Slim Suggestion: H2 Ohhh

We all know that we’re supposed to drink lots of water everyday. Drinking 8-12 glasses of agua daily has countless health benefits. Also, your appearance benefits from drinking enough water each day. Water hydrates your skin making you look younger and it assists in weight loss. So why don’t we drink more? Because next to delicious lattes and flavored fizzy drinks water falls flat. It’s, dare we say, a little boring. So here are a few ways to jazz up your H2O…

  • Fruit – Slice it up and toss it in. Try different fruits or even different combinations of fruit. Some popular ones are cucumbers, lemons, limes, oranges, strawberries, raspberries… and the list goes on.
  • Mint – Try adding a few mint leaves to your water. It will give it a refreshing twist.
  • Ice – Fill an ice tray with your favorite all natural fruit juice and put it in the freezer. When the cubes have frozen try adding a couple to your water for a hint of flavor.

HOW DO YOU LIKE TO DRINK YOUR WATER?

Lazy Girl’s Guide: The 5-Minute Workout For A Perkier Booty In 2 Weeks

If there’s one emoji that summarizes our workout goals, it’s that perky little peach 🍑 because let’s be real, who doesn’t want a perky booty. The only problem is finding the time (and energy) to get it. So because dragging my ass to the gym is just too much sometimes, I put together a booty prescription that would take no more than 5 minutes of your time. This ultimate booty workout promises that after just two weeks of doing this 5-minute exercise routine daily, you’ll actually be able to see a peachy difference. And you don’t need any fancy gym equipment or weights, just your own body weight, a timer, and some tunes.

Do each of these exercises for one minute, with a ten-second rest in between. It looks easy, but trust, it’s five majorly intense minutes.

1. Wide stance squats: Make sure your feet are about three to four feet apart, then turn your toes out to a 45-degree angle, and place your hands on your hips. Lower yourself down by bending your knees. To intensify the squat, hold a dumbbell in each hand and lift it up to underneath your chin each time you come up.

2. Reverse Lunges: Start with your feet together and your hands on your hips. Step backward, keeping your stance narrow, bend your knee, lowering it towards the floor. Step back up, returning to your start position. To intensify the workout, hold a 5kg weight with the opposite hand to the leg that is being lowered.

3. Side lunges: Start with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart and your hands on your hips. Shift your body weight to one leg, bending your knee until the other leg is straight. Return to the center and do the same step with the other leg.

4. Donkey kicks: Start with your hands and your knees on the floor and raise one leg in a backward motion, keeping it bent at the knee with your sole facing the ceiling. Bring your leg back down, returning to starting position, and repeat.

5. Floor glute bridge: Lie with your back to the floor, with your knees bent. Keep your arms by your side with your palms face down. Lift your hips off the ground, squeezing your abs and your glutes. Raise one leg, keeping it bent at the knee, and then lower it back to the floor. Once your foot is touching the floor, lower your hips so that they’re also touching the floor. Do it again with the opposite leg.

Which Perky Booty Workout Is Your Favorite? Comment below if you have anymore tips to enhance the booty!

Graze Snack Box Subscription Review

This week I thought I would talk about Graze, and I wanted to show you the snacks I received. Graze is a snack box subscription service that sends you healthy, nutritious snacks either weekly, bi-monthly, or once a month depending on your preference. They offer hundreds of snack options that are constantly being updated. Every month, subscribers receive eight various snack packs tailored to their dietary preferences.

Shipping + Packaging

My snack packs were organized neatly inside.

As expected, I received eight different types of snacks. A couple of the snacks I got this month were repeated from my first Graze box, but this is understandable because I was quite picky with my diet preferences. I was surprised they had as many options as they did! I chose snacks that were vegan, gluten-free, and have under 10g of sugar. If you’re less picky than I was, there will be hundreds of snack options.

Snack Reviews:

Jalapeno Cheese Taco

This was my favorite snack in the box, so I was excited to see it again! You might not think it would be vegan, but the cheese flavor is made with completely plant-based ingredients like onion powder, turmeric, paprika, and more. It’s delicious, and I love the spicy kick from the jalapenos. While having 140 total calories in a pack, this snack is also a good source of protein and fiber.

Fantastic Forest Fruits

This fruity snack is made up of soft apple pieces, cherry-flavored raisins, blueberries, and lingonberries. I was excited about this snack because I had never even heard of lingonberries and I love trying new fruits! These were pretty good – they tasted a bit tart and similar to cranberries. I really liked this snack combination. The pack had only 80 calories!

Sweet Rhubarb Jam

This snack is made of rhubarb pieces, soft apple pieces, and cranberries. It’s pretty yummy, but I prefer their snacks that have nuts as well. If I’m eating fruit, I’d rather have the real thing – like a delicious, juicy apple. Dried fruits aren’t as good as the real thing to me, and I like them better when they’re mixed with crunchy nuts. However, I did like the combined taste of these three fruits! There were 100 calories in the entire snack pack, plus it’s a great source of fiber.

Sweet & Spicy Beet Crunch

The sweet and spicy beet crunch snack is made of dried beet chips, sunflower seeds, and jalapeno chickpeas. A lot of people didn’t like the beet chips, but I didn’t mind them.

I do think they could’ve been more flavorful. I loved the sunflower seeds and the spiciness added from the jalapeno flavoring! This snack is a good source of fiber, protein, and has just 100 calories.

Veggie Protein Power

I got this snack in my last box as well. It’s made of edamame, spicy chickpeas, and cashews that are salted with sea salt and black pepper. It didn’t look like it’d be tasty, but it was pretty good. I’ve never enjoyed cooked edamame, but this snack made me discover that I like it better when dried! This snack pack has just 130 calories. It’s also a great source of protein and fiber!

Punchy Protein Nuts

One of the favorite snacks I got was these punchy protein nuts. This snack contains peanuts, almonds, and chili-lime cashews. The cashews were my favorite part because of the delicious chili-lime flavoring. This snack is also a great source of protein, vitamins, and minerals! It contains vitamin E, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, and manganese – all in one little snack pack.

Natural Energy Nuts

This was the only snack I was a bit disappointed with. They didn’t even seem to try with this one – it’s just plain almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts. I’m not into nuts except for peanuts, I didn’t subscribe to Graze to get plain nuts. I would just go to the grocery store and buy them for a much better price if I wanted this.

Anytime Energizer

The final snack I received was the Anytime Energizer, made of dried pears, dried sour cherries, and walnuts. I liked this one as well. It made a great salad topper! It provided my meal with extra sweetness as well as crunch because of the walnuts. The chewy and crunchy mixture is the perfect combination. Plus, it only has 150 calories (plus a few essential vitamins and minerals)!

Savings Opportunities

Graze offers the opportunity to get your first box for free! This is a sampler box that has four snacks rather than the regular eight – you’re only required to pay a small shipping fee. The deal is very simple to take advantage of because it’ll show up right when you go to the website.

Bottom Line: To sum up this Graze review, I was satisfied with my subscription box. I don’t mind that the snacks I got are fruit and nut-based (keep in mind this is not the case with all their snacks, only if you choose the picky diet preferences as I did). I love nuts and fruits together so this is more than fine with me. Overall, Graze is a fun and fairly inexpensive way to try out a few new snacks every month. It’s a great option for people with dietary restrictions since they have so many options! For me, this was perfect to try different snacks especially the vegan ones, I’m not the healthiest but this was super easy and eatable.
Their snacks are delicious and the packaging is very convenient to take on the go, which I love. Plus, the serving sizes are perfect. This subscription is fairly inexpensive and, in my opinion, is definitely worth it. This subscription would make a great gift as well—everyone loves snacks!

Let me know in the comments, what you think about Graze?! Have You Tried Graze Before? If so, what kind of snacks did you get and liked?

6 Reasons Why Sparkling Wine Is Healthier Than You Think

We can’t deny it – during the holiday season, we love a festive cocktail, a good glass of wine, or a glass of bubbly.  We are all for making healthier choices, we do believe there is room for a little indulgence even if you live the healthiest lifestyle. It’s all about having that balance and following the rules of moderation!

There are certain alcoholic drinks that are deemed “healthier” than the rest (i.e. the lowest in calories), but we have to admit, we have a soft spot for a glass of sparkling wine. So kick up your feet and enjoy a glass of sparkling wine after work and with friends; it may be surprising to learn that sparkling wine has more health benefits than you think!

Fewer Calories

A glass of sparkling wine can contain as little as 80 calories, while a glass of wine, beer, or hard alcohol can contain over 100!

Here’s a little cheat I learned, mix sparkling wine and sparkling water over ice. With this low-calorie drink, you won’t feel deprived when you’re craving a glass of bubbly!

More Filling

Like other effervescent drinks, when you drink sparkling wine, you’ll be able to feel fuller quickly without having the temptation to indulge. I am especially a fan of Prosecco, like Riondo Prosecco, since it’s super affordable and light-bodied with notes of apple and pear. For an antioxidant kick, mix in some fresh pressed juice. Find more Riondo Prosecco Cocktails here.

High in Antioxidants

Just like red and white wine, sparkling wine is loaded with antioxidants that can help fight free radicals, improve heart health (more on that below), protect nerve cells from damage, and reduce the risk of cancer. The antioxidants can also help prevent you from getting sick as well!

Detoxifies and Evens Out Skin

If you have any leftover sparkling wine, you can incorporate it into your beauty routine.

For those who have oily skin, soak a cotton pad with sparkling wine and use as a toner all over your face. The antioxidants will detoxify your skin while the tartaric acid will even out any discolorations on your skin.

Heart Healthy

Thanks to the antioxidants in sparkling wine (i.e., polyphenols), you’ll reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and heart attacks.

Improves Memory

After a night of heavy drinking, we usually blame alcohol for memory loss, but research shows that drinking one or two glasses of sparkling wine a week can help with memory loss, even dementia.

What Is Your Favorite Sparkling Wine🍷 ?