A peek at my sanity...

...I kid.  Sort of.

I've talked a lot about ALLOWING and what a difference SMALL INDULGENCES can make to your overall sanity at trying to live a healthy lifestyle.  They can help you make healthy choices throughout your life 80% of the time, without having all that resentment from "I can't have this cause I'm on a diet" (gag) moments.  So here's a peek of what I allow myself to have ALMOST every day:  Chocolate!

I never used to be a chocolate person, so this is still sorta hilarious for me...but I'm making up for lost time, allowing myself little bites almost daily.  Always checking in whether I want it or not.  Yesterday, when I made this video, I actually wanted a couple pieces.  Today?  Not interested at all.  I'm saying that because I'm very tuned into whether I'm having out of habit or because I truly want it.

OK....enough chatter!  Here's the video of my awesome chocolate stash!

Do you guys have any recommendations??  Any favorite indulgences??  

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As always...thanks for reading!

Friday fun...

So, I've been liking how this blog is evolving and what features are falling into place so far...

• Monday:  My weekly attempt at food balance.
• Wednesday:  A challenge in mental weight loss.  These posts take a lot out of me since I feel like I put my whole heart & soul into them...so one a week might be my limit for the momentJ  I'm going with the quality over quantity ideaJ

And I was thinking maybe we'll have a little fun on Fridays!  Maybe weight loss motivation like last week.  Or a fresh recipe made with light, seasonal ingredients (I might have an exciting update about a project regarding this very soon!J), or maybe one of my most enjoyable Friday features to read on other blogs:  Friday favorites.  But for TODAY, I thought this might be fun:  FITNESS FRIDAY!

Even though I'm FAR from a fitness expert, I thought I'd give you guys a quick little tip that I took from my earliest days of my yoga journey.  Try this exercise a few times a day and you'll feel the changes in your arms in no time!  It helped lead to one of those moments of "I might not be the skinniest girl in the room, but I'm starting to feel STRONG."  I'll take itJ

Or Click here if you can't see the video above!

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As always...thanks for reading!

Superfood + chocolates??

Morning, everyone!  So, as promised, here was my haul from Trader Joe's yesterday morning.  I figured a video was a good way to shake things up on a Friday.  Plus a great way for you to all bask in my 5-month pregnant gorgeousness....

Yes.  That is sarcasm at its finest.

Unfortunately my video cut off before I got to tell you to keep the secret of those 'healthy chocolates' to yourselfJ About 10 minutes after I...ummmm...self-directed a 'cut' on this video, I cracked open those bad bears and was NOT disappointed...

The caramel was smooth and buttery and the only detection of the QUINOA was a bit of crunch that mixed right along with the pecans....mmmmmmmm...TEXTURE:

So yep, that's what I got for you guys today.  Figured I had a few more 'special' posts before I got back to my regularly scheduled programming of my daily food/exercise log.  Hope you guys like it!

Oh yeah...and one more thing:  Katie's victory of finding the hidden Trader Joe's tiger yesterday in the snack aisle...

...it took 10-minutes of 'prep work' to explain we had to turn this special prize in to exchange it for a different prize (aka-a lollipop from the TJ's "treasure chest") because this tiger was quickly deemed her "MOSTFAVORITEANIMALEVER!"  *WIDE EYED PANIC*  Thankfully, the sight of lemon lollipops prevailed, along with getting to hide the tiger for the next kid.  PHEW!  Crisis=averted.

Alright...well, it's with pretty great struggle that I gotta head out for some power yoga this morning, given that I think the weather in NJ is somewhere around -400 below zero, or something equally as pleasant.  Time to crank up the oven for something COZY tonight!

Stay warm, happy Friday and HAPPY VALENTINES DAY to all the ones you love!

Another haul...

Morning, all!  Well, as promised, yesterday was a MUCH healthier day...in part because we STOCKED the house FULL of the good stuff!  Hope you liked the last grocery haul video, because I have a NEW one for you today...this time a HEALTHY HAUL from Trader Joe's...JJJ

(or click here for the video)

Monday Recap:

Workout:  HITT Tone it up Routine

I was also planning on doing an afternoon workout as well, but ended up with a MAJOR headache that would NOT QUIT yesterday afternoon and was stuck to the couch for the rest of the night.  Even MORE interesting is that I think the headache was from the ACV shot that I had tried again yesterday morning.  The same thing happened the last time I tried them about a month ago, and it was a bad enough headache that I don't necessarily want to try it out again!  I'm going to skip it today and see how the rest of the day goes, but that's my non-scentific explanationJ

10:30am:  Breakfast- Perfect Fit pancake with strawberry   (and coffee with stevia & almond milk)

1:30pm:  Lunch- Salad

Sorry...I didn't realize how dark that picture was until JUST NOWJ  In the mix...pretty much everything from the video:

• Kale/brussel sprout/broccoli mix 
• 1/2 cup chickpea balela 
• Broccoli slaw
• Shredded cabbage
• Shaved brussel sprouts

+Strawberries

3:30pm:  Snack- 'Slim down smoothie'

• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 scoop protein powder
• 1 tablespoon PB2
• 4 ice cubes
• PUMPKIN PIE SPICE!!  (just becauseJ)

6:00pm:  Dinner- Buffalo Chicken Salad

In the mix:

• Spring lettuce mix
• Grilled chicken, coated in buffalo sauce 
• Gorgonzola Cole Slaw:  
• Mix of cabbage
• broccoli slaw
• Gorgonzola
• 1 part mayo to 3 parts non-fat Greek yogurt
• salt & pepper to taste

And besides a mini wheat pita and a scoop of hummus so I could take yet ANOTHER round of Advil for my headache before bed, that about wrapped up my day.  Thankfully, the headache was gone this morning and I'm swapping the ACV shot today for one of my ole 'morning acid' tricks.

That didn't sound good in the slightest, huh??

It's REALLY not as interesting as it sounds, but I'll explain in the AMJ  

Have a great Wednesday!

Grocery haulin it...

Hey, everyone!  Sorry for the delay.  Yesterday totally just got away from me.  BUT I do have something to make it up to you guys:  A NEW VIDEO!  This time about my brief grocery haul from Whole FoodsJ...

Hope you enjoy!

(oh and PS- the entire HAUL was $35...NOT just the jar of coconut butter!  Just thought I'd clear that up in case that was confusingJ)

And without further ado, here's a sorta-double recap for you!

Tuesday Recap:

9:30am:  Breakfast- Almond & Coconut bar

11:30am:  Snack- Grapes

1:30pm:  Lunch- Pretzels & Hummus

Workout:  Zumba class

6:00pm:  Dinner- Leftover Summer Chili over Baked Potatoes

One of our favorite/quick & easy ways to serve leftover chili, not to mention how much do ya love that one pork loin got stretched into three meals??  Can't beat that.

8:00pm:  Dessert- 1 scoop chocolate ice creams

Had to have something while watching Impractical Jokers & Ridiculousness, right???J

Wednesday Recap:

10:00am:  Breakfast-Chocolate Peanut Butter bar

Morning Workout:  Power Yoga Class

1:00pm:  Lunch- Whole Foods trip

No folks, I wasn't just purchasing random coconut products and harassing our table neighbors to try coconut chips (see video clip above), we actually also met up for a quick lunch in the cafe.  My plate didn't look too pretty since I went FULL ON "comfort food" yesterday (lots of little bites of mashed potatoes, beef stroganoff, chili con carne, etc.), so I thought I'd show Katie with her plate since it was so pretty...(well, the plate AND Katie, that isJ)

Not to mention, lots of stolen sips from my bottle of Bai5 Coconut...

 

I couldn't refuseJ  My heart swells quite a bit when she asks for all things COCONUT, as you could imagineJ

And since my lunch (and 7 zillion bites of coconut chips) was so filling, both Scott & I passed on dinner.  Besides, I just could NOT WAIT to get to....

Evening Workout:  Body Jam
LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE this release!  Love, Love, Love!  It's really exhausting, but sooooooooooooo much fun.  Body Jam is freakin awesome.

Alright...well, I might have some fun things to show ya tomorrow since we're making up for one of Scott's missed 'birthday celebrations' tonight.  If we're being honest, Katie is getting the best part of this deal, but I know we'll definitely all have a good time.

Have a great Thursday, everyone!

Thanks, Simba...

Thursday Recap:

10:00am:  Breakfast- Coconut Larabar

+

12:30pm:  Lunch- 2 Manicotti

And in the world of "most random lunch," I UNEARTHED these from the depths of my freezer because I decided HOT & CHEESY were the only things I wanted for lunch yesterday.  At 270 calories for 2 manicotti  + 80 calories for 1/2 a cup of Bove's Garlic sauce, I deemed this decadent lunch NOT a disaster.  And can we all agree, NOT a disaster for HOT & CHEESY is always a win??J

3:30pm:  Snack- Apple with peanut butter

With thoughts of FALL and APPLE PICKING dancing through my head, I must sayJ

6:00pm:  Dinner- "Happy Salad"

And even though I was 'happy' to balance out my decadent lunch with a lighter dinner, the only bummer was the lighter dinner was due to the fact that I now have a full-blown sick SCOTT on my hands.  And while he was relegated to soup & lounging on the couch, I slammed down this salad while chasing Katie around.  OH...who should I mention is ALSO sick BUT that doesn't mean she slows down for a second!J  Thank goodness for The Lion King...it's the only thing that stops this kid in her tracks...at least for a little whileJ

Well...we'll see how all of Scott's birthday plans for the weekend shake up.  It's not looking too promising at the moment, as he might be celebrating with copious bowls of chicken noodle soup from his beloved basement couchJ

Hope you guys have a healthier weekend!J

Yoga fun...

Morning, all!  Hope you guys had a great weekend!  I actually don't have too much to show you on the food front from the weekend, but should be back up & running with recaps tomorrow.  The only 'food related' pic I managed to get from the weekend was from a 'Girls & Moms night' weekend out at Mafalda's...including our 'newest' girl memberJ

My BFF and our Mom's spent too much time talking about what we were going to do during the Christmas season to worry about taking pictures of our excellent dinner.  

(I don't even need to preface that I'm not kidding here, huh??)

Annnyyywaaayyyy, in the meantime I thought I'd show you a couple of my yoga videos I've taken the last couple weeks (and my apologies to my peeps who have already seen these 965 timesJ)  Thought you might like to see some work/progress of late...

Gotta keep it fun & fancy, right?

So I better run and get started on prepping for a little celebration tonightJ  Someone in this house is turning the big 4-0!  Weeeeeeee!  Katie & I better get to bakingJ

Have a great Tuesday!J

Slim down wrap up...

Morning, guys!  Hope you had a great weekend!  We enjoyed ours by being really healthy & mindful, while still enjoying two "splurge-type" meals (one being at our FAV Greek restaurant...and that DID include baklavaJ), but we had them all mindfully & splitting portions in HALF, or at least MUCH LESS than we've been eating lately.  So I definitely would say the end of the slim down (all while not following the program SOO super strict) was a success.  The slim down did what I had hoped, which was set us up to make healthier & mindful choices as we move into a more "normal week" this week (ie- not having protein pancakes and a salad EVERY. SINGLE. DAY & adding carbs back in.  Momma needs her pastaJ)  So here's my last "Slim down" video with some thoughts leading into the week, especially if you're thinking about starting your own healthy lifestyle.  Hope you like it!

 I'll be back with my daily recap tomorrow!  Until then, have a great Monday!J

7 Day Slim Down: Day 4

Morning, all!  So here's video #4 about my weight loss so far this week on the 7 day slim down and also a lot of talk about splurges & how to tackle ENJOYING LIFE & YOUR WEEKEND without totally blowing your diet.  BEWARE: my paleness & frizzy hair were on EXTRA display this morning (and I mean, HONESTLY, with these thumbnails!!)J  But this is real lifeJ  We're keepin it real here at My Tasty JourneyJ

And speaking of "real," I spent most of yesterday cringing thinking of how repetative & rambly my video from yesterday was on diet (and if I had a dollar for every time I said "99.9%" & "the thing about diet," not to mention "UMM" & "SO," I would be a millionaire 10 times overJ), but I will tell you that I actually tried to redo the video after listening to it back and the 'reshoot' just came out sounding very scripted and not as sincere.  So just so you know, even if it's rambly & crazy, that those are my honest thoughts from the heart....even if my heart just happens to be repetitive and not very linearJ hahahahahahahaJ

ANYWAY!

Thursday Recap:

8:00am:  Coffee with 1 teaspoon honey & almond milk

9:30am:  Breakfast- Perfect fit waffles with 4 strawberries

11:00am:  Snack- Grapefruit with Stevia  (ps-2 packets of Stevia for the day didn't affect me)

1:00pm:  Lunch- Tuna salad with 1/2 mango 

3:00pm:  Snack- Chocolate Protein Shake 

• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
• 1 tablespoon almond butter
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 4 ice cubes

6:00pm:  Dinner- Turkey Breast & roasted brussel sprouts

Won't lie that I kinda wanted to break open a box of Stove Top to go along with this mealJ, but after we were done, I didn't think about it or miss it...but it was temptingJ 

The brussel sprouts were coated in 1 tablespoon coconut oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder & onion powder and roasted at 350 for about 40 minutes.  And they roasted right along with... 

This Jennie-O pre-flavored turkey breast was DIVINE!  1 hour in the oven and dinner was on the table with barely any prep.

7:00-8:15pm:  Hatha Yoga

And as I mention in the video, I was absolutly DRAGGING last night.  It was a tough one, but I made it!

No dessert last night even though I was DYINGGG for something.  Even with the week of 'sugar detox' (or ALMOST no sugar), I can't say it curbed my nightly sweet tooth THAT much.  I think I'm just gonna try to make an effort to have 'healthier desserts' options during the week (already excited to make these strawberries!) and to be really conscious of whether I REALLY want dessert or it's just a habit.  If a cup of tea or cinnamon/honey water can keep me 'busy enough' so skip sugar for one night, I'll be really happy with that choice.  I don't want to feel deprived, which could lead to a binge, but I'm gonna be more conscious about those 'better options' and not just have chocolate & ice cream cause that's what we would "NORMALLY" have. 

But my salt-tooth really did take a back seat this week.  I used a LOT less than I normally would for dinner and as long as there was SOME, I didn't OVERLY crave it or wish for it any other time throughout the day.  So I took that as a small victory, right??J

Alright, we'll see how the weekend goes!  Hope you have a great one!!

A LIVE hi! :)

Morning, everyone!  I had a lot to share with you today, so I actually joined the year 2006 and made myself a Youtube channel and posted a video that you can check out here.  You can tell straight off the bat that I don't post videos often considering I actually cut my NAME out of the intro of this one, but hope you like it!

PS- Take a shot of Apple Cider Vinegar every time I mention the word "lean" and you'll be slim in no timeJ