Pictures!!

Hi everyone! I’m so excited to report that I found my camera’s USB cord – I’ve had to replace it once already because I lost the first one…. Which goes to show you how infrequently I actually hook my camera up to my computer. I’ve been so technoglogically inept for so long that it’s just been easier to take it to Walgreens or CVS and print them out there. Soooo that means it may take me a bit of time to really get good at this attaching-pictures-business. Thanks for bearing with me! :)

Since I think pictures add a fun dimension to blogs, I’m going to try to do this as often as I can, or at the very least as often as I remember to! Sunday I didn’t think to take any picture during the majority of the day since I hadn’t found the cord at that point – but I did take two pictures at the end of the night, so here goes.

Protein/energy bars: to eat or not to eat? That’s the question that I actually got asked the other day at Jewel by the cashier as I was stocking up on Luna and Odwalla bars. She had never tried them before and wanted to know if they were for energy, meal replacement, etc... and they can definitely serve a variety of purposes.

There are tons of these bars out there that are full of nasty, unhealthy ingredients and are primarily comprised of sugar and fat. Almost all bars out there do contain some type of sugar, whether it is cane sugar, sucralose (Splenda), rice syrup, etc. So that makes it hard to qualify any of them as “health food” but I do think that in moderation they can really be a nice addition to a runner’s diet. I have a HUGE sweet tooth, and while I often have a bar for a quick, easy-to-consume source of vegetarian protein in the mid-afternoon or before the gym,I have also been known to frequently have one simply to satisfy a sweet craving!



Z Bar: Yesterday was the first time that I had tried one of these, which the packaging says is for kids, but I know there I no reason why I couldn’t act like a kid for a bit and enjoy one anyway ;) My synopsis was that it was really good! I tried the chocolate brownie flavor which was great - very similar to the Clif Bar’s chocolate brownie flavor, which I am a huge fan of. My only gripe was that it was too small for my liking, but it was only 120 calories so I guess that’s how much food you get for fewer calories than many other bars.

Earlier in the week, I made my second trip to Whole Foods since I moved to the South Loop four months ago. I had been making a conscious effort not to go there since I am easily addicted to anything and everything Whole Foods, and my husband has the assumption (sometimes correct, sometimes not) that WF is more expensive than Jewel or Dominick’s. So, to keep costs down I have not allowed myself to go at all - until this Wednesday!

However, after reading so many bloggers mention the Amazing Grass and Amazing Meal products, I HAD to try them!! I didn’t want to commit to buying it in a large bulk size, even though that would be the cheapest, until I knew that I liked the product. Good old Whole Foods came through for me, as it always does, and had single-portion samples! I love that WF has that for a lot of their protein powders too. I bought one regular flavor Amazing Meal, one Mango Pomegranate (?), and one chocolate flavor.

(I also bought one of the chocolate bars – which was HEAVENLY!!!! It is essentially a bar chock-full of healthy stuff like alfalfa and wheatgrass and other greens and nutrient-rich foods, and then is covered in a chocolate coating. Do not write this bar off – I found it to be absolutely decadent – not exactly a Hershey bar, but it is NO less tasty than another other chocolate protein bar. Honestly, I was so excited to try this that I opened it up as I was walking through the parking lot, telling myself I would have a bite then and would finish it once I got home. Let’s just say it got devoured before I even turned the key in the ignition!! If they were cheaper I would have stocked up on them that day!!!)



The regular flavored Amazing Meal I tried the next day. For more information about it's ingredients and the reported benefits, you can check out the company's website at: http://www.amazinggrass.com/ I know a lot of bloggers sometimes throw the Amazing Meal into a Green Monster (more on that later) or mix it with water, but when I opened the package, it smelled extremely “greenish” and not at all sweet, so to be safe I blended it with a cup of my favorite soy milk (Silk Light Vanilla). It wasn’t awful – but wasn’t as palatable as I wanted it to be – so I threw in a tablespoon of plain cocoa powder and one packet of Truvia, and it easily morphed into something delicious. Then the flavor was much improved and I enjoyed the drink.

Last night I decided to try the pomegranate mango flavor. Again, I blended it with some ice and a cup of light vanilla soy milk. I’m a bit undecided about this flavor – I tried a sip out of the blender and at first really liked it, but then it had a bit of a “chalky” aftertaste and texture. So, again I threw in some cocoa powder and stevia and was good to go!

I look forward to trying the chocolate flavor in the future and I’m quite certain that will be my favorite! ;)