The other week Ashley over at CSN Stores (they sell things like dining room tables) contacted me about doing a review. It will be coming shortly. I’m very excited because I really need this kitchen item that I’m going to get to review for you. So stay tuned. Unfortunately I can’t review dining room tables because our apartment is too small to have one.
In case you want free things too, here is your chance: I have an unlimited supply of $1 coupons for Activia Desserts (courtesy of Foodbuzz). Click the image below for the coupon. (You can only use one at a time, I think, but you can print out as many as you like… hence they are unlimited.)
I looked at the ingredients and nutrition facts and they look fine by me – there are 140 calories in one serving, which includes some healthy fats (4 grams) and some protein (6 grams). Yes there is sugar, but at least it’s real sugar (no HFCS). Dessert isn’t dessert unless it’s sweet anyway. Some other ingredients besides sugar are: milk and strawberries. It also has the star ingredient of this fabulous dessert. (You get a gold star if you figure out which ingredient I’m talking about.)
Just FYI, by posting this I get an entry into a contest hosted by Foodbuzz and Activia. And YOU get $1 off dessert. It’s win-win, no?
Speaking of win-wins (or maybe just regular wins) I am loving these comment plugins. Some other people left plugin ideas in the comments so if you want more suggestions definitely check those out. **Note: I updated the post as Ozh’ Absolute Comments is not working. You only have to install the other one.**
And since this post is already turning into a massive collection of coupons and free things that have been sitting in my inbox, I’m just going to continue…
Another company contacted me recently too – Stonyfield (who is sponsoring the US Open) is hosting a contest where you pick your favorite flavor (out of two) each day. Each vote gets you an entry to win a year of free Stonyfield yogurt. So if you are a yogurt person make sure to vote every day to get lots of entries. I voted yesterday (Strawberry Oikos v. Cherry Vanilla – I chose strawberry).
Onto more thoughtful things.
The other week I talked about how French women (Europeans in general really) don’t eat emotionally and they’re not emotional about eating. But this comment made me realize that I might be wrong about that. French women are actually very emotional about food – but in a good way!
Eating to Feel Good
Here are some things I eat to feel good – to feel happy – that make me emotional about food in a healthy, positive way:
- Ice cream cake on my birthday.
- Dessert with my husband even when I’m already full.
- Street meat (don’t knock it til you try it) at a street fair.
- My dad’s French toast. (Any of my dad’s breakfasts, really.) (And my own French toast, because it reminds me of my dad’s.)
- Anything my husband makes. (This might be because I didn’t have to cook.)
- Tasti D Lite. Anytime, anywhere.
- Ice cream sandwiches shared with my hubby. (Our first summer together we shared ice cream sandwiches in Disneyworld, so I’m always reminded of that day.)
- Sharing food in general. I like eating with people. I like feeding people and being fed, and sharing. (When I was eating lots of salad, I hated it.)
- Eating ice cream in the kitchen standing up, at midnight. (Only if I’m really hungry. It’s a perfectly satisfying late night snack.)
- Foods that remind me of people in general. (For example, mashed potatoes with creamed corn reminds me of my late Grandma.)
- Soft serve ice cream with sprinkles on a summer day after a softball game.
(Hm. I’m a dessert person I guess. You already knew that.)
So yes, I attach emotion to these things, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all. Sometimes you should enjoy food not just because it tastes good, but because it makes you happy. Sometimes to eat intuitively you have to eat when you’re not hungry just because it’s appropriate. If you’re eating with other people you compromise. If you are about to work out and you’re not hungry (or if you finish a workout and you’re not hungry), you still have to fuel. Sometimes you have to wait an extra hour and you get hungrier than normal. It’s not the end of the world! The key word here is sometimes. You can’t plan everything before it happens, so just let it happen and worry later.
My point is… sometimes eat to feel happy, sometimes eat to be healthy, and sometimes forget it all and stop thinking about eating so darn much. Now:
What foods make you happy?
Later (this week I hope) I think I’m going to do a post about skincare. Does anyone have any skincare questions for me? Anything you want me to research or summarize? I learned a lot from my facialist last week and I want to share it.
