Category Archives: Reviews

Healthy Living Reviews

Fitness Friday: Refueling!

May 24, 2013 – 8:00 am

Since I don’t have much in the way of workouts this week, I thought I would chat about some of my favorite products for refueling!

But first, the workouts!

Monday the gym was closed and since Layne was home, I took advantage of being able to sneak away without the baby. I headed to Heritage Ranch with my new speed rope and did a crossfit workout followed by a job around the ranch trail. I completed 5 rounds of 100 skips and 50 squats. That was a tough one to finish and I paid for it all week! Tuesday I was walking like a total goober. I finished in 13 minutes. I also worked on some double unders and managed to string together 10 in a row, I was pretty pumped about that.

Tuesday was yoga which was hard to get through with my sore legs from all the squats. I skipped Crossfit Tuesday night since I was at Mumford and Sons!  Thursday I strapped Liam into the stroller for our first stroller one. It was much harder than I expected. We ended up walking more than running.

With Liam still being sick, I didn’t want him interacting with the other kids at the gym and passing along his germs so that was the extent of workouts this week. 

Now on to my favorite refuel products!

The folks at AMRAP Nutrition sent me a box of their Refuel bars to try out. They are perfect to grab when I don’t have time to make a proper post-workout snack or shake. They are completely paleo with no preservatives or anything. All they contain is raw almond butter, unsweetened coconut, egg white protein powder, raw sesame seeds, raw almond chunks, raw honey, ground cinnamon and sea salt. Along with 14 grams of protein, they contain the perfect amount of amino acids to help repair and build muscle. I now have a few bars in my gym bag and even my diaper bag for those just in case moments!

AMRAP Nutrition, for Crossfit Athletes on the Paleo diet!

The number one thing I turn to for post workout nutrition is a quick and easy protein shake. This was the one thing I missed when I did my Whole 30 Challenge. The usual suspects from in my shakes include protein powder, spinach, a banana and coconut milk. Right now my favorite protein powder is Athletic Alliance Prodigy Multi-Source Protein Powder. It contains a 7 source protein blend with Colostrum, which as a mother weirded me out a bit. But I did some research and found out that bovine colostrum has many great benefits for athletes. Each scoop has 27g of protein, is low calorie and low carb, sweetened with Stevia AND is delicious. The last protein powder I tried was so chalky, didn’t have much flavor and mixed horribly. This
stuff tastes amazing, doesn’t clump and makes me feel so great after a workout.

Athletic Alliance also sent me some of their Rocket Pre-Activity and REGEN X Mid/Post Workout but because they contain stimulants, I have to wait until I’m done nursing.

Since I was such a fan of KOGE Vitamins, I decided to order their Energy Pack for an extra boost not only during the day, but pre-workout as well. Both Layne and I are excited to try these out. Don’t forget if you want to order your own vitamin packs from KOGE, use the code BEXFACTOR for 20% off.

What are your favorite products to support your workouts? 

How were your workouts this week? Hit any PRs? 

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Reviews

Koge Vitamins

May 14, 2013 – 10:00 am

Ugh, I’ve been feeling in a bit of a funk the last couple days. Just bored and unmotivated and plain old grumpy. Hopefully I can pull myself out of it for the long weekend coming up!

A few weeks ago, Andrew from Koge Vitamins reached out to me asking if I would be interested in trying out one of their vitamin packages. It seemed like a really great company from what Andrew had outlined in his email to me and what I found on their website. You could get monthly vitamin packages shipped directly to your door at a fraction of the cost (without sacrificing quality) of the expensive vitamins you invest in from the health food stores. They also donate vitamins to  kids who do not receive the proper vitamins. You can read more about the philanthropic side of the company here.

Sounds pretty great, doesn’t it? I’m a sucker for companies that give back.

I took to Google to see what else I could find out about the Canadian company. I was a little concerned when one of the first things that popped up on Google was titled ‘Koge – Don’t Buy’. I wondered what was wrong with this company so I clicked the link and found this little YouTube video:

So awesome! I was relieved it wasn’t anything awful! Oh, did I mention that Andrew gave up his Wall Street job to start this company? I think it’s admirable to give up your stable job, risk your life savings and throw it all into something your passionate about

I had a choice of which vitamin package to try out and decided on the Daily Essentials. They also have Antioxidant, Weight Management, and Energy packages. I can’t say that I feel much difference between these and my former multi-vitamin.  I would probably have to remember to take them every day, but I’m terrible for that. But I can say that I am much more inclined to order Koge vitamins than haul my kid out to the health food store to buy expensive vitamins. I really want to try out the weight management package next to see if it makes any difference with the last few baby weight pounds I’m having trouble with. 

I will definitely be ordering from these guys on a regular basis! If you’re interested in ordering, Andrew is generously offering all of you guys 20% off any vitamin packages. Just head on over to the Koge Vitamins website and use the code BEXFACTOR.

What vitamins do you take daily? 

If you gave up your career to start your own business, what would it be? I always wanted to have a live music venue/cafe/shop but I think now I would start a Crossfit gym!

(I was sent a Koge Vitamins Daily Essentials package in exchange for my honest review, all thoughts and opinions are my own)

 

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Family Reviews

Top Five Baby Items

April 18, 2013 – 8:00 am

I’ve been asked a lot what some of our favorite baby items have been so far. Layne and I discussed it and came up with our favorite things. Here is our top five:

1) Cloth Diapers - this was the first thing Layne said. We both love how easy they are and that we save a TON of money. You can read more about my experiences with the cloth diapers here.

I’m sexy and I know it!

2) Baby Hawk - We tried out so many different baby carriers, but the Baby Hawk is by far my favorite. It’s super easy to tie, it’s super comfortable and the print is bad ass. It’s so much easier to pop Liam in the Baby Hawk when out and about rather than maneuvering the stroller. It’s also great for when he’s having fussy times when he doesn’t want to be put down. Layne approves too!

3) Lamaze Space Symphony Motion Mat - For Christmas we wanted to get Liam a play mat to keep him entertained by himself. The first time we put him under it I think he nearly had an anneurism he was so excited. It plays music and moves, has lots of different textured toys (which Liam is pro at pulling off now). It’s just awesome and I’m so glad we ended up getting it for him.

4) Graco swing – A friend lent me her baby swing as she wasn’t using it but wasn’t ready to get rid of it. I’m so happy that we have it as it’s been a life saver when Liam was having nap issues. I swear within five minutes of putting him in the swing, he was out cold. Amazing

5) Halo Sleep Sack – We had lots of different swaddle things, but we found the Halo Sleep Sacks to be the easiest to use. Put them in, zip them up and swaddle. Liam doesn’t need to be swaddled anymore but we still use the sleep sacks to keep him cozy at night. It’s a great option instead of blankets.

There are a few things that I thought would be super great but we weren’t happy with or didn’t end up needing/using.

1) Angel Care Baby Monitor – I was dead set on having one of these baby monitors. They have the sensor you put under the mattress that will alarm if there’s no movement for a long period of time. This monitor saved a friends baby when she stopped breathing and I was so shaken up from that, that I needed to get myself one. I have to admit, we only turned it on for one night. Our room is right beside Liam’s room and you can hear a whisper from the other side of the house, so the monitor was really unnecessary.

2) Wipes Warmer – We had the Safety 1st Quick Grab wipes warmer. It was nice to have warm, moist wipes but they ended up drying up when it wasn’t completely full. We ended up giving it away because we stopped using it since it was wasting wipes. I think wipes warmers are great though, so I recommend buying/registering for one that you can refill with water.

3) Baby washcloths – We have a million of them so we still use them, but I find them to be so small and not absorbent that it’s easier to just use regular washcloths.

Mammas, what are your favorite and least favorite baby items?

Mammas-to-be, what are your must have registry items?

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