Healthy Coffee Breaks with VitaTops

Give your coffee breaks a makeover with delicious and healthy Vitatops! Perfect warmed up or straight out of the box for a healthier snack treat.

Given my profession, I empathize wholeheartedly with the sentiment of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who remarked "I want Americans to enjoy food. I want them to celebrate food. I want them to, on occasions, to have big cakes and great things. And I want them to indulge."

Sometimes, however, I perhaps 'empathize' a bit too much.

As you might imagine, in the process of crafting new and varied 'indulgences,' my kitchen is very often a 'test kitchen,' since what you see here on Living the Gourmet, more often than not, goes through several incarnations before the final product is presented to you my audience. In short, 'eating' is a big part of my job description. Now, consider that when I'm not in my test kitchen preparing food I'm typically at my desk writing about food…and so I'm sure you can imagine my predicament in trying to remain fit and health conscious.

Now, I am more than sufficiently confident in myself to admit that I am not adept at denying my culinary cravings. Privation, and the ability to willingly partake of privation, is not my strong suit. Thus, the test kitchen becomes a place of 'copious tasting,' and whenever sitting at my desk writing about food has wetted my appetite, concentration goes out the window until that appetite has been sated.

Unsurprisingly, it's the latter that has become the larger problem, since that's where the bulk is spent. As most of you are probably well aware, 'sharking about' through the pantry, fridge, or 'quick stops' while on the go can wreck absolute havoc upon one's waist and wellbeing. Thus, finding a smarter way to indulge is a basic necessity for keeping fit.

Fortunately, I didn't have to find this smarter road towards sated cravings on my own.

Recently, my daughter started another fitness regimen, this one inclined towards nutrition, protein intake, and supplementation, and she found a great product at Stop & Shop that fits precisely that bill - VitaTops.

She introduced these to me the other day when I was sitting down for my midday coffee, and offered me a VitaTop in place of whatever I had grabbed from the fridge or scrounged from the pantry. I'll admit I was skeptical at first. After all, it's become a bit of a cliché that something intended as a 'healthy alternative' is typically lacking in the taste department. Gladly, that was assuredly not the case here.

Essentially, these are healthy muffin tops packed with a wide range of nutritional benefits, and prepared using only clean and simple ingredients. For example, the Superfood CranBran - prepared with chia seeds, oats, cranberries, and flaxseeds - contains three grams of protein and six grams of fiber per serving, in addition to a range of vitamins, and all of this comes at a cost of just half a gram of fat and one-hundred and twenty calories. Similarly, the Protein Banana Chocolate Chip flavor features a whopping eight grams of protein per serving, alongside the aforementioned six grams of fiber and vitamins. Since these are conveniently packed, it means whether I'm behind my desk or on the go, these are a readily available snack.

Nutritious, indulgent, waist-friendly, and convenient, these are hard to go wrong with, especially for someone like me who's constantly looking for new ways to sate a midday craving.

While I found my VitaTops Muffin Tops at Stop & Shop, you can find yours at your nearest Publix, Kroger, Shop-Rite, or Target locations. Also don't forget to check out this LINK for your VitaTops coupon!

Enjoy with Love!