Sip Your Way Skinny: Day 7- A Skinny Pina Colada

I would firmly place pina coladas on my top 5 favorite drinks list. 

But a lot of people would never know that. Want to know why?

 Because they're so bad for you that I usually just don't even bother.

It's a sad situation, actually. But I'm almost positive that I'm not alone in this. Right?

This Sip Your Way Skinny series gave me a great excuse to find a pina colada that transported me to a white, sandy beach (AND still left me bikini ready) with each sip.

Ready to show the pina colada some love again?

Here's what you need:

5 oz coconut water (read about it's health benefits here)

2 oz pineapple juice

2 oz coconut rum (you really should use coconut rum, the regular stuff doesn't quite cut it)

**Optional: add extra ice if you want a blended one instead

Here's how to do it:

Combine the ingredients in a shaker. 

Shake it up.

Pour over ice in your favorite glass, or serve chilled.

Throw on your grass skirt and coconut bra

Sip away.

ahhhhh....can't you just smell the ocean?

Sip Your Way Skinny: Day 3- Cascade Ice Cocktail Mixes

Have you all been enjoying this series so far?

We certainly have enjoyed it from our end.

It's always fun learning new things to try that are good for you too!

Today's post came about because I was watching Good Day Colorado some time around Christmas and they did a special on Cascade Ice's new Cocktail Mixes. Have you seen these? Supposedly, 0 calories. And considering that the average cocktail is hundreds (sorry to be the bearer of bad news) I was QUITE intrigued by these little guys.

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So, like any girl easily pursuaded by good marketing, I went off to the store (I found it at Albertson's) to do a little taste test of my own. I bought two to try: the Appletini, and the Cosmopolitan.

(but there are others like Pina Colada, which was out, sadly, and Margarita, and there might be a couple more.)

Here's what we thought...

First, the Cosmo:

Looks:  Carrie Bradshaw in Sex in the City, worthy.

Taste: Has a bit of that diet bite.

 But easily fixed by squeezing in some fresh orange or lemon juice.

Cosmopolitan Overall: It's totally worth ditching the calories on days where you have already had one too many Oreos.

Looks: Show-stopper.

Taste: Sour, check. Sweet, check. Delicious, Check!

 TheAdams said it might be a bit diet-y still,

but us Diet Coke lovers didn't notice it at all this time.

Appletini Overall: This could be a real game changer. We would totally prefer this over the real deal any day of the week.

 (the boys might not, and we should be representing a wider audience, we suppose.)

All in all, we liked what we tasted, friends.

 Kudos Cascade Ice, can't wait until our next girls night!

(Let us know if you guys try any other flavors, especially the pina colada...those are my favorites--but are definitely NOT low cal in real life.)

 



Sip Your Way Skinny: Day 2- "Green Smoothies"

Who doesn't love smoothies? I like to think of them as milkshake's healthy and better looking twin sister.

They have similar consistencies, are still delish, but are (usually) made with fruits and dairy that we're told that we need!

But what else are we told that we need probably more than anything?

Veggies.

If you're like me, it can be hard to find ways to get those 3-5 servings per day that the good old food pyramid suggests.

(Veggie sticks don't count apparently. Similarly, taking vitamins in the place of veggies isn't ok either, ...or so I've been told)

So, when the Internet started exploding with "GREEN SMOOTHIE" recipes, I had to see what it was all about. 

Adding romaine, kale, chard, collards, or ....spinach to your smoothie?

I wasn't so sure. So, I tried it out.

And I'm happy to report that it was good.

 Really good.

Like, "eating healthier without noticing" kind of good. (my favorite kind).

While there are lots of recipes floating around out there, I'll share what I did with you.

(It's a good starter one, because it's not even green and scary like some).

Here's what you need:

spinach

(I tried spinach because we had it, but really any of the greens listed above are used)

frozen blueberries

strawberries

raspberries

yogurt

(I used Activia, but using greek yogurt would be great to add protein)

ice

Here's how to do it:

Layer it all into your blender/magic bullet. (I mostly just used the measurements of "half spinach, half everything else, + a few ice cubes", there's a lot of flexibility based on your preferences).

Blend until smooth.

and sip your way skinny...

And incase you haven't heard about all the health benefits of greens, I compiled a list for you.

It's just a  few of the many health benefits that drinking green smoothies have been linked to:

1. clearer skin and stronger hair and nails

2. increased energy

3. weight loss

4. regular digestion

5. stabilized blood sugar.

This info was taken from here and here, but there are a lot of articles and more benefits if you want to research a bit more.

There you have it friends... go green!

"Sip Your Way Skinny": Day 1-Coconut Water

Hope you guys had a great holiday season! We did, but we're glad to be back, we missed you. 

Anyway, it's January 9th, which means we're now 9 days into our 2012 New Year Resolutions. And, if you're like most of America, "getting fit" or "losing weight" made it onto your Resolution list this year.
(but let's be honest, isn't it on there almost every year?)

  

We're right there with you, so we decided the entire month of January should be dedicated to

healthy drinks and "skinny" drink options.

Because most of us are consuming too many liquid calories

 and there are plenty of great alternatives.

 We are calling it Sip Your Way Skinny

and guess what, it starts today! Woo!

Sip Your Way Skinny:

Day 1- Coconut Water

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Have you noticed Coconut Water is all the rage? You probably have seen pictures like the ones above on the cover of US Weekly, or People, in line at the store (or in your weekly subcription if your like me...I'm a sucker for these magazines) and might be wondering what the hype is all about.

We did the research for you to see if its just trendy, or if it's really as great as they say,

 here's what we found:

Health Benefits

(these are just some we've highlighted because they're so many,

if you want to read more, there's lots of info out there, but this is the site we used):

-helps re-hydrate you

-better for you than sports drinks (less sodium and sugar, but more potassium)

-helps boost your immune system and fight viruses

-helps raise your metabolism

 -can reduce risk of cancer

-helps control diabetes 

 After reading all of that good news, we came to the conclusion that it is worth trying.

So we did, and loved it.

Coconut water can be little sour if you're not used to it,

so try adding just a splash of orange juice like what's shown above.

 (don't do too much or it will off set the low sugar/low carb benefits)

mmm...delicious.