Impossible is a typoRunning my pants off and loving myself along the way

I’ve been all over the diet world in my life — from Atkins to Vegan. One of the ideas that I’m playing with right now is the concept of “Clean Eating”. Well, what the heck is that? Instead of me filling your head with nonsense and half formed ideas, I thought I’d bring in an expert. Cara, of Cara’s Cravings, is a recipe contributer to Clean Eating Magazine. If you’re not following her, you’re missing out on some tasty treats. Make sure you’re getting her pins on Pinterest! One of the things I love about Cara’s Craving’s are some of the sweet treats she develops and shares. I’m constantly in this battle with myself over sugar — Do I take the calorie hit for natural sugar or do I go the chemical route to get artificial sweetness for zero calories. It’s a tough call sometimes and I feel limited because I really don’t know what natural sweetening options are out there.

Cara to the rescue!

Cara graciously agreed to a little guest post on clean eating and the sweet stuff!

No Sugar, No Problem

So I hear your favorite Fit/FatGirl is in the process of a little detox. Are you following along too? Well, good! I don’t mean that in a “Yay for you! You’re going to be drinking nothing but lemon and chili pepper spiked water for three days!” (I’m no detox expert but I really hope that’s not the one you’re referring to.) I mean that in a “Awesome! We could all stand to clean up our diets” sort of way.

Who am I and why do I want to talk about clean eating? My name is Cara and I write a food blog called Cara’s Cravings.  So what? Everyone and their mother has a food blog these days. I’ll tell you what. Cara’s Cravings is healthy living food blog where I share delicious recipes perfect for any food lover trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I do this because I *love* food and my weight used to show it. Losing weight didn’t make me lose my love of food and eating; rather, it made me realize there was even more food to love. Now my meals are chock full of good-for-you-stuff yet I still feel like I’m indulging every day because the food is that good. I have found that there is so much more food in this world that I *can* eat freely than those I try to avoid.

What exactly is clean eating? One might consider it a detox for life. Cleaning up your diet from processed, unhealthy foods to heal your body and your mind. Focusing on colorful veggies, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats to satisfy your cravings and fuel your daily activities. Trying to eat more ingredients instead of things that have ingredients.

Clean eating is not eating sugar. Specifically, refined sugar (common granulated white sugar and brown sugar) is a big no-no. The problem is that these are often hidden everywhere – even in foods we might think are healthier choices, such as bottled sauces and dressings, “healthy” granola bars and crackers, and flavored yogurts. Of course, you’re probably aware of many “sugar free” varieties of these foods, but the problem with these is that they pretty much all contain artificial sweeteners (think: the stuff commonly known as the yellow packets, pink packets, and blue packets.) Clean eating is also not eating artificial ingredients. So what’s a gal with a sweet tooth on a clean eating diet to do?

I already alluded to the fact that there are tons more foods we can eat than the number of foods we cannot. Easy-to-find, more nutritious and all-natural sweeteners include honey, maple syrup, and molasses. Other options becoming increasingly more mainstream are succanat (also referred to as evaporated cane juice) and coconut palm sugar. These sweeteners all have caloric value comparable to “regular” sugar but are less processed and retain higher nutritional value.

Each has its pros and cons, including flavor and ease of use, which will help determine which one should be used in place of sugar in a specific recipe. Also becoming increasingly popular is stevia, a zero-calorie all-natural sweetener derived from the stevia plant. In it’s pure form stevia is many times sweeter than sugar (1 teaspoon is equivalent to 1 cup of sugar in terms of sweetness) which makes it difficult to use a direct replacement in baking. One would need to make up the bulk that sugar would comprise with another ingredient. However, stevia is sold in various forms, including concentrated liquid drops (great for sweetening coffee and tea) and bulkier mixes (easier to use in baking or for measuring small amounts.)

Over the past year I’ve been experimenting with these various sweeteners and put them to use in many recipes. I’ve found that I rarely use just one kind of sweetener.

Dairy-Free, Refined Sugar-Free Gingerbread Ice Cream

In this Gingerbread Ice Cream, I started with molasses to provide the rich color and characteristic dark gingerbread flavor. I could have used all molasses to sweeten the ice cream, but to shave some calories, I opted to use about half of what I would have needed to create an adequately sweet ice cream, and added liquid vanilla stevia to provide the rest. (If you just clicked that link and dropped your jaw at the price of a 2oz bottle, relax. It seems like a lot of money but I promise it lasts forever. This stuff is highly concentrated and you only need a few drops to sweeten a cup of coffee or tea.)

cookie dough truffles, vegan, chia seeds, guten-free, cacao nibs

Similarly, in these Mint-Cacao Cookie Dough Truffles, I used a combination of powdered stevia along with maple syrup. In no-bake recipe, the maple syrup is desirable because it helps to bind the dry ingredients. But just like with the gingerbread ice cream recipe, I opted to lighten the caloric load by using some stevia in addition. (The additional liquid needed to hold the cookie dough truffles together was provided from unsweetened almond milk.)

Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

Now take a look at my Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Swirl Brownies (that are not only refined sugar-free, but vegan and gluten-free too!) Here I used a combination of maple syrup and another sweetener I didn’t even mention above: dates! Date puree (made from soaking dates in hot water and then pureeing in a food processor) provide not only sweetness and obvious nutrition, but contribute to the soft, chewy texture desirable in brownies and cookies. Also note that instead of oil, I used a combination of applesauce and pumpkin to provide the necessary moisture. These natural fruit and vegetable options provide some sweetness too. Decadently rich and fudgey, these brownies are some of my favorite baked goods to date (no pun intended.)

Chocolate Raspberry Macaroon Tart For Clean Eating Magazine by Cara Lyons

Lastly, here is an example where stevia did work perfectly well on its own. That chocolate-covered dream you see is a a  Chocolate Raspberry Macaroon Tart I created for Clean Eating Magazine. There you have it. Another resource to support your new clean eating lifestyle, and one I’m proud to be a regular contributor to. I served this tart at a big family party last spring, and the only complaint was that I didn’t bring a second one as well.

I hope that with these ideas, you’re even more excited to kick your healthy lifestyle into gear. But please remember, even though these are all better choices, it’s important to note that one should still try to exercise the principal of moderation and maintain a balanced diet. Lastly, don’t stress about excursions from the “rules” here and there. Remember that your good habits over the course of time will ultimately determine your progress. And once you realize all the quality, wholesome food out there, you’ll want to get right back to it after that once-in-a-while “cheat.”

Cara Lyons is the author of Cara’s Cravings, a food blog dedicated to delicious recipes for healthy living and a regular contributor to Clean Eating Magazine. A self-taught photographer, she will be teaching a beginners’ seminar on food photography at Nourished, a conference geared towards special diet food bloggers, on April 13th, 2012.

SOPA should not pass through Congress.

Piracy is bad, censorship is worse.

So no blogging today, and I’ve got good content!

Call your Representatives. SOPA should not pass.

And FatGirl says: NOOOOOOO! For the love of all that is good and holy, why, why dear god are you taking away my coffee?? I’ll be good. I promise. Just don’t take the coffee. Woe, woe is me!

It’s a new year and I have several pounds of Christmas cookies strapped to my butt right now and what better way of dealing with that than torturing myself by giving up coffee, sugar, white flour and dairy for a week. Yay!

Everyone and their cousin Bob has a detox program right now. Basically, the idea is to remove food science chemical additives from your diet as well as common allergens and “toxic” crap like sugar and coffee. Then you add them back into your diet in a controlled fashion to see if your body reacts to it. Keep what foods work for you, get rid of what foods don’t. I’ve done several detoxes over the course of my weight loss journey, most on my own which basically consisted of eating brown rice and veggies for a week or so. I did almost a whole year of “No Processed Foods” which was great and I’d love to do that again. I was cooking professionally at the time in a cafe that did all scratch cooking so it really wasn’t a big deal for me to whip up homemade pasta or crackers. I did an official detox with a wellness coach and bought some fancy herbal supplements that were supposed to support the detoxification process. It was alright, no complaints really

I can’t say that I lost a substantial amount of weight or felt remarkably better after a detox program, but doing a detox breaks me of some bad food habits. I really don’t need 8 cups of coffee to be productive in my day. I don’t really need Ritz crackers and butter for a snack. I don’t need a half dozen Dove chocolate squares after dinner. I’ve been pushing my schedule really hard and I’ve been pretending that it’s easier and faster to eat crap. Sure, in the moment, a slice of pepperoni pizza IS faster than eating a salad, but I totally pay for it later by feeling bloated and yuckie. And really, it’s just habit and mindset and a pattern of settling for less. And that’s what I find beneficial about a detox program – pressing the reset button on my food habits and getting back to healthy eating.

I’m going to start a detox program next week, and I have a ton of content lined up. I can hear the chant resonating through cyber space – “Next week?? Do it now!”. I may be fat but I’m not stupid. I know full well if I go cold turkey on sugar, bread, coffee and butter someone will get hurt and it won’t be me. So I’m easing out of those foods over the next few days to get myself really well set up.

Let me know your detox experiences? Do you think it’s all just marketing and nonsense? Have you detoxed and what were your results.

It’s going to be an interesting ride. Oy.

So I make the proclamation that I’m going to run every day in 2012.

And that’s an awesome idea, in theory, until New Year’s Day rolls around after a New Year’s Eve full of single malt whiskey and champagne.

I actually manage to get on running clothes and head out on the semi-rural streets near my friends house in Massachusetts. Yeah, that’s right, I’m bad. I run on New Year’s Day. Screw you hang over!

You pretty much know this isn’t going to be a happy story right?

You see that wee little hill in the distance?

Running is a metaphor for everything in my life, because, you know, I have to analyze and process everything. That’s how I roll. And this isn’t even a battle with the Crazy Fat Girl that lives in my head. I knew this run wouldn’t bust any Personal Records or anything but I didn’t actually expect to be crying and throwing up by the end of it. That wee little hill undid me. I’m pushing up the hill and struggling on this run like I haven’t struggled in a long time. I’m out of breath, I’m feeling the extra weight I’ve put on. I profoundly get connected all the things I didn’t succeed with in 2011 – Smoking, weight gain, eating McDonalds, relationships, finances, you know all that crap that you declare in the bravado of New Year’s day that you’re going to conquer and take on in those “Dear Diary” missives you pen to your self – “Ha HA! This year is going to be different and I freaking rock!”.

That’s what I did New Year’s Day 2011. And here I am one year later, fighting up this nothing little hill. The year’s worth of decisions I made under the guise of convenience close in on me as I hit that hill. Each foot fall sinks me further into all the bad and wrong things of 2011, it’s like running at the bottom of a ocean with a billion pounds of pressure of all my broken promises and lies to myself pushing down on me. 50 meters to the top of that little hill, I break stride and throw up when I realize I sold out on myself in 2011. Now, I didn’t exactly throw up because of this realization, it’s more like the whisky and dehydration finally decided to own the show, but hey, running is a metaphor for my life and it was just freaking perfect to be puking when I realize that if I was dating me, I’d break up with me because I can’t be trusted to follow through and fulfill upon my commitments. I sold out on myself and the promises I made. Jobs and making money, and my company and my projects and hell, stupid knitting projects came before my commitment to myself. I couldn’t find the time to run, or go to the gym or cook good food because I had to answer an email or return a phone call or damnit, I worked hard today so I deserve to kill zombies in a game for a bit.

So there I am, throwing up on the almost-top of this stupid hill realizing I didn’t do any of the things I wanted to in 2011. It then occurs to me that I now have a choice. I can choose to wallow in puke and woe-is-me, or I can literally purge all that out of my system. See that metaphor thingie there. I can choose to be my word and be my commitments. I can choose to have 2012 be exactly what I want. I can choose to walk the rest of the way up that hill, hit the reset button on my life, and I can make that choice at any moment. Commitment is nothing more than choosing what you’re committed to over and over and over.

And today I choose me

It's beginning to look a lot like Easter?

Sometimes, I run to 7-11 to get coffee. Meaning I run 2 miles or so and oops, I happen to find myself at 7-11. Oh gee, might as well get coffee.

On Christmas Eve, I took a quick sprint, you know, to be all healthy like. OK, fine. I wanted a cup of coffee. I ran for coffee. Sue me.  I breeze into 7-11 all bundled up like Ralphie from the Christmas Story (my abhorrence of the cold and how that effects my running is another post alas), and my crazy inner Fat Girl damn near stampeded the poor folks getting snacks and convenience items when she spied this display.

You see, Fat Girl’s most favorite treat on this earth is Reese’s Peanut Butter holiday candies. Those magical heart and Jack-o-latnern shapes have the absolutle perfect ratio of chocolate to peanut butter. And the illusion that they are only available for a limited time makes the doubly irresistible. You must eat as many peanut butter chocolate Christmas trees as physically possible before they’re gone and you have to wait an entire year before you’ll see them again! I mean really, if you don’t get ‘em now, they’ll be GONE!

Thankfully calmer voices in my head prevailed and I was able to break Fat Girls hold on my psyche and communicate that Easter candy on Christmas Eve is… Just. Plain. WRONG.

OK, Fine. I didn’t get my absolute favorite treat on this earth because I only had $2 on me and coffee is almost always more important than chocolate.

But it is still a major WTF moment – What the hell is Easter Candy doing in 7-11 on Christmas Eve? Did I fall in a worm hole and transport myself to spring already?

I came home to a very full mail box today. The last of the holiday packages, minus a check or two that I’m waiting on, but there’s always tomorrow. All holiday gifts arrived just in time, whew. And then I discovered this little gem, that I did not order or expect.

A package from Larabar!

What on earth could Larabar be sending me?? I have to say, it’s kind of cool and startling to get mail addressed to “Fat Girls Can Run”.

Larabar - Holiday Card

There was this lovely card from Larabar… and…

How did you know I love coffee??

4 of the new Cappuccino flavored bar! Of course I ate one right away. Holy smokes, creamy and rich tasting just like a Cappuccino. The coffee flavor was actually a bit overwhelming with the first bite but by the last bite, it seemed to mellow out. I don’t know how they made it creamy and milky tasting with no milk, just coffee, dates, cashews, almonds and vanilla. And no, just in case you’re wondering, I’m not sharing!

FatGirl Says: Oh Duane, you really get me. You really get my needs, my wants, that little thing that will just make my day better. You’re there for me when I have the sniffles. You make me feel pretty. You have chocolate for every holiday known under the sun and you have chocolate just “because”. And it’s like you’re there like 24/7, always open and available. Le sigh.

Chocolate Covered Almonds at DReade makes the world better

I have a secret love affair with Duane Reade Drug Stores. This affair started for two reasons. Years ago, Chase Bank put an ATM machine in every Duane Reade in the City. If you’re a Chase customer, that pretty much means there’s a fee-free ATM about every 50 feet or so, either in a Duane Reade or in a Chase Bank. One of my biggest pet peeves in life that you have to pay to have access to your hard-earned cash. When Duane Reade and Chase teamed up, that meant I was seeing red about my green with much less frequency.

A Chase ATM on every block

The second reason that I came to love Duane Reade is that I’m pathologically early for things. You see, I’ve spent far too much time in Japan and it has some lingering side effects like the inability to give an unambiguous no and being on time to the point of obsession and driving everyone in my life flippin’ nuts because I simple can’t be late so I’m always early. Since I don’t actually want to drive everyone in my life flippin’ nuts AND I’m pathologically early for things, I developed the coping mechanism of wandering Duane Reade endlessly. There are like 6 billion Duane Reades in NYC (OK, like 250+ stores but really, considering Manhattan is only 22.7 square miles, that’s like, oh help me out with the math here, 10 or so Duane Reades per square mile?), you can always find a Duane Reade to pop into to kill some time. I could hit a coffee shop to kill time, but then you’re sitting there staring at your coffee with nothing to do, so you need to go to Duane Reade anyway to get a Cosmo and take the Sex Quiz to bide the time. And we all know that there will be no popping into the Gap or some fancy pants boutique with my Crazy Inner FatGirl’s illogical fear of retail sales girls. It is impossible to think you’re too fat for hair gel. And besides, there’s ALWAYS something you need, Febreeze, tissues, chocolate, mascara, so while you’re trying not to drive people flippin’ nuts, get your errands done.

Never too fat for Hair Care Products

Duane Reade started a re-branding project in about 2005 or so, and it went way beyond developing a fancy new logo. They really began to shift what’s possible for a local drug store. When you think “drug store” you think, well, drugs. Yeah, you can get your drugs in the pharmacy and all the over-the-counter-make-me-feel-better-right-this-very-second stuff like Mucinex and Advil, as well as your hair care products, last minute cheesy gifts, a few cleaning supplies, all the little necessities and niceties of life. But Duane Reade really saw the opportunity to provide something more for their customers and the communities they’re in. Duane Reade now offers flu shots, select locations have “Doctor on Premises” where you can get immediate and affordable health care for minor complaints like colds and boo-boos with no appointments – a huge service in an era where health care is pricey and frustrating and actually kind of hard to come by in NYC with hospitals closing. The pharmacy will text message you when your prescription is ready to be picked up and they even offer language assistance, so that you can really be taken care of. You may have never been sick in a place where you don’t speak the language, but let me tell you, there is nothing more stressful and terrifying than trying to buy medicine in a foreign language. You don’t know if this package is going to cure your hemorrhoids or remove unwanted hair.

Then there is the LOOK Boutique.

Looking good at LOOK Boutique at DReade

Imagine walking into your local drug store and being able to sample the newest OPI nail color, or THE anti-aging face cream wonder that all the magazines are featuring. The LOOK Boutique goes beyond your everyday CoverGirl cosmetics and introduces you to beauty lines that are 100% vegan and natural, and I can’t even begin to ooo and ahh enough about the different lines they carry. But they’ve taken that even further. Most LOOK Boutiques are staffed by people who actually know what they’re talking about and will help you find something new and fun to try. Then they took this to the next level when the 40 Wall store opened. Right in the drug store, you can get your hair blown out, your nails done, sample over 40 different perfumes and they have a virtual make-over kiosk. When you’ve worked all day and you have a big date, pop in, spruce up and not drop a load of cash. Freakin Brilliant.

But the thing I want to really talk about is food. Naturally.

Redefining fast food at Duane Reade

With this re-branding project, Duane Reade is altering the way you can shop for food and eat in NYC. If you don’t live in NYC, here’s a little known fact – supermarkets are few and far between. It is not possible to drive up to a mega supermarket, fill your cart with a months worth of food and head on home. Grocery stores in NYC are tiny, cramped and severely limited in the quality and quantity of goods they offer. There are entire neighborhoods that lack a grocery store of any sort. This means that you do a lot of your food shopping at the corner deli where quantity and quality is even more limited and you would cry over the prices, or you lug your groceries for miles on public transportation. Don’t even get me started on the lack of fruits and vegetables, organic food and basic healthy eating needs. Duane Reade already has a vast presence in NYC. They started bringing in quality pre-made food, like sandwiches and salads. Then they started to expand into basic grocery needs. This addition alone can literally alter the health and well-being of entire communities.

My business partner at Ginger Snap Works and I were invited to attend the opening of a new Duane Reade on Broadway and 52nd Street by Collective Bias, a social media and blogger engagement agency, who is working on some social media projects with Duane Reade.

Ginger Snap Works at Duane Reade

They kicked off the press event by donating $350,000 to Susan G. Komen. I was kind of hoping to see one of those giant checks like they give to lottery winners. I guess that’s a little tacky these days huh? And well, when you’re talking about over a quarter million dollars, no need to be obvious about it.

Duane Reade plays Santa for Susan G. Komen with $350,000 donation

And Antoine was there with his jet pack of coffee, so all around, it was an excellent morning.

Go Go Coffee Jet Pack

I could gush for a while about how pretty and spacious the store is, but I really want to talk about the food. The entire upstairs is food and there is a grocery section down stairs. And bestill my little FitGirl heart – there’s some good healthy stuff here. I mean, just check out the yogurt section.

A billion yogurts at Duane Reade

What drug store do you know that has a fresh produce section?

Fresh Produce at Duane Reade... next to light bulbs?

OK, the fresh produce is next to the light bulbs and dog food and that’s a bit freaky but I can work with it. And will you look at that, there’s fresh fruit within 5 steps of the entrance. Bananas, apples and oranges are actually the first product you encounter when you walk in the store.

Ninja Bananas prepare to attack at Duane Reade

Now hold on to your Points Tracker, because this is what is really amazing. At the B’Way store, yeah yeah, sure you can get cleaning supplies, magazines, cold medicine, and your usual drinks and snacks and treats. And OK, they upped the game with fresh food and bananas and even beer…

Beer in the drug store?

The whole first floor is a food market. And I’m not talking day old muffins and Cheetos.

A machine that dispenses slushy drinks;

On-Demand Brain Freeze

Self-serve Frozen Yogurt with toppings (peach is to die for!);

Self Serve Frozen Yogurt at Duane Reade

A sushi bar. Yes, a real live human being stands right there and makes sushi for you;

Sushi Fixins at the Sushi Bar

There’s a fridge case with about oh 8 dozen different kinds of salads and sandwiches;

Sammies, salads and quick healthy lunches

A fresh juice bar;

Fresh squeezed Juice at Duane Reade

Then you circle around and find gourmet breads and holy freaking cow Fat Witch Brownies next to a machine that dispenses a variety of coffees and…

Fat Girl and Fat Witch = Heaven

wait for it…

AN OATMEAL VENDING MACHINE.

A machine that gives you oatmeal. Holy cow Duane Reade!

Yes, that’s right, you put a cup under the spout and press a button and out comes oatmeal. OK, fine, it’s instant oatmeal and I’m kind of an oatmeal snob but I had a cup. It was $1.99, a wee hint of sweetness, not mushy or soupy at all like instant oatmeal and way way less sweet, and to be honest, it’s better than Starbucks oatmeal.

I’m sure I’m missing a dozen things that are new and exciting in this store as I was a wee bit distracted by the food options. This ain’t a Fat Girl blog for no reason after all!. OH! And my inner Fit Girl will break a proverbial knee cap if I don’t plug the single best thing in Duane Reade…

And FitGirl says: You’re out and about in the City, dashing to a yoga class or coming home after a run, you must re-fuel and get a healthy snack in you! Skip the candy aisle and those protein bars that have more sugar than soda, and pick up this DELICOUS “Delish Chick Pea Salad”. It’s about a half-cup portion and NOT dripping in oily dressing – The perfect protein pick-me-up!

Perfect Protein Pick-me-up

My two general complaints about Duane Reade –  I’ve never found the staff to be overly friendly. They’re helpful, no doubt,  if you ask for help. I had some interactions with a store manager once who simply kicked butt. He couldn’t solve my problem but was awesome anyway. It’s not like the staff is rude or aything and I get it blows working check out in retail sometimes, but the staff have never given me the warm fuzzies either. My second complaint is that Duane Reade can be pricy. Not over priced, but they are generally at the higher end of price point fluctuations. They do have really great sales tho if you keep your eye out on their bulletin and sign up for Flex Reward card. If you must have your favorite shampoo right this second and it’s not on sale that week, expect to pay in the higher price range for it.

I’ve been a customer and a fan of Duane Reade for years. As I’m growing and building this healthy life style for myself, it’s really phenomenal that a company and a brand I am already a fan of is growing in that same direction with me. I know that I can be on the go in the City and that Duane Reade makes it really easy for me to support the decisions that are important to me around my well being.

Please Note: After the tour I received a gift card as a thank you. I’m participating in this Duane Reade Campaign #DReade as a member of Collective Bias. #CBias. No other compensation was received. Views expressed are always 100% my own.

1001 Reasons not to run

And FatGirl says:

I have too much work to do. I can’t run.

I just ate lunch. I can’t run.

It’s cold out. I can’t run.

I can’t find my socks. I can’t run.

OMG! What are you nuts? Look at the weather! I SIMPLY WILL NOT RUN IN THAT!!

I’m sitting at my desk listing all the reasons I shouldn’t go for a run. The murky mess that is out side being hitting the top of the list. I have back to back conference calls and only 45 minutes in between. Surely, not enough time to run. My list got longer and longer and longer.

Then my Inner FitGirl started chiming in.

You work from home so that you can run.

It’s not going to rain so you can run.

It’s 50 degrees, not cold at all to run.

No one is going to notice if your socks don’t match on your run.

And I realized, FitGirl was right. I can run. And run I did. Through the fog and muck…