New Arctic Zero Lineup!

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There are three new chunky pints of Arctic Zero! Plus a new chocolate-dipped bar.

For those of you who aren't familiar with my past reviews of Arctic Zero, and haven't heard the buzz about the frozen dessert in the grocery store or at the gym, here's why Arctic Zero is the ice cream that the #fitfam an #healthnut crowd goes nuts over.

Arctic Zero is a frozen dessert (technically not an ice cream, since it isn't made out of cream) that's fat-free, lactose-free, gmo-free, certified gluten-free, kosher, and low in sugar.

It's made of whey protein concentrate, so it's high in protein, and sweetened with monk fruit concentrate, so it's much lower in sugar than traditional ice cream and won't send you on a blood sugar rollercoaster. It's enriched with fiber to keep you full and *cough, cough* regular. Sure beats bran, doesn't it?

With all of that, it's surprising that it not only tastes good, but is also creamy (especially after sitting out at room temperature for 10-15 minutes, since it freezes firmer than traditional high-fat ice cream). And now there are three new chunky pints in the lineup, plus a new kind of chocolate-dipped bar!

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Review: Halo Top Creamery Ice Cream

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Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved ice cream. 

Her very favorite ice cream of all time was Edy's Loaded Cookies & Cream Ice Cream. Her freezer was never without a tub and her wonderful mother always made sure to have some in the freezer when she came home for break from boarding school (because her mother was/is wonderful).

Then, one sad sad SAD day, Edy's discontinued their Loaded Ice Cream line. The girl experienced her first heartbreak and was inconsolable. 

But slowly, oh so slowly, she learned to love again. This time, she fell for Edy's Slow Churned Yogurt Praline Crunch. There were many delicious afternoon snacks, a toppling birthday ice cream cake she insisted on making out of her love, and infinite apples dipped into ice cream. Until...

...Edy's discontinued her love. AGAIN. The girl's faith in the ice cream industry was shattered. Alas! She was not meant to be allowed to keep a love. 

And then she met Halo Top Creamery during a leisurely stroll through a Whole Food's freezer aisle. 

Halo Top Chocolate Mocha Chip:

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Review: Toosum Bars

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I love snack bars! Skeptical? Just check out my comprehensive list of the many, many, many bars I have tried, photographed, and reviewed over the years.

Clearly, I like bars.

But when you're just feeling a little peckish and you don't want a big bar, or you're packing a snack for a kid at school and a full sized protein or granola bar is just too big. And who wants to eat half the bar and leave the other half in an open packet, to dry out?

Luckily, there's a solution.

The healthy, gluten-free snack bar:

Toosum bars are the perfect size for a small snack or a brown bag pack-along.

Toosum bars are 100 calorie gluten-free oatmeal bars. They call themselves 'bites with benefits' and live up to the claim. All four flavors (blueberry & greek yogurt, coconut & banana, cherry & plum, and cranberry & acai) are made of gluten-free, whole grain oats, brown rice flour, and healthy nuts, seeds, and dried fruits. 

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Review: Arctic Zero's New Pints!

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I was SO bummed when, after an absolutely gorgeous labor day weekend full of lovely strolls on perfect high 60s-low 70s days, the summer decided to make a return visit and burn me up with 90-something scorcher days.

So I was SO thrilled when a surprise package from Arctic Zero showed up on my doorstep! Exactly what I wanted to help me cool down on these hot days.

The Flavors:

The original creators of healthy, high protein, low-sugar and low-fat 'ice cream' are constantly coming up with new brilliant ideas and their Chunky pints are the perfect addition to their line! 

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Loving Lately: New Finds

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Can you believe it's already mid September? For those who are school-aged, or have a school-aged child, it's either back to school time or school is already in full swing! 2015 is flying!

I've been fortunate enough to be out of NYC for most of the summer, spending June in Boston and July in NYC, so I escaped the bulk of NYC's summer heat. I've definitely been feeling it this month though! Flying from Germany to NYC was an instant 20 degrees Celsius increase in temperature (that's over 60 degrees Fahrenheit) and the first few days were absolutely brutal!



I eventually adjusted a bit, but I never really fully adjust to heat. I'm definitely more of a cold weather girl, so I'm ready for late September to bring the much needed relief of a cooler fall.

Anyway, with the start of fall here and the new seasons meaning lots of big changes for a lot of us (myself included - I'm not going back to school, but I'm taking a new step in my writing career and starting a new job as a children's entertainment writer for an animated television series in just a week!).

Before all the next new things begin, here are some of the latest new things that I have been enjoying!

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7 Swaps for a Healthy Sweet Tooth

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Are you trying to eat healthier, but finding it hard to ignore the siren call of the ice cream truck and the allure of the checkout candy display?

Eating healthy isn't about deprivation. That's unsustainable and no fun! Because a healthy lifestyle is about balance, it's totally fine - great, in my opinion - to indulge in chocolate bars, ice cream, and so on from time to time.

Since indulging in the 'real thing' multiple times a day won't be great for your health or well-being in the long run if it's every day, however, here are some healthy swaps that to satisfy your sweet tooth without sacrificing your health goals!

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Keeping It Simple with Detour Simple!

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How is it already the second half of February? Sometimes I really feel like a less impressive Rip Van Winkle - it seems like it was 2000 yesterday!

Then again, I was seven in 2000 and I'm 21 now and definitely have come a long way from my seven-year-old self...

I'm now a published children's book author, petite model, film/TV actress, ghostwriter, blogger, and Harvard grad, for starters. So that's a little different than second grade me.

I'm also several inches taller and don't have a bedtime.

But I'm not the only one with exciting new developments. Detour Bar is starting 2015 strong with a new line of three all-natural healthy nutrition bars hitting stores this month - Detour Simple!

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Naturaide SugarlessE Natural Chocolates: A Review!

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The holidays are here (whoot, whoot!) and that means holiday treats abound. For those who shouldn't have too much sugar for whatever reason (diabetes, pre-diabetes, candida, etc.) it can be a bit bittersweet. Don't despair!

Just like it's possible to find yummy trail mixes for even those with allergies against all types of nuts, it's possible to find delicious sweet treats that are sweetened without sugar.

A little extra searching (or just reading reviews, like this one, in the blogosphere) can even lead you to sugar-free sweets that are all-natural, Free of aspartame or any other potentially harmful artificial sweeteners, Naturaide SugarlessE Natural Chocolates are actually good for you!

These chocolates are sweetened with all-natural, kosher, GMO-free, and gluten-free SugarlessE, a new natural sweetener. 

They offer several different varieties of delicious sugar-free dark chocolate. The chocolate is softer than some, and a little more caramel-y, but absolutely delicious.

I tried the Chocolate Naturals (plain), ChocoCoffee Naturals (mocha), and ChocoMint Naturals (minty) in this cute three packs.

They're sold in adorable little boxes with festive gold foil wrapping, but the chocolates are individually wrapped for freshness. Perfect for savoring over time! 

But the real reason why these make a great stocking-stuffer or guest gift? Or even a wonderful Secret Santa treat? They're delicious, they're healthy, they're natural, and -

- they're personalizable! How fun is that?

Sure, it isn't 2001 anymore and we aren't all sporting monogrammed backpacks and leather bracelets with our names etched on them, but it's always a fun gift to give someone something edible with their face on it!

The chocolate itself looks the same (and is available in one of the five flavors they offer - I got ChocoBerry Naturals and ChocOrange Naturals) but the little containers are super cute and even have the little etched bow. 

If you're all set on Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers, I think they're great if you want to splurge on your Valentine's 'cards' for friends in a few months. I would rather have a yummy healthy SugarlessE chocolate than a pink card any day!

What are you hoping to find in your stocking this year?

Do you send Christmas cards?

How many people are you giving gifts to this year? How many (more?) are you sending Christmas cards to?

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*New* Detour Smart Bar Flavor Review - Chocolate Peanut Butter

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(Wo)man can't live on Christmas cookies and candy canes alone! There's no need to try, it would be an existence filled with stomachaches and lagging energy.

Luckily, there's no need! Though most fruits and vegetables are (sadly) no longer in season, there are still frozen options and (though this is less environmentally friendly) fresh produce that's flown in from warmer parts of the globe.

There are also lots of yummy snack foods to keep on hand to fuel holiday gift shopping, holiday party throwing (and party hopping!), and general seasonal shenanigans.

Can there pretty please be unreasonable amounts of blizzards in NYC and (this one's really unlikely) Greensboro, NC this December? Just pack in all the precipitation of the year in frozen form and in this month and I'll be pleased.

It needs to be tall enough for me to hide behind, build fortresses in, and sneak attack innocent passerby (read: my poor family and friends) with snowballs. That's all!

Anyway, there are many healthy snack options to fuel all that fun. I recently tried a new one!

Remember when I reviewed Detour Smart bars when they first came on the market? They're Detour's gluten-free, all-natural protein bar option and previously were available in three flavors - apple cinnamon, blueberry, and cranberry flax.

There's a new fourth flavor in time to make your holidays a little healthier (and more delicious) - Chocolate Peanut Butter Smart Bars!

Like the other Detour Smart Bars, they're gluten-free and made with whole grain oatmeal.

They're also wonderfully low in sugar, so they won't add to your eventual chocolate and cookies sugar crash! That's what I call balance.

When you hear how low in sugar they are (only 4 grams, the equivalent of one teaspoon, in a whole bar) you might be skeptical. After all, there's more sugar than that a cup of unsweetened plain yogurt!

There's no reason to be skeptical. The bars are sweetened naturally with stevia, which won't affect your blood sugar levels, but is also a natural plant extract and not a cancer-causing chemical or, like aspartame, known to induce migraines (ick). Stevia is pretty solid!

These bars are solid, too. They're definitely better for handling a peanut butter than a chocolate craving, as that's the main flavor in the bar (I would probably rename them Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, as I feel that's more accurate, if I were running things).

There are mini chocolate chips throughout the bar, but the base is definitely peanut butter. It's delicious, satisfying, sweet enough (but not cloyingly so), healthy, packed with 11g of vegetarian protein to sustain your energy levels until your next meal, and drizzled with Greek Yogurt icing for (a) prettiness and (b) a more treat-like experience.

I give them a thumbs up! They're definitely worth having on hand while you rush around this month.

What are your favorite on-the-go snacks during the holidays?

What's your favorite holiday treat?

Do you have a gift shopping strategy?

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Recipe: Low Sugar, Low Fat Vegan Brownies - With A Hidden Ingredient!

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These superfood brownies will blow your tastebuds away while astounding you with their healthiness.

They're low carb, low sugar, low fat, whole grain, and vegan - plus the fats that they do have are heart healthy and come loaded with fiber and minerals!

Oh yeeeeeah, chia seeds. And dark chocolate. And, um, there's...zucchini.

No, no, NO, don't run away! Don't close your browser! I swear these are every bit as delicious as they are healthy.

Vegan Superfood Brownies

Serves 12

* 2 Tbsp. Nutiva White Chia Seeds

* 6 Tbsp. Water

* 3 Tbsp. NuNaturals NoCarbs Blend Stevia

* 1 Cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

* 1/2 Cup Hershey's Baking Cocoa

* 1.5 tsp. Baking Soda

* 0.25 tsp. Salt

* 2 medium zucchini, grated (if you're facing some really veggie-phobic snackers, peel the zucchini as well - it brings down the nutrition value/fiber content a bit, but makes the zucchini invisible and undetectable by taste, too)

* 1.5 Cup Sugar-Free Chocolate Chips

1) Preheat oven to 350F and grease an 8"x8" pan.

2) Mix chia seeds and water in a large bowl. Let sit for five minutes, until thickened.

3) Add vanilla extract, stevia, and apple sauce. Mix well. 

4) In a medium bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together. Mix very well, so completely combined into a uniform powder!

3) Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients gradually, stirring gently. Don't over mix!

4) Gently fold grated zucchini into the batter. 

5) Fold in 1 cup chocolate chips - again, don't over mix! Over mixing will overwork the flour and make your brownies tough.

6) Pour the batter into the prepared pan, creating a smooth surface with the back of your spoon/spatula.

7) Sprinkle remaining half cup of chocolate chips on top, more or less evenly.

8) Bake for 30-35 minutes, until it passes the toothpick test. Since this is a brownie, you'll still have some chocolatey goodness sticking to the toothpick (it won't be all the way clean) but you shouldn't have big globs of gloppy batter on the toothpick.

9) Cool, then slice.



Enjoy!

Store in the fridge, because they have a high moisture content!

That is, assuming there's anything left to store. These are delicious and completely guilt-free (also, so allergen-friendly - no eggs, no dairy, and no added sugar for the diabetics). 

They'll be gone in a blink! Even the picky nine year old said she couldn't tell there was any zucchini - they're yummy! She was super skeptical earlier, when she saw me grating two zucchinis into the batter. Oops!

Have you ever tried zucchini brownies?

Does anyone in your household have dietary limitations?

What's your favorite hidden veggie recipe?

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Koochikoo - the Cutest Cookies Review

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I would choose sweet over savory any day, but sweet tends to be less healthy than savory.

After all, sugar isn't known for being stomach-friendly in large amounts, nor is it particularly good for your skin, energy levels, or even long-term mood.

Koochikoo Cookies are all the sweet of normal cookies, but without sugar. They're also free of artificial sweeteners and thus actually healthy, as well as free of weird aftertastes (unlike most other sugar-free cookies).



Instead of weird chemicals, they're sweetened with monk fruit and organic agave inulin!

They come in small bags of about four servings each and each serving is multiple cookies, because the cookies are small rounds.

They're nice crunchy cookies and perfectly sweet and rich!

My favorite are definitely the Blissfully Chocolate Brownie Cookies, because they're just soooo chocolatey (they're way more intensely chocolatey than they look). I love chocolate!



Another added nutrition bonus (since the taste alone will more than sell these with kids and really anyone) is that the cookies are made with whole wheat flour!

They're certified vegan, made with organic ingredients, non-GMO, verified kosher, and an excellent source of fiber. YUM.

I'm their new biggest fan, because they're really making healthy delicious. As it should be!

Which flavor sounds best to you?

Do you prefer chewy or crunchy cookies?

Do you like all chocolate cookies or chocolate chip cookies better? All chocolate, but with chocolate chips too (like these), are the best IMO.

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How to Have A Happy (Diabetic) Halloween

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Halloween marks the beginning of the glorious long 'holiday season' that's really more of a sugar-saturated three month stretch than anything else.

But what if you can't have sugar? Does that mean no treats? One of my little sister's friends is a very active, very healthy ten-year-old - except that she has Type 1 Diabetes. Does that mean she can't indulge in a delicious chocolate bar?



Luckily, it doesn't!

Now more than ever, there are alternatives for those with dietary restrictions (or who simply choose to eat following specific diets - like a low sugar diet). Have a restriction doesn't mean that you can't enjoy everything that everyone else does!



LC Foods Decadent Dark Chocolate Bars are an awesome alternative to your traditional diabetic-unfriendly chocolate candy.

They're even yummier than Hershey's, in my opinion, because they're so creamy and the thick, individually wrapped bars are perfect for getting a nice mouthful of creamy dark chocolate.



Best of all, unlike many sugar-free chocolates there's no weird secondary taste or aftertaste. That's because there are no artificial sweeteners!

Before you run in the opposite direction - no, these are not bitter bars. They're perfectly sweet and delightful! But instead of being sweetened with Splenda or maltitol or another artificial chemical sweetener, they're sweetened naturally with erythritol!



Win!

For those who prefer lighter chocolate (travesty!) there's also a milk chocolate variety.

You can also try making something of your own, if you're more a baked chocolate fan.



I don't mind a great brownie myself.

Have you tried these chocolates?

What's your favorite kind of candy?

What are you going to dress up as for Halloween?

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Back to School Recipes: Homemade Healthy Granola Bars

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I love, and have always loved, granola bars. They're also a perfect snack for back-to-school and in general beloved by kids and adults alike. They can also be quite healthy and pack great convenient energy!

For those interested in snacking with less waste (no individual wrappers necessary - you can use reusable tupperware for transport!) and saving some money, here's a great recipe for healthy homemade granola bars!

My 9-year-old sister (yes, we have a 12 year age gap) says taste better than Kashi!

Healthy Granola Bars

Makes 10-12 granola bars

* 2 c. quick cooking oats

* 2/3 c. sugar

* 1/2 c. Uncle Sam's Original High Fiber Cereal

* 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

* 1 c. all-purpose flour

* 1/2 c. raisins

* 1/2 c. craisins

* 1 tsp. salt

* 1/2 c. honey (generous)

* 1 egg, beaten

* 1/2 c. natural peanut butter, melted

* 2 tsp. vanilla extract

1) Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 8" x 8" baking pan.

2) Mix first eight ingredients in a large mixing bowl. 

3) Mix the honey, egg, melted peanut butter, and vanilla extract in a small bowl. 

4) Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix with your hands (dough will be dry and crumbly).

5) Press dough into the greased baking pan. Really pack it in, this is hands on and granola bar-making isn't for sissies!

6) Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden with lightly browned edges. 

7) Cool for five minutes, then slice - don't cool completely before slicing or the bars will be too hard to cut without crumbling. 

Love saving money? Tweet it!

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Protein The Right Whey: SimplyProtein Review

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I love protein bars, especially chocolate ones, but let's face it - it isn't hard to love something that's chocolate covered in chocolate with a layer of caramel, some nuts, a layer of nougat, and some more caramel under a final layer of chocolate.

Oh yeah, and maybe some soy nuggets or something tossed in there. Because, you know, protein.`

Do you even lift, bro?

Um, okay. I don't. But even as a relatively girly actress-writer-model-nerd, I can tell that it's a little off for a protein bar (originally intentioned as a health food) to come in with the same sugar, saturated fat, etc. as a same size candy bar. Sometimes more!

There's absolutely nothing wrong with eating candy bars. I do. But when you want a protein bar, you generally want a protein bar health food, not a candy bar.

I recently learned of SimplyProtein, a brand of protein bars and other protein-packed snacks that's definitely not on the candy bar spectrum. All of their products have plenty of protein and just a bit of sugar.

So, of course, I had to know - eh, meh, or oh yeeeeah? 

I got to try a wide range of their products, because they're not just protein bars. 

I tried two protein bar lines, SimplyProtein Whey and SimplyProtein Bars, as well as the SimplyProtein Crunch (I was hopeful that this would be like granola - long story short: YES), and SimplyProtein Chips.

Let's start with the protein bars, since that's what brought me to SimplyProtein.

They not only have nutrition labels that read like a nutrition label should, but they're also perfectly portioned snacks and actually delicious. They're sweet and match their advertised flavors without being cloying. Everything in life doesn't need to taste like a fried Oreo, thank you very much.

In fact, I'd prefer if it didn't. As much as I like Oreos and all.

Of the two lines, I preferred the original to the SimplyProtein Whey as a personal preference. Both had spot-on flavors, but I liked the denser, more Chewy-bar-like consistency of the SimplyProtein Bar , while the SimplyProtein Whey was more of a rice krispie treat-ish consistency (which has never really been my thing, even back when I was a wee lass).

That's obviously going to vary based on what you're into.

The SimplyProtein Crunch was my next favorite from their line, because I lovelovelove all things granola. 

This was definitely a puffier granola (definitely more Kashi Go Lean Crunch than Bear Naked), maybe even more like granola-inspired cereal than flat-out granola.

 Then again, it never claims to be granola. That one's all me. 

I loved that it had killer protein, a decent sized serving (some granolas pretend 1/4 cup is a serving - psssshaw, maybe for an infant), and nuts, seeds, dried fruits, and FLIPPING HUGE CLUMPS making it the shizz. 

Thank you, SimplyProtein. Thank you for making my Greek Yogurt-topping dreams come true.

It's also sweet enough to make a healthy ice cream topping for a protein-packed dessert! Win, win, - dare I say it? - win! 

Last up are the SimplyProtein chips, which were also delicious and great for chip lovers. 

Salty snacks can be unhealthy in large amounts (though, if I want to be facetious, so can water), so it's nice to have a healthy option that still has crunch and chippy satisfaction for savory snackers.

Every time I see a healthy lifestyle infographic suggesting swapping chips for raw veggies and dip, I raise an eyebrow. 

Sure, raw veggies and dip are delicious and sure, that's a great smart snack, but let's be real - the crunch from a spear of raw broccoli and the crunch from a Dorito are no more closely related than a drugstore bodice-ripper and A Tale of Two Cities.

These chips are great with ice cream - crudites? Not so much.

I'm not buying it.

SimplyProtein Chips actually do satisfy that same time of crunch craving. And they do it delicious and, in my opinion, more satisfactorily since there's none of that heavy in your stomach feeling after. Awesome!

Have you tried any SimplyProtein products?

What's something you've tried recently that you really enjoyed?

What's your protein bar pet peeve?

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