Review: Ozeri Touch Digital Kitchen Scale!

At first glance the Ozeri Touch Professional Digital Kitchen Scale strikes you as a tablet/iPad of some sort--elegant, sexy, sleek, light, stylish, beautifully designed, unobtrusive, and boasting an award-winning thin design. It resembles a piece of art, some high tech glossy gadget you'd want to display. 

All black with a beautiful blue LED light display this is definitely a piece of equipment you wouldn't mind showing of and having on your counter. This is one stylish and functional kitchen accessory!

You can pick between an 11 lb or 17.6 lb edition, both of which are very reasonably priced and equally beautiful. The surface is a glossy tempered black glass surface, which claims to be 4x stronger than regular glass.



As with all of the products I review, I have used this extensively to make sure it is a quality, accurate, and "worth it" product to recommend to my clients and friends. I have been tinkering around with this scale for quite some time now, using it multiple times a day, comparing it to my other scales, and testing its accuracy, precision, and durability.

The scale works beautifully and for the most part has been pretty accurate. This scale operates with 4 new high precision GFX sensors, and provides measurements from 1 gram to 5250 grams ( 0.1oz-11lbs). I do wish it worked in 0.1 or 0.5 gram increments.

Although this is not a "nutritional scale", which upon entering a code gives you the calorie count, it does come with a calorie/nutrition guide book (included in the box). The LED display is clear and bright, and unlike many other scales it works immediately and you don't have to wait for it to "power on" or set itself.

The scale only has 2 'touch screen' buttons: "on/off/tare" and 'unit' (where you change the unit of measurement), and it also runs on 2 lithium batteries which come included with the scale. You can flip through a variety of different measurements, from fl oz, grams, ounces  ml, pounds, and kilograms, and of course, it offers a tare function as well. 

As with all gadgets, there are definitely some cons that I found when using this scale, which I will list below, most of them having to do with the touch pad technology and sensitivity:

PROBLEMS:
TARE FUNCTION
This function sometimes takes a while to work or just doesn't respond. Since the whole surface is the scale, it will often just weigh your finger and the pressure you're placing on the tare function instead of zeroing the weight itself. This is fixed with patience, or turning the scale off and then on, or removing what you are trying to weigh, placing it back on the scale, and trying to tare again.

UNIT SWITCH Function
This often gets stuck and will not change to the next increment/weight measure, no matter how long you hold it or how many times you touch it. As with all 'touch pad' electronics, it is still a work in progress. In these circumstances, I end up turning the machine on and off a few times, until it allows me to change back to 'grams' or whatever unit I am in need of using. This doesn't happen often, and hasn't been a big hindrance yet.

I also wish that it weighed in 0.1g or 0.5g as opposed to 1 gram increments, although this is a minor gripe and shouldn't dissuade
 you from trying this scale at all!

The response time is generally very good (depending on how well the touch pad sensors are working) and the accuracy is usually pretty dead-on. I have tested several pre-weighed items across 4+ scales, and the reading has usually been right on, and not more than 1 gram off).

The pros to this scale definitely outweigh the negatives, although the touch pad sensors could definitely use some "tuning up" since the tare function can become rather frustrating when you are in a hurry (this may just be my scale). As a Nutrition and Supplement Consultant, the most important thing I look for in a kitchen scale is definitely accuracy, precision, ease-of-use, and functionality; this scale definitely covers most of those requirements with ease.

The added nutrition calorie counting book is a definite added bonus. This is great for everyone;  health conscious individuals, weight conscious individuals, fitness competitors, macro/micro nutrient counters, general dieters,cooks, bakers, diabetics, food lovers, to those who measure other items (works well for packages/envelopes, weighing other items, portioning, medicine and supplements etc). I recommend this for many clients concerned with getting adequate protein and micro-nutrient intake, portion control (never use "1 cup" as a measurement, always weigh it out), to those needing it to weigh out supplements, to craft people needing to make accurate mixes etc. 

I recommend the Ozeri Touch Digital Kitchen Scale wholeheartedly to anyone looking for a great and needed addition to any kitchen/lifestyle. It's a great gadget that is multi-functional, practical, easy to use, enjoyable to use and look at, and most importantly, precise and works as it should!

Are you accidentally making your home toxic?

Are there toxins in your products?




I wanted to share this list from Dr.Mercola's website (http://). We've all seen plenty of these lists, read articles, and seen news programs about additives/carcinogens/toxins in our products; however, it never hurts to be reminded every once in a while!

(image:chemicalfreelife.tumblr.com)

Ingredient	Use	Dangers
Parabens	Heavily used preservatives in the cosmetic industry; used in an estimated 13,200 cosmetic and skin care products.	Studies implicate their connection with cancer because their hormone-disrupting qualities mimic estrogen and could disrupt your body's endocrine system.
Mineral Oil, Paraffin, and Petrolatum		These petroleum products coat the skin like plastic – clogging pores and creating a build-up of toxins. They can slow cellular development, creating earlier signs of aging. They're implicated as a suspected cause of cancer. Plus, they can disrupt hormonal activity. When you think about black oil pumped from deep underground, ask yourself why you'd want to put that kind of stuff on your skin…
Sodium laurel or lauryl sulfate (SLS), also known as sodium laureth sulfate (SLES)	Found in over 90% of personal care products! They break down your skin's moisture barrier, potentially leading to dry skin with premature aging. And because they easily penetrate your skin, they can allow other chemicals easy access.	SLS combined with other chemicals may become a "nitrosamine" – a potent carcinogen.
Acrylamide	Found in many facial creams.	Linked to mammary tumors.
Propylene glycol	Common cosmetic moisturizer and carrier for fragrance oils.	May cause dermatitis and skin irritation. May inhibit skin cell growth. Linked to kidney and liver problems.
Phenol carbolic acid	Found in many lotions and skin creams.	Can cause circulatory collapse, paralysis, convulsions, coma, and even death from respiratory failure.
Dioxane	Hidden in ingredients such as PEG, polysorbates, laureth, ethoxylated alcohols. Very common in personal care products.	These chemicals are often contaminated with high concentrations of highly volatile 1,4-dioxane that's easily absorbed through the skin. Its carcinogenicity was first reported in 1965, and later confirmed in studies including one from the National Cancer Institute in 1978. Nasal passages are considered extremely vulnerable, making it, in my opinion, a really bad idea to use these things on your face.
Toluene	May be very poisonous! Made from petroleum and coal tar… found in most synthetic fragrances. There are many alternatives you can use, from vinegar and baking soda, to natural store brought brands without added chemicals, with make keeping your home clean and chemical free easy and convenient! WHAT HAVE YOU USED THAT WORKED FOR YOU???	Chronic exposure linked to anemia, lowered blood cell count, liver or kidney damage…May affect a developing fetus.

Gluten Free and Naturally Sweet: CHESTNUT FLOUR!!

CHESTNUT FLOUR

(image from amazon.com)

Gluten free has exploded in the past few years-from a fad diet to a legitimate dietary concern that many grocery stores and companies are taking seriously. From stores having entire sections for gluten free goods, to the explosion of new products and companies on the market, it seems gluten-free is everywhere. The more mainstream it becomes, the more profitable it will be for companies to produce, and the more products and varieties will be considered--a blessing for those suffering from Celiac disease or gluten intolerance.

While rice flour, almond flour, coconut flour, buckwheat flour and a host of others are quite popular and the norm in baked goods, CHESTNUT FLOUR is fairly unheard of, though a wonderful substitute for using (chestnut gnocchi is fantastic, as are baked goods!). It has been used for centuries in Europe (notably Italy and their wonderful Castagnaccio, or chestnut flour bread/cake), in France for crepes, and it slowly starting to percolate to North America. Thankfully, if you can't find it in specialty stores, we have Amazon, which offers a wide selection!

Naturally gluten free and sweet, this is a fantastic flour to experiment with. It doesn't come out rubbery like rice flour based products, and has a wonderful, slightly sweet nutty taste to it, which makes it perfect for sugar free/low sugar sweetened goods! Calorie-wise,  it is only about 95kcal per 1/4c, and unlike almond and coconut flour, has virtually no fat. 

This is a wonderful and tasty alternative for those looking to cut gluten and/or fat and sugar from their baked goods! Give it a try, and let me know what you think! There are fantastic truffles, cake, gnocchi, and baked good recipes using chestnut flour online! Give it a try! CHESTNUT FLOUR

It's About Time! Company and Products Review!

 

 

Company Spotlight- ABOUT TIME

Anyone who is a fan of protein powders can understand the excitement of finding new flavors and trying new brands. There is much variability across brands and flavors (as anyone that has tried at least 2 different chocolate flavors can attest to). It is so exciting  finding a brand that emphasizes quality and uses ingredients that aren't full of chemical additives. Therefore, you can imagine how excited I was to try the About Time's products!

ABOUT TIME make a variety of amazing whey protein products that taste great. Besides being chemical, additive and SUGAR FREE, all their products are also 100% cold pressed, micro-filtered whey isolates, and they use stevia as a sweetener! This is great for anyone that is opposed to using artificial sweeteners, doesn't want the empty calories that come with sugar, has medical issues, wants something that is natural, or are watching blood glucose (blood-sugar) levels.

First up, their Protein Powder! These come in a variety of 'styles'-- from a tub, individual packets with 1 serving in them (so convenient and portable), to their pre-portioned "Shake, Fill, and Go" version.

Protein 2 lbs tubs

The tubs are 2 lbs, and come in 11 delicious flavors:

-Chocolate

-Birthday Cake

-Cinnamon Swirl

-Strawberry

- Peaches and Cream

-Vanilla

- Mocha Mint 

- Peanut Butter

- Banana

- Chocolate Peanut Butter *NEW FLAVOR

- Unflavored Whey Isolate * New Flavor

 

Birthday Cake?! I was so excited to see this flavor, along with the Peaches and Cream, Banana, and Peanut butter! I love cooking/baking with protein- and these made amazing protein cakes, protein pancakes, loaves, muffins, shakes, protein pudding, protein frosties, protein ice cream, protein frosting... I could go on and on. Mixed into rtd sugar free pudding, Greek Yogurt, Cottage cheese, Ricotta... amazing

Fill, Shake, and Go

The "Fill, Shake, and Go" containers have individual servings already portioned out in a ready-to-drink container. All you do is add you liquid of choice! These only come in 7 flavors (no peanut butter, chocolate peanut butter, or unflavored).

 Single Serve Packages

 

These are also a fantastic way to try the product, and they are so convenient to carry around in your purse/bag etc! These also come in the 7 flavors, and what I LOVE about these is that you can mix and match flavors, or get a multi pack!

 

MEAL REPLACEMENT BARS

 

These bars are made fresh and as all of their products, contain no artificial ingredients. They are sweetened with Agave Nectar, and are therefore low glycemic. So far these only come in two flavors:

-Oatmeal

- Carob and Coconut

Each bar contains 21grams of whey isolate and 4 grams of fiber:

• 

I have been trying to suggest they make some smaller "snack" bars around 120-200 calories, and add more flavors.

Lastly, they also have little black athletic t shirts, which I think are adorable.

Here is a bit more background on the company and their origin: In 2008, fitness professional Sean Marszalek and food science expert Devenee Schumacher looked around at the growing number of protein supplement products, and didn't like what they saw. Too many artificial ingredients, artificial sweeteners, inferior protein concentrates, and very few options for people with certain dietary restrictions such as diabetes. Frankly, Sean could find nothing on the market he could recommend to his health-conscious clients, including Devenee. That's when they decided, it's About Time. They formed SDC Nutrition, and launched the About Time brand of whey protein products. Through perseverance, refinement, and a fanatical belief in providing superior protein supplements for a healthy lifestyle, they have built a passionate and growing customer base across the country, and now beyond.

Review: KITRICS NUTRITIONAL SCALE

Good Morning everyone, and HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Since my last post was a bit "medical", I thought I would do a review of a wonderful product I highly recommend. I love Nutritional Scales, and have tried quite a few of them. I recently tried the Kitrics Nutritional Scale, and so far am really liking it. I deal with a lot of clients who are constantly wanting to know which products to buy, which are worth the cost, and most importantly, which will help them reach their goals.

The Kitrics Nutritional Scale is easy to use, sleek, programmable, small and looks nice on the counter. I love that it isn't bulky, and hardly takes up any room at all.

It does the following:

• Computes calories, calories from fat, carbohydrates, protein, fat, saturated fat, fiber, sugars, cholesterol, and sodium
• Includes information for 1999 foods; user can easily create and store up to 99 customizable food code entries
• Weighs in grams or ounces with accuracy of +/- 1 gram; weighs up to 72 ounces (2000 grams)
• Calculate your daily nutritional intake to help you achieve your health goals.

"Precision Scale

Weigh your food in grams or ounces, with a high-precision reading of +/- 1 gram (.05 oz.). The unit features a removable, washable stainless steel platform, and can weigh up to 72 ounces (2000 grams). Calibrate for whatever container you're using and you're all set.

 I love that you can use it directly out of the box. The programmable mode is easy to use once you get the hang of it. I love that you can customize your favorite foods, or meals, for an easy "one-touch" Nutritional read-out. This would be fantastic for any health-minded person; diabetic (it does exchanges and grams of sugar); athletes (protein, nutrients etc); anyone with Hypertension and Heart concerns (sodium, cholesterol, saturated fat); bakers (you can tare items); cooks (you can tare, program meals); dieters (reads out all macro nutrients, tallys your meal/daily Nutrition totals, and allows you to program meals and foods to track your Calorie needs). You enter your food code for a portion of food and it will compute the following: calories, calories from fat, carbohydrates, protein, fat, saturated fat, fiber, sugars, cholesterol, and sodium.

I do wish it had more "raw vegetable" program options. I have used other scales that had a lot more vegetables programmed in (cucumber with skin and without, etc). I also noticed that it only has buttered, microwave popcorn programmed in the miscellaneous section. I would have loved it to have the unpopped kernels programmed, as well as air-popped, non-buttered popcorn. However, with the programmable feature you can program this in quite easily. With foods such as CHIA seeds, Peanut Flour, Greek Yogurt, and protein powders being used regularly, this is great as you can program them right into the scale. Since more us us are moving away from more conventional junk food, towards a more whole-foods, healthier options type lifestyle, I think having a customizable readout is essential. For those of us who regularly use sugar-free products, or products made with Almond/coconut flout etc, this is a great tool to have. I tried programming GG SCANDINAVIAN BRAN CRISPBREAD, and it worked really well.

The Scale comes with a Nutritional Code book, which has the codes you enter to obtain the nutritional readout for the foods you weigh. You just enter the code, and it reads out all the information automatically. The book also has additional blank pages where you can write in your programmed custom foods/meals and their corresponding codes so you don't forget!

I was impressed with how sleek the KITRICS NUTRITIONAL scale looked on the counter. Some of the Nutritional Scales I have used cost $99 or more, and I was really impressed with the price of this product. It is accurate, works well, and has more features than most scales for half the price. This really is a great product to have in the kitchen and would make a fantastic gift as well.

CLA RECOMMENDATIONS and Reader Questions Answered!

Thank you for all the feed back on my Supplement Spotlight CLA POST. I had a number of you email and enquire whether I recommend a specific CLA. I will add them to "MY STORE" (so check the link above). Thank you so much for the comments! As for a specific brand, there are many! The main thing is to make sure the proper purity, standardization, and Isomers are included. Allmax has a good Clarinol CLA 90, and they also have a "woman's" version called CLA80 Femme (CLA 80 Femme ), and ALLMAX has a good CLARINOL version: ALLMAX

What you are really looking for is the term TONALIN. Some substandard brands on the marketplace obtain their Conjugated linoleic acid from Sunflower oil instead of Safflower oil. Safflower Oil consists of 80% CLA while Sunflower Oil only provides 40% of active Conjugated linoleic acid.
Click here: TONALIN
 
Here is a link for CLARINOL CLA: CLARINOL
 
REMEMBER- it is the DOSAGE and certain ISOMERS THAT MAKE IT WORK: 4 per day! If the product is 80%, and each pill is 1000mg of CLA, than you are only getting 800mg of the active ingredient. Remember that for fat loss, all the tests were done at 3.4-3.6+ grams. Therefore you need to take at least 4 pills!

Here is a link to CLA in general- I was shocked at how many good sales and deals they have! I know the retail prices of these, and these are about 40-60% less than what I've seen/bought them for!
CLA

Click HERE to read the post about CLA.