10-Day Acai Berry Easy-Cleanse

If you follow health and diet trends, then I am sure you have heard about the latest craze—the Acai Berry cleanse. Although I believe cleanses are occasionally necessary, I am cautious when products promise to give me a "firm, flat stomach" or "dramatic weight loss." However, not all acai berry cleanses are the same so it is important to do your research.

Dr. Tim Ramirez claims that his berry cleanse is "simple, successful, and doable." Looks make a strong first impression and judging by his website, he needs some help. I wouldn't buy a lottery ticket from this guy. At Best Acai Berry Cleanse, you can read reviews about a variety of berry cleanses, and Acai Berry Cleanse Reports provides tips on how to begin your cleanse.

I decided to try Applied Nutrition's 10-Day Acai Berry Easy-Cleanse, which is very inexpensive at Costco. On the bottle, the company advertises that you will "feel light and clean inside" and that their cleanse is "fast and powerful, yet gentle." The cleanse consists of 40 pills taken over ten days—two pills in the morning before breakfast and two pills in the evening before bedtime. While they have a mineral taste, the pills are easy to swallow although you may have an aftertaste in your mouth for a few minutes.

I have an incredibly sensitive stomach so I embark on any cleanse with some trepidation; however, the Easy-Cleanse is fairly gentle. The side effects that I experienced included:

• occasional mild stomach cramping
• loose stools/diarrhea (typical for a cleanse though)

For someone who suffers from constipation all the time, the Easy-Cleanse definitely works, but it is not a magical cure. It did not:

• cause me to lose any weight,
• trim any inches off my stomach, or
• make me "feel light and clean inside" as the packaging promised.  

I have another bottle though (Costco sells it in twos) so I may "cleanse" again before my reunion.

AWW – XoXo

10-Day Acai Berry Easy-Cleanse

Slimquick: Tastes Great, Not Filling

If you watch even one hour of TV a day, you have probably seen the Slimquick commercials that claim women lose weight differently than men. Therefore, we need Slimquick. The simple animated ad is quite clever, as the image of the shrinking woman stays with you.

I tried Slimquick's Appetite Control (SAC), which promises to:

• Promote a feeling of fullness
• Reduce appetite
• Provide an excellent source of fiber
• Provide a good source of protein
• Improve digestion
• Provide prebiotics

Out of the six bullet points listed on the package, the only thing I can guarantee that SAC will give you is a modest dose of fiber and protein, which is impressive given that it is a packet of crystals that dissolve in water. As for feeling full and reducing my appetite, it didn't work, but SAC didn't make me any hungrier either. I would argue that it worsened my digestion since I suffered from stomachaches and constipation on the days that I used SAC. I know what probiotics are, but I have never heard of prebiotics until SAC, which brings me to my next point.

Most of the ingredients in SAC make sense, but then there is a section labeled "Other Ingredients"; they include maltodextrin, citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, tri-calcium phosphate, sorbitol, acesulfame potassium, natural color, sucralose, silicon dioxide. Most of the time when you see "natural and/or artificial flavors" as ingredients on a package, you should not ingest the product; however, those "other ingredients" explain why SAC tastes great. (The flavor is pink lemonade.) Though it contains no calories, sucralose is 600 times sweeter than table sugar! No wonder I was craving SAC in my water during my intense cardio workouts; it replaced my Now and Later sugar fix.

Anyway, I have six unopened pouches left. If you would like to try SAC for free, just email me and I will send them to you on one condition: please "share" this post and my blog with five of your friends.

AWW – XoXo

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Slimquick: Tastes Great, Not Filling

Prep Part 1

Today is part one of my prep for the Exercising My Ass Off (EMAO) experiment. Since it is late, I don't feel like posting my weight and measurements just yet, but I promise to do so later this week. Anyway, as part of my plan to "get in shape" to dazzle my classmates at my 20-year high school reunion, I started the Slimquick Appetite Control regimen this evening. I drank my pink lemonade flavored water approximately three hours before dinner. You are supposed to drink it 30 – 60 minutes prior to dinner so maybe that's why I got a horrible headache. Oh well. It tasted good, but my appetitite was not "suppressed." I still wanted and ate bread with my chicken breast stuffed with rice and vegetables covered with mushroom sauce along with my green salad and Italian dressing. Did I mention that I don't believe in counting calories? Hmm ...

AWW – XoXo

Prep Part 1