Hi Queens!

Welcome back to my favorite “healthy” food review series. After a long and refreshing hiatus, I am back with all new foods to give you my opinion on.

For those of you that are new to Girl… Don’t Do It, it is my food review series in which I take a so called “healthy” food, and use what I’ve learned on my healthy food journey to really pick apart if this “superfood”, or “low calorie” treat is actually worth your dollars.

So just FYI cuz I’m in way too much grad school debt to afford getting sued right now (real talk), I just wanted to let y’all know I’m not a dietician or nutritionist, but I am a girl who looooooves food, and has seen and felt the benefits of how eating good food can change your life physically, mentally, and emotionally (also did I mention how much I love food, cuz duh).

I’m more like your big sistah auntie queen that’s just trying to look for ya. But know that I also have close friends in the medical, health, and wellness field that I check in with from time to time (like Yes Queen’s favorite doctor/fitness entrepreneur, Dr. Daniel Reardon… aka Dr. Dan)! Don’t forget to check out the homepage calendar to see when I host my monthly 1-on-1 livestreams with him!

The Rules

So how I like to assess if a food is worth incorporating regularly into my diet is by reviewing the three major parts of its nutritional story to decide if it’s “YAAASS QUEEN” or a “Girl...Don’t Do It!”

Every food that we eat has a nutritional story, and over the course of the last few years that I have been restructuring my diet, I have found that the foods that have a synergy between those three crucial parts tend to be the most nutritionally valuable.

So what are the three parts?

Calories/Serving Size
Macronutrients
Ingredients

Calories/Serving Size

The serving size indicates how many servings of a food are in one container/package. The calories indicate either how many calories are within that one standard serving, or how many calories are within the container/package.

So I always like to look at the calories in relationship to the serving size because more often than not many food brands will list the calories for one serving size rather than the standard serving that most people will eat. Doing this can make it appear as if you are eating less calories than you actually are.

And while many companies do this without ill intent, it doesn't change the fact that many people will misunderstand how many calories they are consuming because of it, and many companies still do nothing about it.

Macronutrients

So the macronutrients refer to the protein, carbohydrate, and fat breakdown of a food. Ideally, healthy packaged foods have a balanced/appropriate ratio of each component.

When reviewing the macronutrients, I specifically use the Altman rule to help me rule out any unbalanced foods.

ALTMAN RULE:

PROTEIN (G) + FIBER (G) > SUGAR (G)

Ingredients

It's SO important to look into the ingredients of the foods that you consume because that is the ultimate telltale sign of whether or not something is worth putting in your body. Many people are taught to only focus on the calories or the macros, but if it's coming from a shitty place then it won't matter how balanced or perfect the calories/macros look because it will still be sourced out of crappy materials.

Okay so now that you know how the process works, let's get into it!

Kodiak Cakes Protein Packed Flapjack and Waffle Mix

Have you ever heard of people saying that your taste buds change the older you get? So things that you might have disliked when you were younger become your jam now? Well, that’s what happened with me and pancakes. I never cared for them as a kid (unless we were at IHOP, and I could drench them in strawberry syrup).

But honestly, I think it might have been going to Norms one night in college that really put me on. Norms is this diner chain in LA, and after a drunken night in college a group of friends and I ended up at Norms. And of course, every meal at any diner/breakfast joint always comes with a side of pancakes. So there they were, staring my slightly buzzed ass in the face, and I said why tf not? They’re free…

And let me tell y’all… I swear Norms puts some kind of addictive something in that batter, because I was not ready. I’ve never devoured pancakes like that in my life. And ever since then, I’ve slowly found pancakes to become a comfort food. But given that most pancake batters can be very high carb, and have very low nutritional value, I decided to look into what options I’d have.

Which leads us to this week's choice: Kodiak Cakes Protein Packed Flapjack and Waffle Mix

I was first introduced to them as a sample in my BLOGHER Health goodie bag. The 14g of protein per serving, while not as prominently featured as some brands, really attracted my attention. But will all the other components pass the test? Let’s find out.

I'm going to specifically review the original buttermilk flavor, but they have a wide variety of flavors to choose from; dark chocolate, cinnamon oat, chocolate chip, and more.