I’ve tried a few store-brand foods in the past that I haven’t liked, so for awhile it made me hesitant to try again. But lately, it seems they’re getting better. In the latest issue of Consumer Reports (CR), trained testers took part in blind tests and compared national brands with store brands in 29 food categories. The results – 19 ties, four store brand wins, and six national brand victories. Here are the store-brand healthy foods that scored high:

• Salsa

Old El Paso Thick n’ Chunky Medium, 17 cents per serving
vs.
Kirkland Signature (Costco) Organic Medium, 10 cents per serving

Winner: Store brand – CR found Kirkland’s salsa more complex and better tasting, overall

• Multigrain spaghetti with omega-3

Barilla Plus, $2.25 per box
vs.
America’s Choice (A&P) Plus, $1.59 per box

Winner: Tie – Taste testers say the two are similar, and each has a mild, whole-grain flavor.

• Frozen strawberries

Dole Whole, 86 cents per serving
vs.
Kirkland Signature (Costco), 47 cents per serving

Winner: Tie – Size was the only noticeable difference for  taste testers.

• Dijon mustard

Grey Poupon, 5 cents per serving
vs.
GreenWise Market Organic (Publix), 3 cents per serving

Winner: Tie – CR says they are each tasty in their own way and would be happy with either one.

• Frozen broccoli

Birds Eye Steamfresh Premium Select Florets, 55 cents per serving
vs.
365 (Whole Foods) Florets, 38 cents per serving

Winner: Tie – Testers found both about the same, but say a slight natural sweetness in the Birds Eye is missing from the 365.

You can see more of CR’s report here.

Good to know you can find good tasting store-brand foods and save money, isn’t it? Do you have any favorite store-brand foods?

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Want to have amazing abs NOW? Lose one size in one week? Tone all your muscles with just one machine?  You’ve heard claims like these on infomercials for fitness equipment. But are any of them worth buying? Consumer Reports (CR) tested 9 products between $40 to $2500 sold through infomercials online or on TV and measured the muscle activity and calories burned as panelists used them. Here’s what they found:

Abdominal Exercisers:

• The Ab Rocket ($100) says it will give you the body you’ve always wanted, but most exercises were slightly less effective than traditional abdominal exercises in CR’s tests.

• The Rock-N-Go Exerciser ($230) barely felt like a workout to those who tried it. And CR says it was less effective at working the abs than traditional exercises on a mat.

• The Red Exerciser DX ($175) claims you’ll lose four inches off your midsection in two weeks. Consumer Reports finds some exercises targeted obliques at least as much as comparable floor moves, but might not work abs as well, so those four inches are staying put unless there’s some serious dieting.

Cardio:

• The Bowflex Treadclimber TC5000 ($2,500) – A good way to burn calories but CR says watch your step so you don’t trip.

• The CardioTwister ($200) brings variety to your aerobic workout but testing shows you would get more effective abdominal and leg workouts doing conventional exercises.

• The Tony Little Rock ’n Roll Stepper ($80) is less effective than conventional leg exercises but can be a fun cardio workout for beginners who can stay balanced on it.

Upper Body Devices:

• The Perfect Pushup ($40) and the Perfect Pullup ($100) are both good upper-body workouts if you want to add variety to your push-up and pull-up routines.

Total-Body Exercisers:

• The Fluidity Bar ($240) – The advanced workout burned fewer calories than a no-equipment circuit-training routine of lunges, crunches, and modified push-ups on the knees. Panelists liked the workouts but found the heavy device hard to move.

Before buying, Consumer Reports urges shoppers to:

Read the fine print. Some products come with disclaimers.  For example, the Ab Rocket Web site features dramatic before-and-after shots, but also adds, Results not typical. This person used the Ab Rocket Fat Blasting System, did cardio exercise regularly, and ate a reduced calorie diet.

Calculate the total cost. Remember to include shipping, if there is any, and sales tax.

Be careful of trials. A “30-day money-back guarantee” sounds good, but returning the product might be hard if it’s heavy or bulky, or if you have to pay shipping.

Ask about return policies. Verify the company’s return address and find out how long it takes to get a refund.

So how about you – anyone out there tried any infomercial fitness products? Found any good ones?

[Photo Credit: Consumer Reports]

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I’m always checking labels for hidden sodium and going easy on it – the stuff makes me hold water like a water balloon! So, I was happy to see the study about how more foods are ditching extra salt... only to learn a new report from Consumer Reports (CR) finds plenty of salt in foods you wouldn’t think to check.

CR analyzed 37 foods to check their sodium levels. Among the surprises:

• Twizzlers Black Licorice Twists – four strands have 200 milligrams; four strands of Twizzlers Strawberry Licorice have 115 mg.
• Raisin-bran cereals – Kellogg’s has 350 mg per cup; Post, 300 mg; Total, 230 mg.
• Jell-O Instant Pudding & Pie Filling Mix – the chocolate flavor contains 420 mg per serving; lemon, 310 mg; chocolate fudge, 380 mg.
• Prego Heart Smart Traditional Italian Sauce – this has an American Heart Association logo on the label which means saturated fat and cholesterol are restricted, but not that it’s low in sodium. This sauce has 430 mg per half-cup.
• Aunt Jemima Original Pancake and Waffle Mix – prepared as directed, the pancakes have about 200 mg of sodium each.

Dietary guidelines recommend healthy adults get no more than 2,300 mg of sodium a day. To control high blood pressure, you should aim for no more than 1,500 mg. But the average American takes in 2,900 to 4,300 mg – yikes!

Remember, a high-sodium diet can increase your risk of high blood pressure and might also raise the risk of asthma, kidney stones, osteoporosis, and stomach cancer.

How to understand sodium labels
The more you know, the better. This glossary can help you to decipher sodium-related claims, which are regulated by the federal government:

• Sodium free (or zero sodium, no sodium, without sodium, free of sodium, trivial source of sodium) – Fewer than 5 milligrams of sodium per serving.

• Very low in sodium – No more than 35 mg per serving.

• Low in sodium – No more than 140 mg per serving.

• Light in sodium – At least 50 percent less sodium per serving than a full-sodium version.

• Reduced sodium (or lower sodium, less sodium) – At least 25 percent less sodium per serving than a full-sodium version of the same food.

• Unsalted (or no salt added, without added salt) – No salt was added during processing. If the food is not sodium-free, the label must say, “Not a sodium-free food.”

• Healthy – For an individual food, no more than 480 mg of sodium per serving. For a meal (like a frozen dinner), no more than 600 mg.

Between hidden sodium, hidden sugar, and everything else – you really have to be careful out there and arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible!

So, did any of the CR “surprises” surprise you? Do you watch the amount of salt in your diet?

[Photo Credit: stock.xchng]

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Question: What temperature should your Thanksgiving turkey reach before it’s done? Answer: For it to be safe to eat, it should be 165-degrees in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast. You do use a meat thermometer, don’t you??? And of course, you want it to be accurate, so check out which ones did well in Consumer Reports’ (CR) tests.

The Testing
CR looked at 11 meat thermometers – the ones you leave in food as it cooks, as well as those you poke in and read instantly.

Besides testing temperature accuracy, CR measured how quickly each meat thermometer adjusted to temperature changes. The fastest took 10 seconds or less; the slowest, more than 30 seconds. Also tested – the temperature range each thermometer could read. The widest was 0 to 450º F, which makes it more useful for things like deep frying; the narrowest was up to only 180º.

Bottom line
If you want a meat thermometer you insert before cooking, CR says try the digital Polder THM-360 ($30) – it has two probes that can track the temperature of two different foods.

If you’d rather check the temperature of cooking meat instantly, CR recommends the digital Taylor Weekend Warrior ($16) – it’s about half the price as the Polder and is very easy to use. It features a “hold” button that freezes the displayed temperature until you can remove the food from the oven, and a “max” button to show the highest temperature the thermometer has reached.

So, really… will you be using a meat thermometer this Thanksgiving?

Photo Credit: Consumer Reports

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Thinking pie for dessert this Thanksgiving? Consumer Reports shows us how some of the best sellers stack up when it comes to fat and calories. The “X” is next to the pies with the fewest calories per ounce.

And if you’re looking for fewer calories and less fat in your holiday dessert, check out this recipe for HG’s Too-Good-To-Deny Pumpkin Pie. Yum!

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There are plenty of times when it’s a no-brainer to know which foods have more calories and fat than others – say, celery compared to a Mrs. Field’s cookie. Other times, not so much. So, I thought it would be fun to take a little quiz from Consumer Reports. See if you know which restaurant food in each pair below has fewer calories and less fat.

Consumer Reports Food Quiz

Click here for the answers. No cheating.

How’d you do?

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Answers to Consumer Reports Food Quiz

Tell me how you did over here.

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Are your kids eating cereals that are more than half sugar? A new Consumer Reports (CR) review of popular children’ cereals finds 11 of them have as much sugar as a glazed donut.

Interestingly (and quite disturbing, IMO), some of the brands have more sugar and sodium when they are sold in the U.S. than they do when they are sold in other countries – the same brands! Why is that?

CR found two cereals – Kellogg’s Honey Smacks and Post Golden Crisp – are more than 50 percent sugar (by weight) and nine are at least 40 percent sugar.

Top Scores
CR gave “Very Good” marks to 4 cereals:

The review shows Cheerios, Kix, Honey Nut Cheerios, and Life all have relatively lower sugar and higher dietary fiber – the two categories CR considers most important. Cheerios tops the list with only 1 gram of sugar and 3 grams of fiber per serving.

But 23 of the top 27 cereals marketed to children rated only Good or Fair for nutrition. Here’s the breakdown from CR:

Photo and Chart Credits: Consumer Reports

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The best yogurt for kids has to be healthy AND something they will eat, right? But how much sugar is in the brands they gulp down? To find the best-tasting yogurts with less sugar, Consumer Reports ShopSmart had 30 children of its staffers taste-test three lower-sugar brands – two flavors each. Here’s what the kids said they would eat:

The Winner…

Dannon Danimals – 25% Less Sugar Lowfat Yogurt

Flavors tested: Totally Vanilla and Strawberry Explosion

Kid-tester results: Both flavors ranked high for flavor as well as texture. 53-percent of the testers said they’d eat the Totally Vanilla again; half said they’d go back for more Strawberry Explosion.

A Close Second…

Yoplait Kids – 25% Less Sugar Lowfat Yogurt

Flavors tested: Strawberry and Vanilla

Kid-tester results: Strawberry was more popular than Vanilla. Many of the kids said the Vanilla wasn’t sweet, but about half said they’d eat it again.

Not so hot…

Stonyfield Farm Organic Yokids – 25% Less Sugar Lowfat Yogurt

Flavors tested: Strawberry and Banilla (banana and vanilla combo)

Kid-tested results: Both flavors rated much lower than Dannon and Yoplait. Some kids said it was watery. More than half said they wouldn’t go back for seconds.

Quick Stats…

All three of the lower-sugar brands have 90 to 100 calories and 13 grams of sugars per serving compared to 110 calories and 17 grams of sugars in regular kids’ Yoplait Trix Lowfat Yogurt. They also have 20-30 percent of the daily value for calcium compared to 10 percent in the Trix.

Anyone out there had their kids taste-test any of these? Or tried them yourself?

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I finally got to try the Wii Fit last weekend in between the cookies and cupcakes at the BlogHer08 conference. I played one of the balance games – Table Tilt – and did quite well, I must say. Consumer Reports (CR) has also been busy trying out the new fitness game. I first told you about Consumer Reports’ preliminary review of the Wii Fit a few weeks ago. As promised, here are highlights from CR’s full report.

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YOGA
Testers said they could get away without doing poses the right way and don’t think the Wii Fit is good for yoga beginners. But if you’re experienced, it may give you a new perspective on balance and an interesting way to practice.

STRENGTH
Panelists did push-ups, torso twists, single leg extensions, and lunges. Most of them found the activities challenging in both strength and balance, but only two of the five men found them enjoyable compared to nine out of ten of the women.

AEROBICS
Testers tried two of the four aerobic games at the basic play level: hula-hoop and basic step. Most panelists found the activities entertaining but not very demanding aerobically, but hula-hooping seemed more challenging than stepping. Half of the women who hooped felt they got at least some muscle workout.

BALANCE GAMES
These were the big hit among the panelists – they tried activities like soccer, ski slalom, ski jump, and table tilt. Nine of 10 women and four of five men felt the games challenged their balance, and everyone found them enjoyable.

BOTTOM LINE FROM CR
“There’s no question the Wii Fit provides entertainment. Whether it will enhance your fitness depends largely on how fit and active you already are and how intensely you exercise while using the Wii Fit. Each exercise lasts only one to three minutes at the basic level, and the system stops after each game for a scoring and explanation sequence; that disruption could prove vexing for serious exercisers who’d rather just keep moving. But for folks who need motivation to get off the couch, or people interested in a different, more health-oriented approach to gaming, Wii Fit definitely offers a unique and potentially appealing package.”

The Wii Fit review from Consumer Reports has more details, so check it out if you want to know more.

Anyone out there using the Wii Fit ? What do you think of it? If you haven’t tried it yet, do you want to? I would definitely do the balance games again.

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