Review: July Love With Food Box – A Tasty Farewell

I’ve said before that I don’t understand how Love with Food chooses it’s themes, and this month’s theme is no exception. Love is Adventure is a fun thing to say, and it sounds good, but I personally wouldn’t describe a SINGLE THING in this box as adventurous. Tasty, yes. Maybe if they’d put that horrid curry flavored granola in this box I could see the adventure, but everything in this box is pretty darn tame.

20160717_180635I’ve been subscribed to Love with Food for more than a year now, and while I’ve enjoyed my time with them, our breakup is overdue. Sorry, Love with Food, it’s not you, it’s me. I’ve just got a more sophisticated palate than you can match, what with your lollipops and fruit snacks and liquid oatmeal goop in a bag. July 2016 will be my last Love with Food box, so without further ado, I give you Love is Adventure.

20160721_061919Barney Butter Snack Pack – Vanilla + Espresso Almond Butter

I wanted to love this SO BAD. Vanilla espresso almond butter? That sounds AMAZING! Sadly, just like most of the almond butters I’ve tried, this was grainy. The vanilla espresso flavor was very, very mild. Why can’t I like almond butter?! Every time I try it I just think it’s so boring and the texture is just awful. Maybe it’s me. I’ll be sticking to my buddy peanut butter from now on.

20160721_103120Pure Growth Organic Popcorn

I joke about having a refined palate but when presented with bag after bag of air popped popcorn seasoned only with salt I find that I can’t ever tell them apart. They’re all just good air popped popcorn. It’s popcorn. Do they taste different like wine or coffee? I can’t figure it out. In my opinion, if popcorn is still crunchy and has the right amount of salt it’s good every time. This one was good, too.

20160721_062122Pur Mints Mojito Lime Mint

I’ve got a couple of these in my mouth right now, and I’ve gotta say they taste pretty darn close to a real mojito, sans the rum of course. They have a very slight medicinal quality but are tasty and refreshing.

20160721_062110Luna Protein Berry Greek Yogurt Bar

This was, by far, my least favorite item in the box. I was grumpy after eating it. It had a sour, spoiled quality to it that I did NOT love. I love Greek yogurt, but to me it should be tart and not sour. I do usually like Luna bars though, so this was an anomaly. Do not recommend.

20160718_201458Pretzel Perfection Twice-Baked Tomato Basil Pretzel Sticks

In contrast to the Luna bar, these were my absolute favorite thing in the box. THEY WERE SO CRUNCHY! Perfection is the right word when waxing poetic about these. The bag was pretty big too, I didn’t feel like I ran out of pretzel sticks too quickly. I also really enjoyed the Tomato Basil flavor,  which was strong enough to be enjoyable without crossing the line of overkill. SO YUM.

20160721_062059Chef’s Cut Original Real Steak Jerky

If I could afford to buy this jerky on a regular basis I would. It has great flavor and it’s incredibly tender and easy to chew. I thoroughly enjoyed it! It’s nitrite free, if you’re worried about that sort of thing. Also, for real, I legit like the logo. Maybe it’s because I’m a Taurus.

20160721_062137Trujoy Sweets Organic Bunny Shaped Lollipop

I’m not really a lollipop fan, but this was tasty. I think it was strawberry flavored? Maybe strawberry banana. The fact that it is supposed to be “bunny shaped” doesn’t sway me either way. And at closer inspection, it appears the bunny is choking on the stick. Not my idea of family friendly imagery.

20160721_061946Yumearth Naturals Sour Beans

The Hubs ate the sour beans, and he says they had a good sour kick to them at first, which then mellowed out to a sweetness. They had a more natural fruit flavor than Sour Patch Kids. His quote: “As a connoisseur of sour things, me likey.” Preach.

20160720_064900Jimmy Bar – No Bluffin’ Banana Muffin

I’ve gotten Jimmy Bars before, and I’ve got to say I really like them. I can’t find them anywhere in stores though. I like the idea that you can get these smaller snack sized ones, too. The texture is great, and while some people will be disappointed in the lack of true banana flavor, I was pleased. It was a nice, sweet, bullsh*t free bite!

Conclusion

I enjoyed this box quite a bit, despite the Luna bar. I will be discontinuing my subscription after this box and venturing out to try something new, but if you’re interested in giving it a try, use my code and get a discount on your first box!

Have you tried any of these snacks? Let me know in the comments!

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Review: The Polar H7 Heart Rate Monitor

In my quest to be more accurate with my food and fitness I’ve been investing in some new toys related directly to fitness. Recently I got an amazing deal on a pair of Bowflex Adjustable Dumbbells (which I friggin’ adore, btw) and after years of guesstimating my burn during my kettlebell workouts I decided it was time to invest in a heart rate monitor for a more accurate CICO (calories in, calories out) number. (NOTE: I was not asked to provide this review by anyone nor was I compensated, I’m just really, really happy with my purchase.)

20160720_071341Polar is a highly recommended brand, renowned for its accuracy, so I started looking there. I knew I wanted a heart rate monitor that didn’t have to be attached to a watch, because a) I hate wearing stuff on my wrists, and b) a watch would get in the way of some of my kettlebell moves. I was pleased to find the Polar H7 Bluetooth Heart Rate Sensor & Fitness Tracker. It connects through Bluetooth technology to an app on my cell phone (I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 but it will work with Android or iPhone).

The chest strap (I ordered the large) arrived and required hardly any assembly: I just had to snap the monitor to the chest strap using two metal snaps and it was ready to go! The strap itself is easy to adjust, although mine fit perfectly right out of the box. The only thing left for me to do was to download the Polar Beat app and connect the H7 to the app via Bluetooth. It was easy to find in the GooglePlay Store, and it was quickly downloaded and an account created. You’re asked a few simple questions like age, sex, height, weight and frequency of workouts, and BOOM, you’re ready to go! Once the chest strap was put on (it’s an elongated hook and eye clasp which is very easy to put on and stays snug) and the electrodes dampened, the app picked it up right away without any trouble at all.

Screenshot_2016-07-20-19-26-24I took some time to explore the app: there are dozens of activities you can track, some which use GPS connectivity (like running or cycling) and some that don’t (like strength and circuit training). I’ve used the app five times so far, twice for walking, once for a ladder-style kettlebell workout, once for Fitness Blender’s Tabata Kettlebell Workout and Abs and Obliques Workout – 45 Minute Kettlebell Training and once for Fitness Blender’s At Home Butt and Thigh Workout – Booty Sculpting Lower Body Strength Training. It worked great every time, as long as I made sure to wet the strap enough.

The Polar Beat App gives you tons of data. You can see your heart rate real time, the spikes and valleys, your total calorie burn, what zone your heart rate is in, your duration, your max heart rate, your average heart rate, and the % of your calorie burn that was in the fat burning zone. You can even enter notes about your workout and click an emoticon that describes how you feel.

I learned two very important things from just this short usage time: I don’t burn as many calories as I thought I did and my heart rate drops rapidly once intensity is lessened. The former is disappointing, but the latter is a GOOD thing:the faster your heart rate drops after the cessation of working out, the healthier your cardiovascular system is.

UntitledNot only can you track things on the Polar Beat App, Polar also gives you free access to Polar Flow, a much more detailed way to look at the big picture of your workouts. This is amazing to me! All of this data, this amazing, incredible data, available to me from a heart rate monitor that cost me less than $60. I’m seriously impressed so far, and I can’t wait to fill in my month with workouts! (I’m squeeing in my pants a little, people.)

polarflow2GLORIOUS DATA! I can see my heart rate in FIVE SECOND INCREMENTS! It’s insanity! What an amazing incentive to sweat!

20160720_075822
The visual results of the above workout.

See? Do you own/use/love a heart rate monitor? Do you know any fun tricks I can use to explore my data? Tee hee, I’m such a nerd for this stuff! Let me know in the comments!

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Review: June Love With Food Box

The theme of June’s Love with Food box was “Love is Celebration”. I’ve got to be honest with you, I have no idea why they do these themes. I’m not sure any of these foods make me want to celebrate. I know they need themes, but perhaps the themes should be less abstract. Just sayin’. Here’s what I got:

20160616_195040

Sinfully Thin Blue Corn Popcorn

20160616_210445There’s a lot of popcorn on the market these days. Maybe I’m just not overly picky about popcorn? There wasn’t anything at all wrong with it, it was really tasty, but it’s still just popcorn. Plain popcorn…

Snack Factory® Original Pretzel Crisps®

20160616_201957I’m not really sure why these come in the Love with Food box, because you can find them everywhere, but I love them! Crunchy and salty and perfect for dipping.

Snapz Original Crunchy Premium Apple Crisps

20160623_185324I hate dried apples, because I’m picky like that. I gave these to the Hubs. He says they were very tasty, but he wished they were crunchier.

Biscottea Traditional Teatime Shortbread

20160621_192700I am an absolute SUCKER for good shortbread and this was just that: buttery, crumbly, tender, mouthwatering shortbread! Would buy again!

Torie & Howard Fruit Chews

20160623_161033Yum! Yum yum yum! I’ve had these chews before and described them as Starburst for grownups. The blood orange and honey flavor was really tasty and not too sweet.

Raw Rev Glo Creamy Peanut Butter & Sea Salt Bar

20160619_073338The taste of this bar was good, but the texture? YECH. No thank you. I guess it was due to the raw nature of the bar but I don’t think I’d eat another one. I did like the high protein and low sugar content of this bar though.

You Love Fruit Leather

I got the tart peach flavor in this box (I’d previously had the mango and loved it) and I was disappointed. It had a distinctly bitter note to it that I wasn’t a fan of. Texture is great as always, and as I said, I’ve had it before and liked it, but this flavor wasn’t for me.

Wild Garden Sundried Tomato Hummus Dip

20160625_154218I’m pretty sure I’ve had this before. Almost positive. It was very good: the sun-dried tomato flavor wasn’t overwhelming. The best part is the packaging. It makes it super easy to squeeze the hummus directly onto the food for less mess!

Conclusion

All in all this box was pretty tasty! It had a lot more savory snacks than sweet ones, which I prefer, so that was good, and all but the raw peanut bar I’d eat again. I say 7/10! If you’re interested in giving it a try, use my code and get a discount on your first box!

Have you tried any of these snacks? Let me know in the comments!

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