last chance and a healthy eating (drinking?) tip!

I'm writing today to remind you that today is your LAST CHANCE to enter my giveaway!  There on only 17 comments on the post so your chances are still pretty good!  I know that a lot of people who I know in real life read this blog, and I would love to see some of them enter!  Read the giveaway post to find out how!

I also wanted to share something that I have been doing in an attempt to eat healthier.  About a month or so after we moved into our apartment I got into this habit of buying those little baby bottles of wine and having one in the evening.  I realized after a few weeks of doing this most weeknights that this wasn't good for my wallet or my waistline.

So the next time Brian and I went to the grocery store I bought a case of diet ginger ale and started adopting something that my mom taught me over the summer when she was doing weight watchers.

 
Basically instead of drinking wine (or beer) you substitute it with diet ginger ale.  I even pour it into a wine glass, and honestly, I think that is the trick.  If I drink soda out of a can, I just gulp it down and it doesn't really satisfy me.  The glass is the trick!  Plus you get to fill up your glass twice with the can of soda, as opposed to once with the little wine bottle.  And I don't know about you, but getting to go back for seconds goes a long way for me.

Now, I know those of you who like wine are like, "Really?  That is not going to do the trick."  And I hear ya.  That was my reaction at first.  But I think it really works!  Last week I had a glass of wine after I'd switched to ginger ale for about a week and I 1) did not like the taste as much as I used to and 2) was totally zapped after drinking one glass!  I practically fell asleep at 8:00!

So if you find yourself in the same situation as I did, I definitely recommend this substitution.  It's zero calories as opposed to the couple hundred calories in one glass of wine, and when you compare $5 for 12 cans versus $6 or $7 for a bottle (or four little bottles) of wine, the value is definitely worth it.

Do you have any substitutions like this that work for you?