Healthy Happy and Free

Have you seen the posts? What posts? The Meal Prep posts! It seems like people of all ages, on all "diets" like to promote meal prep as part of having success in pursuing a healthy lifestyle. If you're unfamiliar, many times they make large batches of recipes for breakfast lunch and dinner, portion them out to cover most days of the week. Then, they often include the snacks they will eat, eating the same or similar snacks each day. This ensures they hit their macros, points, calories or whatever they're aiming for. Whether following a specific diet or not, this way of preparing food has seem to taken off as a healthy living essential. But is that true? While I do see some benefit for people who are very busy, I don't think it works for me personally. Here's why? I crave/desire different meals and variety in my diet I don't want to be rigid and don't want food to go to waste if I stray from my prepared meals Food is more appetizing to m...

When I became more health conscious, one of the first things I cut out was soda. It seemed like such an easy and obvious change for me to make. Let's be real, soda provides nothing but sugar and sometimes caffeine. Diet sodas are laden with artificial ingredients and sweeteners that personally can cause me some GI distress. Yikes!  Does that mean I can only drink plain water now? No way! The market for naturally sweetened and beverages is exploding! A company I recently discovered is called Dry Soda! Dry is actually the brand name and they say it refers to being less sweet than traditional soda. Their sparkling line is lightly sweetened with cane sugar and their Zero Sugar line is lightly sweetened with organic stevia leaf. I had the chance to try the Zero Sugar sodas which are also organic, Non-GMO and have no artificial flavors, or sweeteners.  I decided to first try the classic, Cola. True to their name, these sodas are less sweet than traditional soda. ...

Another round of Friday Finds for you! I've been slacking on new tv and books but I'm thinking that may change in the winter! For now, enjoy more food/drink/and workout clothes lol! Rebbl Drinks are plant based drinks with benefits. I've always thought they sounded good but neglected to try them, until now! I tried the Cold Brew Maca and boy, was it good! It had a good coffee flavor, creamy texture and sweetness to compliment the coffee. I would recommend. It wasn't overly sweet but just right, in my opinion. Not only do they make delicious "elixirs", they have ethical sourcing and donate to Not For Sale to fight human trafficking. Check them out here:  http://rebbl.co/ . They have a lot of fun flavors with different super herbs and some with protein! K'bosh Veggie Pizza Crusts are putting the kbosh on carbs! (Disclaimer: I enjoy carbs but I also enjoy added veggies, and trying new things!) This brand has a variety of crusts made from cauliflower and ...

My love of Square Organics goes on. They make delicious, organic, vegan protein bars, crisp bars and popcorn that I've raved about before. But now, they've made a new crispie square! A Peanut Butter Crispy Square and it comes in three flavors: Chocolate Chip, Vanilla Crunch, and Toasted Coconut. The peanut butter smell hits you when you open the wrapper and that carries through to the delicious peanut butter flavor. They have protein in the double digits, sugar in the single digits and satisfy any peanut butter lover! Have you tried these ye HHF for 20% off at  https://www.squareorganics.com/ t? Use code:

This week's Friday finds includes some self care items and some active wear items! How fun! Honey Face Mask - I've heard of honey face masks but never really gave it much thought. However, recently, I've been having some outbreaks so I was researching some natural remedies and honey face masks came up. Honey is a natural anti-microbial and antibacterial agent but you need to find a raw or manuka honey because the processed ones lose these properties during the processing. I used  https://beekeepersnaturals.com/  raw honey. I just simply spread it on my face, let it sit 10 minutes and rinsed it off. My face felt amazing right away and smelled good too lol! I would say give it a try! Fre Skincare Detox Me Mask - Another face mask coming at you! Face masks are my new thing. I already love  Fre Skincare  with their 123 set for skin that sweats. They are cruelty free, vegan, natural and plant an Argan tree for every set sold. They recently released the new Detox Me ...

The last of this series of Mental Health Worksheets is for conquering bad thoughts. I often struggle with bad thoughts that are debilitating and at times, almost paralyzing. We can truly be our own worst enemy. However, it's not a lost cause. You can fight the bad thoughts and win! This worksheet provides two columns. In the first column, list the bad thoughts and in the second column, counter those thoughts with rational thinking. This may be difficult and if that is the case, I encourage you to reach out to friend or family member to find the counter to your bad thought. Example: Bad thoughts: I am disgusting. I am worthless. Counter Thoughts: I am a human, a work of God and not disgusting. I have value. It may be difficult to believe this counter thoughts at first but it is important that you write them, read them, say them and learn to believe them. Mental Health Worksheet: Bye Bye Bad Thoughts I hope that this series of worksheets has helped you like they...

Did you see my most recent Friday Finds post? It was full of tasty treats! But wait, there's more! The Cereal School - Do you have a favorite childhood cereal? Do you ever wish there was a way you could enjoy the nostalgia of sweet, fun cereal, while still watching your sugar and feeling like a semi-adult? Introducing The Cereal School! I was privileged to be sent some prototype samples of a cinnamon hoop cereal and a fruity hoop cereal. I was so impressed! They taste delicious and have a great crunchy texture! The ingredients are pretty solid too: pea protein, all natural sweetener blend, non-GMO corn starch, vegetable fiber, sunflower oil, pea fiber, cinnamon, natural flavors, spices, etc. They are gluten free, non-GMO and vegan. Now that's what I call adulting. Check them out on Instagram @thecerealschool Supah Stah Chocolate - Do you want to feel like a supah stah? Who doesn't? This brand of chocolate make superfood, organic chocolate bars. They have Medicinal...

I have been seriously slacking on the Friday Finds posts. Yet Fridays have still been coming and going, like they didn't even notice. Pft. Well Friday, I've still been finding things! So here's a foodie edition for ya! We all love to find new foods, right? Bubbies Mochi - I had never tried mochi before. It kind of weirded me out. Why would I wrap ice cream in rice dough? Why? But it's hot and trendy and hipster or whatever and Bubbies sent me a coupon so I couldn't not try it. I went simple and tried a vanilla mochi. I found them at Whole Foods. I would say it was pretty good. I would prefer to just eat ice cream though lol! The ice cream inside the dough was good and I have nothing to compare to, but the rice dough wasn't bad either. So if you're a mochi maniac, check them out!  https://bubbiesicecream.com/   Granola Butter - Hey peeps, there's a new butta on the block. You've heard of peanut butter, almond butter, sunbutter, coconut bu...

The second of my mental health worksheets is regarding goals. Goal setting is vital for reaching goals, feeling purpose and satisfaction in life, and growing as an individual. This worksheet guides you through setting goals, being cognizant of the steps you need to take and checking in with your progress. If you are setting long-term goals, continue the check-ins for as long as you need to! Mental Health Worksheet: Goals

"Frozen toilet water" is a phrase I previously heard to describe Arctic Zero pints. Chocolate Chunk - So Creamy! If you're not familiar, Arctic Zero produced a line of "Fit Frozen desserts" that were lactose free and low calorie. They received some tough criticism especially after the introduction of Halo Top into the healthier frozen dessert category. While I would enjoy a pint now and then for a refreshing, cold snack, I definitely wouldn't consider it an indulgent dessert. It did leave something to be desired in the way of texture, however, I think it's worth noting that the packaging did not claim to be ice cream. It claimed to be a frozen dessert. Fast forward a few years and Arctic Zero is making a comeback. The healthy ice cream world is certainly full of competition these days with new brands popping up all the time. Arctic Zero joined the competition by releasing a new line of Light Ice Cream. Not long after, they announced the release ...