Before I give you all of the juicy details about the giveaway, I just wanted to let you know about the changes I’ll be making regarding the blog. Coming back to Sacramento and getting my grades made me realize that I needed to re-prioritize some things in my life. I’ll be spending more time this semester focusing on school and opportunities for the summer. In order to do this I’ll need to cut back on my blogging. I’m not going to stop blogging altogether, but I am going to cut back my posting to 2-3 times per week. Because of this change, I’ll also be posting a little differently. I won’t be posting all my daily eats anymore. Instead I’ll be focusing on posting fun new recipes or meals, great restaurants, new product reviews, and exciting events – I think this will be a really positive change as well as an opportunity to make my posts more interesting and more thoughtful.

I hope that you’ll join me as I embark on this new schedule and style of blogging!

Now for the great stuff!

When I got back to Sacramento last weekend, I had a number of packages waiting for me, including one provided by Progresso through MyBlogSpark!

In honor of the New Year Progresso is holding a “Souper You Debut” contest from January 4th until March 15th for the chance to win a full makeover in New York City! Click on the link above to see the full details and to learn how to enter!

I was lucky to receive one of the Progresso Souper You Debut Gift Packs which included 15 cans of soup, a soup mug, and a jump rope that counts the number of jumps for you.

I think this is a great aid to kick-starting those New Year’s resolutions!

Soup is one of my favorite foods in the winter. It’s quick and easy to prepare, it keeps me satisfied for a long time, and it keeps me warm on colder days. Progresso has a huge variety of soups including some vegetarian options. Many of their soups have 100 calories or less per serving (take note – a can of Progresso soup typically contains two servings). A can of soup along with some crackers or bread is the perfect size meal for me.

Earlier this week, I had a can of the Progresso Light Chicken Vegetable Rotini Soup.

This is a great take on chicken noodle soup with the added veggies! The rotini was really thick and delicious and the carrots and other vegetables were nice and soft. The soup had a lot of broth, which tasted pretty good. Overall, I really like this soup – especially the rotini and extra dose of vegetables!

Today I had a can of the Progresso Reduced Sodium Garden Vegetable Soup for lunch along with a serving of oyster crackers.

The soup contained a wide array of vegetables including white potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, corn, carrots, celery, and onions as well as kidney beans. I’m not a huge fan of beans, but combined with all the other vegetables and the broth, I didn’t mind them, and I appreciate the extra oomph they add to the soup.

You can win one of these Progresso Souper You Debut Gift Packs provided  by Progresso through MyBlogSpark:

• To enter,  leave a comment on this post telling me why you want to win the Progresso Souper You Debut Gift Pack.
• Limit one entry per person.
• The giveaway will end Friday, January 22, 2010 at 12pm noon (Pacific Time).
• The winner will be drawn at random (using random.org) and announced Saturday, January 23, 2010!

Get your entry in and feel free to tell your friends – who doesn’t love free soup!

*The information, products, and giveaway in this post were provided from Progresso through MyBlogSpark.*

Bene left this morning for San Francisco.

After he left, I lazed around, then ate half a Blueberry Bran Muffin with Earth Balance, and 2 Tangerines for breakfast. Double yum!

I had another review session this morning accompanied by some more free hot chocolate. I also followed it up with another workout. I did 2.55 miles in 22 minutes, then another 23 minutes walking on the treadmill (1.61 miles at 3 incline), then 30 minutes on the elliptical (level: 8, 10, 12, 14, 12, 10, 8). I was a sweaty beast after.

I promptly drove home, showered, and made myself some lunch: another half blueberry bran muffin with earth balance, 2 scrambled eggs with green pepper and cheddar cheese.

My afternoon snacks: baby carrots with Tribe 40 Spice Hummus, and 2 servings of Kashi Country Cheddar Crackers.

Dinner: Butternut Squash Soup, Michette Roll with Cheddar Cheese, Baby Carrots with Low Fat Parmesan Ranch.

Evening Snack: SweetTarts and 1 serving Honey Whole Wheat Pretzel Sticks.

I was super hungry today, I think from all the cardio, and from not eating much yesterday. I tried not to overdo it, but I was definitely a carb fiend today.

You can also expect to see a lot of tangerines and carrots in the next 5 days, because there are a lot of them in my refrigerator and I’m leaving for Michigan on Sunday. I’m trying to eat through the things in the refrigerator that will go bad, so that I’m not wasting any food. My eats will probably be slightly less than exciting for the next few days.

Where are you spending your holiday season this year?

I’m spending my holiday break in Michigan with Tyler and my family! I can’t wait to get there!

And check out Danica’s super fun Knock Knock Giveaway!

I picked a new winner for the Xagave Giveaway!

The winner is:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

11

Timestamp: 2009-11-24 03:36:15 UTC

Congratulations Comment Number 11: Elise!

Email me your contact info ASAP and I will send it on to Xagave!

______________________________________________________________

I had a good day. I started off with a late breakfast eaten while working on finishing my paper. I had a serving of oatmeal (1 cup water, 1/2 cup oats) with half a serving of Newman’s Own Organics Apricots, 1/3 oz walnuts, 1 Tbs. brown sugar.

This was a great combo, and it packed fruit and protein.

I spent the entire morning editing and re-editing my paper. It got to be a little frustrating.

I made lunch for a break: veggies (summer squash, red onion, mushrooms, green peppers), and a 1/3 block of tofu, all seasoned with garlic powder, sea salt, and lemon pepper baked at 350° (veggies for 25 minutes, tofu for the last 15 minutes). This is a flavor packed combo of seasonings, that gives the tofu a real punch!

I finished my paper just in time to leave for my 1pm class (it was a makeup class). I had two snacks, one on the way to class and the other half way through class: a Trader Joe’s Apple and Wild Berry Fruit Wrap and a Clif Kid Chocolate Chip Z Bar.

After class I headed straight to the McGeorge gym. I got in a great workout, the best part was Megan showed up at the gym about 20 minutes into my workout, so I had her to chat with while I plodded away on the elliptical. I did 57 minutes on levels 7 and 10. It felt great to be active after a long run, rather than just recovering sedentarily!

And of course some Whittling occurred when I got home.

Here’s the breakdown of my Whittle My Middle for the day:

• Plank with Straight Arms: 1:30 min
• Side Plank with Straight Arms:  1:00 min each side
• Bridge: 1:30 min
• Bridge with One Leg Up: 1:00 min per leg
• Plank with Bent Arms: 1:00 min

After my workout, I had another snack with some protein in it: Newman’s Own Organics Protein Pretzels and 1/4 of a Kashi Pumpkin Flax Granola Bar.

I spent part of the evening just relaxing a little and chatting with Tyler and then my dad on the phone about plans for while I’m in Michigan over Christmas.

Dinner was delicious: I had half a box of Annie’s Bunny Pasta and Yummy Cheese and some extra veggies that I roasted up at lunch.

I love macaroni and cheese, I only wish pasta were more filling.

Dessert was another fantastic combo: I microwaved the following for 2 minutes: one cut up apple with 1 Tbs. maple syrup, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and 2 dashes of nutmeg with 1/2 oz walnuts. Then I added the other 3/4 of the Kashi Pumpkin Flax Granola Bar and 1 serving of Soy Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream. A healthier version of an apple crisp or apple pie!

The rest of my evening was spent watching House and working on Civil Procedure for my final class of the semester tomorrow.

Are you getting excited for Thanksgiving?

I am!

1. What are your Thanksgiving plans this year?

2. What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

I had a yummy breakfast: 2 Kashi GoLean Waffles with 1 Tbs. real Maple Syrup, and one fried egg.

Then I did some strength training and day 2 of Angela’s Whittle My Middle Challenge. Here’s the breakdown (I used 5 lb weights for all 3 sets)

• 3 x 12 Dumbbell Curls
• 3 x 12 Plie Dumbbell Squats
• 3 x 12 Bent Over Dumbbell Rows
• 3 x 24 Lunges with Dumbbells
• 3 x 12 Dumbbell Shoulder Press
• 3 x 12 Calf Raises with Dumbbells
• 3 x 12 Tricep Kickbacks
• 3 x 12 Stiff-Legged Dumbbell Deadlifts
• 3 x 10 Push Ups
• 3 x 12 Leg Lifts (Each Leg)

And the Abs:

• Plank with Straight Arms: 1:20  min
• Side Plank with Straight Arms: 0:45 min each side
• Plank Rotations with Straight Arms: 1:45 min
• Plank with Bent Arms: 1:05
• Bridge: 1:00

My abs were definitely sore today from the first day of Whittle My Middle and are now even more sore. Go abs!

I lazed around for a little bit, then I drove to a park nearby and went for a 22 min. run to get some cardio in. The trails at the park were extremely uneven and not very enjoyable to run on, so I was more than happy to stop.

After the quick run, I went to Trader Joe’s to get some more fruit and a few other things I forgot yesterday – should have made a list the first time.

I ate lunch when I got home: a nice big salad with romaine, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, TJ’s LowFat Parmesan Ranch Dressing, TJ’s croutons, and TJ’s cheddar cheese grated.

For an afternoon snack I tried another Newman’s Own Organics product: Cinnamon Sugar Soy Crisps, and ate 5 oz of grapes.

The Soy Crisps had a really subtle cinnamon sugar flavor, but a great crunch, and they have protein in them, which is huge for me, because I am almost always under in my protein intake. They make a great low calorie and sweet snack, and they come in other flavors, such as BBQ that I also have to review.

Dinner was some awesome roasted vegetables: yellow squash, red onions, cremini mushrooms, and green peppers coated with 1/2 Tbs. olive oil, lemon pepper, sea salt, and garlic powder. I ate them along with 1/3 block of tofu seasoned with lemon pepper, sea salt, and garlic powder. I ate the tofu with some ketchup – it was really good!

The rest of the day was dedicated to baking with a new product I received to review.

Xagave was kind enough to send me a bottle of Xagave and their cookbook.

Xagave is an all-natural sugar replacement made from the agave plant. Xagave is a blend of two agave plant varieties Agave Salmiana (white agave) and Agave Tequilana (blue agave).

What really made me want to try Xagave is the ability to substitute it for sugar in any kind of recipe. The cookbook contains a very helpful Sugar Exchange Table, which also compares the amount of calories saved using Xagave rather than sugar.

When I was browsing through the cookbook, two recipes stood out at me as things I wanted to try using Xagave to see if I could tell a noticeable difference: brownies and pumpkin bread.

I decided to try out the Double Chocolate Bitter Brownies first.

I got all my ingredients out a few hours ahead of time, because I was so excited!

I followed the recipe in the Xagave cookbook, except that I used Earth Balance Buttery Spread instead of butter, and I used regular whole wheat flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour. I also made this my first time using parchment paper. I always hate trying to scrape the last bits of brownie out of the pan, so I picked up some parchment paper at Target last night to try out.

The brownies turned out beautifully.

The parchment paper worked wonders!

I cut the pan into 9 brownies (about 230 calories each) and froze all but one, which I saved for my dessert.

I decided to eat my brownie with some Trader Joe’s Soy Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream, and a serving of White Chocolate Chips.

I could tell a difference between these and other brownies, mostly because of the texture from the whole wheat flour. Otherwise, the flavor was richer and more dark chocolately than other brownies, which I enjoyed because I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate. I will definitely be making these again!

Next I got to work on the recipe for Pumpkin Bread.

I made a few more substitutions in this recipe: I halved it, so that it only made one loaf; I omitted the ginger (because I didn’t have any on hand); I used 1/2 cup pumpkin in place of the oil; and I used regular whole wheat flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour. I also used the parchment paper in the loaf pan, instead of greasing the whole thing.

The pumpkin bread baked for 75 minutes at 325° and smelled absolutely amazing!

Again the parchment paper was amazing. I cut the loaf into 11 slices (about 180 calories/slice), and froze half of them. I’m loving this freezing business.

I ate a slice of the Pumpkin Bread with a little extra cinnamon on top with my dinner.

Again, it had a slightly different texture than my last loaf of Pumpkin Bread, because I used the whole wheat flour, however, it wasn’t unpleasant, and just something to adjust to. I’ve never used whole wheat pastry flour as was suggested for both recipes, but I have a suspicion that it would have a texture more similar to that of brownies or pumpkin bread made with white flour. Other than the texture, there was no other noticeable difference between this pumpkin bread and others I have made. Another Xagave baking success!

Now for the super exciting part, you also have an opportunity to try this product, because Xagave has offered to send one lucky reader the same package they sent me: the 18 oz bottle of Xagave and the Xagave cookbook!

Now for the giveaway rules:

• You can earn a total of 2 entries:
• Entry # 1: Leave a comment below telling me one recipe you would like to make using Xagave.
• Entry # 2: For bloggers, link back to the giveaway in one or your posts, and leave a second comment with a link to your post. For non-bloggers, tell a friend about the giveaway (who doesn’t want free Xagave!) and leave a second comment telling me who you told about the giveaway.
• You have until Wednesday November 19, 2009 at 5 pm Pacific Time (that’s 8pm for all you Eastern Time folks) to enter the giveaway.
• On Wednesday evening, November 19, 2009, I will pick a winner using the Random Integer Generator and post the winner that night, so keep an eye out!

Hope you had a great Saturday – don’t forget to get those giveaway entries in, so you can win some Xagave!

I combined the Fiber One Vanilla Yogurt with 1/4 cup Kashi U Black Currant and Walnut and 1/2 serving of Kashi Heart to Heart and one banana cut up to make this yummy bowl!

I don’t hate the Fiber One Yogurt, and it was nice to have an option with fewer calories (then I got to use the whole banana!), but the texture of this yogurt just wasn’t quite as THICK and CREAMY as the Yoplait I prefer ; ) I wish Greek Yogurt weren’t so expensive, because I prefer that over the Yoplait Thick and Creamy, but until we move somewhere (Sacramento AHEM!) where there are more stores that carry Greek Yogurt then I’m stuck with the Yoplait. Life could be worse.

I’ve got a few errands to run. For some reason like 5 or 6 of our light bulbs have managed to go out in the span of 2 weeks. We had replacements for a few of them, but not all. The battery on my food scale also died last night, so I need to pick up a few 9V batteries. Why are all the batteries and light bulbs in my loft dying?

Here’s the list of things I’m doing today:

• Pick up light bulbs
• Pick up 9V batteries
• Bank
• Yoga tonight at the gym
• Treadmill at the gym
• Fold laundry
• Picking and posting a giveaway winner for the 100th Post Giveaway! Giveaway ends at noon! I’ll be posting the winner tonight, so keep those fingers crossed!

Here’s a look at my To Do List:

• 30 Day Shred
• Zumba tonight Went for a 2.5 mile run in 22.5 minutes instead
• Pick up pool chemicals
• Start Pool Filter
• Vacuum pool
• Pick up goodies for 100th Post Giveaway!
• Party store
• Go through receipts from May
• Pay credit card bill
• 2 loads of laundry
• Fold and put away laundry
• Clean out car
• Drop off stuff at Goodwill

I’d say I did pretty well!

My workout today as listed above was Level 1 of the 30 Day Shred and then a 2.5 mile run in 22.5 minutes.

Lunch was a pita pizza. I used 1 whole wheat pita and topped it with 1/3 cup spaghetti sauce, 1 oz shredded colby jack cheese, 1 serving turkey pepperoni. I popped it in the oven at 300 degrees for 18 minutes. I ate my pita pizza with 3 oz carrot sticks and 2.5 Tbs. Nasoya Dijon Style Sandwich Spread for carrot dipping.

I spent my afternoon taking care of all the pool stuff, in the rain. Cleaning a pool is not very nice in the rain and somewhat futile. Oh well. I also ran the rest of my errands including a trip to Target, Walmart, and to the party store.

I picked up some Sleepy Time Tea, an Amy’s Cheddar Cheese Burrito (they were on sale, I just had to!), and 2 EcoTools loofahs for Tyler and I. Ahhh exfoliation! (I also picked up 2 White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Luna Bars, and an Odwalla Chocowalla Bar, but they aren’t in the picture obviously).

Dinner tonight was pretty good, but I didn’t quite cook everything right, so the flavors were right on, while the textures were a bit off.  I made a box of Lundberg Organic Alfredo Risotto and steamed asparagus. I had a little less than half the risotto and half the asparagus. The risotto didn’t quite get cooked all the way, and the asparagus was somewhat over steamed, oh well crap happens. At least it tasted ok!

Dessert was a bowl of strawberries (6 oz) with turbinado sugar, a Kashi TLC Dark Chocolate Cookie, and 1 cup of skim milk! This was a big dessert, but since most of it was fruit I’m going to not worry about it.

Ok ok, enough delays!

In celebration of my 100th Post (this one!) I picked up some of my absolute favorite healthy goodies at the store today to share with you all!

One lucky winner will receive:

• 1 box Annie’s Shells & Real Aged Cheddar Macaroni & Cheese
• 1 Lindt Excellence 70% Cocoa Intense Dark Chocolate Bar
• 1 box Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime Herbal Caffeine Free Tea
• 1 package Archer Farms Single Serve Packs Raw Almonds Unsalted
• 2 Luna Caramel Nut Brownie Bars
• 1 Clif Mojo Peanut Butter Pretzel Bar
• 1 ecoTools Loofah & Cotton Body Buff

Now for the rules:

The winner will be chosen at noon on Wednesday June 17 using a Random Integer Generator. There are 3 ways to get an entry into giveaway and you can have up to a total of 3.

1. Leave a comment below telling me about 3 of your favorite healthy foods/products.

2. Link back to the giveaway on your own blog, and leave a comment with a link to the post. (If you don’t have a blog, you can earn an entry by telling two people about the giveaway and leaving a comment telling me who you told).

3. Add me to your Blogroll and leave a comment linking back to your blog so I can check out your blog and add you to my blogroll! (If you don’t have a blog, you can earn a third entry by leaving a comment telling me what your favorite home cooked meal is-feel free to leave the recipe too hehe!)

*A quick note, please only leave 3 entries, and if you choose all 3 ways to enter make sure you leave separate comments for all 3 to increase your chances of winning!

I hope you all enjoy the giveaway and a chance to try out some of my favorite products. I feel so blessed to be a part of the blogging world, and this is a really fun way to give back!

Lunch today was delicious! I had a salad with cucumber, 1/2 serving of turkey pepperonis, 1 oz of pepper jack cheese, honey lemon vinaigrette, orange bell pepper, and 1 serving of Triscuits.

Before and after I cleaned house, I had some snacks

A Clif Kid Twisted Fruit Strawberry! This thing was awesome, I’ll definitely be buying this flavor again!

Then I had a yogurt bowl with 1/2 cup non fat plain yogurt, 1 serving canned pineapple, and 1/2 serving Flavor One Original Bran cereal.

Dinner was late, but worth the wait and was very similar in color all around. I had 4 oz salmon seasoned with lemon pepper and salt and baked, 2 oz (dry) of whole wheat rotini with butter spray and parmesan, and some sauteed orange bell pepper!

This was my first time having whole wheat pasta (at least that I can consciously recall) and I must say I am really impressed. I’d heard it had a nutty flavor, but I didn’t notice any and I thought it tasted much like regular pasta, but more filling. I’m sold, it’s whole wheat pasta for this household from now on!

Update

I threw together a dessert-y mess. I used 1 serving of cinnamon graham sticks, 1 bar of milk chocolate, and 1 Tbs. of caramel. I microwaved it for about 20 seconds and it was all warm and melty and I used the graham sticks for dipping. It was messy kind of like a mixture of a s’more and a chocolate caramel bar. Definitely drool worthy!

I’ve got some fun plans for tomorrow and for the weekend! Tyler, my dad, and I are going kayaking on Sunday! We’re meeting my dad for lunch (possibly church too, I’ll see if I can convince Tyler or not), then driving an hour to the White River to kayak from about 1pm to 6pm. Then we’ll do dinner afterwards in Montague, MI. I’m super excited. We used to take family canoe trips when I was little on the Current River in MO, and I always loved them. I never minding tipping in the canoe, at least not when I got older. I have tons of canoeing memories with my family, and I can’t wait to make some with Tyler! Let’s hope the weather is good Sunday!

And tomorrow, I may be going for a bike ride with my dad! Sometimes its really nice not having a full time job, might as well enjoy it while I can right!

Check out some more fun giveaways:

Danica’s got some GNU Bars to share!

She Wears a Red Sox Cap is giving away some Trader Joes!

Alright, I’m outta here! Tomorrow’s Friday!

Anyways, I went for a run this morning. I didn’t realize it was raining until I got outside, so I cut it short and did 2.25 miles in 20 minutes. Not a bad run, but very short. I made up for it the rest of the day weeding and getting my uncle’s pool ready for set up,the set up that didn’t happen and was rescheduled for tomorrow night : (   

Breakfast was a yogurt mess with 2/3 cup nonfat plain yogurt, some vanilla extract, 3/4 serving of Cinnamon Raisin Granola, and 1 serving of wheat germ. This bowl was the perfect combination! I’ll be making this again!

After breakfast I ran some errands

• bank to cash some paychecks
• Kinko’s to fax the pool opening contract
• the pool store to try and replace a part of the pump
• the natural food’s store to get some treats for the blogger swap (and maybe for myself too…oops!)

When I got back, I made some lunch. I had a chicken sausage, and some broccoli, cheese, and rice mix.

At 2:30 I drove to my Uncle’s house to get ready for the pool set-up.  I worked on getting some leaves out of the pool, and trying to get some of the water out. I also weeded some. Around 4:00 I had a Diet Mt. Dew. 

I also snacked slowly on a new bar, the Banana & Oat Bran KIND Bar!  

This was my first time trying any flavor of KIND Bar. It was very satisfying and kept me full for a few hours. The ingredients list was pretty clean, although not entirely, and it only had 160 calories total, which is about what I like for a snack. You could add a piece of fruit if you were still hungry and not be overloading on the snacks. 

While I liked this KIND Bar, I’m not sure I like chewy bars as much as I like crunchy ones. The flavor was very banana-y  and a little bit coconut-y which I liked, and for a chewy bar, it had good texture and consistency. I broke it into two pieces and those pieces stayed together without crumbling which was nice. I would probably buy this bar again, although they are a bit expensive at about $2.19 each at most stores, so I would probably only buy it for an occassional treat or I would buy a few if I found them on sale (I did today at the health food store for $1.25 so I picked up a few, and a different flavor to try next!). 

My Uncle’s dog Bud kept getting in my car, every time I opened the door, so I took a picture of him, yep that’s what happens when I have a camera on me all the time.

Well, like I said the pool guys never showed up, they called to reschedule but not until an hour and a half after they were supposed to be there.

When Tyler got home, dinner wasn’t quite ready yet so we had a watermelon appetizer!

Dinner resembled lunch a great deal, eat what you like right! I had another chicken sausage, steamed broccoli, and 3.5 oz of roasted sweet potatoes, with some ketchup for dipping. Yum!

I’ll be having some dessert shortly, but I’m not sure what yet. Then I’ll be folding more laundry…can you tell how excited I am about it.

Tomorrow should be a good day, I get to meet up with my dad and a distant relative for breakfast/coffee, and the pool will finally be set up at my uncle’s. If it is as hot as it was today, I may just get in!

Lastly, if you have some free time you should check out these sweet giveaways! I hope I win them!

Hangry Pants:  Element Bars It’s like the Build-a-Bear factory…only for bars yay!

Jackson’s World: Gym Soap! So we can all be all squeaky clean after we workout!

Danica is giving away copy of Hungry Girl’s 200 Under 200 Cookbook and a Cute t-shirt!

Gliding Calm is doing her first giveaway of one of Mara’s adorable blogger charms!

Eating Bender is also giving away the same Peanut Butter Jar charm from Mara!

And of course Mara is giving away one of the charms too!

Sarah Is Healthy is having a Sonny & Joe’s Hummus giveaway, who doesn’t love hummus, I know I do!

I think that’s all of them! Aren’t giveaways exciting!

I decided to go for a long slow run. I kind of dragged myself out the door, but once I got going it wasn’t so bad. The weather was great for running, it was pretty warm out but there was a nice breeze so I didn’t get too hot. I wore a tank top, and I think my arms and face got a little bit of sun, so I won’t be so pale! About mile 3 the pain in my shoulders kicked in a little, and my legs started to feel crazy tired, but I kept pushing. I ran 4.45 miles in 40:37! I am so proud of myself. I kept a great pace considering my workout yesterday and I couldn’t believe it when I got back and mapped my run and found out I had run almost 4.5 miles! Not to brag, but I feel pretty freakin awesome right now! GO ME! This run was just what I needed today.

I opened this G2 as soon as I got in the door, I’m feeling crazy dehydrated from that heat!

After my run and a little G2 I showered and fixed up some lunch.

Hi, my name is Julia, and I am a hummus-aholic. Do they have support groups for people that are addicted to hummus, if they do, I might just need one!

I had 1/2 cup homemade hummus, 1 oz carrot sticks, 3 oz celery sticks, 1/2 a whole wheat pita, 1/2 cup cucumber salad.

I also ate these 2 little Dark Chocolates for a little treat.

I caught up on some Desperate Housewives after lunch, I’m finishing the second episode right now (I think it is the season finale, and WHOA I can’t wait to see how it ends!)

I am really inspired by Caitlin’s posts yesterday about Fat Talk. You should check out the page End Fat Talk she made dedicated to it. I’ve decided to accept Caitlin’s challenge to End Fat Talk in my own life. For me this means not telling myself negative things, and when I start to think those things counteracting them with a positive. Like if I start to think, “I feel fat today” telling myself something positive, such as “I am a very creative cook” or “I am getting to be a stronger faster runner”. I’m also going to stop justifying when I eat foods that I don’t normally eat, even when I was writing this I was thinking “foods that I shouldn’t eat”. I honestly don’t believe there are foods that I shouldn’t eat, only foods that I should limit and not eat very often. I shouldn’t have to feel guilty about eating milk chocolate like I did with my mom, or getting a peanut butter cookie for a snack. I make healthy choices most of the time, and having a treat once in awhile is not going to make me gain weight nor does it make me a bad person or lazy or fat or any of the other bad things I tell myself when I feel like I eat something I “shouldn’t have”. So I’m going to try to end the Fat Talk, especially on here and in my own head, and when I hear friends or family doing it I am going to remind them that they are beautiful and that talking about themself that way isn’t helping anyone and is nothing but destructive.

Thanks Caitlin for bringing this to all of our attention, I think it is so important that we teach young women to be happy with themselves and to make good choices. We don’t want young girls growing up thinking that they are inadequate just because they do not look a certain way.

Last, check out An Apple A Day’s giveaway for a bunch of different items! I love giveaways!