Advertorial - SunMoon Fruit Cups & Giveaways

If you have been following me on my Instagram, you would have remembered that these goodies were delivered to me in my office few weeks back! They are refrigerated in our office right now so my colleagues and I have access to a healthier snack alternatives when we have cravings! :X

SunMoon Food Company Limited is a leading Asian brand and divided into 3 main divisions: Fresh Division where they are known for their premium quality Fuji apples, Food Ingredient Division where they are the largest integrated exporter of dehydrated garlic and onion in China and Consumer Product Division which includes production of these fruit cups and fruit crisps.

My favorite from this bunch, and most interesting to me, are the fruit cups! They are so handy and convenient! I don't have to worry about washing fresh fruits or combing an area just to find a fruit stall now, because all I need to do is to purchase a pack from the nearest supermarket and I can conveniently have my fruits-on-the-go! To top it all, the fruit cups are very affordable too ($1.90/pack)! Comes in 3 variants, no artificial preservatives, no added sugar and no artificial colorings, each fruit cup is soaked in 100% Apple juice and rich in Vitamin C! Most importantly, the fruit cups are approved as a 'Healthier Choice' as compared to the canned ones!

Best of all, you can eat the fruits immediately after purchase because each pack of 2 contains 2 spoons too! If you do not like to eat of the cups, feel free to bake and have them with yogurt! I like to have mine off the cups because I am needed to travel around and it serves as a healthier snack alternative.

Personally, my favorite is the Mandarin Orange! Never been a fan of mandarin orange but this got me hooked! Its fresh and every pulp is oozing with juice as I bite. Best of all, I don't have to peel the oranges!!

If you have always been a fan of cocktails/mocktails/desserts with peach and longans, time for a healthier change and use these Peach fruit cups instead!

Alternatively, you may have a switch to having a mixture of Pear, Mandarin Orange and Peach in cocktails/mocktails/desserts! This Mixed Fruits variant will add some interesting change to your usual peach-longan-rambutan desserts!

Get yours today at Sheng Siong, NTUC Fairprice and selected SPC & Caltex Stations. They can also found at SunMoon retail and online store (sunmoondirect.com).

So here is the fun part!!

SunMoon is giving away $30 worth of SunMoon products! You may even stand a chance to try their fruit crisps which I LOVE too!

All you need to do is answer this question!

Where are the fruit cups sold and which variant will you be interested to try?

Simply
1. LIKE the SunMoon Direct Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/sunmoondirect
2. Leave a comment with the answer within this week!

Giveaways will end on 30 April, Wednesday at 12am! Good luck everyone!

Advertorial - Way Better Snacks!

Apologies for the hiatus! Had been swamped with too many things to do and too little time!

Nevertheless, I have had the privilege to try these chips from LeBono and I'm featuring 2 of my favorites! I've always been a fan of snacks, and it was only till recent years that I started to reduce the snack consumption because I realized this bad habit had been hindering me from achieving my fitness goals! I still snack once in a while and I am glad to be able to find the healthiest way to snack now with Way Better Snacks and Viva La Papa!

*Drum rolls* My 2 top picks are undoubtedly the ones from Way Better Snacks!

There has been a rise in demand for food containing sprouted ingredients, which is the next health trend in the food industry. These seeds are designed to survive the rigors of nature before they embed themselves and take root and are covered with a protective layer of physic acid (a substance present in the bran of all grains and seeds that can inhibit some absorption of calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc, and enzyme inhibitors to help protect them and ensure they are able to fulfill their destiny to sprout). 

Nature doesn't want the seed to germinate before its time so it literally locks down the nutrients to ensure this doesn't happen. This is called enzyme inhibition. When we eat seeds and grains, these inhibitors can prevent the formation of enzymes in our digestive tract, interfering with the body's ability to effectively digest and absorb them.

The first pick is the Simply Unbeatable Blues! Each chip is filled with chia seeds, flaxseeds and quinoa! Not only does this taste more delicious than the usual tortilla chips you get from the supermarkets, the chips are also certified Gluten Free, non GMO, certified 100% Whole Grain, Certified Kosher and Low Sodium!

My top favorite is this Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips! These taste slightly sweeter and have a strong sweet potato after-taste, for somebody who loves sweet potatoes, this is the BOMB! We decided to keep half the pack for dinner with our favorite homemade/self-invented salsa sauce with beef!

So, in the evening, we got home excited and got ourselves busy in the kitchen whipping up our favorite salsa sauce with beef. Boy, we were not disappointed as the tortilla chips tasted heavenly with our salsa sauce! 

Get yours today at these retailers and snack healthier!

Real Food Grocer

http://www.realfoodgrocer.com

Mylifeinc

https://www.mylifeinc.me/way-better-snacks

Salad Stop

http://www.saladstop.com.sg/

Foodology

http://www.foodology.sg/

Zenxin

http://www.zenxin.com.my

Swiss Butchery

http://www.swiss-butchery.com.sg

Eat Organic

http://www.eat-organic.com.sg

Food Advisory

http://www.foodadvisory.sg

Hapa Fitness & Us

I'm sure some of you will have seen what Hapa Fitness (as mentioned in my previous post too) is all about on our instagram feeds. We are official now and very excited to reveal what we have to offer for all of you out there! We will be sharing about health tips, workout tips and tutorials, fashion receipes, beauty (girls will still be girls righttt?), yummy healthy food, and events in time to come! Stay tuned and follow us @hapa_fitness if you haven't done so! <3

This is our very first diet challenge for all of you! For everyone who is as excited as us that Christmas is coming and all the feasting and log cakes will be part of the holiday season, try this diet on your own and give it 30 days to let your body feel the change and transform!

It may seem difficult for some of you so we are going to share some of what we eat. Today, till now, this is how my meals look like.

Breakfast:

1/2 avocado (Fats)

1 tablespoon of Golden flaxseed meal (Fats)

150 ml of milk (Protein)

1 scoop of vanilla whey protein (Protein)

Everyday smoothie!

I headed to the gym to hit my shoulders and back after my smoothie, had 1 1/2 scoop of whey protein post workout and headed back for lunch.

Lunch:

Approx. 1/2 serving of pasta (Carbs)

Approx. 1/4 of red and yellow peppers each (Veggie, Carbs)

Approx. 100g of chicken breast (Protein)

Pinch of Olive oil (Fats)

Snacks:

1 cup coffee, unsweetened (Fats, Protein, Carbs - coffee addict, here I confess and am guilty)

Handful of nuts (Fats)

Feel free to post your meals on Instagram if you have and #hapa_fitness and #santarinadiet so we can learn and from one another! My meal plan may not be the best so do let us know if you have a more effective and efficient way of preparing your meals and creative way to spread your meals out during the Santarina Diet challenge! Good luck!

Last week had been an eventful week and here is a summary of last week in photos!

Tuesday: Trained with Jasmine at GYMM BOXX (XS) at Punggol CC and met the courtesy lion!

Wednesday: Those who know me well enough, THIS is one of my weaknesses. I just had to have this since it was one week off any diet! Teehee. I always order without butter though. 

Friday: Went for my haircut with @johnthamyuehan at Salon Vim, looking like sadako because it was a day after Halloweeen. HURHUR

Outfit of my haircut day, dress from Allyfashion and clutch from Epicurations.

It was Nic's actual birthday so we had dinner before adjourning for Nic's place, followed by Karaoke (phew that was a super long day!)

Say 'Hi' to Dazzle! Such a beauty!

Smiley Dazzle

Me looking tired, with super hyper Dazzle!

Saturday: Met Jasmine before our training to get some work done 

Super yummy bread HOMEMADE by Jasmine! So loved!

Ended our workout with a good stretch

Our FITFAM!

Sunday: outfit to church

Accessories from Tod's, BCBGMAXAZRIA, Forever21

I will be writing about some health tips next so stay tuned and have a great week ahead everyone! Be safe wherever you are! <3<3<3

Health & Nutrition - Supplements

I did not start taking supplements the same time as I started working out and used to dread taking many pills and disliked the nagging Jason did when he told me I should start taking supplements few years ago. It was only in end 2011 that I started taking supplements, after a bout of fungal infections. The first supplement I took was of course protein shakes, and the first supplement tablets I started taking was probiotics. So today, I'll be going into details of what each supplement is essential for. It'll be a long post so hang in there! :)

As you can see, I have bought most of my supplements from vitacost.com (explains some of the house brands that I have), will be trying iherb.com for my next order! Please note that I'll be touching on the brief benefits of each supplement (why I chose to take them) as it'll have to go on in pages if I were to explain everything. Go on and google more about them if you are interested to get any of the supplements that I'm taking. 

1. Folic acid - As some of you may know, folic acid is taken before and during pregnancy for women to prevent birth defects on the baby, so, yea that was the main reason why I started taking  them. HUR. However, it also keeps our hearts healthy and brains young!
2. Probiotics - These are also known as 'good bacteria' that can be found in yogurt and this is the only supplement I cannot live without. It helps improve your immune system and brain function, helps lower cholesterol levels and improve stomach health, and it treats allergies.
3. CoQ-10 - Improves heart health and acts as an anti-oxidant for your body.
4. Milk Thistle - Helps protect my liver from liver diseases
5. BCAA - Short for Branched Chain Amino Acids, to prevent muscle catabolism (muscle breakdown) especially important during my current Intermittent Fasting stint.
6. Multi-vitamins - To get a little more vitamins, minerals and nutrients than what I get from my daily food intake.
7. Calcium - Okay, the main reason why I'm forcing myself to eat these 3 calcium pills everyday is the fear of teeth and hair falling during and after pregnancy, since I don't drink milk everyday. On top of that, calcium better improves the absorbency of the other supplements that I take daily.
8. Fish oil - Very important staple if you are working out and bodybuilding. Fish oil reduces signs of aging, improves fat-burning and MOST IMPORTANTLY, preserves lean muscles and improve bone health.

Now that you know what I'm taking, I guess you should also know what I'm lacking. HAHA. Feel free to comment, email me if you think I'm lacking anything, or am taking too much of something? I'm very open to suggestions as well! I hope this post helps in clarifying some of your doubts and questions on what kind of supplements you decide to take.

Some updates from last week and yesterday..

Sunday OOTD before mass

My current back with WIIINGS!

May 2013 V.S Week 7 of IF

Team Axis was at Elias Park Primary yesterday and today, for the HPB program me "Be Smart, Don't Start"!

We homecooked last night, was craving salmon!

Yellow and green peppers with white fish!

That's all for today and have a fantastic week ahead everyone! Till thennnn!

Health and Nutrition - Creamy mushroom soup

It's been awhile since I shared my last recipe so here goes, the recipe for creamy mushroom soup! 

Ingredients:

- Assorted mushrooms (portobello, button, shitake, etc)

- Italian Parsley (flat-leaf)

- 4-5 tablespoon of Greek yogurt (to replace cream)

- 2 tablespoon of cottage cheese (to replace cream)

- Milk

- 1 garlic clove (I used 1.5 but felt it was abit too much)

- 1-2 onions (I used 1 but I thought it'll be nicer if I had put 2 instead)

- 1 yellow onion

- Olive oil 

1. Soak the mushrooms and wash them thoroughly, especially the portobello if you are using them.

2. Chop the mushrooms into small pieces.

 3. Chop the other ingredients up; onions, garlic and parsley leaves.

4. Heat up a frying pan and with a little bit of olive oil and put all the ingredients in except for the mushrooms when the pan is hot. Fry for awhile until you can smell the fragrance (NOT TILL BROWN).

5. Put the mushrooms in and fry everything together. REMEMBER, do not fry till brown.

6. Before you start to put all the ingredients into the blender, pick out some of the mushrooms and lay them in a bowl. This will be added into the soup to boil so there will be some bigger chunks of mushrooms.

7. Portion by portion, put the ingredients in a blender and blend them together, adding a bit of milk every round.

8. Pour all the blended mixture, together with the chunks of mushrooms into a pot and turn on the heat to medium. Stir till it boils, after which switch the heat to low and let it slow boil while you add the yogurt and cottage cheese in. You may add a few teaspoons of salt to season. Keep stirring until everything else blends and there you go! Your creamy mushroom soup is ready!

We also prepared this easy-to-make egg muffins using turkey breast ham as the base. Did not turn out yummy I thought, because I could not find peppers at the supermarket! Will be attempting my next batch using chopped peppers and taco or salsa sauce! Nevertheless, this is simple to make if you do not have much time to prepare elaborated ones.

Ingredients used:

- 200g of turkey breast ham

- 6 eggs

- Parmesan cheese

- Olive oil

1. Lubricate the muffin mould using olive oil and lay the ham on the muffin mould nicely as the bases. Next, put the parmesan cheese in as much as you like and top the cheese with an egg. It's that easy!

2. Preheat the oven to about 180 degree celcius and once then put the mould into the oven. I think we waited about 10 minutes but do take note and watch the muffins just in case they get too cooked.

VOILA! The muffins we made are slightly overcooked so just be careful if you want those very soft-boiled kind of eggs.

Hope you enjoyed the recipes and do post photos and tag me on IG @limaranagustina! Have a great week ahead everyone! Till the next!