Product: Rainbow Light Protein Energizer - Chocolate

I bought this protein powder because it had no added sugar and it was one of the few that also had high fiber, 7 g per serving. Unfortunately, the fiber comes with carbs, 8 g per serving in this case. And even though it has no added sugar, all of the other ingredients bring the sugar rating to 1.3 g per serving. But if you are aware of the carbs and sugar you may be able to fit it in within the allowed servings to add the necessary fiber to your diet. Complete nutrition info can be found by clicking on the title above. I made this as usual in my "bullet" blender with a little crushed ice and water to make 8 oz. I also added 2 tsp of Benefiber to add even more fiber so the final carb count for MY drink was 12 and the fiber count was 10. The texture was a bit of a pleasant surprise, it came out more like pudding so could be used as a sugar free mousse type dessert with a spoonful of whip cream on top.

Pros: high fiber, lots of  "green" food ingredients
Cons: carbs, sugar
Cost: $11.99 for a 1 lb pkg (about $.80 a serving)
S/C: 1/1

Product: Spiru-tein Simply Natural Unsweetened Protein Powder

I tried two more flavors of this in the last couple of days, Peaches & Cream and Strawberry. Both had great flavor and texture. As with my other protein shakes, I mixed them in my imitation bullet blender with crushed ice and water to make 8 oz. Now, these are unsweetened so I add stevia to taste to the blender. Both of these have the same nutrition info. They are a little high in carbs at 5 g per serving so you will have to count it as a serving but if you want to get away from the usual vanilla and chocolate flavors, these both have pretty true fruit flavor.

Pros: flavor, unsweetened

Cons: counts as 1 carb serving

Cost: $1.19 for 1 serving envelope

S/C: 0/1

Product: Brownberry/Arnold Natural Wheat Bread

This has been one of my favorite breads for years. It has both great nutty flavor and texture with lots of crunchy bits. It makes great toast and is also great for grilled sandwiches (think grilled cheese). I think it is marketed under different names (Arnold vs Brownberry) in different parts of the country and I also am finding differences in the nutrition information on the actual Arnold Bakery website and the label on the bag I have in my freezer. The web site says the bread is rated at 3 g fiber per slice and the label on my bag says 2 g. I also found complete nutrition info at the Livestrong site which states 20 g carb, 4 g sugar. The label on my bag states 18 g carb and only 2 g sugar. So, read your labels! But it is still a favorite that I usually stock up on when I can find it on sale.

Pros: great flavor and texture

Cons: some sugar, high cost

Cost: $3.99 for 1.5 lb loaf

S/C: 2/1

Product: Santa Fe Tortilla Company

This company makes many varieties of tortillas. I recently bought a couple pkgs when I was in Santa Fe and put them in my freezer. Amber (of meandjorge fame!) just tweeted about finding a tortilla with less than 18 g carbs. I went out to my freezer and pulled out both bags. I bought them at different times in different places and thought the only difference was the size of the package. Upon reading the nutrition labels, I find that I have 2 kinds. The packaging is very similar so if you are looking for the highest fiber/lowest carb variety, make sure you are buying their Homestyle Whole Grain Tortillas, not the Homestyle Whole Wheat Tortillas. What's the difference, you say? Yes, they both sound healthy and they are, compared to your run of the mill tortilla. In doing a little googling, I find Santa Fe also has a variety called "Carb Chopper" which I haven't seen but will be looking for. Check the diffs in nutrition per serving:

Whole Wheat Whole Grain Carb Chopper

carb 25 13 7

fiber 4 7 3

protein 5 8 4

sugar 0 0 0

fat 2.5 3.5 2.5

sodium 293 490 260

S/C 0/2 0/1 0/1 (for 2!)

Product: Brownberry Carb Counting Multigrain Bread

I was in my local Sam's Club today and stumbled upon this low carb bread. If you are doing Jorge Cruise's Belly Fat Cure, you can have 2 slices of this for less than 20 g of carbs and 6 g of fiber. That means sandwiches with both sides instead of open face! For complete nutrition information click here. Now, I did notice that even though it's rated at 0 g sugar and has no high fructose corn syrup, it does have sucralose listed as the very last ingredient. I had a piece with my oatmeal for breakfast and it's certainly not my favorite. I think it lacks texture, even with all of the fiber. I would prefer it have some crunchy bits as one of my favorite breads, Arnold Bakery Natural Wheat bread. Of course it is loaded with carbs compared to this bread. The Natural Wheat is still doable with BFC. I'll review it separately. To check to see if Carb Counting bread is available near you, click on the title link above which will take you to the Brownberry web page where you can enter your zip code to check. Bottom line, I think I'd rather have one slice of the Natural Wheat than 2 slices of the Carb Counting. I will, however, use this to make sandwiches where it helps to have 2 pieces to hold stuff together.

Pros: low carb, high fiber

Cons: minute amount of sucralose

Cost: $5.66 for 2 loaves @ Sam's Club

S/C: 0/1 (for 1 or 2 slices)

Product: Trader Joe's Valencia Peanut Butter with Roasted Flaxseeds

I first bought this several weeks ago, before starting the BFC. It fits in great with the program as a 2 Tbsp serving has 5 g carbs, 3 g fiber, 2 g sugar, 55 mg sodium and 9 g protein. It tastes great and the flaxseeds give it a little crunch. It does need to be refrigerated and stirred but I can do that easy for the nutrition benefits. Most well known brands of peanut butter are laden with sugar. Google this item for other users reviews. I think it's wonderful! If you spread one serving of this on a slice of low carb bread, you can still be within the "1" carb serving range.

Pros: low carb/sugar/sodium, high fiber

Cons: none, really IMO

Cost: ?

S/C: 2/1

Recipe: Make Your Own Instant Oatmeal Packets

Do you love the convenience of those single serving instant oatmeal packets but are tired of the cost and not being able to control the ingredients? Well, I was so I came up with my own recipe. Now, I made a bunch so I wouldn't have to do it again very soon. You can cut it in half or even 4ths if you don't want so much. I buy my oats in bulk at my local health food store which makes it even cheaper.

Instant Oatmeal Mix

makes 36 servings of approx 1/3 cup or 45 g

9 cups quick oats

4 1/2 cups regular oats

4 tsp salt

4 Tbsp cinnamon

20 Tbsp inulin

Measure the regular oats into your blender or food processor bowl and grind into a powder. Add them to the other ingredients in a big bowl and mix well. If you get the 7 oz bag of Vivagave Inulin I reviewed earlier the entire bag is 20 Tbsp. so just dump the entire bag into the mix. The inulin adds 5 1/2 g of fiber and 5 1/2 g of carbs to each serving. You can store it in container(s) of your choice or pre-measure it into individual containers. Those small snack size Ziplocs would do nicely. When you are ready to make it, take one pre-measured packet or measure out a serving into a microwave safe bowl. Add sweetener to taste (I use stevia) and I also add lots more cinnamon because I like it! Stir well and then add 1/2 to 2/3 cup of water and stir again to combine. Microwave on high for 60 seconds, remove from microwave and stir well. Depending on your microwave, you may need another 30 seconds. Remove from microwave and add toppings of your choice. I like mine with 1/4 oz of walnut pieces (brings the carb value to 40 g per serving) or maybe a few blueberries and a touch of half and half. You can also add a small amount of wheat germ, flax seed, or maybe chia seeds, but it may put you into 3 servings of carbs ratings for the bowl of oatmeal. If you decide to not add the inulin, it will reduce both the fiber and carbs per serving by 5 1/2 g, as stated above, and then you have a little more room to add other toppings and still stay with in the 2 carb serving range. Wheat germ and flax seed should be stored cool so don't add them until you are ready to make. Also, I suppose you could use all quick oats (just grind 1/3 of total amount). I had regular oats, so I used them.

Nutrition Facts

Serving size 1/3 cup (45g)

servings per container About 36

Fat 1.6 g

Sodium 265 mg

Carbohydrates 39 g

Fiber 10 g

Protein 5 g

S/C : 0/2

Product: Vivagave Inulin

This is an organic soluble fiber product that can be added to food to increase your fiber. It comes in both plain and vanilla flavors. It also has prebiotic qualities and is low glycemic. Inulin also increases calcium and magnesium absorption. I added it to my oatmeal recipe, which should appear here soon. It is rated at 10 g carbs per Tbsp serving but when added to my oatmeal recipe it combines with the oatmeal to make each oatmeal serving a S/C of 0/2. A news release dated 2 Nov 2009 on the web says it is available nationwide at Whole Foods. We don't have a Whole Foods in Dayton, I got mine at Health Foods Unlimited, a great health foods grocery here. If you live nearby or are traveling through, it's worth a stop. I have gotten almost everything Jorge has referenced there.

Pros: high fiber, low glycemic, prebiotic

Cons: Carbs!

Cost: $10.19 for 7 oz. bag

S/C: 0/1

Product: Natural Sweeteners

Click on the title above to go to a web page for a great breakdown of natural sweeteners, including Stevia. I've found that the author of this page, Debra Lynn Dadd, a leading authority for several years on removing toxic elements from your home and diet, has much good information on her blogs. I also like her summary on sweeteners on her Sweet Savy blog. Check her out!

Products: Vivani Organic Dark Chocolate - 85% Cocoa

Click on title above for full nutrition info. This premium dark chocolate bar is from Germany and has just 6 g carb and 6 g sugar per serving but, maybe best of all, each serving also has 6 g of fiber. The taste is just sweet enough and the texture is creamy. This is a winner and I can satisfy my sweet tooth with less than half a serving.

Pros: taste, texture, fiber

Cons: none

Cost: $2.89 for a 100 g bar

S/C: 6/1

Product: Virgil's Diet Black Cherry Cream Soda

This had great flavor and tasted great. I could get hooked on this! A real winner if you like black cherry flavor. Somewhat reminds me of Dr Pepper.

Pros: Flavor, taste, S/C

Cons: cost

Cost: $6.69 for 4 pk, works out to $1.67 a bottle

S/C: 0/0

Product: Solgar Whey To Go Protein Powder Natural Vanilla Bean Flavor

Click on title above for nutrition info. Mixed this in "bullet" blender with crushed ice and water to make 8 oz. Unfortunately, my imitation bullet blender malfunctioned. The rubber gasket sealing the lid on the jar broke and part of the contents leaked out. Still, I don't think that much leaked. Even though this is rated at 1 g sugar, it was not sweet at all. It was also a bit too watery and had weak vanilla flavor.

Pros: Price

Cons: little flavor, lacks richness

Cost: $.97 for single serving packet

S/C: 1/0

Product: Spiru-tein Simply Natural Chocolate Unsweetened Protein Powder

For nutrition info, click on the title above. This product is from Nature's Plus, same as the Keto slim protein powder. I mixed this as I did with the Keto, crushed ice and water to make about 10 oz. in my "bullet" blender. It is unsweetened and after tasting I added about 1/4 tsp of Sweetleaf Stevia. It was still not as sweet as the Keto shake and, unlike the Keto vanilla shake, seemed a bit watered down. Package directions called for 8 oz of liquid, same as Keto, but Keto tasted great and had a rich texture, even with the extra water. Next time I will stick to the 8 oz and see if that makes a difference. If you like it sweet, you will want to add more than the 1/4 tsp stevia. This product also had 5 g of carb so is right on the border of being one of your carbs for the day. This was much lower in protein than the Keto (23 to 14).

Pros: cost, unsweetened so you can add your choice, 1 g fiber

Cons: not as rich and flavorful as Keto vanilla, lower protein, higher carb grams

Cost: $1.19 for single serving envelope

S/C: 0/1

Product: Private Selection Sugar Free 100% Whole Wheat Bread

For those of you who live near a grocery run by Kroger's (including Ralph's, King Soopers, Smith's, Frys, Dillons, and others), look for their Private Selection brand in the bread dept. They have a Sugar Free 100% Whole Wheat that is really good. Pictured is the nutrition label. It is sweetened with maltitol which is first among the sweet ingredients on the label. It also has a small amount of raisin juice concentrate and sucralose. The sucralose is the next to last ingredient so I can't believe there could be very much.

Pro's: high fiber, good tasting, filling

Con's: may not be widely available, tiny bit of sucralose

Cost:

S/C: 0/1

Product: Virgil's Diet Vanilla Cream Soda

Reeds Inc. makes Virgil's Soda. The diet varieties are sweetened without sugar, they use stevia and xylitol. Each 12 oz. bottle contains only 2 g of carbs, 5 mg sodium and 6 calories. I bought this in a 4-pk but it was also available at my health food store by the bottle for a greater cost. It's been awhile since I had regular cream soda, I remember drinking Barq's Cream Soda as a kid and loved it. This somewhat reminded me of that but it's been many years. The flavor tasted a bit too sweet for me but was pretty good. I also have the diet root beer and diet black cherry cream soda so we'll see how they are.

Pros: No sugar, low carbs, low calorie, low sodium

Cons: A bit sweet for me, high cost

Cost: $6.69 4 Pk works out to $1.67 a bottle

S/C: 0/0

Product: Virgil's Diet Root Beer

Like the Diet Vanilla Cream Soda, this was purchased in a 4-pk. I liked the taste a lot better than the diet vanilla cream soda, so of the 2 flavors tried so far, this is the winner so far. I felt it tasted a lot like regular root beer I've had. Same nutrition content as diet vanilla cream soda.

Pros: True root beer taste, not as sweet as vanilla cream soda

Cons: High cost

Cost: $6.69 a 4 pk, $1.67 a bottle

S/C: 0/0

Product: KETOslim® Vanilla Shake with Critical Keto-Nutrients

I spent a couple hours over at my local health food store the other day reading labels on all of the (seemingly 1000's) of protein products. Many were anything but healthy sounding after reading the fine print. I came home with several single serving sizes, mostly in vanilla flavor. I will review each of them as I try them. I have one of the imitation bullet blenders and mixed the KETOslim with crushed ice and water to make 8 oz. It came out a bit too frozen to drink so I added another 3-4 oz. of water to liquify it a bit more. It still had plenty of flavor and seems to be chocked full of all kinds of good things, including probiotics. Be sure to check out the nutrition info at the link noted in the title above. I'd definitely drink this again and might even try adding cocoa powder to it.

Pros: good flavor, not gritty

Cons: contains FOS (please read comment)

Cost: $1.89 (single serving envelope)

S/C: 0/0

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. I have been following Jorge Cruise and his Belly Fat Cure for the last 4 weeks. It has been difficult at times, but easier than I expected. Even though my progress in losing weight has been slow, I plan to stick to it as I think the health benefits of drastically reducing the sugar from my diet will be worth it. The primary purpose of this blog is to provide information on recipes and products associated with the BFC. I have never liked processed foods but have often fallen to their convenience. I am also cost conscience and often take to re-creating my own version of products I like (such as those oh so convenient packets of instant oatmeal). I hope many of you enjoy and benefit from the information you find here.