FitLinks Friday May 21

I just wanted to apologize for my lack of posts. Work has been getting really busy and I have barely had anytime to breathe let alone write. I am thinking of a solution to this problem because I love this blog and I am not willing to stop writing so please hang in there with me while I try to figure out the best way to do both. I have some really exciting things coming up. Product reviews and multiple DVD giveaways. Thank you for all of your support and please keep reading!

How Often Should I Weigh Myself? – That’s Fit

Another Reason to Run in the Morning – Fit Sugar

Amanda Seyfried Covers Self: There’s Nothing Realistic About HollywoodFit Sugar

Want to Eat Raw, But Don’t Like Raw Food? - No Meat Athlete

What’s the Deal Wednesday – Organic Food – Just Flourishing

Catching ZZZZs To Prevent gaining WeightGirl Get Strong

IntenSati – Fit Chick in the City

The Sprouted Difference

I recently switched all my bread to Ezekiel 4:9® Organic Sprouted Whole Grain Bread. At first I was skeptical when I heard sprouted grain, I had no idea what that meant.

Ezekiel bread is a Food for Life brand that offers other products like: breads, english muffins, cereals, pasta, pocket breads, and tortillas. As of right now I have only tried the Ezekiel Organic Sprouted Whole Grain Bread and I do not taste a difference between it and whole wheat bread. I bought the tortilla’s too and after I try those I will let you know what I think.

“Sprouted grain bread has numerous advantages over “enriched” wheat flour breads. Enriched Wheat Flour Breads are made from the endosperm of the wheat kernel (the inside portion), which contains primarily carbohydrates and few vitamins and minerals. Ezekiel 4:9® Organic Sprouted Whole Grain Products have increased vitamin content generated by the sprouting process and contain a superior quality protein that closely parallels the protein found in milk and eggs, containing all 9 essential amino acids. In total, there are 18 amino acids present in this unique bread.”

You can find Ezekiel Products in the freezer section of Whole Foods, freezer section of Trader Joes, on Fresh Direct and other health food stores. It is not too bad price wise its $4.95 each. So if you would like a healthier alternative to your bread I would give this a try. Even though, sprouted grain, sounds funny, there is not a big taste difference. The Nutrition information is below:

Review: Babycakes Bakery

“In a city dominated by cupcakes overflowing with sugar, flour and butter cream, it’s easy for those with persnickety diets to feel left out. BabyCakes offers all-natural, organic and delicious alternatives free from the common allergens: wheat, gluten, dairy, casein and eggs. Rest assured, all sweeteners have been chosen responsibly and used sparingly. White sugar will never be found in our bakery, nor will we ever use toxic chemical sweeteners. Instead, most products are sweetened with agave nectar—a natural syrup from a cactus which is low on the glycemia index and often a safe alternative to most non-insulin dependant diabetics. Occasionally, unprocessed and unrefined sugar is used in certain goods, although sparingly.”

-Erin McKenna, Founder of BabyCakes NYC™

Yes that’s right you can still enjoy sweets and feel a little less guilty. My step mother had told me about this Bakery because she swears by their cookbook and for my Birthday last Friday she told me I had to stop by and get a treat. Babycakes Bakery is located in Soho on Broome Street between Orchard and Ludlow. It was a pretty easy walk from work but it wasn’t too easy to find. You can take the B or D subway and get off at Grand Street. Once I got there I was so excited to try everything. It is a very small Bakery but smells delicious! The staff was very friendly and helped me pick out a lot of good choices. This is what I ended up getting:

  • Carrot Cupcake (Pretty Good)
  • Brownie Cupcake (Amazing!)
  • Red Velvet Cupcake ( A little disappointing, they said it was a favorite but it was very dry)
  • Hostess Cupcake (My favorite cupcake with the Brownie cupcake coming in second)
  • Chocolate Chip Cookie (Amazing!)
  • Mini Apple Cinnamon Muffin (Amazing!)
  • Mini Brownie sweetened with Agave (Amazing, if you have never had anything sweetened with Agave you really need to try it, it is actually very good and a healthy alternative)

Overall I was really pleased with my experience, their pastries were amazing, the staff was so friendly and helpful. They knew everything about the ingredients and answered any crazy questions I had. The only problem I had was the location, it was a little out of the way and hard to get to but other than that I was really happy.

If you want a healthy alternative to sweets this is the way to go. They only have one location in New York but they offer a delivery service. They also have one location in Los Angeles that just opened. For more information or to look at all the goodies go to www.babycakesnyc.com.