Review: iSatori Eat-Smart Chocolate Peanut Caramel Crunch Bar

Admittedly, I'm no savant when it comes to protein bars, energy bars and the stuff that you would see in Muscle & Fitness magazine, but when I saw an ad online for a free iSatori Eat-Smart Chocolate Peanut Caramel Crunch bar, I was intrigued.  If there's one thing I truly love in this world, it's free stuff, so I knew I had to pick this one up even though I've never heard of iSatori in my life (they're a Canadian company according to the packaging).  The only problem, although not really a problem, is that the free bars were only available at GNC or Vitamin Shoppe locations.  Not a big deal, but it did take me into an unfamiliar territory of meatheads and serious fitness freaks.  This is a sizeable bar weighing in at 2.82 grams packing 330 calories and 27 grams of protein and is powered by Whey Protein Hydrolysates.  I have no idea what those are, but I'm guessing it has to do with protein.

Review: Dannon Light & Fit Blueberry Yogurt

It's now time for the final review of the 32 ounce offerings in the Dannon Light & Fit Yogurt product line.  I've already looked at the Vanilla and Strawberry flavors, so let's see how the Blueberry flavor shakes out.  As I've said in my prior reviews, Dannon's Light & Fit line comes in a 32 ounce container consisting of four servings at 110 calories per serving with 0% fat.  Just like the others, I picked this one up at Meijer on sale for $2.00 but they run at about $2.50 when at regular price.

Review: Quaker Blackberry Pomegranate Mulitgrain Fiber Crisps

Unlike their Quakes line where they have countless flavor combinations, Quaker only has two flavor combinations in their Multigrain Fiber Crisps line (I've seen them called True Delights as well, but not on this packaging).  I've already reviewed the Wild Blueberry flavor, so this time, I'll tackle the Blackberry Pomegranate variety.  These are on the lower end of the Quaker calorie scale as they are 110 calories per serving (about three per bag) and I picked these up on sale at Meijer for $1.00.

Review: MET-Rx Protein Plus Creamy Peanut Butter Crisp Bar

Always looking for protein and looking to get away from the seemingly endless number of Pure Protein flavors, it's time for a MET-Rx Protein Plus review.  I'm sure you are pumped!  Anyway, this time I'm looking at the Creamy Peanut Butter Crisp Bar which clocks in a relatively large 3.0 ounces (bigger than a typical Snickers) with 310 calories and thirty grams of protein.  The packing says that this one is "Naturally Flavored", which I always find debatable with a bar that is nearly a complete work of chemical engineering, but let's not split hairs.  I picked this one up at CVS for roughly $2.50.

Review: Turkey Hill Limited Edition Whoopie Pie Ice Cream

I was meandering through the aisles at my local Kroger looking for a sweet treat to store in my freezer as an "emergency" and I came upon this Turkey Hill Whoopie Pie ice cream.  I've had Whoopie Pies before, and while I've found them tasty, I've never really developed a strong feeling for them.  I guess it's because I'm not a big marshmallow cream guy, but I'm not sure.  Regardless, when something says "Limited Edition" on the packaging, I'm enough of a rube to grab it because I'm afraid that it might not be on the shelves next time I'm in the store.  Why I allow myself to get affected by that is one of my life's great mysteries, but whatever.  Anyway, as I said, I picked this one up at Kroger.  It was on sale for $3.33 for a 48 ounce container.  Each serving in the container contains 160 calories, which for something that is advertised as "Premium Ice Cream" is actually quite low and moderately healthy.  I was actually very pleasantly surprised by this.

For the uninformed out there (that includes me), a Whoopie Pie is a cookie sandwich type concoction.  It's usually made with two chocolate cake-like cookie pieces with a marshmallow cream in between.  Also, its origin  is kind of a controversy as both Pennsylvania and Maine claim to have invented them.  Pennsylvania claims that they were invented in Lancaster County, which happens to be the home base of Turkey Hill, thus the claim on the packaging of this ice cream.

Review: CLIF Spiced Pumpkin Pie Energy Bar

It's nearly Thanksgiving and in honor of that, it's time for a review of a Thanksgiving themed treat.  As I've mentioned here before, CLIF Bar releases specialty seasonal holiday flavors of their original energy bars every year.  I've already covered the Peppermint Stick bar here at the blog already, so now it's time for their other special holiday offering, the Spiced Pumpkin Pie bar.  This one weighs in at the standard CLIF bar weight of 2.4 ounces contains 240 calories with nine grams of protein.  I picked this one up at Kroger on sale for a virtual giveaway price of $0.50.

Review: Quaker Popped Cheddar Cheese Rice Snacks

Editor's Note:  While the product has stayed the same, Quaker now markets these under a different named and they are now called "Quaker Popped Rice Snacks." The review below applies the same.

Quaker Quakes rice snacks:  yours and my favorite product reviews.  Ha!  Next in line is the Cheddar Cheese flavored rice snack.  At 140 calories per serving (about three per bag), this ranks as the most calorie laden offering in the Quakes product line.  I picked this one up at Meijer on sale for $1.00 (as you can probably tell, I only buy Quakes when they are on sale for $1.00 or less).

Crazy Food Dude Absurd Rant: Gym People

I know I said that I'd try to keep most of the content here food focused, but in this case, I've got a bit of a rant.  In this case though, the topic is health related, so it somehow relates to the mission of the blog, as indirect as it may be.

Today's rant is about how people behave at the gym.  I've lost 150+ pounds over the last six years and one of the reasons for that is that I spend an absurd amount of hours at the gym (I work out seven days a week for on average 2.25 hours per day), so I've had plenty of time to observe these behaviors.  Now, I know I'm a picky person and most of these complaints may be out of line, but I'm curious to see what you think and to see if I am way out of line or am actually on to something with these.  So, without further delay, here are my nitpicks:

Review: Yoplait Honey Vanilla Greek Yogurt

Author's Note:  Purely a coincidence that this post goes up on the day that the yogurt was due to expire.  Pretty funny as that was certainly not my intention.

I constantly read about the health benefits of Greek yogurt (no fat, high protein), so I'm trying to find a way to like it.  I've had hit or miss experiences with it in the past and also on this blog.  Because of that, I'm still not sure which flavors I like the best (or at all), so I'm trying to expand my horizons by trying as many brands/flavors as I can and that leads me to this Yoplait Honey Vanilla Greek Yogurt.  Clocking it at six ounces with 150 calories and fourteen grams of protein, this one's roughly the same size as your typical pudding cup.  I picked this one up on sale at Meijer for $1.00.

Review: Tiger's Milk Snack Bar

It was a lazy Sunday and I was meandering my way through the pharmacy section of Walmart looking at the various protein and nutrition bars that they had available and I came up on this: the Tiger's Milk Snack Bar.  Having never seen this ANYWHERE before, I was immediately intrigued by the name.  Seeing them proclaim themselves as "America's Original Nutrition Bar" (it was introduced in the 1960s) had me even more interested and I figured that for $0.99, how could I go wrong by picking one up?  For this to be the oldest bar in America, it must be good, right?  This "King Size" bar is a reasonably sized bar at 1.94 ounces (smaller than a Snickers) that packs 220 calories and ten grams of protein.  For a product whose packaging includes the phrase "PROTEIN RICH", I would have expected a little bit more than ten grams, but whatever, I was just hoping it would make me growl like a tiger!  Sorry, I can't get over such an absurd name for a product.

Review: Walden Farms Sesame Ginger Salad Dressing

In the continuing series of reviews on calorie free Walden Farms products, the next stop on our journey leads us to the Sesame Ginger salad dressing.  Always looking to try new flavors of Walden Farms products and intrigued by the thought of a Sesame Ginger dressing, I picked this one up at Kroger for around $3.75.

Review: Talenti Sea Salt Caramel Gelato

If you have visited this blog before or read even semi-regularly, you can probably figure out that I'm a sucker for frozen treats, especially ice cream.  It takes every fiber of strength that I have to not walk through the ice cream aisle at the grocery store on a regular basis (I usually lose and end up doing it anyway) and recently on a trip through the ice cream aisle at Meijer, I saw a sale on Talenti Sea Salt Caramel Gelato for 50% off and decided that I HAD to pick up a pint when it was such a great deal (regular price is $4.99).  As you can see, I was so "desperate" for this Gelato that I ate half the pint before I remembered to take a picture.  Oops.

For those of you that don't know what Gelato is (don't feel bad, I didn't know until about a year ago; yeah, I'm a rube), it's very similar to ice cream except that it has less butterfat and more sugar.  Calorie-wise, this was was 240 calories per serving and each pint contains four servings.  I don't know how pints can claim they are four servings, but that's a rant for another day.

Review: Planters NUT-rition Antioxidant Bar

Hey, the first Planters review! This bar is part of their NUT-rition line of products (they also have mixes in jar form, etc.) and this one is formulated as the Antioxidant blend.  The Antioxidant blend consists of almonds, blueberries, cranberries, peanuts and coated in dark chocolate.  I'm not going to play amateur scientist here, but I'm guessing that blend is good for your antioxidants.  Anyway, it's 160 calories per bar and I picked this up as part of a five pack box at Marsh for around $3.50 (I think, it's been a while).

Review: Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix Fruit & Nut Bar

As if you couldn't tell already, I eat a lot of these granola and/or snack bars.  It's not just because of the blog either...I ate a lot of these varieties in my pre-blog days, but since I felt that other people might want to know what each bar tastes like or if it is any good, I started this blog.  Anyway, this leg of my granola/snack bar adventure was imparted on my by my mother who gave me a box of these Nature Valley Chew Trail Mix Fruit & Nut bars that she got in a 48 pack at Costco because she was not a big fan (I will go into why later).  Just because she's not a big fan doesn't mean that I wouldn't be a big fan and being that I love trail mix to begin with, let's see how this one turns out.

Review: Klondike No Sugar Added KRUNCH Bar

In my freezer, I usually keep a supply of "emergency" sweets for those times that you just have a craving and don't want to leave the house to fill it.  Think of it as one of those "In Case of Emergency, Break Glass" fire kits.  These sweets usually consist of ice cream bars and shakes.  I usually try to keep the supply low and to products that are not overly addicting (read: Ben & Jerry's or any ice cream pints/quarts for that matter) because with my sweet tooth just runs wild when I have that stuff around and I can't control myself.  Examples of stuff I do have around are non-addictive (in my mind) treats like Magnum bars or these Klondike No Sugar Added KRUNCH bars.  Now, since they are no sugar added, that means they are healthy, right?  LOL, no, not even I'm that dumb and would try to make that argument.  They may have less sugar and therefore less calories (170 calories per bar), but we all know there's nothing healthy about anything that involves ice cream.  It's been a while, but I think I purchased a six pack of these at Kroger with a $1.00 off coupon for around $3.00.

Review: Dannon Light & Fit Strawberry Yogurt

After my previous review of the Vanilla flavor of Dannon's Light & Fit yogurt product line, it was time to give the Strawberry flavor a test run.  This one was purchased the same day as the Vanilla at Meijer on sale for $2.00.  It's 0% fat, 110 calories per serving and there's roughly four servings per 32 ounce container. 

Review: Quaker Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Granola Bar

Another day, another Chewy bar in the series of reviews.  This time, it's the Oatmeal Raisin flavored granola bar.  This one came as part of a seemingly endless variety box, so I don't have a price that I can attach.  Oatmeal and raisins are two of my most favorite foods (weird, I know), so this is one that would seem to be right in my wheelhouse.

Review: Bell Plantation Chocolate PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter

Being that November is National Peanut Butter Lovers Month, it's only fitting that we have this review....

If you remember from my first PB2 review, Bell Plantation also has a chocolate version of their powered peanut butter.  When I made my initial PB2 purchase, I purchased a combo pack and this chocolate version came along as well.  Thinking of a chocolate flavored peanut butter seemed like a sin in my mind and I was just drooling in anticipation of receiving this.

Review: Chobani Black Cherry 0% Greek Yogurt

Full disclosure:  I have had Greek Yogurt before (I believe it was Dannon) and was not a huge fan.  But, I was I saw this Chobani 0% Greek Yogurt on sale at Meijer for $1.00, so I was willing to give it another shot hoping that my prior feelings about Greek yogurt would not impact my review.  This yogurt cup was Black Cherry flavor and weighed in at six ounces with 140 calories.  Also, since this is Greek yogurt, it has NO fat (thus the 0% in the name) and is loaded with protein at fourteen grams for the cup.  Considering there are some specialized protein bars that have that much and this essentially comes to that number naturally, it's a protein dense food.

Review: Quaker Popped Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper Rice Snacks

Editor's Note:  While the product has stayed the same, Quaker now markets these under a different named and they are now called "Quaker Popped Rice Snacks." The review below applies the same.

Another Quaker Quakes review!  Yahoo!  This Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper flavor was purchased at Meijer on sale for $1.00 (I had a shopping car full of all these different Quakes when I made them as part of a bulk purchase of all their flavors one day).  These are 130 calories per serving (about three per bag), so they fall in the upper end of the calorie count chart in comparison to the other Quakes.

Review: Zone Perfect Chocolate Almond Raisin Nutrition Bar

My first "nutrition" bar review!  I'm excited, are you?  I'm not quite sure what a nutrition bar is...can it not decide whether it wants to be a protein bar, a snack bar or an energy bar, so it decides to be a nutrition bar?  Kind of a funny name, but first up in the nutrition bar series is the Zone Perfect Chocolate Almond Raisin bar.  Billing itself as all natural and clocking in at a respectable 1.76 ounces with 210 calories and 15 grams of protein, I picked this one up at Kroger on sale for $1.00.

Review: Dean's Country Churn Low Fat Denali Moose Tracks Ice Cream

Dean's is a national dairy brand that markets countless different products regionally and nationally through the country and one of the products that Dean's markets in my area is Dean's Country Churn Ice Cream.  Even though I was getting ice cream, which is definitely not healthy, I made the decision to get the Light Ice Cream at Meijer on sale for $3.00 for the 1.5 quart size.  The light ice cream is half the fat and 25% less calories (130 calories per half cup serving), so it is somewhat "healthy" compared to the full power version out there.  The there were several varieties, but I chose the Denali Moose Tracks (invented by a guy from Indianapolis!) flavor which consists of vanilla ice cream, chocolate peanut butter cups and a fudge swirl.  This is Denali's flavor recipe (licensed to be produced by Dean's) and since it bills itself as "Smooth & Silky", I was ready to put it to the test.