Well, Ben’s shipment of Girl Scout Cookies finally came in – look at the temptation I’m facing on a nightly basis!

My Mom and I were commiserating last night. My Dad is an elementary school teacher, and he comes home with 2 new boxes every day since all his little girls ask him to buy some. Sucker!

The remedy to all these cookies? Working out. With the help of Women’s Health Mag! I printed out their Total Body Workout which combines 8 strength and core exercises into one circuit, and took it with me to the gym this morning. These exercises were challenging (they even incorporated the dreaded blue ball!) and my muscles were totally spent by the end!

I wanted to follow it up with some good cardio work on the treadmill, but my legs were dead, so I ran for 15 minutes alternating between 2 minutes @ 6.5mph and 1 minute @ 4.0 mph. Good!

Oh my gosh, while I was doing my workout circuit in the exercise room, a couple of people were doing a P90X Workout on a portable DVD player. HO-LEE-COW. It was INTENSE! Both of the people are extremely fit and buff and they were dying! Have you ever done a P90X workout? I’m going to have to say, after seeing those two struggle so much, I have no desire left to try. It looked like torture!

Good thing breakfast wasn’t.  I brought a Raspberry Banana Protein Smoothie!

In the mix:

• 1 banana
• 1/2 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
• 1/2 scoop chia seeds
• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze
• 1 serving silken Nasoya tofu
• 2/3 cup frozen raspberries

I just love smoothies for the mornings I work out. Like overnight oats, they’re super convenient. Make at night, grab in the morning, and go!

Look at the beautiful color from the raspberries!

This was fantastic. Sweet, creamy, and crunchy – yep, I like the crunch of raspberry seeds.

Lunch includes some Italian Wedding Soup and an orange.

I cannot sing the praises of this soup enough. The parmesan-egg mixture that gets whisked in at the end makes it so flavorful and gives the soup such a great texture. YUM!

How cute is this orange?!

Oh, I also packed a 100 calorie pack of popcorn. For those afternoon munchies!

Giveaway Time!

You’ve all heard me rave about chia seeds in the past couple of weeks. They’re convenient, versatile and pack such a healthy punch! Well, the folks at Chia Seeds Direct want you to get in on some this chia seed action yourself – they’re giving away a free 2lb. bag of Chia Seeds to one lucky reader!

You can enter up to 3 different ways by tomorrow, March 3rd @ 3pm central. Here’s how:

1. Leave me a comment below.

2. Post about this giveaway on your blog and leave a comment letting me know.

3. Tweet: “I want to win free Chia Seeds from @IowaGirlEats http://tinyurl.com/yfu5xuc!” and leave a comment letting me know.

Good luck – get your chia on!