Staying Healthy The Natural Way

Health is inarguably the most valuable asset a person can have. Though a lot of people pursue other things like riches and fame, being free of sickness without any broken bones or missing toes is priceless. Unfortunately, achieving peak health is a very difficult and demanding process. Nowadays, there are many factors on every corner to trip you up. From unhealthy foods with preservatives and additives, to living a sedentary lifestyle, inhaling polluted air, and picking up millions of bacteria and germs by merely touching the stair rail or living room door, it is a bit overwhelming when you really think about it. While there are many fast and easy techniques to stay healthy, like drinking scientifically engineered beverages or getting your fats sucked through liposuction, it is more sensible to reach and maintain a healthy lifestyle in a natural way on a daily basis. Here are the basics to make this happen!

Eat Fruits & Vegetables
Though it is quite obvious to some, others tend to undermine the natural health benefits of eating fresh fruits and vegetables daily. So, which fruits and vegetables should you eat? The best vegetables to eat include tomatoes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes. These vegetables are consumed for different purposes. Tomatoes are a great source of lycopene, a nutrient that prevents cancer. Meanwhile, Brussels sprouts, carrots, and squash are rich in Vitamin C, which helps boost immunity. Fruits you should eat include blueberries and grapes, which are rich in antioxidants. Bananas are also great as a source of carbohydrates, potassium, and fiber.

Drink Tea
Instead of beverages laced with a number of ingredients and chemicals, try to drink tea. Specifically, go green. L-theanine, a compound that strengthens the body's immune reaction to infection, can be found substantially in tea. Based on proven reports, the production of anti-bacterial compounds was up to 5 times greater in people who regularly drank tea as opposed to those who do not. This is a clear indicator that tea and its properties are responsible for empowering the immune system. However, make sure you drink natural herbal tea rather than instant iced tea. Choose between green tea, white tea, and chamomile tea for optimal results. If you need to sweeten it up, use honey instead of sugar.

Get Some Rest
People who live a nocturnal lifestyle often have weak immune systems. Unfortunately, the symptoms are not apparent until a disease emerges. A natural way of staying healthy is to get adequate sleep. At least 6 hours of sleep is important for a person to function well. This amount of time allows your body and mind to repair and replenish itself for the following day. Ample shuteye also reduces your risk for diabetes, cancer, and other health illnesses.

Exercise
Avoid weight loss pills or milkshakes and jog every morning instead. Running and hitting the gym at least once a week is a better weight loss alternative. It also has several physical and mental benefits, including proper muscle growth, cardiovascular strengthening, and a chance to meet new friends.

Author Pam Johnson is a nurse who makes a career out of the health of others. She recommends these tips to her patients daily. She obtained her degree from one of the Top 10 Best Online BSN to MSN Degree Programs

6 Ways to Always be Healthy

Good health is important to a high quality of life. If you are a person who wants to have the good health needed for a higher quality of life, you must be proactive with taking care of your body and mind. While occasional illness may be hard to avoid, there are certain things you can do to help ensure good physical and mental health. If you want to remain healthy so you can have a happier, higher quality of life, here are some tips you can incorporate in your day to day life to help you out.

1. Proper Exercise
If you truly want to help your body stay healthy, you will need daily exercise. You do not have to join the gym or participate in a rigorous daily exercise plan, but it is important to get daily exercise if you want to stay healthy. Even something as easy as taking a walk around the block after dinner each night can greatly increase your odds of staying healthy.

2. Eat Right
As everyone knows, diet plays an important part in the overall health of a person's body. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that you eat a healthy diet if you want to remain healthy. Make sure your diet includes the recommended daily servings of fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods if you want to keep your body in good health.

3. Balance
The health of your mind is very important to the overall health of your body. Feeling depressed or down in the dumps on a continuous basis can have negative consequences on your health, so it is important that you try to maintain positive mental balance if you want to stay healthy.

4. Rest
Without proper rest, your body will not be able to stay healthy. Even if you have a very busy life, it is very important that you get at least 8 hours of sleep each night if you want to keep your body and mind healthy.

5. Unhealthy Vices
As you probably already know, certain vices can be very bad for your health. If you smoke or do drugs, eliminating these harmful substances from your life can completely transform your health. Likewise with drinking. While it's okay to have the occasional beer or glass of wine, excess drinking can be very bad for your health.

6. Hobbies
Even if you think your day is too busy to include time for a fun hobby you enjoy, including this hobby in your day to day life can be important to good health. When you make time in your day for an enjoyable hobby, you will be helping to improve your overall body and mind health.

If you want to be healthy at all times in order to have the good health needed for a higher quality of life, incorporating the above listed tips into your day to day life will help you achieve this. By getting proper exercise, eating right, eliminating unhealthy vices, having a healthy hobby, and getting the proper amount of rest each night, you can help your body and mind in positive ways that will help you remain healthy.

Author Pam Johnson is a nurse who makes a career out of the health of others. She recommends these tips to her patients daily. She obtained her degree from one of the Best RN to BSN Degree Programs.

How Carbohydrates Affect Health and Weight

Here are just a couple blurbs from the Diet Heart News article 25 Reasons the U.S. Dietary Guidelines are wrong about cholesterol & saturated fat that refer to carbohydrates:

• The primary dietary cause of diabetes and heart disease is the excess carbohydrates in our diet, especially sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and the easily-digested carbohydrates found in grain and grain products. Since 1980, Americans are consuming at least 400 additional carbohydrate calories a day – much of it sugar and corn syrup.
• Blood-sugar-raising carbohydrates have a direct and immediate effect on blood sugar and insulin levels and, in the words of science writer Gary Taubes, “on the disruption of the entire harmonic ensemble of the human body.”
• High insulin levels (hyperinsulinism) explain why Americans have fattened. Insulin is the fat storage hormone. When insulin levels are elevated – either chronically or after a meal – we make and store fat and lock it up in adipose tissue. When fat is locked up, it is not available as a fuel to the trillions of cells in the body. Hunger is the result.
• By stimulating insulin levels, carbohydrates make us hungry and fat. High circulating insulin – in response to excess dietary carbohydrates – is the root cause of weight gain, obesity, diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome, and coronary heart disease – which leads to congestive heart failure.
• According to the CDC in Atlanta, 1 in 3 children born today will become diabetics and 80 percent of diabetics die of heart disease. We have both an expanding population and a steadily increasing incidence of diabetes and heart disease. Americans need relief. How bad do things have to get before we revise the U.S. Dietary Guidelines in favor of a higher fat whole foods carbohydrate-restricted diet?

Low Carb Flaxseed Pancakes

Recently I tried out a low carb flaxseed pancake recipe (which I found on another low carb blog, Unbreaded) and I was impressed with how delicious it turned out! I love pancakes and it is one food I miss while living la vida low carb, so this is a great and healthy alternative, plus it tastes just like a whole grain pancake; And with some splenda or sugarfree syrup on top, it's even better!

Ingredients:
3 medium eggs (or two jumbo eggs)
3 tablespoons flaxseed meal
3 teaspoons Splenda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla



Mix everything and pour into a skillet or onto a griddle on medium heat. Cook for a few minutes until the sides become firm and rounded and then flip over. Eat and enjoy!*

*I don't have an exact carb count, but I'm assuming this would be a recipe for later phases of Atkins (pre-maintenance and lifetime maintenance.) Even so, it's a nice recipe to use once in awhile, even on earlier phases when you get a hankering for a good ol' pancake! 

Back for Round 2

After a long hiatus from blogging on Ready2GetHealthy, I'm back and ready for more!

I saw great continued success early in 2012 following the Atkins lifestyle, but didn't do well the second half of the year. So here I am, uncomfortable and with plenty of extra weight (thanks, Holidays!) and ready to start again.

If you're not familiar with Atkins, it is a low carb diet that consists of mostly vegetables, protein and healthy fats, as well as gradually adding in fruits, nuts, and whole grains in the later phases for lifetime maintenance. By reducing the amount of processed, refined sugars and carbohydrates the body intakes, the body is then able to burn its fat stores for fuel rather than just burning all that sugar and storing the extra sugar as fat. Not only that, but you will find that you have more energy, stamina, and are healthier overall. You will also eliminate those nasty carb cravings that occur with blood sugar spikes, so you'll naturally eat less and be less hungry throughout the day.

Low carb diets are recommended by doctors for diabetes and pre-diabetes patients, and many studies show that low carb diets help lower bad cholesterol, raise good cholesterol, and improve blood pressure. Don't believe it? Try it out for yourself and see if your health indicators improve!

I know there are lots of negative misconceptions about low carb diets, so I want to point out that I am not completely eliminating carbohydrates, nor eating an excessive amount of meat. The focus of this lifestyle is on reducing bad carbs (white bread, pasta, sugary fruits, processed foods) and utilizing good carbs (vegetables, whole grains, berries, nuts) while eating an adequate amount of protein and healthy fats. As with any healthy eating plan, I believe in moderation...but I don't count calories!

For more information, visit Atkins.com or check out the book The New Atkins for a New You, which I have read and recommend.

Check back often for low carb recipes and tips!

Thinking Thin...Literally

I haven't been blogging about my health-quest much lately, and I figured out why. It's because I've been struggling. It's always hard to admit, but they always say - admitting it is the first step. I recently started reading  a book called The Only Diet There Is. I find it so fascinating that I borrowed it from my mom before she even had a chance to read it, and I am almost done reading it in just 3 days. This book is from the 80s, but it has some extremely interesting and valid points.

One of the main points is that it's almost impossible to reach and maintain your ideal weight when you don't love yourself. When you hate yourself and always have negative thoughts about yourself, how likely are you to take care of yourself and respect your body? After reading this book, I started thinking of my body like a vehicle - If you own a car that you absolutely hate and despise driving it everyday, how likely is it that you'll fill it with premium gas, get regular oil changes, take it to the repair shop, or even get a car wash now and then? And surely you won't care if you bang it up and fill the interior with garbage, because afterall, in your mind it already looks and runs crappy.

These are the same negative thoughts that we may have about our own bodies. Our bodies are literally our vehicles to get around in the world. Just like you drive your car to work everyday and rely on it to get you back home again, we rely on our bodies to keep us moving and productive. It's the same principle - learn to love and appreciate your vehicle, and you'll take better care of it and restore it to its natural beauty.

Maybe you've never dealt with this issue of self-hate, but I certainly have and know several people who spend their days with guilt, hate, and negative thoughts about themselves. As the book points out, your mind will create what you want it to - if you give it the opportunity. You may have heard of self-fulfilling prophecies, where your mind literally creates what it believes to be true. As much as this may sound a little wacko, I'm starting to see how true it really is. Your actions are a result of your thoughts. If you think you're not good enough and not worth self-love, then you won't treat your body with respect or keep it in good condition. Why would you? Would you spend time and effort taking care of a car or house or object that you don't like or even absolutely despise? Probably not.

So in the same way, our thoughts literally affect our actions and our health. I am starting to seriously work on turning my negative thoughts about myself to positive ones and realizing how important it is to love myself. Afterall, if I can't love myself, how can I expect anyone else to love me or for that matter, how can I love anyone else if I can't love my own self?

Another good point is that, if you truly learn to love yourself, you won't torture yourself with exercise you don't like or that you can't do, or deprive yourself of food. These are not self-loving acts and instead cause more anger and guilt when you don't live up to your own high standards. You will instead want to nurture yourself and will therefore eat healthier naturally and participate in activities you do enjoy without even thinking about it.

These are just a few things to think about and consider if you have been stuck in a rut or find that no diets seem to work or stick -- It could be that you need to get in your head and figure out your thoughts first, before you can act on them. In just a matter of days I feel better than ever - not because of the scale at all - but because I am finally learning to love myself and treat myself the way I deserve to be treated.

Total Fitness DVDs: Walk at Home 5 Day Slim Down

Total Fitness DVDs is your source for all fitness and wellness media. They strive to offer the lowest prices and best products for customers, as well as fast shipping and excellent customer service. All of the DVDs are brand new, factory sealed, original US releases. Total Fitness DVDs offers everything from yoga and aerobic DVDs, to children's fitness DVDS, and even fitness kits and equipment to go along with your workout videos.

I loved the search features on the Total Fitness DVDs website. You can search by type of activity, instructor, or brand. So I did a search for Leslie Sansone DVDs since she is a great, down to earth instructor and has the type of workouts I enjoy. I chose the Walk at Home 5 Day Slim Down workout DVD for review, which includes a mile for each morning of the week that targets different areas of the body - or you can do all 5 miles at once if you really want a workout. This DVD came really fast and in perfect condition.

What I love about this particular workout DVD is that even though it's "walking", you get a real workout and actually sweat! It's easy to do, but challenging and burns calories. The mile I liked the best was Day 4: Trim Your Tummy. Leslie Sansone knows just how to target certain muscles while walking and you don't need any accessories or add-ons - all you need is a pair of walking shoes and a DVD player!

Total Fitness DVDs has so many workout DVDs to choose from, you won't be disappointed with the selection or quality. Although it can be intimidating to choose from so many workouts, my advice is to choose the type of workout you like best (yoga, dancing, walking, aerobic, etc.) and go from there. It's always best to find what you like to do and you'll be more likely to stick to it. Another way to help you choose the right DVD for you is to check out the many reviews on the site, written by people just like you!

 Disclaimer: I was given this product free of charge for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own experiences with the product. Individual results may vary. No other compensation was given.

Atkins Food Pyramid

 If you're wondering how Atkins works, here's a quick summary with the Atkins Food Pyramid:

Hail Merry Raw Vegan Snacks Review

Hail Merry is a healthy food company created by raw food chef Susan O'Brien, who believes in the healing power of certain plant-based oils in their raw state. Hail Merry products are all raw, vegan, and gluten-free. Raw foods are energizing to the body and since they allow for more vitamins and nutrients to be absorbed we can live on less food and easily manage our weight.

I was given the opportunity to try Hail Merry Grawnola Orange Cranberry, Blonde Macaroons, and Orange Rosemary Pecans. What I love about these products first and foremost is that they are low in carbs, which is great for me since I am trying to stick with a low carb diet and keep my blood sugar stable. Hail Merry Grawnola is nut based rather than grain based so the carbs are only 17 grams per serving. This Grawnola has half the sugar and carbs of other raw bars and is also loaded with healthy omega fats from the nuts. And of course Hail Merry's nuts and other snacks are low in carbs and sugar as well, which is beneficial for anyone watching their weight or managing diabetes.

Not only are these foods healthy and good for you, they also taste amazing! I must say, the orange rosemary pecans were definitely a new flavor for me and something I had never tried before. They were sweet and tangy, yet had an spicy, woody taste to them as well. They definitely filled me up and added a "twist" to my lunch! The Grawnola tasted great, definitely lives up to its description and rivals regular grawnola. And of course who doesn't love Macaroons! These made a great dessert, and it was fun to be able to eat something sweet even while sticking with my low carb diet.

If you're looking for a healthy treat, look no further than Hail Merry raw snacks!

Disclaimer: I was given this product free of charge for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own experiences with the product. Individual results may vary. No other compensation was given.

Aurorae Yoga Mat Review

Aurorae Yoga is a company whose goal is to make its customers' yoga experience more enjoyable. Aurorae offers ultra thick, extra long yoga mats as well as "Slip Free" accessories including the famous Aurorae Slip-Free Rosin Bag and the Aurorae Sport Sweat Towel.

I was given an Aurorae Ultra Thick, Extra Long Yoga Mat and Slip Free Rosin Bag for review. I received a pink yoga mat which measures 72x24 inches and has a 1/4 inch thickness to provide enough cushion and comfort to protect knees and joints without being too thick to grip. The eco-friendly material molds hands and feet to the mat with immediate recovery so it helps give a foundation for poses. This odor-free yoga mat also includes a unique focal point icon to help users focus on their poses and maximize the calming and stress relief yoga encourages.

The Aurorae extra long yoga mat comes in a variety of colors that define your inner self, bringing out your natural aura. According to the illumination chart, my pink mat is Hope and means intuitive, faithful, visionary, power of positive thought, energetic and healing. The pink color is very calming and the thick material and length of the mat is perfect for yoga, pilates, or any floor exercises.

I also received a slip free rosin bag which is used to increase gripping power and absorb perspiration. It is non sticky and has no odor, and is easily used by dabbing the bag on you mat and and on your hands and feet. This worked really well and you couldn't even see or feel the rosin.

All in all I am very impressed with Aurorae Yoga's mats and slip-free products. They are very high quality and make the yoga experience even better.



Disclaimer: I was given this product free of charge for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own experiences with the product. Individual results may vary. As part of the One2One Network, I will e entered into a drawing for posting this review.

 

Feelin like a Winner!

I WON!!! Not to gloat, but I am super excited that I won the Biggest Loser competition! Granted there were only 8 of us participating, but it still feels awesome to have won 1st place along with a nice monetary prize ($150)!

I feel like such a winner! Wait, a LOSER! I lost 26 pounds since September and I feel great! I still have 25-30 pounds more to lose, so I can't stop now, but now that I have come this far I know I can do it!

The thing I learned the most throughout this part of my weight loss journey is that it doesn't happen overnight. I started out slow and some weeks got frustrated when the scale didn't move. But I found that focusing on day to day and week to week, all of those small losses add up! If I would've started the competition and my personal weight loss journey by saying I had to lose 25 pounds by December, there is now way I would've done it. I honestly didn't think I'd lose even 20 so I am incredibly happy with my results, but it really helped not to focus on a huge goal but just go week by week.

That is why this competition helped me so much. Even though I wasn't losing weight FOR the competition, it really helped to have a weigh-in each week and someone to report my weight to so that I was held accountable. I always knew that I'd have to weigh in each week so I focused on my results each week rather than looking at the big picture of a huge goal.

So my advice to anyone trying to lose weight - take it one day and week at a time and the results will build up! Your results may not be noticeable at first, but 3 months and 26 pounds later, you will feel great! :)

Also, I do owe a lot of my loss to the Atkins diet. I wouldn't recommend it for everyone and frankly I hated it for the first few months until it became habit for me, but it really made a huge difference in how I eat, stabilized my blood sugar, stopped a lot of my cravings, and has given me a reason to avoid processed foods and sugary foods! Eggs can get boring (that's mainly what I eat since I'm not much of a cook), but I get filled up faster than before and don't get hungry as often, so I do recommend this lifestyle if you have issues with carbs and yo-yo weight. It is definitely a lifestyle change and eventually I will add in fruits and whole grains when I have lost all the weight I need to and move on to the maintenance phase, but obviously it's not something where once I decide I'm done losing weight, I can go back to eating pasta every night and sugary desserts and breads. That's where all the weight can come back on after dieting. This is definitely not a quick fix, but a way of living.

I am happy with the fact that I am eating healthier than ever before and losing weight, and I am determined to stick with this lifestyle! Thanks to everyone for your support, and especially to my cousin who started the Biggest Loser competition and encouraged me throughout the past 3 months!

Before                                                      After

Biggest Loser Ends; Thanksgiving blessings

The Biggest Loser competition I am in with a few former co-workers and acquaintances ends this coming Wednesday, December 1st. It started in September, I believe it was September 8th that we started. Why the leader of this competition chose the week after Thanksgiving to end, I'll never know ;) But, I think I am close to winning!

There has been one girl that has been serious competition and I'm pretty sure me and her are in for first and second place. First place gets 75% of the money (we all put in $25) and second place gets 25%. I am pretty confident that I at least will be the second place winner. The competition went by percentage of weight lost, so even though I lost a good amount of pounds - 24 to be exact! - I still am not sure if I won or not. But I'll find out on Wednesday and maybe I'll even be down 25 pounds by then!

Thanks to this competition and Atkins, I have reached my first major goal, and now I have to keep reminding myself that my journey is not over yet. I still have another 25-30 pounds to lose which is my next major goal. But it really did help to take it slow and focus on small goals. If I would've started by thinking I needed to lose 25 pounds during this competition, I don't think I could've done it. I actually didn't expect to reach my goal at all. But instead, I went week by week and pound by pound, and reached my goal that way! I feel great and it is awesome to fit into my old clothes again and to be able to wear some fun things.

It was also nice to start a new job feeling confident and positive and wearing some cute clothes. The new job has been a great change in my life, plus I started Mary Kay which is another positive support group and a fun experience. I have had so many great changes the past few months and losing weight is the icing on the cake (not that I can eat the cake, lol) My sister had her first baby last week, even though she wasn't due until January 5th, so it was a little bit of a scare but the baby is doing great and healthy and beautiful! She is the biggest blessing in our lives right now! And since my sister and her husband live with me now, I will get to spoil my new niece to pieces! :)

I can't help but feel overwhelmed thinking all of the amazing blessings in my life, and it is good to take a minute to thank God for bringing all things together for good. I always knew he had a plan for everything, but oftentimes I worry that things aren't going right or the way I plan until later I realize "Oh THAT's why that happened"! I love that, and I always say Everything happens for a reason.

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

Walk at Home Review

I have been a fan of Leslie Sansone for a few years after buying one of her health plan books, and I was lucky enough to get to try one of her great Walk at Home DVD's for review! I received The Big Burn - 2 Miles of Intervals, which utilizes intervals of walking and jogging to increase calorie burn.

The Big Burn program includes:

• A WARM UP Walk to get your ready to move fast!
• A brisk pace averaging 4 mph, 5 mph and 5.5 mph
• Mile Markers allow you to choose a 1 or 2 Mile Walk!
• Multi- Muscle Moves- Compound exercises give you a bigger calorie burn!
• A COOL DOWN WALK and healthy stretch to end!

Although this Walk at Home program is definitely a workout and a great boosted walk, it's something virtually anyone can do. There are no difficult moves or anything and Leslie even says during the workout that it doesn't matter if you are doing the "right" moves or keeping up with the music, as long as you just keep moving. She also gives a low-impact alternate option for the jogging parts so that even beginner's or out-of-shape walkers can still do the program. I love how simple and easy she makes it - No frills, no costumes, no over-the-top sets. Just Leslie and some of her fellow walkers working out in her fitness studio. I really like that because it's real, not an entertainment production.

I actually got a great workout from this boosted walk and was sweating plenty by the end of the program! It was great and is a great alternative to walking outside now that winter has begun. I also like that you don't need any accessories or special equipment - just a DVD player and walking shoes! It is so simple and anyone can do it. And it only takes 33 minutes. Plus there is a great variety of other Walk at Home programs for everyone from beginners to advanced walkers and runners.

You can join Leslie's Walk Challenges on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LeslieSansone and check out all the great DVDs at www.walkathome.com/!

Disclaimer: I was given this product free of charge for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own experiences with the product. Individual results may vary. No other compensation was given.

CSN Stores Upcoming Review

CSN Stores is an online one-stop shop for anything and everything you could ever want for your household, office, children, and pets. CSN offers so many different things from 200+ stores, like bar and barstool sets, dining room sets, all the way to exercise equipment and health equipment for the elderly.

There are literally thousands of items to choose from, and products for every style and budget. I will be given the opportunity to review a product from CSN Stores soon, and can't decide what I want to review.

I do want a new pair of dress shoes for a wedding I will be a bridesmaid in this coming March, so I was thinking these Monaco sandals. They look easy to walk in during winter. :

But perhaps I want to get some flats:

Or...something totally different?

What would YOU get?

Weight Loss Adventure: Not Giving Up

So last weekend I freaked out and ate a Reese's peanut butter cup and a fun-size Snickers. In the past, these would be like nothing to me. But ever since I have started focusing on my Atkins Adventure, sugar equals halted weight loss. Not only did I feel guilty right away, but I could not believe that the Snickers actually tasted BAD! Like, something just didn't taste right, it wasn't the good ol' Snickers I was expecting. So even though it wasn't good that I ate the candy, I was happy to find out that my tastes have changed and sugary carb-filled foods that once were like a drug for me are no longer as great as I remember.

I was frustrated that I had halted my weight loss because in Atkins when you have too much of a blood sugar spike, your body goes out of ketosis (fat-burning mode) and you experience bloating and halted weight loss. It's just not worth it to go "off" the wagon anymore! BUT, I am happy to report that today I am down 2 more pounds, putting me at a total of 14 pounds lost! I REALLY hope I can keep this up and lose 8 more pounds before Thanksgiving, which would help me reach my first major goal of losing 22 pounds and then I will be almost halfway to where I want to be!

I know I can do it, it's just a matter of sticking with it. I have learned that weight loss and maintenance is more about consistency and less about exactly what plan or diet you do. If you are consistent with your diet or exercise program, you will lose weight and maintain a healthy weight. If you do the old up and down, back and forth, this diet and that diet, high carb and low carb, etc etc, it's inevitable that your weight will spike up and down. I did this for the longest time. But this time I am sticking with low carb and I am going to follow the other 3 phases exactly so that I can slowly add in more carbs and whole grains while I keep losing weight and then get to the maintenance phase and keep my weight steady after that. Consistency and gradual changes are the key. I am not giving up and I am not going to eat anymore candy bars - losing weight feels so much better than eating a funny-tasting Snickers!

Celsius Supplement Drink Review

Celsius – “Your Ultimate Fitness Partner” - is a pre-exercise supplement drink that helps to burn calories, boost metabolism, reduce body fat, increase endurance, and provide lasting energy when you drink it before physical activity. It is backed by six clinical scientific studies and has been shown to help burn calories.

Celsius contains no sugar, high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, artificial flavors, colors or preservatives, and it’s very low in sodium. It is powered by a proprietary blend of ingredients: MetaPlus which includes Green Tea with EGCG, Ginger, Caffeine, Calcium, Chromium, B Vitamins and Vitamic C.

I am very impressed with the fact that Celsius does not contain aspartame. I have heard so many negative things about aspartame and just recently decided to avoid it because I have read that it inhibits weight loss as well. So I looked through all my sugar free drink mixes and even SlimQuick drink mix, and guess what – they all contain aspartame! But not Celsius, it is natural and contains only good and healthy ingredients that I can actually pronounce.

I was wary of tasting the Celsius drinks I received for review since they don’t have artificial flavors, but they were actually good and quite refreshing. I especially enjoyed the sparkling orange and wild berry. The non-carbonated cans of Celsius were great too. I also received a pack of Celsius “On-The-Go” stick packets, which is awesome because I love taking drink mixes to work. Even if Celsius wasn't a calorie-burning drink, I would still drink it just for the fact that it’s a healthy alternative to sugar free drink mixes. And it has little or no carbs, which is also a plus for me since I am doing a low-carb diet.

The materials say to drink Celsius 15 minutes prior to moderate exercise, but I drank most of the cans even when I was just working around the house and not really doing a workout, but still getting some physical activity. I still feel like it was effective in helping with my energy levels and boosting my metabolism. And with almost no calories or carbs, this is definitely the pre-exercise drink I would choose. I am about to start training for a 10K (I know, I don't believe I can do it either!) and I think Celsius will be great to drink before my runs.

Celsius is available at many mass retailers and grocery stores like Walmart, Cub Foods, Hy-Vee, Walgreens, and Shopko. 

Disclaimer: I was given this product free of charge for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own experiences with the product. Individual results may vary. No other compensation was given.