Do your food cravings change by the season?

Mine do. This winter I was allll about chili. My boyfriend and I made it quite a bit, and we actually still have some saved in the freezer! It's filling, yummy and just so satisfying during the colder months. (And well, I'm always looking for an excuse to eat tortilla chips!) Well now that the temps are rising, my ice cream cravings have kicked into full gear, and it's just down right dangerous.

After I finished my Glamour reporting in Union Square this afternoon, I had a hankering for something cold and creamy, so I popped into The Lite Choice just a block away for a cup of Dark Chocolate Truffle with mint chips. It was so good--I love their selection of toppings! (New Yawkers, check out these awesome giveaways they are doing right now!)

I had chilled out a bit (pun intended) on the ice cream and froyo treats a bit when the weather was cooler, but today I realized that it's not going to be quite as easy to resist once summer officially starts. Pretty soon, I know I'm going to want ice cream every.single.day. I don't think I'm strong enough to resist it--actually, I know I'm not--but I'm going to try to just get a small serving every time I do have it. I guess it's all about compromise and balance and the idea that everything is good in moderation. Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah. We'll have to wait and see how THAT goes!

So what about you: do your food cravings change by the season? What do you love to eat during the summer?

Confessions of a Broke-Ass Blogger

Remember the time I had a salad-gasm? Well, I had another one today, only this time it didn't come with  a FREE soup. Damn. What made it so special you ask? I've eaten a cheese slice for either lunch or dinner for the last FOUR days. Eww. Grossss. My body was really craving veggies, and since I got a paycheck in the mail today, I decided to treat myself to a trip to Hale and Hearty Soup. That place is my JAM!

It was a whopping $8, but I just needed it, y'all. (For the record, I do not even know why I say "y'all" so much. I am not that Southern. For realsy reals. I kind of say it in a Britney Spears voice in my head, if you can picture what that sounds like?) My salad contained: Romaine lettuce, walnuts, egg whites, cucumber, chicken, peppers, onion, corn, carrots, tomatoes and a drizzle of Balsamic. Dangit, I forgot the apples! Regardless, it was de-lish. 

I hate that I resorted to eating so much pizza in my time of desperation, but I seriously do not know how to eat healthy on the super-cheap. It seems so HARD. I always end up cooking the same three things and eating them over and over, which ends up just totally yucking me out on everything. So then pizza it is. And my friends at my neighborhood spot are so gosh darn nice. I can pay for a slice all in coins and they don't even flinch. I feel so pathetic, but their warm smiles reassure me that I'm not the first person who has done it!

And this is going to be my dinner tonight with a sweet potato and black beans on the side. Frozen veggies, I know—not the best choice ever, but it was only $1.60 and I really LIKE this mix. (With a little Olive Oil, of course.) If I were a food blogger, I'd probably be sent straight to food blogging prison, but, Phew, I'm not. 

Why hello there! (I just said that in an English accent, fyi.) This is my standard uniform on days I am at home. Technically my weekend is almost over because Wednesday and Thursday are my only non-working days this week. Tomorrow I'm back at Women's Health, Saturday I'm doing my reporting thang for Glamour all day and Sunday I'm at the boutique. Hooray for money coming in! 

OK, so I have one more teensy confession to make. Yesterday I stopped into The Lite Choice on W. 72nd Street for a small cup of Cookies 'n' Cream because I had a FREE coupon. (And, um, because I love it.) Upon wolfing it down, I went into Subway to get a small bag of Baked Lays. That was lunch. Double-eww. But yes, I was THAT broke. 

I'm totally outing myself right now because I'm forever complaining to my bf that the scale just won't budge even though I've totally cut down on sweets. Umm yeah...and he bought a bigger-than-my-head chocolate chip cookie at our favorite coffee shop after dinner yesterday, too! SCREW YOU BIKINI SEASON!

Ok, now this has got to be the longest nonsense I have written in a while. Sorry 'bout that. But before I sign off, I want to give a shout out to a few of my favorite fitness/food bloggers that inspire me every single day. (Even if I'm not following their lead!) Heya Kelly, Megan and Caitlin! Ohh and I just found this one, too. I entered the Barney Butter giveaway contest—fingers crossed I win! I'm such a sucker for FREE FOOD.

Ok, I'm finally saying adios. Tell me: Do you have any food confessions to get out in the open? C'mon, I don't want to be the only one! And what's your go-to food when you're low on funds?

What changes have you made in your diet recently?

I didn't give up chocolate or candy for Lent like some of my friends did (I mean, c'mon), but I recently decided to try to reduce my sugar intake. I looked at the ingredients on the loaf of whole wheat bread I just bought and saw that sugar was like the third one on the list! Scar-y. Picking out bread just stresses me out--I never know which one is the healthiest, even after studying each kind. Do you go for the one with more fiber, but more sugar? Or less sugar, but also less fiber? I don't know!

So I decided to start with a change I could make easily: oatmeal. My beloved oatmeal. I used to get the packaged flavor kind: apple cinnamon, banana bread, maple syrup. Yum, yes. Healthy? No. I let words like "low sugar" and "weight control" fool me. My body doesn't need those artificial sugars! Now I just get a big jug of the plain Quaker Oats (it's cheaper too!) and add in cinnamon, skim milk and a banana. It's obviously not as sweet, but I love the clean, fresh feeling I get after eating it!

So, this is a step in the right direction. I'm also forever trying to control my Diet Coke intake. I want to be one of those people who thinks it's disgusting to put so many chemicals into my body, but...I'm not. Not really. Sometimes nothing tastes as good as an ice cold DC! Ahhh. But remember, I also recently made a healthier switch in froyo. Remember when I wrote about The Lite Choice here? Mmm. I want some. Now.

An.y.way. Have you made any changes in your diet recently? How do you try to cut back on sugar?

Photo Shoot Friday: Tasti-D-Lite, I'm breaking up with you.

It's not you, it's me. My needs have changed. I've found something real and organic, that satisfies my taste buds like nothing else can. I'm moving on...

When the owner of The Lite Choice emailed me about coming in to do a "Taste The Difference" tour, I was all over it. Sampling yummy froyo—now that's something I'm good at! Actually, I learned that it's not froyo and it's not ice cream, which is why it's called soft serve. Why? Because it only contains 3 percent of fat, and ice cream has at least 10. And, TLC is all natural—it's not made with added sugars and artificial ingredients that's used in frozen yogurt. Pretty cool, huh?

I was greeted with a cup of hot chocolate—it was so rich and chocolaty. And, it only sets you back 130 calories and 99 cents!

You know when you walk into a yogurt store with your heart set on Cookies 'n' Cream, only to be let down when you see it's not being served that day? Well,  TLC makes a promise that you can have any of their 70 flavors at any time. Seems impossible, right? Everything can be made with vanilla or chocolate—flavored syrups and toppings are added to make the flavor of your choice.

One of my favorites was peanut butter. The peanuts are ground fresh, directly into your cup! It was so yummy, and the crunchy texture made it so I didn't even need a topping!

My absolute favorite was Chocolate Chip Mint. Pieces of mint candy bar were mixed in with chocolate—it was so so good. Seriously, it tasted like something you'd get at Cold Stone, without all the fat and calories. It's only 109 cals a serving! 

I was so busy sampling every flavor that was put before me—Raspberry, Butter Pecan, Coconut, Chocolate Fudge, Banana—that I didn't get any pics! But at least I snapped this hot fudge sundae before I devoured it. How many calories would you guess this is?

You know me, I'm always trying to find ways to be eat better. One thing I've been working on recently is cutting back my intake of processed foods and foods that contain a bijillion ingredients I can't pronounce—healthier dessert options is a start, right?!

TLC gave me a coupon to come in with six friends to get FREE soft serve, so to all my NYC readers out there, let me know when you want to go and we'll make it happen! I'd love to bond with you :)

Geeze, it's only 10am and I'm now dying for a treat! I'm off to the gym though for yoga and a kickass treadmill run. Tell me: What's your favorite froyo/ice cream/soft serve flavor? What about the toppings? Ohh I looove toppings!