Thursday, July 28, 2016

LOVE BEETS ALL, Great tasting vegan smoothie!





We all know Kale is a powerful green and we could all benefit from consuming more of it. The nutrient rich Kale is in all Brigitte’s Naturally smoothies. Along with Kale, Brigitte has added Beets, another nutrient rich food with their folate and as well as potassium, manganese,and copper. The “Love Beets All”  combines Apples, Beets, of course Kale, along with Mango, Ginger  Lemon, Chia Seeds, Apple Cider Vinegar and a touch of Cinnamon. The 8 ounce bottle contains only 70 calories with one gram of fat and two grams of protein. This great tasting smoothie gets a boost with the zingy fresh tastes with the ginger and cinnamon. 
Brigitte’s Naturally smoothies are just the thing for recovering from a tough training workout. Packed with nutrient rich kale and other fruits they taste great and are ready to go, just open the bottle. I’ve had a few of them and the Kale Power made with mango, banana, pineapple, chia seeds, vanilla, parsley, lemon, spiraling as well and of course kale. The greens are packed with tons of nutrition. The smoothies have just enough sweetness to them without being over powered by the fruit included inside them. The perfect vegan meal on the go or just a recovery drink.

These unique blends from Brigitte of Tropical Joy, Tropical Protein and of course Love Beets All. 

are all perishable smoothies and need to be kept refrigerated at all times. Make sure to drink them before the expiration date, stamped on the neck of the bottle. Your dealing with fresh ingredients and come packaged in convenient ready to go bottles. 

To find out more about Brigitte's Naturally Kale Power Smoothies and place your order click the link below.





Friday, July 22, 2016

MIO ALPHA, read your heart-rate without a chest-strap.


This is nothing new, as this watch and the technology have been out for a few years already, but wanted to inform others that hate wearing a chest strap, there is something you can do about it. Hate wearing a chest-strap?  Here is the perfect answer.  The MIO ALPHA reads your heart-rate off your skin. Under the watch band is a sensor, similar to those devices that read your pulse off your finger. The watch displays your heart-rate. With the Bluetooth or ANT+ connection it sends the information to paired devices. I have both Bluetooth and ANT+ models, two separate watches.  I paired my ANT+ with my Suunto Ambit 2S and then wear a watch on each wrist. The ANT+ model I own I have paired with my Samsung smartphone. 

From what I am finding out, the ANT+ model is no longer available, as it is only being produced in the BLE. 
 


From what I am finding out, the ANT+ model is no longer available, as it is only being produced in the BLE. 












The watch features an LED light, lighting up blue, green or red, letting the user know if their heart rate while working out is too low, too high or right in their zone, all without wearing a chest strap I might add again.  
The watch comes with a charger that can be plugged into a USB port and the LED then too lights up to show you it is charging as well as when it is fully charged. 

Here the MIO Alpha is paired with my Suunto Ambit 2S. 
Set your Zone in which you want to keep your heart rate in. Not only will the LED change color depending upon if you are in the zone you are wanting to be in, but a “beep” will also go off.  These are great because many times if using the watch like this, if you are wearing headphones you can still monitor where your heart rate is with the LED’s or as well as looking at the screen itself. 
There are only two buttons to operate the watch, one on either side of the face. You can use the timer in the exercise mode to track your workout time. I use my Suunto Ambit 2S for gathering exercise time. 
The watch comes with its own USB charging cradle. Simply line up the pins on the back to the charging ports and charge the watch.  

Download the free app for allowing your smartphone to track your exercises and then export the TCX file into your favorite program later on. With the app it will show basic features, unless you play to download the full version of the app.

This is if the watch is paired with BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) 










Thursday, July 21, 2016

Italian Vegan Recipes for Vegetarians and Raw Vegans (Kindle Edition)

Vegan: Delicious Italian Vegan Recipes for Vegetarians and Raw Vegans (Kindle Edition)
by Sam Kuma


This Kindle edition collection of recipes is great.  If not for following the recipe exactly, ideas are sparked from reading the selection of breakfast to dinner recipes as well as desserts. 
Out of the the recipes in the book I have made a few, but really like the Sriracha BBQ Tofu Pizza. Each recipe gives the amount of time it will take to prep the recipe as well as the cook time. Each recipe also includes how many servings it makes. 
I would recommend this E-Book to those looking for Italian vegan recipes or get inspiration from these to create their own recipe. 





Thursday, July 14, 2016

Tiger Balm -- Pain Relieving Balm and Patches



I was sent a sample of Tiger Balm ointment as well as a envelope with five Tiger Balm patches. First off, the balm’s active ingredients are camphor as well as menthol. The smell is very relaxing and soothing, not offensive or overly strong like other rubs or balms out there. One of the ingredients that is also easy to pick out the scent of is clove. Clove oil also contains analgesic properties.
The balm does exactly what is says it does, it provides temporary relief with strains/sprains and muscle aches. After tough workouts or weight workouts lately I have used the balm the next day to help relax tight tired muscles. The balm is very easy to apply. There is capsicum, the heating ingredient in a chili pepper, which creates the warm sensation you will feel after applying. The balm starts working within being applied after a few minutes or so, gradually warming up. The warming sensation lasts about 45 minutes, however this can be different depending upon how much you use as well as spread around. The balm or patches should not be used on open wounds or broken skin.  Tiger Balm also comes inside patches which are each 4 X 2. 75 inches. These work great on the lower back and shoulders where I have used them on. A great smelling and very effective balm to soothe sore joints and muscles. 






Be entered to win, one full-sized product from Tiger Balm by simply following myself on Twitter @timhakr as well as @Tiger_Balm_US. Then post on Twitter mentioning my blog post about Tiger Balm, using both of us in a tweet.  On Thursday July 28, 2016 at 12 noon a winner will be randomly selected.  Good Luck!

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

The CURT hitch-mounted rack #18086




Traveling any about of distance with your bicycle secured to a hitch or trunk rack, you want to focus on driving while knowing your bicycle(s) is/are secure.  I’ve owned both trunk and hitch mounted racks before, but before my family’s road trip this summer I purchased a CURT tray-style hitch-mounted bike rack #18086 which would hold all four of our bikes. The receiver tube is two inches. I have had issues with hitch racks and their swaying motion at times. The last thing I wanted was for anyone’s bike to fall off.  Each one of us in my family has not only a different size bike frame but tire size also. With the different frames sizes, using a hanging style rack, where the top tube rests on the rack, would not be an option due to the different size frames. My mountain bike weighs 33.5 pounds and has 29 inch tires. My wife's bike weighs 34 pounds and has 26 inch tires. My son’s bike weighs 33 pounds and has 27 inch tires. My daughters bike weighs 31 pounds and has 20 inch tires.  



Each bike would be loaded in the same spot, so the wheel trays or cartridges could stay locked down. The frame hook part of the rack that holds down the top tube, forcing pressure down on the bike so the tires stay in their trays, holding the bike in place is very secure. The hand knobs/screws are a little difficult at times. Over the next week, depending upon our night time staying location, we left the bikes on the rack secured with a heavy cable and lock or brought them inside our hotel room.  The best part of bringing the bikes inside the hotel was riding them down the halls. Really how are you suppose to tell a nine-year-old and six-year-old to walk their bikes down the hall, with the rooms we were always given being the farthest away from the elevator. Okay, honestly how do you keep a 40 something year old from not riding his bike down the halls too?
 I was worried the first day of our trip, constantly checking the rear view mirror to see if the bikes were still attached. Every time I glanced back, they sure were. We encountered a lot of rain a few days on our trip and the rack performed very well. 






The CURT hitch-mounted rack #18086 can hold up to 180 pounds. The rack itself is pretty heavy, especially with the added two bike extension also bolted to the original rack. With all of my family’s bikes weighing 131.5 pounds, the max load is still under the racks limit. How would they ride while attached to the rack? After taking off on our road trip, I loaded the bikes on the rack from tallest (mine) to shortest. Adjusting the wheel trays depending upon the bikes wheel base. 



The rack is elevated a little bit, so for myself loading/unloading the bikes is not a problem. As for my son, it takes a little extra to life the bike up onto the rack. I like the elevation of the rack, so I don’t need to be concerned with it rubbing on a driveway curb or speed bump when going over them. The rack folds a few different ways when keeping it still bolted to the vehicle. This is great when parking in a garage or shorter parking space. The rack stayed on the car the entire trip as it was unnecessary to detach it from the car. 


We traveled on a few dirt roads and the bike rack was still very stable. This weekend will be the first time I will try using it with my road bike. The wheel trays are pretty wide, so accommodating the wide mountain bike tires was easy. After the 1665.9 miles, all with the rack in place, I would highly recommend this rack to anyone wanting or needing to transport up to four bikes of various sizes. 




** Full Disclosure**  I purchased the rack and was not compensated for this review by anyone.