I’ll eat a whole pint of ice cream just because I can! {giveaway} (CLOSED)

Well this would never happen. Realistically. I would never sit down with a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream and eat it in a sitting. Depressed or happy, I would just feel way too guilty afterwards. Have I done it before? Yes. Before I started my healthy living journey. Would I do it now? YES! But only because I don’t have to feel guilty about it anymore — not if I’m eating Arctic Zero apparently. In fact, I can now feel GOOD about eating a pint of ice cream.

I was skeptical when I first saw the product at the store. There is no way in hell a whole pint of ice cream could only be 150 calories. Well, not only that, it also is gluten-free, fat free, all natural and organic, with a low glycemic index, AND it has 14g of protein. WTF? Is this real life? Seriously, how is this thing possible? The product has GOT to taste weird. I mean, these claims are just too unreal. So what happens? I get a surprise and my freezer gets stocked with all flavors and two bars. I’m set for life the next few weeks. Arctic Zero team is clearly very confident in their product which lessened my sense of skepticism slightly. Now all I could do was try it out.

Good Greens does good for the soul

I like trying out new food products that are healthy. Especially when they are fast, easy, and healthy. Like bars. As you know I like to eat bars a lot. I don’t eat bars every day, but when I do, I opt for the healthiest ones I can get my hands on. Or try to anyway. So Good Greens popped up on my Twitter suggestions one day and I decided to give them a go. They are very confident in their product and eager to compare it to other category leaders.

Very appealing. Truthfully, the nutritional stats are amazing. The bars are also big and yummy! Besides having such great facts about their nutrition, the company does more than just provide products that taste good. Their whole ordeal has to do with the word “good” and they have three sections of the website: eat good, feel good, and do good. They want to make sure they provide products that taste good (if not great), that make you feel good about eating them, and encourage us to do good by attending various community events they support and sponsor. The whole thing makes me feel happy that the company cares so much about customer happiness and satisfaction beyond just the simple flavor quality.

I got Attuned with Erewhon Cereals

Have I mentioned before how much I love getting packages? Well, who doesn’t though, right? Today I got a lovely package from the Attune team with three different types of Erewhon cereals. While I don’t usually eat cereal by itself I LOVE it as a topping for my yogurt! I have been wary of cereals for a long time now, I already know how many additives and sugars they contain and it’s pretty hard for me to find any cereal I like that meets my nutritional preferences.

Erewhon (Air-wahn) thinks similarly and they recognize that it’s important to expand the availability of packaged goods that are actually organic and healthy. Their cereals are allergy friendly as they contain no dairy, soy, peanuts, nor tree nuts. They are made in a peanut free, tree nut free, egg free, and dairy free facility. They offer many varieties of gluten-free and regular cereals (many more GF options than not, which is awesome!)

What I Ate Wednesdays #11

Hello readers! This is the first time WIAW post doesn’t have an additional post name. Nothing too exciting happened today (Monday) so I really can’t name this anything. Well, it was very healthy. Which makes me happy. Ever since I got my Fitbit Ultra, I’ve been really motivated to stay healthy and active which is great! 🙂 I’m also really sore today. But yeah, enough chit-chat, let’s get to the GRUB!

Marvelous in My Monday #1: Fitbit Love

One of my favorite bloggers, Katie, over at Healthy Diva Eats came up with a brand new weekly link up – Marvelous in my Monday – where bloggers share their marvelous happenings. Mondays makes this weekly post not only an alliteration, it also combats the “Monday Blahs” that some people might go through. I personally don’t go through those because Mondays are my off days and I love them hehe 😛

If you follow me on Twitter and/or Instagram, you might have seen me tweet this picture:

Besides the new Maxim, I was super excited because I finally got the FitBit Ultra! I sold some college books back and I thought the price (after the Amazon sellback money I got) was enough for me to pay to get it. I was super excited. I’ll have a fuller report on it once I use it longer, cause I’ve only been using it two days so far. But wow, is this little gadget motivating?! Seriously.

Oatmeal-Raisin Breakfast Cookies

Time to get into the vegan mindset. I am doing a vegan challenge starting Monday and I am therefore prepping myself up for it. I have already finished my greek yogurt and I’m gonna have the last of my egg whites tomorrow.

I’ve been looking for different recipes to use during the vegan week. Am I completely prepared? No. But that’s okay. I’m excited to start! I decided to make some quick breakfasts ready and what better way to start your day than with a cookie? Exactly. Such a perfect decision. Especially when that cookie is also low calorie!

I love me a healthy cookie!

Carrot Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Happy Easter everyone! Whether you celebrate it or not, I hope your day is filled with happiness! I have no idea how American Easters go, since I grew up in Poland and our traditions are different when it comes to holidays like that. But whatever it is you do, I hope you enjoy it! This is how our Easter breakfast looked like: I didn’t touch the meat though, not exactly my thing. Especially since I started reading The Kind Diet last night, meat isn’t looking super favorable right now.

I was debating on either making a carrot cake or cupcakes yesterday. You can see which choice I ended up making. Typical. I just like cupcakes too much.

Thankfully, these are a healthier alternative to your regular carrot cupcakes. Plus, today was actually the first time I actually enjoyed eating a carrot (cup)cake. I wasn’t a fan of carrot cake before. But then again, I guess taste preferences change over time. Apparently, our taste preferences change every 7 years or so. This fun fact has proven true in my own experience – I used to hate spinach and mushrooms as a kid, but now I love them. I used to hate fish, not I love sushi and fish! Those are just the examples I usually go for, but there have been many more similar taste changes I’ve experienced.

Anyway, I hope your day is filled with joy! It seems like a beautiful day out in Chicago.

Definitely going to be taking advantage of that today with my parents.

Benefits of Coconut Oil

Since I started my blog, I’ve also been actively following and exploring different health and food blogs as well. Most of the blogs I follow are focused on healthy eating, some of which are vegan and gluten free. I am neither one of those but I think it’s good to introduce all kinds of different meals into your life. I consider myself a pescaterian – mainly vegetarian with some fish in there, however I also enjoy some turkey, beef, and veal in there as well on occasion. No chicken though. I’ll talk about that another time though.

Today I wanted to focus on discussing and exploring coconut oil. I have found that many of the recipes these healthy blogs post require coconut oil in them. And I’ve briefly heard some positive things about coconut oil as well. A few days ago, I bought my first jar of coconut oil from Trader Joe’s and I even used it in my Peanut Butter Cups. I thought it’s a good idea to actually research and find out as much as I can about this product.

Healthy Banana Split [STOP MOTION video]

I made a stop motion video about the healthy banana split from the last post! Yes, this means I had to eat it twice in one day, but I was so excited I didn’t mind! It tasted good but I do prefer to have more variety in my food from one meal to then next. I think this stop motion video about food recipe, although short and sweet, I think it turned out pretty well! This is my first time using Premiere Pro and I have to say, it was pretty challenging. This software is hard, especially compared to Windows Movie Maker (which is what I used for my previous videos). Sigh, eventually I will learn to use it though, I’m sure. What do you think about the video?

Healthy Banana Split

I am done with week 1 out of 12 of second round of ChaLean Extreme. Cardio is definitely my least favorite but I’ve really grown to enjoy weight lifting. Today was a cardio day. Haha, enough said. Also, for the past few months I’ve been really learning to listen to my body and hearing what it like and doesn’t like in terms of food. Every time I don’t feel good after eating something, or if I do something that my body doesn’t like, I write it down. Here’s a list of some of the stuff I’ve noticed and noted for future reference so I learn to keep my body happy and balanced:

• Don’t eat dessert (tiramisu) a few hours before working out, especially when it’s heavy because it tends to stay in my tummy and make me feel sick and not able to workout as well as I normally would.
• Keep portions smaller and if I don’t feel full or satisfied after eating, I can add on more.
• Wear gloves during weight lifting.
• Don’t eat a sweetened pre-prepared yogurt granola parfait for breakfast.
• Don’t eat too much sugar-free chocolate.
• Don’t eat roasted garlic vegetable medley with hummus and spinach wrap from the cafeteria, it never sits well with my stomach.

So obviously these are my own notes that apply to my own body, everyone’s bodies are different so don’t go off of what I wrote for yourself. The point is, you should write stuff down and learn about your body as well. It’s helpful.

Anyway, today I had a pretty delicious breakfast. I didn’t feel like having eggs as usual and went the sweeter route. Healthy Banana Split! For breakfast! Amazing. High protein and and adequate carb, perfect for a post-workout breakfast. Bananas are also an energy fruit.

As you can tell, I am a topping fanatic. I can never have enough toppings. I’d like some banana with my berries, please. lol