Inspiral's Raw Hazelnut Tart - A Review

So I'm going to admit that it has been a while... Okay, more than a while. Yet here I am on this dull January afternoon/evening eating a DELICIOUS and - did I mention it was raw!? - hazelnut tart. To sum it up, I would say that it possesses the following qualities: smoothness, creaminess, and most important, tastiness! 

Upon first bite, you receive a delicious gift in the form of a raw chocolate ganache. This layer of ganache is followed by a creamy hazelnut filling, similar to a cheesecake yet with more crunch. At the bottom is the most biscuit-y and crumbly raw base that I have ever tasted! It is heaven in a (re-usable!) jar, dare I say it. Chocolate lovers, this one is for you. 

I have also tried the carrot cake in this range, however this one simply crushes the carrot cake - it is the winner, hands down. At £2.89 it is pricey, but as an occasional much-needed treat I'd say go for it! They work out slightly cheaper if you buy them in a pack from the Inspiral website and are also freezable, so that could be an option if you want to save some money. 

To sum up, I cannot wait to get my hands on the other Inspiral desserts if this one is anything to go by! In the meantime, I am off to my local health food shop to stock up on more of these beauties! 

Inspiral website: http://www.inspiral.co/ (They also sell loads of other yummy raw treats! More reviews from them - along with other companies - to come.) 

Disclaimer: I bought this dessert with my own money. It was a well deserved treat, and will continue to be! 

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!)