supplements – Burpees to Bubbly

Hi friends! Did you guys have a good weekend? I did! Short recap version: Friday night pizza on the grill night with RM, Saturday boxing at Everybody Fights with my coworker/friend and then pedicures, shopping with RM, heading up to Maine, rehashing/looking through wedding photos with mom & dad, birthday party, pool time & dinner at home. All in all, it was pretty great 🙂

What I also got to do to kick off the weekend was check out the Lynnfield Whole Foods’ supplement section in preparation for their upcoming sale this weekend, 8/12-8/14. Similar to last year, they are offering 25% off all supplements and powders, which is a really incredible deal!

To help promote the sale, they invited me in to speak with the Assistant Team Leader in the Whole Body department. Nick was incredibly informative and knowledgeable about the products that they sell. It was especially nice because he is also into health/fitness so a lot of the things I was asking about and products I was looking for were ones he was very familiar with so I really valued his suggestions.

In the end, I walked out with this loot:

Vega Protein Powder– I’m a big fan of Vega products, so I was excited to hear that they created a new line for post workout recovery. I tried a packet after boxing on Saturday and it was delicious!
Renew Life Ultimate Flora Probiotic– RM has been trying to get me to take a probiotic for years, but it’s something I never think to buy on my own, so when I visited Whole Foods I made sure to ask Nick about them. He recommended this brand and I’m excited to see if I notice any difference in how my body feels when taking it.
Gaia Ashwagandha Root– Nick suggested this when I told him I’ve been pretty stressed lately because he said it helps to respond to stress better. In his words “it allows me to feel more calm when I start my day and whatever it is that’s stressing me out”. <– I’ll take that! What I liked about this brand is that there’s a barcode on the back so you can see exactly where the roots/herbs were grown.
Zyflamend- As we talked more about what I do on a day to day basis, Nick suggested this herbal pill to help with inflammation and pain relief. I’m interested to see if this will have any effect after hard workouts or if I’m feeling sore from something else.

All in all, I’m excited about trying out these supplements because they all seem like natural ways to help regulate various things in the body. I’ve never been good at taking anything regularly (vitamins, probiotics, protein powders, etc.), but I’m hoping that with these great products I can get into a better rhythm of taking them.

If you’re in the need for any sort of health & body supplements/herbs/etc. (protein powders, vitamins, probiotics, oils, etc.), I suggest heading over to Whole Foods (especially the Lynnfield one because that section is so big) and taking advantage of this sale!

Questions for you: Do you take any supplements? Do you take any vitamins? Post workout recovery assistance?

Whole foods graciously gave me these products to try, as well as a gift card to use at their store on a later date. All opinions- as always- are my own. I truly think this is a great deal worth sharing!

Hi there! I realized I had a few things that I’ve been enjoying lately so I thought it was the perfect time to do another post sharing those things. I always like when bloggers do these posts because there’s always something I “take away” and try out for myself- hopefully the same for you with some of these today!

Wrap-less “wraps”- We ran short on wraps a few weeks ago when we were making lunches for the beach down on the Cape so RM and I volunteered to go wrap-less and used the thicker cut turkey as the “wrap” and put the rest of the goodies inside. The verdict? We LOVED them and ended up doing it again recently. I realized that we didn’t really need the flour wraps since we always bring chip-like treats to the beach, too. For mine, I put a layer of turkey, then swiss cheese, then hummus and spinach and a little rice. RM layered all the deli meat his mom had bought, swiss cheese, hummus, mustard and spinach.

High Buns- Now that my hair is longer, it’s so easy to whip up a quick little bun for the top of my head, which is perfect for the hot, humid days we’ve had this summer. My hair was just too big and curly and frizzy to leave down so twisting it up with just a simple elastic solved the problem!

Arbonne Workout Supplements– Jessica Champagne was in touch with my mom back in Maine and when she found out that I was into health and fitness, she provided me with some samples and then contact me to discuss Arbonne products further (I wasn’t asked to do any sort of review or anything, I’ve just really been enjoying the products and wanted to share them with you). I’ve always been a fan of Arbonne products because their ingredient lists are really good. From Jessica’s intro page: Arbonne’s philosophies are PURE, SAFE, AND BENEFICIAL! Botanically Based, PH Correct, HypoAllergenic, No Animal Testing, No Animal By Products=VEGAN, No Mineral Oil, No Dyes or Chemical Fragrances, Many of Arbonne’s Herbs are Organically Grown in Swiss Alps above Pollution Line and Arbonne uses Pure Alpine Water. Jessica was sweet enough to offer to send me some Phytosport products, which I graciously accepted because I’m still on the hunt for the right pre/post workout supplements. I’m hesitant about supplements in general because I don’t like filling my body with weird stuff, but I have to say I am a big fan of these products so far. The number one thing is that they don’t have caffeine in them, which is really important to me since I don’t drink coffee or tea or anything with caffeine in it so it tends to make me jittery which isn’t good before or after a workout 😉

I haven’t really used much of the “prepare and endure” or “complete hydration”, mostly because I forget about them, but I have been using the “after workout” supplement pretty religiously and love how well it hydrates me after my workouts. From their site: “After Workout delivers an ideal (2:1:1) ratio of branched-chain amino acids that help alleviate exercise-induced muscle soreness to support recovery. A unique antioxidant from pomegranate helps combat free radicals created during workouts, while carbohydrates help support energy recovery.” Although there is a small amount of sugar listed on the ingredients list, the other ingredients fit a lot of the things I’m looking for. If you’re interested in learning more, I suggest contacting Jessica because she is very knowledgeable about Arbonne products.

Morning Runs- All summer I tried to run on Monday mornings in order to free up my nights. Although it’s never easy to get up and out the door for a morning workout (for me, anyway), I’m always so happy when I do it. The crisp fall mornings recently have been a nice welcome… and the running routes around our new apartment is not so bad 😉

New Fall Booties- I made the mistake of going into TJ Maxx recently when I was in the mood to shop. $95 later and I walked out with a bag of goodies that I ‘needed’, including these beautiful fall booties. I just couldn’t NOT get these- they’re the perfect height, color and fit and I can see myself wearing them A LOT!

Living with RM! I promise I’ll stop being mushy after this week 😉 I love when he leaves me little notes if he leaves before me:

Questions for you: What are you crushing on these days? What fall fashions are you loving this year? Do you like any particular pre or post workout supplements?