Health and Nutrition - Faith and Family Reviews

Tag Archive for Health and Nutrition

5 Ways to Use Garlic

Posted by html404 on February 17, 2012
in All Natural Products, Food and Treats, Health, Health and Nutrition

I had so many ask me what I was going to do with all our garlic last week that it inspired a post topic for this week! We enjoy using fresh garlic over powdered. While we like it I have to admit that we do not use it a ton. Guess we don’t want to smell like garlic!

5 Ways to Use Garlic

1. Antioxidants. Garlic has a powerful antioxidant. Studies have shown this – especially aged garlic. Antioxidants can help to protect the body against damaging free radicals. There are claims that fermented black garlic contains even higher antioxidant levels than normal cloves, which is very interesting and something I did not know. (Source: Garlic Central) In our home, we make a mixture of garlic and honey to help combat scratchy throats at the onset of a cold. Only a few of us can stand it though, especially since the daughter that mixes it up LOVES garlic!

2. Antibiotic. Modern science has shown that garlic is a powerful natural antibiotic. The bacteria in the body do not appear to evolve resistance to the garlic as they do to many modern pharmaceutical antibiotics so the health benefits can continue over time rather than helping to breed antibiotic resistant “superbugs”. Too bad medical professionals wouldn’t use this more often! (Source: Garlic Central)

3. Insect Repellent. Garlic not only repels mosquitoes, but it also repels ticks, fleas and other parasites. (Source: Life Hackery) Great for us and our pets!

4. Natural Pesticide. Commercial pesticides are harmful not only to the environment, but to humans and animals. Garlic is all-natural but it can be as effective as any commercial counterpart. Mix garlic cloves and extracts with pepper and a bit of soap to make a homemade garlic pesticide. Some gardeners have found this garlic mixture effective in keeping animals such as rabbits, deers, and groundhogs away from their gardens. (Source: Life Hackery)

5. And of course. Cooking. It can be sauteed, dried, roasted or pressed and added raw to salad dressings and such.

There are many other uses for Garlic, this is only a small sampling. It is one herb that we shouldn’t live without!

Sources:
1 and 2 from Garlic Central.
2 and 4 from Life Hackery.

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Watch FRESH online for FREE – 1 week only!

Posted by html404 on January 26, 2012
in DVDs & CDs, Food and Treats, Free Stuff, Guest Post, Movies

For today’s Thrifty Thursday post, we have a FREE movie! Those interested in our current food system you can now watch the movie FRESH online this week FREE! Here’s an email that I received from FRESH:

Here at FRESH, we’re always looking for ways to build the good food movement and reach a tipping point where sustainable food is the rule, not the exception. So, we’d like to continue spreading the word with an exciting new initiative: FRESH is available for viewing online for FREE! For a limited time (we do need to pay our bills after all), you can access the full-length film from your desktop. The movie will be available for one week, from Thursday, January 26th through Wednesday, February 1st, so don’t wait to watch! To access the movie, simply click below.

http://action.freshthemovie.com/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=6608

We hope that you will take the opportunity to enjoy the film and share it far and wide, with your friends, family, coworkers, school, baking club, gardening circle and more. After accessing the movie online, you’ll receive an exclusive link to purchase a FRESH DVD for home use for just $14.99, 50% off our regular price! Consider supporting FRESH and our work by buying or gifting a copy to someone you care about.

http://action.freshthemovie.com/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=6608

Cheers,

Ana and Crystal
The FRESH Team

P.S. Want to support good food and our work at FRESH? Consider adding to our tip jar.

Like this message? Forward it and pass it on!

Facebook
Twitter

Or, copy and paste the following text into Twitter: Watch @FRESHthemovie, FREE online till 2/1! Great film on how to put good food on every plate: http://bit.ly/AbfNsm

© 2008 FRESH the movie – New thinking on what we’re eating.

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HOTPANTS (TM), Not Hot Pads

Posted by html404 on November 18, 2011
in Clothing, Health and Nutrition

When I first signed up for the HOTPANTS (TM) review, I thought it was just another tummy tucker. Do you know what I mean when I say that? I just thought it was an article of clothing that tucked in all your excess baby weight. But I was mistaken. It is much more than that. It is a pair of biker shorts that was invented to sweat off the cellulite and excess fat in your waist, hips, butt and thighs. Inside the packaging is a flyer “Take the Two Week Challenge” encouraging you to weigh and measure yourself, wear the Hotpants every day for 2 weeks, then weigh and measure yourself again. After doing that share your results on Facebook and tweet about it.

My Results

Since I have only had my Hotpants for over a week and since they are required to line dry I have not been able to wear them every day for two weeks because it took them a couple of days to dry in our house. Plus I wasn’t wearing them to meetings outside our home because one they are not dressy enough and two it has been pretty chilly this week with the wind even with temps in the 50s at the beginning of this week. All that to say I have not seen any results due to my lack of consistency in wearing them.

My Thoughts about Hotpants

However, what I can say about the Hotpants is that they are warm, comfortable and fun to wear. My husband teases me saying I won’t be able to sneak up on anyone in them because they make a distinct “swishing” sound when I walk. Ha!

The Hotpants are black on the outside and yellow on the inside, elastic waistband and have a fair amount of give to them.

They fit surprisingly well. Being on the short side they fall at or just below the knee depending if I am standing or sitting. On taller folks they should fit like normal biker shorts like the photo to the left.

The Technology Behind Hotpants

Hotpants are engineered using Celu-Lite (TM) technology. They use your natural body heat to reduce the fat and visible cellulite. By wearing Hotpants you increase your perspiration by up to 80%. The Celu-Lite (TM) technology heats the body areas covered by Hotpants, promote deeper warming of your tissue leading to more sweating and thus breaking down fat and toxins which then can reduce the fat and visible cellulite. Cool, eh?

The technology behind Hotpants is called bio-ceramics, which has been around since the 70s. The bio-ceramics contained inside the material of the Hotpants, and contain far-infrared reflective particles, enabling the reflection of the body generated heat back into the tissue, warming up the tissue deep below the skin’s surface. (Reworded from this resource: Zaggora’s Hotpants product information sheet)

You can wear Hotpants during your workouts, working around your house or even sleep in them! Studies have shown that just wearing them to bed can lead to positive results in a 6-8 week time frame! Yes, I have been wearing them to bed too. 😉

Where to Buy

Overall, I really like them and look forward to having more time to see what kind of results I get.

Want some too? You can buy your own pair of Hotpants at Zaggora.com. They retail for about $71 US.

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FruitShare – Health and Garden Tuesday

Posted by html404 on November 1, 2011
in All Natural Products, Food and Treats, Health & Garden Tuesday, Health and Nutrition, Organic

Finding organic, fresh, local and in season fruit can be hard. We had numerous people at the farmers market ask us if we offered organic fruit, which sadly we did not. Then I discovered FruitShare. A company based out of Colorado that offers all of the above, except it isn’t “truly” local, but at least it the fruit is from the USA! Plus they ship it right to your door! I am hoping to try them in the next couple of weeks and will let you know how we like it. In the meantime if you want to check out their site and what they have to offer, visit www.FruitShare.com

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Fall Canning and Apple Picking Photos

Posted by html404 on October 6, 2011
in Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Health and Nutrition

Thrifty Thursday is all about canning and finding ways to provide good food for our families. Canning can be expensive, but if you are going to do it for the long haul then the initial investment is worth it. I bought canning supplies back in 2001 and we have only used them a handful of times until this year. Friends have been good to us providing produce and jars.

Apple picking. Check local orchards, neighbors who do nothing with the apples just falling to the ground in their yards and gleaning programs set up by non-profit organizations and farm partnerships. This applies to other fruits and vegetables too. We do this not only for ourselves but to provide local food pantries with fresh fruits and veggies – the ones that take them anyways.

This is actually fermenting sauerkraut and it is a before photo as I think it was a failed first attempt….maybe….haven’t tasted it yet to know for sure. Kind of scared to and you’ll know why by the next photo. A friend told me it should be fine, but I still have my doubts….

And here is one of the second batch with the first batch….notice the difference in coloring:

This is our stash of some of our canned tomatoes. We also have salsa, jam and applesauce. We are planning to make more applesauce tomorrow with two families. We will have three moms and 24 kids…..thankfully we will have a few over the age of 16! Plus some other young ladies helping equal the number above age 12!

Gleaning often means taking the leftovers that have fallen to the ground and are not perfect. However, they are perfect for canning and dehydrating.

Apple picking/gleaning is also a wonderful way to spend a beautiful day together as a family.

Happy Thrifty Thursday!

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Pure Bars Review

Posted by Brande on October 2, 2011
in All Natural Products, Food and Treats, Health and Nutrition, Organic

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

“Pure Bars are made with simple, whole ingredients and are gluten-free, vegan, kosher, and entirely delicious.”

“Pure’s Mission: Pure is dedicated to helping everyone live a pure, healthy life. We are passionate about creating delicious, innovative products made with simple, wholesome ingredients. We share our knowledge and ideas to inspire people to live a purer, healthier lifestyle, and give back to the community in a meaningful way.”

There are 2 kinds of bars:

“Pure Organic – Certified organic, gluten-free, raw, and vegan, our mouth-watering fruit-and-nut bars are the ultimate pure snack bar. Pure Bars provide completely clean and balanced nutrition in an enticing and entirely delicious bar. Made with only simple, real ingredients, Pure Bar will nurture your body, mind, and spirit.”

The Pure Organic Bar flavors are Chocolate Brownie, Wild Blueberry, Cherry Cashew, Apple Cinnamon, and Cranberry Orange

“Pure Naturals – Pure’s dedication to delicious, simple, clean nutrition continues with our innovative new line of all-natural, vegan and gluten-free fruit and nut bars. Pure Naturals come in an array of succulent flavors and are packed with 5-7 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber. Dive in to a thrilling new combination of nutrition and taste”

The Pure Natural Flavors include Chocolate Almond, Peanut Raisin Crunch, and Superfruit Crunchy.

You can visit Pure Bar on their website at www.thepurebar.com. Pure Bars are available online or search for a store near you.

My Review:

We received 1 bar of most of the flavors, with the exception of Superfruit Crunchy and Chocolate Almond. They were really good, I’m always looking for on-the-go snacks that are healthy. I like that they don’t have any unneeded sugars and are healthy for my whole family. Our favorite was Apple Cinnamon and our least favorite was Cranberry Orange. The Cranberry Orange was a little too Orangy for us. We enjoyed all of them and plan on purchasing them in the future!

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Activia Selects Review

Posted by Brande on September 27, 2011
in Food and Treats, Health, Health & Garden Tuesday, Health and Garden Tuesday, Health and Nutrition

My Review:

We received French Selects Cherry, French Selects Fruit on the Bottom in Mixed Fruit and Greek Selects in Vanilla. We love yogurt in our house. We especially enjoyed the Activia Selects French & French Fruit on the bottom. They were smooth and creamy. The Activia Selects Greek is a thick yogurt. We don’t usually eat Greek yogurt, because of it’s thickness. But, it was still very enjoyable.

Go to this website and you can get your own free Activia Selects to try!

http://activia.us.com/products/enjoy_activia_selects.aspx

About Activia Selects:

“Everyday, millions of people across the country enjoy Activia at mealtime or as a snack. So, we’re especially excited to introduce you to the newest innovations from Activia Selects – new styles of yogurt made from recipes inspired by global cultures, including those from Greece and France. Each allows fans of Activia – and those who may not have tried Activia before – to explore the wider world of tastes and textures offered by a brand they already trust and love.”

“The new Activia Selects styles and flavors, including French style, with large fruit bites layered on the bottom, and Greek style, a creamy blended yogurt. As always, Activia Selects, made with the unique pro-biotic culture Bifidus Regularis, can help regulate the digestive system when consumed daily for two weeks as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle, so you’ll feel good about what you’re eating.”

“Partnering with Activia Selects is Johnny Luzzini, award-winning executive pastry chef and “Top Chef just Desserts” head judge, who can share delicious ways to explore new flavors and textures based on cultural recipes.”

Activia Selects French are available in Cherry, Mango, Pineapple, & Blackberry. Activia Selects French Fruit on the Bottom are available in Strawberry & Mixed Fruit. And the Activia Selects Greek come in Vanilla, Blueberry, Strawberry, & Pomegranate Berry.

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Monday Motivation – Know Your Food, Know Your Farmer

Posted by html404 on September 12, 2011
in Farm Stuff, Food and Treats, Monday Motivation, Organic

This little guy says it all for me today, what an inspirational kid, eh?

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NEW! Health and Garden Tuesday Post

Posted by html404 on September 6, 2011
in All Natural Products, Family Stuff, Health and Garden Tuesday, Health and Nutrition, Home

I just wanted to share a little testimony for this week’s post on Health and Garden Tuesday. Over the weekend I went with a friend to give a Raindrop to a client who won a free Raindrop with a qualifying order at one of my friend’s meetings. I was acting as her assistant and had to ring out two towels with hot water. The only thing is I made the water too hot and burned my thumb so much so that it started smarting and blistering right away. I was not able to put anything on it until Sunday morning and when I did I applied two Young Living essential oils: Purification and Lavender. The blistering is basically gone and what remains does not even hurt. I have never used an essential oil on a burn before and am very glad that I did since the pain of the burn is not as long lasting as it usually is. My burn really benefited from using Young Living essential oils.

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ResVitale Review & Giveaway

Posted by html404 on May 13, 2011
in All Natural Products, Contests, Giveaways, Health

I had the opportunity to try a new product called ResVitale. What is ResVitale? Well it’s a-

Resveratrol is a powerful polyphenol found in the skin, seeds, stem and vine of red wine grapes that exerts significant antioxidant properties. Thought to serve as one explanation for the French Paradox – the idea that the French have a remarkably low incidence of heart disease compared to Americans despite a diet rich in high-fat foods – Resveratrol has over 2,000 associated clinical studies documenting the amazing benefits.

My Thoughts-

Did this product work? Yes and no. I didn’t notice any miraculous results as I only took the product for a few weeks. (I would have been able to take it longer, but the product got soggy on our vacation and was no longer edible! 🙂 Although, one lady a few weeks ago told me that I wasn’t old enough to have eight children! 😉 So maybe it does work miracles!

I think that this product is a really neat idea! I love that it’s organic/all natural and that it’s great for anti-oxidants and anti-aging!

Giveaway!!

Enter to win A bottle of ResVitale!

Mandatory Entry: Visit ResVitale and tell me what you learned from them.

Extra Entries (Please be sure and leave a comment and link for extra entries):

1 Entry:Follow Faith and Family Reviews On Twitter

1 Entry: Follow ResVitale on Twitter.

1 Entry:Like/Friend Faith and Family Reviews on Facebook.

1 Entry: Like ResVitale on Facebook and leave a comment on their wall saying what products you would like to try from them.

2 Entries: Follow Faith and Family Reviews on Google Friend Connect (on the our right side bar).

2 Entries: Subscribe to ResVitale’s newsletter here.

2 Entries: Tweet about this giveaway. Up to three tweets per day. Include a separate comment for each and your tweet url with your comment. You may write your own tweet or use this one:

Enter to win a bottle of organic Resveratrol supplement! http://bit.ly/lgsaMW @faithfamilyrevw! Please share!

5 Entries: Blog about this giveaway and link back this post.

1 Entry: For every comment you leave anywhere else on this blog, but please leave a link with your comment!

Details:

This giveaway will run from May 13th, 2011 to May 26th, 2011 at midnight CST. The winner will be chosen through Random.org. ResVitale will send one winner their prize. Winner will be contacted via email on or before May 19th, 2011 and will be asked for their contact and other pertinent info. Winners will have 48 hours to send me their e-mail at [ffr] [giveaways] [at] [gmail] [dot] [com] (without spaces and parenthesis). Please note: This giveaway is offered to USA only.

Thanks and have fun!

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