South Beach Good to Go Bars, Homemade Larabars and other Healthy Stuff

Happy Friday!  I love FRIDAYS so much!  Who doesn’t?

I have a bunch of random things to share with y’all today.

First off, I got some fun things in the mail from South Beach Diet the other day that I want to share.  They recently came out with a new line of “Good to Go Bars” and they are fabulous!

They come in varieties such as Soft Baked, Extra Protein, Extra Fiber and Gluten Free.  They range from 120-150 calories, are high in protein (6-10 grams), high in fiber (5-9 grams) and don’t have any artificial sweeteners or flavors.  Yay!

They also taste great!  I LOVE all of the yummy flavors like Chocolate Chip (Extra Protein), Dark Chocolate (Extra Fiber), Chocolate Brownie (Soft Baked) and Dark Chocolate Raspberry (Gluten Free.)   Hmmmm, can you tell I love chocolate!??!  They also have a lot of other non-chocolate flavors as well, just so ya know!

They are the perfect snack to stash in the purse for “emergencies.”

I love South Beach Diet and I love companies that make good products that help us all stay on track. 😉

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I’m also really loving my “3 Months, No Crap” plan so far.  Yes, I’m only 4 days into it, but I can already tell a huge difference!

Here’s the deal….I lost about 10 pounds with Whole 30 and I definitely felt thinner and leaner.  It was awesome.  But, the two weeks following Whole 30, I ate whatever the heck I wanted.  It was seriously so much fun, but I felt giant!

It was kind of crazy how quickly my body blew up!  I know most of it was water weight and a result of my body adjusting to all of the sugar and carbs I was feeding it, but it was freaky nonetheless.  I could seriously feel the jiggle when I walked.

BUT, after about 36 hours of following my “3 Months, No Crap” plan, I felt my body adjusting back to “normal.”  I started peeing A TON (TMI, I know), but that is the quickest indicator to me that my body likes what I’m doing; it doesn’t cling on to water!  My clothes also started to fit better again and I didn’t jiggle when I walked anymore!

Huge plus!

I’m still up about 2 pounds since I ended Whole 30, but I have a feeling those 2 pounds (and hopefully many more!) will be gone very soon.

I also LOVE the food I’m eating!  It’s a very reasonable lifestyle plan, which I love.  I’m missing chocolate for sure, but I’m grateful I can eat some of my other favorite “healthy chocolate” foods.  I’ve been loving my Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal the past few mornings…

I know that picture doesn’t look particularly appetizing, but it’s so good and satisfying.  It also fills me up for HOURS!

I also happened to notice that my Hershey’s Cocoa now says “100% Cacao” on it.  Hmmmm.

Maybe that’s always been there, but I’ve never noticed it before.  It cracks me up because “cacao” is definitely a health food buzz word, much like chia, flax, kale, quinoa, Greek yogurt and all of the other trendy health food stuff out there

I just thought it was interesting….and probably smart on Hershey’s behalf.  I definitely felt healthier knowing my cocoa was “100% cacao.”  Ha ha.

I’ve also been LOVING my favorite Chocolate Protein Pancakes again!!!!!  So much!!!!

I had them topped with peanut butter and berries and loved them so much!  I have a bunch of them in my freezer and I love to pull one out, put it in the toaster and top it with peanut butter.  It tastes just like a peanut butter cup to me!

One of the many things I learned on Whole 30 was to not add sweeteners (natural or artificial) to anything!  It really seemed to train my taste buds to not need as much sweetness.  So I’ve stopped adding additional sweeteners to my protein pancakes, protein shakes, oatmeal and anything else I used to add additional sweetness too!

I’m sure there will still be things I’ll add sweeteners to, but I’m trying to be more aware and get used to things not being as sweet.

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My sister introduced me to a wonderful recipe for German Chocolate Fudge Bites that I love so much!

Yes, I know they look just like deer poo, but I love them!  They’re from Chocolate Covered Katie and they are seriously so good.  I also love that the only sweetness/sugar comes from dates.  That’s it!

When I was doing Whole 30, one of the few processed things I could eat was Larabars.  They were not supposed to be eaten on a regular basis, but rather used as something you could stash in your purse for emergencies.

I have to say I wasn’t a fan.  I thought they were gross.  Ewww.  It was nice to have something quick and convenient I could eat though.

Anyway, when my sister introduced me to the German Chocolate Fudge Bites I noticed that the recipe said it was inspired by Hot Fudge Larabars.  All of the ingredients were “Whole 30 legal” except for the Vanilla Extract.

AND, the only reason Vanilla Extract isn’t allowed is because of the alcohol content.  Seriously??!??!

Here’s exactly what it says about extracts on the Whole 30 website…

Honestly, we think this ruling is kind of silly (nobody uses vanilla extract for the buzz), but we must be consistent with the guidelines to avoid confusion. The vast majority of vanilla extracts you can purchase for home use (in-store and online) contain alcohol, and the rest contain sugar alcohols. And, since we ask you to exclude alcohol and all forms of sugar from your Whole30, vanilla extracts are non-compliant. (If you see vanilla extract listed as an ingredient, you can count that product out for your Whole30, too.)

Here’s the deal; I don’t drink alcohol at all…ever.  Never have, never will.  And, since I NEVER drink alcohol and I’ve never craved extracts (ha, ha), I decided extracts were just fine for me on my Whole 30.  My vanilla extract didn’t have any sugar in it either, FYI.

Maybe that means I failed at Whole 30, but I felt okay about it. 😉

I also decided I would much rather eat these homemade “Fudge Bites” instead of Larabars any day.  The Larabars were overly sweet, IMO.  So with that being said, I love this recipe (FYI, I added 1-2 Tablespoons of water to the recipe.)

You basically just mix all of the ingredients in a food processor, roll them into balls and that’s it.  They take less than 5 minutes to make.  Oh, and I like to keep them in the freezer.  It makes them taste extra good!

I also want to say that I’m not a huge fan of dates, at least not by themselves.  I don’t love the texture and I just can’t get over how much they look like the cockroaches from Fear Factor.  Ya.

BUT, when you mix them up with a little vanilla extract, salt, cocoa, unsweetened coconut, nuts and water, they turn into a heavenly treat.

A treat that look just like deer poo.  From cockroach to deer poo, LOL!  Yum?

Well, I’m getting ready to head out to a movie with my cute husband.  I will leave y’all with some cute pics of my favorite baby.  I also posted these pics on Instagram yesterday, so if you follow me, you probably already saw them!

I love you all!  Have a wonderful Friday night!

South Beach Diet sent me the complimentary Bars and goodies, but the opinions expressed and text are entirely my own! #SouthBeachDiet #SnackHappy

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