Written by Sophie McGough APD CDE
Do you ever have 'one of those days' when you are so exhausted by the time you get to dinner, that you just can't be bothered? Well I have those days regularly both now and BC (before children!). I don't care if you have children, work full time, are retired, a grandparent or a super-duper organised person - I'm convinced that everyone can still have 'one of those days!'
A lot of our posts are designed to inspire you to try new foods/recipes or assess what you are currently eating. This post is different - this one is to help you out on those days where you really couldn't care less what you eat! It's on 'one of those days' that you are most likely to pick up the phone and dial your nearest takeaway but I can make it EVEN EASIER and healthy at the same time.
 Just make yourself (or your family) baked beans on toast. If you want to make it sound fancy, tell them you’re serving up 'Fagioli Sul Pane Tostato' (Italian for Baked Beans on Toast).
Baked Beans are a really healthy food. Apart from their well-known fibre content, they also contain no fat, are a good source of protein and are low GI. Don’t forget that Baked Beans are a vegetable, so great if you struggle with getting vegetables into your children or partner.
In regards to portion size, an adult should be having ~ ½ cup and a child ~1/4 cup.
Check out the difference in nutrition between good old baked beans on toast and a couple of popular takeaway choices.
| Baked Beans (1/2 cup) + 2 slices multigrain toast (no marg) | Red Rooster ‘Quarter Chicken and Chips’ meal | McDonalds McNuggets ‘Happy Meal’ |
Kilojoules (Calories) | 1026 kJ (244 cal) | 3300 kJ (786 cal) | 2080 kJ (495 cal) |
Fat (Saturated fat) | 1.7 (0.3g) | 29 g (12.5 g) | 22.7g (3g) |
Protein | 12 g | 54.9 g | 10.6g |
Carbohydrate | 41.3 g | 76.2 g | 60.5 g |
Sugars | 7.6 g | 3.5 g | 25.4 g |
Fibre | 10.4 g | NA | NA |
Sodium | 756 mg | 1630 mg | 490 mg |
For those of you with diabetes, the carbohydrate content is also within the recommended range for a meal to keep those blood glucose levels stable.
I always make sure I have a can of baked beans in the cupboard as my 'back up plan' for dinner (or lunch) should I be having ‘one of those days’. They are also a handy dinner for the kids to have when I’m cooking a hot and spicy meal for my hubby and I, that I know they won’t like.
Don’t feel like you have to heat them up either. I have plenty of clients who love ‘cold’ baked beans as a snack with their lunch. I have to say they are a great ‘grab and go’ food for when I’m out and about with my 10 month old.
Does anyone else have any other quick and easy ideas for meals when they are having ‘one of those days?’
Written by Kate Bullen, APD Over the last few weeks we have had our fair share of medical appointments. You know that there is always the potential for a bit of a long wait whenever a medical appointment is involved - and with 2 young kids this doesn’t always end well. So food does become our friend! Snacks for small kids are important to give them a regular source of energy. Here is a snapshot of what I might pack when we are going to be out for a few hours – a selection of fruit, veges, cheese and some toast (I think I had some pumpkin loaf here) and crackers.
Now my kids are by no means perfect. They will always go for the fruit or toast/crackers first and then the cheese. They will often try and ignore the veges!! But for me this is about role modelling – I never make a song and dance and let them choose what they want to eat from the selection. I happily snack away with them – and I try and choose the veges to show them that veges aren’t scary!
And on a recent trip to the zoo, here is what our morning tea picnic was – the gorgeous buckwheat pikelets where made by a friend. In the top container is fruit toast, apple, carrot and sugarsnap peas, sultanas and crackers. What do you pack to eat when you go out?
Written by Kate Bullen, APD I found this recipe in the Nigella Lawson's ‘Nigella Express’ cookbook and gave it a whirl. So consider this the day the Domestic Goddess came to my kitchen! I love that this recipe includes a whole heap of great ingredients – oats, dried fruit, seeds and nuts – and the only binding ingredient is condensed milk. Let’s not kid ourselves – sweetened condensed milk is not an ‘everyday’ food – it is high in sugar (60.9% sugar!). I chose the skim version of condensed milk.
Muesli Bars Ingredients: 1 x 400g can skim condensed milk 250g rolled oats (not instant) 75g shredded coconut 100g dried fruit (eg: sultanas, cranberries) 125g mixed seeds (I used a mix of sunflower and sesame seeds) 125g unsalted peanuts
Method: 1. Preheat oven to 130C. Line a baking tin (eg: 23x33cm tin) 2. Warm the condensed milk in a large pan. 3. Meanwhile, mix together all the other ingredients and then add the warmed condensed milk, using a spatula to fold and distribute. 4. Spread the mixture into the tin and press down with the spatula. 5. Bake for 1 hour, then remove from the oven and, after about 15 minutes, cut into pieces. This makes a huge amount – and be careful – it is quite moreish!
Written by Kate Bullen, APD Late last week a presentation was given at my daughter’s school on Additive Alert. I knew I had to go along – just to stay abreast of what was being presented and to make an even more informed opinion. You might remember that I wrote last month about the Additive Alert book. The presentation started with a question “how many food additives do you think would be in a typical healthy school lunch?” The answer was 84. Pretty high huh? But as a piece of paper was handed around with what this ‘typical healthy lunch’ contains I was pretty horrified: · Kraft Dairy Bites Cheese stick · Kelloggs K Time Twist · Buttercup Country Split Wholemeal Bread · Tru Blue Easy Spread Butter Blend · Homebrand mayonnaise · KR Castlemaine shaved roast chicken · Kraft singles light (another cheese? Not sure why 2 cheese products in this lunch?) · Dairy Farmers Yoghurt Light Strawberry · Arnotts Granita Biscuit · Berry Healthy balance juice. Ok. The bread and yoghurt get a tick from me. But where is the fruit? Vegetables? Salad? Pretty much staple foods I would argue in a ‘typical healthy lunch’.  The presentation then moved on to the presenter (a naturopath) working through a number of processed foods that contained additives, preservatives, glutamates and artificial sweeteners. One of her opening comments was after picking up a food product (I think it might have been a jelly, or a custard or another packaged product) and saying that the additives (food colours) in this product were proven to be carcinogenic and mutagenic in studies based on rats. Both of these words are pretty emotive given they mean they can be involved in causing cancer. No one wants to be eating or feeding their children anything that might cause cancer. Immediately I could sense the fear that people in the room were feeling. So I put my hand up (as my 4yo has taught me this is what I must do!), introduced myself as a dietitian, mentioned that I wouldn’t buy these products for my family – but not because of the additives (more because they Just . Aren’t. Real. Food.), and then asked the presenters thoughts on how research done on rats cannot readily be translated to humans because essentially rats and humans are pretty different characters. The presenter replied that the evidence is outlined in the book Additive Alert (which I couldn’t find when I read the book) and that if these substances are found to be carcinogenic in rats then that is sufficient to avoid them for her family. My frustration at this point is there really seems to be no available, credible research that has found these food additives are potentially carcinogenic. I have emailed the author of Additive Alert asking for the evidence. The presentation moved on to say that 24 food additives that are regularly used in Australian foods are banned in Europe and the USA. Again, I am not sure of the accuracy of this statement, given that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just recently (March 2011) come out and said that there is no need to provide warnings on foods that contain food colouring (food colouring was the main mention at this point in the presentation). You can read about this here. As I have said before I am all for avoiding many food additives and preservatives – because often they are just unnecessary. Anyone looked at those plastic ‘fruit’ Rollups lately? They are not real! They can never pretend to be real food! They are just a concoction of sugar and food additives. So yep – I am all for avoiding these foods – but not because of fear of them possibly causing hyperactivity in some children or possibly (??) being carcinogenic. But because they are not real food. Plain and simple. But I am just so aware that this simple, eat healthy message does not sell books. So perhaps that is where I am going wrong...  Next topic was artificial sweeteners with the presenter saying they are linked to rashes, cancer etc. She also then used an example and said that if clients come to her and are consuming diet Coke she suggests they switch to normal full strength Coke. I think at this point my eyes nearly popped out of head. Full strength coke? So people are happy to consume 10 teaspoons of sugar? But are worried about artificial sweeteners? Sugar might have been around for many, many centuries – but sugar and its over consumption is a huge problem in today’s world of increasing overweight and obesity. Glutamates. They were discussed in the context largely of monosodium glutamate. The presenter very briefly mentioned that glutamates can be naturally occurring in foods but these aren’t the problem. At this point I again put my hand up and commented that anyone who may have intolerances to glutamates in processed food should also be avoiding naturally occurring glutamates in foods such as tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach. The presenter disagreed. It was then mentioned that vegemite should be avoided (??!) because it contains MSG. I have written about vegemite and MSG before. So again I put up my hand and mentioned that when my daughter has vegemite sandwiches the amount of sodium in the vegemite is about 10% of what is in the bread. The presenter glossed over this. Sigh. Dried fruit was also discussed and how dried fruit often contains sulphur (to maintain an appealing colour – eg: dried apricots, dried apple). Sulphur may cause a problem in some people (eg: asthmatics), but thankfully our food labelling means that products must tell us when sulphur is contained in foods. Dried fruit such as sultanas and dates which are naturally dark in colour often don’t have sulphur in them. You can check this on the ingredient list. The presenter didn’t mention this (and I sensed that she was getting a tad frustrated with my many questions, so I didn’t feel I could butt in yet again!) but I think this is a key point. In summary, choosing foods can be a minefield! Variety is a key message – don’t eat the same thing everyday. Choose foods that are less processed – you will not only avoid additives, but you are likely to avoid a whole lot of unnecessary refined sugar and fat. Win-win situation! I accept that processed foods are always going to play a part in our lives. The picture of the jelly at the top of this post - that was in my pantry. Every now and then my daughter and I make jelly. No big deal! I am not perfect and I dont claim to be, in fact I am sitting here enjoying a couple of pieces of dairy milk chocolate as I write this. And there might even be some Tiny Teddies in my pantry for the odd treat. But when people start choosing one jelly over another simply because of additives - that is what concerns me. I may well be swayed if I was presented with evidence based research - but I haven't seen any yet. And one final comment. I like to look at things in perspective. Around 23% of primary school aged children are overweight or obese. That is a fact. A scary fact. There are 30 children in my daughter’s class – that means almost 7 of them are overweight or obese. Some of the research I have been reading shows that 2.5-10% of children may have ADHD – or 1-3 children in my daughters class. I think a lot more could be achieved by focusing on reducing the level of overweight and obesity in our community. And that can be achieved by avoiding the majority of processed foods.
What are your thoughts on food additives?
Written by Sophie McGough APD CDE
Irritable Bowel Syndrome or IBS is an extremely frustrating condition to be diagnosed with. Symptoms can range from bouts of constipation and diarrhoea to bloating and distention, abdominal cramping and pain. After getting over the initial embarrassment of telling the GP about these symptoms, having numerous blood tests, an endoscopy (tube down) and a colonoscopy (tube up!) the diagnosis comes back as ‘we couldn’t find anything wrong – your must have Irritable Bowel Syndrome’. The person is left with this as a very vague ‘diagnosis’ and with few options in terms of medical treatment.
As a dietitian, I have seen numerous people with IBS and have experienced first hand how debilitating this illness can be. The constant need to always know where a toilet is, the social phobia it can create and not to mention that bowel pain can be pretty horrendous.
When a person suffers from IBS, the first and most obvious thing they blame is their food. As with all food intolerances, it is near impossible (without professional help) to really pin down exactly what it is. This is because foods contain various substances that a person could be intolerant to. It also may take a certain amount of a food or a substance before the symptoms occur, hence making it difficult to see a pattern. It is rarely as simple as ‘I just can’t eat bread.’
 The elimination diet from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital does help some people with ‘IBS’ who are intolerant to certain naturally occurring chemicals in foods such as salicylates, glutamate and amines. Fibre intake (both insoluble and soluble) can also play a big role in managing the symptoms of IBS and can work wonders for some people. Increasing physical activity and stress management also play a big role. Other things that can be useful are reducing intake of bowel stimulants such as caffeine and alcohol or try having bowel ‘soothers’ such as peppermint tea.
There is still however a group of people with IBS that do not respond to any of the above treatments.
Recognising this gap in dietary and medical knowledge, researching dietitian, Sue Shepherd APD and her colleagues at Monash University and Box Hill Hospital examined if IBS could be helped by ‘the low FODMAPs diet’. FODMAPs stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols. In plain language, FODMAPs are large molecules found in food that some people don’t digest very well. This means they stay in the gut and are a source of food for bacteria living in the gut. The bacteria then ‘ferments’ (digests) these molecules and this can lead to the symptoms associated with IBS.
See the table below for the names of the different FODMAPs molecules and some examples of their common dietary sources (please note that this list is examples only and not complete).
| Examples of Common Food Sources |
Excess Free Fructose | Honey, Apple, Pear, Mango, Watermelon, High Fructose Corn Syrup |
Fructans | Artichokes, Garlic (in large amounts), Onion, Leeks, Wheat (in large amounts), Beetroot |
Lactose | Milk, yoghurt, ice cream, custard, ricotta, cottage chesse |
Galacto-Oligosaccharides | Baked beans, kidney beans, lentils, chickpeas |
Polyols | Apples, apricots, avocado, pears, plums, mushrooms, sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, isomalt. |
The low FODMAPs diet will not help everyone but it has certainly helped a lot of my IBS clients. I’ll never forget my first ‘FODMAPs’ client. It was a lady who had suffered great pain for many years and tried cutting out so many different foods that she was nutritionally deficient. She was very dubious at first about FODMAPs but the smile on her face told the story when she came back just two weeks later. ‘Finally, I have a name for it!’ she said to me. She went on to have great success with the low FODMAPs diet and had a great reduction in her pain.
So if you have IBS and are struggling to find a solution, I would highly recommend that you see an Accredited Practising Dietitian. The dietitian can individually assess your suitability for trying the low FODMAPs diet and assist you with both the trial of the diet and the re-introduction challenges.
I would also recommend asking your GP for hydrogen breath tests for both fructose and lactose intolerance prior to commencing a low FODMAPs diet. Fructose and lactose are two ‘FODMAPs’ that you can be tested for to find out if you don’t digest them very well. In some states you can also get tested for sorbitol intolerance too (which is one of the polyols). The other ‘FODMAPs’ have to be ruled in or out based on the dietary re-introduction challenges you do with your dietitian. It takes some time and patience to work it all out but it is worth the effort!
Written by Kate Bullen, APD
I found these chickpeas in little 125g tins in the supermarket recently – they are the perfect size for an individual serve for lunch. They come in packs of four and each little tin provides 5.9g of dietary fibre, 0.9g fat and 399kJ – brilliant portion control!
I do rinse my chick peas after I have drained then - then all you need to add is your favourite salad ingredients. For my lunch I have added some beetroot, baby spinach, rocket and feta. Put it into a bowl and eat away! This is also perfect to take to work – just don’t let the beetroot leak!
Written by Rebecca Flavel, Dietitian and CDE On an unusually rainy day I felt like making some sausage rolls for my kids to have after school. The thought of the greasy sausage meat, come gristly bits, was putting me off though. That was until I searched for a vegetarian sausage roll recipe and found one by Cyndi O’Meara, a nutritionist from Qld. As I mixed up the eggs with some oats, feta and walnuts I was still skeptical, but when my oven timer went off and I inspected my little rolls I started to smile. Now would they past they taste test? Did they ever! My 7 and 5 year olds wanted to eat them all and not leave any for the weekend. The look and taste like regular sausage rolls. Test passed…..just don’t tell Dad before I can test them out on him!
Vegetarian Sausage rolls (makes 24-30 party size rolls) 3 organic free range eggs
½ cup of fresh walnuts
1 onion peeled and chopped
1 TBS tamari sauce (you can use soy sauce)
1 cup fetta cheese
½ cup bread crumbs
1 cup rolled oats
2 TBS mixed herbs
3 sheets of butter puff pastry Method - Whizz eggs, nuts, onion, tamari and cheese in a food processor or Thermomix until finely chopped, add breadcrumbs, oats and mixed herbs and mix.
- Cut just thawed butter puff pastry in half on a working bench
- Place 1/6th of the mixture onto the long edge of the pastry and roll, cut into four equal portions, brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Place sausage rolls on a baking dish and bake at 200C for 20 minutes until crisp and golden
Notes: 2. The mixture is runnier than the meat version when uncooked, but it firms up perfectly when cooked with the eggs and oats.
Written by Sophie McGough APD CDE
Just a quick post for a Friday - I'm just on my way out to Kate's house to chat about our new website (we're very excited!)
Last Friday night I went to see my friend Matthew Hale's Comedy Hypnosis Show (quick plug for Matt there!) which was a great laugh. It was also a fundraising for the Yvonne Baker Foundation and there was the usual raffle etc but what sparked my interest most was the 'Living Fundraiser' her daughters were selling - Organic Herb 'Grow in the Bag' Kits.
 The kits from Living fundraisers come complete with the soil and seeds and you don't even take it out of the packet. Just follow the instructions and stick it in a sunny spot! My first thought was 'fabulous, I've been meaning to follow Kate's lead and start growing my own herbs (she's blogged before about her fabulous herb garden).
My second thought of course was 'what a brilliant alternative to those fundraising chocolates!' I don't have kids of school age but have plenty of friends who do. I am often getting complaints from the Mum's that they just end up having to eat the whole box just to feel like they've done their bit for the school! The Yvonne Baker Foundation charged $6 per packet, so a really reasonably price too.
I just checked out the Living Fundraisers website earlier and to my delight, they also do vegetables, coffee, tea and some healthy snacks such as nuts, dried fruit and rice crackers.
This may be nothing new for those of you in the school system, but I was impressed!
Now unfortunately I haven't been blessed with the greenest of thumbs so the next test will be if I can actually grow the herbs......watch the space for a updated photo - and I want lots of praise if I do!
Written by Kate Bullen, APD The National Heart Foundation (NHF) is a fantastic organisation that has undertaken extensive research and is Australia’s leading non-government organisation when it comes to reducing heart disease. You may be familiar with the Heart Foundation Tick that appears on some foods in the supermarket.
The way that the ‘Tick’ program works is food companies approach the NHF, pay a licence fee, have their product assessed and then wait to see if they are awarded the Tick. The NHF tries to keep the licence fee fair by basing the fee a sliding scale of yearly sales. The NHF says this is to encourage companies of all sizes to reformulate healthier foods to earn the Tick. The reason the NHF charges a licensing fee is to fund the development of nutrition criteria, laboratory analysis and independent auditing. Essentially the Tick program aims to offer an easier way to identify healthier food choices, and also encourage manufacturers to continually improve their products. I think that is great. We need manufacturers to always be striving to improve the nutritional profile of their food. And it sounds great in theory to put a tick on products that are healthier choices.  So there is a range of criteria that food needs to meet to be awarded the Tick. The nutrition criteria is based on sodium, saturated fat, trans fat, energy content, portion size and I think maybe fibre content. And this leads me to one of my frustrations – why doesn’t the Tick criteria include sugar? The NHF argue that sugar isn’t included because ‘there is no direct causal relationship between added sugar and coronary heart disease, diabetes or obesity’. Rosemary Stanton – and I – don’t quite agree with this. In my experience it is quite common for excess sugar (lollies, cakes, pastries, etc) to be a significant contributing factor to obesity. Obesity in turn is a contributing factor for diabetes and heart disease. So this stance from the NHF kind of confuses me. And it also makes we question just how serious they are with the Tick program. I am frustrated by this every time I go down the cereal aisle and spot the Milo cereal proudly displaying the tick symbol. Why on earth has a cereal with 27.5% sugar got the Tick on its packaging??? This is comparable to the 32% sugar in Nutrigrain – a cereal that is pretty much unanimously recognised as not such a good choice. Yes – the Milo cereal does have more fibre, but with sugar as the second largest ingredient this is not a cereal that we should be encouraging – particularly for kids. Products with a Tick may well be more expensive that comparable products that don’t have the Tick. Check this out next time you are shopping. Products that don’t have the Tick may be just as healthy, and possibly cheaper, than products that do have the Tick. This is where you as the consumer need to check the nutrition panel and compare the products. I think the Tick offers a great quick glance marketing opportunity to choose healthier products. And for people who are busy, or people who are unsure how to read a nutrition panel then the Tick is simple, recognisable and fills that brief. I would love to see sugar included in the criteria – I think that would really strengthen the Tick program and offer a new opportunity for manufacturers to create healthy food. Do you use the Tick for choosing food products? Would you like to see sugar as a category?
Written by Sophie McGough APD CDE
For those of you in a desk job – this one is for you! I have worked for many years in different workplaces and pretty much the eating culture was the same in every one of them (and remember – I was working in health??) If your workplace is anything like mine was, you’ll quickly relate to this.......
Imagine you are sitting there working on some quite laborious task trying to find inspiration from your computer screen. You think ‘OK it’s time for a break, I’ll go and make myself a cuppa.’ You head into the lunchroom and someone has kindly bought in some biscuits and left them on a plate in the table. You subconsciously just grab a couple on your way out and have them with your cuppa.
Later that morning you go to see a colleague and they have a box of those Giant Fundraising Freddos on their desk. With a twist of your rubber arm you’ve suddenly bought and eaten one.
Not long after lunch, it’s someone’s birthday afternoon tea. You all gather in the lunchroom to sing Happy Birthday and of course share in the yummy Boston Cheesecake she’s bought in from the Cheesecake Shop.
You hit the late afternoon ‘sleepy zone’ and you reach into your draw for your lolly stash….just 10 or maybe 20 jubes later and you’re back on track. Soon you’re at home unpacking the poor little mandarin who just went to work for a little holiday and ends up back in the fruit bowl!
Let’s have a look at the ‘creepy kilojoules’ you consumed as part of your workplace snacks:
Workplace Snack | Kilojoules |
2 cream biscuits Freddo Fundraising Chocolate 1 Slice Boston Mud Cake 20 jubes | 600 kJ 884 kJ 2587 kJ 1200 kJ |
TOTAL | 5271 kJ |
You can see how quickly and easily those ‘extras’ can creep into your working day. 5271kJ is nearly a day’s intake!
A few months ago my friend asked me to help her out with her eating. One of the areas she needed some help with was cutting back on workplace snacking and increasing her vegetable intake – so we decided to combine the two. Instead of snacking on the usual workplace goodies, she decided to prepare a tub of vegetables that she could snack on if she felt hungry. I have to say, I’m very impressed with her success and she’s kept it up for months….even inspiring other colleagues to do the same…..check out this photo she sent me of her desk…
Now I’m not suggesting that you get rid of all the treat snacks at work and stop joining in on the birthday morning teas….that would be boring! BUT replacing some of this snacking with vegetables and other low kilojoule foods will help you to avoid the ‘creepy workplace kilojoules’. Let’s have a look at what difference you can make:
Workplace Snack | Kilojoules |
1 cup of raw vegetables (snowpeas, cherry tomatoes, sugar snaps, carrot, capsicum, celery)
I cup of Popcorn (homemade, air-popped)
Diet/No Fat Yoghurt
1 cup strawberries
1 medium mandarin
| 180 kJ
115 kJ
308 kJ
138 kJ
174 kJ |
TOTAL | 915 kJ |
And if you are going to grab a couple of biscuits with your cuppa – go for the good old arrowroots or malt-o-milks – they’re only ~ 140 kJ per biscuit!
Written by Kate Bullen, APD I had seen these Creative Gourmet Smoothie Cubes advertised recently – even my husband mentioned them! So thought I had better give them a whirl.
You can find them in the frozen section of the supermarket next to the frozen fruit. There is a total of 4 flavours – breakfast, strawberry, tropical, and the one that I tried – berry antioxidant. I am a sucker for anything berry, and the fact that banana was mentioned as well meant it ended up quickly in my trolley! Anyone else missing bananas??! I was a bit worried that extra sugar would be added – but good news – the ingredients are just bananas, berries, apple concentrate, chia paste, water, and linseeds, sunflower seeds and almonds. Let’s take a closer look at the Creative Gourmet Smoothie Cubes. I have compared them to the frozen berries which I always have in my freezer to whiz up a smoothie.
| Creative Gourmet Smoothie Cubes* | Creative Gourmet Fresh Frozen Raspberries |
Energy | 554kj/100g | 230kj/100g |
Fat – total | 2.0g/100g | Less than 1g/100g |
Carbohydrate – total | 24.3g/100g | 7.3g/100g |
Sugars | 17.8g/100g | 7.0g/100g |
Dietary Fibre | 3.8g/100g | 6.1g/100g |
Cost | $18.16/kg | $18.13/kg |
* I have compared just the Creative Gourmet Smoothie Cubes – not when milk is added. This way it is a direct comparison to the plain frozen raspberry. The carbohydrate and sugar load of the Creative Gourmet Smoothie Cubes is a lot higher than the plain frozen raspberries. My guess is this is from the apple concentrate which would add to the sugar load. Unfortunately this also means that the fibre content is less than the plain frozen fruit. The Creative Gourmet Smoothie Cubes could be a good option for an afternoon snack for kids – particularly active kids. So when they get home from sport this could be an easy to consume snack that could replace some fluid and also give them a source of carbohydrate if they have been running around. Teenage kids might like this as an easy breakfast option, combined with a couple of slices of toast. I can also see this product being used before or after a big event – such as a run, footy game, triathlon etc. So I definitely think the product has application!
And the taste? We gave it a whirl after dinner tonight. It was tasty – not too sweet which I really liked. My 4yo and 18month old loved it. Keep in mind that the recommended serve size is 2 cubes added to 200ml of milk (well this is what the nutrition panel serve size is based on. It did get a bit confusing on the packaging when the serving instructions said to use 2-3 cubes added to 200ml milk in the blender). I would suggest using reduced fat milk, rather than full cream milk (which is what is suggested on the Creative Gourmet Smoothie Cubes packet) so that you will reduce your fat content, but still enjoy the smoothie taste. I wrote some time ago about how easy it is to over-consume drinks, so I wouldn’t suggest upsizing the smoothie. But as an occasional snack item - I consider the Creative Gourmet Smoothies Cubes to be an ok choice.
|
|
Just make yourself (or your family) baked beans on toast. If you want to make it sound fancy, tell them you’re serving up 'Fagioli Sul Pane Tostato' (Italian for Baked Beans on Toast).
