Days 3 & 4

Woah! Day three was really easy (I muched on whatever snacks I had leftover from the first few days), but day four is HARD. I haven't had a headache yet today, so that's progress, but my roommates made brownies! Oh no! I knew I was going to need some serious willpower because they smelled so...goood...! Luckily, I have made it through unscathed and made some cool new snack revelations on the way.

First of all, did you know how good local honey is for you?! It helps with a slew of health problems (and its super sweet- with only natural sugars!) To capitalize on the bottle I have, I made some honey-lemon tea and it got rid of my sweet tooth (and hopefully my sore throat) lickety split!

Another thing I was craving was peanut butter something awful. I felt like pregnant Claire from LOST when she's telling Charlie she'd do anything for peanut butter. Fortunately, I don't have to make do with an imaginary jar, I can go to the store and buy all natural peanut butter sweetened with agave nectar (that stuff is really starting to become my friend).

In any case, if you're trying this I hope you are prevailing! Good luck (and don't feel bad if, on day 4, you need to eat a whole spoon of honey)!

xoxo, Lauren

Day #2 Without Sugar

This may be just a coincidence, but I feel like I'm already seeing the effects that processed sugar has had on me. First and foremost, I am spending more time in the kitchen, but thankfully some time up front gives me a lot of snack options that I know are OK. Secondly, I had a headache at the beginning of the day (I ate an apple, chewed some sugar-free gum and it went way). Thirdly, I can see my energy level changing. For example, it's almost 4 PM. I've usually already had an afternoon crash in energy which I used to attribute to lack of caffiene or whatever else. I am blogging and making homemade cheez-its (!!!) while my roomate is snoozing on the couch! I feel like I have a ton of energy. On that note, here are a few more snacks I have tried (and really liked!)

First of all, my roomate (the one who is sleeping on the couch!) had an ice cream craving, so I went to the store with her to get supplies for cheez-its and (hopefully) find some ice cream with no unnatural sweeteners. I was in luck! I found "So Delicious" Coconut Milk Ice Cream in Toasted Almond Chip. It is seriously better than regular ice cream and all the sweetness comes from organic coconut milk. In any case, here is something to tide you over if you're feeling munchy. It's nice because it's super customizable and can be as healthy as you want using substitutions!

Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice

I don't think it's really a secret that I love food. I love trying everything, but I've never really thought about what was going in my body until recently when I stumbled on a blog about sugar free eating. Sugar free? That's nuts! I love to bake! And sugar is in everything. I do mean everything: from crackers to vegetable soup to oatmeal (this surprised me the most). While reading I came upon a common theme on a few sugar-free blogs: they all challenged their readers to go a period of time (a week in most cases, but sometimes more) without processed sugar. I think that's a great idea and I'm going to go for it!

It's day one and I seriously CANNOT believe how much sugar permeates everything I have in the pantry. However, with the resources I found on these blogs for recipes and what to look for on labels that is just sugar cleverly disguised, I feel confident. I'll share my first few recipes with you so you can go along as well! It will take longer, but make sure you check the labels as you shop. Naturally derived sugar from plants is fine, but anything else is cheating (I learned this the hard way.)

Slowly, slowly springing.

We've been on a winter hiatus because winter is generally a dull time and we were very busy baking, spending time with our families, and getting back into gear with school. But let's get on with better things than winter (baking, new collections, sunshine- you get the idea!)

Can we seriously just die together over J. Crew's new Spring collection?! It came into stores Thursday and I've already dog eared my Style Guide to death and bought a thing or two! Unfortunately, this winter, J. Crew was not really pushing the envelope as much as they usually do which resulted in many staples in some (semi) new colors, but a total lack of inspiration.

While this was good for my wallet and closet (let's be honest, it has been overflowing for months), I am glad to see them back in the swing of things! From the neon-pastel cashmere (you can really never have too much) to taking the Liberty floral colabbo up a notch to making tweeds a total Spring staple-- LOVE is in the air! Here are the pieces I'm stoked about.

Boy Shirt in Mint Strawberry Tartan