Blasts of Light

Get ready to fall inlove/become addicted to Crunch’s Candlelight Yoga DVD! I stumbled upon this beauty while searching netflix for new work out videos to try and stashed it away in my instant queue till the perfect night arrived for some bed time yoga. Now, maybe I’m a dork but I totally lit candles in my apartment when I was doing this DVD and I finished feeling so relaxed and stretched. I was in that perfectly sleepy happy state where you glide to bed on a cloud. Trust me, if you’ve had a rough day or are just wound up about a problem at work or with a boyfriend, this yoga will bring you back to zen faster than a pint of ben and jerry’s can (and you’ll never feel guilty afterwards).  So it’s safe to say I am now ADDICTED to doing this every night before slipping into bed with a book. Sometimes, we need to give our bodies what they need and in New York City I bet a lot of them are craving a little Candlelight yoga!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Thanks for watching! 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!:)

           Who doesn’t love to do a little spring cleaning?! Well, okay, I’m not terribly jazzed about it either but sometimes you got to put in some work to keep that home beautiful and what better incentive to pamper your sweet abode than all the calories you’ll burn while doing it!

Yesterday, I had my girl over to help me paint my bedroom this kick-ass shade of turquoise and boy did we work up a sweat! Neither of us felt guilty about skipping the gym that morning or indulging in some skinnygirl margaritas and guacamole after we finished. And rightly so on our part! Painting burns about 320 calories an hour and we had just made a whole afternoon/evening of it! So here’s a list of some other surprise workouts around the house, cause come on doesn’t it make it a little more exciting to clean when you get to skip the gym to do it?!

Scrubbing your tub..200 cals in 30 minutes

Making Beds…………..130 cals if you have 30 mins worth of beds to make

Cleaning Windows…125 cals for 30 mins of wax on, wax off

Wash your dishes…..160 cals for 30 mins of skipping the dishwasher

Vacuuming……………..180 cals for an hour of clean carpet

Ironing……………………140 cals an hour but don’t hunch over the board

 Climbing Stairs……..285 cals for 30 minutes of putting that laundry away

Now get cleaning my skinny little sweethearts! 🙂

 

 

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These little treasure troves of healthy lunches are popping up all over Manhattan! I highly suggest popping into one if you happen to spot one, I’ve been to the one on 18th by union square and the one downtown by Wall street but there are plenty more. Dig Inn makes getting delicious veggies fast and easy! My favorite picks are their veggie platter (where you can choose from five of their vegetarian or vegan sides) or their organic tofu platter (which comes with three sides). With sides like local spaghetti squash, balsamic mushrooms and broccoli and quinoa salad your lunch will be so yummy you’ll forget how healthy it is!

And as if this place didn’t already have my name written all over it- THEY MAKE FRESH JUICES! I’ve tried their all greens with apple, lemon and ginger and it is fabulous. With a slogan like “everything here is good for you”, you better make this your new favorite skinny spot this spring. Check them out at http://www.diginn.com/order to see if they deliver to your office! 🙂

Today is my first day since Sunday out of my apartment and I sit here in Starbucks with a large iced green tea and a toasted plain bagel with butter (insert your gasp here, it’s ok). Nope, this isn’t some “cheat day”, sadly white carbs are the only thing I’ve been able to stomach for the past 5 days. Hit by an awful fever and flu like symptoms, I could barely get anything down for the first three days but it became apparent that my antibiotic would just eat my stomach away (or force me to throw it up) if I did not try to get something down there. Enter, the sick girl’s beloved friend “toast”. I have been living on toast for days!! I’ve eaten more simple carbs in the past few days then I have probably eaten in entire months of my sweet and skinny little life. Bleck!

Funny thing is, once upon a time ago, I would have loved such a good excuse to indulge in something so “off limits” in my mind. However, when your body is utterly fighting for it’s health and you feel like death, you actually want something with nutrients in it! I’ve been dreaming about raw broccoli with hummus and fresh fruit. In fact, I’m pretty sure starting tomorrow I’ll be throwing that loaf of bread out and buying some fresh produce because my body is begging for it. I’m not going to say that having whatever awful flu -like-bug I was infected with was a good thing, but it definitely gave me a refreshed outlook on taking care of myself. I can’t wait to feel good enough tomorrow to get back into my work out and to introduce my tummy back to some other food groups!

 

              It’s that magical time of year again, the weather’s getting warmer, the sun’s shining and it’s only a matter of time till you need to be seen in public in a swimsuit. This year I’m saving myself some money and not buying an over priced NYC gym membership, instead, I’m going to do some work out videos in the comfort of my own apartment. Work out videos are great for those of us with less than ideal schedules – you can do them whenever, for how ever long, no judgement. So I’ll be reviewing a string of different workout videos for you guys over the next couple months as I test them out but here’s my very first!

10 Minute yoga is ah-mazing! Not for the beginner yogi, (they have a beginner version for that though) it has a great pace, flowing from pose to pose while connecting with your breath but without giving you enough time to go over your grocery list while hanging out in downward dog. I love that it’s chopped up into little ten minute segments so that even on mornings that I don’t quite have time to work out, I can do a run through of “yoga basics” and get centered for the rest of the day. My favorite is by far the “yoga burn” segment but they are all short and sweet, making it incredibly easy to switch up your workout daily and not have an excuse to skip it. I’m excited to try out the rest of the videos in this ten minute series because I think it’s an absolutely brilliant way to make work outs accessible to even the most time crunched of us all. Give it a whirl! I bought the DVD, but it’s also available on Netflix instant play!

I stumbled across this gem in a book I was reading and felt like it was worth passing on. It’s actually written by a man who started losing his mind to Alzheimer’s at age 50 and found himself having to rediscover who he was all the time but I think it can be applicable to our lives in so many ways. I know that I and a lot of my twenty-something, and yes even thirty-something girlfriends often find ourselves holed up in a coffee shop discussing how lost we sometimes feel. It’s a very human, and perhaps even more feminine trait to think about what we’re doing with our lives, where we’re heading and if we are where we’re “supposed” to be. I think this poem is a great meditation on embracing that feeling, being at peace with not knowing and not looking at lost in a negative way. Hey, maybe we’re just playfully wandering?
The first few times
Being lost was frightening
Stark, pregnant
With the drama of change
Then, i didn’t know
That everywhere is nowhere
Like the feeling when an ocean wave
Boils you in the sand
But as time goes by
Each occurrence of lostness is quieter
Falling from notice
Like the sound of trains
When you live near the tracks
Until one day
When a friend asks
“How often do you get lost?”
And I strain to recall a single instance
It was then that I realized
Being lost only has meaning
When contrasted with
Knowing where you are
A presumption that slipped out of my life
As quietly as smoke up a chimney
For now I live in a less anchored place
Where being lost is irrelevant
For now, only when there is a need
Do I discover where I am
No alarm, no fear
Just an unconscious check in
Like glancing in a rear-view mirror
David Hollies, “lost and found”

My first post in 2012 and it’s already January 19th! Someone’s been a bad, bad girl, but that’s about to change.

I love resolutions, I make them all year round ( and post little reminder notes all over my room) but I especially love them on new years because it always feels like a clean slate. Whatever happened in 2011 is over and now I can decide who I want to be in 2012 and what I want my life to be like. This year, I’ve made some big personal ones, to finally get my own apartment with out roommates and to take a leap of faith when it comes to my career, to name just two. Only 19 days in and I can tell you it’s already been pretty exciting. Don’t you love that feeling when your completely overwhelmed and stressed but somehow you know it’s all going to be worth it? I’m pretty sure it’s one of my favorites.

Maybe I’ll touch back on my personal resolutions at a later date but for now I want to focus on my GoSweetandSkinny resolutions! First, I promise to post more frequently, this starts today! I’m aiming to be posting at least once a day, five days a week minimum. I want to keep updating the site so that you guys have a reason to come back and see what’s going on.

Secondly, I’ve decided to expand a bit. After some careful thought and reflection over the holidays, I’ve decided that I want GoSweetandSkinny to be about so much more than just baking. Yes, I love baking and yes, I love vegan baking even more but that’s not all my life’s about. In fact, that’s a very small part of my actual life. Don’t worry, there will still be more recipes to come and I’m not about to stop baking but now I’d like sweet and skinny to relate to every aspect of your life. I want this to be about having a sweet life and being skinny (staying fit) while doing it. Having your cake and eating it too, in all aspects of your life.

So look out for upcoming posts that will be more, well in Oprah’s words, about “having your best life”. I’m not putting any limits on what it could be but I want this to become a place where you can be inspired and find things you can take away for yourself. Which is why my next big undertaking is going to be a webseries for the site called “Sweet Talk” where I will interview successful, entrepreneurial woman while making their favorite baked goods. With so many wonderful women doing incredible things, I think it would be incredibly valuable to share there story, ask them what hurdles they faced and what advice they have to give us twenty-somethings still trying to find our way. I know, I’d sure like to know!

Lots of exciting things going on for GoSweetandSkinny in 2012, I’m thrilled to get started.

 

 

Have some ideas for future articles or ways to contribute? Want to share your new years resolutions with me? I’d love to hear! email me at gosweetandskinny@gmail.com

 

 

Made a quick stop by Liquiteria in the East Village before heading to set today to get myself some fresh juice! This adorable juice bar has quickly climbed the ranks in my book of must haves. Its the next best thing to making it myself at home, and none if the mess in my kitchen. I got a “Royal Flush” this morning, which is one of their special Rx mixes and it was refreshing and delicious. My usual is their “all greens” which is kale, spinach, romaine, parsley, celery, cucumber, apple, lemon and ginger. These juices will run you around $8.00 but trust me, it’s just what the doctor ordered, you’ll feel great after liquiteria get it’s hands on you!

Oh, those weekend brunches sitting outside of your favorite cafe with good friends and great mimosas! Now fast forward four or five hours and your not quite at dinner but searching your cabinets for a little something to hold you over. Well we’ve got the sweet and skinny answer to your prayers with some of these light lunches. And if your not a big brunch fanatic like myself, feel free to use these in between any meals to tide you over – they can also be great light dinners if you’ve had a big lunch!

AA – Apples + Almond Butter
Once again, adding my biased spin on old favorite. Go ahead, use peanut butter if you must, even cashew butter but almond is my favorite by far! My advice to you is cut your apple all nice the way you like it, spread whichever of the ‘butter’s you choose and then put the jar away. With the fiber from your apple and the healthy fat and protein in almond butter, you should be more than satisfied with this little dish and leaving the jar out for dipping will often leave you falsely un-full and going back for more. Yes, this is a good thing, but indeed, you can have too much.

Hummus + Co
Is there anything you can’t put with hummus? Well I guess, it might be gross sticking a cookie in it or trying to spread it on a cupcake but hey, can you blame it for forcing you into healthy choices? Let’s take a stroll down hummus lane, whole wheat pita bread, pretzel thins, string beans, carrots.. the yumminess goes on and on. Seriously take a walk down the aisle at your local grocery store and check out all the different hummus flavors that are out there right now! So many delicious, healthy choices – you can try ’em all. I have a particular obsession for Sonny and Joe’s brand hummus and my favorite variations are Sesame, Spinach and Artichoke or Roasted Red Pepper. Happy Dipping!

Goat Cheese and Grape Bruschetta
Think of it like grown up cream cheese and jelly, this combination makes me salivate just thinking about it. Ok, maybe that was a little TMI, it’s fantastic, just take my word. Yes, it’s a little decadent so don’t go over board or eat this when your ravenous, cause you might do some serious caloric damage but eaten in moderation, it’s perfection. Buy a small whole wheat baguette and slice thinly on the diagonal. Only cut the amount your allowing yourself to eat, I’d say any where between 3-6 depending on how hungry you are. Wrap the exposed end and put it away. Now thinly spread the goat cheese on each of the pieces and cut seedless red grapes in half and affix them on to. Voila! Painlessly easy and perfectly delicious!

As much as I’d hate to admit it, I am only human and tonight has been one of those nights. The ones where you spend hours diligently resisting a cookie craving, make tea, eat yogurt, call a friend, you know all those ‘get your mind off the craving’ activities you find in your favorite healthy living magazine. And yet, they all offer no help. There I was at 10pm and I surrendered. I went out to the supermarket and I bought some sugar cookies. I don’t even like store-bought cookies! I was desperate and certainly not proud of what I was doing.

Funny enough, four cookies deep and cutting myself off from the rest, amidst the shame of my indulgence, something miraculous happened : I regained my focus. All of a sudden, the writing and work I had been trying to do for the past few hours were at the forefront of my mind. I had killed all those sabotaging cookie fantasies simply by giving in.

While I’m not saying that this is an excuse to put yourself in full on sugar coma everytime you get an inkling for a brownie, I think there is a lesson to be learned. If I had gone out and got a cookie perhaps after an hour of thinking about it, maybe I would have had only one and maybe my focus wouldn’t have been quite so effected. I guess this one comes down to ‘know thyself’, sometimes it’s okay to indulge a little, just not all the time and always remember to get back on track and on with your life!

Some great treats to get you through ‘those nights’ are Skinny Cow Ice Cream, No Pudge Brownies and my recipe for ‘Chocolate Somethings’ which I’ll post right away.

Have you heard about the Dukan Diet? Ever since rumor got around that it was Kate Middleton’s pre-wedding weight loss diet of choice, I knew I had to purchase the book. Don’t hate me, I can be a sucker for the flavor of the week diet. Now, to give you the spark notes version of what it entails, it’s a primarily protein based menu. For the first 3-7 days all you can eat is protein and then following that you alternate protein only days with vegetable/protein days. After reading this, I debated whether or not this was even possible for some one who “only eats fish occasionally” to do and let me tell it was no walk in the park!

The first two days were pure torture for me, ah, who I am I kidding, the whole thing was pretty hard. First, it’s not easy to pack anything to take with you for the day when the things you can eat consist of eggs, meat or fish. Sometimes it’s not even easy to grab something that fits into your ‘allowed’ foods on the go. (And I live in NYC where food options are seemingly endless) However, Dukan does give you a recipe for a “Dukan Galette” which is pretty much a protein pancake that he allows you to have once a day and this turned out to be a god-sent! In a later post, I’ll give you the recipe along with some fun variations I’ve created, of course!

Okay, okay, I’ll get to the good stuff, I did lose a few pounds and if you had more to lose, I’m sure you’d lose more. However, what really surprised me was the effect it had on my skin! After two days of no carbs at all and eating purely protein my skin looked FABULOUS! Most of my acne cleared up and my face looked great. This could have also been helped by the large amount of water you MUST drink while doing the beginning stages of this diet but I think I have mostly the lack of carbohydrates to thank for this.

So overall, I lost a little weight and I gained a few enlightening tools. I will continue to watch my carbohydrate intake (especially white carbs) because I love how my skin is looking and somehow that is even more gratifying than the numbers going down on the scale to me. I also, am completely in love with my protein pancake creation and think that it will become a regular on my menu! Thank you Mr. Dukan!

Here I am, sitting in my favorite East Village cafe, for the first time in a few weeks. And while, perhaps I feel slightly guilty for the indulgent piece of Vegan Red Velvet Cake, I’ve allowed myself to indulge in, I feel even more guilty about how much I’ve slacked off on posting for GoSweet&Skinny! So I’d like to apologize for being less then dedicated to updating this website. I have recently had pleasure of having a lot of film projects come up and steal my attention and energy. And while they will be continuing into the winter, I am fully committed to making this website current and improving my posts! I’m also excited to announce that by September, I will be posting video clips of myself making some of my favorite recipes!