Happy Sunday! I love Sundays. It’s not my favorite day of the week, but it’s right up there behind Saturdays.
As I was going through some emails this morning, I ran through a few questions I wanted to share public answers to. If one person is wondering something, maybe some of you are too? (You people do, in fact, care!)
That’s what I’ll just keep telling myself, anyways. 😉
Breakfast
I have been quite fond of bowls lately. Smoothie bowls, rice bowls, veggie bowls… basically anything I can throw together to taste half way decent, I am all about.
It’s pretty easy to do, and here is a great demonstration of what I’m talking about from Kasey. She’s a true POWERBOWL genius.
This morning, my yogurt bowl was ready to enjoy in two minutes time!
Ingredients: Low-fat Strawberry Banana Chobani yogurt topped with raw rolled oats, fresh blueberries, and sprinkles of chia + flax seeds.
Per usual, I washed it down with an extremely large cup of coffee, which brings me to the first question I want to address:
How you drink your coffee every morning? I have been trying different ways and am still searching for a way that I love!
My coffee cups usually include the following: flavored coffee, some kind of organic skim, soy, or almond milk, and a small serving stevia in the raw. <- I also use this as a sugar substitute for baking.
If you aren’t a true coffee lover, you may need to dress it up a bit more, but that is just the formula I have grown to love.
I discovered the wonderful world of flavored coffee a few years ago. I had an obsession with Dunkin’ Donuts Hazelnut for a while, and eventually bought the bags of grounds from the grocery store instead of driving thru every morning to get it. (Hello, wallet drainer!)
Expanding my collection, I have also grown quite fond of Dunkin’s French Vanilla, Starbucks Blonde Roast (for more of an original coffee flavor), and will give any kind of chocolate mix a try. Don’t even get me started on the holiday flavors, either. Pumpkin, Gingerbread, Peppermint… I die. (Missing Fresh Market Coffee right about now.)
While writing this post, I literally just stumbled upon these seasonal coffee flavors from Dunkin’ too. Cocounut, Strawberry Shortcake, Triple Berry? Excuse me while I abandon my computer to go to the grocery store…. have any of you tried these? They sound delicious.
Over the years of drinking coffee, I have learned that if I buy flavored grounds, I use less milk/cream/sugars to doctor it up. Plus, no cup ever has to taste the same, if you don’t want it to.
At any given time, I have at least a few variants of milk on hand. Since I started experiencing a few stomach issues this year, I have been trying to substitute soy and almond milk over regular whenever I can.
This week’s buys: Light Vanilla Silk Soymilk, Organic Skim Milk, Light Chocolate Silk Soymilk.
I usually don’t have two soymilks on hand, but these cartons happened to be on sale at the store. Usually, I have some kind of almond milk added into the mix. Also with my sensitive stomach issues, I have started substituting gluten and dairy-free products into my diet.
I first found Amy’s Kitchen: Natural and Organic Food products through the non-dairy burritos. Instantly hooked on those, I am now open to pick up anything from the line and give it a go.
While on my bowl kick this week, I found that Amy’s has a whole line of them!
This week’s purchase was the Black-Eyed Peas & Veggies Bowl my mouth was watering over in the freezer section. After a long day of Pistons work (can’t wait to share more about that with you!), I returned home unmotivated to cook, remembered the bowl and went to town.
Amy’s Bowl + 1 MorningStar Farms Spicy Black Bean Burger = pure delight.
I have also received questions about my thoughts on processed foods and genetically modified soy products (GMOs). To be honest, I am very naive on the subject and haven’t even heard much about it until recently.
With a simple Google search of “does morningstar farms use genetically modified soy” I quickly found my answer from numerous articles, including this one dating all the way back from 2001. The answer is a clear yes.
Gulp.
<Insert heartbreak.>
Soy + Genetically Modified Product Concerns
I’m sure that one reader is not the only one who has been wondering about this subject, either.
Here was my answer:
“To quickly (and kind of vaguely) answer for now, I try to stay away from as much processed food as I can. I have only recently heard about the negative effects of soy, so it looks like I need to do some research. For now, I do love soy products and eat them often! I read labels, but not as much as I should.”
Knowing I have at least five boxes of MorningStar products in my freezer at all times, where is one like me to go from here?
First Step: Acknowledge that soy, and especially products meant for meat substitution, can come genetically modified (include GMOs). Do some research and take note of brands that don’t include this.
Second Step: Try to transition away from products that carry GMOs. (This is going to be really hard for me, considering I live on a handful of them!)
Third Step: Keep track of what you learn along the way, and share it with friends, i.e. you guys!
Like I mentioned above, I am completely new to this area of information. As a healthy living blogger, it is important for me to educate myself and others on knowledge of products, with facts both positive and negative.
I plan to take this concern with soy products seriously, and share ways to eat around GMOs with you as much as I can.
Now, since some of you probably know a lot more about this than I do…
I have some questions for YOU!
• What are your thoughts on processed/genetically modified products?
• What are some easy ways to stay away from them?
I need to get better about reading labels and keep an eye out for brands that advertise “GMO-free”.
And, of course, I’m curious…
• What’s in your coffee cup?
All right, I’m off to clean up around here for a little, then headed off to an appearance tonight. This week is going to be jam packed with dancer auditions coming up next weekend. I’m getting very anxious and ready for it to get here already.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
![[in our elementary school era] 🚌😭
Skyler did great walking into KINDERGARTEN with a big smile on his face this morning. I, however, was a bit of a mess on our walk home. 🥹
It’s wild how fast these 5 years with him have gone … 7 since we moved to NYC and into our apartment, dreaming of the day our kids would someday go to the *awesome* school right down our block. 🏫
That day is today, and I still don’t believe it — feeling allll of the emotions and thanking God for placing us here and for being able to trust His timing through the journey. 🫶🏼 #hbshinnyc
SO proud of you, SK - you are going to rock your first year at your “big boy school” - WE LOVE YOU !! 🩵👑](https://lifeinleggings.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)
Something else to note- many soy products including soy milk contains carrageenan which is added to thicken many processed foods and has been linked to cancer in animals. We have now switched to a brand of almond milk that does not contain this.
Carrageenan has also been linked to stomach issues in humans and there is proff in some studies that once a person starts to avoid it, their issues are greatly improved.
I know that anything we buy nowadays will have something in it that is probably not good for us but just wanted to throw in my two cents if you are experiencing issues. Carrageenan is found in many brands of yogurt too as well as aspartame. Ugh…is anything good for us out there?
Yeah, I have heard of that problem before. It seems like it’s almost impossible to eat “entirely clean” these days, because there is always something to avoid! Thanks for the info… after looking over my Silk cartons, I am happy to say at least they are a No GMO brand.
Not a huge coffee fan, but recently I’ve been mixing a few ice cubes, 1 cup Chocolate Velvet roast, a splash of almond milk, a little Stevia, cocoa powder, and chocolate protein powder all blended. Delicious!
Don’t know much about the soy information but it’s definitely something to look into. Thanks for bringing the topic up!
Loved iced coffee for a pick me up! 😉
I have been dealing with stomach issues for too long now haha and I used to drink soy to try and get away from dairy, but honestly it gave me more problems than the dairy! I’m a coffee addict, andI just use a dash of half and half in my coffee. I buy organic/pasteurized so that it’s better than the regular. I haaate the taste of almond milk in my coffee, I find that it curdles! The half and half is rich so I don’t need a lot and the small amount doesn’t bother my stomach 🙂
Hmm, good to know! Thanks for the suggestions 🙂
In my cup is a splash of almond milk and a packet and a half of stevia. There are so many different perspectives on GMOs. I recently watched a documentary where scientists reported that at this time there is no way that they could feed the world without GMO products. I just try to eat mostly organic diet of unprocessed foods.
I am trying to go more and more organic each trip to the grocery store!
Soy is bad, bad, bad. That being said, it is in almost everything so avoiding it completely is a real challenge. I have avoided it for years since there are plenty of studies linking soy to increased incidences of breast cancer (my mother had breast cancer so this may be why I am so anti-soy). My advice is avoid products with soy (especially as one of the main ingredients) and try to find more nut options (nut cheese, milk, etc) if avoiding dairy.
I have heard of that connection before, but only recently. Thanks for the advice!
I love the Dunkin Donuts Strawberry Shortcake coffee! It is amazing with just a splash if half and half. And yes, I adore Fresh Market coffee (I just wish it wasn’t so pricey)! Red Velvet is one of my fav flavors!
I usually use just a small splash of half and half in my coffee, but when I feel like lightening my cup up a bit, I use almond or skim. I don’t put any sweetener in my coffee either, I am not really a fan of sweet coffee unless it is a latte! 🙂
I really need to try this flavor!
That blueberry powerbowl looks AMAZING!! I too have had an obsession with the “bowls” lately.
As for Soy/GMOs….I have tried to stay away for awhile now. A couple years ago I became obsessed with soy protein…used frequently at vegan/vegetarian ethnic food places. I started cooking it a lot…and then soon after I became extremely grossed out by it. This probably was more a case of me just getting tired of it rather than an actual effect, but I started researching a bit and decided I’d no longer partake in soy/gmo products. I’ll still put a touch of soy milk in my coffee occasionally if there are no other dairy free options. However, my philosophy is to stay away from any kind of food that comes out of a package if there are ingredients other than just the actual food, anything genetically modified or engineered. I don’t know all science behind why theyre bad for you, but everything I’ve read says theyre not good and they haven’t been around long enough to know what type of long term effects they have on our bodies. http://www.responsibletechnology.org/gmo-dangers/65-health-risks This website has a LOT of information about it. 🙂 Sorry my comment is SO LONG!!
Thanks girl! Yeah… this whole subject has me frazzled. I love soy products, so it is going to be a huge adjustment in my grocery shopping and meal planning to try to get off of it. Thank you for all the info!
My coffee cup is ever evolving. I used to like it really sweet. I drank flavored coffee and added sugar substitute to it. Now I drink regular coffee (Britt Coffee- I like it not just because it has my name, it’s actually really good!) with fat free half and half and one packet or sugar substitute. I also almost never finish my entire coffee. I drink part of it and pour it out when I go out the door!
It’s funny how that happens! I guess our taste buds get used more and more used to it.