Category: Nutrition

In today’s review, we look at Zevia Zero Calorie Energy Drinks.  We want to determine are these drinks are healthy and whether they are keto and low-carb friendly.  Another important question to answer is, do they taste good?  There are plenty of “healthy” products out there that just don’t taste that good and are therefore useless.

So, first let’s determine if Zevia energy is healthy and low-carb.  The nutrition label gives us a couple of different clues.  First, this is a product that contains zero calories, fat, and carbohydrates. 

Second, the ingredient list contains no artificial sweeteners (such as aspartame or sucralose) that we would want to avoid.  Based on these two observations, I can confidently say that Zevia Energy Drinks are healthy and keto-friendly.

It is for this reason that in our Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky weight loss clinics, we will recommend Zevia Energy drinks as an alternative to Red Bull or Monster.

Zevia Soda… What is it?  Is it healthy?  Does it make you gain weight?  From time to time, we like to highlight certain products that we recommend in our Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky weight loss centers and explain why you should be using them.  Zevia Soda is the subject for today.

Zevia Soda is a calorie-free soda alternative that comes in a variety of flavors.  What makes Zevia special (and why we recommend it in each of our Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky – Florence weight loss centers) is that it contains no artificial sweeteners.  Artificial sweeteners (like what is found in traditional diet sodas) have long been known to be linked with obesity and weight gain. 

Zevia Soda, on the other hand, uses stevia leaf to achieve its sweet flavor.  This natural, zero-calorie sweetener has not been linked to weight gain and may actually have some health benefits.  Zevia Soda can be found in most grocery stores.  Find out more about our weight loss clinics in Cincinnati or Florence, Kentucky, by visiting us.

It’s time for another product review.  In this blog post we are going to talk about an interesting product when it comes to weight loss –Hershey’s Special Dark Zero Sugar.  What is it?  Why is it “interesting?  These and other questions are what I hope to answer today.

First off, Hershey’s Special Dark Zero Sugar is a product made by the Hershey’s company and marketed as a lower carb option to traditional chocolate bars.  It is typically sold in bags of mini chocolates, similar to what kids get at Halloween.  It seems to be gaining popularity as in or Cincinnati and Florence, KY weight loss offices we have had several inquiries about it.  So, let’s first compare the calories in the zero sugar product in question to traditional dark chocolate made by Hershey’s.  Hershey’s Special Dark Zero sugar contains 120 calories per serving (32g).  This equates to 3.75 calories per gram of chocolate.  Traditional Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate, on the other hand, contains 200 calories per serving (41g).  This equates to 4.9 calories per serving.  So clearly there are calories saved by choosing Hershey’s Special Dark Zero Sugar over the traditional Special Dark.  In fact, you save about 25% of the calories in the sugar free variety.

The interesting thing about Hershey’s Special Dark Zero Sugar is how they make it “zero sugar”.  The secret weapon here is maltitol.  Maltitol is a sugar alcohol that tastes extremely sweet (similar to sugar), but is not easily digestible by the human body.  Because it passes through the body without being absorbed the calories it contains are typically not counted in the total on the nutrition label.  This is common practice with non-nutritive sweeteners like maltitol. Maltitol and other sugar alcohols used to sweeten foods, are not silver bullets, however.  There has been some evidence that consuming to much of them can cause digestive difficulty.  This is due to the fact that your body has a very difficult time breaking it down and absorbing it.  A recent study has also linked sugar alcohol to cardiovascular problems.

I remain a fan of the use of sugar alcohols as replacements for sugar when someone is trying to lose weight.  I believe that when used in moderation, like most things, it will not negatively affect health.  Time will tell if more research links sugar alcohols to health problems, but as of now I don’t feel the evidence is compelling enough to warrant completely abandoning them.

So what is my final verdict on Hershey’s Special Dark Zero Sugar?  Well, this is a tricky one.  It is lower in calories than the original and it does contain a non-nutritive sweetener that I approve of.  The difficulty for me is that Hershey’s Special Dark Zero Sugar is still a high calorie food.  Just because it is lower calorie than it’s “fully loaded” counterpart does not necessarily mean that it is good for weight loss.  I believe that this product is specifically aimed at people participating in the keto diet.  Keto is fine for what it is but if you are looking for the most rapid way to metabolize body fat, keto is lacking.  So my final verdict is that for low cal dirty keto (our clients preferred way of eating for rapid fat loss), Hershey’s Special Dark Zero Sugar just does not fit.