If you simply must have a chocolate ending to your meal, then there is no reason to go for a high sugar version. The Jell-O sugar free version is JUST as tasty. There is no down side here.

The double chocolate pudding has three layers in it - a dark chocolate, a milk chocolate, then a dark chocolate. This provides a combination of flavor types in the single package. Each package is about 100g, a normal sized dessert cup.

The flavor is very rich and decadent. The key here is not to snarf it down in 2 seconds flat! If you're just going to shovel a food into your mouth, you're not going to appreciate it, no matter how wonderful it is. Instead, really savor it. Appreciate each creamy mouthful. If you sit and eat all 6 servings mindlessly while watching TV, that's a sure way to gain weight even if you eat low calorie food. If this is going to be your chocolate treat, then treat it appropriately and appreciate it.

Scarily, a normal small serving of chocolate pudding has 25g of carbs in it!! Talk about FULL of sugar. That is awful for your waist as well as your teeth. This Jell-O version with Splenda has 7g of carbs per serving. This may still seem high, but remember, this is a chocolatey dessert. It's already a luxury item.

While they play up the "Calci-YUM!" nutrition on the front label of this package, it only has 10% of your daily calcium. You'd have to eat 10 servings of this chocolate to get a full daily amount! It's much better to get your calcium pills into you daily vs relying on chocolate snacks to provide your nutrition. The only other nutrition here is 2% iron - I think you can imagine how I feel about that :)

Still, there is 0g of trans fat in here, and only 7% of your sodium. So it's not as "really bad" for you as many other junk food desserts out on the market. There are 7g of sugar alcohols per serving - Xylitol - so those sensitive to sugar alcohols might want to try just one and see how it affects their tummies. We didn't have any issues at all here while we ate them.

If you're eating high sugar pudding, no matter WHAT diet you're on, then definitely at least switch to these. These are a huge step in the right direction. But in general, these sorts of things should not be daily staples of your diet. They should be an occasional treat, mixed in with a far more healthy set of foods.


Lisa Shea's Library of Low Carb Books