Nature Box + Other Healthy Food

Last year around this time I lost around 15-20 lbs. I dont consider myself fat or anything but it would be nice to tone back up. Since I moved back in August, it has been hard for me to find some kind of balance. I went from living with my mom and boyfriend to living with my dad and paying all the utilities. Since then, besides my job, my life has been different. I even started doing YouTube videos over blogging. Observing all of the conscious and sub-conscience changes is weird, actually. All of that aside, I am really trying lose weight again and tone back up!

I am a sucker for monthly subscription boxes. When I found out I could the Nature Box for $10 the first month as opposed to the normal $20, I decided to give it a shot! In the video I talk about my thoughts on it and taste all of the food.

Nature Box is kind of like Birch Box or the Glam Bag except in healthy food form. The thing that separates them {besides the fact you get food} is that you can actually pick out your snacks every month. It is nice to get some healthy snacks delivered to me. The more healthy snacks, the better in my opinion. I give the jest of it in the video, but I have a link for you guys to use in case you wanna try out the Nature Box for $10 the first month too!  Remember that you can cancel after the first month, which what I think I am going to do. It isnt because the snacks weren't tasty or unhealthy or anything like that. It's just that I have been dying to try Tera's Whey Protein Powder for over a year now and it is $20. That's where my "healthy food not from the grocery store fund" is going for April.

 

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Try out the Nature Box yourself for $10 the first month here.

Since I have had this blog for over 3 years {it sounds crazy}, I figure I could feature some of my favorite healthy blog post's here to go with the video

Breakfast Smoothies and Meal Prepping {feat the Green Banana Split Smoothie}


Love Pink Skinny Cheesecake Bites 

Skinny Fun-Fetti Cheesecake Dip


Blueberry Cheesecake Pudding Pops
 

Anti-Aging Weight Loss Beverage


I just realized that the majority of my healthy food blog post's have to do with cheesecake. I love cheesecake.

Have you guys tried the Nature Box?

Are any of you health food enthusiasts?

What is your favorite subscription box to get every month?


thanx for reading!
<3
Erica

Healthy Dip n Dots!

When you guys read through this blog post, you are going to laugh and wonder how come you never thought of it! I wish I could take credit for this clever recipe (if you wanna call it a recipe) but I was Pinspired. 

I love Pinterest. 

This is so easy and actually fun! If you like piping frosting on a cake, I have a feeling your going to like this too! If you have kids around, this would be a fun "recipe" for them to do on their own!

Before we get started, here's some things you should know to make this even easier:

*Tip #1: I recommend using yogurt that doesn't have chunks of strawberries in it. The strawberries get stuck and won't come out of the hole making the little dots unpredictable sizes. Either way, it's really no biggie! If you have strawberry yogurt on hand, use it if need be. Just be prepared to have different size dots, like mine.

 *Tip #2: If you have a pastry bag, you can use that instead of the ziplock bag! It would make for really cute dots!

*Tip #3: To make getting the yogurt into the bag easier, grab a cup and place the bottom of the bag into it as you see in the picture. Put the yogurt into the bag, that is in the cup. Get it? That way, when your bag is filled up, you simply grab it out, there's no mess, and the yogurt is at the bottom where we need it. Picture for demonstration purposes only.

Here's what the yogurt should look like in the bag. Your going to cut that corner where you see there isn't any yogurt:

Here's my dot's before they were frozen to give you an idea:

There yah have it! Make your own Dip n Dots! I hope you have a great weekend! I will be back soon enough with a Birchbox review!

xoxo

Erica

Guilt Free Fruit Dip!

Keeping up with my promise that I made to myself- to stay on a healthy track, I am determined to find delicious recipes that will satisfy my sweet tooth. I have found so many good ones too!  Even though I have a million to share with you, I am just going to go with 2 greek yogurt dips. They are so easy to make. All you need is a spoon and a bowl- no blender or anything like that. They are delicious. They are healthy.

Up first is the favorite one in my house. I think nothing pairs better with it then strawberries, personally. My boyfriend actually likes to add some of it to his plain greek yogurt. Im sure we can find a bunch of different things to do with it. 

 Serving size is 2 tablespoons. 24 calories. 1 calorie from fat.

Light Healthy Lunch Idea(s)

So recently I have been experimenting with different snack's or light lunches I could eat that are healthy so I can stick to my healthy lifestyle. The first one im going to talk about is sweet, savory, creamy, juicy & crunchy: all matching up to create a perfect snack. High in fiber, calcium, & vitamin c. I think it's a great lunch idea because it's high in Vitamin B-6 which is what gives you energy. 

So what I did was layered the following: 

Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil Triscuits - 120 calories & 35 calories from fat in one serving. 1 serving is 6 crackers. You can use your favorite triscuit's but the nutrition facts might be different. I love these ones because they have a little bite to them from the pepper.

-Good Points: Has 8% iron & 12% dietary fiber. (this is based on a 2000c. diet.) It also has no sugars or cholesterol.  

-Bad Points: I feel it's a little high in sodium at 135mg. I dont know what that means, all I know is that on the nutrition label, that is highest number. Something tells me that's not good. 120 calories seems like a lot for only 6 crackers. That's why this lunch is perfect because when you layer everything up, your not going to feel like you wanna eat the whole box of triscuits.

Laughing Cow Garlic & Herb Cheese Wedge

again, feel free to use your favorite flavor. If you have never had these cheese wedges, they are basically like cream cheese. One wedge is 35 calories & 10 calories from fat. Not bad.

-Good Points: They have 8% of your daily calcium intake and has 0 grams trans fat. It also has 2% Vitamin A.

-Bad Points: They have 5 mg cholesterol and 210 mg. sodium. again, the highest number on the label

Bartlet Pears  -any pears will do. 

-Good Points: This is going to be where you can get your Vitamin B-6, which is where you get energy. Pears also have 3.1g. of your dietary fiber. Obviously they are high in vitamin c. Lots of Vitamin A too-

-Bad Points: Even though pears are around 100 calories a piece, I don't think that is necessarily bad because there aren't any "bad" calories in them. Calories are basically just energy. So there aren't any reason's to not eat a pear.

The muffin you see on my plate is an On-the-Go Banana Walnut Muffin from Eye It Try It. They are pretty freaking good. I recently bought whole wheat flour so this was the first thing I made with it. I added some dark chocolate pieces in place of the cacao nibs which I light weight regret because I feel like it took away from some of that bran-muffin flavor. Along with some "I cant believe its not butter" butter, it makes a perfect snack. Or even a breakfast muffin.

You see that little walnut sticking right outta the top of the muffin?! The muffin has a boner.

Whole wheat is better for you than white flour because it isn't as processed as the white flour. (white flour is bleached to make it white.) When they process white flour, all of the nutrients are basically stripped out of it. Whole wheat are complex carbs, which take longer to break down in your system, causing you to be fuller, longer. Because they take longer to break down they also don't just become fat on your body. Complex carbs are whole grain.

Other Examples of Complex Carbs: quinoa, oats, cereal (whole grain), brown rice, whole wheat pasta.

So there's my 2 cents on a healthy lunch idea (or a snack) & why complex carbs are better for you. I think this could also be a great before workout snack, since it gives you energy and all. I wanna know what are your idea's for a healthy snack or lunch? tell me in the comments! Thanx for reading!

Great Gulit Free Dessert!

Did You Know? If you walk for at least 15 minutes a day, that will work off about 100 calories, which in turn can keep off 10 lbs. a year!

                        Chocolate Crusted Cheesecake

• ¾ cup dark chocolate wafer crumbs
• 8 ounce package fat-free cream cheese, softened
• 8 ounce package reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
•  ½ cup Truvia No Calorie, All Natural Sweetener, Granulated
•  3 large eggs, separated
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 ounce container fresh raspberries   
•  Topping:
• ½ cup fat-free sour cream
• Another 1 tbsp Truvia No Calorie, All Natural Sweetener, Granulated
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray 3 (12-cup) miniature muffin tins with vegetable cooking spray. Sprinkle each muffin cup with 1 teaspoon dark chocolate wafer crumbs. Turn pans upside down, and discard excess. Set aside.

2. Beat cream cheese at high speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add ½ cup Truvia Granulated Sweetener, and beat until at medium speed with an electric mixer about 2 or until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks and vanilla; beat at low speed just until blended.

3. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into cream cheese mixture; spoon into prepared pans.

4. Bake 15; spoon about ½ teaspoon topping on each cheesecake. Bake 5 additional. Remove to wire racks to cool. Chill thoroughly before removing from pan. Garnish, if desired.

5. Topping directions: COMBINE sour cream, 1 tablespoons Truvia Granulated Sweetener, and vanilla extract.