healthy eating faqs

1. When it says "vegetable fats and oils" in the Vive ingredient list, what oil/fat is actually used?
2. Are Vive Lites Crispbreads or Vive Lites Cookies suitable for diabetics?
3. Are Vive Lites Cookies and Vive Lites Crispbreads suitable for lowering cholesterol?
4. Are Vive products suitable for children?
5. How do the Vive Lites Crispbreads compare with bread?

1. When it says "vegetable fats and oils" in the Vive ingredient list, what oil/fat is actually used?
Sunflower oil is used in the Cookies. Margarine is present in small amounts (1-2%) in a few of the Vive Lites Crispbreads - the margarine used is an unsaturated fat, which is healthier for the body. Overall, the Vive Lites Crispbreads and Lites Cookies contain less total fat and less saturated fat than standard biscuits. Most standard commercial biscuits contain saturated fat which tends to increase a person’s risk of heart disease and having a heart attack or stroke.

Small amounts of other ingredients in the Paradise range do contain fat, which is also mostly unsaturated. Other sources of fat in the Vive Lites Cookies and Vive Lites Crispbread include:

• Pecans (low in saturated fat) in the Caramel Pecan Cookies. • Margarine and wheatgerm in the Wholemeal crispbreads. • Choc-chip cookies contain cocoa butter, but the amount present does not ruin the ‘fat profile’. These   are reduced in total fat (almost 2/3s or 63% less total fat) and reduced in saturated fat (75% less saturated   fat) compared with other standard choc-chip cookies. • Oat & Fruit cookies contain egg, but they only have 38% of the total fat content of other biscuits and   they have less saturated fat as well - 11g less saturated fat compared with other standard biscuits. • Caramel Pecan cookies contain pecans and egg. They are low in saturated fat (with less than 1.5g   saturated fat per 100g), but were only able to say they are reduced in saturated fat when compared with   other biscuits. We are not able to make that claim because the cookies are not 97% fat free.

2. Are Vive Lites Crispbreads or Vive Lites Cookies suitable for diabetics?
All Vive Lites Crispbreads are suitable. I recommend that you speak with your dietitian or doctor about how the cookies fit into your eating plan for diabetes. With advice from your dietitian, you may be able to include the cookies as well.

3. Are Vive Lites Cookies and Vive Lites Crispbreads suitable for lowering cholesterol?
No single food will lower cholesterol, but as part of a low saturated fat diet, both the cookies and crispbreads fit well. They are much lower in fat content than most standard biscuits and any that do contain fat, are also reduced in the unhealthy saturated fats.

4. Are Vive products suitable for children?
All are suitable for children - in fact, the new Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents in Australia (released in April 2003) recommend that ‘care should be taken to limit saturated fat and moderate total fat’ in children’s diets. These cookies and crispbreads suit perfectly because they are substantially reduced in both fat and saturated fat content when compared with traditional biscuits.

5. How do the Vive Lites Crispbreads compare with bread?

• Two thin slices of white commercial loaf or one slice of thick (toasting) seed or grain bread contains about 550 kilojoules. On average, per serve, the crispbreads contain less than 540 KJ, so instead of a slice of bread, you could eat 4 crispbreads. • Although bread contains less than 3g fat per 100g, when you look at it from an energy point-of-view, the numbers are quite different. Incredibly 10% of the energy content of white bread comes  from fat. All Vive Lites Crispbreads, contain less than that - less than 7% of the energy content from fats. So effectively the crispbreads are lower in fat than bread.