(upbeat music)
- Hey, Munchies, welcome to the channel
if you're new, or if you're not,
I'm Alyssia and I am stoked you're here.
Today, I am doing a taste test video.
I am gonna be reviewing packaged cookies
and focusing specifically on sugar content
with little nutrition label, educational bits sprinkled in.
It's gonna be fun.
This video is sponsored by Thrive Market.
They are an online membership-based grocery store
on a mission to making healthy living easy
and affordable for everyone.
My approach was pretty much go on Thrive Market
and order every box of cookie I could find.
I used their amazing category filters.
So on the website,
you can search by value or dietary preference,
but I looked at snack categories, specifically cookies,
and I pretty much searched cookies
and ordered one of everything
that was a cookie.
One flavor though, per brand.
Typically, I picked the highest rated, but not always.
Sometimes if there's a flavor that appealed to me more,
I picked that.
What I want you to know is that this video is in no way,
and what I share,
is not offering any judgements or even suggestions
about what you should or should not consume.
You get to make that choice.
You. You get to make it.
So I am gonna share my personal thoughts along the way,
but always being mindful of the fact
that my approach is not the only approach
to health or eating or cookie choices.
On my very messy journey through my relationship with food,
I have at some point or another,
purchased products just like every single one of these.
And they all fit in to where I was at the time.
So maybe they fit in to where you are at the time.
Now, as I've grown and changed, my approach has changed,
but I don't think that my way, right now,
is the way for everyone or even the way
that it's gonna be for me for forever necessarily.
So just be open minded and let's have fun with this.
I'll tell you how they taste.
I'll tell you the sugar.
And then you get to make all the choices.
And just so you know, I was able to get a deal for you.
If you want to try out Thrive Market,
you get 40% off your first order and you get a free gift.
So use the link in the description box
or thrivemarket.com/mindovermunch to get that deal.
So since I needed some organization for this video,
I decided to do it by sugar content, as labeled by the box.
So this will be grams of added sugar, not total sugar.
And I am personally a visual learner.
So I thought it would be fun to use sugar cubes
as a comparison
And if you don't know,
one sugar cube equals four grams of sugar.
So we're gonna go through and order
based on what is listed on the box.
And I'm gonna start with categories of one sugar cube,
then two sugar cubes, and then three sugar cubes,
so that you can have a real visual comparison
of how much sugar is really in these cookies.
(upbeat music)
First up, Hu. Get Back to Human Grain-Free Cookies.
Chocolate Chip and Snickerdoodle.
So we need to talk about something.
First of all, one of the best things about Thrive Market,
I have found, I've used them for years now,
is that they have ratings.
And these are actual users who have purchased the product
can go on and rate the product.
So if it's rated a four or five, I found, usually,
I tend to agree.
These Grain-Free Cookies Chocolate Chip
are rated two and a half.
These are rated four.
Same brand, different flavor, Snickerdoodle.
So, these both have seven grams of total sugar,
zero grams of added sugar.
They are a date-based cookie.
Okay. I'm gonna start with the Chocolate Chip.
Mmm, I thought, okay.
I was afraid to say.
I smelled it and I was like, it smells like cardboard,
but it actually doesn't taste that bad.
It doesn't taste like cardboard.
This is rated a two and a half
and it tastes better than I thought
given that it's rated a two and a half.
Let me try the Snickerdoodle,
which is rated a four on Thrive Market's website.
Oh, this smells like cinnamon. Much better.
Hmm. Yeah that tastes like a four.
This one tastes better. Okay.
So the branding is really trying to push clean.
Get Back To Human.
You know, they're kind of making a lot of judgments
that this is the right way,
and that some other way is the wrong way.
They actually say,
"Because your mouth was made for snacking."
So, this, in my opinion, encourages mindless eating, right?
And that's not really what I wanna do.
Whether I'm eating something healthy or not,
I wanna be mindful with it.
That's my approach now.
So now my team is telling me
these are pronounced hu because of Human,
and that makes sense.
So I'm sorry I started the whole video calling these hoo.
I don't know what it is, all right?
I'll link 'em below. Highkey.
Highkey Mini Cookies made with almond flour,
coconut oil and collagen.
This is the Snickerdoodle flavor.
There are zero grams of added sugar per eight cookies.
And there is some claims on here.
One is FOMO NO MO.
FOMO NO MO. FOMO NO MO. FOMO NO MO.
There's four and a half stars on Thrive Market.
Eight of these is 150 calories.
These are made with almond flour.
The sweetener blend is erythritol, monk fruit, and Stevia.
It tastes exactly like an almond flour cookie
made with monk fruit and Stevia.
That's exactly what it tastes like.
Is it grandma's favorite cookie?
I don't know about your grandma.
My grandma would never use a erythritol in a cookie.
Lesser Evil Deliciously Clean Mini Cookies Fudge Brownie.
Nutritionally, three of these cookies
is a serving, 100 calories.
There is three grams
of added sugar in a serving, which is three cookies.
So one cookie has one gram of added sugar.
So in this cookie, there's only one gram of added sugar.
So this is made with coconut sugar
and doesn't actually have any sweetener in it.
Wow. That's amazing.
Mm mmm. That's soft like a brownie.
Even though I don't love chocolate, I like brownies.
This is rated four on Thrive Market.
They make a claim here.
"We're able to make the tastiest snacks
and cookies in the world."
That's a big claim.
Fat Snax; Double Chocolate was the highest rated,
so I went with it.
Seven of these cookies is 170 calories.
That's a serving size.
Serving size is sort of arbitrary,
but that's what they say.
Include zero grams of added sugars.
This is keto.
So it's made with almond flour
and it also has sugar alcohols in it.
Smells chocolatey. A crunchier almond flour cookie.
Actually taste like double chocolate.
And actually, I don't taste the sweetener in this
as much as the Highkey ones.
Maybe it's because the chocolate is masking it,
but it's actually pretty good.
This is rated four and a half stars.
This is one of the better ones that we've tasted today
with sweeteners in it.
Maxine's Heavenly. These are Cinnamon Oatmeal Raisin.
I don't think this is the highest rated
but I love oatmeal raisin, so I picked it.
It is still rated really high, though.
It's four and a half stars on the Thrive Market website.
And it's sweetened with coconut sugar and dates,
which I love.
One cookie is almost the size of a normal cookie.
I feel like every cookie we've had
is the size of like, a quarter.
Okay, this.
This nutrition facts label
lists one cookie as a serving size.
Thank you. Make it easy on me.
One cookie has six grams of total sugar,
only three grams of added sugar.
And it's all from coconut sugar and dates.
Mmm. This is gluten free, plant-based, soy-free,
and it almost tastes like a no-bake cookie or something.
The first ingredient is oats.
So it's made with oat flour.
Hm. This is good, I would eat this.
(upbeat music)
So we're now shifting from one sugar cube
to two sugar cubes.
And we've come to one of the highlights of Thrive Market,
it seems, from searching through cookies,
which is the Simple Mills brand.
And I don't know why, but they're everywhere.
And apparently they're really good.
They have really high ratings
for all of their products, especially their cookies.
I wanted to try the Chocolate Chip.
These are almond flour cookies.
Now I like that all of these Simple Mill cookies
says, "Only Purposeful Ingredients".
I'm a fan of the marketing on this compared to others.
Four is 150 calories, seven grams of added sugar for four.
This is the first cookie I've eaten today
that tastes like a regular cookie.
I would not know it was made with almond flour.
It's made with regular sugar.
It has the right level of sweetness and salt.
This is good. It tastes like a cookie.
These Simple Mills Sweet Thins.
This is the Honey Cinnamon flavor.
Now part of what is intriguing,
these are made with watermelon seed flour.
I have no idea what watermelon seed flour is.
Mm. They smell good.
They smell like a Graham Cracker.
It tastes exactly like I think it would taste.
Like a honey cinnamon kind of Graham Cracker cookie thin.
These are good.
12 thins is 140 calories or seven grams of added sugar.
Jovial is the next brand.
Organic Ancient Grain Einkorn Cookies.
"Crafted by Italian artisan bakers."
Einkorn, I had to look it up.
They market it here as "The only wheat never hybridized,
low gluten index," blah, blah, blah.
It still has gluten in it, which isn't a bad thing.
Oh, wow. These are big.
These are big cookies.
So a serving is two of these cookies, 110 calories.
So they're 55 calories each.
Only five grams of added sugar.
So this is why they ended up in the two sugar cube category.
It tastes like one of those cookies
you get in a Christmas tin.
You can make a good cookie with real sugar and fat,
and it doesn't have to have that much sugar in it, right?
You don't have to use, like Stevia and stuff.
Hmm. These are good.
Next up, Partake.
These were not the highest rated, the Cookie Butter,
but I couldn't resist because I love cookie butter.
And these are Soft Baked.
They also have a Crunchy Ginger Snap.
They have a couple other flavors.
Both of these have eight grams of sugar total
for the serving size, which is three cookies,
but the Ginger Snap have eight grams of added sugar,
whereas the Cookie Butter only have five grams
of added sugar.
So these make some claims.
Honest ingredients and pure fun for all.
Nut fee, egg free, wheat free,
dairy free, soy free, fish free.
Fish free? Fish free?
Thank goodness there's no fish in these cookies.
Soft Baked Cookie Butter cookies.
They taste nothing like cookie butter,
but it's not a bad cookie.
Ginger Snap. This looks a little light in color.
Hm. Did you hear that snap?
The Cookie Butter are better than the Ginger Snap,
which don't taste like ginger snap.
Neither of these taste like what you think
they're gonna taste like, but they don't taste bad.
Mavericks Kids. So these are a kid-specific cookie.
Marketed to have 40% less sugar
than the leading kids cookie.
I don't know what that is.
I'm assuming it's like a Teddy Graham. Birthday Cake.
I think this was the highest rated flavor
of these on Thrive Market.
Free of artificial colors, preservative, syrups.
No sugar alcohols.
No peanuts. Vegan.
Made with traditional ingredients,
but just lower in sugar.
Five grams of added sugar.
It smells like fun-fetti.
You know how sometimes birthday cake stuff
can taste vanilla-y?
It tastes kind of vanilla-y.
But it's not bad. I would eat it.
I don't know if I'd buy it again, but I'll eat this box.
And I would maybe try the other flavors.
All right, we're gonna do Graham Cracker-style
cookies all together.
These Schar Honeygrams.
These have six grams of added sugar per serving,
which is three cookies.
Schar's, gluten free.
These have four and a half stars on Thrive Market.
Three of these cookies is a serving.
Six grams of added sugar for three,
which means two grams of added sugar per one.
Hmm. Tastes exactly like a Graham Cracker; wow.
Annie's. I love their mac and cheese.
These Graham Crackers are listed as two full cracker sheets
per serving, 130 calories for two sheets
with eight grams of added sugar.
These Annie's Graham Crackers have five stars
on Thrive Market.
Two full cracker sheets is a serving. Mm.
That taste like an actual Graham Cracker.
It's really good.
(upbeat music)
So this Pamela's brand of Gluten Free Honey Grahams.
We are now transitioning into the three sugar cube category,
because these have listed nine grams of added sugar
per serving, which is two pieces.
Hm. This is a good cookie.
And the first ingredient is butter,
so that's probably why.
I would not say it tastes like a Graham Cracker.
It's good. But it's not a Graham Cracker.
Annie's Bunny Grahams.
So as a kid, I loved Teddy Grahams.
And even though I don't typically like chocolate,
I loved chocolate Teddy Grahams the best.
Now, nutritionally 31 cookies.
So these are pretty small.
Oh, they're little bunnies. Hop, hop, hop, hop, hop.
So 31 of these is 130 calories
and nine grams of added sugar.
So, because that is listed on the box,
that is why these ended up in the third category
of three sugar cubes, right?
Because it's more than eight grams of sugar,
which was two sugar cubes.
You guys are keeping up with the math, right? Oops.
All right. I just ate one and it's good.
It taste like a Teddy Graham.
It tastes like a chocolate Teddy Graham.
This nine grams,
this 31 cookie serving size, is arbitrary, right?
If you don't want nine grams of added sugar,
if you want eight grams of added sugar, it's simple.
All you have to do is eat 27 and a half
of these little Bunny Grahams.
Or if you only wanted one sugar cube worth of Bunny Grahams,
you could just eat 13.7 of these.
Okay. It's simple, it's easy.
But the point is, you're the one in control
and these numbers don't mean anything, all right?
They're just there arbitrarily.
And so just listening to the marketing claims
takes away your power from being able to actually decide,
with an educated, mindful choice.
Next up, Lillabee's Grain Free.
They're also Keto Friendly, Paleo, and Dairy Free.
Organic and superfood ingredients.
Now, the thing that is irritating about this brand
is the nutrition label is in ounces. I'm sorry.
So, that means people have to go weigh their cookies
to know how many?
Like come on, come on.
So I'm gonna do it though right now for you.
(light music)
Once ounce.
That's actually more cookies than I thought in one ounce.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Eight cookies in one ounce,
which is 120 calories, nine grams of sugar.
So these are made with almond flour,
but they're also made with maple syrup.
There's no artificial, you know, sweetener.
(thunder clapping)
It tastes kind of like that brownie brittle stuff.
It sort of tastes like that.
You can see the actual almonds inside.
You see the little almonds in there?
Yeah? Joe, you do?
Nod your camera.
- [Joe] I can't.
- Tutti Gourmet Biscotti.
Handmade Crunchy Cookies.
I love biscotti.
So, these are gluten free,
wheat free, dairy free, soy free, corn free.
Now this is kind of weird.
Enjoy with coffee, tea or sweet wine?
Do you have biscotti with wine?
I'm not very refined,
so I don't know about that stuff.
These are very miniature biscotti.
But oh my gosh. They're like babies.
Three of these pieces is 130 calories
and 11 grams of added sugars.
Now the flavor of this is dark chocolate orange.
Hmm. That tastes pretty good.
This would be really good with tea. Yeah.
And it doesn't taste gluten free.
This is rated four and a half stars on Thrive Market.
And that feels accurate.
I mean, for a gluten free biscotti yeah, that's good.
Last but maybe not least, Tate's.
This is regular.
This is gluten free.
Both are Chocolate Chip.
So nutritionally, these are almost identical.
I mean, one is made with gluten free ingredients
and one is not.
They both claim to be, you know
Crispy Chocolate Chip cookies.
So I feel like I know what I'm gonna get.
It's not gonna be a soft cookie.
It's gonna be a crispy cookie.
Two cookies for both of these,
whether gluten free or not,
140 calories, 12 grams of added sugar.
Mmm, it tastes like a really delicious crispy
chocolate chip cookie.
It's good. This has a five star rating on Thrive Market.
And it's five stars. It's so good.
Hmm. I have not tried the gluten free one, but I'm curious.
It has four and a half stars on Thrive Market.
Hmm. I don't know if I can tell.
It's made with rice flour, but I can't tell.
I don't know.
If you put a blindfold on me,
I don't know that I could tell the difference.
That is pretty crazy. Hmm.
So that's the taste test.
Ultimately, the commentary I want to make
is serving size is arbitrary, right?
And so you could take that one Tate's cookie,
which is six grams of added sugar,
and you could have six grams of added sugar worth
of any of those cookies and have some amount of cookie.
I wanna reiterate too.
I got all of these cookies
on Thrive Market and they sell more than just cookies.
They have thousands of wholesome food and groceries.
Even non-toxic home goods, clean beauty products.
Everything they have is offered
below traditional retail prices.
And in fact, if you find a lower price somewhere else,
they will match it.
Okay. That's pretty cool.
They offer a monthly membership now at 9.95 per month
if you don't wanna commit to a year.
If you do the year, it goes down to $5 a month,
but you have some choice there.
And remember, if you use my link,
you get 40% off your first order
and a free gift at thrivemarket.com/mindovermuch.
I hope you enjoyed this.
Let me know if you wanna see more taste tests,
and you know, little nutritional educational
bit videos like this.
It's really fun for me to do.
I will link some similar ones down below.
So I will see you again soon.
I hope you have a great week
and remember, it's all a matter of mind over munch.
(upbeat music)