Soy Joy Open Room Bloggers Event

I was invited to the Soy Joy Open Room Bloggers event held last night at Ann Siang Street. The PR person managing this event dropped me an email sometime last week to see if I was interested in attending so I did. And I brought Lauren along with me too! There were so many pictures taken of her, I'm sure I'll have to track them down once people start blogging about the event.

When we reached the location, we went up the townhouse to find that it had a very gorgeous interior! I love the staircase leading up to the roof.. very rustic yet modern... we entered with alot of cooing "ooohhh.... very pretty!" Hhahaa...! Kudos to them to selecting a location as such which was private and very plush for an exclusive invitation only event like this. I like.

On the agenda was Soy Joy obviously along with some snacks, a movie - Super Size Me which was about a man who went on a 30 day McDonalds only Binge to find out the effects of what eating too much fast food can do to a healthy man like himself. The results obviously were not good leading up to him having liver problems, depression and poor sexual performance issues amongst several other health issues that appeared during this experiment.

We were introduced to the 4 flavours of the new SoyJoy Bars. Namely Apple, Hawthorn Berry, Raisin Almond and Cacao Orange. We tried all of them. Personally, I think the Raisin Almond one is the best of them all.

As a person who eats various types of bars - protein bars, nut bars, granola bars.. I love bars.. SoyJoy tasted relatively different. It didn't pack as much sugar kick as you would have in other bars which were innately sugar laden.

Its Soy based and roughly tasted like fruit cake rather than what you would expect in a bar. I would have to say that it would probably make a good fibre choice as it did take some chewing before it could be comfortably swallowed.

Lauren didn't like it at all but I would assume that children, who are naturally attracted to more sugar laden choices are not the ones who would be taking SoyJoy as a choice bar. Eirian on the other hand however, LOVED IT. And with that, she was "awarded" with all the Soy Joy bars that we brought home for her own personal consumption.

Packaging wise, I would say that they had made it pretty attractive. I would pick one up based on how it attracted me on the shelf. Their advertisement was also quirky albeit a little disturbing to me. A fruit giving birth and then its "a bar!".... OOOokay.. a little corny.. but memorable nonetheless which is what advertising aims to do, put the product on the top of mind recall.

The topic of the evening was about Low GI food which means Low Glycemic Index. Which is one of the unique selling points of the SoyJoy bar. It would be considered a healthier choice of bar because of its Low GI content.

As any of my readers would know, I have been on a low carb. diet since last year which had lead to the weightloss that you have been reading about over the past couple of months. Quite frankly, I have not monitored the GI of the carbs that I have selected but this is still good to know in the long term in terms of making better food choices, carbohydrate wise. I'll definitely look into this esp. now that I'll be incorporating carbs back into my diet as my journey comes to a close once I hit 55kg and it would be good to get in the "better"carbs rather than eat the empty ones. Correct?

What is Glycemic Index? I have adapted the following information from the Glycemix Index website where you can find out more about GI. They also have a complete GI food chart too which you can use for reference if you are interested.

"Not all carbohydrate foods are created equal, in fact they behave quite differently in our bodies. The glycemic index or GI describes this difference by ranking carbohydrates according to their effect on our blood glucose levels. Choosing low GI carbs - the ones that produce only small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels - is the secret to long-term health reducing your risk of heart disease and diabetes and is the key to sustainable weight loss."

What are the benefits of the Glycemic Index?

Eating a lot of high GI foods can be detrimental to your health because it pushes your body to extremes. This is especially true if you are overweight and sedentary. Switching to eating mainly low GI carbs that slowly trickle glucose into your blood stream keeps your energy levels balanced and means you will feel fuller for longer between meals.

Low GI diets help people lose and control weight
Low GI diets increase the body's sensitivity to insulin
Low GI carbs improve diabetes control
Low GI carbs reduce the risk of heart disease
Low GI carbs reduce blood cholesterol levels
Low GI carbs reduce hunger and keep you fuller for longer
Low GI carbs prolong physical endurance
High GI carbs help re-fuel carbohydrate stores after exercise

A Wiki. definition of the Glycemic Index can be found HERE for more information.

So we were given nametags upoon settling in to our chosen sofa for the evening and were told once again of the agenda for the evening that after the movie, a dietician would be telling us more about Low GI. That presentation after the show was indeed informative and also involved a short question & answer session too.

Lauren was very pleased to have one of her own too. Nice touch by the organisers to keeping everyone who attended involved. And shortly after, as bloggers do best, it became a short cam-loving session! It was particularly fun snapping shots of eachother simply because, we all knew each other already! Somewhat at least.

So there was Claudia and me... see Lauren peeking from behind! Babe! I'll see you at dance class soon arh!

and there was Marina and me.... hey babe! Very nice meeting you after reading you for some time now. :)

and Nadnut and me.... *this pic was taken with Nadia's camera... and obviously it is colour superior - see how we don't look "deer in the headlights" brightly stunned like my other pictures? -Damn! I need a new camera*

Hey Nadia! When I'm feeling better, come by for the launch of BodyJam dance class on the 5th of December okay! :)

And Nicole and me... I love how she introduced herself... "honeymeow? I read your blog." Hhahaaha... never fails to tickle me when I hear that... and it was very LOVELY meeting you too! :) Nicole very graciously sent me this photo from her camera... thank you!

And then we moved on to the snacks.. alot of snacks!! And I ate ALL OF THEM... I didn't finish them all but I surely ate some of everything.

Bananas and crackers... I like bananas...

Chocolate bars and Potato Chips... and I had a whole bar to myself too.. argh... the temptations...

More Chips and Twisties... and other than these there were spring rolls, lamb kebabs, chicken wings, and some other little appetisers which the waiters and waitresses carried about for everyone to pick off.. no pictures of those bc they came and went so fast!

So when the show was over, the organisers distributed goodybags which included a set of Soyjoy bars and... a sheet of paper that was this.....

And then we looked at the back of the sheet and realised.. HO HO HO! Even the snacks were "set up" specific to their "experiment" and when asked if we ate everything.. well. many of us just went "oh man! we ate everything!!" so we ticked off every box. The only thing I didn't have was the carbonated drinks because I opted for water for the evening.

Before we all left, we were requested to submit our form as above and take a picture. Which we did holding a blank piece of vanguard sheet. They would definitely superimpose something against that blank sheet with that picture so I'm waiting to see what they're going to do with that shot since everyone took one. They mentioned that we'll hear from them this Friday so I'm assuming that it has something to do with the picture. We'll see.

And after all that was over, Lauren and I headed for supper and walked right into... BURGER KING! For some high GI burgers and Onion rings... bwuahahhahahaah!

Okay thats it... :) Soy Joy Open Room Bloggers event evening... Go grab a Soy Joy and try it.. since I have a couple of them, I'm definitely popping some of them into my bag to take before dance classes as a quick treat...

And before I end all this... one more picture because I just can't resist it as I actually look healthy when I'm still sick as a cow.... SMILE! Say SoyJoy!! *sniff sniff sneeze*

"SOYJOY!"