Review: Raw Health Chocada Truffle Energy Balls

Hello again! Today I'm going to write a review on the Raw Heath Chocada Truffles - having literally had my first bite of one of these half an hour ago, I'd say that I'm quick to review them because I like them so much!

So, the company Raw Heath is a new one for me. I've always seen them on the shelves but never thought to try their products, until I was in my local health food shop a few days ago. I picked up the Truffles as my first venture into the brand, hoping that they would deliver in terms of flavour. These truffles cost around the £2 something mark - they aren't the cheapest in the world considering you get 3 truffles in a pack, but trust me when I say that they are worth it!

Raw Health describes these truffles as "Organic raw truffle balls bursting with rich cacao flavours and juicy dates." and you really can taste the cacao - mixed with the texture from the dates, these are chewy with a rich chocolatey flavour. And if you take a look at the ingredients, there are no 'bad' ingredients in there - they are all natural! 

So if you are in love with chocolate like me, yet want to watch your waistline, definitely give these a try! As long as you don't mind the taste of dates then you will love these! I'm thinking of buying some more right now I love them that much, and I'll definitely be exploring their other flavours and products in the near future! 

Let me know if you have tried any other Raw Health products, and what you thought of them :) 

The Great Snack Bar Round Up - Part 1

Good afternoon everyone! So I've decided to make this blog more review-based for the time being, as it'll help me to get to grips with what I actually like and what is considered 'healthy' within this category. So I'm going to be doing a series of reviews on the snack bars which are currently on the market. Not your Nutrigrain bars and the like, however. I'm looking at the kinds which you can buy in health food stores (as well as supermarkets) - ones which are more targeted at people who are trying to eat healthy and watch the ingredients which they are putting into their bodies.

These reviews are solely my own opinion so don't take them as a concrete rating - just because I don't like something, it doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a try! I'm going to rate each bar on a series of categories to make it easier for you to decide if you'll like the bar or not:

-Taste
-Texture
-Price
-Ingredients
-Nutritional values

So there you have it! I'm going to start off the series of reviews by looking at bars from across the pond - the Clif and Luna bars. Why? Because you can buy them in the US, but they are also available online in the UK and in some running/bike shops too.

The Clif Bar:

Clif bars are something which I've only recently discovered - I purchased a few different flavours after trying to replace cakes and brownies in my diet. I follow the Tone It Up nutrition plan (www.toneitup.com) and Karena said that she microwaves her Clif bars for a few seconds to make them more 'cake' like, which sounded appealing to me. I haven't tried all of the flavours might I add, however I have sampled a few and here are my thoughts on these bars.

Taste

In terms of taste, I really enjoyed the Clif bars that I tried! I have tried Chocolate Almond Fudge, Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Raisin Walnut (I'm yet to try the Peanut Butter one - it's hiding in my cupboard!) and although not the best tasting cold, they are delicious when heated up in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds! They go nice and chewy like a brownie almost, and have enough sweetness to satisfy me for a while. My favourite flavours have to be the Chocolate Almond Fudge and Chocolate Chip since I LOVE chocolate, but if you are less of a chocolate lover then the Oatmeal Raisin Walnut is also lovely. 7/10

Texture

As mentioned above, they go lovely and chewy when heated up! However on their own the bars can be a bit tough - I would have loved them to be a bit more light. Taking into account that these bars are designed for trekkers and long-distance exercisers, I'll give them an 8/10 for texture since they are more filling with the denser texture.

Price

Again, this is a tricky one. Because these bars are made in the US, they are going to have an inflated price in the UK due to shipping and the like. These bars range in price, however compared to the Luna Bar they are much cheaper considering that they are bigger in size. For that reason, I'll give them a 6/10. If you want a more affordable bar, then I'll be giving reviews of more options in the near future!

Ingredients

Now, these bars have a substancial amount of ingredients. Sure, they are better than a chocolate bar - but bear in mind that they are not the best if, like me, you do not partake in intense exercise and need the fuel to keep going. They also contain Soy (I'm looking at the ingredients for Chocolate Almond Fudge - see their website for the other bars and their stats) which is worth bearing in mind if you aren't a fan. For that reason, I'll give them a 6/10.

Nutritional Values

Now I just want to state that I am NOT a nutritionist or anything, so have no broad knowledge of what these values reflect. I'm just going by my basic understanding of what values are pretty good, and what ones aren't. There is 252 kcals in a bar, and 10g of protein - pretty good I'd say! Especially if you are using these bars as fuel for exercising. They are quite high in sugar, however, with 23g. All in all, they aren't the worst values I've seen, so I'll give them a 7/10.

Total: 34/50

Overall, I'd definitely recommend these bars - just not as an everyday snack. I would save these for an occasional treat or as a pre/post-exercise snack as you'll definitely benefit from the protein and calories this way. Depending on your needs, these bars could be great as a frequent inclusion to your diet - and they taste pretty good as well!

Next time, I'll be reviewing the Luna Bar :)

Food diary - 11th February, 2013

So I'm back into the swing of things once again... I've been terrible at this I know! Still, this time around I'll be monitoring my protein/carbs/fat ratios as well! Here goes:

Overall daily aims -
protein - 85.4g (341.6 kcal)
carbohydrates - 366g (1464 kcal)
fat - 68.37g (615.4 kcal)

Breakfast - Reese's puffs with semi-skimmed milk
protein: 2g
carbs: 22g
fat: 4.7g
calories - 160

Post-workout snack - 200ml Chocolate Almond Breeze with 1 scoop of vanilla MyProtein Impact Whey powder
protein: 20g
carbs: 18.5g
fat: 4.1g
calories - 196

Lunch - 2 slices multiseeded bread with Lurpak organic butter, 3 slices of Quorn smoked ham and a 150ml glass of Innocent smoothie (mango and passion fruit)
protein: 19g
carbs: 66g
fat: 22g
calories - 549

Dinner - Marks & Spencer naan bread with 1/2 packet of Quorn Tikka Masala and 180g of Tilda Basmati rice
protein: 24.1g
carbs: 97.5g
fat: 19.6g

I'll keep updating throughout the day, this is just what I've had so far :)

Foods I enjoy eating (inspiration for future meal plans)

So I came up with this idea earlier today whilst getting annoyed at myself for over-indulging. I thought: "If I write down all of the meals which I enjoy (the ones which are actually pretty good for you) then I can use this as a base for my weekly meal plans". And so, here is a list of meals which I enjoy eating on a pretty regular basis. I'm going to gradually add to the list if I discover more meals and such, but for now here are the basics. Hopefully this gives people meal ideas, and maybe encourages some of you to make a similar list!

Breakfasts:
-Peanut butter and banana on a wholemeal toasted bagel
-Porridge with sliced strawberries (semi-skimmed milk)
-Bran flakes with a small handful of raisins and semi-skimmed milk
-Scrambled eggs, grilled tomato and vegetarian bacon (for the days when I am craving a fry-up)
-Smoothie (green smoothie in earlier posts)
-Greek yoghurt with granola
-Fruit salad using seasonal fruit

Lunches:
-Salads (Greek salad, tomato salad, strawberry and tomato salad)
-Carrot sticks with hummous
-Tesco beetroot, cheese and cracker pots
-Food Doctor lentil wholesome pots
-Beans on toast (wholemeal bread)
-Toasted wholemeal bagel with cream cheese and Quorn smoked ham
-Quorn cocktail sausages with a dipping sauce
-Subway (honey oat bread with cheese, toasted, with lettuce, cucumber, tomato and light mayo)
-Soup (homemade potato and leek or lentil soup, or Heinz tomato soup)
-Pasta salad (Pesto, pine nut and veggie parmesan)

Dinners:
-Marks & Spencer mango and sweet chilli stir fry
-Sweet potato mash with some feta cheese
-Amy's Kitchen frozen ready meals (for when I am craving a pizza or something a bit more unhealthy)
-Baked potato with a small handful of grated cheese, some beetroot and salad
-Homemade sweet potato chips with a Greek yoghurt dip
-Quorn meals

Snacks:
-Mango
-A few squares of dark chocolate
-Smoothies
-Bananas
-Strawberries
-Tassimo hot chocolates (low calories for a chocolate fix)
-Trail mix
-Luna bars (When I'm going for long walks and stuff)
-Greek yoghurt with honey
-Yoghurts in general (as a healthier dessert option)
-Frozen yoghurt (")

Fallen off the wagon a bit... (An explanation)

So... I haven't updated in a week. And what a horrific week it has been (food-wise). My birthday was yesterday, so in the run up I let myself go a bit.

Saying that, I have made a monumental discovery: I DON'T actually need to lose any more weight. In fact, I'm nearing the 'underweight' mark for my height. And so, I need to eat healthier (upping my calories slightly) and go to the gym more in order to get the body which I have desired for so long.

I'll start by posting what I ate yesterday, and then hopefully get into the swing of things again soon!

Breakfast - Caramel macchiato (Tassimo) and a scrambled egg roll

Lunch - Slice of chocolate birthday cake

Dinner - Went to a local vegetarian restaurant. I had:

Starter - Homemade hommous with toasted fresh-baked bread and a tomato chutney
Main - Risotto (Leek, cheese, butternut squash marinated in lemon juice, loads of herbs and a rocket salad
Dessert - Ginger and lime ice cream in a chocolate ganache bowl, served on top of a small orange drizzle cake

The meal in itself was delicious, and I'll definitely be going back in the near future!

It wasn't the healthiest of days but it was my birthday, so lets forgive and forget...

So far today I have had:

Breakfast - 2 small pancakes with nutella, a small glass of semi-skimmed milk

Lunch - The Food Doctor lentil pot (a healthy pot noodle is the only way I can describe it! The same concept), a banana

Dinner will probably be a baked potato with some cheese and beetroot, and I may have some dark chocolate later on.

Food diary - January 26th, 2013

Breakfast - Fruit and oat bagel toasted, 1 half drizzled with honey and the other half spread with a bit of Lurpak lighter

Lunch - Tesco beetroot, crackers and cheese pack with half a bottle of Naked mango smoothie

Dinner - Tesco finest cheese and asparagus filo parcel with some salt and pepper potato wedges

Snacks - malteaser bunny, small slice of cake

Calories - 1,800

Not the best of days by a large stretch, but it's the weekend so I'm blaming it on that (tut tut!)

Food diary - January 25th, 2013

Breakfast - Half a bottle of Naked mango smoothie

Lunch - An oatcake and a Hovis digestive with some arran cheddar cheese

Dinner - Some pasta with a Quorn chicken arrabiata sauce, also had 3 chunky chips

Snacks - Nutz over chocolate Luna bar, melting middle chocolate pudding and a glass of semi-skimmed milk

Calories - 1,499

Not the best of days but I feel that because I never had a big breakfast or lunch, I snacked more later on.

Food diary - January 24th, 2013

Breakfast - Scrambled egg, beand, grilled tomato, 1 vegetarian sausage and a slice of wholemeal bread toasted with butter. Small bowl of muesli, glass of fresh orange juice and a mini chocolate chip muffin (We went to an all you can eat breakfast place, so I tried to stick to mainly healthier options)

Lunch - 2 slices 50/50 bread toasted with melted cheddar cheese

Dinner - Amy's Kitchen light and lean spaghetti Italiano (This was lovely, and only had 200 odd calories! Perfect after eating a load of rubbish earlier)

Snacks - 2 jaffa cakes, 1 square of dark chocolate

Calories - 1,520

I'd like to add that this was an estimate of calories - I didn't know how many calories my breakfast contained and so I may be severely off the mark, if so I apologise!

Food diary - January 23rd, 2013

Breakfast - 2 weetabix and some cornflakes with warm semi-skimmed milk

Lunch (if you can call it that!) - Starbucks grande iced caramel macchiato, slice of fairtrade chocolate chunk shortbread

Dinner - Marks & Spencer Count On Us cherry tomato risotto

Snacks - Some mango

Calories - 1,331

Food diary - January 22nd, 2013

So I'm a bit behind with these food diaries once again - I've been puppysitting so it's been a busy few days!

Here's what I had on the 22nd -

Breakfast - 2 Weetabix with some Cornflakes and warm semi-skimmed milk

Lunch - Strawberry salad with a toasted wholemeal pitta bread and some hummous

Dinner - Winter vegetable and rice bake

Snacks - Some mango, a malteaser bunny and 250 calories worth of something (can't remember what, how useful!)

Calories - 1,593

This was a pretty good day, with the exception of the malteaser bunny. Still I'm not going to be limiting myself too harshly, as long as I'm within my calorie goal. In time I'll try to work on replacing these treats with healthier snacks though!

Food Diary - January 21st, 2013

Breakfast - Bran flakes with semi-skimmed milk and raisins

Lunch - Quorn cornish style pasty

Dinner - Vegetarian haggis, neeps and tatties

Snacks - Tree ripened mango, Marks & Spencer bourbon brownie and Carte D'or vanilla ice cream

Calories - 1,828

Exercise - 30 mins yoga (Roxy's bite size yoga DVD)

So this was a pretty terrible day in terms of what I ate! Like I said before, I've been having a strange relationship with food this week - one day I'm being healthy, the next day I'm eating a lot of rubbish. Hopefully I get back into the swing of things soon, as I really do want to live a healthier lifestyle. If I compare what I'm eating now to what I was eating 1 year ago, its a huge improvement. So all in all, I've at least become a bit healthier!

Food Diary - January 20th, 2013

Breakfast - Wholemeal fruit scone with raspberry jam and some butter

Lunch - Salad (strawberries, cherry tomatoes, basil, Italian hard cheese and balsamic glaze) - I got the recipe from a website, 100 salad recipes or something? I also had a wholemeal pita bread

Dinner - Marks & Spencer plum tomato and camembert tart with fries and half a garlic flatbread

Snack - half a tub of tree ripened mango, some sweets (200 calories worth)

Calories - 1,433

This wasn't the best of days but I've had a strange relationship with food this week, and keep falling off the wagon. Part of me wants to live a healthy lifestyle, whereas another part of me wants to enjoy what I eat. I guess I just need to find a balance...

Food diary - January 19th, 2013

I'm a bit behind on my food diary, but thanks to MyFitnessPal I've got a record of what I've ate in the last few days! So I'll be putting a few posts up today in order to catch up (bear with me!).

Here's what I had on the 19th:

Breakfast - Bran Flakes with semi-skimmed milk and raisins

Lunch - Tesco Lighter Choices (?) egg and cress sandwich, 2 Quorn cocktail sausages

Dinner - Spaghetti with Giovanni Rana tomato and basil pasta sauce

Snack - Mango

Calories - 1,158

So my calorie total wasn't the best, but I was having one of those days I guess. I could have been healthier but I'm not going to worry over it.

Food diary - January 18th, 2013

So as promised, here is a healthy food diary! I'm pretty pleased with what I ate, it's definitely an improvement from my normal diet!

Breakfast - 'green' smoothie - spinach, kale, oranges, banana and milk (Tone It Up recipe)

Lunch - Carrot sticks, small pot of Sainsbury's low fat hummous. Half a toasted wholemeal pitta bread

Snack - Luna bar (caramel nut brownie)

Dinner - Homemade sweet potato chips, roasted brussels sprouts. Homemade dip (Greek yoghurt, 1 garlic clove and chives.

Snack - Tassimo Milka hot chocolate, 2 maryland cookies (treat for the day - I needed something!)

So apart from my last snack of the day, I'd say that was pretty good going! The main thing is that I made everything from scratch pretty much, and so I feel like I know what I'm putting into my body as opposed to eating ready meals which contain who knows what. Hopefully I can keep this up, although I know every day isn't going to be perfect. At least I'm giving it a shot.

Food Diary - January 17th, 2013

So this is going to seem like an unhealthy post, but I promise that tomorrows post (what I ate today) is going to be much better! I decided to have a slight treat day before I really jumped on the healthy eating bandwagon. I went shopping last night and so I can now start eating healthy!

Breakfast - Fage Total 0% greek yoghurt with honey

Lunch - Convent Garden carrot and coriander soup (half a carton), Co-Operative petit pain

Dinner - 1/3 Tesco Finest Mozzarella, pesto and tomato pizza. A handful of Morrisons Kitchen garlic potato slices

Snack - small slice of apple pie with Carte D'or vanilla ice cream

I know it seems like a load of rubbish but like I said, it was a treat day. And now I don't have any junk in my fridge so I won't get sidetracked (hopefully!).

So whilst I'm typing this, I'm drinking a 'green' home-made smoothie - healthy or what!? Stay tuned for a healthy food diary tomorrow!

Food Diary - January 16th, 2013

So I know it's a day early but I've had everything that I'll be eating today, excluding a slice of apple pie and ice cream! Here it is:

Breakfast - Costa Latte (Tassimo) with light whipped cream and caramel drizzle sauce

Lunch - Convent Garden Carrot and Coriander soup, small petit pain with some lurpak lighter

Snack - Oatcake with a slice of Arran cheedar with herbs

Dinner - McIntosh Veggie Haggis, neeps and tatties

Snack - Will be the apple pie later on

Calories (according to MyFitnessPal) - 1,565

Overview - Again, not the healthiest I could be. I'm going on a big supermarket shop tomorrow so will be buying loads of healthier stuff then, just trying to use up things in the fridge at the moment. I haven't got my Yoga DVD yet but am expecting it tomorrow so from then I'll be including exercise (hopefully!). Also, I'll be going on a walk tomorrow so will log that as well!

Some more reviews will be coming up shortly, along with some recipes possibly??

Food Diary - January 15th, 2013

I've started using MyFitnessPal to track what I'm eating calorie-wise, so not only will I remember to put everything I've eaten in the diary, but I'll also add the total calories for the day as well (might not be 100% accurate, but according to MyFitnessPal is the total calorie count for the day).

So here's what I had to eat and drink yesterday:

Breakfast - Small glass of Tropicana 50/50 juice (to use it up - see review)

Lunch - Quorn cornish pasty

Snack - 2 mini Munchie chocolates, 2 Quality Street chocolates, a Jaffa Cake, and a Terry's Chocolate Orange segment (Bad!!)

Dinner - Mashed sweet/maris piper potato with some feta cheese crumbled on top, and a small petit pain with Lurpak lighter

Snack - Small slice of apple pie with some Carte D'or vanilla ice cream (2 small scoops)

Drinks - 3 glasses of water

Calories: 1,666

So according to MyFitnessPal, my daily calorie goal is 1,780 calories. This is because I want to lose about 5lbs (any more and I'd be underweight regarding my height) and am focusing on toning up. My problem is that I think I can eat anything as long as I'm within my calories, and I want to focus on eating healthier foods within my calorie limits. Here's hoping I can do it!

Overview: Today was terrible. That's all I can say! I'm really lacking in motivation to cut out the sweet treats, and I know this is one of my vices. If I work on this, I genuinely think my diet wouldn't be too bad (not by any means healthy but nothing to worry about too much!) 

I may do a review on MyFitnessPal as well, as I only discovered it yesterday but think it is really helpful to those who don't actually count calories - it may give you a reality check, and is also a helpful aid to healthy eating. Keep your eyes peeled if interested in reading this review! 

Review: Tropicana 50/50 Drink

Hello! So I thought it would be a good idea to review some of the 'healthier' foods and drinks which I have tried, in order to give alternatives for unhealthy options and stuff like that. Hopefully they are useful to some people , but if not then I can always stop doing them! For now lets give it a try :)

Today, I'm reviewing the new Tropicana '50/50' drink, which claims to have 50% less calories and sugar than an ordinary orange juice drink (pretty sure that is what it says on the bottle, I'll edit this if wrong!). They reduce the calories and sugar content by using Stevia, a natural sweetener with no calories which has recently become popular in the UK (I think it has been around longer in the US, and I'm not sure about other places' use of Stevia).

So in terms of taste, this product is nice. The only thing I can't handle is the overly-sweet aftertaste that the product leaves, probably from the Stevia within the drink. For me, I don't like my fresh orange juice drinks to be overly sweet, and so I prefer drinking a small glass of the normal Tropicana orange juice to get a better flavour. If you can handle the after taste, however, then this product might be something worth looking into! There are only 40 calories in a 200ml glass of the Orange juice with bits variety, and so if you are a worrier over liquid calories like myself, this is definitely a good option.

So to sum up, I love the idea of this product. I can only comment on the flavour that I have tried, however, and so I might try the other flavours in the range in order to see if these don't have such a sweet after taste. I would however recommend it to those who are trying to be a bit healthier, but still get the benefits of fruit juice.

Another point I might add is that I am not going in-depth with this review - I am not comparing the vitamin content and other nutritional values of this drink in comparison to regular Tropicana. I would recommend picking up both varieties when you are next shopping and comparing the nutritional values to get a better idea of the product.

So I'll see how these reviews go, and may have another one coming up shortly!

Food Diary - January 14th, 2013

So today has been a pretty rubbish day - shock horror. I'm struggling to find the motivation at the time - When I'm full, I want to eat healthily so much. However it's a different case when I'm hungry!

Today:

Breakfast - Small bowl of bran flakes with raisins and semi-skimmed milk

Lunch - Twinings Chai Latte, Lidl Multiseeded crusty roll with Lurpak Lighter butter

Dinner - Quorn 'Carbonara' sauce with spaghetti

Snack - Medium-sized slice of chocolate cake

Drinks - 3 small glasses of water

Overview - Pretty rubbish is all I can say to be honest! I really need some extra motivation in order to get me started properly - Am looking at yoga DVD's as we speak as it's something I really want to try. Hopefully this will give me the kick that I need!

I will be posting any exercise that I do also, however if I put nothing then that day I'll only have been walking or something - nothing too intense.

Food Diary - January 12th, 2013

I'll get right into it - here is what I ate and drank yesterday:

Breakfast - Tassimo Costa latte with gingerbread syrup

Lunch - Boots Cheese Ploughman's sandwich, bottle of Shapers cloudy lemonade (7cal - sweetener which I know is bad for you, but I didn't want water at the time!)

Dinner - 4 Quorn scotch eggs and a Hovis digestive biscuit thing with Arran cheddar cheese (the herb kind)

Snack - small handful of sweets, bag of prawn cocktail crisps

Other drinks - 1 glass of no added sugar dillutin juice (apple and blackcurrant), glass of water

Overview - This way a pretty bad day to be honest... Where I went wrong? With the breakfast and dinner in particular. By having a small dinner, I snacked more later on - I don't normally have this sort of thing for dinner, but the scotch eggs were going out of date that day. Also, I need to stop drinking stuff with sweetener in it! 

In terms of today, I'm going out for a Chinese meal for my Dad's birthday. I'll probably have vegetable chow mein, with some fried rice and a glass of water or apple juice or something. I'm just going to post what I'm having the rest of today as I know what I'll be having:

Breakfast - I had a Rumblers granola pot - the belgian chocolate one (from yesterday's Boots meal deal) with a glass of Tropicana orange juice.

Lunch - I think I'll have some carrot and coriander soup with a small petit pain and some Lurpak light butter

I'll also be drinking water throughout the day.

After the Chinese meal, I'll probably have a small slice of birthday cake as well since it's a special occasion (I'm starting the excuses already!) and try to be a bit healthier tomorrow to make up for today and yesterday.

Food Diary - January 11th, 2013

So I've missed the first 10 days in January with this food diary, but I really want to post an honest food diary and see where I'm going wrong with my diet. First off, I'll post a bit about myself...

An overview of my body:

I'm 6ft tall, and currently weigh 9 stone 10lbs. I'm not overweight by any means for my height, I just want to tone up and eat healthily in order to benefit my body, my skin and my happiness! So I won't be as strict with myself as I would if I had some weight to shift.

My diet:

I have many vices, including pasta, potatoes, pizza (carbs in general really!) and CHOCOLATE. I'm a self-confessed chocoholic, and I cannot get over this addiction. I'm trying, and hopefully by the end of the year I will have improved my diet in terms of chocolate consumption, we'll see.

Now for yesterday's post:

Breakfast - Half a large mango

Lunch - Small bowl of home-made lentil soup, with a small crusty roll grilled slightly in the oven. I had lurpak butter on the roll (not great for you but tastes amazing!)

Dinner - Marks&Spencer's Sweet Chilli and Mango stir-fry. (Has about 400 calories, and tastes amazing! If you like mango then you'll love this take on a stir-fry (assuming you like stir-fry as well of course)

Snack - 3/4 of an Oreo Creme-filled Brownie. Oh dear.

Drinks - 2 large glasses of water, 1 small cup of dillutin summer fruits juice (no added sugar)

Overview - I'd say that my day was pretty good, apart from that brownie at the end. I'm only human, though, and I'll just have to work on reducing the amount of 'treats' in my diet.