Mini Product Review: Ben & Jerry's Dairy Free Ice Cream Chocolate Fudge Brownie

Hi There!

OH. MY. GAWD.

Finally! Since they announced that Ben & Jerry's was going to make vegan ice cream, I have been waiting and waiting. Just a month or less time ago they announced the release of the vegan ice cream line by Ben & Jerry's! And then I had to wait until today for them to reach this side of the country. I then had to wait until a store near me carried them. I even walked right past the Ben & Jerry's section because I just assumed the store I was at still didn't carry any of them. I had to do a double take when I almost walked past an end freezer of one of the isles that had on the top shelf two of the four flavors. I am pretty sure everyone around me thought I was some crazy person because I literally started jumping up and down and I had the dumbest smile on my face. I had my phone out in a second to take a picture and send it to the boyfriend. I FINALLY FOUND THEM! Buying it was a must. I was tempted to buy all the flavors but that particular store only had three of the four flavors in stock so I decided if I couldn't get all four at once I should just get one to start. Not to mention they are about $5.49 each. Yes, vegan ice cream tends to be more expensive than normal ice cream and keep in mind it is also a new product so the demand hasn't grown yet. As more and more people want it the cheaper it should get but I never see it going below $4. 

Alright, so as I mentioned above there are four flavors; Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Coffee Caramel Fudge, P.B. & Cookie and Chunky Monkey. I am most excited for the caramel one and naturally that was the flavor the store didn't have :( but I am determined to find it; Whole Foods don't let me down. I was tempted to try the P.B. & Cookies since, I love Oreos and peanut butter together but I, sadly, can't eat peanut butter, so I decided I didn't want to get sick so didn't go with that one. That is not to say I won't be trying it in the future because I plan to. Chunky Monkey is a flavor I never even tried before I went vegan and this is my opportunity to try it (and I will). However, I have an intolerance to bananas, so again I wan't feeling like getting sick. So that left........

I typically prefer vanilla based flavors but given my options and my desire to try all 4 eventually, I decided to go with the chocolate. I told myself dinner first and then dessert. And the whole time I was making dinner I told myself that I don't have to eat the whole thing but if I do it's not the end of the world. It's okay to have sweets from time to time. The whole thing won't make me fat. It won't make me ugly. I'll be okay. I even waited almost an hour between dinner and eating the ice cream. 

So as you can see it's a chocolate ice cream base with brownie chunks mixed in. Over all it was good but way too rich for my taste. It was rich and creamy but then you get that chewy bite of brownie which was my favorite part. It was so rich I couldn't finish it. I had about 3 or 4 bites left which is a big deal for me because I always finish my ice cream. :) I probably won't buy this particular flavor again, not because it was gross but because it was too rich for me. And if I ever have a craving for chocolate ice cream I would prefer So Delicious brand Cashew Milk Dark Chocolate Truffle. But try it out for yourself and make your own conclusion.

I did take a peek at the nutritional information just out of curiosity not because I track that stuff (I don't think anyone should calorie count or follow macros or whatever). But if anyone is interested, it does have more calories and fat in comparison to So Delicious brand ice cream but less than Coconut Bliss brand.

When I try the other flavors I will try to do a review on each of those too.

Peace & Love,

The Punk Rock Vegan

Military Diet

Hi there!
When I hear the word 'diet' my mind automatically thinks of restriction and limited food choices. And more times than not this would be accurate. There are just too many fad diets out there confusing intelligent people and convincing others there's something wrong with them. One in particular has crossed my path recently. Making claims like, you can lose 10 pounds in 3 days, I'm talking about the Military Diet.

Below is a link to the website where I found the 3 day menu for this diet, as well as a video summary. 

3 Day Meal Plan http://themilitarydiet.com/military-diet-plan/

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufuKbmm8Z8o

From just reading part of the introduction, the writer even admits it's low calorie, in other words, it's a restricted diet. This diet is comprised of very specific food items with few options of substitutes or alternatives. The substitutes they do provide, I'm not sure if they are better or worse than the original set foods. Everything just seems really gross. When it requires you to drink tea or coffee it's followed by 'with caffeine' (and they don't even spell caffeine correctly). It claims that 1 cup of coffee contains about 5 calories and that's it's okay to sneak a cup here and there, as long as you eliminate those whooping 5 calories somewhere else, meaning you must restrict your food intake even more. Truth is most coffees contain less than 5 calories (more like 1) and they are making 5 calories seem like a huge deal. When actually it's not. They put such an emphasis on caffeine because this diet makes you rely on stimulants to keep you functioning. Everything you're allowed to eat on this diet is, for the most part, very long in fat and carbs; low fat is, yes a good thing but low carb, no thank you, in my book. And I should remind you: you shouldn't be ALLOWED to eat, you should just eat. With that being said let's jump into this meal plan...

Calorie Count

1 cup of coffee or tea (with caffeine) = I'll give them their '5' calories for the coffee. 0 for tea.

1 slice of toast = about 100 calories

2 tablespoons of peanut butter = about 200 calories

1/2 grapefruit (YOU DON'T EVEN GET A WHOLE FRUIT) = about 40 calories

BREAKFAST TOTAL = 345

345 calories is not nearly enough for any size human to start off the day and keep them functioning and awake throughout the whole day as well. If breakfast is really the most important meal of the day  then when it comes to this diet the word 'important' isn't very significant. This diet is already starting out on a bad foot with me.

Any diet that requires you to eat tuna from a can should be the first red flag this diet is way off. This lunch is literally nothing. It's bland. It's disgusting. Without even calculating the calories in this meal I would say it's again about 300. And that is nothing!

Moving right along to dinner. Firstly, you shouldn't be eating the flesh of another creature but that isn't actually going to be my main focus for now. It's actually the amount. 3 ounces is about the size of a pack of playing cards which is incredibly restrictive because meat is calorifically dense. Even when you get fruit or vegetables it's still restrictive and the amount is limited. Vegetables and fruits should be eaten in abundance not sparingly. Eating meat has long term repercussions. You should be focused on putting the best possible options into your body not the most harmful. Even with the meat and the ice cream, this meal is barely anything which in turn makes the day calorie total = nearly nothing. 

On to DAY TWO!!! (doesn't get any better...only worse but that's just me)

It's hard to tell the exact amount of calories for the breakfast due to the fact that depending on how you cook the egg will influence the calories. I hate that you're not allowed while fruit, only half. Again I repeat, that's nothing! And you don't even get coffee that day.

You're going to notice my responses to each meal are going to get shorter and shorter because I would be repeating myself a lot only because THIS DIET IS BORING! ALL THE SAME! AND NOT A GOOD IDEA!!!!!

YAY! You get to eat white, mushy, SHIT! Cottage cheese has to be one of the nastiest foods on the planet. 1) because it comes from dairy; one of the cruelest industries on the planet and 2) because, well, just look at it! Wait, another egg?! That's just adding unnecessary cholesterol and fat to your body, not to mention supporting murder and cruelty, yet again. And saltines are just sad, delicious but still sad.  

This meal looks like you get the most in comparison to the other meals but that's not saying much because, hotdogs? Really? Can you really call hotdogs food when you can't even tell exactly what it is they put in them? You probably have to eat them plain too, which is sounding just bland. Again you only get half of a fruit (gotta limit those carbs) and while you do get vegetables the amount is very few. Even the amount of ice cream is cut in half. It's like what's the point at this point?! You starve yourself all day and then you don't even get a full serving of dessert. Not to mention is plain, old vanilla. Now I shouldn't be getting on the flavour of ice cream when really it's the amount of everything I have a problem with but honestly, since everything else is so bland and boring I feel like you should get to live a little with the ice cream flavour. And I feel like I should also mention: it better be dairy free ice cream ;)

YES! You finally get a full fruit, granted it's a small apple which doesn't have enough sugar or carbs to get you running in the morning but I guess it's something. And why cheese? I guess the makers of this diet didn't want people to think this is starvation so they had to throw in a high fat food. But that is what this diet essentially is, it's starvation. 

I don't think I even have to say anything about this abomination.

This just seems like very little. As each day goes by each meal seems to get progressively less and less and worse and worse. 

This diet is pushes your body to the point of starvation. Everything is bland and boring. Maybe the rumors are true, maybe you can lose 10 pounds in 3 days. But do you really want to, like this? This diet trains your body to starve and it creates a mindset where you have an unhealthy relationship with food and an unrealistic view of food. Food is fuel, it is nourishment and this diet doesn't show that, instead it lies to you about what food is meant for. So what if you lose those 10 pounds, it's all just gonna be gained back the moment you return to normal, healthy eating habits. 

I just have to throw in my stance on calorie counting because normally I don't think it's a good idea, I've focused on it so much for this diet however only because I want to emphasis the minuscule amount of food you are limited to. 

Conclusion: The Military Diet is BLAH.

Until next time.

Peace & Love,

The Punk Rock Vegan