The Princess Tries Holey Donuts, and if you want to, limited time $4.99 shipping eases the pain

You may remember that I didn't order the widely-praised HOLEY DONUTS because there was a nearly 20 buck shipping cost. Well, I did finally order them when they had their "donuts for five bucks per box" promotion, cause the discount actually turned out to pay for the whole of the shipping cost. :) The images in this post depict the particular items I ordered: the donut hole assortment, a sampler of full size donuts, and the cinnamon buns.

My take: Very nice. For donut lovers, those who simply cannot live without their pillowy frosted or cream-filled or cinnamony treats, this is a lower-calorie, lower-fat, better option. (Though I will not go the hyperbolic route and call these healthy. It's still refined flour and sugar and what-not. This is not health-food, it's simply LESS BAD VERSIONS of junk food that taste nearly as good as the best donuts out there.

One high recommendation for the cinnamon buns created by Holey Donuts came from my hubby. Confession: I only had one bite and thought it was just fine, but haven't had anymore in the last couple weeks since I got my order, since I simply don't crave cinnamon buns/rolls that often. I'm a custard filling lover, myself. Anyway, back to hubby: I served him half of a cinnamon bun for dessert shortly after getting our order. He munched on it and declared, "Hmmm. Nice." I said, "Those are lowfat, ya know?" He said, "You didn't even need to say it. I wouldn't have known." My hubby is a super picky eater. So, a "nice" from him is high praise.

My preferred one has been the Oreo Boston Creme, the rasberry filled with fudge crumb topping, and the raspberry filled donut holes. I did not like the lemon filled donut holes, but then, I've never much cared for lemon fillings in donuts in general. The coconut creme was quite pleasant, with plenty of shredded coconut on top that actually FEELS and TASTES fresh. I hear it's one of their top sellers, and I can see why. I gotta give HOLEY DONUTS their props for making a creme filling that tastes as decadent as any Dunkin Donuts offers. The raspberry filling is very "donut legit." :)

The main drawbacks I find are that 1. barring special offers, it's a high price to pay for low-fat desserts. I think this will be solved as they can distribute them to supermarkets in the future. 2. you gotta nuke these babies, and it's tricky to figure out how to do it best for the varieties of items they offer (ie, times for the donut holes versus full-size donuts, versus half or a whole cinnamon bun, depending on the size and power of the nuker used), 3. they need to solve their delivery issues. It took a while to get my donuts, and I ordered a second one during their last promotion, and I still haven't received a notification of delivery/tracking more than a week later.

But in terms of quality and taste for a modified product (ie, lower-fat, lower-caloric version of a standard donut, bun, etc), these really are tasty and deserve the praise they've been getting.

Still, for those on lower-carb, insulin-resistance, or glycemic index type diets, these are NOT for you. If you're diabetic, these are not for you. If you have had gastric bypass and sugar dump, you know these are not for you. And if you are on a clean diet, these are not for you. These are a sweet treat for those who can afford about 200 or so calories (and only eat half a cinnamon bun at a time) for dessert.

If you have portion control issues, be careful, cause you have to order a minimum of 3 boxes at a time. I will say that the donut holes do offer a smaller diet impact for those who can stick to one or two at a time.

I suspect that once Holey Donuts can get in stores, they're gonna sell a gazillion of these babies. Maybe one day you'll see HD franchises waging war with DD. Who knows?

But with these donuts, you won't miss the extra fat or calories, for sure. Very, very nice. I will only order them when they have specials that counteract the shipping costs, but I definitely would order these for myself and for family events, even at roughly $2 a donut.

If you want to try them, get delivery for $4.99 right now. This special offer expires at midnight EST tuesday,8/25/09.

And an abruptly terminated checkout at Holey Donuts

There's been so much buzz lately in the few "diet" sites I've visited about Holey Donuts, that I went to their site and signed up for emails on specials and such (as part of entering the giveaway that Hungry Girl promoted).

So, in my inbox today, I get a special--get free donut holes and credit of $5 on next order with a minimum 3 assortment order. Huh, sounds nice, I think.

Granted, these are not cheap to start with at a couple bucks per donut, and three bucks plus per cinnamon bun. But the cinnamon buns and the donut holes sounded like good options for the freezer for occasional treats. (I have a freezer UPSTAIRS, and I go up there so rarely, sometimes the treats I have get too old, like some VitaTop muffins. It's a good place to put the tempting stuff, as I have to get dressed, go outside with keys, go up a flight of stairs, go into a different apartment's kitchen if I want the treat. Hubby keeps some snack stuff up there, out of my way.)

I decide that the offer for free donut holes with purchase tempts me to get those buns. I go through part of the checkout process, then see that the delivery fee is over 18 bucks.

Ya know, that just up and killed that transaction.

I understand they need to deliver these by a certain window due to the nature of the product. Totally get it. But, these are pricey donut treats, and when you add price and delivery for the minimum of 3 assortments, well... I can't see paying about SIXTY BUCKS for 8 cinnamon buns and 6 flavored donuts just to get bonus donut holes for free.

If they'd given a credit on shipping, instead of free donuts or a future discount, I'd have ordered the obligatory 3 assortments. Yes, I really like the idea of a cinnamon bun right now. Or a boston creme donut hole. Too bad the speical offer wasn't free shipping or five buck shipping. That would make sampling the stuff less painful, more of a done deal by now.

Ah, well. Maybe down the road they'll be stocked in local specialty groceries or something, the way VitaTops made it to regular supermarkets and Whole Foods. Or maybe I'll get lucky and I'll win an assortment.

I'm curious. Answer me this: Would you pay 60 bucks roughly for 14 reduced fat dessert treats (not counting the special bonus offer now for the holes, which I assume is limited and not usual) without having a chance to sample them first, not knowing if you'll love them, just going on testimonials? Would you?

I think I'm afraid I'll not like them THAT much, the way I hated most of my first order of VitaTops (I only ended up being able to eat the chocolate ones, so ended up tossing a lot of muffins.)

So, have you tried these? Did you think they were okay or great or not-so-great? Did you think the price was commensurate with the quality? And did anyone else do what I did....get through most of the checkout and go, "Oh, no, I ain't paying THAT much in shipping!"?

Well, if you're braver or richer or more donut-obsessed than I am, here's the link to order. And if you want the free donut hole sample and five bucks credit on your second order, then you have to use the code Ldth . (Guessing it's for Lowfat DonuT Holes.) This code is only good for TODAY, the seventeeth.

On the plus side of treats, I ordered organic chocolate frozen bananas made from organic and raw ingredients for my next week's desserts. Hey, fruit and potassium and real cocoa and sweetened with agave nectar. More "whole" and healthful than donuts, lowfat or otherwise, right?

Still, those cinnamon buns looked crazy yummy...sigh. ; )

Why Do We Give Kids Foods We Know Are Bad for Our Own Struggling Selves?

With the holiday season in full swing, I've been a bit concerned about how entrenched unhealthful foods are part of the gift-giving tradition. Fatty cakes. Butter-laden cookies. Sugary treats in huge portions in pretty cans and jars and boxes.

As people fighting the fight against fat, we know that cookies, candies, and cakes are things that ought to be RARE treats (or, in the cases of those with bad triggers, banned altogether or modified significantly into less-dangerous versions).

But what do I see, including from women and men as big as I am (or bigger)? People with kids...

They stuff them with candy, cookies and cakes. Not just once week or once a month, but regularly. And moreso in this holiday time.

With childhood obesity a major health concern (some call it an epidemic) in the US (and other nations), we really need to take a look at this. A good hard no-excuses sort of look.

Imagine if we had grown up with our parents more disciplined about what cereal we ate in the morning (no KABOOM or Cap'n Crunch, but whole grain and no sugar--fruit instead?). Imagine if a candy bar or pack of animal crackers was a special weekend treat, and not a regular afterschool yumsy, if the daily treat was apples and oranges and carrots with hummus or celery with Laughing Cow light or a whole grain role with peanut butter. Imagine if our parents stocked the pantry with stuff that was clean, nutritious, no to low-sugar, high fiber, and fresh.

Would we be where we are?

Maybe. :)

But I think we train kids to like what they like. I love fruit because my parents loved fruit and had plenty of it around and made smoothies before smoothies were a commonly enjoyed commodity around town. They used olive oil and vinegar, not bottled dressings. They offered us beans almost daily, so we were all bathroom regular.

But I was the one who grew up from age 2 in this country, so I got the junk cereals that were mostly sugar and refined grains. I got candy bars after school. Sno-cones daily in summer. Pocket money for potato chips and other crap.

Of all my siblings, I am the ONLY one who got superobese (or even obese, for that matter). My brothers and sisters, who grew up in another country, much more physically active and eating more natural foods and much less junk--they didn't develop the crazy food relationship I did. They didn't grow up with junk food commercials on television sending them off into cravings for Milky Ways and pizza and burgers and fries and Starburst and cupcakes and whatnot.

So, when I see someone, especially a parent with weight issues, struggling, on diets, struggling to lose, that same parent buy candy and cupcakes and sugary cereals for their kids, I wonder about the dissonance. Why give them the taste habits and food issues we have? Why not hand them pears and grape tomatoes and mango slices and low-fat string cheese and almonds and raspberries? Why not end the crazy food cycle NOW?

I've begged a particular family member not to inflict our curse on her own kids. She and I are both obese. She has two kids who are currently normal weight. When I see the kids fed crap, it hurts. When I see kids catered to (ie, they don't want to eat the wholesome fair, and just pick at, say, white bread and then rush to eat a handful of candy), I want to cry.

In 20 or 30 years, they'll be where we are. Oversized and health-impaired.

It frightens me, and I don't even have kids.

I, both my nieces and both my nephews are overweight to obese. (Three of us obese, one overweight.) Five out of five of us born in the sixties and seventies in the immediate family--all too big. I don't want the next generation to have this curse. I want them to radiate good health and love good, clean food and be active and be happy and live vibrantly.

If it's not good for us to eat, big as we are, then it's not good for kids to eat, especially in their formative years, when they need the BEST nutrition to build bones and spare teeth from decay and develop the strongest neuromuscular system.

Junk ain't for us. But junk ain't for kids, either.

Why do we not see that?

Maybe it's long past time to tax the hell out of junk foods and treats. How many cupcakes will a kid buy if they're 5 bucks each? How many candy bars if one uses up their whole allowance? I'd rather tax crap that does nothing for one's wellbeing and use that money to subsidize fruit and veggies, so they're more affordable for a family's budget.

I am vowing not to buy junk for the kids in my family anymore. (This will be sooo hard. Habits die hard.) And I'm gonna work hard to break the holiday junk-food giving tradition. I'll find alternatives--sugarless, low-fat, or just plain better treats--like dark chocolate (I've tasted excellent sugar-free varieties) or dried fruit or nuts.

I want the people I love to be healthy and live a long, long time. And I want to be healthy and live longer, too, so I can enjoy their company for years and years.


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