This post was originally titled something about New Year's Resolutions and how to keep them, but since it's January 3rd and my brother's birthday (Happy Birthday Meady Boy!) I have officially decided to just start writing and see what happens. Here we go!

Confession #1 For the past three years I have resolved to brush my teeth before bed and yet I still struggle to get the toothbrush in my mouth. Gross, I know! But this is me being vulnerable with you.  I hate brushing my teeth, especially at night. Fortunately Scott usually reminds me, but if left to my own devices the teeth can wait until morning. I always brush in the morning, I promise.

I have been hesitating writing this post. So much so even my brother called me out on it. "You haven't posted anything since Dec 22." Everyone else has already written about their holiday feasting and New Years Resolutions. I am behind the curve. So where was I? Well... since we are being honest, Confession #2  I probably had my hand in the enormous bag of El Rey Gran Saman Chocolate I keep only for gluten free baking, of course. (Insert sarcasm here.) 

Our cleanse ended December 21st. I know I bragged that we were going to go strong all the way to New Years, but that just didn't happen. We did the prescribed 3 weeks and it was amazing. We felt and looked pretty great too. I was proud of us. Confession #3 Midnight on the 21st came and I suddenly remembered where I had hidden the chocolate from myself for the past three weeks. And Scott, whose vice is gummy candy, somehow unearthed a bag of jelly beans... which he had stollen from our roommate. And thus the flood gates opened and the feasting began for the next 4 days, literally.

You might be wondering why am I confessing all this on my nutrition, health and wellness blog? 
Shouldn't I tell you how I made it through the holidays without a single sugar sweet baked morsel touching my lips, and that I am resolving to quit sugar for the rest of the year and start fasting intermittently? Why yes, I probably should. But the reason I have been hesitating writing is because I didn't want to write about what I SHOULD write about. I want to write about real life about the amazing highs AND the difficult lows, the victories AND the losses, the what I did rights AND the what I did wrongs, the stuff that makes you and me human for better or worse. We see and hear a lot of the things we are proud to tell the world about, but we don't get a lot of what people's real struggles are. So here it goes. I'm turning a new leaf for Wild Acorn.

No, I am not going to turn this into a downer fest, because that 's not my style either. But I do want to be a little more real here, to profess to the world that Confession #4 I love sweets and I had pizza and pancakes on Christmas! I AM a health freak, who is studying to be a nutritionist, writes about how to be healthy and yet man-oh-man I gotta get me some of that chocolate cake. 

All of this to say I am not sorry for those four days of gluttony. Oh, and did I mention we did it again for New Years? Maybe I did go a bit overboard, but I enjoyed every bite, especially the portobello ravioli and coconut ice cream. If you're gonna go BIG you better enjoy it and not regret a single calorie. Seriously! Do the healthy thing, make food your medicine, eat clean 95% of the time, but every once in a while you gotta let lose and not feel bad about it.  I'm not saying make this an every-other-day kind of thing, but every once in a while you deserve to celebrate. And for me that means with food. Confession #5 This should be an obvious one, but I LOVE FOOD. Let it be whole and real and nourishing to give you the health and energy to enjoy this amazing life we have been given to live fully. And so sometimes that means a decadent cheese platter and a nice glass of wine for dinner.

Last but not least, even though I said I wasn't going to do this, and I am way late per industry standards to be posting a New Years Resolutions list, here it is. Confession #6 I love resolutions. I love setting goals and having something to learn, do and look forward to. I keep a list of my resolutions and goals in my phone so that I can check in on them and see how I am doing and what I can work on. I ALWAYS make too many resolutions and I ALWAYS leave a few left undone. Let's see, last year I DID NOT learn how to play chess and nor did I learn to sew. Oh well, maybe I'll do it this year! I DID however invest more time connecting with family which I think is far more important. One point for me! I also got better at brushing my teeth before bed, but you know I always like to leave a little room for improvement :)

I know these are pretty basic resolutions, nothing you've never read before. But they are good. They will make you healthier, happier, a better citizen of the world and a better whatever you want to be. So I stopped trying to think of fancy new fandangled resolutions and just stuck to the basics, many of which have been on my list for years. But hey, at least I'm still going for it. 

1. Eat Healthier Get rid of everything processed in your pantry, fridge and freezer. That includes cereals, crackers, cookies, chips, sodas, frozen meals, dressings, pop tarts, etc. Anything that has ingredients that your grandparents and great grandparents wouldn't recognize is probably no good. Throw it out and don't buy it again for the year, or ever! This super easy step will make a huge difference in how you eat and feel. 
2. Spend more time with family Start with calling them on a regular basis. I put an alarm on my phone every Sunday to call home. 
3. Be on Time This was also on my list last year. 
4. Start practicing Yoga & Meditation
5. Do something to Give Back Donate your time or money to a cause you believe in
6. Give yourself a little love by honoring the Four Agreements: Be Impeccable With Your Word; Don't Make Assumptions; Don't Take Anything Personally; Always Do Your Best
7. Learn to Cook and eat healthy Home Cooked Meals 5 nights a week, preferably shared with friends or family.
8. Sweat Once a Day. However and wherever you want to do it. Get your heart a pumpin'. I've taken up swimming recently. I can't feel I'm sweating but my sore legs and arms tell me I'm doing something right. 
9. Learn Something New salsa dancing; to speak a foreign language; to sew; to play chess; to play an instrument; to use Photoshop; to do a handstand... 
10. Detox or Do A Cleanse See ours.

If you made it this far into reading you get my final Confession #7 I am totally addicted to watching Scandal, and Kerry Washington takes my breath away. A little behind the curve on this television hit, yet again, but I have watched 7 episodes in the past 48 hours. Too much? Yeah I know. The real confession is I've started looking for a job back in the states. But I have to save that story for another post. Scandal is just me procrastinating.  Happy New Year!!! 

Since I just wrote a blog about the super powers of chocolate I have to add this delicious recipe for gluten free scones using Chocolates El Rey Gran Saman Discos. 

I first had the immense pleasure of tasting these scones on a road trip from New Orleans back to Austin. If you have ever made that 8 hour trek across I10 you know there is nowhere to stop for a good meal. So my boyfriend's super talented (and prepared!) sister had baked these for the drive. Needless to say all 8 scones were gone by the time we got back to Austin. Probably not the best "meal" but I felt a lot better about it than stopping at a fast food joint for a heart attach in a bag.

Post Script: I use chocolate and cherries here but you can really throw anything in that suits your fancy. I also like to use blueberries, strawberries, coconut, orange or lemon zest, ginger.. you get the point. 

Preheat Oven to 350 F
INGREDIENTS:

• 2. 5 Cups Almond Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
  
• 1/4 tsp Salt
  
• 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
  
• 1 Egg
  
• 1/4 Raw Honey or Maple Syrup
  
• 1 tsp Vanilla
  
• 1 Cup El Rey Gran Saman Discos, chopped
  
• 1 Cup Fresh or Frozen Cherries, pitted and thawed

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Combine the almond flour, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. 
  
• In a separate small bowl mix the ACV, egg, honey and vanilla. 
  
• Pour the liquid mixture into the big mixing bowl with the dry ingredients and combine. 
  
• Once thoroughly mixed, add the chocolate and cherries. I like to gently mix them in evenly with my hands. (They're gonna get dirty anyways!) Combine everything into one big dough ball.
  
• Place the entire dough ball on a lined cookie sheet and use your fingers to pat in out into a circle about 1 inch thick. (Wash your hands now :)
  
• With a large knife, cut the circle into eighths and put in the oven to bake. 
  

BAKE at 350 F for 15 minutes

I can not tell you how many times I have tried to give up chocolate in order to reach my health goals. As a teenager I was told cutting chocolate from my diet would make my acne go away. So I tried... mostly without success. It's just too tasty! So the day I read scientific studies calling chocolate a super food with actual real life health properties I could not have been happier. I probably ran to the nearest vending machine to buy a candy bar packed full of more sugar and toxic mystery ingredients than actual real cacao. There was problem NUMERO UNO! 

The secret to eating chocolate guilt free and reaping all of its awesome health benefits is all in WHAT KIND & QUALITY OF CHOCOLATE you choose to eat. 

• First rule of thumb is to choose DARK CHOCOLATE with a minimum 70% cacao and real food ingredients you know and recognize. True dark chocolate is made from a combination of four simple ingredients: cacao beans separated into cocoa powder and cocoa butter, sugar and vanilla. Milk chocolate has added powdered milk which is a highly processed substance you should avoid. 

• Secondly, check the source of the chocolate, more specifically the cocoa bean's country of origin. Just as fine wines are made from specific grapes, and specialty coffee comes from superior coffee growing regions, chocolate is made from cacao which is the bean of the cacao tree. Experts will tell you the world's most aromatic and flavorful beans come from South America. Most companies mix lower quality beans from Africa or other growing regions but the finest chocolate is made from beans from South America. 
• Last but not least, look out for sneaky ingredients like loads of sugar, emulsifiers, soy lecithin, artificial flavors and colors. Stick to natural flavors, spices and additions like nuts and coconut flakes. My absolute favorite sweet snack is dipping pure dark chocolate into almond butter or coconut butter. Heaven! No wonder they call it the "FOOD OF THE GODS!"

While you're enjoying rich dark chocolate you can ponder these amazing health facts:

• Dark chocolate is an antioxidant POWERHOUSE even more than blueberries and acai
• Dark chocolate contains theobromine shown to harden tooth enamel
• Quality dark chocolate is rich in fiber, iron, magnesium, copper, and manganese  
• Dark chocolate helps suppress your appetite
• The bioactive compounds in cocoa can improve blood flow in the arteries and cause a statistically significant decrease in blood pressure
• Dark chocolate lowers the susceptibility of LDL to oxidative damage while increasing HDL and improving insulin sensitivity
• Dark chocolate may also improve brain function
• Dark chocolate is protective against cardiovascular disease

HOLY CACAO that's a lot of awesome! 

Check out this video on how chocolate is made...