Mornin’!
Ugh, I DID end up opening up the bills last night…and almost puked when I scanned our energy bill. Get ready for this…
$176.26?! For just Ben and me?! In the Spring/Fall, our energy bills are normally around $60. $70 MAX. I know two people who will be a wee bit more chilly in the upcoming months, because that heater is going dooooooooown. Downtown, baby. What do you keep your heat at in the winter? We’d been living in the lap of luxury – 71 degrees – until last night when I opened this puppy up. 67 from now on. Ok, 68 if I’m feeling crazy. 
In happier news, I packed an awesome sampler style breakfast this morning! And on such a bright and cheery placemat!
We’ve got everybody’s favorite – Cheerios.
A Cashew Cookie Larabar. Look at the ingredient list – cracks me up!
And a beautiful Pink Lady Apple. So dense and crispy. It’s love.
I am hauling a HUGE salad for lunch today!
In the mix:
- Mixed greens
- Roma tomatoes
- Baby carrots
- Sliced almonds
- Dried cranberries
Seriously, this thing weighs a ton and will take forever to eat. I like when I can take my time and make a big salad last. You know?
Oh and a Strawberry Banana Chobani Greek Yogurt.
I wanted to tell you about the strawberry flavor I had the other day. Seriously delicious – and you know how I was concerned about the mushy chunks of strawberries? Well, I’m happy to tell you that the strawberry chunks were small and random sized. Really nice! I only almost gagged twice. But if you don’t mind chunks, this would blow your mind!
In other news…
The Great Agave Debate
As you may know, I recently got a bottle of Agave Nectar from iHerb.com. I had been hearing about it for months on the different blogs I read and was super curious to try it out for myself. After some research, I pulled the trigger and ordered. The verdict? I absolutely love it. It’s so versatile, tasty and since it’s in a liquid form, it can easily go in and on most anything you want sweetened.
Just an FYI – agave nectar is a sweetener produced from the agave plant and, while it has around the same amount of calories as regular table sugar, it’s about 2x as sweet so you’re able to use less. Agave nectar also has a low glycemic index which means it won’t cause a spike in your blood sugar, leading to a “sugar crash” later on. Sounds awesome, right?
Well, yesterday I read an article that states agave nectar is 90 percent fructose – the sugar found naturally in fruit – which, according to the article, when concentrated and made into a sweetener is the worst thing since sliced white bread. Highly concentrated fructose is said to cause insulin resistance and significantly raises triglycerides which is a risk for heart disease.
While the risks of high, fructose consumption are real, I have to point out a few key phrases in the article that really got my eyes rolling:
“…results in a syrup that has a fructose content that is at best 57 percent and, much more commonly, as high as 90 percent.”
- Much more commonly? So not every time, every bottle and every brand?
“…rats given high, fructose diets…”
- I am not a rat, I am a human, and squeezing some agave nectar in my smoothie is hardly contributing to a diet high in fructose.
“…fructose…when consumed at higher doses….”
- Again, I hardly consider 1/2 a Tablespoon of agave nectar a day a high dose of fructose.
I guess, when I read articles like this I have to shake my head and shrug my shoulders. I am not a rat and I do not chug agave nectar. Therefore, as with most other things in this world, in moderation I think it’s fine.
If you do a simple search on the Internet, among the negative agave nectar talk, you’ll find hundreds and hundreds of articles blasting table sugar, stevia, high fructose corn syrup, splenda (which I really DO think is not good), etc. In this day and age, there are downsides to a good amount of the things we eat, so it’s really about making the best decision for yourself.
Anyways, that’s where I weigh in on the great agave debate. These are strictly my unprofessional and personal opinions. I’m going to keep using agave nectar because I don’t think the amount I eat will harm me in any way. And I like the way it tastes. 
What do you think?
~~~~~
In other news – it’s Three Question Thursday! It’s been awhile, no?! Here we go!
1. What’s your natural hair color and texture?
2. What’s your favorite non-water beverage?
3. What/where is one of your most favorite places in the world?
My answers:
1. Dark brown and PIN straight. My hair literally could not hold a curl if my life depended on it!
2. Diet Mt. Dew. Aspartame and all – I love it!
3. My parent’s house where I grew up. There’s something about the house you grew up in, you know? I love the fact that I always sleep like a ROCK when I’m in my own bed there too. Which doesn’t happen often since I live ~.25 miles away!!! 
ps I added some fellow bloggers to the 40 Day Fitness Challenge page!
Diet Mt. Dew is the ultimate. I limit myself to one a day, but I could seriously sip on it all day every day. It doesn’t even taste “diet”!
1. Natural hair color is blond/light brown…and wavy/curly. I straighten it most days….after I had our son in Sept, I swear it’s even curlier!
2. Iced tea – not a big pop drinker:)
3. Any food/kitchen store. I could browse gourmet food shops or Williams & Sonoma all day long!
I feel your pain on the electric bill! I just paid mine yesterday for two people and it was 177 smackaroos! I about had a heart attack! We keep ours on 67 degrees, but it had been running non stop due to bitterly cold temperatures! Oh spring, where art thou??
1). My natural hair color is a dark brown and curly.
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2). I love sweet tea! It’s my favorite! It’s a “southern thing”
3). I love it out west. The mountains and landscape is simply breath taking and would love nothing more to wake up to that each and every single day!
I love using agave as a sweetner. I seriously think all these controversial articles are assuming that you’re downing pints of agave a day. Everything in moderation!
1. Brown curly afro
2. Life Water (new addiction!)
3. So far, puerto rico
1. Brown and curly.
2. Seltzer – kind of like water, but better!
3. Antwerp, Belgium. I lived there for 6 months and miss it!
I am in agreement with you about the agave. I have made the switch and try to used it as much as possible in cooking as opposed to sugar. From personal experience, I don’t get the insulin spike and drop from agave that I do from white sugar. It doesn’t leave me standing in the closet looking to eat more food when I am full already like sugar does.
1. Light brown, wavy
2. Coffee with french vanilla soy creamer (only a cup in the morning)
3. St. Augustine (and my home too)
Ok my heat bill last month was $397!! And I keep my heat at 57 degress. It’s an old house with little to no insulation. So I feel your pain.
1. Brownish red and curly
2. Diet coke from the fountain
3. Puerto Rico or Muscat, Oman
Thanks for saying something about the agave article. I read it too and was kind of discouraged because I had recently bought a bottle to try too. It seems like we just can’t win when it comes to added sweeteners, but I refuse to give them up completely. Enjoying what I eat is just as important as eating healthy to me.
I love your blog and read it every day. Thanks so much for your enthusiasm for food and health – it is inspiring! I have to tell you that I literally laughed out loud at the shock of your energy bill – I thought you were kidding b/c in my mind that bill was LOW – you have no idea how lucky you are!!!!!!!!! Our bill last month was $600. We live in Alabama and have had an unusually cold winter. I live in a well insulated house but my normal bill is about $200/month. I guess energy is a lot pricier here!
WOW! That bill looked really expensive
But I guess that´s almost what we pay for energy bills in here – only, in Brazil, we spend that much on air conditioners!
The thing is – they´re absolutely necessary! I guee that´s the hottest summer we´ve ever had… Oh, well.
1- Dark brown, kind of curly but mostly undefined. Haha.
2- Probably Light Iced Tea or Diet Matte Tea… hehe.
3- My favourite place in the world? Probably NYC!
Have a great Thursday!
Kisses from a warm place,
Gabriela
Can I admit openly here that I love TQT? I look forward to what questions you’ll come up with next! So here it goes:
1. My natural hair color is blonde (no, seriously, it is) My hair has thinned out a little over the years but it is wavy. I am able to both straighten it and curl/scrunch it. Best of both worlds.
2. My fav non-water beverage is a toss up between a soy caramel macchiato and a nice cold Sam Adams.
3. I love my lake house in New Hampshire. It’s been in the fam for a while now so I grew up with all the neighborhood kids. Quite a fun place!
Call your company and see if you can get on the “budget” plan. Basically they take an average of last year’s stats and give you a monthly figure. At the end of the year it should be close to what it would be if you were paying for your “actual” monthly usage. Hubby and I didn’t intentionally get on the budget plan for ours, but we seem to be paying a cool $126/month. Its great for budgeting!! So you have a fixed figure. If at the end of the year we come under then great, we’ll have some money coming back to us. I know alot of ppl who love it, and alot of ppl who hate it. if you are a monthly budgeter I highly suggest you look into this option.
we have a weekly porgram and weekend program set for our thermostat. we keep ours at 65-68 degrees we also have an electric blanket that I turn on to heat the bed and then turn off once i’m under the covers. It helps! We got snowed in last week and I was basically keeping the heat at 71-73 because it was SO cold outside and i wanted to keep the house heated in case we lost power.
hope this helps!!
I know the pain of the electric bill, hence my hubby and I keep the house at a very non-toasty 66 F and wear layers!
As for the agave nectar….I’m a food scientist, and the first thing you learn as a scientist is to NEVER trust non-peer reviewed sources. Guilty culprit #1 alarmist internet articles. To truly understand such a complicated topic as human metabolism you have to go to primary peer-reviewed journals. And then, just like you did, make up your own mind! You are right, a half TBSP is hardly a diet high in agave nectar!
Good Info. on the agave nectar!
1. My hair is auburn, thick, and wavy…one big mess!
2. My favorite non-water drink is chocolate milk…great after a workout
3. One of my favorite places to be is the beach! I love to stand on the sand and feel the wind blowing off the water.
Re: the power bill—is a programmable thermostat an option? We have ours set to 68 during the day, 62 at night. Yes, it can be hard to crawl out from under the covers first thing in the morning … but the savings makes it worthwhile! (We also have a wood stove to provide some extra heat; in fact, we chose one with a high enough efficiency rating to qualify for an energy tax credit. w00t!
And my “Thursday Three”:
1. Brown, with some red highlights in the right light, and on the wavy side (wavy enough that when I take photos of straight hair styles to a hairstylist, the response I get is “Your hair isn’t going to do that!”).
2. Coffee!
3. I would say “on the beach,” but I haven’t been able to be on a beach in over ten years. So I’ll say hanging out at my favorite coffee shop (see #2) with my netbook or a good book.
You would just die if you saw what we pay in utilities. We do have a large home with a furnace for the first floor and a furnace for the second floor. Yes, we chose to live here (artic tundra and big house) but its depressing and motivates us to keep our house at 66. We live 30 miles south of the MN border so it’s FREEZING here most of the time. Our kids are used to it and we bundle up!
1. My hair is long, brown, wavy with some sneaky greys poking through. Nothing a little color can’t take care each month!
2. My favorite non-water drink is Diet Coke. It’s a borderline addiction. Not ready for rehab just yet.
3. My favorite place is a beautiful sandy beach. I would really like to go there now!
1. My hair is long, thicker and naturally dark/dingy blonde.
2. Favorite non-water beverage is coffee!
3. I’m going to have to agree about the parents’ house. Love going home, but I don’t get to do it often as they live over 2 hours away.
My heating bill was around that for the two of us also! And we keep the thermostat at 67 degrees!! I’m pretty used to it by now!! Just make sure to always have a jacket handy:)
Thanks for posting about Agave. I have yet to purchase some but have been wanting too. I think it sounds fine in moderation but I also think sometimes just using regular sugar (in moderation) may be better than all these sugar alternatives. At least we know what the real thing does to our bodies for sure!! Saying that though, I think I may still try out Agave, to make my own judgement about it!!
Ok, onto TQT!!
1. Blonde and straight!! Thick too!
2. Sweet Tea, I love it! Such a Southern thing:)
3. My lake house in KY. I literally could spend my whole summer there, on the boat, wake-boarding, and soaking up the sun!!
Your bill is LOW by my standards, if mine was that much every month I would jump for joy! In the summer months (here in Florida) it can top $250 and recently with it being quite cold by Florida standards it as been over $200 when it it is usually only $150 in the winter! =O And, we only have a 2 bedroom house too, but it is two stories with vaulted ceilings & lots of windows so that plays into it.
1. Dirty Blond & Wavy Straight
2. Ice Tea w/Sweenter
3. MOAB, UTAH (my uncle lived there as a kid so we visited all the time and now my Dad lives there too) – it is so beautiful and has tons of outdoors things to do, I highly recommend visiting!!!!!!!!!!!
1. What’s your natural hair color and texture?
Dark blonde with streaky bits
2. What’s your favorite non-water beverage?
Diet coke. Extra aspartme please
3. What/where is one of your most favorite places in the world?
Cottage ( in ont , canada) soo quiet .
1. Reddish brown and fine and straight.
2. Carmel Machiattos
3. Edinburgh, Scotland
I have a quick question. Where in the Dsm area do you find Chobani? Thanks!
Ummm that is not a bad bill at all considering you live in the snowiest state ever?!?! Our gas bill (not even including electric) last month was $304.54 and I live in Virginia and we keep our heat at 69 degrees…. want to trade?
Our bills are always aroundn $200 BUT…we have two kids, live in a 4,000+ sq foot house and live in Colorado, so I would kind of expect that. However, I am cold ALL the time anyway. Grateful for my new Snuggie.
I really love Agave too! I like it more than honey, because the thinner consistency makes it easier to drizzle just a tiny bit. My fav: toasted bread w/almond butter, sliced banana and a tiny drizzle of agave. yum!
I noticed yours is “amber” and seems darker in color than mine..which must be the lighter variety. Do you think there is a difference in taste or calories?
i live in a little one story, one bedroom apartment in philly – and last month our bill was $260! and we keep our temp at 69, if it’s even that high. sometimes being an adult is not so fun.
My heat bill is actually pretty similar. Sad isn’t it? I keep it at 65 when we’re not home and 68 at night.
1) Medium mousy (ick) brown and stupidly wavy. (I dye it dark brown & straighten it.)
2) I love a big glass of fresh squeezed orange juice over ice.
3) One of my favorite places is either Downtown Fort Collins during the summertime or at a swanky rooftop bar in Denver (also in the summer).
We live in an 1100 sq ft apt in Atlanta, and keep the heat at 67-68. Our bill last month was ~$120. That “felt” high to me considering the fact that our apartment is never really that warm!
1. I have dark brown hair with a little bit of wave.
2. Wine!
3. Kiawah Island, SC… it reminds me of being a kid and it’s just so beautiful!
I agree with you. I’ve read tons of articles on agave, but have realized that in moderation it’s ok! (like most things). You’re right, it’s not like we consume a cup of agave a day.
1. Mousy brown. I was born with blonde hair though and wish it stuck around!
2. Bellinis! I don’t drink them that often though.
3. Frasier Island, Australia. So beautiful and it’s the world’s largest sand dune!
1. A brownish blonde and PIN straight as well! Not a curl in sight here!
2. Diet Arizona Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey, Splenda and all! Seriously, I could drink gallons of it if I let myself.
3. The Jersey Shore, but NOT the one from the TV show!! Many people don’t know this who aren’t from the NJ, but there is more than one shore point! The place on the show (Seaside Heights) is more Northern, and most of the people who go there (including the MTV cast) are actually New Yorkers. I grew up going to the SOUTH Jersey shore (much prettier and more family oriented!), and Wildwood Crest, Cape May, and Avalon are all very near and dear to my heart!
Good morning! Love your placemat!
1. My hair is naturally “dishwater” colored–somewhere between dark, ashy blonde and super light, ashy brown. It’s also strangely wavy on top and sorta straight underneath. Ugh.
2. My favorite drink ever is Dr. Pepper/Diet Dr. Pepper. Yummy!
3. One of my favorite places ever is Minneapolis/St. Paul. I love that area, esp. since I spent a summer internship in a burb!
Considering your live where it’s freezing…I’d think your bill could be worse!
But maybe I’m just an optimist.
1. Natural hair color is a medium brown and it’s curly/wavy. However, I prefer it dark brown (in winter) and I’ve straighted it since I was 13.
2. Favorite non-water beverage – skim milk
3. My most favorite places in the world – Disneyland because it’s the happiest place on Earth and Scottsdale, AZ because there is no place like home.
1. Dark brown and super straight as well. I’ve tried curling it many times, but it just wont work!!
2. Diet Coke
3. Anywhere in the Bay Area of California. There’s something about those hills and just the beauty of it that makes where I live (TX) seem so flat and boring!
1. Dark brown with a slightly wavy texture. It used to be straight but became wavier with each pregnancy I’ve had!
2. TEA!!!
3. St.Thomas/St.John V.I….our honeymoon locale!! Such happy memories!
BTW we keep our house at 68 and I like it! It gives you an excuse to snuggle under a blanket and enjoy hot tea and soup!! If it makes you feel better, our last electric bill was $244 (Kansas) but there are 6 of us.
My natural hair is dark brown, wavy…
My FAVORITE non-water drink is COKE-ZERO
i love never-ending salads! they’re the best.. especially at work when things get dull from time to time mid-day
my fav non-water drink is KOMBUCHA! then coke zero and lifewater. my natural hair is dark brown (i hate saying black but it prob is almost black) and straight
Baah, they say negative things about literally EVERYTHING – You could probably find an article on the internet that tells us fruit or vegetables are all bad….everything in moderation
That and flavoured fizzy water.
1. What’s your natural hair color and texture?
Thick and blonde!
2. What’s your favorite non-water beverage?
Um…diet soda…I’m terrible! I limit myself to one bottle a week though
3. What/where is one of your most favorite places in the world?
The USA!! I’ve been once and I ADORE it and I want to live there
I keep my apt at 63 degrees. If I’m cold, I turn it up to 65. I know most people couldn’t deal with it, but I love it
I’ve never read anything bad about agave nectar. I always thought it was low on the glycemic index…Hmmmm.
1. Med brown and Curly. I’m opposite you, because it is impossible to straighten!
2. Toss up between coffee and tea.
3. Kauai. Hands down.
Oh, and our electric bill was super high last month! Which is weird, because we’re on a gas furnace. Not sure what happened there, but we’re hoping it doesn’t happen again.
Ok the energy bill: there is a way around this! We have this program whereby we pay a standard amount year round: about $80 per month, so we avoid that ridiculous peak in Jan/Feb and can also manage our finances more evenly year-round. It makes a big difference…look into it! They basically look at your averages and you pay based on that rather than whether it is actually -10 or 88F!
1) Blonde and PIN straight too! Also, pretty fine/thin. Boo.
2) tea or coffee
3) One of them has to be Argentina. Can I pick a whole country? Because that whole country is amazing!
1. What’s your natural hair color and texture? Light brown and wavy/frizzy
2. What’s your favorite non-water beverage? Coffee
3. What/where is one of your most favorite places in the world? my bed
I’m getting some agave nectar tonight (still on sale at Hy-Vee) and I’m going to try baking with it. Can’t be any worse than white sugar right?
I have a tiny apartment but I managed to rack up a $75 bill last month (it was less than $30 the first couple months I moved in).
1. Wavy and dirty blonde. Luckily it only takes a little work to get it curly OR straight. Hate the color though so I dye it.
2. If calories were not an issue I would drink wine all day! So it’s probably good that they are! Usually I stick to tea.
3. I would settle for almost anywhere warm right now.
1. Light brown, wavy.
2. Cherry Coke Zero (or really any diet soda product!)
3. 7th avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
1. Light brown and wavy
2. Milk I could drink a glass of cold skim milk at every meal
3. San Francisco is may fave U.S city. I’m lucky to have lots of family there and free places to stay when I visit.
mid american delivered pretty much the same news to us this month as well!! except we keep our heat much lower…66!! bbbrrr!!!
1. straight & brown
2. diet sunkist
3. the beach
I agree with you about the agave. Honestly, there’s nothing in this world that is perfect and “research” is always changing. Whatever. Everything in moderation is key.
I LOVE big salads like that!! And I want to try that Strawberry-Banana Chobani.. sounds so good!!
1. Yucky brown, and thick
2. Tea or coffee
3. My home
1. brown – straight
2. a nice pinot noir or refreshing beer!
3. Cinque Terre, Italy
Yeah, heat is spendy! We keep our thermostat at 62 most of the time…64 at most. Cheaper and we’re used to it that way. At night it goes to 59 or else it is just too hot to sleep under a down comforter!
Mine jumped from $60 to $100 – during a month when I was out of town for 2 weeks and had the temp set LOW – and I thought that was bad! It’s still less than last year at this time, so I guess that’s good. I keep my thermostat programmed to 64 overnight and when I’m at work (for the dog’s sake), and 66 when I’m home and awake. I try not to bump it up, unless I’m wearing several layers and still turning blue!
TQT answers:
1. Brunette, naturally curly (though not uniformly so, and humidity is a monster!). Had it relaxed, but it will hold a curl if I use an iron.
2. Red wine – Nero d’Avola, to be exact!
3. Prague – spent a semester there, so it’s like home away from home!
1. What’s your natural hair color and texture?
Brown- FRIZZZZ
2. What’s your favorite non-water beverage?
Diet Coke– ahh I know bad!
3. What/where is one of your most favorite places in the world?
Italy