David Vanadia

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Natural Peanut Butter

September 16, 2011 • Comments (0)

In this video I discuss Adams brand natural peanut butter.

Posted in Reviews & Recipes on 09/16/11 • Comment

Coconut Bliss Ice Cream

March 29, 2011 • Comments (10)

Do you know about Coconut Bliss ice cream? It’s sweetened with agave. It tastes good and isn’t as sweet as some of the other brands of ice cream out there. After seeing it at Whole Foods I decided to give it a try. I don’t eat it often but when the chocolate cravings get really bad I’ll often give in and get a pint. That is, until recently.

When I first went off sugar, I would end up eating the whole container every time I got this stuff. Then I’d feel terrible. What I didn’t realize was that it was the agave that made me feel so lousy. My shoulders would get tense and I’d feel all twisty. It wasn’t a coincidence. It happened more than once (more than three times, in fact).

Two weeks ago I had a sore throat and got the idea that some nice cool comfort food would do me good. Gwenn picked up some Coconut Bliss ice cream and I ate a bit. So did she. In small doses I feel fine but they have to be really small, like 5 spoonfuls. That was about how much I ate a week and a half ago. There’s always a catch to eating something that’s chocolate—you’ll want more!

Two nights ago I was craving something chocolaty. The idea of eating ice cream came into my head (surprise, surprise) and I went to the Little Green Grocer to get myself a pint of Dark Chocolate. I don’t eat the whole thing at once like I used to. I’ve had too many bad experiences to do that to myself. However, I did eat about 1/3 of the package. That night I felt fine but the next morning I could feel the effects of the agave on my body. I know it’s the agave because this happens every time I eat anything sweetened with the stuff. I feel heavy and tight in the muscles. It’s odd, distinct, and uncomfortable. The sensation is different than what I get from eating plain sugar. I don’t like it.

The problem was that I left the ice cream in the freezer and so I finished it tonight. Big mistake. Now my stomach is upset and acidic feeling. I’m worried I’ll wake up the same tomorrow as I did the other morning. It has to be said; I’m going off Coconut Bliss for good. It’s just not for me.

That’s not to say the product isn’t a good one. It made for an excellent borderline replacement food for a long time. It was decent in a pinch when the going got tough. If you can find it locally, try it and see how you feel. It’s certainly an alternative to Ben and Jerry’s or Haagen Dazs. In the end it was the agave that killed it for me. I’ve had one too many bad results. Next time I crave chocolate I’ll get a Larabar or try something new altogether.

Posted in Reviews & Recipes on 03/29/11 • Comment

Maltitol Sweetened Godiva Chocolate Taste Test

November 22, 2009 • Comments (5)

In this video my parents taste test some Godiva chocolate to determine if there’s a noticeable difference between the Maltitol sweetened chocolate and the sugar sweetened chocolate.

Posted in Reviews & Recipes on 11/22/09 • Comment

Fool’s Gold: Grain Sweetened Carob Chips

April 01, 2009 • Comments (4)

You can buy stuff in bulk at the Whole Foods store near my home. I usually buy unsweetened carb chips and use them as a chocolate substitute in unsweetened cookies.

Carob is not chocolate by any means. While it has a similar texture, it just isn’t chocolate. When I compared the sugar content in the grain sweetened carob chips and found that there was less sugar (by one gram per serving) in the grain sweetened chips I figured I’d give them a try.

Gwenn made banana muffins and used the grain sweetened chips. We purchased enough for a batch of muffins and then some. The muffins were good, but I could feel the grain sweetened stuff immediately. It was pretty addictive. I kept eating the muffins and then feeling bad. I didn’t feel guilty bad. I felt tense and as if I needed to binge on them so to get rid of the rest. It wasn’t fun. And, of course, eating all the muffins left me feeling bloated.

The carob contains sugars naturally. “Grain sweetened” is still sweetnened.

Since we still had about a cup of them left, I crushed them up and washed them down the garbage disposal so that I wouldn’t eat any more. Sometimes you do whatever it takes to get them out of the house and out of reach.

Even though the unsweetened carob chips measure in at one more gram per serving of sugar that the grain sweetened ones, they do not make me want to binge. I can eat a few unsweetened carob chip cookies and save the rest for another day. Not so with the grain sweetened stuff. This is a key element of avoiding sweets. Avoid anything that drives you to binge!

As a result of this experiment, I’m back to the unsweetened carob chips. Notice that I don’t get upset at myself and say, “I was doing so well. I blew it and ate something I shouldn’t have.” Instead I learned something and moved on. You must also experiment with what triggers you to binge. The only way you’ll know is if you try.

Posted in Reviews & Recipes on 04/01/09 • Comment

Ben and Jerry’s Sugar Free Ice Cream

May 02, 2008 • Comments (9)

I’ve done this once before and tonight I did it again. I ate Ben and Jerry’s sugar-free ice cream.

Gwenn and I were out walking. She still eats sugar and it was a nice night so ice cream seemed like a good idea. The Ben and Jerry’s store has one sugar-free flavor: vanilla chocolate-chip.

Last time I ate it was with my friend Jason. We used to eat out together when we were teens so eating out now makes us feel young. I got two scoops that time and boy did it hit me. Tonight I only got one scoop.

So, is it good? Well, not really. It’s cold. It’s even sweeter than the regular stuff because it’s chemically sweetened (Gwenn tried it and said it’s sweeter). The ice cream part was kind of gummy. In fact, when I requested it they pulled a container from a freezer hidden behind the counter. The girl had to try several times to scoop it out because it was giving her a hard time. And now it’s giving me a hard time!

I ate the stuff a few hours ago—one scoop remember—and I’m still feeling weird. The first thing I felt was that chemical feeling. I don’t know how else to describe it. It feels like a slight tension throughout my muscles. It’s a gross feeling, maybe what it’s like when you have too much caffeine. That feeling has mostly passed. Now I just feel a little gassy and like I want to eat a salad, or an apple, or anything that grew from, or is, a plant. 

To eat or not to eat: Sorry folks, do not eat.

Posted in Reviews & Recipes on 05/02/08 • Comment

About David

I realized I had a sugar problem back in 2003 after a weekend-long binge on raw chocolate chip cookie dough and chocolate covered pretzels. As a result, I began trying to quit sugar but kept failing. Finally, I figured out a way to stay off sweet junk food for good. Read more.