Supermarket Rocket Fuel

It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed when you start living a more conscious, holistic lifestyle — we want to do all the good things — eat all the healthiest, organic food, clear out all of our home products for more natural alternatives and go no-waste or more eco-friendly. I was thrilled when Thrive Market agreed to team up with me to share some of my easy-peasy eco-friendly hacks!

If you haven’t heard of Thrive Market before, they’re an online grocery store that sells all of your favorite non-GMO, organic products at 25-50% off retail price. They sell everything from pantry staples to beauty and supplements, even cleaning or household items. I love how easy and affordable they make healthy living. Read more about Thrive Market (and get a special goodie) by reading until the end.

These five little shifts will be practically effortless to add to your life, be super cost-effective and leave you feeling like you are on your way to living a more green and sustainable life while keeping all your healthy habits in check — double whammy!

1.Grab yourself a re-usable mug and USE IT.I’m obsessed with this “U-Konserve” mug because it feels like my coffee cup, isn’t as bulky as a lot of the to-go coffee containers and to be honest, just feels super chic! It’s important to genuinely like whatever re-usable mug you select because it will help you use it on the regular. Bringing my mug to the local cafe not only saves a paper cup and plastic lid every day but also usually saves me a $1 because I only get charged for a refill. This mug paid for itself in coffee savings in under 2 weeks and it’s a big ole high five to mother earth to not be going through all those coffee containers!

2. In a similar vein, grab yourself a glass bottle for your water and fill it up with your at home filtered water instead of buying plastic bottles. Again, super simple and not only helps the planet but also helps your bank account! I reuse a glass bottle that I got from a local juice shop with a green juice in it originally, VOSS also sells their water in glass bottles so you can grab one for around $3 and reuse it infinitely. Get yourself a nice filtered water pitcher of your preference or get a gallon of water delivered to your home monthly. I subscribe to a monthly gallon of water service and it costs me about $9/month — way cheaper than always buying water out and so much more eco-friendly. Do some googling to find one near you or ask at your local co-op!

3. Bring your own produce bags to the farmers market (or grocery store). Confession, I stopped using the plastic produce bags for my fruit and veggies long before I found these amazing re-usable produce bags but once these came out into the world I was hooked. These little roll-up-able produce bags hide in your purse and help you hold your favorite greens, veggies, and fruit in their own separate bags. They’re adorable and you get to feel good because your seasonal produce addiction no longer needs to create a surplus of plastic waste!

4. Get an amazing on-the-go meal set for you to bring your lunch, snacks or dinner on busy days. This is a win-win for your wallet, your health and the planet. It’s so easy on hectic days to succumb to ordering a sandwich at your local deli or stopping at your local fast casual spot but having a fun meal carrier will inspire you to make your own food to keep in the car or at your office. I have found that this reduces my own food waste by keeping me accountable for using what’s in my fridge and saves me money because I don’t buy excess food when I have a full fridge at home. Not to mention, you will undoubtedly make healthier choices when you pack your own meal instead of waiting till your ravenous to grab something on the go AND you will be reducing waste by not having all the extra plastic that ofter comes in to-go orders. Once again — wins all around!

5. Oh hi, have you met my new friend, the re-usable “ziploc” bag. Okay these aren’t ziplock brand but that’s pretty much what I call these kind of bags and what a great invention for those of us who were raised going through a few thousand plastic sandwich bags growing up. (Hey, our moms didn’t know!) I am all about using glass containers when I can for left-overs or prepped food but somethings are just easier (and lighter if we’re tossing it in our purse) in a bag! These re-usable bags are my favorite for airplane snacks and on the go nibbles, I rotate the several I have, clean them and feel better about not going through box after box of sandwich bags anymore.

Honestly, just writing out these five easy shifts out has me thinking of sooo many more, so if you enjoyed this post and would like more simple ways to be more sustainable while keeping your healthy lifestyle, be sure to let me know in the comments below.

I want to thank Thrive Market for partnering with me to bring you these tips as well as so kindly offering you a special discount so that you can get a FREE 30 day trial as well as 25% off their already low prices by clicking here. Most of the products above I got on Thrive Market super affordably and I even got a few little things for my healthy, eco-friendly pup, Carl, while I was at it! See below for his earth loving leash, collar and bio-bags! 😉

xo,

C

Of course, I couldn’t help myself but grab some goodies for my little fur nugget! Carl made out with a new leash and collar that are eco-friendly and made from soy as well as some bio bags for walks!

amy'slightandlean

I’m excited to announce that I have added a new category to the menu bar up top! In case you haven’t noticed, when you place your mouse over “Skinny Talk” one of the sub categories that appears is “supermarket skinny”! I decided to add supermarket skinny to the mix because I feel like it is something I’ve been over looking in the past but is an essential part to creating a happy, healthy life you love! You need to know about AMAZING products out there that can make your sweet and skinny journey even easier. I love cooking but even I have those days where I just want to run to the supermarket and grab something I can heat up quick or stick in the oven and I thought why not share my favorite healthy finds with you?! I think we could all use a break every now and then and with the scorching hot days of summer ahead of us we might not want to be slaving away over the oven for an hour all the time!

So here is my first find, Amy’s Light and Lean Vegetable Pizza. This is a great yummy treat when you want to indulge a little with out derailing your diet and healthy habits! Amy’s makes some absolutely fabulous stuff and I am all about the new “Light and Lean” line because although all their stuff is organic and some of it’s vegan and gluten free, it still has calories and fat and you really need to read your labels when buying pre-made or frozen food. Just because it seems healthy does not always mean it is! Be savvy! This individual veggie pizza was exactly what I needed after a long day and wanting something a little naughty and quick. It’s nothing terribly fancy, kind of like an adult Elio’s pizza (if you remember those) but it satisfied the craving and I felt completely guilt free about my indulgence! Amy’s Light and Lean Vegetable Pizza gets my skinny star of approval! 🙂

pumpupyourcereal

I almost didn’t think this worthy of a post, and then I realized this is EXACTLY the kind of post you guys want!! Sure, recipes are fun and I’m sure those cupcake pictures get your tummy grumbling but the best way to start yourself on the road to healthy, happy, hotness is to make small changes to your normal routine everyday! So if we can all get honest a second, who has time to make an elaborate breakfast every morning?! Don’t get me wrong, I do love my quinoa or chia seed pancakes but on the average day that’s just not realistic for me. Cereal is so easy! However, talk to me on the norm and you will know I’m not a huge cereal fan. This is because MOST but not all cereals are loaded with sugar and refined carbs and have very little nutritional value. However, the lovely folks at Barbara’s (who make the cinnamon puffin cereal I’m seriously in love with) gave me a sample of their new healthy kiddie cereals! Yeah, their pretty awesome and I totally love that their helping children eat better and not even realize it. So this morning I gave their “snackimals” a whirl with some almond milk and made it in to an adult protein, omega and antioxidant packed breakfast by sprinkling on some of my favorite super foods! Hemp hearts and goji berries are both delicious and great for you and best of all, they take no time to prepare! Great stuff to have around the house to kick any meal a notch up.

Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts
Just one serving of these in your cereal (oatmeal, yogurt, etc) has 10 grams of Omegas 3 & 6 and 10g of protein! That’s one hell of a pump up if you ask me!

Sunfood Organic Goji Berries
These raw super fruits are loaded with antioxidants to keep you healthy and beautiful! Not to mention they contain 18 amino acids and all 8 essential amino acids! Can you say vegetarian gold mine?

So there you have it. Literally took me two extra minutes if that to sprinkle these delicious goodies on my cereal and give it a healthy super punch to start my day off right!

liptongreentea

Now, I don’t usually do specific product recommendations and I promise you Lipton is not paying me for this lovely promotion but after being sick for the past couple days and going through boxes of different green teas, I really felt I had to give this one a shout out. I’m tea addict, I could go on and on about the different loose leave teas I keep in the house but I love that I picked up this Lipton’s Green Tea with acai, dragon fruit and melon in duane reade along with my other ‘get well’ supplies because that means you can too! This tea tastes so delicious that I feel like I’m drinking a gummy bear! It’s so light and fruity that it was easy to drink cup after cup of it.

So I just had to share it with all you amateur tea drinkers trying to get your four cups a day in, Lipton’s Green Tea with super fruits can be a great way to help ween yourself on to the green stuff! Drinking green tea everyday is so much healthier for you than coffee and with yummy green tea as accessible as your local duane reade or super market there are no excuses to not start incorporating it into your diet today!

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you! 🙂

amylentil

 

Now noone from Amy’s Organic Soups is paying me for this sweet publicity, but hey if you want to send me some free soup – I certainly wouldn’t hate it. I just felt that I needed to share this gosweetandskinny approved soup with you during this freezing cold flu season because I know sometimes we can all be a little to busy (or sick) to make something from scratch. So when that happens and your trolling down the aisles of your local super market, Amy’s offers a ‘just a good as homemade’ alternative for vegans and omnivores alike. Whenever I buy something pre-made I ALWAYS check the ingredients on the label and you should too! I’ve included a pictures of the label from my lentil soup and you’ll see why it’s clearly my favorite. A canned soup with REAL ingredients!? I can’t believe my eyes. This picture doesn’t really do the flavor justice, it’s a really yummy lentil soup and it’s got lots of good for you veggies and lentils in it to give you tons of fiber and protein. You won’t see a label that says NO MSG, NO BIOENGINEERED INGREDIENTS and NO PRESERVATIVES to0 often in the soup aisle so reach for some Amy’s and have one less thing to worry about because you can count on only putting the best ingredients in your body.

amys2

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you! 🙂

An article caught my eye and I just had to pass it along to you guys! According to Food Safety News, the average American consumes about a pound of honey per year, thats over 400 million pounds of honey year! Now wait, that’s not even the bad part. The scary thing is that over a third of all the honey that is brought into the United States in most likely to have been smuggled from China and contain illegal antibiotics and lead!! Gasp. Of course, idiots buy these imports because they’re significantly cheaper and the FDA does a less than thorough check on imports. So please, be safe, only buy honey that says “Made in the USA”. Even better, head out to your local farmer’s market and buy some local honey! You’ll support a local business, probably get way better honey than in a supermarket and you can rest assured that there won’t be any illegal antibiotics in it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I love that Go Sweet and Skinny is your go-to website for healthy living tips, vegan and vegetarian recipes (from everything from appetizers to cupcakes!) and diet advice. I”m committed to helping you get skinny and live the sweet life! Please follow @gosweetnskinny on twitter, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/gosweetandskinny) to keep yourself sweet and skinny 24/7. And as always, feel free to email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com and let me know what low fat, healthy recipes you want to see on the site, what diet books your trying and ask any diet questions your little heart desires! I’m here to help you!:)