South Beach Living Pudding Cups

2008/06/30 at 11:44 am | Posted in Commentary, Food, Food Review, Health, Life, lifestyle change, South Beach Products, weight loss, weight watchers | 3 Comments
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Ah, here’s another one of those South Beach Living product reviews! Today’s is about the Dark Chocolate Vanilla Marble flavor, seen here (click to enlarge; I know about the crumbs and whatnot on the countertop):

A good source of fiber? In a pudding? Is that even possible? Let’s flip it over (click to enlarge):

Well, I guess it is. So taking that into consideration, will this pudding pass the test? Before we find out, allow me to make a disclaimer here.

I’m from the Old Del Monte Pudding School. You know, the stuff that came in small tin cans and six per package? Yeah, that’s me. And it’s my belief that since the conversion over to plastic cups, the taste of pre-packed pudding has definitely lacked the substance it once had. This is especially true when it comes to “diet” varieties which I find too runny and, quite honestly, avoid buying.

Also, I despise dark chocolate. I will not eat it in most cases. In fact, I believe that dark chocolate only exists to complement other things such as caramel (mmm…Chocolate Riesen…) or as a glaze on donuts.

But South Beach Living pudding changed my mind about all of that. This is some delicious dark chocolate, made even better when combined with vanilla pudding. It’s definitely not as runny as the standard diet pudding or regular for that matter thanks to the addition of 3g of fiber. I thoroughly enjoyed eating these cups and had a smile on my face the entire time as I felt I was more than cheating on my program.

But was I really? Here are the Weight Watchers numbers:

  • 60 calories, 1.5g fat, 3g fiber = 1 Weight Watchers Point

One Point. One lousy, stinking Point for such deliciousness should not be denied by anybody! While I wouldn’t recommend it, you could devour the whole pack for only 4 Points. And believe me, after the first cup I wanted to do just that.

Would I recommend: At one Point each, you bet I’d recommend these. In fact, stock up because once word of these gets around they might disappear fast. But if you stock up, you’re only contributing to the scarcity. So um…buy in moderation and leave some for everyone else to enjoy, okay?

Weekly Weigh-In #15 is tomorrow! Check back then and see how things went last week.

Stick with it, guys and gals. You can do it 🙂


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South Beach Ham & Swiss Hot Sandwich Melt

2008/06/18 at 8:16 pm | Posted in Commentary, Food, Food Review, Health, lifestyle change, Photos, South Beach Products, weight loss, weight watchers | Comments Off on South Beach Ham & Swiss Hot Sandwich Melt
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Hey there, it’s time for yet another food review of a South Beach Living product. On the slate today is the Ham & Swiss Hot Sandwich Melt, seen here (click to enlarge):

Again, it’s lookin’ pretty tasty from my standpoint. And the fact that includes a packet of Grey Poupon automatically gives it an extra boost. I dig Grey Poupon (in conservative amounts, that is) and you can guess by its name, it also includes a slice of Swiss cheese. Mmmm. So far, so good.

Let’s take a look at the back (click to enlarge):

The tale of the Weight Watchers tape is as follows:

  • 320 calories, 11g fat, 8g fiber = 6 Weight Watchers Points

About my only gripe, if such a thing will matter in the world of off-the-shelf meals, is the same as usual: the high sodium content, which in this case is 950mg (or 40% RDA). Again, it’s for freshness and there’s not a lot you can do to avoid it.

Assembly of the sandwich is nothing unlike the Turkey Santa Fe: split the bread open, plop down the meat, dijon and cheese, place back into little tray and nuke for :45 seconds. (I learned from the first one that :30 seconds is not enough to make it very warm. Your microwave mileage may vary.)

Once warmed, however, it all came together to form a tasty l lunchtime meal that I truly enjoyed. Despite the Grey Poupon which can be overpowering even in small amounts, nothing was lost this time. The ample supply of sliced ham was delicious and the Swiss cheese and dijon mustard were the perfect complements. As with the Turkey Santa Fe, the bread was definitely wheaty yet tasty, and I noticed that after eating these sandwiches, my appetite was curbed for the remainder of the day. That’s a huge plus.

Would I recommend: If given the choice between this sandwich and the Turkey Santa Fe, I’d reach for this one without hestiation. The Ham & Swiss did not disappoint in the flavor category and held up nicely until dinner, so it’s got more than a few things going for it.

All in all I’d have to say this one is worth it. Thumbs up!


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South Beach Turkey Santa Fe Hot Sandwich Melt

2008/06/16 at 11:57 am | Posted in Commentary, Food, Food Review, Health, Life, lifestyle change, South Beach Products, weight loss, weight watchers | Comments Off on South Beach Turkey Santa Fe Hot Sandwich Melt
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Here’s the first review of the South Beach Living products I was sent to sample.

As I had said in a previous post, I tried some of the South Beach wraps in the past and thought they were most excellent, save for the Jell-O. Will this one be any different? Let’s see.

The box front looks like this (click image to enlarge):

Just look at all that meat and cheese hanging from the edges of the sandwich. And that sauce. Man, that sure looks good, doesn’t it? (Note: my box shows damage from shipping.)

Nutritional information (click image to enlarge):

It reads as follows:

  • 350 calories, 15g fat, 8g fiber = 7 Weight Watchers Points

There’s a reasonable amount of calories and what seems to be a large dose of fat, but when said fat is combated with the 8g of fiber it brings the Points total down to that modest number of 7. That makes it right on par, perhaps a bit higher, than your standard dietetic frozen meals.

Upon opening the box you get everything you need (duh) to assemble the sandwich. While I was opening packages and putting things together, I sampled a piece of the turkey–and it was good.

But unfortunately, that’s where the turkey goodness ended. Once I had the sandwich assembled I nuked it for the recommended start time of :30 seconds. It was still a bit cold and it needed a little more cooking time; your mileage may vary with your microwave.

I had been excited to sink my teeth into these sandwiches from the day I was told I was getting free samples. My first bite left me not disappointed: the whole wheat bun was tasty and definitely wheaty; the southwestern style ranch dressing added just the right amount of flavor. But that’s about all I could taste.

By the second bite I realized that something was missing because somewhere in the sandwich was a slice of Monterey Jack cheese, which got lost somewhere in the shuffle of bun and ranch dressing goodness. I simply couldn’t taste it at all.

Then there’s the turkey. Good by itself; lacking when in the sandwich. It definitely needs some more flavor or just a pinch of salt (which you could add for yourself but will alter nutritional values).

Would I recommend: As long as Subway is running their $5 Footlong promotion, I’d say the South Beach Living Turkey Santa Fe sandwich is a no-go. There just wasn’t enough flavor in this one to make me want to go out and buy a bunch of them. Unless, of course, unless you like sandwiches with just bread and dressing then feel free go out and go nuts. It’s definitely not as good as the Oscar Mayer Deli Creations wrap thing.

Besides, I’m a huge fan of Subway’s Veggie Delite which, with its basic ingredients on a wheat bun (although I prefer to add provolone to mine), comes to 4 Points. So for $5 I can have lunch and dinner, or lunch for the next day at work. Depending on the retail cost of this kit, you might as well run and get some veggie tastiness yourself.

Weekly Weigh-In #13 is tomorrow. I hope my Father’s Day smörgÃ¥sbord didn’t hurt me too much.

Hope to see you then 🙂


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South Beach Items Arrived

2008/06/13 at 10:16 pm | Posted in Food, Health, lifestyle change, South Beach Products | 3 Comments
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As promised, my box of South Beach Living products arrived via UPS! Here’s what was inside:

  • Oven Roasted Ham & Swiss Hot Sandwich Melt
  • Turkey Santa Fe Hot Sandwich Melt
  • Dark Chocolate Vanilla Marble pudding cups (pack of 4)
  • Hazelnut Creme Wafer Sticks (2 packs with 2 sticks per pack)
  • Peanut Butter Wafer Sticks (2 packs with 2 sticks per pack)

Chances are I will take one sandwich, one pudding and one pack of wafer sticks to work on Monday and Tuesday so I can write up a review on three products on the same day. If I happen to munch on any of the items before then, I will naturally post my thoughts here.

I have already calculated the Weight Watchers Points for all of them and I have to say that I’m impressed so far. I think you will be, too.

Many thanks to Lisa Winternitz of Weber Shandwick for offering the products for my review so that my readers can get one person’s opinion about the new line of South Beach Living products. She also offered to send me a new ham sandwich since one of the cold packs in the box burst and lightly splattered the box in funky gelatinous goo. I told there was no need; everything should be fine.

I had a fun day of exercise today. While I skipped the Wii Fit tonight in exchange for some Rock Band, I walked nearly 2 miles at while at work (including walking up 6 flights of stairs). Then when I got home we all went for a bike ride of nearly 4 miles. I figure a combined 6 miles of walking and biking definitely qualifies as today’s exercise. And tomorrow I will be going to the swap meet and will walk at least another mile then.

With Father’s Day on Sunday and my schedule filled for tomorrow, you probably won’t see me for a few days. Have a good weekend and keep things under control because I know you can. If you’re using my Weight Watchers Points Excel chart–it’s now nearing 200 downloads–and it shows you’ve saved up some Points in the Bank, go and enjoy a guilt-free indulgence. You’ve definitely earned it!

See you Monday 🙂


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Clarification

2008/06/11 at 9:04 pm | Posted in Blog Stuffs, Commentary, Food, Food Review, Health, Life, lifestyle change, weight loss, weight watchers | Comments Off on Clarification
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Today’s post has much to do with my soon-to-be-frequent reviews of South Beach Living products and less about my usual topic of weight loss.

For all those concerned about the future of this blog, allow me to clarify a few things.

Continue Reading Clarification…

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