You are my candy girls
Oh, and guys, too, if you’re reading!
Don’t know if you recognize the song reference, but you are all as sweet as candy! Thank you so much for the amazing feedback on my last post. The thoughtfulness and self-reflection in your comments was incredible. I read through each of them twice! You all have given me much more motivation than I ever could have asked for, and I’m excited to hear that so many of you are interested in joining me in this new challenge life change. Thank you so much for your support - it means the world to me.
Side note: I added my last post to the My Portion page. It’s been a while since I wrote one of those and I realized how much I missed it. Hopefully I can bring them back again soon!
I’m not sure if it was the “placebo effect” or not, but yesterday was such an amazing day in terms of energy levels. It may have helped that the weather was once again a warm and breezy 65*
I am using CalorieKing to track my sugar intake. It makes it easy because it divides out the sugar from the carbohydrates. I’m using my own discretion in determining what is considered “natural” sugar, but essentially, the rule is that any fruits, veggies, and other “whole” foods that are not processed are clearly natural, whereas any packaged good that has “sugar, cane sugar, corn syrup,” etc. listed on the ingredients list gets counted as “added” sugar. It’s really not an exact science, and it shouldn’t be - I would go insane!
Here we have breakfast, which contained no added sugars. I made a bowl of cereal with 1 cup of Nature’s Path Puffs and topped it with a handful of raspberries, blackberries and blueberries, plus a sliced banana. I also used about 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk.
I love fresh berries!!
Now came the tricky part. I told you all in my last post that I definitely do not want to give up my beloved Coffee Cocoa because it has become such a mainstay in my everyday life. To compromise for this new sugar challenge, I downgraded the amount of cocoa from 1 tbsp. to 1 tsp. and also topped it with significantly less whipped cream. It still tasted just as good, but had only 6g of added sugar compared to the usual 10g.
I had to bring it to work with me, but just imagine it with less whipped cream!
[Breakfast Net: 6g added sugar]
Work was pretty leisurely today. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this on the blog, but I am actually not going to be working there anymore once I leave for spring break this Thursday. I have truly enjoyed my time there and learned a lot about what it takes to put recipes together into a cooking magazine or cookbook that is easy to read and replicate. But at the same time, it’s been very hard because all of the free time I once had is now spent doing the homework I couldn’t get done while at work. Much of the things I enjoy - blogging, reading blogs and, most significantly, my time for hanging out with my friends here at school, has suffered alongside getting my homework done. I don’t feel that I’m being the best “me,” and since I only have a few months left at school, I’m going to make the most of them by focusing just on school and the people I care about.
Whew! TANGENT ALERT! I just had to get that out there. Anywho, while at work, I had a very delicious snack of pistachios, which I munched on throughout the morning.
I’m embracing nuts as a snack because they are great for “volume” and with pistachios, it takes a while to break open the shell, so the eating process lasts longer. They also have… no added sugar!
[Snack Net: 0g added sugar]
When I got off of work, I made my favorite Friday run to Whole Foods, where I picked up my “lunch treat” of a freshly made California Roll with real crab. Mm Mm Mm!
Considering the fact that sushi is made with all fresh and natural ingredients, it was also comforting to know that, as far as I’m concerned, this lunch had no added sugar. I topped it with some soy sauce.
For my sweet treat of the day, I finished off the last two macaroons from Miss Brittany. These went so fast you could barely blink! They were absolutely amazing, lady - thank you so much
Based on the numbers from CalorieKing, I’m clocking these babies at 5g added sugars apiece.
[Lunch Net: 10g added sugar]
I worked for a while on my final PowerPoint presentation for my marketing class. By the way, THANK YOU to those who left their opinions on Ben & Jerry’s in my last post. It truly helps a ton! For those who asked, my favorite is Phish Food I rarely buy it, but I always look forward to enjoying some on FREE CONE DAY!! Can’t wait for that in April!
Eventually, the warm weather and sun just got to be too tempting, so I decided to go on my first outside run of the year! Wahoo! In a word, it was INVIGORATING. I ran 4 miles in 33 minutes, and after timing it out, I think I ran my first two in 8:00 and my last two in 8:30. This blew my mind because I am usually not so fast, but I seemed to have an endless supply of energy and had absolutely no cramps, which is another rarity.
Placebo effect?!?!
I came back and did the P90X Ab Ribber X workout, then cleaned up and had a banana.
[Snack Net: 0g added sugar]
Before I knew it, the day was gone and I was meeting up with Bobby. We spent the night watching the two-hour 24 episode (SO GOOD!) and catching up on more of this season’s Lost (we’re almost fully caught up now - it’s freakin’ insane). For dinner, we headed to Noodles & Company, where we both had gift cards. Gift cards = the only way Bobby and Jenn go out to eat. Most of the time
I decided on the regular-sized Med Salad, which comes with mixed greens, red onions, tomatoes, feta, kalamata olives and cavatappi pasta. I got it with grilled shrimp and the yogurt dressing on the side. I probably ended up having 1/2 tbsp. of the dressing. I tried to look up the nutrition stats for the dressing only but couldn’t find it. The closest substitute was Annie’s Cucumber Yogurt dressing, which is at 2g of added sugar per serving. I’m rounding it up to 5g to cover my bases.
[Dinner Net: 5g added sugar]
When we got back from dinner, we started watching the shows and eventually the sweet tooth started to call my name. To compensate, I decided to make Bobby and myself a gigantic fruit smoothie.
I really don’t have much of a recipe for this one because I just threw in what I had, but there was about 1 cup of orange juice, 1 cup of POM Wonderful, and handfuls of fresh blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and frozen cherries with 5 or 6 ice cubes (all for 2 people). It made about 5 cups of smoothie when all was said and done, so Bobby and I each had 2.5 cups of the amazingness. It was so good and really hit the sweet spot.
Yeah, I didn’t even tell him to get into that picture. I’m sure you are all happy to know that I found someone who is JUST AS NERDY as I am. J/K Bob Love!
[Dessert Net: 0g added sugar]
Obviously, this “dessert” still had a ton of sugar in it, and I’m not ignoring that. But there was a BIG DIFFERENCE: after I drank it, I didn’t feel lethargic or devoid of energy like I usually do after eating a cup of, say, rice pudding. I felt like I was enjoying something sweet, but also knew that it was nourishing my body. That, to me, is what’s most important.
[Total Added Sugar: 21g]
As far as I know, I stayed under my limit and met my goal. I can also tell you that as I write this the day after, I am still feeling great and ready to take it on another day. Let’s hope that it keeps up!
Around-the-Blogosphere
I’m sure there are more, but I need to catch up on my blog reading! Also, I finally figured out what I’m going to do for my blog birthday on March 16 Stay tuned, I think you’ll like it!
Have a “souper” Saturday,
You are my candy girls
Oh, and guys, too, if you’re reading!
Don’t know if you recognize the song reference, but you are all as sweet as candy! Thank you so much for the amazing feedback on my last post. The thoughtfulness and self-reflection in your comments was incredible. I read through each of them twice! You all have given me much more motivation than I ever could have asked for, and I’m excited to hear that so many of you are interested in joining me in this new challenge life change. Thank you so much for your support - it means the world to me.
Side note: I added my last post to the My Portion page. It’s been a while since I wrote one of those and I realized how much I missed it. Hopefully I can bring them back again soon!
I’m not sure if it was the “placebo effect” or not, but yesterday was such an amazing day in terms of energy levels. It may have helped that the weather was once again a warm and breezy 65*
I am using CalorieKing to track my sugar intake. It makes it easy because it divides out the sugar from the carbohydrates. I’m using my own discretion in determining what is considered “natural” sugar, but essentially, the rule is that any fruits, veggies, and other “whole” foods that are not processed are clearly natural, whereas any packaged good that has “sugar, cane sugar, corn syrup,” etc. listed on the ingredients list gets counted as “added” sugar. It’s really not an exact science, and it shouldn’t be - I would go insane!
Here we have breakfast, which contained no added sugars. I made a bowl of cereal with 1 cup of Nature’s Path Puffs and topped it with a handful of raspberries, blackberries and blueberries, plus a sliced banana. I also used about 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk.
I love fresh berries!!
Now came the tricky part. I told you all in my last post that I definitely do not want to give up my beloved Coffee Cocoa because it has become such a mainstay in my everyday life. To compromise for this new sugar challenge, I downgraded the amount of cocoa from 1 tbsp. to 1 tsp. and also topped it with significantly less whipped cream. It still tasted just as good, but had only 6g of added sugar compared to the usual 10g.
I had to bring it to work with me, but just imagine it with less whipped cream!
[Breakfast Net: 6g added sugar]
Work was pretty leisurely today. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this on the blog, but I am actually not going to be working there anymore once I leave for spring break this Thursday. I have truly enjoyed my time there and learned a lot about what it takes to put recipes together into a cooking magazine or cookbook that is easy to read and replicate. But at the same time, it’s been very hard because all of the free time I once had is now spent doing the homework I couldn’t get done while at work. Much of the things I enjoy - blogging, reading blogs and, most significantly, my time for hanging out with my friends here at school, has suffered alongside getting my homework done. I don’t feel that I’m being the best “me,” and since I only have a few months left at school, I’m going to make the most of them by focusing just on school and the people I care about.
Whew! TANGENT ALERT! I just had to get that out there. Anywho, while at work, I had a very delicious snack of pistachios, which I munched on throughout the morning.
I’m embracing nuts as a snack because they are great for “volume” and with pistachios, it takes a while to break open the shell, so the eating process lasts longer. They also have… no added sugar!
[Snack Net: 0g added sugar]
When I got off of work, I made my favorite Friday run to Whole Foods, where I picked up my “lunch treat” of a freshly made California Roll with real crab. Mm Mm Mm!
Considering the fact that sushi is made with all fresh and natural ingredients, it was also comforting to know that, as far as I’m concerned, this lunch had no added sugar. I topped it with some soy sauce.
For my sweet treat of the day, I finished off the last two macaroons from Miss Brittany. These went so fast you could barely blink! They were absolutely amazing, lady - thank you so much
Based on the numbers from CalorieKing, I’m clocking these babies at 5g added sugars apiece.
[Lunch Net: 10g added sugar]
I worked for a while on my final PowerPoint presentation for my marketing class. By the way, THANK YOU to those who left their opinions on Ben & Jerry’s in my last post. It truly helps a ton! For those who asked, my favorite is Phish Food
I rarely buy it, but I always look forward to enjoying some on FREE CONE DAY!! Can’t wait for that in April!
Eventually, the warm weather and sun just got to be too tempting, so I decided to go on my first outside run of the year! Wahoo! In a word, it was INVIGORATING. I ran 4 miles in 33 minutes, and after timing it out, I think I ran my first two in 8:00 and my last two in 8:30. This blew my mind because I am usually not so fast, but I seemed to have an endless supply of energy and had absolutely no cramps, which is another rarity.
Placebo effect?!?!
I came back and did the P90X Ab Ribber X workout, then cleaned up and had a banana.
[Snack Net: 0g added sugar]
Before I knew it, the day was gone and I was meeting up with Bobby. We spent the night watching the two-hour 24 episode (SO GOOD!) and catching up on more of this season’s Lost (we’re almost fully caught up now - it’s freakin’ insane). For dinner, we headed to Noodles & Company, where we both had gift cards. Gift cards = the only way Bobby and Jenn go out to eat. Most of the time
I decided on the regular-sized Med Salad, which comes with mixed greens, red onions, tomatoes, feta, kalamata olives and cavatappi pasta. I got it with grilled shrimp and the yogurt dressing on the side. I probably ended up having 1/2 tbsp. of the dressing. I tried to look up the nutrition stats for the dressing only but couldn’t find it. The closest substitute was Annie’s Cucumber Yogurt dressing, which is at 2g of added sugar per serving. I’m rounding it up to 5g to cover my bases.
[Dinner Net: 5g added sugar]
When we got back from dinner, we started watching the shows and eventually the sweet tooth started to call my name. To compensate, I decided to make Bobby and myself a gigantic fruit smoothie.
I really don’t have much of a recipe for this one because I just threw in what I had, but there was about 1 cup of orange juice, 1 cup of POM Wonderful, and handfuls of fresh blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and frozen cherries with 5 or 6 ice cubes (all for 2 people). It made about 5 cups of smoothie when all was said and done, so Bobby and I each had 2.5 cups of the amazingness. It was so good and really hit the sweet spot.
Yeah, I didn’t even tell him to get into that picture. I’m sure you are all happy to know that I found someone who is JUST AS NERDY as I am. J/K Bob
Love!
[Dessert Net: 0g added sugar]
Obviously, this “dessert” still had a ton of sugar in it, and I’m not ignoring that. But there was a BIG DIFFERENCE: after I drank it, I didn’t feel lethargic or devoid of energy like I usually do after eating a cup of, say, rice pudding. I felt like I was enjoying something sweet, but also knew that it was nourishing my body. That, to me, is what’s most important.
[Total Added Sugar: 21g]
As far as I know, I stayed under my limit and met my goal. I can also tell you that as I write this the day after, I am still feeling great and ready to take it on another day. Let’s hope that it keeps up!
Around-the-Blogosphere
I’m sure there are more, but I need to catch up on my blog reading! Also, I finally figured out what I’m going to do for my blog birthday on March 16
Stay tuned, I think you’ll like it!
Have a “souper” Saturday,