What's in a nugget?

I’m kind of dorky in a lot of ways (you’re supposed to act surprised by this statement). And lately, one of those ways is my obsession with eating healthy - ignoring the fact that this week I dominated chili dogs and cheez its. I’m not saying it’s dorky to eat foods that are good for you, but I am saying that it’s dorky to get as excited as I do when I find healthy recipes and snacking alternatives that actually taste good.

You see, I do not like to work out. Actually, I despise it. Twenty minutes on a treadmill feels like an hour to me. And although I still try to work out a few times a week (I'm actually trying to run jog these days, a post on that soon), I never end up working out as much as I should. To make up for my inconsistent workouts, I have tried to introduce better eating habits to make sure I don’t add to the weight I gained in college and never really lost.

A year ago in January, I started counting calories. I never thought I could or would be one of those people but I finally decided I HAD to be one of those people. The days of coming home from high school and dipping my spoon first into peanut butter and then into ice cream and never gaining a pound, have long since passed. The days of eating an entire bag of popcorn by myself in college or going to Taco Bell or Andy’s Hot Dogs and dominating a “fourth” meal at the end of a night out really caught up with me. All of the sudden my metabolism really slowed down and everything I ate, went straight to my gut, butt and thighs - I might turn that into a catchy little tune. "My gut, my butt my butt my thighs - check it out." I have digressed.

So I started counting calories - only during the week, on the weekends I still allow myself to make bad decisions, and I forced my eating habits to change. I try to make smarter choices when I grocery shop and I try to make even smarter choices when I pack my lunch because even though my eating habits have changed, my desire to eat snacks (and lots of them) didn’t just disappear. So I try to find ways to snack but not gain weight (i.e. eat healthy snacks). Last week, I tried another new "snack." I can't believe I'm referring to yogurt as a snack. What has my life become? Where are the chips and dip, people?

Anyway, I was stocking up on our yogurt supply, a staple "snack" in the Robinson household, when I saw some prepackaged yogurt/granola paired together and a lightbulb went off; what a great idea to add something crunchy to your yogurt! But instead of granola (which may have at least had some hint of sugar or something that tastes good) I went straight to my trusted Kashi foods and found their seven-grain nugget cereal. Although I really wished I could have done a taste test before buying the huge box, I bought it anyway with plans to pair it with my yogurt "snacks" at work. The kashi nuggets are filled with lots of healthy goodness (7 g protein and 7 g of fiber in just half a cup) and really low on the bad stuff like sugar, cholesterol and carbs.

Blah, blah, blah the Kashi nuggets are good for you. But how do they taste? Since I bought a huge box of the small little nuggets, that will take me at least a year to finish, I was quite disappointed to find out that they taste awful. I've never tasted cardboard before but I bet it's quite similar in taste to the Kashi nuggets which is nothing. They taste like nothing. That being said, they do add a nice crisp texture to my yogurt and I do like that. Maybe I can just pretend that the crunchiness is coming from chips or something.

I also have to say that the nuggets/yogurt combo really fills you up fast! I could barely finish my blueberry yogurt today! It must be all that fibery goodness! That being said, the lack of sugar in these nuggets did not go unnoticed with me. Other than crunching in your mouth, the Kashi nuggets are not very appealing to the old taste buds. My new strategy is to let the nuggets soak in the yogurt for a bit before I eat them. This has helped. It gives them a chance to absorb some of the yogurt goodness and gives them some, albeit small, flavor.

I'm only on week #2 of this new "snack" and I have to tell you, it's getting easier to eat but it still doesn't look like I've had any. The box is completely full! There is absolutely no chance that Pat is going to go anywhere near this stuff. I had him try a few and he acted like it was poison. So it's up to me to finish it. I'm going to try and be creative and use the nuggets in stuffing and any other recipe I can think of. There will probably be several blogs devoted to "how I got rid of the nuggets."

They sure don't make eating healthy easy, do they?

Disclaimer: Kashi did not pay me to write this rave review of their product.