My Favorite Food Products

Living a healthy lifestyle isn’t easy, especially when junk food costs WAY less than fresh, wholesome foods. Finding convenience products for a healthy lifestyle is also a challenge. Sometimes, healthy = bland, tasteless dreck. Other times, well, things can get pretty tasty! Here are a few of my favorite foods.

• Orowheat Double Fiber Bread. 70 calories, 1 gram of fat and 6 whopping grams of fiber per slice (1 point). Tasty for toast or sandwiches, this doesn’t taste like your typical dry, chewy cardboard healthy bread. It’s satisfying and good for you. This goes by other brand names on the East Coast.
• Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom Soup. Don’t get this confused with the 98% fat free soups. The issue with the 98% fat free soups is the sodium level–the Healthy Request soup has almost 50% less sodium than the fat free version with the same amount of fat and slightly more calories. I love using this soup (and other soups in the Healthy Request line) for cooking; it makes a great sauce base.
• La Tortilla Factory Soft Wraps. The Whole Grain wraps made with Rye and Extra Virgin Olive Oil are only 90 calories each, with 3 grams of fat and 13 grams of fiber (1 point each). They are soft and make a nice sandwich wrap. Low carb and fat-free wraps tend to be cardboard-like and tasteless. These also come in flavors (Rosemary, Tomato Basil), but the flavored wraps are slightly smaller.
• Boca Original Burgers. Available in a variety of flavors and available in bulk at Costco, these are nice bases for creating new dishes. If you don’t like soy protein burgers and prefer Gardenburgers, these arent’ for you. However, if you zap them in the microwave and cube them, they become a hearty ingredient for a stroganoff, spaghetti sauce, enchilada fillings, etc. I don’t care for the flavor of the burger alone (I much prefer a Gardenburger as a burger alternative), they do make great protein for other dishes. And at 70 calories, 1 gram of fat and 10 grams of protein (1 point) per burger, they are a great meat alternative.
• Skinny Cow and Weight Watchers Ice Creams. I love the Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches and Weight Watchers Giant Fudge bars. The Skinny Cow ice creams have only 2 points per sandwich, while the Weight Watchers Giant Fudge bars are only 1 point. Different varieties have different point totals (from 1 to 3), but all are nice treats to have in your freezer when you must have a frozen treat.
• Fiber One Oats and Caramel Chewy Bars. Boy, are these yummy, and at only 2 points per bar, they are a nice, sweet AND healthy treat. All the Fiber One products I’ve tried have been good, but these bars are especially good. The Oats and Caramel flavor is my favorite.
• Trader Joe’s Eggplant Hummus. I hope you have a Trader Joe’s in your area. It’s a great store with lots of good food at great prices. The Eggplant Hummus is my favorite item. It’s delicious as a spread for sandwiches and wraps, or as a substitute for mayo (yummy in Tuna Salad). What’s even better is that one 2 Tablespoon serving has 0 points. That makes it even MORE yummy. 🙂
• Trader Joe’s Oat Bran and MultiGrain Cereal. Trader Joe’s also carries oat bran and a multi-grain hot cereal. I make a 50/50 mix of these two and take 1/2 cup of the mix, 1 cup of water, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and pop it in the microwave for 1 minute 45 seconds. Mix it up, add some sugar free syrup, and it’s breakfast in under 2 minutes.
• Speaking of sugar free syrup, I like both Maple Grove Farms and Carys syrups. Both are flavorful and low in calories. I don’t like the Smucker’s brand syrup…all you can taste is sweet; there’s no maple flavor to speak of. You can use this stuff for flavoring both in your cooking as well as a topping. Yum.
• Orville Redenbacher’s Smart Pop popcorn is great. What’s even better is the Smart Pop Kettle Corn in the 100 calorie Mini Bag. At 1 point per bag, it’s a slightly sweet, slightly salty treat that satisfies your need for a crunchy snack. Popcorn is my favorite snack, and this product is more than wonderful. It’s popcorn heaven for me.
• Canned Soups. Progresso Light and Low Sodium soups, Campbell’s Chunky Healthy Request, and Healthy Choice soups are great hearty meals in a can. You MUST keep an eye out for sodium content. Many of the other lines of soups from each of these producers are low in fat and calories, but high in sodium. These soups in particular pay attention to both fat and sodium content. The Progresso Light soups are Zero points per serving (1 cup or 1/2 can) and only 1.5 points per can.

Whew. That’s just the beginning. I’ll have more food favorites to share with you, some tips on these and other foods, and some recipes to try. I’m a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-whatever-is-in-the-pantry type of cook, so whatever I have becomes dinner. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, sometimes it’s just passable. I’ll only post the good/great dishes–I promise. Notice that all these foods are “processed,” as in “where’s the fresh food?”  In the next post, I’ll talk a bit about the fridge and pantry–what I like to always have on hand (besides what I listed here today!).