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Product review: True Protein bars
My favourite protein brand has launched a new product. True Protein bars are a high protein snack designed with the athlete in mind. True Protein bars These bars are made with minimally processed ingredients. The main source of protein is whey protein concentrate, good. They also contain hydrolysed collagen peptides, which may help support soft tissue, bone health and gut health. True Protein bars are gluten-free and sweetened with dates. They contain a decent amount of dietary fibre, which comes from organic tapioca isomaltooligosaccharide (IMO), almonds, dates and chia seeds. These bars come in 2 flavours: salted caramel and rich chocolate. Each bar weighs 65g (the little ones in the…
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Recipe: Lamington bliss balls
These tasty snacks are called lamington bliss balls because they share two key ingredients with the Australian iconic cake: chocolate and coconut. As they are not real lamingtons, you don’t have to wait until the next Australia Day to make or eat them :). The hardest step of this recipe, besides melting the chocolate, is waiting for the chocolate to dry. These lamington bliss balls are gluten-free and can be made dairy-free/vegan depending on the chocolate you choose. Enjoy!
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Product review: Macro Natural Nut Mix
Woolies has recently launched a snack pack called Macro Natural Nut Mix. The bag contains 5 single-serve packs 5 and costs $3.99, making a convenient and reasonably-priced snack. Sadly, convenience also means extra packaging. Each pack contains 30g of nuts (almonds, blanched peanuts, walnuts and cashews), which is the recommended serving size in the Australian Dietary Guidelines. Note that the nuts are either raw or blanched and unsalted, making them healthier than the roasted and/or flavoured varieties. Nuts contain healthy fats (mainly monounsaturated and some polyunsaturated fatty acids), as well as some protein and fibre. They also contain appreciable amounts of micronutrients such as vitamin E, folate, magnesium, calcium, and…
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Product review: Peak Chocolate Bar by True Protein
Yes, this is a chocolate bar sold as a fitness supplement. This is the sort of thing that gets my coach fired up about the money-driven fitness supplement industry, but I could not resist and had to try it as soon as it got released. Given the ingredient list (80% dark choc, creatine monohydrate, BCAAs, organic caffeine, and Himalayan rock salt), I expected it to be at the very least a decent chocolate bar, even if it didn’t accelerate muscle growth and increase energy as promised. Nutrition wise, each 25g serve (1/2 bar) provides 2.5g protein, 4.7g CHO (of which 3.6g are sugar), 70mg caffeine, 1.5g creatine monohydrate and 1.0g…
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Product review: Kooee! jerky
Jerky and macadamias are my go-to snack when I need something nutritious and portable. My favourite macadamias are Hand’n’Hoe (I buy them at the Eveleigh farmers market) but I’m still looking for the “perfect” jerky. I was researching some things (read: wasting time) on the net when I came across Kooee! jerky, which caught my eye thanks to their short list of gluten-free, refined sugar-free ingredients. This jerky is made in Tassie using top quality Cape Grim grass-fed beef. The current flavours are smoked chipotle and sesame ginger. I love the packaging, both visually and functionally. The serve is not huge but you can reseal the bag in case you…
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Product review: Bulletproof collagen bar
On our visit to Paleo Cafe Burleigh I noticed the new Bulletproof® collagen bars on sale. If you haven’t heard about the Bulletproof® diet or Dave Asprey head to his website: www.bulletproofexec.com to find out. The ingredients in these bars are: organic cashew butter, Bulletproof® Upgraded Collagen Protein, chicory root fiber, Bulletproof® XCT™ Oil Powder, (Caprylic and Capric Acid Triglycerides sourced from coconut and/or palm kernel oil) organic cashews, organic Bulletproof® Upgraded Chocolate Powder (raw cacao powder), Bulletproof® Brain Octane (Caprylic Acid Triglycerides sourced from coconut and/or palm kernel oil), organic coconut oil, sea salt, stevia. The carb content is 15g of which 2g are sugars. Pretty good IMO. The…
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Product review: Lekker Tucker Biltong
I was walking past the tiny Newtown weekend market when I saw a stall selling biltong. Naturally, I had to stop and ask some questions. It turns out that the friendly French guy behind this product is very mindful of ingredient quality (the meat is grass-fed and ethically raised, bought straight from the farmer) and clean flavour. I bought a couple of bags in chilli and fennel flavour (I like these better than the bush spices flavour), both for $20. The ingredients in both are: premium Australian beef, organic spices, organic apple cider vinegar, brown sugar chilli and sea salt.
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Product review: Absolute Biltong jerky
It was a sad day when I found out that the jerky I loved and bought regularly was halal. Luckily, a quick internet search came up with an alternative that is grass-fed, gluten-free and explicitly not halal. I got a bunch of different flavours to try: venison (plain), beef (plain and pepper), emu, and water buffalo. Seasonings include GF soy sauce, red wine, a tiny bit of brown sugar, salt, spices, and tabasco. Coming from consuming a brand with a lot less ingredients, it took me a while to get used to the bolder flavour. It’s not bad, just different. Out of the meats I tried, I found the emu…
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Product review: Ecobar raw energy bars
Shout-out to my classmate Rob who posted a picture of Ecobars on Facebook. I’ve been wanting to try cricket bars since I heard about Exo bars 1-2 years ago, but they were not available in Australia. Now we have Ecobars, made with cricket flour, perhaps the most sustainable source of protein. I bought these for $3.95 each at Healthy Living. The currently available flavours are mango orange and chia spirulina. We liked both and no, you cannot taste the crickets. Maybe because the flour is not one of the top ingredients, which also means the bars are higher in carbs than protein. Ingredients in the chia spirulina bars are: dates,…
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Product review: Keto Bar (caramel flavour)
My chiro and I have this joke about a product that he sells in his practice: Keto Bars by Metagenics. These certainly don’t look as appetising as other popular brands in the market (e.g. Quest bars), in fact they have decided to make them look as the rest of their supplement brand either to reinforce their practitioner-only status and/or to save money in marketing. Long time ago Daniel wanted to know my opinion about the ingredients list (see photo below) from a Nutrition student point of view. Being aware that I’m an advocate of minimal processing, he knew I would qualify it as crap, but still wanted me to give…
