Two posts in two days! I am on a roll! I saw this "spread" in store and I just KNEW I had to review it! plus I have lost another two pounds and am now only 4.5 pounds away from my goal of losing half my body weight!!! woohoo!
Anyways onto the review! I really like chocolate "spread"... (I think the term "spread" should be used lightly... as if anyone actually spreads that stuff on anything!) Like I really really really like it. I LOVE the texture of it, and the taste off course! I don't often keep it in the house because it is one of the few things that I will binge eat like a mad woman! (Someday I will have to tell you about the cookie butter incident of Summer 2014) so a lower calorie alternative is welcome.
First thing to know about the Weight Watchers spread is that while it is lower calorie, it's NOT a low calorie food, often when fat is removed from from a product they have to replace the fat with something else (often with more sugar!) so while it has 66% less fat it certainly does not have 66% sugar. The good news with weight watchers products is they are often pretty good about getting creative about how the replace the fat. In this case I think they have used water and a thickening agent to bulk it out while keeping the calories lower. While I would suspect Weight Watchers products can't often make this claim, this spread has no artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners! don't get me wrong, I don't think this would fly on a whole foods diet but I have seen worse!
so how do the calories stack up? lets look at a tablespoon of each
15g Nutella 80 calories
15g WW Chocolate Spread 50 calories
so not bad! but for 1 tablespoon that's not a particularly great use of calories. And what about for the whole jar (an important fact for those of us who sometimes struggle to stop)
A whole jar of Nutella 400g has 2160 calories
A whole jar of WW Spread 300g has 1000 calories
so a significant calorie savings for those who might go overboard!
but the real question is... how does it taste!
Well the good news is it tastes great! the texture is not exactly the same as nutella, less creamy and a bit more jelly like, which sounds gross but I can assure you is still just as delightful! it has a very similar texture to American style hot fudge sauce and I bet would be delicious warm and drizzled over ice cream. The taste of hazelnuts is very much there, but not over powering and there is a very very fine grit, just enough to assure you that it's real ground hazelnuts in there! the aftertaste is in my opinion a bit more nutty then the original but not bad at all!
While I think it tastes really good if I am honest it's unlikely I would purchase it again, 50 calories for a tablespoon of spread which offers little nutritional benefit I don't think is particularly helpful for my style of eating, but if you regularly eat Nutella I would highly recommend it as a food swap to save you a few calories throughout the week! that being said, if I was really craving Nutella I would totally go buy this instead. I like that a whole jar is only 1,000 calories, which puts a very real and very easy number for me to visualize (if i ended up eating 1/3 of a jar it would only be 330 calories... not great but a number I could work into my daily calorie allowance!) Plus it helps that you can pick it up at your local pound store which I think is a great bargain!
what about you guys? have you had success working nut butter, cookie butter or other sweet spreads into your daily diet or is it too much of a temptation for you to have around the house?
Anyways onto the review! I really like chocolate "spread"... (I think the term "spread" should be used lightly... as if anyone actually spreads that stuff on anything!) Like I really really really like it. I LOVE the texture of it, and the taste off course! I don't often keep it in the house because it is one of the few things that I will binge eat like a mad woman! (Someday I will have to tell you about the cookie butter incident of Summer 2014) so a lower calorie alternative is welcome.
First thing to know about the Weight Watchers spread is that while it is lower calorie, it's NOT a low calorie food, often when fat is removed from from a product they have to replace the fat with something else (often with more sugar!) so while it has 66% less fat it certainly does not have 66% sugar. The good news with weight watchers products is they are often pretty good about getting creative about how the replace the fat. In this case I think they have used water and a thickening agent to bulk it out while keeping the calories lower. While I would suspect Weight Watchers products can't often make this claim, this spread has no artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners! don't get me wrong, I don't think this would fly on a whole foods diet but I have seen worse!
so how do the calories stack up? lets look at a tablespoon of each
15g Nutella 80 calories
15g WW Chocolate Spread 50 calories
so not bad! but for 1 tablespoon that's not a particularly great use of calories. And what about for the whole jar (an important fact for those of us who sometimes struggle to stop)
A whole jar of Nutella 400g has 2160 calories
A whole jar of WW Spread 300g has 1000 calories
so a significant calorie savings for those who might go overboard!
but the real question is... how does it taste!
Well the good news is it tastes great! the texture is not exactly the same as nutella, less creamy and a bit more jelly like, which sounds gross but I can assure you is still just as delightful! it has a very similar texture to American style hot fudge sauce and I bet would be delicious warm and drizzled over ice cream. The taste of hazelnuts is very much there, but not over powering and there is a very very fine grit, just enough to assure you that it's real ground hazelnuts in there! the aftertaste is in my opinion a bit more nutty then the original but not bad at all!
While I think it tastes really good if I am honest it's unlikely I would purchase it again, 50 calories for a tablespoon of spread which offers little nutritional benefit I don't think is particularly helpful for my style of eating, but if you regularly eat Nutella I would highly recommend it as a food swap to save you a few calories throughout the week! that being said, if I was really craving Nutella I would totally go buy this instead. I like that a whole jar is only 1,000 calories, which puts a very real and very easy number for me to visualize (if i ended up eating 1/3 of a jar it would only be 330 calories... not great but a number I could work into my daily calorie allowance!) Plus it helps that you can pick it up at your local pound store which I think is a great bargain!
what about you guys? have you had success working nut butter, cookie butter or other sweet spreads into your daily diet or is it too much of a temptation for you to have around the house?