I am back to the real world after a magnificent long weekend away at Ponca State Park with eight lovely friends and my wonderful BF.

My plans to tweet, Instagram and Facebook my meals and adventures during the trip were quickly ruined when we arrived at Ponca. Cell phone coverage was very spotty in northeast Nebraska and social networking was not an option. I was disappointed at first because I had promised to share my weekend with my followers, but it ended up being quite fabulous to disconnect with the world for a few days.

Here’s a recap of my weekend in photos.

Day 1:

Before hitting the road, I had a chopped apple topped with natural peanut butter and chia seeds. I wanted to get a healthy start to the day.

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A few Hershey Kisses here, a bowl of ice cream there. 

I’ve realized that my sweet tooth has been a little out of control lately. 

1) I was sitting at my desk writing, and unwrapping the Hershey Kisses I received for my 5-year anniversary at the Hub. I started with a couple Kisses. And kept unwrapping and unwrapping (and eating and eating).

2) I realized that I ate ice cream after dinner three nights in a row.

3) When I was out of ice cream and I couldn’t find any other sweets in my house, I ate chocolate chips…the kind used for baking.

I LOVE sweets - cake, ice cream, cookies, chocolate, frosting, candy - you name it, I like it. If there is a dessert in front of me, the chances are slim that I will pass it up. I very rarely buy sweets (besides ice cream) because I can’t stay away from them.

I try to stick to an 80/20 diet. 80 percent of what I eat is nutrient-dense, whole foods. 20 percent of what I eat is indulgences like dessert or alcohol. But I think my 20 percent has been creeping up lately.

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I got to try another product from the Sweet Success sponsor, Natural Foods!!

I’ve read a lot about sprouted grains and have been very curious about trying a sprouted grain product.

Natural Foods owner, Alisha Sobotka, suggested that I try Ezekiel bread.

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I love dates! They are so sweet and delicious.

These cute little snowballs have just five ingredients, are super easy and very delish. The great thing about using dates is you don’t have to add any other sweetener. Dates are sweet enough on their own.

If you’ve ever had a Larabar, these little snowballs taste similar. 

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The third day of my commitment to eat only real food (no processed food) went much better than the second day. Thanks to a little planning, my meals were well-rounded.

I think I was having a protein deficiency because when I woke up all I could think about was eating eggs. So breakfast wasn’t anything interesting. Just plain ol’ eggs.

Looking back, I did eat a whole lot of nut butter yesterday. I ate almond butter twice and used natural peanut butter in the dish I made for dinner. My second almond butter snack was around 5 p.m. I taught a 6:45 p.m. Piloxing class and didn’t want to eat dinner before working out. So my apple and almond butter kept me satisfied until I ate dinner around 8:45 p.m.

Here’s what I ate on Day 3:

Breakfast: 2 eggs; iced coffee, black

Snack: banana with almond butter

Lunch: zucchini and carrot noodles (recipe below) with sauteed cauliflower, zucchini, onion and red pepper and crushed cashews; strawberries

Snack: apple with almond butter

Dinner: Coconut Chicken Satay (recipe below); quinoa; sugar snap peas

Zucchini Noodles:

http://sweet-success.tumblr.com/post/27984121337/lets-eat-zucchini-noodles

Coconut Chicken Satay:

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/02/23/recipe-coconut-chicken-satay/

I didn’t put my chicken on skewers. I was too lazy. But this recipe is AMAZING!!

For more info on the 10-Day Pledge, go to http://sweet-success.tumblr.com/post/28361036447/10-days-of-real-food.

The BF and I are planning a weekend trip to Kansas City. I’m so excited to get away for a few days!!

But being away from home means eating out A LOT! One of my fave parts of traveling is eating delish foods I wouldn’t normally get at home (I’m soooo excited for some KC barbecue!). But I don’t want to come back from vacation feeling heavy.

Check out my tips for having a skinny vacation: http://sweet-success.tumblr.com/post/18381209717/how-to-have-a-skinny-vacation

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The first day of the 10-Day Pledge went fairly well!

http://sweet-success.tumblr.com/post/28361036447/10-days-of-real-food

The blog, 100 Days of Real Food, suggests spending a few days preparing for the 10-Day pledge by purging your cupboards and buying produce. I had most of the foods I needed, but I picked up a few groceries - raw cashews, chickpeas, coconut milk, cage-free eggs, apples, arugula and jalapenos.

I then made hummus so I would have a healthy snack to eat throughout the week.

For most of my first day I didn’t have to make many changes from my usual diet.

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