Mama Miah!

Eating healthy and keeping our bodies fit isn't just a New Year's resolution; it's a lifestyle choice that can have a profound impact on our overall well-being. Since last year, I've been more mindful of what I eat and have stopped consuming soft drinks and junk food, as well as processed foods. 

As much as possible, I make a conscious effort to consume a healthy diet. Most of my diet consists of oats, various nuts (I'm a huge fan of almonds and nilagang mani), fish, chicken, tofu, veggies, and fruits. I've been able to maintain this healthy eating habit for several months now, although there are moments when I feel tempted to indulge in fast food snacks and eat just a few bites. Hopefully, I can keep it up and totally refrain from eating junk foods.

So, I was happy when I saw these guilt-free snacks as I was doing our grocery shopping! I checked the nutrition facts and they looked fine and passed my inspection. Lol.

Here are the Guilt-Free Hearty and Healthy Snacks that I've recently discovered and loved:

1.Choco+  Bitter Sweet Zen-Sation. It is made of Dark Chocolate + Pure Cocoa. I've also tried other variants; the Choco+ Yum at Heart which is made of Dark Milk Chocolate + Whole Hazelnuts and Choco-Crazy Nutrition which is made of Dark Milk Chocolate + Roasted California Almonds + Flax Seeds & Chia Seeds. Both of these are a little sweet for my taste, so I go for the Choco+ Bitter Sweet Zen-Sation.

Nag-hoard ako guys, coz super layo ng Abreeza sa Mintal, mga 1 hour plus din ang biyahe. Hahaha! Yup, I first saw this chocolate at Robinsons Abreeza Mall grocery, it's priced at 28 pesos lang for 33g. I saw this at SM's grocery too but its price is a little higher than the ones in Abreeza Mall.

2. Emco Musli Oat Biscuits come in chocolate, hazelnut, and blueberry flavors. All of them are good, but my favorites are the hazelnut and blueberry. I purchased this at the NCCC Mall's Victoria Plaza grocery, although I can't recall the exact price.

3. MAYA ThinkHeart Whole Wheat Pancake Mix. Not only is this pancake mix delicious, but it's also quite simple to make. It's also nutrient and vitamin-rich and healthy. My daughter liked it, which surprised me. 

I bought this at NCCC Mall's Victoria Plaza grocery, but you can also buy this at Gasiano Mall, SM and Robinsons Abreeza groceries. I think this is priced between 80 and 90 pesos or more, sorry I forgot the exact price. ;)

So far, these are my recently discovered Guilt-Free Hearty and Healthy Snacks that you can buy at the grocery stores. I'll update or make another blog post if ever I find other yummy, healthy, but also affordable snacks. :) 

The Year 2022 is fast approaching, in just a few days it will be the year of the Tiger. As the New Year comes, I've thought about the things that I should've done, but haven't got the chance to do. So, I'm setting up healthy goals for the coming year, and here are some of them.

Watch What I Eat and Drink

I eat healthy foods most of the time, but I found myself eating more processed foods and drinking soft drinks late this year. So, that's what I'm about to limit or try to avoid if I can next year. 

LIMIT or STOP Ordering Foods Online

I admit this is quite challenging. I haven't used any food delivery apps not until the middle of this year where we stayed downtown for months. The restaurants and malls are very much accessible here, unlike in Tacunan where there are very limited food deliveries and our favorites are in downtown. So, there... Goodbye food delivery apps na ba? So, instead of ordering foods online, we'll try to make healthy home cooked meals.

Exercise and Be Fit

I've been slacking off and haven't done any exercises for a while except for walking while catching Pokemon. LOL! I actually missed doing jump ropes already. I guess I don't have to wait for the Year 2022 to start doing this again and practice Yoga with Miel. 

I guess this workout calculator will be handy in keeping my fitness journey on track. It can quickly estimate your total caloric burn rate for a combination of up to 20 different exercises.

Practice Baking Again

I was thinking about this last year, but I still haven't done it. I'll make sure to try the recipes I had in mind and make it into a reality *crossing my fingers*. Actually, I didn't go into a culinary school or had any formal training in baking, but I have attended a basic baking workshop a few years ago. Then, I started baking cookies at first before I tried cakes, cupcakes, and cake pops. It was fun and I'm excited to do it again soon. :)

Have a Positive Mindset

I am a worrier. I worry about a lot of things, even things that didn't happen yet, and then anxiety would eat me up and I'd have panic attacks. Life's challenges can be a bit overwhelming sometimes, but hopefully, I'd be able to manage how I feel and set a positive mindset. 

Manage My Time

2021 is quite a busy year for me, I am so overwhelmed by the online opportunities given and offered to me. I became busy online and haven't got the chance to unplug until late this year. It felt good to be away from social media for a while, to not think about re-shoots and deadlines, but I actually missed it afterward. *lol* I'll try to balance and manage my time now, so I won't get burned out.

Set a Time for Games

I got hooked into playing online games lately, most especially this play-to-earn game that keeps me up even at midnight. *lol* I love strategy games and this game challenges me. I like the fact that I can earn from a game I enjoyed playing, so no time is wasted. ;)

My daughter also loves playing games, I let her play once in a while, especially if she's done with her assignments and during weekends. Recently, she's been playing kids games related to cooking or food. 

Tap Supermarket is quite fun by the way, I watch her play this game where she manages a grocery store which includes restocking of supplies, expanding the line of goods sold, and checking out customers. 

Find Pair is the other game that she finds cute, but challenging at the same time because it has a timer. Like me, she also loves puzzle games, and she enjoyed playing this memory card matching game. What I like about this game is it helps her develop pattern recognition skills and helps her identify similar items, where the view is partially obstructed or the item is spun around at a different angle.

Kids learn from playing games too, both online and offline, but as parents, we have to set rules so they won't get addicted to it and won't affect their studies. So, I have to set a time now for both of us to play games. 

Setting up our goals is very easy, what's hard is actually having the desire and motivation to maintain doing it. For sure there will be temptations and challenges, but I hope that I'd be able to achieve these goals. :) 

How about you, do you have any goals for next year?