This time, it's props

I have a new post up at Props and Pans. Go check it out!

Your daily serving of product review

I've been on a roll with the product reviews in the last couple of weeks. This time we have Fiber One Chewy Bars, oats & chocolate flavor. They have 9g of fiber, which is about 35% of the daily recommended serving (but this varies by gender and age). Let's break this down:

Pros:

• These bars are lot moister than most "nutritious" bars, though of course the level of nutrition is debatable (see below). I normally eat Kashi bars because of the benefits of whole grains, but I have to admit that those things make one's mouth feel like the Sahara in July.
  
• It was nice to taste the oats in the bar, and even the taste of the salt came through, which might sound gross, but was pleasant.
• I think these are slightly helpful in greasing your inner wheels, so to speak, but as a pregnant woman who is ingesting a prenatal vitamin, as well as extra iron to stave off RLS, I need more than a fiber bar. I need a nuclear-grade psyllium husk/Colace cocktail. But for one day, they did an OK job. Booby ate two bars and he was happy with his results.

Cons:

• What is "confectioner's shellac," anyway?
• What is high maltose corn syrup, anyway?
• Hmmm, I already know what high fructose corn syrup is. Ecchh.
• Palm kernel oil, a cheap cooking oil that's probably going to become very popular for biodiesel, is probably the culprit of these bars' 1.5g of saturated (bad) fat.
• Almost too chocolately (I know, is there such a thing?) - do I really need a zigzag ribbon of chocolate icing over the top of the bar AND a metric ton of chocolate chips? Likely not.

In short, these Chewy Fiber Bars are definitely NOT an "all the time" food. (warning: audio)
Perhaps the better choice would be a Gnu Flavor & Fiber bar (which I would be happy to test and review on this blog, hint hint, Gnu Foods). 12g of fiber and no HFCS. Kinda pricey, though ($1.99 aq bar? Say it ain't so, Gnu!).

Keri ... is so very

I was sent some Keri moisturizer to try and review. For those of you who don't already know, I loves me some free stuff. So, of course, I am all over any opportunities to try new stuff for free.

I had high hopes for a kinder, more natural version of Keri, since their big push is for their shea butter formula. Shea butter is, according to Ideal Bite, predominantly produced without pesticides. Wow, a naturally organic ingredient - I was psyched.

The shea butter formula smells really nice, and absorbs quickly into the skin (more on that in a minute). The lotion itself, however, is a little thin. I'm probably used to the JASON cocoa butter I've been using to prevent stretch marks, which is a much thicker, more buttery texture. Regular lotions can seem wimpy and thin in comparison. But the lotion does seem to work well - I have fairly dry skin on my legs, which I vainly shave even in the winter (stubble drives me nuts), and a couple days' use has kept the skin on my legs from being flaky or itchy. Pregnancy has given me all sorts of weird rashes, too, and the Keri keeps the rashes down (as do the other lotions I have been using to stay moisturized).

Now on to the absorption issue: while it's great that then lotion absorbs well (after all, who wants slick, sticky skin that needs to air dry? Bleah), the problem is what's IN the lotion, absorbing into your skin, namely two kinds of parabens, which are linked to breast cancer.
Additionally, the lotion contains 3 varieties of polyethylene glycol, which has been linked to leukemia, breast and uterine cancers. Now on to iodopropynyl butylcarbamate, which is potentially linked to infertility, is a liver/gastrointestinal toxicant, and a neurotoxin. Yipes.

One nice thing about the ingredients is that Keri lists the scientific name of the natural ingredients and then advises the consumer of what it is, say, shea butter (unsurprisingly), sunflower seed oil, or aloe leaf juice.

The aloe leaf juice is also found in the regular Keri lotion, which has the same consistency as the shea butter formula, but doesn't smell as nice - it has more of a regular "lotion" smell. Not unpleasant, just not as nice as the shea butter.

The verdict: Keri is so very ... on the right track with the shea butter, but about the same as other mainstream moisturizers when it comes to potentially toxic ingredients. Parabens are no longer on my skin's menu, so I won't be using Keri in the future. For people who are OK with these sorts of ingredients, Keri is a fine choice, as it moisturizes nicely and smells good. The choice is up to you, of course. Happy moisturizing!