Aren't cravings funny...

Over the past couple of weeks I have really focused on getting back on track with healthy eating. I don't subscribe to calorie counting so much as I prefer to just know that I am not eating a lot of unhealthy food. Over the holiday season, as most people I would imagine, I really got off track and probably ate more unhealthy than I would like to admit. I don't remember craving good food though, it is always junk cravings that are more my style.

Over the past couple of weeks as I have tried to get back on track, I find myself just naturally making better choices. For example, I really don't crave junk like I have in the past. If I am headed to lunch and Wendy's is the only choice and I am desperate, the thought of a single combo really is not all that appealing to me whereas the small chili sounds awesome. (Yes, I do know the combo number by heart perhaps that is why I am so surprised at the non-existent cravings for such things.) I guess your body just grows accustomed to certain types of food for fuel and learns to crave those foods. I am my own science experiment. :)

Lately, my breakfast of choice that I cannot get enough of is Chobani Yogurt, pineapple, red grapefruit and 1/2 cup cereal. I have always been a yogurt purist. No experimentation for me. The extent of my adventure was to stir the fruit up from the bottom of the cup. Actually adding in my own ingredients to plain yogurt, well, it may not be rocket science but it never occured to me. It is so good. I prefer Greek yogurt for the thicker consistency and the extra protein. I have also subbed in regular vanilla yogurt which is just as good but not nearly the same amount of protein. When I use non-Greek yogurt, I like to stir in a half scoop of whey protein to make up the difference.

Pardon the crappy pictures, my battery low light was flashing and I only got 2 pics in before it died. Perhaps part of my house purging will uncover my battery charger...



Picture it with the cereal stirred in and me sitting at work enjoying it :)



My other favorite stir in is pumpkin, a healthy dash of cinnamon and cereal. To me, it really tastes a lot like pumpkin pie. Rick wasn't so sure when he tried it but he is not a yogurt fan. I think this might have been his first time eating yogurt. To his credit, he proclaimed it to be "not bad" and ate the 1/2 cup or so I gave him to try. He did kind of have a weird look on his face. Maybe it will grow on him. Baby steps...

Speaking of cereal, I got my own mix at Me & Goji. I was really impressed. I loved being able to mix together my own combination. Basically, the idea is you have 50+ ingredients to chose from and you mix together your own organic cereal or granola. I am currently loving my selection which I named "Karen's Special K" - what else. (They put the name of your cereal on the container). Mine contained Flaxed and Flaked, multigrain O's, coconut, goji, raisins and almonds. They sent along a small sample of fruit which I think is cool. My sample was a mulberry. It wasn't a fruit I would eat again in its dried form but I loved to be able to try it. All around the mulberry bush... I had to sing it as I was enjoying my berry. :)

In other news, tons of rain today which meant more purging of my life collection of unnecessary items. If only Rick were home to take out the trash! Seriously, even if he were home I wouldn't blame him for not taking it out with the downpour we are getting. We were able to get in our last regular season tennis match on Saturday and won the division. Playoffs here we come! We are the number one seed which means we will have home court advantage (and not have to drive across town) all the way to finals. WOO HOO!

OH! Check out restaurant.com for some great deals on restaurant gift certificates. Not sure if they are in all areas but I scored $90 worth of gift certificates for $15. The featured restaurants are local as opposed to national chains, definitely worth a look. Typically a $10 certificate is $4 and the $25 certificate costs $10 (I think). THEN... enter the coupon code FEAST when you check out for another 70% off the total. I believe they refresh their stock of certificates each month so if one is sold out, it will probably be replenished after the first. Enjoy!