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Sunday, 11 May 2014

Health Drink: Bionade Review


BIONADE [Bee-oh-nah-deh]: 
A healthy, organic drink that is made through fermentation like beer but is fizzy and tasty like soft drink.

As Australians embrace clean and organic eating, it’s also time to rethink fizzy beverage choices and opt for a healthier alternative to soft drinks that are full of sugar and other nasties... Enter BIONADE! 


To begin with I was not for this drink at all and thought it was horrible but this way likely to be my thought seems I was addicted (very addicted) to soft drink and would drink several glasses a day, I am not proud of my little soft drink addiction but let me tell you that it is broken now!

I was really hesitant to try these drinks again after I had them for the very first time so it took a lot to get me to re-try these again. As you will know from my recent past posts I am on a weight loss / health & fitness journey and I am cutting the bad things from my diet which included soft drink so I thought Bionade may replace that for me and help with the little cravings I get when I want some bubbly fizzy drinks.  To my surprise second time around these drinks weren't that bad. I do think they are a little gassy for my liking and a bit bitter in taste but I could drink these on a now and then occasion to replace that fizzy drink intake.


FLAVOURS AND TASTE:
BIONADE comes in four unique flavours including Ginger & Orange (zesty and spicy), Lychee (crisp and fruity), Elderberry (berry-licious), and Herbs (fresh and mellow); delicious, fresh and distinctive flavours developed using real juices and natural ingredients.
Now Herbs and the Ginger & Orange require an acquired taste I believe, I was not a fan to be honest and couldn't stomach much of them. Elderberry would have to be my favourite if I had to pick one followed by Lychee - they both were a more sweeter tasting drink.

I couldn't get through a full bottle whenever I drank Bionade unfortunately so I would love to see Bionade release a smaller version of their drinks.
Bionade has just recently added Cola to their family and this would be a flavour I would love to try out as I think this would be more my forte as it was cola flavoured soft drink I was addicted too.

Certified organic in both raw ingredients and production, BIONADE is low in sugar, is free from preservatives, colourants and artificial flavours, is suitable for vegetarians and vegans and is gluten free. It contains plenty of good stuff like calcium and magnesium and is without the bad ones; it’s low in sodium and phosphorous free.

Distinctively fruity, not but too sweet it’s the production process of this healthy soft drink that makes it so unique. The creator of BIONADE (a Bavarian beer brewer by the name of Dieter Leipold) dreamt of a brewed soft drink that’s 100% organic. It’s brewed like beer with the same purity law as German beer, but without the alcohol content. Made with 100% organic ingredients, natural aromas, extracts and juices obtained from real fruits and herbs, the entire production process is organic as well.

BIONADE - **RRP $4.00** can be purchased at local cafés, health food stores and online. 

Saturday, 10 May 2014

Dinosaur Adventures + Win a Family Pass


DINOSAURS WILL BE TAKING OVER MELBOURNE! 

Did you hear a roar? A stomp? The Dinosaurs are coming!

We are pleased to announce that Dinosaur Adventures, the Number 1 Attraction at this years Sydney Royal Easter Show is set to open in Melbourne. These life-size creatures will be taking over Caulfield Racecourse this June and July.

Dinosaur Adventures is an exhibition that is captivating young and old alike. Explore a prehistoric world full of life-size moving dinosaurs and be amazed and thrilled as the greatest creatures ever to walk the earth return before your eyes and come alive.

Marvel at the story of their 200 million year domination of life on earth. Watch them move. Hear the roar. From the ripple of their skin to the glint in their eye, you will think that the dinosaurs really are back!

Apart from this amazing animatronics show, you will be able to become a Palaeontologist for the day. Children will be provided their expert digger outfit, and chip away at their very own fossil. Plus there will be many more dinosaur activities to take part in including dinosaur sand art, dinosaur library, fossil displays, dinosaur inflatable activity lands and rides, dinosaur sand pit, photographic souvenirs inside a life sized dinosaur egg and so much more.

Pegged as a must-see these School Holidays, Dinosaur Adventures is set to bring all the wonder and excitement of the prehistoric world of dinosaurs back. Get ready to be thrilled as you see Triassic period comes to life!

Open from 21 June to 20 July, Dinosaur Adventures will deliver a realistic animatronics show like no other that will capture the imagination of children & parents everywhere.





The event includes:
• A spectacular dinosaur exhibition with realistic animatronics 
• An Interactive Fossil digging area 
• Have your photo taken in a dinosaur egg 
• Dinosaur Sand Art 
• Camp Fire Story Telling 
• Dinosaur Inflatable Activity Lands and Rides 
• Dinosaur Sand Pit 
• Plus so many other dinosaur activities for the whole family

Melbourne get ready to feel the Dino-Roar!

JUST THE FACTS
What: Dinosaur Adventures
When: Saturday 21 June – Sunday 20 July 2014
Where: Caulfield Racecourse Station Street Caulfield East , 3145
Cost: General Admission $27. Under 3’s free
Website: www.dinosauradventures.com.au
Tickets: Ticketek - http://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/show.aspx?sh=DINOSAUR14
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dinosauradventures?ref=hl
Instagram: @Dinosaur_Adventures_Oz #dinosauradventures


You know that we couldn't leave you now without a giveaway... soooo we have a family pass (2 adults and 2 children) to giveaway to the Exclusive VIP Opening Night of Dinosaur Adventures
Date: Friday 20 June, 6:30pm at Caulfield Racecourse, Caulfield East.

Simple entry via the form below
**Competition ends 12th of June, 2014.

The Good Food & Wine Show + WIN tickets



INSPIRE, DISCOVER, SHARE, CELEBRATE The Good Food & Wine Show returns for 2014

This will be my first time attending The Good Food & Wine Show which I am very excited about as I have heard amazing things about the show. Although being on a health kick may restrict me of testing everything scrumptious that the show has to offer but I'm sure I can stretch the calories somewhere or make this my cheat meal... or day hehe! 
I am really excited to see what the show is all about and be able to find out, learn and get to know more about food and the delicious ways of cooking it. 

We hope you’re hungry Melbourne because the award winning Good Food & Wine Show, presented by Citi, is back again for 2014 and there is more to discover than ever!

For the first time ever, visitors will be able to buy complete dishes from exhibitors. Past shows have only been able to offer tasty samples but this year heralds the start of a new era at the Good Food & Wine Show, with foodies having their tastebuds tantalised while satisfying their appetites.

A sure-to-be highlight is the NEW Grazing Garden, where some of Melbourne’s most popular food trucks such as Trailer Made, Banh Mi Boys, Digging For Fire BBQ Kitchen and Yoghurt Culture will be serving delicious meals. Cuisines such as Vietnamese and Eastern European Street Food will be on offer in a convivial sitting space.

To help inspire visitors, the Good Food & Wine Show also proudly presents some of Australia’s best-loved and hottest chefs, including Matt Moran, Adam D’Sylva, Matt Stone, Jacques Reymond, Alla Wolf-Tasker and Sammy & Bella. These Australian chefs will be celebrating food with demonstrations in the Chef’s Theatre.

Celebrity chefs will be hosting sessions including Matt Moran’s Paddock To Plate, based on his hit series as seen on Foxtel’s The LifeStyle Channel, and Adriano Zumbo’s Zumbarons Masterclass, brought to the show by Kenwood.

For those looking for even more food and wine experiences, masterclass and VIP passes to many other features are available, including LifeStyle FOOD Chef’s Table, Casa Barilla Cooking School, Laucke Creative Kitchen, The Tasting Table (wine masterclass), Cheese Masterclass presented by Tucker’s Natural & Majella Wine and the Riedel A+ Australia Wine Bar with sessions designed by industry expert Aaron Brasher.

Among the new aspects of the show several popular favourites will also make their return, including the much-loved Tucker’s Natural Cheese Alley and Wine Theatre.


TOP FIVE NEW THINGS AT THE GOOD FOOD & WINE SHOW MELBOURNE

This year the award winning Good Food & Wine Show has enjoyed a mini-makeover, welcoming several new features and additions certain to make this year’s Show the tastiest yet.

The Show will take place at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre from 30 May – 1 June and with so much on offer, here are the Top 5 new things to experience at the show:

1. Grazing Garden – this exciting new feature brings together some of Melbourne’s most iconic food trucks in one area, serving a range of delicious international cuisine for visitors to enjoy with friends and family. Vietnamese rolls from Banh Mi Boys, gorgeous European fare from former Cumulus Chef Casey Norman in the Trailer Made food van and international street food by Dave Walsh and his Digging for Fire BBQ kitchen, to name a few, will all be parked in one convenient spot, with plenty of tables and chairs to sit back and enjoy the atmosphere of the Show.

2. Farmers Market Lane – a unique area that is sure to inspire visitors, the Farmers Market Lane showcases some of Victoria’s best boutique producers, family run businesses and artisan companies. Stroll down the lane and expand your local foodie knowledge while enjoying some of Victoria’s freshest and best local produce.

3. Zumbaron’s Masterclass – The Good Food & Wine Show has always offered fantastic masterclasses, but Adriano Zumbo and his Zumbaron’s Masterclass, presented by Kenwood, is in a category of its own! Learn how to make macaroons at show by Adriano Zumbo himself. The Zumbaron masterclass is priced $99.

4. Laucke Creative Kitchen – the Laucke Creative Kitchen helps visitors to connect the dots between what’s at the show, and what’s for dinner. Food lovers can learn to cook with chefs Sammy & Bella, who have taken inspiration from products available at the show to create delectable dishes. Visitors can then can shop for the products (at special show prices) and take them home to prepare with their newfound knowledge and skills.

5. Riedel A+ Australian Wine Bar – this year the Riedel A+ Australian Wine Bar offers a number of new and inspiring sessions. For the first time ever there will be a beer masterclass, offering education and tasting of craft beers from around Australia. Other new classes include The Wine and Charcuterie sessions, pairing Salumi smallgoods and six different red wines and the Taste of Victoria, celebrating fresh local produce partnered with some of the finest Victorian wines. These masterclasses range from $40 - $85 although the Riedel Wine Theatre sessions are included as part of the general entry ticket.

Another new feature unique to the Melbourne Good Food & Wine Show is Matt Moran’s Paddock to Plate, presented by Foxtel Lifestyle Channel. This enticing new addition will host regional producers hand-picked by Matt Moran himself, and featured on episodes of the Lifestyle show. Matt Moran will be visiting the feature to discuss his favourite food and wine regions and Victorian producers.


What: The Good Food & Wine Show

Where: Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre

When: 30 MAY – 1 JUNE 2014

Who: Matt Moran, Adam D’Sylva, Matt Stone, Jacques Reymond, Alla Wolf-Tasker, Adriano Zumbo and Sammy & Bella

Tickets: General Show entry tickets are $34
(VIP packages, promotional and group prices available)

After 13 years showcasing the country’s best chefs, food producers and wineries, the Good Food & Wine Show is focusing on home-grown talent for 2014 - with a regional section featuring the best of Victoria’s diverse and bountiful roduce for visitors to discover.

This year’s event will invite visitors to immerse themselves in a celebration of all things delicious, with the opportunity to discover many new delights alongside familiar crowd favourites at Australia’s largest and most awarded food and wine show.


NJT Blogger has 3 x double passes to give away to The Good Food & Wine Show.
These passes are valued at $68 each - valid for a selected day of your choice. 
Simple form entry below. 


**Competition closes 22nd of May, 2014.


To find out more about The Good Food & Wine Show, visit www.goodfoodshow.com.au

Friday, 9 May 2014

Day 5 of Weight Loss Journey - Entry 1

Today is Day 5 of when I decided to quit the junk and try to get my dream body finally! As you may know from reading my other posts before I fell pregnant I was on a weight loss journey and dropped 21kgs and was sitting around early 90's, which I can remember this as being probably my most lowest weight.

I weighed in on Day 1 at 112.3kgs - no for me I think this might be my heaviest (sorry I have the worst memory). I braved it out and stuck my ashamed weight onto my social media channels where my friends and family could see this. I knew that people would chatter behind my back and honestly there is probably nothing that anyone could possibly say that hasn't been bullied onto me before or that I have said in my head about myself and the way I am.
I received such an amazing response from posting it with such gorgeous words of well wishes and commending me on posting it as others wouldn't do it themselves. The way I looked at it was - I AM NOT going to stay this way! My weight is going to change and I am NEVER going to hit the scales at that weight again.

Each week I will be weighing myself first thing on a Monday morning and will most likely post a blog piece about it and how my week has been and set myself some mini goals.  You can also follow me on social media under the hashtag #njtlosing40 
Now... to explain the hashtag - NJT (my blogger name) losing 40 ... that's right I am aiming for 40kgs to be off by the end of this year. Is this realistic for me? Yes. Is this do-able? Yes.


When I was on my last weight loss journey I shed 21kgs in 3 months now this was hardcore stuff for me - I was right into taking my supplements, I was getting up at early morning hours like 4am to head to the gym or to bootcamp, I was attending gym 5 days a week (I would have 1 day off in the weekdays and then 1 day off on the weekends) - when I went to gym it wasn't just a little workout, I would stay there for 1.5-2hrs a session working out and sometimes was crazy enough to do 2 gym sessions a day - one in the morning and at night after work. I was completely in the zone - I loved working out and I loved what my gym had to offer in classes!
Classes are a great way to really get into it, the instructors will motivate and tell you what to do, you can make it fun with your friends etc. By doing classes also I was taking away bits and pieces and putting that into my normal workout that I would do on my own.

Before starting this whole journey I contained some brands that I would have loved to have supported me and assisted me through my journey and in return I was going to give them media credits through my posts but I feel so disheartened by this as I barely got any on board with me. I do understand that brands have wants when they are sponsoring and supporting people so they like to look at how many people view your blog, how many followers you have, how much engagement you have etc but I couldn't help but to feel so upset about it. Dan had to put up with many of my sulky whinges to him as I really wanted to involve my blog into my weight loss journey and be able to showcase brands and their products and give you my honest opinion on things and lets face it these supplements cost quite a bit so you want to be able to trust in a review and research about what people think of products before buying something with a large $$$ price, unfortunately I won't be able to get much of that up onto my blog but I do say sorry to all those who turned me down because... I will make it on my own! I will come out in this amazing transformation and you'll be wishing you had worked with me.
(This post is not to be bitchy or anything - it's to tell you exactly how I am feeling and there will be no short cuts on how I get through everything.)

I am still taking supplements and these supplements I will post onto my social media and am happy to discuss/share my honest thoughts and opinions on the products that I have personally selected out myself and will use in aid to my weight loss... but please know that anything that I review that has been sent out to me for consideration and to use in my weight loss will be clearly marked with #gifted #sponsored or **product sent out for consideration etc so you know how this is all running.
For those brands that have jumped on board with me - you won't be disappointed and I am ever so grateful for your support and assistance.

Anyway back to me and my transformation log-
Whilst I was going through my clothes yesterday and today I was noticing something... I am going back into my dark colours for clothing pieces! Now this for me was what I always used to wear previously before my last weight loss as I wanted to hide, I didn't want anyone to see me and wanted to just mask my body. This was upsetting to realise because my wardrobe used to be so colourful.
When I lost all my weight last time I wore all these amazing colours as I felt proud and happy to be in my body and felt good about myself. Through this journey I can't wait to get back into the beautiful coloured clothing and most of all just walk into any shop and pick my size off the rack without having to worry about finding the bigger sizes which makes your clothing shops and clothing options very little!

How Am I feeling?
This week I am feeling okay. I don't have the urge to want to eat bad and I am not really craving anything. I honestly thought going complete cold turkey would just have me taking sneaky treats but I'm not which is a good thing. I do admit that there is probably things I could cut back like not having as much cheese in my wraps or not as much dip on my wraps but at least it's not chocolate or chips right.

I am way tired earlier at nights I find which is obviously because of the low calorie diet that I am feeling tired more and my body isn't fuelled enough or on such a sugar high from the ice cream I used to eat at night.

What have I been eating/taking supplement wise?
Eating this week for Dan & I has been pretty good although Dan & I have a complete different ways of what we like to eat when cutting weight. Dan goes by calories and macros etc where I go by not healthy, not green, not good etc.
Dan & I have been having meals such as -
Wraps - (multigrain / spinach wraps) with chicken and lots of fresh veggies!
Stirfry - Slendier* wok ready noodles with chicken and vegetables.
Salads - Tuna with fresh vegetables

Now I will be making a separate dedicated post to Slendier pasta as this thing is an amazing 8 calories per packet! Check out my instagram @njtblogger picture below with a shot of my wok ready noodles and what it looks like.


















I have been using my samples of GreenTea x50 from the Fitness Expo that I received for the past 5 days as this product is a detox, fat burner and metabolism booster all in one. I won't comment too much on the product as I have only been using it for a short amount of time.
I have been also using Musashi - Fat Metabolising Formula which is liver support and speed metabolism as well as it moves the fat stores - this product I have used for ages! As you may know I worked at Musashi for about 3.5 years before I went on maternity leave (which I stopped taking any form of products whilst pregnant) and this product is my best friend when it comes to supplements.



















I'm controlling any sweet cravings I may have by having decaf green tea with pomegranate which I try to drink twice at day but honestly with a 8 month old whose just started crawling that plan just doesn't work. Yesterday I found myself boiling the kettle nearly every hour since 8am and I didn't have my first cup of tea until 9pm at night!


 This ends post number one for the weight loss journey for me but I am very excited to get back into shape, finally getting my dream bod and share my journey with you all!!
Please make sure you follow me on my channels to be tracking my journey, as they will contain more of my journey which may not get posted here:

INSTAGRAM: @njtblogger #njtlosing40


TWITTER: @nakkers20 #njtlosing40

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/njtreviews #njtlosing40

All messages of support are always well received. 

In Health & Fitness
NJT Blogger x

Thursday, 8 May 2014

Estée Lauder Mothers Day Giftsets

You still have time to get Mum a gorgeous Mother's Day gift set with Estée Lauder perfumes! 

We have always had Estée Lauder fragrances in our house when I was growing up and still do. 
Here is what I recommend:

Younger Mum - Modern Muse
Middle Age Mum - Beautiful
Older Mum or Nana - White Linen



I was sent out White Linen giftset which is available online at Estée Lauders website or head into a Myer store to purchase. This giftset retails at $115.
Includes Parfum Spray and Body Lotion. The clean, crisp fragrance of cool white flowers and greenery.



This fragrance is what I would say a mature older female would wear. It seems of a pure bar of soap - it's got that crisp clean soapy scent to it. 

Estée Lauder have many gorgeous gift sets with their fragrances so there will be a scent out there for every Mum! 
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