I like chocolate but was never really into chocolate ice cream until my co-worker brought in Ben & Jerry's ice cream in Chocolate Therapy and it was love at first taste! It's Chocolate Ice Cream with Chocolate Cookies & Swirls of Chocolate Pudding Ice Cream. A serving is  ½ cup at 250 calories with 130 calories from fat and 23g of sugar. I've talked about Halo low cal ice cream before and decided to try out their chocolate flavor. Now first I should say you're probably thinking, "I've tried Arctic Zero ice cream and hated it." Yes me too. It tastes like a nasty frozen protein shake. Halo top is nothing like Arctic Zero. For one it has a good frozen consistency and actually tastes good! The chocolate flavor is a dead ringer for B&Js ice cream, I'm not kidding! One entire pint of Halo top is  240 calories! But who eats a whole pint at one time? The ½ cup serving size is only 60 calories with 18g from fat and 4g of sugar! I also tried the vanilla flavor and it's just as good as well. So run, don't walk, to your local Whole Foods to pick yourself up a pint of Halo Top!

I wanted to share some (new to me) protein/snack bars that are different than your usual/traditional protein bars. These all taste delicious and are made from clean ingredients, no splenda/suralose which is a chemical I avoid in all my foods. I've written about splenda before.  I know everyone loves their Quest bars, but take a closer look at their ingredients. It has whey isolate and Isomalto-Oligosaccharides (a fake fiber), I don't like to eat processed food. I still make my peanut butter coconut balls, linked below, every month.

Health Warrior Chia Bar
These 100 calories bars are my favorite low-calorie snack. It's primarily made of chia seeds and coconut but comes in a variety of flavors. My favorite flavors are the regular coconut,  the dark chocolate and acai berry. They often go on sale at Whole Foods or you can buy them online. They have 3g of protein.

RX Bar
They are made up of only four ingredients: egg whites, fruits and nuts. You can find it at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods or online. They are 200 calories and 12g of protein.

Square Bar
These bars are soft chocolate-coated cakes. The first ingredient is coconut nectar so that's what the insides are primarily made of. They are 230 calories and 11g of protein. The only flavor I don't like is Mint, it tastes like a too strong girl scout cookie. You can find it at Whole Foods or online but don't purchase online in the summertime because the chocolate will melt.

Perfect Bar
I got turned on to these at the barre studio I take classes at. This meal bar is 290 calories and my favorite flavor is the Almond Coconut which has cranberries in it. They have 8g of protein. You can find them at Whole Foods, 7/11, Target or online.


Related Posts:
Protein Bars
22 Days Protein Bar
DIY Peanut Butter Coconut Balls

In addition to releasing a color of the year, Pantone also releases colors for each season that will be in trend. For this fall one of the colors is Dusty Cedar, a pretty dark mauve pink. It's not seeing much of it so far, but will be keeping my eye out for it since it's such a pretty shade of pink! Ann Taylor was having a sale yesterday so I picked up a few things including my first wrap dress.

I've recently got into reading mystery books  which are psychological thrillers that I can't put down! Right now my favorite author is NY Times best-selling author Mary Kubica who has written three books that I read through so quickly! All her books follow the same formula, each short chapter is told from a different narrator jumping from the past and present. Her next book is already finished and due out next summer. She lives outside of Chicago so she uses Chicago for the background of some of her books. My favorite of the three below is Don't You Cry which was recommended to me by a friend. I found it to be the most page-turning thriller. It was so suspenseful I read in 2 days!

I read the book The Light Between Oceans a year ago (coincidently every book in that post became a movie, I must have good taste in books lol) and it's still in the top 10 books on Amazon. I watched the movie this weekend and it was fantastic and true to the book, it really did it justice at a 2:13 hr length. It's starting Alicia Vikander, a Swedish actress whom I loved in the movie The Danish Girl. The movie had me in tears. The story takes place after World War I in a remote part of Australia. Tom Sherbourne  takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on the isolated island of Janus Rock. He marries Isabel and she has a number of miscarriages on the island.  Then one day a baby washes ashore on a rowboat and they decide to keep her claiming she is theirs. It's a beautiful period romance full of plot twists. I think this movie has a pretty good chance of winning an Oscar. The two main characters are now dating in real life. Have you seen the movie, what did you think of it?

Speaking of light, this weekend I watched the sunset with my mother and this was the view from her home. As Hurricane Hermine brushed the area, its clouds put on an amazing show in the sky! I've never seen such a gorgeous sunset with clouds like this before!