Kava Root

What Is Kava?

Kava (Piper methysticum) is an age-old herbal drink that was the beverage of choice for the royal families of the South Pacific. Believed to originate from Melanesia, kava grows abundantly in the sun-drenched islands of Polynesia. Although drank for centuries by the islanders, it was only during Captain Cook’s voyage to the Pacific in 1768-1771 when white man first encountered the plant and its consumption in sacred ceremonies. According to Cook’s account, natives chewed or pounded the root and mixed it with water to produce a brownish, often bitter brew which they then consumed for its psychoactive properties. A soothing drink with proven medicinal effects, kava is now available to anyone seeking to calm nerves or ease stress as well as anxiety while combating fatigue the natural way. Its special anti-depressant components fight the "blues" and bring on a happy, tranquil state. Kava is amazing for treating ailments like migraine headaches and cramps but best of all, it keeps the mind alert as the body relaxes. This traditional drink still plays a key role in Fijian, Samoan, and Tongan societies where it is drank in ceremonies meant to honor visitors, unite participants and validate their social identities. A member of the black pepper family, kava’s active properties stems from the kavalactones found in its roots. The roots are dried then pounded into a powdered form that LavaKava mixes and delivers to you. LavaKava only uses "Waka" grade kava, which contains the highest concentration of kavalactones. This ensures a pleasurable and beneficial experience every time for the consummate kava drinker.

Solo Slim Diet Pill: Must try!!

Solo Slim® is an all natural dietary supplement and new weight loss solution designed to put ease into slimming down. Each capsule is potent enough to last you through the entire day without having to take multiple pills. The only time you will have to take it is once before breakfast. THAT'S IT! You won't ever have to worry about remembering (or forgetting) to take it again later in the day.

How Does Solo Slim® Work?
Solo Slim® is made from an all–natural formula, consisting of carefully selected herbs and nutrients. The proprietary blend of these herbs and natural ingredients that is Solo Slim® was designed to suppress your appetite and safely curb your hunger cravings. Within days after taking your first pill, you will notice that Solo Slim® is working.

Eat Less and Feel Satisfied.
Why take a diet pill if you have to avoid foods that you love to eat? With Solo Slim®, you don’t have to stop eating the foods that you love. Go ahead and eat your favorite dessert without feeling guilty. You will notice that your cravings and appetite will start to decrease allowing you to eat less, and still feel satisfied. Solo Slim® won’t stop working hard at achieving your ultimate goal. It is an effective, quick and simple way to lose weight.

Why is Solo Slim Different?
Solo Slim® is a once a day, all natural, vegetarian, dietary solution that is different from all the rest. Unlike most diet pills, Solo Slim® does not contain any caffeine that may be harmful to your heart. Increasing your energy alone does not burn unwanted fat. Solo Slim® suppresses and curbs your appetite and boosts your metabolism in a healthy, all–natural way with no harmful chemicals or drugs. And of course, Solo Slim® does not contain any ephedra.

Solo Slim® is taken only ONCE a day. Many diet products that you see on the market today contain more pills per bottle because you have to take numerous pills within the course of the day for it to work. Who has the time or can even remember to do that? An entire bottle will last you a whole month. You shouldn’t have to "work" to lose weight. Just take it with your breakfast in the morning and you are good to go.

Ingredients:

Konjac Glucomannan (Amorphophallus konjac): Derived from the konjac root, this water soluble dietary fiber helps may weight loss by occupying space in your stomach, which gives the feeling of satiety (feeling full). It may also delays stomach emptying, leading to a more gradual absorption of dietary sugar which can reduce the elevation of blood sugar levels that is typical after a meal.

Lotus Leaf Flavonoids & Alkaloids (Nelumbo nucifera): Extracts from the lotus leaf that may help to suppress the appetite process and promotes lipolysis (breaking down fat into free fatty acids and glycerol).

Fucoxanthin: This extract is derived from an edible brown seaweed known in Japan as "wakame". Fucoxanthin as been shown to specifically help belly fat, enhancing the rate at which your body expends cell energy. This can increase your metabolic rate, helping to reduce body weight and abdominal fat.

Citrus Aurantium Synephrine (Aurantii pericarpium): Also known as "bitter orange" or "seville orange." This outer peel of the citrus fruit improves circulation and liver functions in the body that is widely believed to break down of fat and also increases metabolism towards healthy and permanent weight loss. Citrus Aurantium is a main ingredient in many marmalades and has also been used to flavor beer and tea!

Hawthorne Hyperosides (Crataegus oxyacantha): Sourcing from the Hawthorne Tree, (leaf and berry) this herb may help regulate both high and low blood pressure and can normalize cardiovascular functions in the heart. It can help with weight loss by slowly breaking down cholesterol and dissolving fat deposits in the body. It can also help reduce water retention by expelling excess salt from the body.

L–Carnitine Tartrate (potent and stable form of L-Carnitine): Is an amino acid found in high concentrations in the human heart and liver tissue. It may enhance fatty acid metabolism and energy production in the heart and skeletal muscle. It can help you to gain more energy, increase immune function, enhance and protect your mental faculties and lower your cholesterol and triglycerides. Its lack of toxicity and wide range of benefits make it a very desirable addition to the diet of both healthy individuals and those with various health concerns.

Decaffinated Green Tea EGCg 45%: Due to its richness in polyphenols, the numerous health benefits of green tea are undisputed in the medical community. Pertaining to weight loss, green tea EGCg may promote weight loss by burning fat, increasing metabolism, and inhibiting the movement of glucose in fat cells. It is also a powerful antioxidant and can help to lower LDL (a.k.a. "bad" cholesterol) levels.
-soloslim.com

I have been using this for the past couple weeks and it is great! One pill a day and the fat melts away. Of course I'm not eating very many carbs and only 1200 calories a day and yoga regularly. So the weight is is easy to keep off. So far since taking it I have lost 10 lbs and I only have 10 more to go before I reach my goal. I don't feel jittery, nauseated, or tired it's easy to take it in the mornings. This is a very good diet pills one of the best I've taken and if any one is looking for an extra boost in weight loss pick up a bottle. You will not be disappointed!

Side Note

Have you ever been researching a specific brand, service, or activity that you have recently sparked an interested in and keep asking yourself; dose this really work? Is it worth the money? You think to yourself, I wish a real average person who has actually used, tried, or worn a particular item could give me a real testimonial besides the paid advertisement quotes from customers. I'm starting this blog for that reason. Lately on the internet I have been investigating products I want to buy, good quality prescriptions, and even health and wellness programs, and finding no answers. So I thought I could start a blog were I can post true happenings and details of what I find about the products I have personally been looking for and give them a recommendation if deserving. Along with my findings I will also be sharing my thoughts and home remedies that have worked for me. So though most of this will be informational it will be a fun for me to write my own happenings and hopefully get comments if my ways will help anyone else!

New Years Resolution Diet! Easier Than You Think!

Earlier this fall I have started this all protein, carb-less, self discipline, crying in front of the refrigerator diet that my boss recommended. It's actually not that bad once you get past the first five days but still it's a diet. It is extremely hard for me because I have a sugar loving boyfriend that has a metabolism of a tape worm! He eats whatever foods he wants right in from of me; my favorites too brownies, rice crispies, peanut butter cups, and anything you can think of your sugar tooth craves when you are on a diet. so far I have only slipped up a few times but I just keep reminding myself the long term goal that I want to achieve and I know that I will.

So how this diet was explained to me is you need to get your body in ketosis which is the state of expelling Ketones. "What are ketones?" I thought, "how many do I need to get rid of?" He went on to explain that Ketones are a by-product or waste product when your body burns stored fat for energy. Ketones can be measured in the urine with a visually read strip, and in the blood by using the Precision Xtra® meter. Before I describe the rest of the diet, let me provide a simple review of how the body works:
• The foods you eat break down into glucose (sugar). Glucose travels in the blood and into your cells. Insulin is a hormone (or "key") that "unlocks the doors of your cells" to allow glucose to enter your cells where it can be turned into energy. So without insulin, glucose wouldn't be able to get into the cells.
• Your brain (and the rest of your body) requires glucose to function. When you haven't eaten for a while, or during the night when you're asleep, your liver releases stored glucose to keep you supplied with energy.
• If you don't eat for several days, the stored glucose in the liver is depleted, and your body is in a starvation state. In this situation, the body will break down stored fat to get energy, (and ketones can show in the urine, indicating that fat was burned) and also the body will create sugar out of other substances in the body in order to supply the brain with glucose.

So if you keep in mind that fat burns when there isn't available glucose (that is, when the body is starving) and ketones indicate that fat was burned. In this diet the key to losing weight quickly is to trick your body in thinking it's starving all the time.

Also just for some extra information Ketones are also used to help diabetics monitor their blood-sugar. A non-diabetic can show ketones if he/she hasn't eaten for several days, or is on a severe weight reduction diet. In this situation the body is starving, and there isn't enough available glucose, so fat will burn for energy and the by-product, ketones, may show in the urine or blood.

Now that you have the run down of what state you are trying to get your body in I thought I would tell you my routines and eating habits I had to develop.
first off No Carbs, No Sugar. Those will have to be the rules until you achieve your desired weight then eat in moderation.
Secondly for the first five days you must eat only 600-800 calories of all protein. This is were a healthy diet pill will come in handy. After many disappointing pills I have found that SoloSlim was both helpful and affordable. Again SoloSlim worked for my body type it may not for you but it's always worth a shot to try.
Thirdly after the five protein packed days you are able to add green leafy veggies. But you must still stay away from carrots, corn, any kind of potatoes of course, and anything that you think might ruin it. When in doubt just put it down.
Lastly, and this is the point of plateau or continual weight loss if you are strong enough. By this point you will be consistently expelling Ketones and seeing results. After the 10th day you are able to add fruit in your diet but you will have to make a sacrifice to eat a single serving. One serving of fruit equals two servings of vegetables along with all your protein. At this time I was eating 1,000 calories and added in a light exercise and in that short amount of time I have already lost 12lbs. My plan is to stay in this stage of Ketosis until I reach my goal of 130lbs. Since the holidays this winter are upon us it is getting tougher and tougher but I just think about how I'm going to look in the summer.

I kept myself on a three day grocery list trying to alternate meals when I can but when your diet is so limited it's very hard. I will just give you a list of items that I ate at assigned times of the day. Try to keep each meal at 200-300 calories.

Breakfast Meals:
2 Hard boiled eggs were big for me but i would only eat one yoke and toss the other (70 calories per egg)
Sugar-free yogurt (100 calories)
Half Large Grapefruit - once you can have fruit (45 calories)
A Slice of Ham (60 calories)
Glass of Non-fat milk (80 calories)

Snacks:
Lunch meat - Turkey, Ham, or Beef I would buy the single serving lunch meat pouches so it was easy to count and keep track of (90 calories)
Cheese Sticks - Any kind of cheese my fav was Pepper Jack and again the stick was an easy no brainer way to count the calories (70 calories)
Tofu - I like the squares found at whole foods salad bar to snack on (100 calories)
Edemadme - steamed soy beans with sea salt yum! (80 calories)
Sugar-Free Jello (10 calories) This saved my sweet tooth because you can have enough to get rid of the sugar craving and it will not hinder your diet.

Meals:
Tuna - Again they make single serving pouches (90 calories)
Salmon Loxs - So good wrapped around a cheese stick (100 calories)
Imitation crab - I would finely chop and mix with a little olive oil and then roll it in a piece of nori to make hand rolls (100 calories)
broccoli steamed
Celery
Cheese Sticks
Pastrami with mozza cheese equals Amazing! (250 calories)
Ahi Poke - Hawaiian dish I find a Whole foods
Reduced Fat Turkey Hot Dog (60 calories)
Cucumbers (5 calories)
Pickles (5 calories)


Again there is not set menu these are just tips I found cheap and easy in my busy day! Just remember to have 5 small feeding times a day; Breakfast, snack, meal, snack, and meal. A rule that I tried to follow was not eating after 8pm. But once you get into the habit eventually you will not even feel hungry after your last meal.

Now if I have any kind of sugary carbs my tummy gets slightly irritated plus it has shrunk due to the small meals through out the day. So I keep losing weight and it's not even a problem to stay away from food that make me feel sick. Keep in mind that I take vitamins regularly. I take Cranberry, Dandelion root, Kidney/bladder aid, Fiber, B12, Vitamin c, Fish oil, and a hair/skin/nails supplement. These help in keeping your whole body balanced and take anything else you feel necessary! Hope this helps let me know if you have any other great foods to eat that fit in this diet!

Lemonade Diet

Lemonade Diet

For at lest 10 days drink 10 or more servings a day of the following:

Salt water Flush recipe:

2 level tsp of uniodized sea salt
1 qt or 32 oz of luke-warm water

Lemonade Diet recipe:

2 Tbsp or 1 oz (approx 1/2 lemon)- fresh squeezed lemon or lime, not bottled juice!
2 Tbsp or 1 oz of organic grade B maple syrup
1/10 tsp or more of cayenne pepper
1 cup or 8 oz of purified spring drinking water

Or for the quick equivalent to making a whole days servings in an empty gallon jug:

The juice of 5 lemons
1 1/4 cup of organic maple syrup
1 tsp of cayenne pepper
and 10 cups of water

Mix all and shake well!!

So I have read the the routine to do for 10-20 days is to:

Wake up in the morning and immediately drink the salt water flush.

Followed by sipping all day on the lemonade mix

And at night just before bed to drink a Senna herbal laxative tea. For the tea be sure to steep covered for 10-15 min to fully extract the natural laxatives.

I have done this diet before and the worst part of anything is the cayenne pepper burns my lips more than anything. I guess that is because I never eat any sort of spicy food. When I have done this flush I lost 11 lbs in 2 weeks. So it will be worth it if you can stick to it!

Some Kidney Health Advice

In this past year I have suffered some kidney infections and urinary track infections that have lead me to be hospitalized. Two conditions in which are irritating and worse painful! Lately I feel tired and sluggish which were symptoms I had suffered in the beginning of this painful phase of my health. I have done some research on kidney health and found some good supplements from Whole Foods.

I ran into a gentlemen that was a nutritionist working at Whole Foods. He was very knowledgeable and surprisingly very eager in helping me. He has said that for years he has suffered from the same conditions UTIs and all he suggested a kidney and bladder supplement along with a dandelion root vitamin, which was shocking. How can dandelion do anything to help your kidney? but apparently it will clean the lining of your kidney and bladder expelling all the bad bacteria. So I'm going to give it a try because I don't want to go through that excruciating pain again. There was a more expensive UTI pill you can take but I'm going to work with what I got first and if I'm not getting any good results I will have to try it.

Also there is a kidney detox kit that you can do but it's 95$ I think it would be worth that much money if you had kidney stones that need passing but I'm not sure I'm that far along with my kidney problems to go through a miserable detox. Below is the information from energy Essentials.com

Winter - Adrenal/Kidney/Bladder Cleanse:
Kidneys are the filter to the body and can build toxic waste and become fossilized. Juices, tea and herbs utilized, critical to maintaining weight and protecting heart and liver.
Why This Detox?
• Do you have the urgency to urinate but little comes out?
• Do you have acne around your mouth, chin, and jaw?
• Do you have back pain?
• Do you have white strips on your nails?
• Do you have thumb ridges?
The Winter is time for Cleansing the Kidneys, Bladder and Adrenals
The kidneys are designed to filter acids and minerals out of the blood, but often get overloaded with a buildup of mineral gravel, stones, acid crystals and mineral plaque due to .toxic wastes. in the body (which is a leading cause of cancer). This sediment occurs from pounds of old fecal matter being reabsorbed into the blood stream, chemicals, insecticides, and preservatives which can build up over the years and not only turn your kidneys into rocks-but .petrified. rocks no less. This process can take over your whole kidney structure thus becoming fossilized. Popular, .acid. forming, high protein diets often help take off the weight but also can promote rapid fossilization of this organ. The time to start the powerful Kidney/Bladder/Adrenal Flush is NOW!!!
Please note that the same acid, calcium, and plaque that forms in the kidneys also lines the coronary and cerebral arteries (along with cholesterol) which causes heart attacks and strokes.
A Few Challenges Related to Kidney/Bladder/Adrenal Weakness:
• Diabetes
• Chronic Dry Tongue
• An inherited inability to absorb calcium properly or to excrete too much oxalic acid
• Dehydration
• Allergies and food sensitivities
• Obesity
• Inactivity
• A magnesium and potassium deficiency

I have all these symptoms of acne only on the chin and nails beds so as a last resort I will definatly invest in the detox. I'll keep an update on how I'm feeling but I pray that it will be better than this lethargic exhausted body I have right now!