Juicing: How To Make It A Complete Meal

As the weather gets warmer, juicing becomes a part of my daily routine.  I usually replace breakfast or lunch with fresh juice.  To add protein to my meal, I always include a scoop of unflavored whey in my juices.

Pictured above: apple, carrot, pineapple, spinach, whey protein.

Benefits of juicing:  juicing helps you absorb more nutrients from fruits and vegetables, juicing allows you to consume an optimal amount of vegetables in an efficient manner, you can add a wider variety of vegetables to your diet.  

Keep in mind that juicing alone does not give you a complete meal.  It lacks protein, fat, and fiber.  Here's my healthy tip for a complete meal: add a scoop of protein powder (I use unflavored whey), add a scoop of the leftover pulp from the juicer, add a teaspoon of flax or olive oil.  Shake it up and you have a complete meal!

CORE Foods Review

I recently had the opportunity to try Defender Meals from CORE Foods.  CORE Meals are fresh portable food.  They are made from 5-7 raw, organic, locally grown ingredients.  Thats right, CORE Meals are 100% raw!  Because this is "real" food, it will go bad quickly, so it is recommended that you refrigerate or freeze immediately.  CORE Meals will stay fresh is the refrigerator for up to 1 month, and freezer for up to 6 months.
So, what did I think of these convenient, ready to go meals?  I thought they were pretty good!  With my busy on-the-go schedule it was great to be able to pack this healthy meal into my bag.  1 CORE Meal with 2 glasses of water is equal to a full bowl of oatmeal, and yes, it sure felt like it.  This meal kept me full for hours.

Healthy meals conveniently packed.  Raw Almond Raisin, Raw Walnut Banana, Raw Cashew Cacao (my favorite!).

Do I recommend CORE Meals?  Absolutely!  They are delicious, convenient, and best of all healthy.  For more information visit their website www.corefoods.com

Running Happy Bands Review

It's always the same.  You're getting ready for your long run, totally awesome cycle class, or any other form of cardio or sport and it's time to pull your hair back.  If you have bangs like me, you may use a barrette to pin them back, but then theres always a few smaller hairs that seem to find a spot somewhere on your forehead and begin to bug the heck out of you during your sweaty workout.  So, you pull out the dreaded head band thats "guaranteed" not to slip off your head, crossing your fingers that this time it stays on, only to pull it off and throw it on the ground halfway through your workout because you are tired of putting it back on your head over and over again!  Ugh!

Well, those dreaded head band days are now over!  I had the opportunity to try a Running Happy Band, and let me tell ya, these bands are AWESOME!  They are guaranteed not to slip, and guess what, they DON'T SLIP!  It fit very comfortably on my head, did not slip behind my ears, and thanks to the tiny clip located inside the top of the band it did not slip off the top of my head!  I wore this band for running, cycling, and during a high intensity group fitness class, and it stayed put through it all.  

After 2 full hours of cycling.

I definitely recommend these bands for any type of physical activity, and will also be ordering some more for myself!  Check out the Running Happy Bands website at www.running-happy.com for more information.  You can also follow them on Twitter @RunningHappy1 and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/runninghappyus.