Monday, June 8, 2009

Health kick while watching the dawg...



I am fortunate enough to be watching my brother's girlfriend's dog Gunny again! He is the dog pictured on the right. I really think of Gunny as part of the family now, not just Julee's dog. He is the nicest dog. He is napping on my couch right now, chillin' out. When he's not excited about eating he is sound asleep napping....hey that sounds like someone else I live with! Gunny even let me sleep in without waking me. He does like to get up earlier than I do. He's a morning dog, I am a night dawg.

My switch to green tea and other teas is going well. I just had a refreshing glass of iced tea, a blended fusion. A mix of Trader Joes green tea, Whole Foods 365 Yerba Mate with green tea, and Yogi Tea's superantioxidant green tea. With a slice of fresh squeezed lemon and sweetened with a packet of stevia from Trader Joes. I sure am getting used to stevia in my coffee and tea. I like it. At first it had a little aftertaste but not anymore. I like to think the antioxidants, polyphenols and catechins are obsorbing and nuetralizing all the other bad things I put in my body like the nicotine and tar. Maybe it will even out? Maybe not?

I got on my health kick the other day and went to both Trader Joes and Whole Foods Market. And thanks to Lesley for mentioning to me, that WF's has stevia sweetened beverages. I tried a sort of diet-cola, called Zevia. It is a natural soda, sweetened with the stevia leaf, tartaric acid from fruit instead of phosporic acid and natural flavors. It is quite good cold on ice. I will be purchasing it again. It costs more than regular diet soda but it was very good and I did not have to go on a chemical detox to get it out of my system. Zevia comes in several flavors like root beer and orange. I've only tried the diet cola, very good stuff! There website is www.zevia.com. That's my unpaid endorsement speech.

During my health kick shopping spree I also picked up some organic pears, dried cranberries (love them!), Kefir yogurt beverage (need my probiotics once in a while..), organic bananas, organic almonds (love nuts! Takes one to know one), organic milk, and 100% cranberry juice not from concentrate..it is some strong stuff, needs to be cut with water. I'm feeling healthier just thinking about all these yummy goodies.

I also snuck in an organic energy drink that tastes great but is a little pricy. Steaz Energy drink, berry flavor. It has natural sugars, green tea, guarana, yerba mate and acai juice. Very tasty indeed. I only buy energy drinks occasionally, maybe once a month. I admit to liking the diet Rock Star energy drink, but I'm sure I'd read the ingredients today and pass on it. The Steaz brand is a healthier alternative. Caffeine, guarana, yerba mate, teas, sugar...can anyone say legal "Stimulants"!

So it's a partial health kick. More in the right direction. I need to remember to eat my vegetables and drink plain water as well. And if I can add on a regular excercise routine I'll be completely open for bid-ness. We are all works in progress.

3 comments:

  1. you might find Viso an interesting choice, only in stores in the Pacific Northwest, but they do ship and it is made in small batches. I do not work for them I swear.

    http://www.drinkviso.com/

    I am hoping this goes well for you.

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  2. Ah, very cool that you're still doing this! I used to like to drink seltzer with fruit juice as a soda-substitute, back when I could still have carbonation. Seltzer by itself is delicious too, I think. So you have changed your opinion about Whole Foods Market?

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  3. Pere, I'll have to try Viso some time. I did check out the website and it looks like a quality product, the graphics on their site are well done. The only concern I have is in the sugar free version (diet, it uses sucralose or Splenda as the sweetener. I'm trying to stay away from artificial sweetenters like aspartame, sucralose and saccharin. They seem omnipresent these days and it is hard to find products without these things in them. I hope Viso looks into adding stevia leaf as an ingredient in the future. I think as consumers get more picky and health conscious the demand will be growing for stevia drinks. Now if I were out in the Pacific Northwest I'd be going nuts over all the coffee action you have out there! It's like one big espresso stand, and that is cool with me. Thanks for stopping by! Take care.

    Lesley, I gave Whole Foods a second chance after you had commented about it a while back on here. I am glad I did that, it is a great store and they have such an interesting variety of different healthy products, it makes shopping there kinda fun actually. Again..some things are very pricey and others very reasonable, I guess that is true at any supermarket. I was impressed with the variety of beverages and teas to choose from. The stevia cola Zevia is really worth trying, I need to go back and get some more. I need to try seltzer with fruit juice, that sounds great. I read an online recipe for a green tea soda made with green tea, lime and seltzer mixed together. I need to try that one too!
    The best part about Whole Foods is the prepared foods section...they really have some great offerings to choose from and it is fun to relax and dine there while people watching. Imagine world peas...

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