Raw Revolution Review

The other week, I revived a package from Raw Revolution. Raw Revolution are raw, organic, vegan, gluten-free, peanut-free and live nutrition bars. 

Tropical Banana- Really good and a bonus was the real chunks of banana. It’s vegan which I liked a lot. This bar contained 170 calories, 7g fat, 26g carb, 5g fiber and 5g protein. 

Apple Cinnamon- This was my favorite. The sweet flavor of apple with just a hint of cinnamon reminded me of the apple and cinnamon oatmeal I use to eat as a child. This bar had 150cal 5g of fat, 27g carb, 6g fiber and 3g protein. 

Chocolate Raspberry Truffle - I really liked this bar alot. The plus side is how filling it was. It does come with a high fat tag though. (220 calories, 14 grams of fat) On the flip side, there are 7 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber.

Spirulina Dream- Before this bar, I never heard of spirulina, but with the combination of cashew, this bar contained whole cashews, was amazing.

Coconut Delight- This bar had great flavor and no after taste. The texture was delish and rich. The two flavors went together perfectly. I would recommend this as a quick breakfast of mini-meal as it was a heavy bar that was really filling.

Chocolate Crave: Tasted really good along with a deep chocolate flavor that’s not too over powering for me, but other people might find it to be. Once again, kept me full for hours considering it’s high fat content. The fat is from almonds, cashews, flax seed and sunflower seeds which are all healthy fats. 

Golden Cashew- Actual pieces of cashews and almonds made this bar worth trying.

Chocolate Coconut Bliss- This bar reminded me a lot of an almond joy bar, but all natural. It was a heavy bar for a snack so I personally would eat this as a mini-meal. 

Heavenly Hazelnut & Chocolate- I liked the taste of this bar lot. It kept me full for hours! Their best contribution is the protein (7 grams ) and three grams of fiber.

Lemon Dew- There’s a great lemony taste that provided a light and refreshing snack. This bar has 160 calories, 5g fat, 28g carb, 4g fiber and 4g protein. 

Overall, I liked the large assortment of various bars to choose from and every ingredient is organic. They don’t use artificial ingredients or preservatives in their bars, they don’t use refined sugars in their bars, the bars taste great, and the texture of the bars are soft and chewy. 

PureFit Review

PureFit Nutrition Bars come in 5 delicious flavors: “Granola Crunch, Almond Crunch, Berry Almond Crunch, Chocolate Brownie, & Peanut Butter.” They sent me one of each to try & I truthfully enjoyed them all. If I had to choose a favorite, it’s a toss up between the Almond Crunch and the Chocolate Brownie since both were so rich & delicious it was hard to believe I was eating a healthy treat. Their texture is thick, chewy, a bit on the dense side, but not necessarily “crunchy” as some of the names state.

Each PureFit flavor conveniently has the same nutritional breakdown, & follows the “40/30/30” ratio (40% carbs, 30% protein, 30% fat). One bar contains 210-220 calories, 24-25 grams of carbohydrates (10-14 grams of sugar), 2-4 grams of fiber, 18 grams of protein, and 6-7 grams of fat. The bars contain all-natural ingredients and free from artificial sweeteners, trans fats and hydrogenated oils as well as wheat, gluten, and dairy-free. In addition, they have a low glycemic index which means they are diabetic-friendly.

Overall I really enjoyed PureFit bars and would recommend them to anyone looking for a protein bar that’s relatively low in sugar, vegan and great tasting.

Nuun Review

I received a package containing two tubes of natural hydration tablets in the mail from a company called NUUN. U Natural hydration and Nuun Active hydration Strawberry Lemonade were the two flavors that were went to me.  

Strawberry Lemonade was the first flavor that I tried. This flavor of Nuun was lightly flavored so the lemonade flavor wasn't too strong and proves your body with electrolytes. Compared to other sports drinks, I liked Nuun much better especially since these are all natural and much lower in calories. Each tab or tablet, when added to 16 oz of water provides fewer than 8 calories, less than 1g of carb, 360mg of sodium, 50mg of potassium, 25mg of Magnesium, and 13mg of Calcium.

Goji Berry Green Tea is lightly flavored when added to water and tasted great. The goji berry flavor wasn't too overpowering. Overall, I liked this flavor and as an alternative to propel this will be my go to drink additive. The U Natural line of Nuun provides you with electrolytes which many lose during exercise without providing any artificial sweeteners or sugar.  Each tablet makes 16 ounces of U Hydration and delivers 180 mg Sodium, 77 mg Potassium, 20 mg Magnesium as well as providing Vitamin A, C and various B vitamins.

Summer Time

The semester has been over since last week and Im currently on summer vacation! Every year seems to be more and more stressful and Im horrible when it comes to stress. Usually I break out like a 13 year old and my hair falls out like a depressed bird plucking their feathers. Thankfully I did better than I thought! Hello Dean's LIST!!! I ended up with four A's and one B+! Im so relieved to have done that well considering I lived with the roommate from hell and I had to put up with her BS and drama and unstableness. 

With summer comes the warmer months, tanning outside, swimming, beach time, family time and of course the vacations. This summer, unlike last summer, Im actually going away on vacation with my parents. So far we are going to Chicago and Virginia. My mom’s cousin booked sailing lessons for her and I which is something that the two of us have been talking about for a while now.

Since Ive been home, Ive actually ran Wed to Saturday and yesterday since I begged my parents last June to buy me a spin bike, I did a spinning workout. Yesterday and today have been icky rainy day and Im watching my niece for 8 hrs so when I get home, Im taking to the streets for an hour jog. Yesterday, I walked my dog for 20 minutes and then ran about 20 min and then it began to pour! Lately Ive been getting the “you’re getting skinny again” “you’re losing too much weight.” Personally, I think Im fine weight wise, however I know Im not eating nearly enough for a 20 year old female who is 5’9″ and works out 6-7 days a week.

What have I been up to? Im actually trying to find a summer job but Ive taken to being a Guinea Pig and testing products for cash. I’ve also picked up my guitar and learned a few chords, and a few songs that Ive pretty much mastered. I mean most of the songs are three to four chords which is what a typical song is but some songs in which I though would be simple ended up having quiet a few chord changes and were just too complicated for a beginner player. I really want to play better so I can play on a Martin Guitar which if you haven’t heard of, you’re obviously not into music or guitar playing. All I have to say is that a Martin Guitar is how a guitar should sound if you strum it and feel the vibrations on your body.

Sunday was mother’s day. And I took it upon myself to throw together a nice day out for my mom. I need up going to Costco and picking up a gift card to a place not to far from my brother’s house called Bensi’s and being the nice person that I can, invited my brother, sister-in-law and niece out to brunch with us. My mom was really impressed and surprised with the day out. For a brunch, it wasn’t too bad. I eat like a bird so I had fresh fruit, three slices of tomato and a slice of fresh mozzarella and 1/2 a plain egg white omelet and coffee. Yumm! After brunch, I visited my grandmother, Im not a big fan of going to visit her. She old and in the way, God forgive me for saying that but every time I go over there, she asks me when Im going to Europe with school and why i don’t have a job. Umm Im not going to Europe with school, just give me the damn three grand you promised me, and not one will hire me! Ive already filled out 8 applications lady! I have to be nice though since she is the last and only grandparent of mine left. Life’s too short so I have to be nice and not take anything for granted.

Today for breakfast, I had a 0% fage blueberry acai yogurt and coffee with almond milk. For lunch I had an unsweetened apple sauce, a cup of progresso vegetable soup and three whole wheat Dr. Kracker crackers. Yummm.

Tonight I'm going to see Dark Shadows with my parents and Im exited! I've heard mixed reviews about it, so I'll see for myself. Have a great week! 

Hello Summer!

I took my one and only final this morning at the crazy hour of 7am! On top of that, it was storming and pouring. So I ended up getting soaked but on the flip side, I got in a great spin workout soon after my final and got myself a nice hot tea! Yum!

I took a hot shower and started to pack up the rest of my room. Its amazing how quickly the semester flew by as well as the school year.

Food intake: Breakfast: banana

Lunch: soup

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May Day

May 1st and its a cold rainy day. By now, I would have thought the weather in Jersey would have reached the upper 70s. Unfortunately, this is not the case. This is the final stretch of the semester with a final Friday, a game of Jeopardy in Mythology next Tuesday and a collection of labs for my nutrition class next Wednesday night. Im actually moving out of my dorm on Saturday morning so yesterday I began to pack up my dorm room. Normally I probably would have moved out Tuesday but its much easier for my parents to come up on the weekend and unload my room. Plus, my roommate is a complete looney toon. I just know how to pick the best of the best for roommates. :P

Any who...today I went to the gym this morning and then around 2:45, Im going to walk over to the gym for yoga which will be from 3-4 at the rec center. I need to de-stress and unwind before I start my long trek of studying for finals. Im not too worried about my finals but I don't want to go into my exam not having cracked open my text book or even looked at my notes. That wouldn't be too smart considering Im looking at the moment at 3 As and 2 B/B+.

As for working out otherwise, Ive gone to the gym everyday since I got back from Easter break which was really a four day weekend. I can tell Im starting to tone up a bit and I might have actually lost a little bit of weight. Now Im focusing on maintaing my weight and building my endurance up so I can hopefully do well in a few 5K races this summer.

On to the eats! Normally when its final time, I get super stressed and restrict my intake quite a bit, sleep excessively and focus on studying. This seems to be the case and when I do try to increase my intake and add heathy choices since being a nutrition major, I know how to eat healthy, I have no appetite. Today for breakfast, I had the usually coffee with maybe 1/4 cup of canned pears ( yeah the school sucks with fresh fruit in the am hours) and about 3/4 cup of cottage cheese. Lunch was soup or more like broth with 1/4 cup of kidney beans and dinner will most likely be soup again.

By Sunday when Im finally settled back into my home, I will have my appetite back and most likely eat a normal size meal, not just soup twice a day.

Off to yoga! Have a great start to the month of May!