Long Weekend Eats

I’ve always been fond of Labour Day weekend. Perhaps it’s because it’s my two love-birds of parents anniversary on the 4th. Or it’s the last hurrah before my favorite season comes out to play.

Gotta admit though, I felt a little jipped this summer with the weather. Where was Ma Nature in July? We’re getting heat this weekend but it makes me long for it even more. Putting my woes aside, I’m about to tell you all about our weekend even though it is only half way over.

We did a bit of relaxing out on the balcony, watching the thunder storm and having a few snacks and bevvies. Pardon the iPad photo.
Even though my boyfriends major race of the year is now over (Ironman Mont Tremblant) he’s still going strong in September. Yesterday he booked it down close to the USA boarder to Chatham for a time trial bike with one of his friends. That left me with the entire day to myself. Which usually results in a lot of money spent when I’m bored, hungry and need groceries.

I didn’t go too hog wild because I would’ve had to carry up all the groceries myself from the car and I dislike making multiple trips. 3 bags of groceries from 4 different places, including a trip to the Farmer’s Market and a stop into the Health Food Store.

Oh and to Target to pick up these sweet kicks for $19. I can’t wait til they’re broken in and look more rugged. target-mossimo-katelyn-boot

baggu-bagsLet’s see what we’ve got in here.

groceriesSorta left to right starting clockwise at 11pm ;) Hemp Hearts (on sale!) // Vegan Tomato & Avocado vinaigrette // Farmers Market Peaches // Sweet Corn // Light Havarti // Red Peppers // Broccoli // Sprouts // Apples // Tomato // Vegan Gluten Free Brownie // Lara Bar // Dempster’s Thins // Dried Unsweetened Mango.

Total: $26.31

And because I felt like it, I went to the drive-thru and got myself some lunch for under four bucks, thanks to dollar drink days.mcdonalds

I made some pretty mouth-watering meals this weekend, won’t lie. Then again, we’re pretty easy to please.

Supper consisted of a roast chicken breast // white roasted potatoes // Farmers Market corn on the cob (best I’ve had in years. Thanks Herrles) // and Herrles carrotssupper

Breakfast one morning on our balcony.  Multi-grain Dempster’s Thins // Sausages // Maple Leaf Prime bacon // Farmers Market peaches from Herrles // Egg omelet with mushrooms, peppers, and tomatoesbreakfast-with-dempsters-th

I got a little creative with lunch over the weekend and made a really healthy plate of finger foods for us to eat on the balcony again. Sandwhich ingredients: Multi-grain Dempster’s Thins // Sprouts // Red Pepper // Tomato // Mushrooms // Spring Mix // Chicken // Light Havarti // Roasted Red Pepper Aioli.DempstersThins-sandwich

Apple with a vegan gluten-free brownie which was still so terribly unhealthy (ingredients list had shortening which is worse for you than lard. Shortening has tons of trans fat). Oops. Read your labels folks! Didn’t realize it until the boyf scolded me after I showed him the brownie and raved how wonderful it tasted, then brought up the ingredients photo. Lol.vegan-gf-brownie

You may have noticed a reoccurring trend in my meals above with the Multi-grain Dempster’s Thins. I’m currently working with them on a campaign to promote their products. My Boyfriend always buys bread as he carb loads like crazy on a daily basis. He doesn’t stop running around (literally), swimming and biking for 5+ hours. In fact, he’s out on his tri bike right now with a friend for a 200km ride.

Since I stopped eating Paleo I’ve slowly incorporated carbs back into my diet. I love ciabatta bun sandwiches but often times it leaves me feeling bloated as it’s such a thick piece of bread. Using the Dempster’s Thins I have the best of both worlds. No bloating since they’re thin and getting to dive into luxury with a bit of carbs in my belly and not worry about the calorie intake so much. In fact, Dempster’s Thins have 50% less calories than their leading whole wheat bread. Obviously due to the fact that the bread is much thinner and you’re eating substantially less. But that’s the point. We don’t need to eat a ton more! I’m completely satisfied with the thin bread.

I’d like to share some coupons with you guys if you wanted to buy them for yourself this week with the kids going back to school, or you just going back to work and want to be prepared ahead of time.

Coupon for DempstersTHINSSave a $1 on your next Dempster’s product.

If you’re on Twitter and are around on September 10 at 9PM EST, Dempster’s Thins is having a Twitter Party! The hashtag being used will be #WinWithTHINS with over $1,000 prizes including a Nike + FuelBand. Would love to see you there!

And for those one’s who want to win a little somethin’-somethin’,  I’ve got a little something up my sleeve. Sandwich crumbs? No no silly, a giveaway for my Canadian readers. More Dempster’s coupons! 8 of them in fact.

Be sure to stay in the loop with them on their Social Media channels:

Onto the giveaway! Canadian residents only. Contest ends on September 10th at 11:50pm EST.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Why I gave up Paleo

I’ve officially given up on the Paleo eating altogether. It just wasn’t working for me, as I’ve stated a few times.

I found that I was thinking in a disordered way while on Paleo. It scared me and I didn’t want to have restrictions on what I ate. However it did change my mind-set for the better. I am making smarter choices for meals and snacks, without all the sugar. I’m actually packing healthy meals to eat besides nuking a microwaveable dinner or having a bag of chips and a mars bar for a snack.

Paleo made me focus on the negative “I’m not allowed to have this/that“. I do feel guilty when I go to CrossFit and people ask me how the paleo is going, or look at my body thinking “She’s not paleo anymore” because I did gain 6 of the 9lbs I lost, back — quickly. Who knows if people really notice that much of a difference, but I certainly do. I hate having love-handles.

I spoke to two of the owners at CrossFit within the past 2 weeks and let them in on my stomach issues. One of them told me it’s okay to not be on paleo. He said “Do what works for you. What we’re really trying to do is clean up everyone’s diets and eat more clean.” That right there made me feel at ease. It’s what I really needed to hear. I don’t have to be all paleo, all the time. I can mix in some dairy, or grains and still feel guilt free.

Being on paleo? My gut wasn’t feeling it. It was all leaky and just uncomfortable for four months (too much information for the blog?). Quitting the unhealthy eating habits cold turkey definitely took a toll on my body, but also helped me lose 7.25 inches and 9 pounds in 30 days off my already small frame. Prior to Paleo, I never ate breakfast, and at work I was snacking on chocolate bars and pop. Going sugar-free cold turkey and starting paleo definitely screwed up something in my body. It was a shocker to it.

I tried to adapt Paleo in my lifestyle but I needed to listen to my body. Even if my love handles were disappearing on Paleo. Who knows, maybe I’ll do a 30 day challenge of Paleo on my own if I feel like I’m sliding on the clean eating. The results I got were kinda crazy good.I’ve incorporated dairy (probiotic yogurt) back into my ‘diet’ but not so much cheese and milk yet (I used to have a glass of skim milk every night with supper). Also? I hear all this talk about “Complex Carbs” on blogs, and have no idea what they mean. When I google the term, all that shows up are regular carbs (pasta, potatoes, bread, rice..). So I don’t know what that entails. But what I am doing, is limiting processed foods, and incorporating wheat back. I have sandwiches for lunch, and quinoa whenever I have the urge to eat grains. I don’t often make pasta (not the biggest fan of it anyway) but still continue to make it for my endurance athlete of a boyfriend from time to time.

I noticed that I gave up on taking my daily vitamins when I started Paleo. The past 3 weeks I’ve started taking them nightly again. Iron, B12, Vitamin D, and a multivitamin (which I take twice a day). I’ve been noticing my gut is feeling better and back to normal. If that’s how my body feels happy, then that’s the way I’m going to feed it.

I am quite interested in all sorts of healthy meals, so I’ll continue to post about the foods I eat.

Take care of your body.take care of your body

Tomorrow I’ll be back with a post about what I’ve been eating this long weekend. Some of it’s clean, yeah — some of it is indulging in a little McDonalds.

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Foods I keep with me, at all times

SNACKS

It pays to plan ahead, plus is saves me dolla bills. Bonus is that they require zero preparation. Here are the foods I bring with me whether I’m traveling or avoid going hungry.

veggiesVegetables and Fruit:
Fiber rich fruit such as carrots, and bell peppers are the easiest to carry around. Apples, unsweetened dried mango and berries are also great options. Contrary to what the photo may say, I do not carry around a fully cooked sweet potatoe in my purse ;)

nutsTrail mix:
I stock up on a trail mix that I create, from the Bulk Barn. It’s healthy fat and fills you up. Keep in mind you should only grab a handful and that will be enough. I always add in some mini m&ms. It’s one of my favorite snacks to bring to work. Such an easy thing to pack. Note I do get the raw unsalted nuts.

5-kind-barsEnergy Bars:
I don’t eat these bars as a meal replacement, but as a snack. Some of the protein bars are a little better than a chocolate bar but a lot of them are loaded with sugar, so watch the labels. Make sure that there is a good mix of carbs, protien (at least 8g) and some healthy fat (avoid trans fat!) and of course sugar, make sure it’s lower than 7g. Some of my favorite snack bars to grab are Kind bars, Luna bars, and Clif bars.

I blogged about Kind bars in my Healthy Snacking Tips post and a rep from Kind Bar asked me if I’d like to try out some of their new flavors that just launched. Heck yea I ain’t sayin’ no to that. As you can tell from the above photo I already enjoy their bars so there definitely wasn’t any hesitation e-mailing Erin back!

Some of the Kind bars have more sugar in them, but the new ones just launched have only 5g of sugar. Take a wild guess and tell me what you think was my favorite flavor of the two?

new-kind-bar-flavors2

No questions asked. Most definitely the dark chocolate chili almond. It wasn’t one of those bars where you take a bite, put it down and continue on with what you’re doing around the house, or on the computer. After every bite I couldn’t wait to bite into another piece. So much for slow eating! How does the chili interact with my taste buds? I thought it would burn the buds right off my tongue since I’m a huge wuss when it comes to anything spicy. The Kind bar just added warmth if anything. Thankfully it did not burn my mouth and was both sweet and salty which is clearly a winning combination. kind-bars

I left the maple glazed pecan & sea salt taste test up to my boyfriend to tell me what he thought of it before I opened up mine. Mainly because I’m not the biggest fan of maple even though I really do like maple syrup and maple walnut icecream. His reaction? “At first it tasted like… uhh. Then I was all…mmm!” And there you have it folks, Scott’s first review on my blog. What an informative guy.

Luckily a few days later I ended up bringing the maple one to work with me. Opened ‘er up and had a try. It has a lot more texture and crunch going on and wasn’t overpoweringly tasting like maple. It was more of a typical granola bar flavor than the dark chocolate chili almond. So it’s safe to say I thoroughly enjoyed that one as well.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post because I have some Make Up For Ever brushes that I want you to see!

Do you carry food in your purse/bag with you? What do you bring?

Have you ever had an energy bar?

What one flavor of the new KIND bars do you think you’d like: maple or the dark chocolate one?

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