August 17, 2015
Natural Detox with Purgo Teatox to Feel Better and Re-Balance Your Body
Since one of the areas I wanted to re-focus and examine is what I am eating and change-up my diet, I thought it would be a pretty great idea to kick this off with a detox. But where to start? I have seen many ‘detox’ diets online but these are not for me. I could not stick to a liquid diet nor would I be able to do so and have energy for work and the boys. What I was looking for was that something that could help heal my gut that would be easy to follow and not be too restrictive.
I was on Twitter when I came across Purgo Teatox on Twitter. After heading over to their website, I read the incredible story that founded the Purgo Tea and realized I had a lot in common with Ben. Over the last couple of years, I have been neglecting my health, making poor choices and constantly remained stressed. Some days my stomach hurt and other days I just had poor energy levels. I was not myself but did not know where to start. I started by removing gluten from my diet but even this alone was not enough. I needed something natural to help heal my gut from the inside out.
Purgo Tea is a two tea system that works by using all natural tea formulas to cleanse, detoxify and balance your body. It comes in either a fourteen day plan or a twenty-eight day plan.
The Morning Detox is had to drink every morning before you consume food or coffee. The Morning Detox contains: sencha, goji, dandelion, lemon grass, hibiscus, chamomile, acai and ginseng. It has a pleasant taste (better than some of the other herbal teas I have tried) with a slightly pink/red colour to it. I added the tiniest amount of honey to sweeten it up but the hardest part was remembering to have my cup before I had my coffee. For some reason I had such a hard time with this! Purgo Tea recommends using a calendar to help remember to drink this first which I found beneficial for me in remembering to brew my tea first.
The Evening Cleanse is made every other night and works to help relieve bloating naturally and effectively. The Evening Cleanse is made up of Locust plant, sencha, key lime, lotus leaf, cassla see, pu’reh, oolong and chamomile. I found this was extremely effective at cleansing my body but I usually saw the results the night after which was nice because other natural cleansers can be quite painful and immediate. I found the tea relaxing and semi sweet with no need to add anything extra in.
Purgo Tea encourages you to follow these four steps: drink your morning detox tea, eat nourishing food, exercise for at least thirty minutes and drink your evening cleanse. I love that Purgo Tea encourages you to live healthy and nourish your body instead of starving it or restricting it. While I did not lose extra weight on the detox, I felt better inside and out, less bloated and my stomach felt lighter (if you have ever suffered from food sensitivities I am sure you know what I mean!).
You can find more about Purgo Tea on their website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Orders can be placed on their website and shipping is free in Canada.
Have you tried a tea detox before? What are your experiences and what do you look for?
Disclosure: I received a fourteen day trial of the above mentioned products free of charge in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
August 14, 2015
Strawberry Oatmeal Cups
As part of my committment to healthy living and cleaner eating, one of the first areas I needed to clean up was my breakfast. I used to always opt for quick and easy which sometimes meant I was not choosing the healthiest options that I could have. So I wanted to combine my favourite ingredients, oatmeal and strawberries, to make a simple, clean and easy to eat on the go breakfast item.
These easy to prepare oatmeal cups were a huge hit not only in my house but also at work. They are light on the stomach (no flour!) but still sweet and satisfying will all the fruits that are added in.
Ingredients
- one egg
- one tsp vanilla extract
- one cup unsweetened applesauce
- one banana (mashed)
- 1/4 cup of honey
- 2 1/2 cups of rolled oats
- one tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 1 1/4 cups of milk (or almond milk)
- seven to eight strawberries thinly sliced
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350F.
Mix together the egg, vanilla extract, applesauce, mashed banana and honey all in one large bowl.
Add in the oats, cinnamon, salt and baking powder. Make sure to mix these ingredients together well.
Add in the thinly sliced strawberries to your mixture and mix well.
Evenly place the mixture in muffin liners in a tray. Pour roughly enough mixture to fill about 3/4 of each liner.
Cook in the oven for roughly thirty minutes or until a toothpick is inserted in the middle of each muffin and comes out clean.
Enjoy!
August 14, 2015
A Healthy Start to a New Me {Plus Giveaway!}
Sometimes you need to hit rock bottom before you realize that a change needs to happen. For me that happened last month with my overall health and well-being. I just was not and still am not happy with how I have let my health and fitness go. I stopped focusing on myself and put too much energy into things that were draining me. I realized that I needed to make a change and gave myself a start date of August 1st, 2015.
Because of my personality, I had to have clear goals set in mind and wanted to share them with you to help encourage and hold myself accountable to keeping up with goals.
So here it goes!
Long term goals:
- Lose fifty pounds, with an average of 2-3 pounds a week. This will put my weight back into a healthy category for my height.
- Follow a strict vegetarian diet with a gradual transition to vegan.
- Complete a 3 mile run.
- Organize and complete a weekly workout plan.
- Spend time every day meditating for at least five minutes.
- Practice yoga three to five times a week.
- Let go of the areas in my life that are draining me.
Every week I will come back and share my current weekly goals and how I did on last week’s goals. My hopes are that this will motivate not only myself but you to focus on your own physical and emotional well-being (something most of us don’t spend enough time on with our busy lives).
This weeks goals:
- 2 pound weight loss.
- Follow my vegetarian diet with a meal plan.
- Yoga four times a week.
- Daily evening meditation.
- Daily squat, lunge, push up and crunch challenge.
- Run daily for five minutes (I am starting out here!!).
- Stay hydrated with eight glasses of water a day.
- 10,000 step minimum a day.
I will be sharing with you on Monday how I did with these goals listed above and my new set of goals for the week.
To kick off this healthy month, I want one of you my readers to win a $50 Shoppers Drug Mart gift card so that you can splurge on yourself.
Canadian residents, eighteen years of age and older can enter via the Rafflecopter form below.
Good luck!
August 14, 2015
Heart Dancing
What would you do if your heart stopped dancing?
About Heart Dancing
Brian, his wife Christine and their 14 year-old daughter, Savanna, are a typical all American family. Their lives begin to unravel when a dark secret from their past threatens to destroy them. Divorce seems imminent unless they can discover a miracle.
Savanna refuses to stand by and watch her family self-destruct. A mysterious young woman and her dog show Savanna how to look past the physical and see the spiritual side of her situation. A leap of faith and willingness to change her perspective gives Savanna a new view of her life, her values and her purpose.
But can the adults give up their stories about the past that are tearing them apart?
Brimming with inspiration, transformation and empowering messages, “Heart Dancing” is life changing. It also introduces the 4 step process called Story Alchemy, which is used to transform the stories that threaten the Hartt’s peace and happiness.
My Thoughts
Heart Dancing is a story that so many can relate. Savanna’s family is in a deep crisis, a crisis many teens and adults can relate to. This crisis arose from decisions that were made many years ago that still haunt Christine and Brian. This haunting affects not only their relationship but now their daughter. Their family starts spiraling out of control and Savanna feels so many emotions that it is hard for her to understand and cope with them. Forgiveness is not always easy and even harder is to move forward from hurt. Each member of their family must learn to heal, understand and move forward.
An interesting concept from this book is in the form of Miracle Tokens. Miracle tokens are pieces of inspiration, wisdom and advice that you would give out to those you love or even strangers.
I found the beginning of the novel slow to start and I had a hard time reading through each story but I was happy that I pushed on through the first half of the book as I began to love the story and it was well worth it.
You can purchase a copy of the book on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Rating: 4/5
About the Author
Kathryn Eriksen is known as the “Story Alchemist.” She has touched many people with her inspirational books, blog and articles about living your best life. A lawyer by training, she transformed her own life story from anger and frustration to love, joy and peace through the use of the same techniques that she shares in “Heart Dancing.”
The Giveaway!
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
August 14, 2015
Through Waters Deep by Sarah Sundin
In Through Waters Deep, it is 1941 and America teeters on the brink of war.
About Through Waters Deep
Outgoing naval officer Ensign Jim Avery job is to escort British convoys across the North Atlantic in a brand-new destroyer, the USS Atwood. On shore, Boston Navy Yard secretary Mary Stirling does her work quietly and efficiently. She is happy to be out of the limelight. Yet despite her reserved nature she never could back down from a challenge. When evidence of sabotage on the Atwood is found, Jim and Mary must work together to uncover the culprit. A bewildering maze of suspects emerges and Mary is dismayed to find that even someone close to her is under suspicion. With the increasing pressure, Jim and Mary find that many new challenges and danger awaits them.
My Thoughts
I love a good historical novel and this is another huge hit set in World War II just prior to America entering the war. Sarah does an amazing job capturing the emotions, stress, tension and fear that arose in America prior to the country entering the war.
Mary, the most unlikely hero, personally challenges herself to step out of her comfort zone to help solve a mysterious case before tensions crack and disaster strikes. Everything that makes her the perfect secretary is what makes her the perfect ‘spy’ (I use spy in a loose term). Mary transforms in this novel and it is beautiful to witness as she struggles on her journey and the freedom she finds at the end. The mix in of a little bit of romance by Jim’s character tops off a completely heart warming, exciting and beautiful story. A story that reminds us that there is always much more to a person then the outer features or the fears that people hold against others.
You can find more reviews on the Litfuse Blog Tour page. You can purchase a copy of the book here.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
Sarah Sundin is the author of With Every Letter, On Distant Shores, In Perfect Time, and the Wings of Glory series. In 2014, On Distant Shores was a finalist for the Golden Scroll Awards from both AWSA and the Christian Authors Network. In 2011, Sarah received the Writer of the Year Award at the Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference. A graduate of UC San Francisco School of Pharmacy, she works on call as a hospital pharmacist. During WWII, her grandfather served as a pharmacist’s mate (medic) in the Navy and her great-uncle flew with the US Eighth Air Force in England. Sarah lives in California with her husband and three children.
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.