Muffin or Muffin Top?

When I hear the word Muffin I think of two things:

One: Be it blueberry, bran, banana, cinnamon…….the airy, sweet, delicious aroma of the warm breakfast item: Muffins. Muffins come in all shapes and sizes, though if you buy them freshly made, they’re usually huge. You can find muffins at your local bakery, grocery store, and at many of the chain coffee businesses.

Two: The not so pleasant mental image of too-tight fitting jeans that point out all of your mid-section flaws: the Muffin Top. With today’s women’s jeans fashion trends, I’m sure all of you know what I’m talking about (I’ll spare you all the distasteful imagery that you can find when Google imaging “muffin top”)

Take a Dunkin Donuts Blueberry Muffin:

One muffin contains 470 calories (150 from fat!), 17g fat (3g saturated fat), 500mg sodium, 38g sugar, and only 3g fiber!

Even their “smart” version is really not all that smart. One Reduced Fat Blueberry Muffin contains 400 calories (still 45 from fat), 5g fat (2g saturated fat), 490mg sodium, 33g sugar, and still only 3g fiber!

That will definitely help to build a person’s Muffin Top!

So what are we supposed to do? Muffins are one of the classic, delicious breakfast items available in today’s American diet. Yet, they consist of a ridiculous number of calories!

The lovely ladies at Hungry Girl introduced me to a brand called Vitalicious. The Vitalicious company has created a GREAT muffin alternative to satisfy your muffin cravings, control portion size, and introduce more fiber into your morning diet. They do all of this without sacrificing the taste! And, believe me; I’ve tried almost all of them! The deep chocolate is to DIE for! They also have blueberry, banana, several flavors of bran, and corn muffins (yet to try, but I’m dying to do so! You can only order the corn muffin flavor online as of right now). You can buy them pre-made, though you get more for your money if you buy the mix and bake them yourself (plus fresh tastes better, in my opinion).

Pretty great, huh? Well, it gets even better! The awesome people of Vitalicious also provide higher fiber, healthier mixes for cakes and brownies! My girlfriends and I call them “healthy brownies” and have made them a staple in all of our ladies-night get-togethers.

So what are you waiting for? Go out, buy a mix, bake it and try it! I promise you won’t be disappointed. (Try adding things to the mixes too! I love to mash up a banana and mix it into the Vitalicious Banana muffin mix before baking.)

Enjoy the Muffin without the Muffin Top.