The concept of the Hostess 100 Calorie Muffin product line intrigued me because I am a huge fan of Hostess 100 Calorie Muffins (the chocolate one that brings back fond childhood memories with fewer calories). My husband surprised me one day with a package of Hostess 100 Calorie Blueberry Muffins, and then I saw his Banana Muffins in the package, so I had to try those too!
In case you haven’t opened the box of one of these 100-calorie Hostess products before, I want you to be prepared. These are the smallest cupcakes and muffins in the world! Each Hostess 100-calorie muffin or cupcake will have a slightly larger diameter than most bottle caps.
The good news is that those 100 calories entitle you to three of these Hostess cupcakes or muffins. So if the psychological benefit of being able to say “I just ate three Hostess brownies” or “I just ate three banana muffins” is important to you, you’ll love this product! If you’re looking to feel full, that’s not going to happen.
Hostess 100 Calorie Blueberry Muffins taste very sweet and are like a smaller version of Dunkin Donuts Reduced Fat Blueberry Muffin that I treat myself to every once in a while. Hostess 100 Calorie Banana Muffins are also very sweet and have a lot of banana flavor.
I’m okay with the bagels that look like they could have been from the old classic Disney movie “Honey I Shrunk the Kids”. What I don’t like is that there is partially hydrogenated vegetable oil in all of Hostess’s 100-calorie offerings (meaning there are trans fats in them). So yes, due to stupid government labeling laws that allow a food that has less than 0.5 grams of trans fat to be labeled “trans fat free,” Hostess can proudly and legally claim “0 grams of trans fat.” trans” on your product packaging. Of course, in fairness to Hostess, they’re not the only ones who can make this claim courtesy of the government.
While 0.5 grams is a trivial amount of trans fat, there is no safe amount of trans fat!
And if you have a couple of “0 grams trans fat” items in a day, that’s not really “0 grams” at all. It can easily add to the number that experts have said is a problem: more than 2 grams of trans fat per day.
So from my point of view, if I’m going to eat any trans fat free food, it has to be incredibly worth it, and I have to be careful about similar foods for the rest of the day. So between Hostess’s 100 Calorie Muffins and Hostess’s 100 Calorie Chocolate Cupcakes, there’s no contest. I’ll stick with the hostess cupcakes. They are one of my favorite “in case of emergency chocolate glass breaker” items to have on hand that won’t do me much harm.
Sorry Hostess, I have to put the bagels aside, and save your Hostess’ 100 calorie bagels for special occasions.
Copyright 2008 SunLover Publishing LLC
