Dear Diary – I’m a Trader Joe Ho

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged about it but I’ve indeed been keeping up with my diet, of course with the necessary splurge days once or twice a week. I just had pistachio and pumpkin seed encrusted seared ahi  over pistachio risotto and lobster sauce, and avocado panna cotta for dessert last Sunday! The best part was I didn’t feel bad for it, because I knew I ate healthy the week prior and have been putting in work at the gym.

My rule is, if you’re absolutely dying to eat it – eat it (that’s what she said). Don’t deprive yourself. If I can help it, I’ll stay away from greasy, deep fried, and overly processed/salty/sugary foods. If I can’t help it, it’s going in my belly and I’m adding an extra 15 on the treadmill.

Thankfully, I find a lot of healthy foods tasty. I’ve been buying a lot of my snacks, fruits, and vegetables at Trader Joe’s lately although I still frequent Lucky’s for most of my grocery shopping. The following items are three recent purchases I’ve made that I am officially addicted to.

1) Roasted plantain chips: These are a good alternative to regular banana chips because there’s no sugar. All it is is plantains, sunflower oil, and salt. You would think they would be sweet, but they’re actually very savory with just the right hint of salt. And twenty chips are only 140 calories. Just a little over those 100 calorie snack packs of fake chocolate chip cookies you’d see at the store, and these taste way better in my opinion.

2) Tzatziki creamy garlic cucumber dip: I love garlic. So, so much. If I ever cook for you and the recipe calls for garlic, more than likely I’ll make a separate batch for myself with thrice the amount of garlic than the recipe calls for. This dip is helladelicious.com. It’s cold, refreshing, and taste amazering on pita bread. I haven’t tried it with wheat pitas yet but I think I will, and stuff it with some chicken and other veggies. Six tbsps of the dip and 3 mini pitas are 168 calories.

3) Julienne vegetable saute: I couldn’t find a picture of the actual package but basically, it’s these vegetables minus the tomatoes freshly julienne’d and pre-packaged. I’d get more bang for my buck if I purchased the veggies individually but I tend to be wasteful that way. Plus, I’m lazy lol. I usually just plop all the veggies in a pan and saute it with some garlic, then add brown rice noodles, and viola! Dinner is served.

A friend of mine is on her last day of her juice cleanse and is raving about the results. I feel as if I work out too hard and too much to partake, plus I have that run coming up which I would like to refrain from fainting at. However, I may try it out the week after just to see how my body reacts to it. If you have any other snacks or recipes you’d like to suggest please do!

#minipitabread #brownricenoodles #juliennevegetablesaute #roastedplantainchips #traderjoes #tzatzikicreamycucumbergarlicdip