CUPCAKE DIET

Today my kids and I made lemon cupcakes!  I was in the mood to bake something and was leaning towards blueberry muffins since we still have a lot of fresh blueberries left from picking last week, but my son wanted cupcakes,  and surprisingly lemon.  I myself, like all cupcakes, well to be honest, I like almost all desserts, haha, but I thought for sure he would pick chocolate.  However, the lemon ones were delicious! We made regular size cupcakes and mini ones too, which was good for me, so I could eat a couple without feeling completely terrible!  I've been trying to eat healthier these last few weeks.  I wouldn't mind losing just a couple of pounds. 

So instead of cupcakes, I should be eating this: 

photo source

Which don't get me wrong, I love fruits, but I do have a sweet tooth!  Goodness, dieting can be no fun!  What about you all?  Are any of you on any type of diet?  If so, what are your go to recipes? 

I'm really into nuts and seeds right now. 

photo source

 My current favorite seeds right now are raw pumpkin seeds and my go to nuts are raw almonds and a little bit of walnuts too.  Pair nuts and seeds with a a little bit of dried fruit and it's super yummy! Although you really have to watch the sugar content on dried fruit.  Do you have a favorite healthy snack?  

Diet Motivation

Hey girls!  With Thanksgiving this past week my diet went out the window!  This week we had three different Thanksgiving celebrations to go to.  How's a girl suppossed to eat healthy?  I have been eating loads of food and lots of desserts, like pumpkin whoopie pies, pumpkin rolls, layered pumpkin pie, cheesecake.... Oh dear, it's been terrible!  I've been terrible! : /  But starting now I'm going to get back on track!  I'd love to lose 5lbs!  I would be ok with a little more.  I was looking on weheart.com for inspirational pics.  I'd love to hear any tips or motivation you girls might have!  What keeps you on track?

Pictures from www.weheartit.com

Three Books, A Kind Diet, and an Outfit

My cat has an interesting expression on her face doesn't she? hehe

The other day I actually went to our public library!  I haven't been there in forever, not that I have a problem with the library or don't enjoy reading.  On the contrary, reading is one of my biggest passions!  Why I don't go to the library much is because I'd rather own a book then have to return it.  My husband and I both love adding new books to our shelves and read as much as we can.  Thankfully we both share that passion.  The reason I decided to go to the library was mainly because there are a few books out there I wanted read, but actually wasn't quite sure if I should fully commit and buy them.  I figured the best solution would be to just borrow them from the library.

I walked away with three books during this trip.  The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone, and two semi-silly reads, which aren't normally my forte so that's why I decided to get them from the library, both of which are written by Tori Spelling, one titled sTORI TELLING and another UNCHARTED TERRITORI.

I started with The Kind Diet first, because I've heard so many good things about it, from interviews by Alicia herself, other reviewers/celebs and blogger friend Leia! :)  It's also a New York Time's Bestseller!  

Blue 3/4 sleeve cardigan: Merona (Target), Black Tank: Charlotte Russe, Jeans: Bongo

Flower Necklace: F21, Headband:  Claires : P,

Booties:  Colin Stuart (courtesy Designer Apparel)

I couldn't put the book down!  I finished reading the entire book (part of it is an actual book and then part cookbook)  the very next day!  I've already ordered it to buy!

It's definitely worth owning, with so many useful bits of information and great recipes, you really can't go wrong!  I'm not a vegan, but even if you aren't it helps you see things from a different perspective and learn how your body reacts to certain things you eat, and what are considered "kind foods" and "nasty foods".  

Alicia offers three different categories for people wanting to try out new eating styles:  Flirting, Vegan, and Superhero.  Flirting is kind of where I am.  Flirting with the idea of subbing out better alternatives for meat and other artificial foods.  I'm not a huge meat eater anyway.  I eat a burger/steak maybe once/twice a month, and the last couple times I've had read meat it's actually made me really sick, so that's way I find flirting more and more appealing.  More often then not the meat I do eat is grilled chicken, or grilled fish.  Even that's only, maybe, twice a week.  So I'm not a huge meat eater.  My primary goal is to go 4 weeks without any type of meat.  And then see what happens from there.

Right now, I'm 2 days into week 2.  I made it all the way through my fist week! 

I generally eat healthy, or at least try to. : )  But this is a bit different for me, and I'm excited to start focusing more on what types of food I'm eating, grains, beans, and veggies, etc. vs. counting my calories.  Sometimes counting calories can be taxing on me emotionally and I get discouraged.  Hopefully this turns out to be better for me in the long run!  

And although I haven't given up dairy, I have been really trying to swap out dairy free products for my usual dairy filled ones.  I've switched to Whole Soy yogurt (the brand Alicia suggested).  Which, is actually very good!  I was kind of scared to try soy yogurt, but was quite impressed.  My favorite flavor is raspberry so far. 

I've also bought Tofutti dairy-free mint chocolate chip "ice cream" sandwiches, which you guessed it, aren't really made out of ice cream! :)  Yet, they are still yummy.  I've dappled in soy "ice cream" products before, but this kind was new to me.  My freezer is usually stocked with vegan/veggie Morning Star/and or Bocca burgers anyway.  They are lower in calories, so they've already been helpful, since last year, when I started watching my calories, and trying to lose weight.  Another thing is, I've been eating brown rice daily, with usually 2 of my meals.  So, yeah that's basically where I stand.......

Have any of you read The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone?  I highly suggest it if you haven't!  Have you recently tried something new with your eating habits?  Are you a big meat eater? Or maybe a vegetarian/and or vegan? I'd love to hear your thoughts on what you do to eat right, or if you try to eat right?  What works best for you?