Review: Ascenta NutraSea hp Concentrated High EPA Omega-3 Supplement

Gregory was only two when we realized he was having some neurological difficulties, and our pediatrician cited growing research supporting supplementation with high-EPA fish oil. Since then, we've tried a few options; Ascenta NutraSea hp Concentrated high EPA omega-3 lemon flavor liquid is the best I've found.

First, we tried Omega Brite, which had an orange flavor that Gregory didn't mind mixed with juice. However, he was using sippy cups at the time and it would sometimes leak, resulting in a stubborn orange oily stain. Not good. It was also only available online and frequently out of stock. Oh, and it was pricey, as most good fish oil supplements are.

When we would run out of Omega Brite, I'd buy Nordic Naturals gel capsules, which we'd have to puncture and squeeze into his "vitamin juice." That was less than ideal.

High-EPA is the key for brain function and it's hard to find liquid that has enough concentrated EPA in it. The NutraSea liquid has a total of 2300 mg of Omega-3s, including 1500 mg of EPA and 500 mg of DHA in a single teaspoon! We dose Gregory with 1 tsp twice a day, at the doctor's direction.

He used to fight us on drinking the Omega Brite but he never fights us on the NutraSea, presumably because it has no discernible taste in juice. He especially likes it in apple cider.

I buy it on drugstore.com, two or three at a time, when they're running big cash back through eBates. It's not cheap at close to $40 a bottle, but that lasts about three weeks. And when I get 12% cash back through eBates, plus 5% in Drugstore dollars, it comes down to closer to $30 a bottle.

Now that we have G on such a good regimen, maybe Alex and I will get better about taking our own fish oil supplements!

Review: Unreal Candy Wants to Unjunk Your Chocolate World

I was in CVS, looking for something entirely different, when I saw the displays for this Unreal Candy. I took a closer look and decided it would make for a perfect blog post; plus, I was hungry.

So I bought two varieties: "Unreal 54 Candy Coated Chocolates with Peanuts" and "Unreal 77 Peanut Butter Cups." With my CVS card, they were only 44¢ each, just over a penny per gram.

I brought them home and asked Alex to help me test them. He was happy to help, naturally. We both agreed through an entirely unscientific taste test that both were good, a little less sweet, but still satisfying. Alex felt that the peanut butter cup was more chewy, or moist, than a Reese's. I noticed that it was a little thinner than a standard size Reese's. I'm not sure I can say that I like them better than Reese's but I've stopped eating those because they have TBHQ (a preservative) in them, one of my migraine triggers. The 54s were definitely better than any other peanut butter cups I've tried, like the little Costco ones or Wolfgang's. And the M&M knockoffs were really very peanutty and flavorful. The shell is nice and crunchy, as you'd expect.

Healthwise, they are *better* than traditional junky candy bars in several ways (you can read the whole story of the brand here):

• Less sugar, and therefore lower carbs
• No GMOs, nothing artificial
• No hydrogenated stuff
• No preservatives
• No corn syrup (they use organic blue agave and cane sugar instead)

Doing a similar comparison to the one above that I pulled from their site, but with the peanut butter cups, you can see the benefit of trading in your Reese's for a "real" treat:

The biggest eye-openers for me—almost half the sugar, three times the fiber and 25% less sodium. All good stuff.

Unreal has five candies on the market currently. In addition to the two we reviewed, they offer

• Unreal 5 Chocolate Caramel Nougat (e.g., Milky Way),
• Unreal 8 Chocolate Caramel Peanuts Nougat (e.g., Snickers)
• Unreal 41 Chocolate Candy Shell (e.g., plain M&Ms).

Please check these out and let me know if you like them. I would be interested in hearing others' thoughts.

Personally, I hope they shake up the candy bar industry a bit. All that unnecessary junk is getting stale. :)

Chemicals in Candy: Not So Sweet

I came across this article on Healthy Child and it was as though I'd written it myself. My "concern" list would be identical, though not in this order (not that she said it was prioritized).

We identified these dangerous additives as "The Scary Seven." They are:

1. High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
2. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
3. Partially Hydrogenated Oils (trans fats)
4. Artificial Colors
5. Artificial Sweeteners (including acesulfame potassium, or Ace-K; sucralose [Splenda], and aspartame)
6. Artificial Flavors
7. Preservatives (including: sodium benzoate, sulphites (sulphur dioxide), polysorbate 60, 65 or 80, nitrites, TBHQ, and BHT/BHA).

Let me know if you think anything important is missing.

Review: Root Beer to Root For

I am not a big soda person, but I love root beer (and birch beer). My go-to when I splurge on it has been Virgil's, which is delicious but pricey and packs a big caloric punch. I've blogged about Flavrz before (favorably) so I was delighted to find their organic root beer syrup in my local grocery store. Just add seltzer. And it's only 35 calories per 8-ounce serving.

I had to try it. My husband also happens to prefer root beer but has been sticking to flavored seltzer as he's on a health kick. I had a feeling he, too, would appreciate a more natural, lower calorie option. It's sweetened with agave nectar, which I happen to love in beverages, as well as a little stevia.

So, we both tried it and agree that it's an inexpensive, delicious treat. I think it was about $6.50 for the bottle and you get 21 servings per bottle at the suggested dilution. Add five 1-liter bottles of seltzer at $.60 each and you're looking at $.45 per 8-ounce serving.

They also make cola and ginger ale syrups. If anyone tries them, let me know what you think. Cheers!

Surprises in the Grocery Store

If you're a regular here, you know I love Fooducate (the iPhone app that lets you scan products and get a score, reviews and key ingredients). Tonight as I was grocery shopping, I decided to put some of my favorites to the test and got a few surprises I thought I'd share.

Kozy Shack Chocolate Pudding—reading the ingredients, I thought it sounded better than Jell-O, since it was made with lowfat milk and only a few other ingredients, all generally recognized. On this one, I was right. It scored a B-, while Original Chocolate Jell-O Pudding scored a C-. I also checked out the Kozy Shack Tapioca, which was a little surprising, only a C+, because it had more sugar (and more calories per serving). Still not terrible for an occasional treat.

Boca Burgers. While I realize some people are not soy supporters (as food anyway), the Original Boca Burger is one of the few meatless burgers that tastes good and doesn't have a nasty consistency. So while trying to really watch my caloric intake (spring training for my June beach trip), I thought one would make a nice, quick, high-protein meal. Indeed, it scored a B+, Best in Category, but Fooducate also noted that they contain MSG or equivalent. That's a nonstarter for me, as it's a migraine trigger. Bummed to cross that one off the list.

Terra Sweets & Carrots and Sweets & Beets. The Terra chips have always been a favorite of mine, and I thought they were "better" since they were cut from sweet potatoes and other fibrous starches. Both scored great reviews but only C+ because Fooducate deems chips and puffs as having too "little nutritional value for the amount of fat and sodium they carry." I get that, but in moderation, I think these are a good choice and very satisfying for a crunchy, salty snack. Probably too harsh a rating.

Buitoni 100% Whole Wheat Four Cheese Ravioli. My kids love these, as well as the whole wheat tortellini and I thought they were getting something reasonably wholesome. Then I scanned it into Fooducate for my rude awakening. The C- score is for many good reasons, the first four being: contains trans-fats even though the label says "0"; it's not actually 100% whole grain; contains MSG or equivalent; and has more than 25% of the daily recommended sodium intake. What!?! This one kind of pisses me off. No more Buitoni anything for me. Lesson on this one: it's got more than 35 ingredients. That should've been a huge red flag that I missed.

Quaker Whole Hearts, Lightly Sweetened Cereal. I scanned this, expecting to see a C or so. I was pleasantly surprised to see it was an A-. However it contains BHT, a preservative, which is another migraine trigger for me. Bummer. In this case, Cheerios are a better alternative, with the same score, but no preservatives. Not Honey Nut Cheerios (those are a B- because of the 2.5T of sugar per serving) or Frosted Cheerios (also B-) or Fruity Cheerios (C) or Vanilla Yogurt Burst (C+) or Banana Nut (C+). Who knew there were so many varieties of Cheerios? Of course, you'd expect an organic variety such as Trader Joe's Organic High Fiber O's would be higher, but no, because there's more sugar in them (2.5 tsp). TJ's O's Toasted Whole Grain Oats are actually a better choice, though both are rated A-, because they're lower in sugar. So many choices. If only Trader Joe's weren't an hour away!

Lastly peanut butter. I'm sure you expect me to buy one of those organic, low-sodium, oil-separated varieties. I used to buy it at Costco, but when they discontinued it, I took another look at Jif. I always loved its taste and had tired of trying to mix the oil back into the hard rock of peanutty goodness with the natural brands. Regular Creamy Jif is not so great (C+) thanks to its fully hydrogenated oil. Reduced Fat Jif fares even worse with a C. However, Simply Jif Creamy and Jif Creamy Natural are both Bs, even though Simply again contains hydrogenated oil. Confusing! Since I'm choosy, I choose Jif Natural, which tastes great and is just peanuts, sugar, palm oil and 2% or less of salt and molasses.

What products do you love or hate based on closer inspection of ingredients? I especially love to hear about great tasting products that are also super healthy.