If you like yellow Starbursts, then you’ll love these Vitamin C with Zinc Super Chews. That’s exactly what they taste like! They’re not only delicious, though. Vitamin C, Zinc, and Echinacea strengthen the immune system while B Vitamins provide the energy support your body needs. I went through this pack in no time, and I plan to buy some more on my next trip to the grocery store.

Acai, Goji, B Vitamins, Guarana Seed Extract, and Tea Leaf Extract provide you with the energy you need in these shots, while the caffeine and B Vitamins support a healthy metabolism. Sweetened with stevia extract and agave nectar, these shots are also free of refined sugar! Did I mention they’re packed with Vitamin C too? Of the two flavors I received, the Acai Organic Energy Shot was my favorite. The acai fruit puree made it especially palatable, and once it was gone I found myself wanting another. The Goji Energy Shot wasn’t without perks, though. It tasted a bit like a liquid vitamin, but I got over this pretty quickly. I’ve read plenty of positive articles about nutritionally dense goji berries in the past, and adding a little goji juice to my diet just felt right. You know?

How about you guys? Are there any energy/immunity boosting supplements you swear by?

*Samples were provided by Genesis Today; opinions are all mine.

I mentioned my curiosity concerning Naked Juice’s Gold Machine in a previous post, but I failed to share my thoughts after I finally tried it. It’s so delicious! I tend to enjoy fresh pineapple a lot more than pineapple juices and pineapple-flavored treats, but the passion fruit and banana compliment the pineapple so well in this smoothie! And as with most Naked Juices, Gold Machine is full of important nutrients like Vitamins A, B, C, and E, as well as Zinc and Antioxidants. It’s a rare and delightful occurrence when I spot this juice at the supermarket, and I almost always buy it. I enjoyed a bottle while visiting Kirby’s family this past weekend; it was the perfect midday snack!

Image Source

I recently read a Care2 article that listed Five Ways to Add Years to Your Life, and it inspired me to eat at least a cup of raw vegetables a day. I’ve always known cooked vegetables aren’t quite as healthy as raw, but 30% fewer antioxidants is a big deal! Wednesday morning I had the bowl of carrots, broccoli, and celery pictured above with a bit of Liquid Aminos on top. Thursday I had a baby spinach salad with carrots, broccoli, avocados and tomatoes (I know, I know. The last two are fruits). I’m not sure what vegetables I’ll make a meal of today, but I have a feeling kale will be involved.

The Care2 article also mentions eating nuts to promote longevity, which is something to which I would never object. Cashews and almonds are two of my favorite snacks!

What are some of your favorite vegetables? Do you prefer them raw or cooked?

Okay, guys. I’m probably about to sound really lame, but please try your best to avoid any harsh judgement.

I recently joined an online tea community called Steepster where people can share what tea they’re drinking and how they feel about the tea as a whole. You can even stock a virtual cupboard with the teas that you actually have at home! I’m pretty intrigued by the whole thing, because I’m approaching this experience as a welcomed opportunity to learn about new, awesome teas. If you’re an ardent tea fan like me, then you should totally check it out. My username is Dawngwimes, in case you wanna follow me.

Also, on a a tea-related note, I just tried Celestial Seasonings Blood Orange Star Fruit Tea and was pretty impressed. Apparently, fighting free radicals just got tasty (in a fruity but not tart sort of way).

For those of you who are tired of all the tea talk, I promise that I have some reviews and interesting articles lined up for the rest of the week. I’ve been on s0rt of a tea kick for the past few days, and I apologize if I’ve bored anyone.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! Kirby made me the beautiful chocolate-covered strawberries pictured below. I’ve already eaten an embarrassing amount, and I’m going to take most of the rest on the picnic that I’ve planned for today. There will be frisbee involved, and it’s only logical for you to be jealous of me, my sweet boyfriend, and our good ideas.

Even the box is lovely!

Kirby and I went out in search of hand towels for our bathroom a couple of days ago, and I came across some really tasty looking tea at Ross. We found a couple of hand towels as well, but they weren’t an ideal color.. so we decided to head over to Marshalls and come back to Ross if we couldn’t find anything there. I carefully tucked my special tea away in the bottom of a pile of items to keep it safe while I was away. Imagine my surprise when I found the same brand of tea in an even tastier sounding flavor at Marshalls! I figured it was meant to be, so I bought it (along with a couple of beautiful hand towels). The tea is as delicious as I’d hoped, and it was only $3.00!

The box boasts some of Saffron’s health benefits:

1. Vitality

2. Antioxidant

3. Anti-depressant

4. Relieves Anxiety

5. Promotes Better Mood

Also, I’m starting to think that this is a week for wonderful drinks.. because Danielle introduced me to fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice yesterday, and I fell in love. Until yesterday, I had an aversion to grapefruit juice in general because I’d only ever tried the store bought kind (which tastes like pepper and is a complete nightmare). Fortunately, fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice is not at all like the store bought kinds that I’ve tried. It’s sweet and refreshing a just bitter enough give it an entirely different flavor than other citrus juices.

And I can feel good about drinking grapefruit juice, because grapefruits contain lots of vitamin c, fiber, antioxidants, and they even contain cancer-fighting compounds and promote weight loss!

Danielle takes the sweetest little pictures.

What are some of your favorite healthy drinks?

GoodGuide- GoodGuide rates personal care products, food, cleaning products, and even toys and paper products on the basis of their ingredients, environmental impact, and social impact. Kirby told me about this website yesterday, and I’ve been exploring/loving it nonstop since. I even got the GoodGuide app for my phone, which allows you to scan the barcode of a product and see its ratings!

P.S. I promise I’m going to tell you guys about all my awesome Christmas presents soon, but I need to to do some serious picture-taking first.

Image Courtesy of Intelligentnutrients.com

I received the most delicious, free, organic, dark chocolate bar in the mail today. I already sort of  liked it before I tried it. I’m always up for dark chocolate since it’s loaded with antioxidants, and we all know that antioxidants neutralize free radicals. This chocolate bar has fancy ingredients like organic meals from raspberries and cranberries and organic oils from pumpkin seeds, cranberries, and raspberries. It’s also made with organic blueberries and organic lemon essential oil. You can definitely taste the lemon, but it’s just very subtle and very tasty. I let Kirby and Danielle try it, and they liked it too!

Check out Intelligent Nutrients Innercalm In-fused Chocolate for yourself, and browse the rest of their products while you’re at it. I’ll be trying and reviewing the Harmonic Shampoo and Conditioner and some of their styling products in the near future, which were sent to me with the chocolate bar . Hooray!
Read more about the benefits of dark chocolate, and how much you really need to get an antioxidant boost, in this neat Care2 article.

I enjoy an occasional glass or three of red wine.  I recently stopped hating the taste of it, and I’d choose a glass of Merlot over a glass of Chardonnay any day.  I’m not a wine connoisseur, by any means, but I know that I prefer the taste of red to white. I’ve been able to justify my consumption of wine thus far because of the antioxidants that it provides and the effect that it has on both good and bad cholesterols.  Apparently, though, dark grape juice is a fine substitute for boosting flavonoids (antioxidants) and lowering low-density lipoproteins (bad cholesterol). The only area where grape juice seems to fall short is in the high-density lipoprotein (good cholesterol) department.  Wine seems to be better at increasing good cholesterol.  Still, grape juice seems like a better choice when you take into account the free radicals that alcohol tends to create.

It just so happens that I love grape juice more than most things, so I was pretty delighted to read the articles below. I know that one of these articles is ten years old and the other is five, but this is the first I’ve heard about grape juice providing almost all of the same benefits as wine.  I’m not swearing off wine or anything, but I’ll probably drink grape juice more often than I’ve been drinking it.

There ya go:

Wine or Welch’s? Grape Juice Provides Benefits without Alcohol.

Wine vs. Juice

If anyone else has come across an article or two (perhaps a newer one?) about the benefits of wine compared with those of grape juice, then I’d be interested in reading them.

I drink a lot of juice, and I’ve made it a personal goal of mine to only drink juices that add something other than sugar and water to my diet. Because of this, I’ve obviously been doing some research.  I’ve learned some pretty interesting facts about all sorts of juices, but apple juice is what I’d like to discuss right now.

Other than buying organic, I’ve never been too picky when buying apple juice.  Apparently, whether or not the apple juice I’m buying is organic is is only one thing to consider.  Cloudy (or unclarified) apple juice is the way to go, for a few reasons, and I should have been buying it all along. Not only do cloudy apple juices contain more antioxidants (including polyphenols, which may combat cancer and heart disease), but they’re also said to have a better, richer taste than clear apple juices.  They’re also less processed than clear apple juices.  It’s obvious why clear apple juice has always been the popular choice: people assume that clear apple juice is somehow cleaner or more pure. Still, It’s not a logical conclusion to draw. The cloudiness is simply the presence of the pulpy, more nutritious parts of the apple. The shelf life of clear apple juice is suspiciously longer, which makes the unclarified, cloudy variety much more appealing to me.

Still, as a few of these articles point out, eating an apple rather than drinking it is your best bet for maximum nutrition, benefits, and antioxidants.

The Articles:

‘Cloudy’ Apple Juice Packs More Antioxidants

Cloudy Apple Juice Four Times Healthier Than Clear

Cloudy Apple Juice Has Clear Benefits

Clear or Cloudy-Choosing Which Apple Juice Is Best for Good Health

I steered clear of coffee for years because I thought that it was bad for me(and it probably would’ve been with all the cream and sugar that I used to add when I occasionally indulged in coffee).  Who knows why I thought that , but something tells me that a lot of people are under the same impression.  I’ve been reading loads of articles lately that suggest otherwise, and almost daily I’ve been discovering new and exciting benefits of frequent coffee consumption.  Among the benifits are reduced risks of colon cancer, liver cirrhosis, diabeties, cavities, and Parkinson’s disease. It’s also packed with antioxidants and can improve memory. Interestingly, a lot of the benefits are more common in men…but that’s not really surprising at all since life tends to be easier for them already. They don’t have to carry another person inside of them or bleed for 4-8 days of the month. I’ll take what I can get.

You don’t have to take my word for it. Here are a few of the articles to which I’ve been referring:

Coffee A Top Source of Healthy Antioxidants

Coffee: The New Health Food?

Coffee’s Effects Revealed in Brain Scans

I guess it’s always important to remember that most things are safe and even beneficial in moderation.   I’m not suggesting that anyone drink four pots of coffee a day. That’s nonsensical.