Why don't you stop fakin, yo!?

I am in NY. It is the holidays. I want to sleep all day and do nothing... but instead I woke up at 7:30 worked out for an hour and now I'm eating my favorite breakfast item...which I will talk about shortly.....but all I'm saying is if I CAN DO IT SO CAN YOU! YES!


now... onto food:


I'm reposting this from facebook, because it is important:

Dear Whole Grain Frozen Waffles, It may be b/c I'm very deprived or because my tastes have changed...but straight up you are the most delicious breakfast item. evz. when i cover you in blackberries, i literally can't wait to eat you. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for being delicious. I really appreciate what you're all about.

Yours,

JKB


YOU GUYS: Frozen waffles are so good... SO GOOD. They are also a great way to start today's blog!


I went to a grocery store in upstate NY last night, to stock up on healthy snacks for my parents house... there was a WALL of frozen waffles... A WALL! Maybe, like, 50 types of frozen waffles to choose from.. but for me... there was only one choice: the whole grain, least amount of ingredients, organic frozen waffles. Its hard to choose the whole grain, organic one when you have chocolate chip eggos staring you in the face! BUT... at the end of the day, what is going to bring me joy? sabotaging my day by putting lots of fake biznass in my body at 8am or eating something I love while still eating whole and organic? BOOM. the whole grain won. and guess what.... DELISH!

My boyfriend Steve and I eat a LOT of popcorn. So, naturally at the grocery store the question was posed, "hey iris," (that's my mom) "do you have popcorn at your house?" quoth Steve. "we have microwave!" said my mom. My mom is very health conscious, so I'm sure whatever kind of popcorn she had at home, would be low in calories (go mom!) But, I think that it would also be jammed with fake stuff. NOW. don't get me wrong... who doesn't love microwave popcorn, but if you're gonna eat popcorn, at least know what you're eating! Make it in a pot, use kernels, use olive oil and dress it how you like... at least this way, you can identify EVERY ingredient you've indulged in.

Stop faking it.

I used to make "diet cake" -- a box of cake mix and a can of soda. Low in calories, moist, yums... but it also had approx. 400 ingredients. now, this is something I didn't used to care about, but I do now, because its not JUST about calories its about the TYPE of calories you put in your body. food vs. "food-stuff." Now, if I'm gonna make a cake/treat, I make it with milk (usually coconut), sugar (raw/brown/organic), and whole wheat or brown rice flour. It might sound scary because it's gonna take a few extra minutes... but guess what, it will be a richer and more indulgent dessert and you'll feel satisfied to eat A piece instead of 5 pieces of the "fake stuff."

Think about it, if it can sit in your pantry for a long LONG long time with NO expiration.... what do you think that does inside yo body? YIKES!

SO. those are my brief thoughts for today: Stop FAKIN IT! Real food will beat fake food every sing time :)


Happy reading and happy eating!

Snacks.... are fun!

Hi! I just got home from my morning workout and watched "The Biggest Loser," finale... so, no spoilers, but I felt inspired.

Let's talk snacks:

Today I'm going to make a simple list of a few of my favorite/easy to make snacks that I think will help you enjoy your day more! These will vary in many ways to pick and choose and play around. A lot of these are so simple but also VERY easily forgotten.... but always yummy!

Things that will help you when planning/making some of these snacks:

TBSP: Measure yo stuff! You think you need more than you actually do to be satisfied.
1/2 cup: Half is a quarter cup.... 2 is a full cup.... this thing is VERSATILE.... again, measure yo stuff it isn't as hard as your brain is tellin you it is... you're being played.
Small sized bowls/plates: It makes the amount of food look bigger and thusly, you feel like you're chowing down... but really you're just being a wizard.


GET READY TO SNACK!

1. apples and peanut butter: DUH. this is the bomb. but I bet a lot of you haven't thought about this snack since you were little, well, bring it back cause it ROCKS. I prefer Honey Crisp or Gala apples with 2 TBSP of Skippy Natural Honey Peanut Butter. This PB only has 5 ingredients and it tastes like CANDY! yes. CAN-DY. Get those energy fueling carbs from the apple and protein from the PB and get ready to say, "WOW SHE WAS RIGHT... CAN-DY!"


2) Pear and Mini Babybel Light: This is my fancy parisian snack... I like to cut the pears and the cheese up evenly so I can eat them like its a fancy cheese plate. This cheese is really nice in texture and mild enough that there is a sweet/salty combination that I LOVE.


3) FAGE yogurt with pumpkin: That sounds crazy? yes. I know. I mix 1/2 cup canned pumpkin with a 6oz serving of fage yogurt. I like to add a stevia packet, and its like puddin. I eat it in the morning a lot before I workout for the protein and carbs. I know it sounds strange... give it a shot.

4 ) Fancy Fruit Salad: I mix a 6oz serving of Fage Yogurt with a handful of black/blueberries and a pear all chopped up with 1 stevia. It gives me the feeling of "this is creamy and fancy," and its sweet b/c of the fruit. I dig this. Its great late at night when I wanna eat a pint of ice cream, but I don't want my butt to look like a big ol' bear wearing white stretch pants.

5) Trader Joe's Goat Cheese with Blueberries: YOU GUYS FOR REAL. This is what I eat instead of Cheesecake because that is what it tastes like!!! Its so good. I prefer it with organic graham crackers OR brown rice crackers. It is magical. Low in cals/fat, but high on the awesome scale.

6) Kale: My trainer said to me once, "you should roast kale, its like chips!" and I said, "you're too thin to possibly appreciate chips." BUT a few months later I stand corrected. I take a big bag of kale. throw it on a cookie sheet, hit it with some olive oil, sea salt and RED ROBIN Seasoning (gotta keep it classy) and then I bake them for 14-20min at 400deg. and I MAO! They are salty and crispy and i love them. kale is the ouija board of leafy greens -- it is mystical and hard to understand and you can't believe its real... BUT IT IS!

7) Butternut Squash: I buy it pre-cubed from TJ's. The organic one.... like the kale I lay the squash on a cookie sheet splash them with olive oil, sea salt, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and sometimes some pepper and bake it on 400 for 40 min. I'll eat them with ketchup like fries or as a side dish to something. I let them get SUPER golden brown on the outside because then they are SUPER soft on the inside.

These are just a few that are staples in my daily life.

Let me know if you try any of them and how they went! Happy Reading and Happy Eating!

YUM. But, like, for real.

So, I have to say, I was always tentative to start a blog..but recently 2 things happened:


1) I was totally inspired by a fellow real-foodian http://ashleighfixesyourfood.blogspot.com/ She has great insight and knowledge, I realized from reading her blog, maybe people DO want to learn how to eat real food!

2) I was told by a friend of mine who, for lack of a better explanation, is the child of food legends that I was her "Furu" her food guru....



So here we are, back to the beginning;

I've spent my whole life dealing with my weight. The ups/downs, the happy/sads, the "i'm so fat, am I worth appreciating?" and the "wow, I'm a fox!" Lots of emotions that, at the end of the day all come back to one thing: FOOD.

Let's be clear: some of you may say, well, you never LOOKED that big, though that is lovely, when I reached my highest goal my body fat % and weight were at a VERY UNHEALTHY level. My doctors were concerned about it enough that I had to check-myself, before I continued to wreck myself.

I found my first success in a large amount of weight loss in college: for almost a year I didn't eat any bread, rice, pasta, crackers, or any kind of flour-y starch. I'd still eat chicken salad, ice cream, and popcorn... (does that make ANY sense?) but I did lose a boat load of weight. I felt great...but one slice of pizza later.... I was back to the drawing board.

Next, Weight Watchers: I totally believe in WW. I do. Sometimes I think it is confusing because I was able to eat X amount of points of cake as long as I stayed in my range...but I still lost weight, and felt good. Unfortunately, I didn't find on going success with WW. Like I said, I believe in it and I know MANY people who have been super successful on it... I just wasn't one of them... It was during this time I became a fan of Hungry Girl (www.hungrygirl.com) I think she is a revolutionary, truly, I do. I learned a lot of secrets from her that helped me lose weight during the WW time of my life, but more often than not her recipes/swaps contain lots of things I can't pronounce! so... ew.

Then, I move to LA. I stopped exercising, started eating whatever I wanted, and found out that my natural "not worried about what I eat/do" weight was a solid 30+ pounds to what I had ever had on my body before. SCARY. Also, not the way to start off your career in LA....for REAL.

Between April of 2010 and October of 2011 here are all the things I did/tried (and the problems I had)
~~ 9 and 30 day cleanses. (Though helpful, eating 1 meal a day for 30 days, you start to go crazy and forget how to live your life)
~~ Weight Watchers Points Plus (found myself CONSTANTLY eating low-fat/sugar-free, fake food-stuff)
~~ No Gluten (I believe in a sensitive intake of gluten along with the rest of a balanced diet)
~~ No Dairy (same, i believe in a sensitive intake of dairy along with the rest of a balanced diet)
~~ No Gluten AND No Dairy (Unless it's No "FAKE-FOOD" I don't really believe in NO anymore)
~~ Being Vegan (processed food, starch, soy, starch, and more processed food...)

EXHAUSTING.

In October of this year, I started working with my AMAZING trainer Nicki and I started Spinning/Yoga-ing at www.go2yas.com (best place EVER)

And I started to eat....wait for it... FOOD. Real food. Not Food-stuff, food-substitue, or "food." just real honest to goodness FOOD.

So. HERE WE ARE! I love snacks. I LIVE to snack. Since October I have lost 20 pounds and 10% of my body fat. I'm not done yet, but I'm WELL on my way! I'm the same weight I was in college BUT I'm musclier and healthier and I ... wait for it... LOVE TO EAT!


I believe that being healthy, sexy, happy, and satisfied can all go hand in hand, so thats what I'm here to blog about: delicious yummy snacks (and swaps) that have food in them. I'm the kind of girl who loves chips, popcorn, chocolate, cupcakes, all the good stuff, so trust that these recipes WILL be delish and you won't be substituting taste to look like Beyonce (OH EM GEE, I LOVE BEYONCE, just saying.) You won't feel deprived and you won't have to make a science experiment of your meals :)

Let's start with my new holiday favorite:

Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Custard! (see the photo at the top!)



Check it out!!!! Happy Reading and Happy Eating!