Love chocolate bars? You may love them a little more after you read this

Good day sunshine.

Another early morning for me. Had time to prep myself some breakfast and read a bit of the paper before starting work today:

Cinnamon-raisin whole wheat English muffin & some avocado, boiled eggs, cafe w/ soy milk.

I read a very interesting article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday and feel the need to share.

As a lover of chocolate (who isn't?!) I was happy to see chocolate executives appear to be listening to the new wave of health-conscious consumers-- the consumer that makes a legit effort to eat less processed foods and  be a bit healthier, without having to fully sacrifice the flavor of things we know and love.

This week Nestle announced that by the end of the year they will completely eliminate artificial flavors and colors from their most popular chocolate bars which include Nestle Crunch, Butterfingers and other popular flavors. For example, the company will replace the artificial flavor 'Vanillin' from it's crunch bar with actual natural vanilla flavors. They'll also replace the artificial food coloring from Butterfinger with actual 'Annatto'-- which is a natural fruit which comes from the seed of Achiote trees.

Despite the fact that the company admits this new strategy to make chocolate bars less processed will require more operating costs for Nestle; they will not be raising prices.

The article explains that it may be easier for Nestle to carry this out as it is a small company which has about 5% of the 'chocolate bar makers' market share. To put this in to perspective, bigger companies such as the infamous Hershey's and Mars own a whooping 65% of the market combined. Sometimes it is more difficult for larger companies to implement such changes as it can become increasingly costly and cumbersome. Nonetheless, this doesn't mean these companies wont be following the same footsteps.

As a matter of fact, this past December, Hershey announced their plans to replace High Fructose Corn Syrup with actual sugar in all its candies. Mars (makers of M&Ms) also indicated that, although the food coloring in the famous candy is deemed 'safe', they are exploring the possibilities of using natural colors in the future. Neither Mars nor Hershey have specified specific deadlines for said changes to take place.

After Nestle is done with 'reinventing' their chocolate bar ingredients they are said to move on to also making changes in the ingredients of other products such as Nerds and SweeTARTS, which they also own. As many of you may have heard; the issue with artificial flavoring is not simply that is artificial but that it seems to trigger allergic reactions and hypertension in some children and adults. Not to mention we are putting 'fake' stuff in our bodies with every piece of deliciously made chocolate we pop in to our mouths.

Although the argument that popular food coloring such as 'RED40' is not good for us has been around for a very long time; truth of the matter is that the ingredient has been used for many years and has been deemed safe by the FDA.So my question is, is it the artificial flavors that are making kids hyperactive? would natural sugars in candy change this? Something worth exploring for all health-conscious moms out there or simply health-conscious lovers of chocolate like myself.

Have an amazing day!

Tell me, what are your thoughts on artificial colors or flavors? Would you feel better about eating these standard chocolate bars if you knew their ingredients were more natural?

My BFF was in town and Lessons Learned

This weekend was seriously ridiculous in terms of my eating habits triggered by stress but lets begin with the fun part shall we!! My BFF who lives in Washington State came down for the thanksgiving holiday. We needed to see each other before she left the city so on Friday night we all caught up at a local bar by the NYU campus (which is where she went to graduate school) and had a few drinks:

College Bffs.

My friend that’s visiting is the one all the way to the left. I admire this gal so much! We went to high school together, college near each other and despite our ups and downs our friendship remains solid thought the years. She is truly like family.

When I got home on Friday I managed to prep a healthy and quick dinner before going to bed. Definitely delicious:

Tilapia and avocado on a bed of lettuce and whole wheat tortilla.

On Saturday night we planned a last minute get together and she came over to see my apartment, which she hasn’t seen yet. We ate homemade shrimp quesadillas (was too hungry to take a picture and they were eaten in about 2.5 seconds) and baked chocolate chip cookies:

I usually don’t bake any cookies because in all honesty that would mean danger if I was by myself but since I had company I figured it would be okay. I also made her take the cookies we didn’t eat. When she left she sent me this amazing text which made me feel so good about myself and which I am saving:

Love it.

The rest of my weekend was spent studying and freaking out about an upcoming exam.  This is how it went down:

All this school stress is making me rethink my concentration (it is currently finance). I went through a similar hell in undergrad which I am still not quite sure how I was able to survive (and graduated with honors). I constantly wonder why I have voluntarily put myself in this torture—the sequel. They say that when you are doubting yourself and are going through stressful times on the way to a goal you should remind yourself of the WHY—what was it that made you dive in to the pursuit of the goal in the first place? Well, when I first started this journey I dreamed of being in wealth management at a prestigious investment bank but these days I am not so sure. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you know my two passions in life involve finance and health and fitness. Only God knows what shall be my destiny! I am sure I will be okay is just the anticipation that kills me sometimes. Ugh!

I also think I found the culprit for why I break out. More on that on a different post.

In other (random) news. I have wanted to do something drastic/different with my hair for a few years now and I am really, really loving Alicia Keys new haircut. What do you guys think?!

Finally, I am a little behind with my Elf4Health assignments because of everything going on. Thankfully, I have an amazing “elf” that reminds me of the challenges and helps keep me on track. I am so happy I was paired up with her we have so much in common. Today’s challenge is prepping a yummy salad. I am actually really looking forward to it—specially after the weekend I had! I think I ate my entire pantry. Here is an idea of how crazy I went yesterday evening:

Note to self: studying at home and alone with food around is not a good idea. Live and learn!

I leave you with this tid bit of fitness inspiration. I saw this the other day and loved it. Definitely not giving up!

Almost forgot! Saturdays Elf4health challenge involved gathering stuff for the Salvation Army.  I managed to get this pile together while looking through my closet the other day. I am sure I have more stuff somewhere but this is a start:

Question: What makes you eat more than usual? Are you an emotional or stress eater? How do you handle it?