Tuesday Thoughts & Things
I usually write these types of posts on Thursdays, but since this coming one is a holiday (hooray!), Tuesday probably makes more sense.
Last week I was on holiday. This week I am attempting to dig out from that time off. For the first time maybe ever, I did not give in to that nagging temptation to check my work email or even to respond to most of my personal emails. This was helped by the fact that I dropped my iphone on the pavement on day 1 and completely smashed the front of it. The tiny glass splinters I got when I tried to use the touchscreen kept my emailing and photo-taking to a minimum.
It was nice to mostly disconnect, although I’m paying for it big time this week. Honestly, I’m not sure which approach is better: check emails while on vacation and think about them throughout the time you’ve dedicated to trying not to think about them, or wait until Monday morning, feel anxious about having not checked them, and then overwhelmed when you finally get all of them at once. I wonder how bad it would be to hit “delete all”? Freeing and terrifying.
…
Before I left last week, I was contacted by an online company called Best Price Nutrition, asking if I’d be interested in sampling some of their protein, fat loss, pre-workout, amino acid, vitamin, and probiotic samples. I ruled out fat loss immediately, as I think good old-fashioned healthy food choices and exercise is the way to go, but told them I’d be interested in trying vegan and gluten-free products, like protein samples or probiotics, if they had any. They ended up sending me a couple of Garden of Life samples, including a vanilla chai protein powder and a raw greens powder, as well as a probiotic pill. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to try the probiotic pill because upon reading more closely, the label said it may contain residual milk and it was coated in gelatin (so not at all vegan). The raw greens powder I knew would likely taste like swamp water + mud (don’t they always??), but I pinched my nose and hoped for the best:
That picture says it all, right?
I also couldn’t quite figure out if it was gluten-free based on the label, so I emailed Garden of Life, and they responded saying:
“Our Perfect Food formulas are not labeled Gluten Free. Any product or dietary supplement composed primarily of prohibited grains (including cereal grasses) cannot be labeled as Gluten Free.”
Good to know. And upon further research, it seems there’s debate about whether people with gluten allergies can safely consume cereal grasses (like wheat grass, for example). Gluten should only be found in the seed kernel and not in the stem and grass leaves, but this would mean manufacturing practices would determine the presence of gluten. I’d say it’s probably not worth the gamble. What a bummer considering it tasted so delicious!
There is some good news here though. I really liked the Garden of Life Vanilla Chai Raw Protein. I usually stick to Vega protein, but at less than half the price per serving, I could be convinced to switch to Garden of Life at least some of the time. The texture is a little chalky (Vega has perfected this), but I loved the chai flavor and the subtle sweetness. I think if Vega toned down the stevia, I might give it a perfect ten, price aside. And speaking of price, Best Price Nutrition seems to be really competitive with the cost of this powder. When I last checked, it was even less than on the Vitacost site.
…
And finally, a fun little video! This is Barley trying corn on the cob for the first time. Honey goes nuts for it, similar to her reaction to watermelon, so we figured Barley might be the same.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW6ECOvOdUM
Aren’t dogs just the best?!
Disclaimer: We only let our dogs nibble on mostly eaten corn cobs, and only when we are supervising. Too much corn can cause an upset tummy, and corn cobs, if swallowed, can cause major problems. Share your corn responsibly!
xo
Amanda
