful.