When you have your toast in the morning, what sort of spreads do you like? Because we know that jam is very popular because recently when we reviewed some nutspreads, we had a lot of questions come through on jam. But the truth is that it can be pretty high in sugar, and even though we love it, particularly the kids, including my little boy Gussie, it is hard to find a healthier version. So today LeeAnne and I go in quest of one of the best jams in the supermarket
for your breakfast spreads. Hi, I'm Susy Barrel Norman Wood, who was two of Ustray's leaving dieticians. We bring you the Nutrition Couch Product Review, a weekly chat on new products and old favorites you can find in supermarkets. Leanne, are you a jam girl?
I'm not.
I've just never I'm just not a jam girl. I don't know. I don't really have an explanation for it. I'm just not really a jam person.
I remember my dad used to have, like in the eighties, like Fruits of the Forest, like I excel. I used to quite like it. I go through phases. One of my little boys loves jam and if any he says, it's so funny He's like, we've got a new jum jam, and if we've got it, he'll like go crazy for it. So I actually bought him some the other day, and I none of the ones we're reviewing actually, so I might change my purchase, and I don't mind it actually on a little bit of grainy toast, particularly before I
go for a run. But it's not my sort of default. This is a bit of a special appearance in my cupboard at the moment. But I do know a lot of people love jams, so I really like the ones you've chosen, actually, because I haven't seen some of these soap, let's get straight into it. We've got three different ones today.
So the first one is the Bonna Mamma strawberry spread three hundred and thirty five grams that retails for six dollars thirty five And wowlyan hasn't a bit of fruit and sugar gone up in price for its spread?
Yeah, it is a bigger jar, to be fair, Like three thirty five's a larger jar than standard. But yeah, it's definitely like all spreads, I think, even nut butters and stuff. You know, you're talking six eight dollars sometimes crazy, I think spreads in general have really gone up. I bought a big thing and vegimite did the day. I nearly fell over it.
How it's veggimite is through the roof of some salt and beigrit vitamins. But I think this is a good to remind you if you can make your own jam. If there's never been a better time than when food disgusting so much in Australia. And the berries are quite cheap, so maybe that's the goal for the new year. All right, let's have a look at what is in here. I'll start with the ingredients. So this one starts with strawberries, which is always very positive in a jam lam because
you find many jams. Actually sugar is the first ingredient and this is surprisingly high at sixty seven percent strawberries, which is actually great, followed by sugar because that is how you make jam. Black currant juice, concentrated lemon juice and a gelling agent. And it is a product that comes from France. It's pretty clean. I have to say it's one of the best labels I've seen. Let's have
a look at the nutritionals. I'll go per serving, should I twenty grams a tablespoon, because you'd use a tablespoon a jam when you.
Pers saving would be good because they're all twenty grams.
Yeah, I'll go twenty grams, okay, So per serve, it's about forty calories uncher Shitz one hundred and thirty eight killer jewels. Actually that's I've given it too many. It's they're about thirty five calories per serve, less than a gram of protein as you would expect, less than one gram of fat as you would expect. Jam doesn't have any fat in it, seven point eight grams of carbohydrate,
all of which are sugars. So that's almost two tea spoons per tablespoon, So about fifty percent as you'd expect from that label, coming from concentrated sugars. A mix of the fruit and then the added sugar. Now this says actually it's got a claim of more fruit reduced sugar, which is very interesting. So it would suggest it's kind of the healthier version of this French brand. And I have to be honestly, and I quite like it because it's got a lot of fruit in it. I reckon
it tastes pretty great. It's got less added sugar they're reporting than the normal version or the average jam, so it's not a low sugar product. I probably myself would be giving advice to people to not spread a tablespoon in one's here. I'd be trying to get it down to about a tea spoon, because if you're down to a tea spoon, you're only on a couple of grams
of sugar. And if you love jam, that would be the best way in my mind to enjoy it, particularly if you can then add a bit of protein to it, whether it's cottage, g or ricotta, or even some nutspread with it and do a good old peanut butter and jelly. But I like this product. I think if a jams, it's one of the best I've seen.
And that's it.
Like we're not over here being like, yep, this is a great product. Everyone go buy it. Like it's a jam, it's a high sugar spread. We'll I've got a sugarcoated pun intended. But I think that if you're out to buy a jam, and your family loves it all you really enjoy it, this is probably a better option than a lot of the other jams on the market, and you're right, it's a higher fruit content, like sixty seven
percent fruit in a jam is actually quite high. And yes it's higher sugar, but nowhere near some of the other sugar contents of some of the other jams. So yeah, I agree. I like this in terms of jams. I think it's a better option than other jams on the market. And you know, I rarely eat jam on toast, but if I did, I definitely would be putting it with butter,
which I think is quite amusing. A lot of Dietisian would eat jam and butter together, but for me, it's just too sweet, so I need something to cut through it. And I actually think from a blood sugar control perspective, the fat would work quite well with this, or the protein would quite well with this to slow down the absorption of the sugars as well. So pairing it with a bit of fat all protein is actually probably a
good option, but definitely from a health perspective. Like Susie mentioned, some cotta cheese rocotta from that protein would be a much better option from a health perspective, but I don't mind it. I think in terms of all jams, it's probably one of the better ones on the market, so thumbs up from ajam perspective. From the nutrition couch.
Today, it's right up out jam.
So we're recording this very late and we get a bit ridiculously silly. We haven't had any alcohol, so forgive us all rush, let's get serious now. Next one, Coal's strawberry jam four hundred and eighty grams two bucks, so very budget friendly, which can also be someone a concern, I guess in terms of quality, and a quick scanner ingredient list would suggest as much, with the first ingredient being glucose fructose syrup, so basically it's not fruit based.
It's got added sugar, a syrup at that, which is very concentrated sweetness forty percent strawberries, so about a third less than you're getting from the French product. Followed by more sugar and cicitric acid which is simply used just to keep it fresh and the acidity right in the container, and a nice fresh product. It's actually made in Poland, which is a bit random.
That's really random. They can't make that in Australia. That is so sugar and jam don't why we're getting it from Poland?
Random? Okay, so per serve at twenty grams again is two hundred and forty killer jules, which is about sixty calories, so almost double what we're getting from the French product. It is zero point two grams of protein, so minimal, say, very little fat carbohydrate, thirteen point two grams and ten point two grams of sugar per serve, so that is a hefty, you know, whack of concentrated sugars you're getting from that product, more than two tea spoons in a
hit of twenty grams. So you know, if I'm buying jam, I want it to be fruit basically, and this has not only reasonably low amounts of strawberries, but the first ingredient is just a terrible concentrated, poor quality glucose fructose syrup, which is just rubbish really. So it's a big thumbs down from me on this product, even though it's only two dollars.
Yeah, we're not recommending it. It's less than half of it as fruit, like forty percent sugar. That's more than half of it is basically sugar. So although we know jam is sugar, we would ideally prefer to have more fruit in there, so at least you're getting some sort of nutrients and a little bit of fibread in there. So yeah, thumbs down from the nutrition couch today.
And we should say we don't like syrups because they're concentrated. And this is the reason that dieticians will get frustrated with concentrated fruit products, whether it's fruit straps or that roll up kind of product, because even though it says one hundred percent fruit, it's concentrated, and there's nothing more concentrated than a syrup. So it's particularly that's even for me, worse than sugar itself, to be honest, because a heavily
engineered product. So that's really disappointing, all right. The third product is a very interesting brand. It's the Natvia Strawberry fruits spread. Now, these products pop up in supermarket as low as sugar alternatives, and there's some really good options out there. I actually haven't seen this one, and I'll be interested to know if it's in the health food
section or the regular section of the soup market. It's two forty gram so quite a small skinny jar at six dollars, so you are paying for a healthier product. But certainly Natvia is one of the best for the sweetener brands around and when you're looking at the nutritionals, they tend to be much better in terms of nutritional panel and sugar through it. So let's have a look.
First ingredient strawberries, leyand so that is top march from us straight away, because we want a jam that's got fruit in it, so it's almost as much as the French product of fifty five percent. Instead of then using sugar itself, they're adding some fruit juice in there, apple and backcurrent, and then they're adding the natural sweetener blend, which is a erythritol and stevr together, which is the formula for natvia. So that's where they're getting the sweetness
with a lot less sugar. Overall, there's a thickener in there to thicken it up a little bit given they're not using sugar so much in processing, a stabilizer some cheer seeds actually, which would give it a lovely flavor i'd imagine hasn't said how much, though, but chia through a jam gives it a lovely flavor if you get enough, so natural flavor city regulator preservative. So again being a more processed product, they do add a few things in
to keep it more stable. Let's have a look at the nutritionals, so per twenty grams serve, again we're looking very low, just eight calories thirty three killo jeels, so a smidgen of what you're getting from the other product. So this is a truly low calorie form of jam, very little protein or fat as it would expect in the carbohydrate one point four grams total one point four grams of sugars. So you can see the profound difference.
This has got a tenth of the sugars in it, given that it's a more engineered product, so a low calorie version of jam. Now, I have not tried this product. Have you tried it? Land, No, I haven't.
I've had clients who have had, funnily enough, on hot Cross bunds, hot.
Cross buns and jam bit sheeky. It's a double sugar, it's a double carbon. They're soul food of choice. But yeah, they quite like it, they say it's quite good. As I said, I'm not a jam person, so I haven't tried any of the ones today. But funnily enough, it's fifty five percent of straight ingredients, so we're not getting it from poland, which is a positive.
But it is quite expensive, Like you're paying six dollars, you're paying three times the amount of the home brand jam. It is, I would say better nutritional leaders a specific a specifically formulated product. I wouldn't say that it's a clean ingredient lisp, but from a sugar and an energy
density perspective, it's far better off. Particularly if you're somebody who eats a lot of jam, if he's somebody that just occasionally has it as a bit of a craving, or you're using it on toast before a big gym workout, we want the carbohydrate, we want the sugar. If the goal is to fuel your workout session, we actually want the sugar. So I'd be more than happy with my clients having a piece of regular white toast with some
regular high sugar strawberry jam. If they're going into a big leg dawn, they're going to a big CrossFit session, or they're about to run a half marathon or something, I'm more than happy for them to have the normal staff.
But this if your goal is fat loss, if you're in resistant, if you've got diabetes, if you're trying to lose some weight, if you regularly have jam, it probably is a better option for your pantry, particularly if you struggle to stick to about a t spoon, like Susie said, because a tablespoon is kind of pushing you over the edge, particularly if you're using a tablespoon per slice of bread, because most people would have two slices of bread, so
you're getting in upwards of twenty grams of added sugar, which is kind of like your max for the day. So if you're someone that really likes jam, this is probably a better option for you. And it's actually got a very small amount of cheer seeds. I would say it's right down the ingredient list, and the fat content is less than zero point one, so you're not really getting much cheer at all in there. I'm just gonna say, maybe that adds to the price point, but not.
Really for me. This product's perfect for anyone with glucose regulation issues, for someone with type two diabetes and shown resistance pcoas someone who has cravings, anyone who knows they're sort of sensitive and are driven to seek out more sweet food, This would absolutely be the product that I
would suggest, particularly if you're a jam lover. You know, as I said, you know for kids or going to sport, or if you love, you know, a fruity jam and you really enjoy it, I wouldn't be pushing that product, but fair as I said, anyone who really needs to keep their sugar intake low or wanting to and still loves their jam, I would absolutely recommend this product, and if not, I'd probably go for the French one, which has got a really high proportion, but use it in
much smaller amounts. You know, often I'm saying this to clients Y and I get their food diaries and they're having like a tablespoon of peanut butter on a slice of toast. It's too much. You got to spread thin. You know, A teaspoon is more than enough. You don't need a tablespoon. Like, the more you have, the more you want, particularly with sweet food. So you got to practice enjoying small amounts and saving it rather than going
for big, heavy amounts. Now, save that for when you go into a high tea and having some fresh scones and cream and jam, and then when you're at home, practice spreading thinly and that'll go a long way in stopping the cravings for more and more sweet food over time. All right man. Well, that brings us to the end about Jam review for another week. If you haven't done so, please subscribe so you can get us delivered into your
inbox every Sunday and Wednesday morning. If you're interested in more information on hormones, got health and fat loss, Our recordings from our tour last year available at our website, the nutritioncouch dot com, and if you're interested in hearing more about our favorite you can also buy our product review guide at that website. And we will look forward to seeing you on Sunday for our regular weekly drop and have a great week.
Jam with you on Sunday.