This started out as a facebook status update, but it was just too long of a story so I had to blog it!!! So I was excited to find sugar-free jelly-bellies in the toy store today. The package boasted 40% fewer calories! After grabbing about $6.00 worth of regular ones for Mike, I snagged me some sugar-free babies to try out. Cool.
On our way home from the mall, I enjoyed my little snack pack of "good for you" jelly bellies delighted that I could enjoy these with 40% less guilt. I hadn't figured out the points yet, but knew they would work with my plan for the day. They were actually pretty good! I could tell they weren't the real deal, but they still had all the good flavors - even the buttered popcorn (nasty!).
I got home, made dinner and very soon after dinner my tummy started to grumble and feel upset. I started to feel a little bloated, my stomach was making churning sounds and yes, there was flatulence (this blog is not for the faint of heart). I chalked this tummy situation to being excited/nervous about heading to Mt Union for Nick's orientation tomorrow as I was getting clothes packed, etc. After all, my stomach has a history for going on overdrive when something exciting is coming up (I know, more "TMI", but it is my blog, afterall).
After getting caught up with laundry, etc, I headed downstairs to do my tracking in my 3-month journal, like all good little weight watchers should. I retrieved the jelly-belly wrapper from the bottom of my purse amongst the 6 packs of gum (seriously, I have 6 different flavors going right now - all sugar free!), and I was shocked and relieved at the same time.
As I looked for the calories, fiber, and fat to do my point calculation, I noticed the giant warning on the back of the package in all capital letters outlined by a red box (also on the front of the package as I later discovered) stating the following: "CONSUMPTION MAY CAUSE STOMACH DISCOMFORT AND/OR LAXATIVE EFFECT, INDIVIDUAL TOLERANCE WILL VARY". Yes and yes. Oh, and this is the best part, "WE SUGGEST STARTING WITH 8 BEANS OR LESS." No shit, (in a matter of speaking), it actually says that. YIKES! Well, the whole entire 3.1 oz package contained 2 servings of about 35 beans per serving....and yes, I ate them all! Come on - 40% fewer calories than regular ones - with Splenda and everything!! Whatever that is. In my defense, the reduced calorie and sugar-free propaganda on the package was much bigger than the warning about the stomach thing. Come to find out, there was 8g of fiber in each serving! Is that really necessary?! I got a flashback to those "Wow" chips from the 1990's, which had the same effect on me and a similar warning on the package. As a matter of fact, I knew women in college who would eat them as a diet aid (if you get my drift).
So, what is the lesson learned here? Besides the obvious one - READ THE LABEL!! Sometimes you just gotta have the regular stuff. Oh, and if you do eat more than the recommended trial of 8 sugar-free jelly bellies in one sitting? Stay home!! :-)
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