Tag Archives: health

BOOritos!

If you’re anything like me, you know that every year, Chipotle offers awesome discounts for coming in costume, but each year, the rules are a little different. I’m here to clue you in to how this year’s BOOrito is going to work!

As we learned from Chipotle’s Friend or Faux promotion, the chain is vehemently against unnecessary additives in their food, and are doing all that they can to show just how unimportant they are to your meals. To further promote this concept, this Halloween, from 5pm-close, Chipotle asks you to spook them by adding something unnecessary to your costume to score a $3 burrito!

In this super fun video titled “Unneces-scary”, you can enter the nightmare of one Chipotle customer who discovers what Chipotle would be like if they served processed fast food rather than cooking by hand.

Looking for some inspiration? Check out our article feature image to get a feel for some unnecessary costume additions! Enjoy!

FREE Sample of Centrum® VitaMints®

Centrum® VitaMints® multivitamins are a unique combination of essential nutrients that you enjoy like a mint. You can take them any time of day, with or without food or water, to replenish your body with vitamins and minerals that support your energy, immunity, metabolism, and overall well-being. They truly sound like they make vitamins sound easy! They are the most recommended, most studied, most preferred multivitamin brand.

You can try Centrum® VitaMints® NOW before they even appear in stores this fall while supplies last. Check them out!

Free Omega-3 Sample

Nordic Naturals is giving out free samples to their Omega 3 supplements. Before you go racing to get the free samples here, let me give you a quick background on the importance of Omega 3s.

Nordic Naturals lays it out really nicely:

Essential Fatty Acids are nutritional cornerstones of human health. Two major families of fats are comprised under this designation, omegas 3 and 6. They are deemed “essential” because we need them for proper health—much like certain vitamins and minerals—but cannot produce them on our own. We must therefore consume these fats through diet or supplementation.

Most people associate omega-3s with cardiovascular health, but their benefits go far beyond the heart. The two main omega-3s—eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)—promote a healthy immune response that is behind the relief of many chronic conditions but that is too often inhibited by poor nutrition.* Extensive research has documented the health benefits of EPA and DHA, which include not only a healthy heart, but brain and cognitive function, joint mobility, eye health, pregnancy and lactation, healthy skin and hair, and a normally functioning immune response.*

Despite the great health benefits of omegas, individuals around the world suffer from omega–3 deficiency, a little–known problem to most people, but one that is counted as the 8th leading cause of preventable death in the US, among dietary, lifestyle, and metabolic risk factors.1 Omega–3 deficiency stems in large part from the growing unavailability of foods rich in these nutrients—principally fish—and because of the increasing popularity of the Western diet worldwide. While most diets prior to the 20th century contained a relative balance of omega–3 and omega–6 rich foods, the typical Western diet today contains far more of the omega–6s. In fact, Americans have the lowest intake of omega-3 essential fatty acids of any developed country—the typical American diet contains 14–25 times more omega–6s than omega–3s! Through science and education, Nordic Naturals is committed to delivering both increased awareness and quality omega nutrition in order to address this global health concern.

Ready to incorporate Omega 3s into your diet now? I sure am.

If you scroll to the bottom of any of these pages and click the ‘free sample’ you can choose between (or all) of the following options:

Wellness Sample Pack

Children’s Sample Pack

Pet Sample Pack

You then just need to fill out a quick form and your Omega 3 sample(s) will be on their way to you!

National Women’s Health & Fitness Day

Happy Wednesday! I love the ‘day’ today – national women’s health & fitness day. This won’t be a post to preach about how many times a week you should go to the gym, what to eat to lose weight, or exercises to do to lose your love handles – I want to let you guys in on some tips on how to work out at home when you’re too busy, or the gym membership is too expensive, or you have a spare moment. You don’t need to belong to the fanciest gym or have regimented classes to stay healthy and fit.

I’ve perused all sorts of options and have found a ton of mainstays that are quick, easy, and effective as an at-home workout – these are my favorites:

  1. Bodyweight Exercises

No equipment needed, bodyweight exercises are perfect for doing at home, and incredibly effective and can be a full body workout. Greatist has an incredible list of 50 bodyweight exercises. They divide the bodyweight exercises into full body, legs, chest & back, shoulders & arms, and core. My favorite way to run through these exercises is to pick 2-3 from each section and run through a set of each, 5 times. Generally takes about a half hour and I feel like I get a full body workout  – right in my living room! I would recommend a mat, sometimes I feel better about all the sweat when it’s dripping on a mat and not the carpet!

Women’s Health also has a great body weight workout routine that only takes 15 minutes and is perfect for when you’re in a time pinch. Traveling? Great for the hotel room. Simply do each body weight exercise, and in between sets, do 30 seconds of cardio (jump rope, jacks, high knees). Rest for 30-60 seconds at the end, and repeat 2 more times, to do 3 total.

2. Yoga

Yoga is so low impact and relies on almost no equipment, which makes it the perfect at home exercise. Women’s Health provides two awesome yoga routines: fat burning & heart pumping. Depending on what you are in the mood for on a given day, either are great at-home options. Fat burning uses elements from vinyasa, an active sequence of yoga flows, and burns more than 450 calories/hour. This is a full body workout, and Women’s Health recommends running through each flow about 5 times to maximize efficiency. Heart pumping is a more cardio routine, designed to build heat and keep your heart rate up with a series of demanding standing poses, twists, and inversions – all held for long periods of time. Beyond the physical aspect of this type of yoga, the inhaling and exhaling can improve your cardiovascular health considerably.

3. At Home Workout Videos

I know what you’re thinking – these things are corny. I also thought so until I checked out modern at home workout videos for myself. It’s not legwarmers and step benches, these are hardcore women giving you an intense workout. Greatist compiled a list of what they consider to be the best FREE workout videos from pilates to martial arts.

My current favorite? Piyo – a fusion of pilates and yoga, full body workout. You’ll never sweat more!

#NationalTVDinnerDay

Happy Thursday! This week is flying by! I’m thinking every week should only last 4 days…agree?

Today, so I hear, is #NationalTVDinnerDay. I’m not here to support the TV dinner, but rather give you some history on this craze and provide you with equally as easy, equally as convenient, but so, so, so much healthier of options!

According to Wikipedia, the term ‘TV dinner’ is a genericized trademark originally used for a brand of packaged meal developed in 1953 by C.A. Swanson (sound familiar?). In the United States, the term remains synonymous with any prepackaged dinner purchased frozen in a supermarket and heated at home.

I’ll admit, I have been guilty of these, as they are junkily delicious and so easy to pop in the microwave, but I couldn’t tell you the last time I had one, as luckily, in the past decade or so, I’ve become more health-conscious.

To give you a breakdown of health concerns with TV dinners, there are quite a few:

  • The freezing process degrades the taste of food and the meals are thus heavily processed with extra salt and fat to compensate.
  • Stabilizing the product for a long period generally means that companies will use partially hydrogenated vegetable oils for some items (usually dessert), which are high in trans fat.
  • Generally, these meals contain preservatives such as BHT

I know that they’re very convenient, but guess what else is just as convenient? HOMEMADE FREEZER MEALS!

I’ve placed links to all of my compilations of freezer meals to date for your convenience below:

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Take a look, put a little bit of extra effort in, and call it your very own version of a TV dinner. Enjoy!

FREE Gummy Vitamin Sample

Hero Nutritionals is offering a free sample of their gummy vitamins!

As a parent, it’s always difficult to tell if your child is having a well rounded diet – as much as we may try. I rely on vitamins – specifically, gummy vitamins. They’re like candy – taste great, and super easy to give to your kids regularly.

Hero Nutritionals created THE FIRST gummy vitamin in 1997, Yummi Bears®, and they claim that they are still the best gummy vitamin out there. They select only the most pure, most nutritionally potent ingredients – free of allergens, gluten, and dairy – nothing artificial!

yummi_bears

Yummi Bears® [http://heronutritionals.com/products/yummi-bears/multi-vitamin-mineral/]

The purity of this product makes it an easy choice when it comes to vitamins – they’re easy + worry free.

This company is awesome – I’ve been perusing their site this morning, and they support incredible causes from the Max Love Project to the Ronald McDonald House to Autism Speaks.

Give their products a try with this free sample – their gummies range from a basic multivitamin to vitamin C, to immunity health, to fiber, to omega 3….dare I go on? If your child likes these, check out all their offerings!

Stay Healthy This Summer!

During my commute this morning – coughs.

Walking into my office this morning? Sneezing and common colds.

emergenc_free_sample

Free Sample of Emergen-C!

Who knew how common getting sick during the summertime was? I’ve got way too many upcoming events to deal with that sort of bump in the road for me, my husband, or any of my kids – what a hassle.

Call me crazy, but I’m a firm believer in Emergen-C and boosting vitamin C intake as a means to stay healthy and ward off such inconveniences. When I was browsing around to order a case of the most appealing flavor, I found an awesome deal. Looks like all you need to do is sign up and take a brief consumer survey and they’ll send you at least 1 free sample. Why not, right?

Free Emergen-C Sample!