As Kenneth Burke once said, and as us rhetoricians are fond of iterating, every act of selection is an act of reflection and also an act of deflection. Every time that we make a statement or an argument, we focus on one thing but neglect something else. This is reflective of our position in life and our experiences; it also can be an indication of what we are trying to hide or of what we are ignorant of.
I recently received a gift card for a grocery store as an Easter present from the mother dear, with instructions to spend at least part of the money on items that I have always wanted to try but would not normally buy. After perusing the aisles, and noticing that Vitatops were on sale, I couldn’t resist: I picked up a couple packages of them, eager to give them a try after all of the rave reviews that I’ve been hearing from elsewhere in the health blogging community. Vitatops and Vitamuffins are a brand of baked goods with a reputation for being the healthier alternative to cookies and granola bars.
I chose the deep chocolate flavour and the apple berry flavour, and when I arrived home I decided to check on the Internet to see what other people were saying about these two particular flavours. When I went to the Vitalicious website, one of the first things I noticed was a link to compare a Vitatop with an apple. The Vitalicious company gives the nutritional information of an apple next to a Vitatop; it states that
“The Vitamuffin has less sugar and more nutrients than an apple, plus the advantages of whole grains, berries, and just as much fiber!”
Well, yes: this is true, if you look only at the nutritional information. But what about the ingredient list?
Vitatops contain fairly decent ingredients. The ingredients are recognizable and there are certainly added vitamins and minerals to the products. That being said, these products contain added sugar and are not a whole food.
An apple might have 16g of sugar in it, but these are naturally-occurring sugars, and are therefore not something that we need to be concerned about (unless you have diabetes or another medical condition in which you might want to be a bit more careful about how many of them you consume in one sitting). A Vitatop might have “only” 10 grams of sugar, but these are all added sugars, and that is the kind of sugar that we should be cutting back on. Four grams of sugar is equal to one teaspoon, so eating one Vitatop is like opening a bag of sugar and eating a couple spoonfuls. An apple is definitely the better choice.
Vitatops contain plenty of necessary vitamins and minerals which apples don’t have, but it’s important to remember the cost of eating these kinds of food on a regular basis. Yes, you’ll get 50% of your recommended amount of vitamin B12 from eating one muffin, which you wouldn’t get any of if you ate one apple, but you’ll also be consuming added sugars (the deep chocolate flavour contains at least five different kinds of sugar, for example).
Vitatops are certainly a healthier alternative to other kinds of commercial baked goods, but I would not go so far as to say that they are a “health food” or that they are “better than an apple”. Although there is not a definitive suggestion for how much added sugar we should restrict ourselves to per day, some food pyramids say that one person should not eat any more than 10 grams of added sugars per day. Disregarding any other added sugars you might be eating from other baked goods, condiments, beverages, canned goods, processed foods, or sugar added to coffee or oatmeal, that one Vitatop would still contain your entire day’s worth of added sugar. Even with the food pyramids that suggest we should have no more than 25 grams of added sugar a day, the Vitatop would consist of almost half of your daily intake.
The apple, on the other hand, contains none of your daily allowance for added sugars.
Vitatops are a sweet and healthier treat, but they are no match for a fresh, crisp apple!
I’ve always wondered about those things. I had one once and they are quite tasty and the nutrition info is certainly pretty good. But I’ve always thought they should still be considered a treat not a diet staple. They should be “part of a complete breakfast” as the cereal commercials claim, perhaps by toasting the Vitatop, spread on some peanut butter and have an apple on the side.
Exactly! A Vitatop with peanut butter and an apple would be delicious and quite well-rounded. They ARE quite tasty, and the nutritional information IS pretty good, but they still aren’t something we should eat every day- and we certainly shouldn’t skimp out on fruit and other whole foods by eating a Vitatop instead.
I find them totally ick! (Even the deep chocolate one . . . I was horribly disappointed.) Not tried them with peanut butter though! Hrmm . . . Would you like me to send you the ones I have in my freezer?
Sure! 😀 I’ve only tried the apple berry cinnamon one so far; it tasted better with Earth Balance than by itself. I think that adding a bit of topping is the key!
Sagan, I love that you posted this! I was actually turned off by all the Vita love that is in the Food-Log blog world. I mean, this is still a processed food made who knows where and who knows how long ago. How can eating one daily be alright?
The fact that they compare themselves to an apple on their site does not endear me to them. Great post from a different POV!
YES YES YES. A processed food is a processed food, no matter how you look at it. Here’s to eating real food, Andrea!