Product Review: Simply Sprouted Way Better Snacks

This week, I found a new brand of "healthier" chips in the natural and organic aisle in my grocery store, so I decided to buy some - Simply Sprouted Way Better Snacks. I bought 2 bags: Sweet Potato tortilla chips and Black Bean tortilla chips.

Simply Sprouted Way Better Snacks

The ingredient list was straightforward: various grains and vegetables  ( corn, sweet potato, black bean, quinoa, chia ), sunflower or safflower oil, and sea salt.

The taste? Pretty darn tasty. I was pleased a serving size was 11 chips ( more than enough to satisfy my urge to crunch ) and the nutrition on the sweet potato variety was decent: 130 calories, 100 mg sodium. The black bean was slightly higher. Both varieties give a small percentage of things like Vitamin A, calcium, and iron..

But...

Keep in mind: normal, run of the mill Tostito chips also have very similar ingredients and nutrition.

Believe it or not, things like unflavored, regular tortilla chips and potato chips are relatively Clean. Yes, they are fried in oil, as are these Simply Sprouted snacks. They are what I call "Border Foods" - foods that are just on this side of the Clean continuum of foods, but are not something I eat every day.

( Side note: To be clear, Simply Sprouted products are both baked AND fried. They use a 2 step process. First they bake the chip to reduce the moisture content, then they fry it in sunflower oil. )

If you are looking for a chip, you can definitely make your own sweet potato chips but if you are looking for convenience, Simply Sprouted Way Better Snacks aren't a terrible deviation from the Clean Eating diet. Would I eat them every day? No - but these are really yummy and would be a nice crunch to go with a veggie wrap at lunch time or a late in the evening / oh my gosh I need something salty snack.

( Side note -I did like this notation on their FAQ page:

 Do you source any ingredients from Asia?
Unlike many of our competitors, we do not source any ingredients from Asia due to concerns of unreliable labeling practices with natural and organic items coming from this part of the world. In 2010, it was estimated by the Organic Consumers Association that only about 30% of Chinese products labeled organic, are actually organic. )


Even my Chip Connoisseur husband deemed them really good...which is why after my first taste, I went back to check the ingredients and discovered the Black Bean tortilla chip bag in the trash. ( But on a side note, at least he put the empty bag in the trash can. That's a step up from his normal "leave trash where it lies" modus operandi )

Are they good? Yes! Are they healthier than normal chips? Um, well...that's debatable. Will I buy them again? Yes, probably. Will I hide them from my husband? Yes.

Are Newman's Own Products Clean?

     While I was researching this post on Clean Eating spaghetti sauce,  I discovered Newman's Own pasta sauces were definitely unclean. Added sugars, starches, and a lot of sodium. Then, I started researching Kashi - and discovered many of their "post-Kellogg's acquisition " products are Unclean - but the core products that built the company remain Clean. I started thinking about Newman's Own, again...and decided to do more research.

 Newman's Own was started by actor Paul Newman and A.E.Hotchner in 1982. The brand started with a home-made salad dressing that Newman and Hotchner prepared and gave to friends as gifts. Since 1982, Newman's Own has donated all of its profits after taxes to thousands of causes and charities. In total since inception, the company has donated over $300 million to charity.

Despite Newman's death in 2010, the company remains in private hands, and has not been acquired by a larger food conglomerate.

Are Newman's Own products Clean? For the most part - no. They are not Clean. You have to examine each item carefully for the answer, however. They make everything from salad dressings, sauces, and marinades to frozen foods and cereals.

Their salad dressings, sauces and marinades are largely Unclean. There is a lot of added sugars and salts to these foods - immediately placing them in a "Border Food" at best category. Some contain things like corn syrup ( buried low in the ingredient list ) and xanthan gums to improve the texture of the product. While xanthan gums are low on my "That is Unclean" radar - almost every single product I checked has it in it.

However - there are far worse products on the market today, so if you chose to consume Newman's Own products, do so sparingly and with an eye on your water bottle.

 

Newmans' Own eventually began a line spearheaded by Paul Newman's daughter Nell  that focused on organic products - almost exclusively snacks and treats, with some organic fare for your 4 footed friend, and a line of organic fair trade coffees.

Are Newman's Own Organics products Clean? The answer is a murky and somewhat hesitant "Ummmm..."

The answer - like Kashi's products - is taken on a case by case basis. Don't assume when you see the word "Organic" written boldly on a package that it means the product is Clean. It simply means the product was grown without hormones or pesticides.

When you examine many Newman's Own Organic products, you find that yes indeed, the ingredients are organic. But sugar is organic. So is salt. I picked up 20 or so Newman's Own organic products at random in the store and looked at the ingredients - cookies with high sugar content - in some cases, identical to Nabisco or Keebler cookies. Many of the products use corn syrup as a sweetener, and just aren't Clean. 

Like Kashi, however...don't throw the baby out with the bath water, as they say. Examine each. for example, the Alphabet Cookies  are what I like to think of as a "Border" food. Something not eaten every day - but something to eat once or twice a week. 

Alphabet Cookie Ingredients:

Vanilla:
Organic Unbleached Flour, Organic Sugar, Palm Fruit Oil, Arrowroot Flour, Honey, Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Salt, Natural Flavor.

Cinnamon Graham:
Organic Unbleached Wheat Flour, Organic Sugar, Palm Fruit Oil, Graham Four, Honey, Cinnamon, Natural Flavor, Salt, Sodium Bicarbonate (leavening).

Chocolate:
Organic Unbleached Wheat Flour, Organic Sugar, Palm Fruit Oil, Cocoa (Processed with Alkali), Natural Flavor, Sodium Bicarbonate (leavening), Salt, Unsweetened Chocolate.

And as an occasional crunchy treat - Newman's Own Organic Soy Crisps are Clean enough for you not to be hating life afterward.

Ingredients:
 
Barbeque:
Organic Low Fat Soy Flour, Organic Rice Flour, Salt, Seasoning (dehydrated cane juice, sea salt, onion powder, garlic powder, tomato powder, extractives of paprika, natural flavor, spices, citric acid with not more than 2% sunflower oil and silicon dioxide added), Sunflower Oil. 


Cinnamon Sugar:
Organic Low Fat Soy Flour, Organic Rice Flour, Salt, Seasoning (dehydrated cane juice, cinnamon and not more than 2% silicon dioxide and vegetable oil added as a processing aid), Sunflower Oil. 


Lightly Salted:
Organic Low Fat Soy Flour, Organic Rice Flour, Salt, Sunflower Oil. 


White Cheddar:
Organic Low Fat Soy Flour, Organic Rice Flour, Salt, Seasoning (cheddar cheese [cultured milk, salt, enzymes], whey buttermilk, salt, disodium phosphate), Sunflower Oil.

So- to sum up, you really need to inspect each food item individually - but as a round generic statement - Newman's Own food products are not good for Clean Eating - but some of their Newman's Own Organics snack products will be a welcome occasional treat.

Trader Joe's Spotlight: Vegetable Masala Burgers

This past week during my usual Trader Joe's run, I picked up a few pantry essentials - and some items my boys love ( the frozen gorgonzola gnocci is a particular side dish favorite of theirs ) but I was also browsing for something new for me to try. Something I might enjoy eating  , something I might enjoy reviewing. 

When  I picked up the Vegetable Masala burgers, I frowned a bit, but picked up the package anyway. "Authentic Indian spices" - I've never been a huge fan of curry. It's okay - but not a favorite. Meatless burgers are also at best a Border Food ( one that is consumed very sporadically because it is a little too processed, a little too high in sodium, a little too Unclean for daily consumption ). So right off the bat - an Indian flavored meatless burger wasn't exactly triggering a warm fuzzy response from me. 

Ingredients: Potatoes, canola oil, carrots , green beans, water, bread crumbs ( wheat flour, sugar , yeast, salt ), bell peppers, onions, corn, salt, green peppers, sugar, ginger, cellulose gum, spices, citric acid, tumeric, and mustard seeds.

A bit long - but all fairly Clean. The addition of salt and sugar almost made me put it down, but I didn't. 

The nutritional information was fairly strong. 

Per patty:

Calories: 120

Fat: 8 g ( probably from the canola oil )

Sodium: 360 mg ( Not terrible for a premade burger like this, but definitely Borderline.

Carbs: 12g 

Sugar: 1 g ( Huh, they added sugar, but even with the sugar from the potato in there, it is still only 1g? Not bad. )

 So with a slight "These aren't exactly what I want but I will settle for them" air, I put them in my basket and headed for the checkout. 

Wow - I'm glad I did. These burgers are delicious! The Indian spicing is flavorful, not cloying and over the top. The consistency of the burger is moist and interesting. It isn't dull and lifeless. The cooking directions given are to heat them in a lightly oiled skillet until hot, or put them on a "barbeque", oiled, and grill on both sides until hot. I chose to heat them in the microwave, because I was at work and that is all I had available to me - and I think they came out just fine. 

When you pull the burgers from the package, you can clearly see the chunks of vegetables in them, and I liked that aspect a lot. The vegetables weren't ground into a paste to hold everything together. I feel this is a plus; I could recognize my food. 

I will definitely buy these again, but I do recognize these aren't something I would or should eat on a weekly basis. These will be an "every once in a while" addition to my menu. A very tasty addition - every once in a while...

Is Eggbeaters Clean?

Q:  Is Eggbeaters Clean? I've always cooked a cup of Eggbeaters in the microwave for a quick breakfast at work. Now that I'm trying to eat better, I was wondering if Eggbeaters is Clean?

A:  Technically, Eggbeaters is not Clean. A Clean food would be a freshly cracked organic egg, whisked and then microwaved. You'd consume the egg as you find it in Nature - so that would be the 1st choice. Eggbeaters is a processed product, so it would be considered "Unclean."

However...

If you examine the ingredient list for Eggbeaters ( Original Eggbeaters, not any flavored version ) , you'll find the following:

Ingredients: Egg Whites. Less than 1% Natural Flavor, Color ( includes beta carotene ), spices, salt, onion powder, vegetable gums, and maltodextrin.

99% of Eggbeaters is just egg whites. Only 1% is other stuff, and the majority of that 1% is spices and salt.

Sodium content of a 1/4 cup serving of Original Eggbeaters? 115 mg.
Sodium content of a single, organic egg? About 75 ( naturally occurring ) mg.

So is Eggbeaters Clean? In my opinion, it goes into the "Border Food" bucket - a food you can safely eat occasionally, but on a daily basis you are better off going for the traditional Mother Nature approved egg delivery system: an organic egg in the shell.

Border Food : Tortilla Wraps

     While some people think "I'm eating so healthy and Clean; I'm eating a wrap sandwich!" ...you may not be aware that the little flat piece of bread is hiding a very big secret: it is a border food - a food which is ok for occasional use, but not for everyday consumption.

     Tortilla wraps are typically made with highly processed white flour ( bad ) - but the kicker is, the sodium content of that flat piece of nothing is sky high! A single large burrito sized tortilla ( Mission Brand, the most widely distributed tortilla brand in the country  ) has an astonishing 630 mg of sodium...per tortilla!

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

1 tortilla (70g)

Amount per Serving

Calories 210

Calories from Fat 45

% Daily Value

Total Fat 5g

Saturated Fat 2g 

Trans Fat 0g

Cholesterol 0mg

Sodium 630mg

Total Carbohydrate 36g 

Dietary Fiber 1g 

Sugars 2g

Protein 6g

Vitamin A 0%

Vitamin C 0%

Calcium 10%

Iron 15%

So before you put anything on that sandwich wrap, before any homemade little CE pizza...you are eating 630 mg of sodium.

If you want a Clean wrap - as always, read the labels before you buy. Look for whole wheat, lower sodium versions. Check out the brands that are labeled as organic. Chances are, the manufacturer has controlled the salt shaker, too!

Some brands to look for: 

Whole Foods 365 whole wheat tortillas - 125 mg of sodium
Trader Joe's Organic ( white flour and whole wheat ) tortillas -160 to 180 mg of sodium
Azteca Buena whole wheat tortillas - 250 mg of sodium
La Banderita Grande burrito wrap ( white flour ) 350 mg sodium

Coffee-Mate Natural Bliss Coffee Creamer

Well, that didn't take long...

 In direct response to La Creme Real Dairy Creamer,  Coffee-Mate has just hit the shelves with their own version of a Clean Eating coffee creamer.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 tbsp (15ml)

Amount Per Serving

Calories 35 Calories From Fat 15

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 1.5g 3%

Saturated Fat 1g 6%

Trans Fat 0g

Cholesterol 10mg 2%

Sodium 5mg 0%

Total Carbohydrate 5g 2%

Sugars 5g

Protein 0g

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Not a significant source of dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and iron.

INGREDIENTS: NONFAT MILK, HEAVY CREAM, SUGAR, NATURAL FLAVOR 

The label doesn't  indicate anywhere that the milk used for this product is organic or not treated with hormones - so that definitely places it a rung below La Creme automatically.

The taste, however, is much more like that Coffee-Mate French Vanilla flavoring you are used to if you have a hard time getting rid of the "Bad Stuff" liquid Coffee-Mate - and a lot less heavy cream taste like La Creme has. The French vanilla flavor is well developed, too.

The down side? 5 grams of sugar per tablespoon, and 1.5 grams of fat in that tablespoon. Border food at the very least.

I like the taste, and the French vanilla flavor is more pleasing to me than La Creme - but honestly? The fact that it isn't organic is a thumbs down - as is the sugar. However, I can see people who dislike the strong cream note in La Creme to like Natural Bliss better. It is much more like the regular old Coffee-Mate liquid that I stopped putting in my coffee than I expected. If you aren't familiar with what exactly non-dairy creamer really is - read this.

Finally...Clean Eating Sandwich Buns!

     Clean Eating Eve reader Amy-Beth got me thinking about a subject that is really elusive for most Clean Eaters - a Clean bread source - specifically, a Clean sandwich bun source.

      Bread is one of those items that can be wholesome and nutritious when manufactured with care and with whole grains. Most breads, however, are manufactured from processed white flour and high fructose corn syrup. Those are the two kickers that really negate most commercially available breads.  Clean Eaters sometimes eat things that just lend themselves to a bun - like a salmon patty, turkey burger, or tuna fish.

Introducing Nature's Own / Nature's Pride Whole Wheat Buns...

Nature's Own brand has hamburger and hotdog size buns that are about as close to Clean as a commerically prepared bread can be. Admittedly, they aren't perfect - but they are head and shoulders better than anything else I've found that is readily available.

• No artificial preservatives, colors, or flavors
• No high fructose corn syrup
• 25 grams of whole grain per serving
• 4 grams of fiber per bun
• 6 grams of protein per serving
• No cholesterol

Ingredients: 
WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, WATER, WHEAT GLUTEN, BROWN SUGAR, YEAST, 

CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING: DOUGH CONDITIONERS (CONTAINS ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING: SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, CALCIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, MONOGLYCERIDES AND/OR DIGLYCERIDES, CALCIUM PEROXIDE, CALCIUM IODATE, DATEM, ETHOXYLATED MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, ENZYMES, AZODICARBONAMIDE), SOYBEAN OIL, VINEGAR, SALT, CULTURED WHEAT FLOUR, WHEAT STARCH, SOY LECITHIN, TOPPED WITH WHEAT BRAN


I can live with an ingredient list where the preservatives are in the 2% or less category...


Nature's Own is primarily distributed across the Southern US:

Nature's Pride is manufactured in Missouri and Texas, so you should be able to find it in the Plains and Central states.

Clean Eating Coffee Creamer - La Creme Real Dairy Creamer

Since beginning my CE journey, I've made significant changes to my dietary intake. Now, most of the food I consume is clean, having not been processed at all - or minimally processed. One thing I do miss, however - is French Vanilla flavored creamer in my coffee. I miss it. A lot. I've made do with organic milk, cheerfully...but something has been not quite right. I enjoy several cups of coffee in the morning, and it just isn't the same. Non-dairy creamer is a dietary nightmare, and I'm glad to be rid of it. It's essentially sweetened trans fat - gross. However, there's a new product on the market that I would consider a Border / Eh not too bad food.

La Creme real dairy creamer is new on grocery store shelves. Ingredients in the French Vanilla flavor? Milk, cream, sucrose ( sugar ) and less than 1% of the following - water, natural french vanilla flavor, disodium phosphate ( keep the product from separating ) , sodium citrate ( a "sour" agent; must be used to tone down the sweetness of the product, I guess... ), carageenan ( a seaweed extract ) , lactase ( breaks down the lactose inherent in milk ).
( Note: I wonder what "natural french vanilla flavor" could be - I mean, why don't just list vanilla beans as an ingredient? )

From LALA Foods' website:

First Nationally Available All-Dairy, Naturally Flavored

Lactose Free La Crème® from LALA Foods

03.04.2011– DALLAS, Texas (Feb. 16, 2011) –La Crème, the first, 100 percent real dairy, naturally flavored creamer was introduced nationally today by LALA--USA, a leading dairy products manufacturer and distributor, giving non-dairy creamer users a natural way to flavor their coffee.
“We found out that a lot of consumers are ‘blissfully unaware’ that their artificial ‘creamer’ is actually not a dairy product,” explained LALA--USA Chief Marketing Officer, Randy Gier. “Our research shows that 69 percent of the people who use Coffee-mate® think they are using a dairy creamer, when in fact they are using a laboratory creation made mostly from water, sugar and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. There’s nothing dairy about it.”
Flavored non-dairy creamers are one of the few options consumers have when they are trying to duplicate coffee-house flavor at home. “There is no other naturally flavored 100 percent real dairy coffee creamer distributed nationally,” Gier said, “so most coffee lovers are forced to choose between artificial whiteners or expensive coffeehouse brews. La Crème gives them the option of having a rich, naturally flavored, real dairy coffee experience at home or in the office.”
Unlike non-dairy creamers, La Crème is made from real milk and contains no trans fats. “Most artificial liquid non-dairy creamers made with partially hydrogenated soybean or cottonseed oils contain trans fat, even the ones labeled “zero trans-fat,” said dietician Martha McHenry RD, LD, CDE, noting that if a food has less than a half gram of trans fat per serving, the Food and Drug Administration allows food companies to round that number down to zero.
“But if the serving size is small and you use a lot of servings, those less-than- half-grams can add up to the point where a coffee lover can exceed the American Heart Association’s two-gram limit before lunch,” she explained.
“Being lactose and hormone-free is also a big plus,” McHenry said. “For lactose intolerant people, non-dairy has been one of the few options until now.”
La Crème, which comes in four all-natural flavors—Original, French Vanilla, Hazelnut and Cinnamon Vanilla—is available nationally.



Overall? Borderline - but a heck of a lot better than non-dairy creamer! I was pleased to read it is hormone free - that is definitely a plus. I'll have it tomorrow morning in my coffee, and will amend this post to discuss the flavor.

Edited to add: It is good. The cream note of this product is definitely strong. It definitely does a good job straddling the line between the taste of unhealthy non-dairy creamer ( and its silky mouth-feel and French Vanilla flavor ) and  more conventional, straight up milk. I will buy this to keep at my office, and will have a cup of coffee with regular milk at home, and then my "office coffee" will be with La Creme to keep my consumption on the low end simply for Clean purposes.

Is Surimi Clean?

Today, this question was posed to me by a co-worker: "Is surimi clean?"

If you are unfamiliar, surimi is fake crab or lobster meat. You've probably seen it on salad bars but never knew it has a name other than "fake crab meat."

This question made me stop and think. I didn't have an ingredient list in front of me, so I told her I'd have to do more research and get back to her. Surimi is essentially fish meat that has been processed to resemble and taste like crab.

 From the Louis Kemp website:"Typically Alaska Pollock &/or Pacific Whiting fillets are finely minced and then blended with other ingredients such as starch, salt, natural crab meat and egg white. This process yields a paste that is formed, flavored, cooked and cut into the various shapes and styles you find available in the refrigerated case at your local grocery store."


Hmmm, sounds "fishy", no? Processed. Processed to taste like something else. 2 hallmarks of unclean food. But...

There are 2 main companies in the US that sell surimi: Louis Kemp and Transocean.

 Louis Kemp lump surimi:
INGREDIENTS: Alaska Pollock, water, wheat starch, egg whites, sorbitol ( an artificial sweetner ), sugar, potato starch, contains 2% or less of: snow crabmeat, modified corn starch, mirin (sake, sugar, salt, water, yeast extract), salt, artificial crab flavor, potassium chloride, soy lecithin ( keeps the ingredients "together" ),  sodium phosphates, carmine ( that is the red colorant on the ends ), paprika oleoresin,

Hmmm - 1/2 c serving has 340 mg of salt.

Transocean is similar, except they use tapioca starch to bind their product instead of potato starch. Their product has 450 mg of salt in every 1/2 c.

So...is it clean? It is just on this side of clean. And I mean...just.  It is a product I would only eat once a month or so as a change of pace. The artificial crab flavorant, the artificial color, and starches are probably best classified as unclean. It is a product that those of us who are carefully watching sodium intake would best avoid. But....

In the interest of being clear, I'm declaring a new category: Border foods. Foods that are probably best avoided by the ardent clean eater, or eaten sparingly by the clean eater who occasionally dabbles on the other side of the clean line. Surimi is a border food. It is clean. Kindof. It is low fat, low calorie. It is essentially just fish. However, it's messed around with enough, and enough extra ingredients are added that firmly classify surimi as a Border Food. Proceed with caution, if you decide surimi is ok for you. And for heaven's sake, drink a lot of water when you eat it!