Thank You |

THANK YOU for all the kind words on my BIG announcement yesterday! It was so great to hear your encouragement and excitement about the next step for Lend a {Healthy} Hand! It’s become such a big passion of mine and I feel like it’s my baby! SO happy it’s expanding the ways I had hoped. Again, all thanks to your participation. It wouldn’t be anything if no one shared their weekly #healthyhelp!

Today is of course WIAW and I have lots of eats to share as well as a few product reviews, both of which I am very happy about, and one of which has resulted in a giveaway for all of you! But first…WE FEAST!

[lemon pound cake ALT bar (AMAZING), chocolate mint Jocolat bar (equally as delicious)] [my newest shipment of PROTEIN...egg white (haven't tried it yet) and my favorite whey]

[mahi mahi with salsa, roasted veggies, and a japanese sweet potato]

[overnight oats with cherry, vanilla, banana softserve]

[turkey cabbage salad, corn tortillas with humus and feta]

[crispy cauliflower crust pizza]

[pumpkin oats with ezekiel cereal, buckwheat, raisins, apple dices, and chestnut chips]

[turkey salad, crackers with banana and pb]

[tofu nuggets and onion rings, roasted kabocha, roasted veggies]

[first strawberries of summer, blueberries, protein powder, chestnut flour, and almond milk]

It’s NO secret that I love bars…I mean come on people, you’ve seen my stash…

[not even all of it]

I have at least one a day! There are just so many different varieties, textures, and flavors! So when I was offered the opportunity to try some new ones, I jumped at the chance.

First up Simply Whey!

I reviewed for the Simply Bar a few weeks back and fell in love with the rice crispy treat-like consistency and the subtle sweetness of their bars! They just released a new line of protein bars that have whey in them as the source of protein instead of soy. I think this is great because I personally am a huge fan of whey and sometime have digestive issues if I eat too much soy. Of course this line is no longer vegan, but I have no problem with that and I was excited to see the flavors they came in! The chocolate mint was by far my favorite, simply because I love that combination. But all the bars were crispy, gooey, and of course not overly sweet! All the flavors were subtle and not over powered by the brown rice syrup used to sweeten these. Usually I am opposed to sweetened bars, but these are VERY minimally sweetened…only 3 grams per bar! And I’m okay with that, seeing as how much protein they back and how good they taste!

Edited: These bars ARE available in the US, so you can head on over to the Simply Bar site to order some!

Thanks Simply Bar!

And for my second bar review…another export from Canada! I am getting seriously jealous of our neighbors to the North because they are rolling out some awesome bars! Elevate Me last week and this week….

KRONO BAR! All vegan protein and energy bars.

I have to be honest, upon tasting these I had to go back and read up on their ingredients and how they’re made. They were SO FREAKING DELICIOUS that I almost doubted they could be vegan and have no added sugar. They come in such a wide array of flavors, many of which I’ve never seen for a bar before (like coconut cherry, chocolate pear, and chocolate banana!), and are a pretty good size for a bar…much bigger than larabars! And like I mentioned above…their ingredients (as well as their nutritional information!) ROCKS. These seriously taste like candy bars and they have amazing texture as well. Big chunks of nuts, seeds, grains, and CHOCOLATE….all a great contrast to the fudgey dates! I popped these babies in the refrigerator and was greeted with a dense fudge like texture when I was ready to eat them! Pair that with the amazingly chocolatey taste of each bar…and I swore I was eating dessert.

So they not only taste great, but they provide a ton of healthy fats, protein (in the protein variety of course!), and energy boosting carbs from the natural sugars and grains (like quinoa!). One of the most unique, innovative products I’ve ever tried and I’m even more impressed with what quality of them.

But enough of my RAVE review….

The nice people over at Krono Bar have decided to donate a box of one of their newest bars, Chocolate Coconut, for one of my lucky readers to try! I’m so jealous…

But I guess y’all deserve it….

Here’s how to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck everyone….this is one giveaway you definitely want to win. Deliciousness awaits!

If you’d like to order some bars in the mean time you can email the owner directly at: rfrancoeur@kronobar.com !

Have a great Hump Day!

Kaila

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Todays’s Healthy Help: Helped a girl hang some signs for her lost dog…I felt so bad for her, I can’t imagine losing Ella.

Never too early to start Lending a {Healthy} Hand for this weeks round-up! Tell me what you’ve done to help someone else lately!

Looking Ahead

As I mentioned last week and this weekend, April 14th was my third blogging anniversary (birthday?…I’ve called it both!).

I planned on writing a celebratory post with links back to some of my favorite features over the last 3 years, big life events that I’ve covered, and memorable moments from my blogging career…but something made me stop before throwing myself into a project like that.

Personally, I’ve done posts like that before. I’ve gone through my archives to find things that I think exemplify my blog and my writing, linked backed, and shown old pictures. As much as I like doing that, I think it’s a bit boring. If you all really wanted to read old posts and go through a post linking to said old posts, you’d go do it on your own (not trying to be pushy…just saying that you read what you’re interested in)! That’s what the archives are for and that’s what my favorites tab is for!

Much like people who do weekly round ups of their posts from the week, I think these types of posts are a little self indulgent and a little redundant. I know, for me, I tend to just skim through posts that feature links to things I’ve already read.

But even more important than the redundancy of ‘looking back posts’ (because frankly that’s what having a blog is all about for me…having a record of things that have happened in my life), is that fact that I’ve embraced looking ahead. As I’ve discussed in some earlier posts this year, the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013 was a time of great change in my life…change for the better. And frankly I’d like to keep on that path of improvement and optimism. For me this means not dwelling on the past (but of course not forgetting about it), and embracing what’s coming next.

We cannot forget our past by any means and I am not saying that reflecting on things that have happened does not have its worth, but for where I am right now, I’d rather focus on what’s in store for my blog, rather than what’s happened with it so far. Frankly, it’s gone through too many transitions and changes to even note….and I think right now it’s the best form of itself it’s ever been. And even if that’s not true for everyone, you’ve got to embrace where you are in the present.

So instead of sharing a long lists of posts about awards I’ve won, my favorite product reviews, or recipes that got the most page views…I want to share a few insights on where I hope the blog goals in future (the next three years perhaps?)…

-continue to be a daily outlet for my creativity, self expression, and reflection

-serve as a record of life events (like an online scrapbook) so I can remember my thoughts and feelings on certain things I’ve experienced

-a vehicle for communication with like minded people who share the same values and passions as me

-a place for discussion and learning about other perspectives, opinions, and thoughts that I may not have considered before

-continue to spread my Lend a {Healthy} Hand movement and expand it to help as many people as possible through random acts of kindness

I’m sure I’ll be adding to this list, physically and mentally, as time goes on, but I think it’s suitable for now.

I do want to thank all of you immensely who visit my blog, read, comment, and reach out to me. I’ve learned so much from you all…both about myself and about the rest of the world. So thank you for your support. I am curious if I have any readers that have been with me from the beginning Feel free to share if you have! That’d be pretty cool….and potentially pretty embarrassing considering some of my early posts

Hooookay. Enough wordiness for today. I leave you with this picture of Ella to brighten your Monday. The epitome of self control:

[sitting next to her favorite snack and not even budging]