Looking for a perfect cookie that your great, great, great, great, great grandmother use to make? I have found the perfect match! Caveman Cookies have hit the market with 100% all natural ingredients including ingredients such as honey, nuts, and berries. Chewy and delicious, these cookies are Gluten & Dairy free with only 65-75 calories per cookie.

Caveman Cookies is founded in New York when Stephanie Lester’s passion for a healthy, natural lifestyle and wholesome eating drove her to make a 360 degree turn in her career as an attorney towards a baker and entrepreneur.

Ever heard of the Paleolithic Diet, aka the Paleo Diet? The Paleo Diet is based off the Caveman or Stone Age Days, where families were forced to eat from the raw earth and hunt with their bare hands. The Paleo Diet eliminates all processed and “fake” foods including grains, dairy, salt, sugar, processed oils, and legumes and replacing them with foods that hunters and gatherers once ate. This includes fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, roots, fish, and grass-fed pasture raised meats. . . practically anything you can find out in the wilderness.

Health benefits of eating a diet based on the hunter and gatherers are numerous. Research has found that eating a plant based diet will improve diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, improve inflammatory diseases, prevent syndrome-X (including gout, type II diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and obesity), improve conditions such as osteoarthritis, kidney stones, insomnia, and strokes.

Caveman Cookies are perfectly paired with the Paleo Diet with their all natural ingredients! Caveman Cookies come in three different flavors including Original Caveman Cookies, Tropical Caveman Cookies, and Alpine Caveman Cookies.

Original Caveman Cookies contain almond meal, cinnamon, ginger, honey, raisins, and walnuts

Tropical Caveman Cookies contain almond meal, coconut, ginger, honey, and macadamia nuts

Alpine Cavemen Cookies contain almond meal, hazelnut meal, honey, and toasted carob

Whether you are on the Paleo Diet or just looking for a snack or cookie to enhance your diet with healthier foods to provide you with the most energy, Caveman Cookies are they way to go. I had a great opportunity to try Caveman Cookies for myself and these were my thoughts.

Pros:

After trying all three cookies, I give them all a two thumbs up. Although I would have to say that my all time favorite is the Tropical Caveman Cookie.

These cookies taste delicious and are full of flavor

Cons:

Caveman Cookies are small for the amount of calories per cookie. However, the calories come from all-natural ingredients that provide high energy and healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

I won’t even begin to share with you about the green ladybug I found in my Paradise Bakery Strawberry Poppy Seed Salad last night . . . and the salad looked so good. But we all know you are guys are just interesting in the word “Giveaway” found in the title of this post.

Corazonas was gracious enough to send me samples of their oatmeal squares … and my life has never been the same since they arrives in the mail. These oatmeal squares are seriously a party in your mouth. Way better than any bowl of oatmeal I make in the morning and much more convenient for those on-the-go mornings.

Corazonas Oatmeal Square flavors include Chocolate Chip, Brownie Almond, Banana Walnut, Cranberry Flax, & Peanut Butter. I would have to say that my all time favorite flavor is the Chocolate Chip. It’s just a perfect combination of chocolate and oatmeal flavoring.

The Corazonas Oatmeal Squares contain approximately 190 calories, 6g of fat, 6g of protein, and 13g of sugar. In order to resist the temptation of eating several in one day I have found that splitting it in half is the perfect way to go. I eat one half in the morning between breakfast and lunch and the other half for a bedtime snack.

Savor the Bite!

So what’s so special about Corazonas, besides the fact that they taste A-M-A-Z-I-N-G?

Corazonas aid in lowering bad cholesterol (LDL cholesterol) levels through the use of Plant Sterols, which “reduces the absorption of cholesterol in the small intestines by up to 50%.” Plant Sterols are found naturally in fruits, veggies, & whole-grains as a plant based compound. Corazonas Snacks are packed with just enough plant sterols to initiate the effects of lowering bad cholesterol within the body.

Not only are Corazonas Snacks great for lowering bad cholesterol levels through Plant Sterols but oatmeal is also known to play a part in lowering cholesterol as well. Talk about the best gift for your heart!

Corazonas Snacks not only include oatmeal squares but also tortilla chips & potato chips. I can’t wait to try these little guys if they taste anything like the oatmeal squares.

These heart healthy snacks are a perfect way to kick off the morning, an energy kick for those afternoon blues, or to close off the night.

It would be a joke for me to rant and rave about how amazing Corazonas Oatmeal Squares are without giving you the opportunity to win a sample package… You can thank me and Corazonas Snacks later.

Guidelines to the Corazonas Giveaway

MANDATORY:

Visit Corazonas Snacks and leave a comment with the link to the oatmeal square flavor you think you would like the most

AND

Subscribe to She-Fit

For additional Entries (Separate Comment for each Entry!)

• Like Corazonas Snacks on Facebook
• Follow Corazonas on Twitter
• Like SheFit on Facebook
• Follow SheFit on Twitter
• Tweet about this giveaway
• Link back to this giveaway on your blog post (5 entries)
  

The winner will be announced Friday, July 15, 2011

After writing about the 10 healthiest cereals that where She-Fit approved, I realized that most of these cereals can get a little boring after a while. Not a lot of taste goes into them, which is why most of these cereals have a longer shelf life than, lets say Coco Puffs or Fruity Pebbles.

Now those cereals are addicting . . . I might have a major cereal addiction problem!

But the best part about these boring cereals is that you have the pleasure of being creative to spice up your own bowl the way you like it. While some people have a sweet tooth, others have a salty one. It works for all! So the top 10 healthiest cereals actually have a better advantage over Lucky Charms.

If you don’t like marshmallows than you are screwed!

As a child my brother and I would add spoons of sugar to our bowel of “Healthy” cereal. There is just something about scrapping the spoon against the bottom of the bowel to get a spoon full of sugar… have some Cheerios with your sugar!

Unfortunately spoonfuls of sugar will not be on the list of healthy ways to spice up the top 10 Healthiest Cereals that are She-Fit approved!

Here are ways to spice up your bowl of cereal without going overboard on calories or will end up putting you in a sugar coma.

Healthy Cereal Toppings

- Strawberries, Bananas, Raspberries, Blueberries, Pears, or Mango

- Dehydrated Fruits

- Frozen Berries

- Drizzled Honey

- Stevia

- Raisins / Craisins

- Chopped Nuts

- Coconut Flakes

- Melted Peanut Butter

- Melted Sugar Free Jam

- Cinnamon

- Drizzle Sugar Free Maple Syrup

- Blend Protein Powder into the milk and pour over cereal

- Flex Seeds for a rich bowl of Omega-3 Fatty Acids

- Mini chocolate chips

- Skip the milk and use Greek Yogurt

See, healthy cereal isn’t all that bad. With so many ways to create a cereal masterpiece, you are sure to not get bored with your cereal.

What is your favorite way to eat bland cereal?

Photos:

Image: photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image: Michelle Meiklejohn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

zestycook.com

She-Fit’s Healthiest Cereals

The snooze button goes of a few times, stumble out of bed and the race to get out the door in the morning for work begins. It can be tough to sneak in a moment for breakfast and as we all know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Which is why it’s not only important to make the extra 15 minutes in the morning dedicated to breakfast, but to choose a breakfast that will give you the most energy and fuel for your day.

Cereal has been a staple breakfast food since the 1860’s as a ready-to-eat meal. Now and days you get lost in the cereal aisle with the array of cereals to choose from. The cereal industry includes over 30 companies with combined revenue of $12 billion dollars. Choosing a healthy cereal can be hard to choose from the endless varieties that are packed on the grocery shelf. Even the most proclaimed “healthy” cereals are be loaded with sugar, leading those to believe they are eating healthy. Only to find they are starving an hour later due to a drop in blood sugar. Just look at Raisin Bran or Raisin Bran Crunch. Yes, the cereal is loaded with fiber and the nutritional value from raisins but the sugar content exceeds 20g of sugar in 1 cup or less… Talk about sugar overload! Healthy cereal can be hard to come by when you are just going by advertisement. Unfortunately cereal companies spend millions of dollars on sugar-loaded cereals to advertise towards children. When was the last time you found a toy at the bottom of a corn flakes box? And lets face it, when I went shopping with my mom as a kid, I always looked for the cereal with the best toy… and ironically all these cereals were at my eye level. Grocery stores have found too that putting those sugar coated cereal at 3-4 feet on the self brought in more revenue… sneaky sneaky! Never bring your kid cereal shopping J

So, what makes cereal healthy? While everyone looks for something different in the terms “ healthy,” I look for 5 different things. 1.) Whole Grains 2.) High Fiber 3.) Sugar content of less than 5g per serving 4.) Little to no High Fructose Corn Syrup 5.) Less than 1g of fat To make it a little easy in searching through the cereal aisle for several hours, I have made a list of the top 10 She-Fit approved, “healthy cereals” with most or all of the 5 healthy cereal requirements.

1.) Kashi Go Lean Cereal

2.) Special K Cereal… Or my favorite, Special K with Blueberries

3.) Kix Cereal

4.) Rice Chex Cereal

5.) Crispix Cereal

6.) Cherrios Cereal

7.) Total Cereal

8.) Corn Flakes Cereal

9.) Fiber One Cereal

10.) Rice Krispies Cereal

While most people think that these cereals are boring, there are plenty of ways to spice up bland cereal. But that post will have to wait for tomorrow! What’s your favorite way to spice up bland cereal?

Photo by Sura Nualpradid / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Broccoli Sprout’s: Explaining the Vital Role of Vegetables in Muscle Growth

Vegetables are often forgotten in the muscle builder’s diet. Instead, most people focus their diets on foods rich in protein, such as fish and chicken. They tend to avoid vegetables because they don’t add on calories in heavy quantities. However, if you’re on a plan towards building more muscle, do not overlook the importance of vegetables. Muscle building vegetables provide many of the nutrients that are essential for building muscle mass. By consuming at least two cups of vegetables a day, you will be meeting these nutritional requirements.

Excellent source of fiber

Fiber is the most neglected nutrient for most muscle builders. Fiber provides bulk and is contained in high amounts in vegetables. Furthermore, fiber keeps blood sugar levels consistent. When your blood sugar levels reach a low, it results in an increase in cortisol which is a hormone that breaks down muscle tissue and makes recovery much more difficult. Most muscle builders get their protein from animal meat. However, if this meat stays in the digestive tract for too long then they will produce toxins that can have a negative impact on your health. Fibers absorb amino acids, which keep the walls of your intestines clean. Having enough fiber in your diet will allow foods to move smoothly through your digestive system.

Vegetables: peas, chickpeas, broccoli, spinach, corn

Reduce estrogen levels.

Certain vegetables contain phytochemicals that have anti-estrogen properties. Lowering estrogen levels can be helpful for body builders because they fight body fat, increase testosterone levels, and reduce water retention. Fat cells are full of aromatase, which stores large quantities of estrogen. Furthermore, elevated estrogen levels in men have been linked to prostate cancer and heart disease.

Vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage

Excellent source of vitamins and minerals.

When building muscle, your body needs nutrients to build and repair muscle tissue. However, most people do not get the right amount of vitamins and minerals to sufficiently build muscle. Although multivitamins and multiminerals are often used, these are not as effective as whole-food sources. By eating vegetables, you will be enhancing your body’s ability to intake vitamins and minerals from other sources, such as meats and supplement tablets. These vitamins will help break down proteins, maintain muscles, and metabolize carbohydrates.

Vegetables: sweet potatoes, kale, carrots, spinach, avocado, broccoli, peas, asparagus, green pepper, mushrooms, corn, onions

Break down protein for muscles to absorb.

While vegetables do not build muscles themselves because of their low protein content, they help break down proteins for our muscle to absorb more easily. This allows your body to be more effective at using all the extra protein you are taking in when actively building muscle. Nutrients in vegetables will help enzymes in your pancreas and small intestine complete the breakdown of large protein molecules into amino acids for your muscles to absorb and utilize.

Vegetables: Broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, cabbage, mushrooms

Guest Post by Brett Warren

Brett Warren is a fitness and weightlifting enthusiast from Boston, Massachusetts. He is passionate about nutraceutical science and loves his job developing workout supplements for Force Factor. Brett’s extensive background in biochemical engineering means he’s one scientist you don’t want to mess with. When Brett is not crushing it in the gym or working at Force Factor, you can find him spending time outdoors with his family.

Photos:

Image: Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image: Pixomar / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image: Bill Longshaw / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image: Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image: Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Survival Guide to Kitchen Temptations

Temptations to gorge your face with greasy or fatty foods are lurking everywhere you go. From the large billboards with enticing pictures of burgers and fries to the local ice cream shop advertising $1.00 ice cream sundaes, the decision to walk away can be very hard.

But what about when you walk into your home? Where are your temptations lurking within your kitchen? Could it be in the pantry when poptarts, crackers, and cereals are hiding? Or is the temptation calling your name from the freezer where the ice cream sandwiches can be found? Whether you have a sweet tooth or a salty one, everyone has those foods that can cause massive damage if the temptation is just too strong to resist.

The temptations for me come from the pantry where cheez-its and cereal lurk. They seem to have a rather short shelf life in my house. Buy the groceries Sunday and by Tuesday the box of cheese-its are completely empty… not even a crumb to spare. And yes, I might have played a part between Sunday and Tuesday when no one was looking. But where did this short shelf life mentality come from?

As a child I grew up in a rather health home. My mom did a great job at keeping the pantry and refrigerator clear of junk food and sugary cereals. Not a cookie in sight when it came to our house, except for the occasional ones we would find hiding when my parents weren’t looking. Dinners were always matched with veggies and salad with a yogurt or fruit cup for dessert with cool whip. My home was temptation free!

While a kitchen free from junk food and desserts as a child was great for learning healthy habits, I never really learned me how to act around these foods when out in public or in college with roommates who had great self control. And now, living with my husband whose prime staple foods are ironically my temptations leaves me a huge mess. As a child I would over eat to the point of getting sick at birthday parties because I never knew when I would see these foods next. Now, 20 years later, I find myself with the same mentality and a short shelf life for my temptation foods.

Through the years of being married I have found one too many boxes of cheese-its going before the week even ended due to this mentality. And while I could easily just tell my husband that I am not going to buy these foods anymore, I forced myself to learn how to function around the junk food so even in public I can have one serving and be content. So how did I learn to function in a life surrounded by junk food and sweets?

Here are 5 simple steps to functioning around junk food:

1.) Set Limits

Allow your self to have 2 Oreos each evening but prepare yourself to close the box and put them away. Mentally prepare yourself to have just one serving size and get the water ready from when you are done eating. Water is great way to prevent seconds. Have some fresh veggies on hand if you are still hungry after an hour.

2.) Zip It, Lock It, Snap It

Check out this article I wrote on utilizing zip lock bags. Zip lock Baggies is great for portion control. The minute you get home the grocery store, throw your food into individualizes serving size bags. This way you can snatch it and go without the temptation of reaching back into the box for another hand full of Doritos.

3.) Choose your locations wisely

Placing your temptations on top of the refrigerator might not be the wisest decision. Visually seeing your temptations when no one is around is hard to resist when they are screaming out your name. Place them in a cabinet where you can’t see them and they can’t see you.

4.) Plan It

Decided at the beginning of your day when you are going to eat your temptation. I like mine at the end of the day so that I am not temped for the rest of it. I always reminded myself is that they will be there waiting for me tomorrow at 8pm when the temptation comes to reach back in for one more.

5.) Buy your temptations once a month

Knowing that your temptations will only be bought once a month will really help conserve your rations after just one month of going through it in a few days. And only buy one or two temptations. Too many temptations at once can lead to major disaster.

While keeping a kitchen free of temptations is the ideal thing, learning how to work with them is another. This week I challenge you to keep that shelf life just one more day longer than the next!

What are your kitchen temptations?