Product Review* - Protein Bars by Ritebite

Before I resume regular blogging, I must finish a long pending duty!

Naturell reached out to me sometime back asking if I will be interested in reviewing their products. I almost jumped at that opportunity because it finally felt like such a cool reward for all those blog posts I've typed. At a very silly level, I felt like a profesh weight loss blogger :)

I had tried Naturell's products some time back but was totally up to trying the protein bars. Even though it is classified as a "meal replacement" bar, I did not eat it as a meal, per se. My mind always wants its meals on the plate, and even if I ate a truck load of say Oreos, I'd be up for a dal-chawal meal almost immediately.

So without further ado, the first one I opened was:

The Max Protein Choco Fudge - (totalling at 308 calories and 20 gms from protein). I had half the bar post a 40 minute cardio workout, along with my morning chai, and it might have been a perfect post workout snack at 150 calories. I found that initially it tasted very synthetic - but really a protein bar will have to taste like that. My satiety level was pretty good and it carried me for a late breakfast. The other half was my evening snack and that worked fine too!!! 

The second one I opened was was the Protein Max ChocoSlim (totalling 258 calories and 20 gms of protein) and ate it post cardio workout. My first bite totally reminded me of getrim. I guess the sweetner (this being sugar free) may have caused the similar taste. I ate this at one go, not specifically wanting to use it as a treat later in the day.

 

The final and my most favorite one was the Max ProteinHoney Lemon (totalling 281 calories and 20 gms of protein) a wee bit over the Slimmers Bar. I loved the sweet and mixed tartness in the flavour and even enjoyed eating this bar, more than the other two variants.I might just stock up on the Honey Lemon bars so that I have a real high rptein snack thats mess free and tasty specially when I travel on work!!!

The good:

• The high protein content, obviously!! And more so from a single all vegetarian source!
• I guess this may be the only protein bar in in the Indian market!
• Satiety - I felt pretty full after eating these bars. Ofcourse they are a meal replacement!
• Portability - as with any process food - you can stick one in your hand bag and eat it mess free even in a meeting!

The bad:

• the synthetic taste!! For 300 calories - 2 phulkas and a small bowl of dal is tastier!!!
• my processed food issue**

**I have oflate, been resorting to freshly made/ cooked food rather than eat processed food - be it juices, cereal, granola bars (which I still love btw), fruit bars like these, jams, lays chips etc. I'd rather eat a fruit than drink a juice, eat a Chappati Subzi than a granola bar, make my own non-synthetic flavour added jams etc. But yes, thats becaue I find the time to do that kind of kitchen work! For those on the go, and possibly those who need not be obsessed with weight loss the way I am, these protein bars from Naturell are a good choice!!!

 *Disclaimer: Naturell India sent me their products- free of cost to review. This review however, reflects my own, honest opinion and is not a paid review!

Kellog's Cereal, Misleading Advertisements, weight loss and body image

There is this bill board opposite my house, and most of the hoardings on it always awaken the rebel in me. For a reason. First it was some hospital advertising some heart surgery. Then it was as assisted coneption centre and now the kellogs-k wedding season  ad. Have you seen this advertisement about how to look great this wedding season? This particular hoarding encouraging every woman stopping at the signal to take the Kellogs K challenge angered both the feminist in me and also the one who is painstakingly trying to get rid of that extra weight through a healthy diet and exercise.

 

Those of us trying to lose weight, or atleast I  struggle with problem foods (sweet foods and rice), portion control and body image problems. Even though I know I do look far thinner than before the fact that the weighing scale still shows a 78 just kills me. Everyday, I wake up, try to exercise as hard as I can, cook food that is fresh and healthy for my family and me and try to make better choices when I am offered biscuits and samosasat official meetings.

 

Only incidentally I had glanced upon this at the supremarket on Saturday. Please zoom in to get a better look:

On the left in my hand is a box of Organic Millet (ragi) Flakes by a brand called Beginnings. On the right is a box of  Kellog's Oat Bites, a product of the same guys who think weight loss is all about eating two bowls of the cereal two weeks in a row.

 

While I must admit to not being a technical nerd, alayman can see that the Kellog cereal has twice as much sugar and fat and only half the fibre as in the box on my left. The protein content is a bit higher in the Kellog's carton. But all we dieters know how the consumption of sugar leads to the consumption of even more sugar. Ofcourse, I do not advocate to cut out sugar or any other food group, I am only appalled at how these MNCs seem to get their way into the average Indian household and replace the wholesome Kanji Maav with their Sugary Highly Processed nonsense. Infact they even go as much to say that if you only ate their product for breakfast and lunch/ dinner for two weeks you will become attractive.

 

Seriously guys if you had a 200 calorie breakfast and 200 calorie lunch/ dinner along with a maintaining an exercise routine and a calorie restrictive diet to aid weight loss, ofcourse you will lose weight. Infact you will lose weight  no matter what you ate that cost you only 400 calories - breakfast and lunch put together.

On the other hand eating a high sugar cereal like this one is most likely not going to keep your hunger pangs at bay. Eating sugar causes your body to want more sugar and trust me it is very very difficult to control that craving. Instead filling up with healthy proteins, fibre filled veggies and complex carbs is likely to keep you filled up for longer and make your weight loss effort more sustainable.

 

Yes eating a cereal is a matter of convenience for many of us, and I certainly do buy a box or two of the cereal in my left hand in the picture above. I add sliced bananas or any other fruit, some chopped nuts and top it with milk to get a quick but healthy and filling breakfast. I do get hungry in about 2- 2 1/2 hours and I carry a salad like this:

thats grated carrots, fresh pomogranate, roasted peanuts, chopped coriander with a dash of salt, pepper and lime juice tempered with mutard seeds & urad dal


At the end of this post, I'd like to ask you dear reader for how many of you is weight loss as simple as just eating the same food out of a box for two weeks and seeing results at the end of it? Am I over reacting? Or do I have a point?

The opinions in this post are my own and based on my own experience, and not intended in a deragatory matter. No product referred to above paid me to express positive or negative views. Please treat this as without prejudice.

 

The weekly work out update, ProtineX review & the recipe promise

Yep! I am keeping my word. My work out  schedule this week looked like this:

Sunday, Monday & Tuesday - I skipped the work out for the reasons I mentioned here
Wednesday: Lower body strength training &
Thursday: 30 minutes on elliptical & 15 on treadmill
Friday: Upper Body strength training
Saturday : dance aerobics group class

Now for the Banana-Black Grape-Strawberry smoothie that is my new found obsession:

Ingredients:
 one red banana, about 10 black grapes and 5 strawberries
2 teaspoons of ProtineX powder
1 cup of curd and half a cup of milk



Whisked everything together in the blender and tadaaa :)



As I said its a new obsession. I feel like its a treat and with no added sugar it is. Two teaspoons of protineX have approx 45 cals. The above will make two servings.And that's about 160 calories per serving. I don't how well it will last in the fridge and so I just drank up the whole thing :P

Sorry about the poor picture quality. But I took the pictures on my iphone 1.

ProtineX - Product review - you can find the calorie break-up here. When had in my shake, it tastes pretty ok. There is 8 grams of sugar per serving, which is not too bad as well. But I might just try the diabetic version next time out of curiosity :). As is apparent from the name it is also a good source of protein. It has also not affected my weight loss attempt. So, the product is pretty good, though a wee bit pricey :)

So my promises have been kept. My eyes are shutting down. I am looking forward to Sunday. How about you?