not so much of a fail?

After I 'failed' my no-sugar challenge last week I was afraid I would book it to the store and load my cart with everything I could not have...donuts?  cookies?  chocolate bars?  But guess what?  It didn't even sound good to me.  I did get a hot chocolate every day for three days in a row, but after that I have been ok.  I had a pop with dinner last night because we were eating spicy foods and for some reason a caffeine free pepsi or caffeine free coke will prevent my tummy from becoming upset by the spiciness.  I haven't bought cookies or candy.  Yesterday my kids ate cinnamon rolls, I didn't, I had an egg and potato burrito with some meats and veggies added in.  I didn't even eat chocolate yesterday and I was ok.  So maybe I didn't do the challenge the right way, but obviously it is working.  I am going to keep going forward on my 'less' sugar challenge.  :)

I have two things that I love, that are healthy, and I wanted to share them.

I love salads.  I do not love fruit in my veggie salads, but I have discovered the wonderful world of nuts and seeds on my salads.  YUM!  I also discovered if you go down the baking aisle, they have pre-sliced, pre-chunked nuts for you and most of them are unsalted, with nothing extra added to them.  I get a big tub of mixed salad greens, boil some eggs to have ready, whatever veggies I want (cucumbers, carrots, onions, tomatoes....) and measure out my dressing (2 TBSP).  Lately, when lunch time rolls around, I grab a big salad bowl and dump my greens in, any veggies I have that I want to add,  and top it with chunked walnuts before drizzling my dressing over it.  YUMMY.  Just make sure you measure your nuts and seeds as they pack a HUGE calorie and fat content.  But in moderation they are really, really good for you.

Another thing that I have been doing for a few years that I am still amazed over how good it is - green smoothies.  My smoothies are basic, basic, basic.  It sounds so gross, but it really is yummy.

1 cup of fresh baby spinach
1 small banana
2 TBSP of plain or vanilla yogurt (if I am feeling extra 'healthy' I will use greek yogurt here, but normally I just use plain or vanilla yoplait)
a small handful of ice and if I have them some nuts (almonds are my favorite)  

I got to have coffee with one of my favorite friends on Friday night.  I just love her, she has the sweetest heart.  She told me something really neat.  She said that at the grocery stores you can look for chocolate bars that will say (for example) 70% chocolate.  The higher the cacao content, the lower the extras (milk, sugars etc;) are.   Neat!  I never thought to look for that.  The higher the cacao content the 'healthier' your chocolate bar is.  However cacao also has caffeine in it, 12mg a TBSP, so for me at least, it would mean being careful to eat a little bit and not go crazy.