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As crazy as it sounds sometimes my goals of being a smaller, healthier person and someone who eats a very natural, healthy, sustainable diet are at direct odds with each other. French Vanilla Splenda for Coffee is a prime example of this struggle. There's nothing natural about vanilla Splenda. Though it may be derived from sugar in some mysterious scientific way it's a chemical sweetener with chemical vanilla flavoring added. It doesn't seem like the kind of product that someone who just switched to organic ketchup because she's trying to cut the copious amounts of high fructose corn syrup we're being fed out of her diet would use does it? But use it and love it I do. I keep track of what's going into my body everyday and I know that every bit of food fuel counts both positively and negatively. Obviously using a natural sweetener for my coffee and tea would be desirable if my only goal was to eat a natural diet. But the extra calories that sugar and other natural sweeteners give me run counter to my goals of weighing less and becoming more fit. For the same calories a natural sweetener would give me in my coffee I can instead have a nice serving a fruit (a blood orange this morning in fact) or vegetables. Like the Splenda the natural sweetener would be giving me no nutritional value but it would be giving me calories. So in this case I choose the chemical alternative over the natural one.

If the French Vanilla Splenda didn't taste so good in my coffee this might be a harder decision for me but it's really, really good. If you've no qualms about chemical sweeteners and like a hint of vanilla in your coffee then I can't recommend the French Vanilla Splenda highly enough.

At 4 Weight Watchers points per 6oz container Stonyfield Farm Whole Milk Yogurt with Cream on Top (French Vanilla flavor) is totally decadent and indulgent and totally worth it. Like the name says it's whole milk yogurt with a nice layer of cream on top. This makes it super sweet and creamy. It makes a really nice evening snack, it's thick and creamy and a nice change from say light ice cream. My favorite way to eat it though is for breakfast with a nice, ripe banana. I like to dip the banana in the yogurt. It's a fantastic 6 point breakfast that covers a serving of dairy and a serving of fruit. Very recommended.