Peruvian Naturals Organic Maca 800mg Tablets Review

This is the second post in this week's health product review series. If you like any of the products I review you can purchase them all on my amazon review page. If you have any product suggestions, or want me to review your product please contact me!

Why did I buy this product?
Around 2 years ago I was determined to build a bigger booty without exercise. As an older, and more wise adult (kind of), I now know that this is impossible without surgery. So, I ventured onto the oh so lovely internet in order to find answers. After a few days of intense booty building research, I came across something called Maca root. For those of you who are really into fitness, you have probably already heard about Maca. For those of you who do not, allow me to explain. Maca root, or lepidium meyenii. It has a huge reputation for balancing out female hormones. This basically means making sure that your estrogen levels are up to par. Women who are curvier have higher estrogen levels. So, this leads people to believe that if they take maca they will increase their estrogen, increase their curves, and consequently get a bigger booty. This is a popular claim, however there is little scientific research to back up this claim. There are also claims that Maca root improves your energy levels, and any female problems that you may be having. Again, these claims have not been scientifically proven to be accurate. As a quick disclaimer, I only tested out this particular product for 3 months. With that being said, if you try this product out for a longer period of time you may get different results. 

The Good
This Maca Root tablet in particular is very pure and organic. As soon as you open up the bottle it has a strong, earthy odor. This is usually a sign that the supplement is very pure and natural. I used this maca root tablet in particular for about 3 months without any exercise, and I did notice some change. I don't know if it was the placebo affect, but I swore I could see my body shaping itself out. A few people I knew could see it as well without me even telling them that I was taking the supplement. I noticed that my hips were getting a bit bigger and my stomach was getting a bit smaller. However, this could have all been in my head. As far as the energy and overall hormone regulation claims, I did not notice a significant difference. However, around this time I did notice my period started to regulate itself. I have very irregular, and overall terrible periods. During this time period my periods came on at the same time during the 3 month period. Sometimes my body magically regulates itself for a few months, so I am not 100 percent positive that the maca root attributed to the regularity.

The Bad
Even though I did not exercise while taking this supplement, I do believe that its full potential is only released with exercise. With that being said, it has little affect on your body without changing your lifestyle. In my opinion this is not really a negative because it encourages you to live a healthier lifestyle. However, for those of you who can not or do not want to do exercise, this could be a negative. In my opinion Maca Root is something that you have to take for long periods of time to see drastic results. With that being said you could just eat clean, and exercise to see the same results.

The Ugly

In the 3 months that I tested out this product I did not have any complications. With that being said I have nothing "ugly" to say about it. 

Final Thoughts
I do not believe that Maca root is a must have, but I do believe that it can be beneficial to your health. Because it does not damage your body, I suggest at least giving it a shot. Because of this, I am giving this particular product a 7/10. In the near future I will be incorporating maca root into my diet to see how it responds with exercise. I recommend trying this product out for yourself  as a little health experiment and see what results you get!

Stash Premium Green Tea Review

This is the second post in this week's health product review series. If you like any of the products I review you can purchase them all on my amazon review page. If you have any product suggestions, or want me to review your product please contact me!

Why did I buy this?
Initially this green tea was an experiment for my 30 day belly fat challenge. I have always heard in the past that green tea helps to combat belly fat, so I wanted to test it out. 
The Good
I LOVE this tea. If you follow me on any social media, then you know that this tea is my new addiction. I have tried many green teas in the past, but this one has been my favorite by far. I drink 3 or more cups a day, and I have been doing so for the past 2 weeks now. It is able to cleanse your body without having you run to the bathroom every 5 seconds. I usually have to put some form of sweetener in my teas, but not with this one. It has a simple and pure taste to it. This tea has also helped me combat my perpetual bloating. I will do a blog on this in the future, but I bloat very easily, and for long periods of time. The only time I am not bloated is if I have not eaten for 10 or more hours, which really only happens when I wake up. If I drink this tea throughout the day it helps to digest my food, and it gets rid of my never ending food baby!!!

The Bad
I have few negative things to say about this tea. The only negative I can say about this tea potency. If you are a green tea advocate, you know that the potency of green tea is better the second and third time. What I mean by this is that the second and third brew are way stronger than the first. However, this could be a positive because most of the time I only have to use one tea bag per day!

The Ugly
I honestly can not find anything ugly about this tea!

Final Thoughts
No, I am not a sponsor for this tea, but I would be! I've bought all of this tea using my own money and I honestly adore it! Because of how it handles my seemingly perpetual bloating, its pure clean taste, the cost, and overall effectiveness, I am giving this tea a 10/10. This is probably the only time I will give a product a golden 10/10, but Stash Green Tea deserves it!

Camellias 26 Double Steel Boned Corset Heavy Duty Waist Training Shaper Review

This is the first in this week's health product review series. If you like any of the products I review you can purchase them all on my amazon product review store. If you have any product suggestions, or want me to review your product please contact me!

                                                 Why did I buy this?
If you personally know me, then you know that I am an extremist. It's all or nothing when it comes to something that I want. So, what better way to be extreme than do waist training? I initially bought this product to test out waist training (waist training blog post coming soon), and I pulled a newbie mistake and bought an amazon corset. Just a heads up, if you are serious about waist training DO NOT buy an amazon corset. Unfortunately, I got this information after I had already received this corset in the mail.

The Good
If you are really short on money and want to test out waist training, this is the corset for you. This corset has the basic steel boning which is what trains your waist. It is a reasonable price ($39.00), and it ships extremely fast (about 4 days). It is also very sturdy, and durable as well. I have used this on and off for around a month now and it has not broken yet. I also do believe that if you do the waist training process properly that it could shrink your waist.


The Bad 
This corset has terrible flexibility (yes corsets have some flexibility), and it is very tight in the rib region. Any hardcore waist trainer will tell you how important it is for a corset to have space up top and down the bottom. When you tighten a corset you should feel slight pressure in the ribs and hip bone region, but not too much. The tighter I tighten this corset, the more it digs into my rib cage. This is not only uncomfortable, but dangerous.

The Ugly
If you are serious about waist training, you must wear your corset for a minimum of 12 hours a day after breaking it in. Hardcore waist trainers train for up to 23 hours a day. This includes walking around with the corset, and wearing it to sleep. I only wore this corset out in public once, and there is a reason behind that. Like I mentioned before, high quality corsets have more room up top and down the bottom. I have worn this corset to sleep multiple times, and after a while I experienced excruciating pain in the rib cage reason which caused me to stop waist training for a while. With high quality corsets you should be able to sleep in it with minimum discomfort. Also, because this corset is tight in the ribs and hips, if you have excess fat in those regions (like me) it will give you a giant spill over the top, and under the bottom. Even my heavy duty bras could not hide this. I am a pretty confident person, but I did not feel confident walking around looking like a pushed up go-gurt tube all day.

Final Thoughts
This is not the worst corset by far, but it is definitely not the best corset out there. Because of the pain due to the flexibility of the corset I am going to give it a 5 out of 10. If you can afford to dish out a few extra bucks (like $20) I suggest going with higher quality corsets like orchard corsets. From the research that I have done, their corsets are inexpensive and high quality. If you want more accurate information on corsets and waist training check out Lucy's Corsetry it is an amazing blog with tons of info!

Health Product Review Week

Hey there luvlies!
As an Amazon addict, I've ordered a vast amount of health products from amazon.com. Some of you have been wondering what products I have been using for my 30 day belly fat challenge so I thought I would have a little review week. All week I will be reviewing products I have bought from amazon and how they have worked for me. I've even put together an amazon store for those of you who are interested in buying these products. I HATE fake reviews, so my reviews will go over the good, the bad, and the ugly. I will list the products that I will be reviewing below. Feel free to contact me if you have any recommendations you want me try out!

• Black Mountain Products Resistance Band Set with Door Anchor, Ankle Strap, Exercise Chart, and Resistance Band Carrying Case
• Stash Tea Premium Green Tea, 100 Count Box of Tea Bags in Foil
• Peruvian Naturals Organic Maca 800mg - 100 Tablets - Hormonal Health Supplement for Men and Women
• Camellias 26 Double Steel Boned Corset Heavy Duty Waist Training Shaper (Black, XXS, 20inch)
• Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Coconut Sugar, Super Saver Pack 48-ounces

Mango Chia Smoothie

In order to keep my breakfasts interesting, I've been trying different combinations. I had chia seeds, almond milk, and a large mango so I put this delicious drink together. Try it out and tell me how you like it!

Ingredients

• 1 cup of almond milk 
• 1 large mango
• 2 tbsp of chia seeds
• 1 tbsp of coconut sugar
• 1 tsp of cinnamon

     Directions

• Place chia seeds in a cup or jar, 1 cup almond milk and stir. Let this sit for around 10 minutes or store in the fridge overnight. Place in a high speed blender with mango, coconut sugar, and cinnamon.
• Enjoy!

30 Belly Fat Plan

For those of you who have been following me on instagram @luvlyjourney or on Tumblr @kimiluvly, you know my belly fat struggle. In order to conquer this struggle from August 10th until September 10th I will be trying multiple belly fat solutions in order to see what works for me. I will  be posting updates onto my blog, Instagram, and Tumblr in order to keep you all updated. This is a layout of my 30 day fitness plan, feel free to join me!

Green Tea

Anybody who has searched weight loss online before has come across the tea fad. For those of you who keep up with my blog, you have already read my "skinny tea" rant. I know that green tea has multiple benefits, but bellyfat loss is the one that is preached the most. So, I have decided to test this out. Everyday I drink 3 or more cups of plain green tea. The tea that I am currently drinking is
Stash Tea Premium Green Tea, 20 Count Tea Bags (Pack of 6). I will write a blog post in the near future on how it has benefited for me. So far it is my favorite green tea!

Water

One day I was scrolling through youtube (like I always do), and I found a belly fat video that was in my recommended videos list. The video basically went over the usual belly fat lost tips, but something stood out to me. The 4th tip in the video was to drink 15 to 20 cups of water every single day. At first I thought this guy was insane and wrote him off. However, weeks later this tip was still in the back of my mind. So, around a week before I decided to embark on this belly fat loss journey I purchased a 40oz water bottle Reduce Hydro Tritan Water Bottle 40oz, Purple. Because of the little markings on the side I find that drinking all of this water is a fun challenge. I treat this bottle like a purse meaning I take it everywhere I go. Right now I am only up to drinking around 12-15 cups of water a day, but it is a huge improvement from my usual 4 cups.

Getting over my fear of Cardio 

As a fellow apple shape, I lose weight in my bottom half first. So I am constantly doing lower body muscle building to balance out my shape. Because of this I was terrified that cardio would eliminate what little butt fat and butt muscle that I have. Yes, this sounds ridiculous to most because it honestly is. So I am 2 weeks into my intense cardio regimen and I am seeing rapid results now. I dedicate about an hour a day to intense interval cardio along with 30 minutes of strength training. So far it is working wonders for me and my butt has not disappeared!

These three things are the main things I have been incorporating into my current routine, but I am experimenting with little things along the way. For daily updates follow my instagram @luvlyjourney and my tumblr @kimiluvly!

Banana Power Smoothie

                                                                                                 Ingredients                                                                  

• 1/2 cup of soaked steel cut oats
• 3 bananas
• 1 cup of almond milk
• 1/4 cup of powder peanut butter
• 1tsp of cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons of coconut sugar

          Directions

• Cut Bananas into small slices
• Combine peanut butter powder, coconut sugar, and cinnamon into a tiny bowl,
• Place all ingredients into a high power blender or food processor
• Pulse first then blend at full speed
• Enjoy 

Curry Potatoes

What you need:
○ 2 Large Peeled Potatoes
○ 1 Large White Onion
○ 1/4 cup of Almond Oil (or any oil you like)
○ 1 cup of baby spinach
○ 1/4 cup of curry
○ 1 tsp of Caraway Seeds
○ 1tsp of Rosemary Leaves
○ 1tbsp of Sea Salt
○ Pinch of Paprika
Directions
○ Slice your peeled potatoes into medium sized slices
○Chop your onion into small pieces
○Put your oil into a pot with baby spinach, and onions, start adding in seasoning
○When onions and baby spinach are halfway cooked add the potatoes and the rest of your seasonings
○add a bit of water to speed up the cooking process
○let everything cook for 30-45 minutes
Enjoy!!!
Note:
Play around with the seasonings, I never use the same seasonings in the same recipe more than once!

Why I HATE "Skinny Teas"

Greetings my lovelies!

The other day my very logical cousin texted me asking my opinion on one these "skinny teas". My cousin has always been the voice of reason when it came to the ridiculous diets I would go on in the past. She would say that they were unhealthy, and she was right. So when she was even considering these “Skinny Teas” I was shocked. In short, I told her to drink regular high quality green tea, and stick to eating right and exercising. These is the second part in my Social Media Health Frustrations. If you’re enjoying these type of posts let me know!  

False Advertising

What most people do not realize is that these tea companies send out their products to famous fitness instagram users to promote their products. 9/10 these fitness instagrammers are already kicking their butts in the gym and eat pretty clean. With this being said, these “skinny teas” are not the cause of their physique.It’s like taking someone with clear skin and having them advertise your acne product. They already have the end result and your product did not help them achieve that result

They have “dieting effects”

Whenever I hear the word diet I feel sick to the stomach. The whole process of eating significantly less, or taking things that constantly flush your system is not healthy. I have been there done that and it is not fun. Most, if not all of these teas suppress your appetite (not healthy), and have diuretic and laxative effects. If you are drinking enough water, and eating a plant based diet you do not need any of these effects. It is not natural let alone healthy. You will end up feeling weak from calorie restriction and will have a f*cked up digestive system from your body constantly flushing itself.

They are EXPENSIVE

Nothing frustrates me more than seeing people spend their money on crappy gimmicky products. People throw their money at anything that promises weight loss. To justify their purchase they look at these before and after pics. Most of the time these before and after pictures are faked and the people in them are being sponsored by the company. If you really want a tea that will help your body I suggest buying a good quality green tea and drinking it throughout the day. You will save money and more importantly save your body!

Social Media Health and Fitness Frustrations

                                                       Greetings my lovelies!

 
Raise your hand if you are a social media addict. I know for a fact that more than half of you who are reading this just raised your hand. I myself will admit that I am a social media addict. My top two vices being Youtube and Instagram. When it comes to fitness I love these sites to bits. They've taught me how to make yummy vegan meals, they taught me how to squat like a boss, and most of the fitness and health people are beyond inspirational. However, as I dive deeper and deeper into my health journey the more I see the dangers of the health and fitness industry in social media I have a number of frustrations, so I have decided to make this a series. Hopefully I can enlighten someone with this series. As always, feel free to comment!

The "I Lost ____ in ____ months" Youtube Gimmick

Yes, I understand the joy that comes with reaching goals, especially health goals. However, in the competitive social media world we live in today, many of these feel like gimmicks. These type of titles are meant to lure us in and you know what? They work! These videos get thousands if not millions of views on Youtube. Don't get me wrong, I used to be a huge sucker for these videos. I believed that if I followed exactly what that youtuber did then I would finally get the results I wanted. However, what many of these youtubers fail to point out is that EVERY BODY IS DIFFERENT. Yes, eating a plant based diet, and exercising will do wonders for your body, but results will always vary. If you take ten people of the same weight and put them on the same exact diet for 3 months, at the end of those 3 months you will get a wide range of results. These "alluring" titles make people (especially the youngsters) believe that they will get the same results and if they don't their reactions could be dangerous.

What I would like to see more of
I understand that the social media world is more competitive than ever before. It's a competition of you has the most eye catching title and thumbnail. With that being said, these youtubers have the power to positively affect a lot of people. Instead of unlicensed youtubers giving their unprofessional opinions, I would rather that they explain their journey in order to motivate their subscribers. In my opinion, this is way more effective and far less dangerous.