Doughnut or Dough-Not? and Freaky Food Friday Round Seven aka Yougurt Overload

Well, i think this will be another long post dudes and dudettes. If you can't tell by the extra-long 3-part title, I've got a lot to say today! I hope you'll stay tuned for it all, but I won't blame you if you skip a little :) Be prepared for some ranting, but I didn't forget about Freaky Food Friday, so if you're just interested in that and would like to skip the self-hate babble, scroll on down y'all.

Let me tell you a secret. You guys probably don't know this about me, but I love doughnuts. LOVE them. they are my favorite times ten. Times eleven. Times a billion. Just call me Homer Simpson. Obviously, they are not something I eat very often. In fact, I rarely let myself indulge because I like them SO much (thanks Ed, you a-hole). They also happen to be kind of a trigger food, by which I mean that i try to stay away from them because I am so afraid I will have not one, but two, three or the whole dozen and then everything else in sight, too.

So I was in quite the quandary yesterday when one of my favorite doctors brought in a big old box of glazed glory for our office. I love this doctor. He is so incredibly kind and gentle, and he LOVES me. Just about as much as I love doughnuts. He thinks I am the bomb--it is always nice to know people like that! Of course, he had no idea that I'm addicted to doughnuts, or addicted to food, and he certainly could never know what a frenzy this type of gift would throw me into. So it became an all-day battle. Doughnut or dough-not? Eat one, stay away? Have one now, have one later? Ugh. It was so frustrating. I couldn't tell if I was giving in to Ed (DO NOT EAT ANYTHING! Eat one, eat the whole box!) or fighting him (have one, it's ok! Normal people eat doughnuts all the time!). I decided to take one home and eat it for my dessert, but I also took two more for Dustin and because they would go bad otherwise over the weekend (heaven forbid). Duh. that was a mistake. I tried to make the absolute healthiest choices throughout the day, ate my snacks so I wouldn't be starving and fixed a pretty substantial dinner SPECIFICALLY so I could avoid the binge. Guess what? I ate one. And then, I ate another. the first one was a maple bar which happens to be my favorite. But it wasn't that good and kind of dry, so my craving wasn't satisfied at all. the other one was so good--soft, chewy, sticky and delicious. Everything a doughnut should be. I was so ashamed. Now, you may be thinking that a two-doughnut day is no big deal, and I'm trying to convince myself of that as well. I think the big deal is that I feel/still feel so out of control and confused about the way I handled my hunger and cravings. I have a bunch of fun things and food related adventures planned for the weekend, and now I feel like I don't deserve to enjoy any of those. Why is that?? I would just like to be a normal person please! So this is what I'm telling myself:

• I did not binge. I just ate a little more than I meant to
  
• My goal is normal eating, and normal people probably eat two doughnuts all the time
• I am helping to keep my metabolism on track by giving it fuel to burn
• I planned a long run for this morning and the extra calories will help sustain my energy
• Doughnuts fight off colds (whatever. That one's really just to make me feel better)

I'm trying really hard to keep myself on track for today, and not let this little incident spoil my weekend. Just to prove to Ed that I can do what I want, I ate breakfast, went for a beautiful run and made the choice to nourish my body with a snack when I came home. So there. Fortunately, this snack was also part of my plan for Freaky Food Friday, which hopefully goes to further fly in the face of eating-disorder induced panic.

On we go: A while ago, I was fortunate enough to receive a packet of goodies from the generous people over at Oikos yogurt. I lost track of it in all the moving hustle and bustle, but found it again this week (YESSSSSSS!). Get ready for some yogurt overload here peeps!

I have had Oikos before, but it can be a little more expensive than other brands (most likely because of it's immaculate production and organic standards), so I was excited for the chance to try it again and compare! I got a little 5.3 oz container for on the go eating and a larger one for more regular use (who I am kidding? How about DAILY use. hee hee). I adore the texture of this stuff! That should come as no surprise since I like things thick (TWSS), but I actually find this brand to be even more thick and creamy than even Fage. Besides the textures, this yogurt also seems a little more tart and tangy. I would imagine it is closer to true Greek style than most other brands. Either way it is wonderful and I've been eating the heck out of it.

Oikos is produced by Stoneyfield, makers of Brown cow yogurt, and when I was perusing the greek style stuff, I found this little beauty as well. I remember seeing these quite a while ago on some of the other blogs, but I had never seen them in the SLC before, so I got one fer sure! Quite delicious and very fruity strawberry flavor. It wasn't as thick, and definitely not as sour as the Oikos. In fact, I was trying to decipher if the yogurt was actually strawberry flavored, in addition to the fruit on the bottom (I think it was). It was a little more sugar than I care for, and dissimilar to the Fage and other Oikos with fruit on the bottom. If you are a true Greek lover, you would probably prefer the plain style with mix-in, but if you are new to the taste or enjoy regular yogurt, I would recommend this as an excellent (and yummy) introduction.

And finally for my freaky food! ( I know, I know, you've been waiting!) I also picked up this decidedly bizarre little treat with the rest of my yogurt yumminess. This tastes very weird! but not really bad at all. The yogurt itself is EXTRA thick and creamy, probably due to the fact that it's made with WHOLE milk. yikes! The green gloppy stuff on the bottom tastes more tart than anything--not really discernible as either pear or green beans, which I guess is a good thing! Kind of like a green monster smoothie, you'd never know the vegetables were in there. the yogurt also had a slightly grainy texture after I mixed it up, most likely from the pear puree. 6 oz contains 160 calories, 5 g fat, 5 g protein and a good portion of your daily calcium, Vitamin D and Zinc needs.

I would probably purchase this again as a special treat, but most likely try another flavor. They had a squash/ peach and a sweet potato/apple style as well.

Huge thanks to Kristina and the folks at Oikos and Stoneyfield Farm for letting me try some of your products. I'm a fan! If you haven't had the chance to try Oikos, or any of their other brands, please give this stuff a try!

Well, if you made it this far, you are truly an outstanding reader and I love you! Thank you so much for being here and letting me rant and rave about all the things on my mind. I can't tell you how soothing and comforting it is to know I can really open up on the blog and be my big dorky self. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and ENJOY all your food, whether it's yogurt or doughnuts or anything in between! xoxo