Vitatops

These are Vitatops...



I don't usually plug products on this blog, mostly because I think people should make their own decisions about what they eat or use in their daily life. But also because I'm not getting paid. Kidding. I wouldn't plug a product that sucked even if I got paid for doing so. But these are pretty good as far as health food goes.

Some back story...

On September 14th, I joined Weight Watchers. I have been struggling with excess weight for a few years now and doing nothing didn't seem to be helping it any so I decided to try something different. And that is "doing something". It's a concept.

The thing is, I absolutely refuse to eliminate entire food groups from my diet so most "diets" won't work for me. I can't eat carbs? Not gonna happen. Avoid all fat? Please, that's one of the five food groups (FYI, the other four are sugar, caffeine, chocolate and meat). So basically, I knew I needed to do something that would allow me to consume all of the five food groups and still lose weight. Which brought me to Weight Watcher's doorstep.

Using their point system, every food is assigned a number of points. Points are based on calories, fiber and fat. As you would imagine, higher calories or higher fat equates to higher points. Higher fiber means lower points. I have a set number of points I can use in any given day, plus an additional thirty five to use at my discretion over the week. All I need to do is stay within the total allotted points for the week and I'm good.

The important thing here is that they don't tell me how to use my points, that's entirely up to me. If I want to use all of my points for the day on a Starbucks coffee and a cheese danish, nobody will tell me I can't. They might raise an eyebrow and hope for my sake that I make a better choice, but they won't say the dreaded words "You can't have that!" Because I can. And because I can choose to have anything I want, I have found myself making better choices. Because knowing that I can have the cheesecake if I want to makes it less of a burning desire. I can choose to have a healthier breakfast and dinner if I know I'm going out to lunch with a friend. Mostly, I am making better decisions about what I put in my body because nobody is telling me what I can't. At some primitive level I am apparently a three year old who goes around saying "You're not the boss of me!"

Which brings me back to the Vitatops. These are basically low calorie, low fat, high fiber goodness that are only worth one point each. And they're not half bad. I only bought the two flavors in the picture because I wasn't sure if I was going to like them. But I really do. If I'm really craving chocolate, the double fudge takes the edge off. It's not as chewy or decadent as a brownie, but it seems to work. And because of the high fiber, I'm not starving fifteen minutes later. I tried the corn muffin a little bit ago and while it's not the same as real corn bread, it works. I will say I had to control the very strong urge to drown it in butter and/or honey but I made the right choice (for me) and abstained.

Oh, and as of two days ago, I've lost twelve pounds so "doing something" seems to be working for me.