UPDATED January 4, 2009
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NOTES: This chart uses the manufacturer’s published price of a 30-day supply (or equivalent) whenever possible. Most manufacturers offer discounts on quantity purchases, so be sure to check for any specials that might be available. See our Coupons page for details.
Add comment January 4th, 2009
pHion Green is formulated especially to help make your blood pH more alkaline. Alkalinity in the body is an important factor in overall health, as an alkaline system is unfriendly to bacteria, viruses and parasites. Most of these harmful antibodies thrive on acidic environments. That’s why there is a huge movement in increasing blood and body alkalinity via food and water. The trick is…experts don’t agree on how body alkalinity should be measured and, therefore, what foods increase alkalinity. For example, some say that fruits like orange and lemon are alkaline, because they convert from acid to alkaline in your digestive process. Others call them acidic because they will increase the acidity of your urine after you eat them.
Since pHion Green is made specifically to increase alkalinity, it would be unfair to judge it only on its nutritional quality. Instead, it should be judged on both nutrition and its ability to increase alkalilnity. So here’s my evaluation: pHion is well formulated for blood alkalinity since it’s heavy in grasses, which are very alkaline, if not the most nutritious of the greens. The rest of the formula includes some fruit and veggie powders (grapefruit, lemon, cucumber, kale, spinach, tomato, etc). There’s not much else to speak of. As an alkalining formula, it’s on the expensive side, but it does the job. As an overall green drink, it’s very weak in comparison to, say, Vitamineral Green, which is also quite alkaline but includes more nutrition in its greens (and it’s less expensive). If this product were closer to $3.00 per ounce, instead of $4.72, I’d feel a lot better about giving it high marks.
3 comments January 4th, 2009
LifeForce is very close to hitting my ideal green drink formula. It has absolutely no fillers and is very high in spirulina, chlorella, and seaweed. Its grasses and greens content is one of the highest I’ve seen (although it’s mostly grasses with some nettle, spinach and parsley powders thrown in). These land and sea greens comprise more than 10 of the 16.8-grams in the recommended serving size. The rest are roots (ginseng, beet, astragalus, and dandelion–very good choices) and fruit-related powders (lemon and orange peel, rose hips). Overall, this is an excellent blend at an amazing price of only $2.11 per ounce. This is pretty hard to beat. If the formula is missing something for you (and it probably is), you’ll have plenty of money left over from your purchase to get the extras and add them yourself. I might suggest some green tea powder (for those who don’t mind a little caffeine), tumeric, and perhaps some mushroom powder.
Compare to Vitamineral Green which has an equally high-quality formulation with no fillers, but has a wider variety of greens (and a slightly higher price tag).
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Add comment December 21st, 2008
Aojiru is a healthy Japanese drink made from greens, including young barley. It is nutritionally balanced and high in fiber. Request a free sample by going to their web site. There is also a video with animation on the benefits of the drink. Click on “Request a Sample” in the left hand column on web page to request your free Aojiru drink sample. Go to aojiruusa.com.
Add comment December 21st, 2008
Benefiber is a product that when added to your food or drinks, boosts your fiber intake considerably. It is tasteless and colorless and is unnoticeable once it’s in your food or drink. Benefiber has expanded their line beyond just the jar of powder offered. Among new items, they now have this great product in a stick or sachet form, which simply means it’s packaged so that you can take it on-the-go. Carry it in your purse or pocket, then empty into your on-the-go food or drink item, water bottle, etc.To get your free new Benefiber sachet sample, go to this link on the Walmart site and complete the form in the pop-up window (window pops up after you click on “Get a Free Sample” button). click on instoresnow.walmart.com.
Add comment December 21st, 2008
To Go Brands makes packets of easy to carry drink mixes that are made from various good-for-you ingredients such as acai berries and green tea. In keeping with the health-theme, To Go drink mixes have no sugar added. Ease of transport means you can have one at the ready to add to your water bottle while on-the-go.To get your To Go drink samples (of each flavor), go here and fill out the short form on their website: togobrands.com. They will add you to their newsletter, but you may unsubscribe at any time.
Add comment December 21st, 2008
Nature Made makes several types of vitamins and minerals and their products are carried in many stores. This is an opportunity to get a 14-day supply of liquid softgel vitamins. Choose from: Vitamin B Complex, Multi-Vitamin for Women or Men, Vitamin C, and more!Go to www.lsg.naturemade.com for information on how to get a free 14-day supply of Nature Made Vitamins of your choice (click on the one you want). Supplies are limited, so hurry up!
Add comment December 21st, 2008
Did you know that most synthetic perfumes are full of harmful chemicals that can actually cause health problems? Not to worry, you can make your own perfumes with a little bit of mineral oil, a dash of alcohol and the essential oils that you prefer for fragrance (rose, geranium, sandalwood, lavender, lemon, and papaya are good bets). It can be great fun to mix your own creations…and you’ll be treating your body to a healthy alternative to chemical perfumes.
Add comment December 21st, 2008
If you are diligent and act swiftly at the first sign of a cold or cough, you can prevent them from taking hold. There are many anti-bacterial remedies that you can use to stop a cold. Just spray or drop liquid St. John’s Wort, liquid Echinacea, and/or propolis into the back of your throat and swish it around with the back of your tongue.
For coughs, take a mega-dose of a green drink with extra vitamin C and B, plus liquid olive leaf extract thrown in. You’ll feel better in no time!
Add comment December 21st, 2008
Greens Pak offers a fairly typical mixture of greens (grasses and spirulina), veggie powders (carrot, broccoli, spinach juices) and special herbs (in this case grouped into an “antioxidant blend” including milk thistle, red beet root and aloe vera leaf powders). There are good amounts of all of these blends and a good amount of filler, which is Lecithin in this case. The product comes in handy, single-serving packs, but the serving size is only 7.5 grams, about half of what other brands suggest. This makes the price tag rather steep for this product, even though the formulation is comparable to several other products. Compare price and formula to these products: Antioxidant Greens, Delicious Greens, and Go Greens.
Add comment November 30th, 2008
By looking at the massive ingredients list of this product, you might come to the conclusion it has everything. While it is a good blend with plenty of functional ingredients and not much filler, a close look at the numbers shows that it’s very heavy in grasses and rather low in everything else. I’m not knocking it completely; this is a good blend at a really good price! Just don’t let that huge list of ingredients throw you off. Compare the greens, veggies and antioxidant herbs to a product like Antioxidant Greens* and you’ll see that ORAC Energy Greens has more grass, but quite a bit less of the herbs and veggies. To give it some extra credit, ORAC Energy Greens has very little filler and adds quite a few fruits instead (a vitamin C fruit blend and some others). Plus, I give it some credit for having a number of “extra” herbs if you total them all up (there are very small amounts of each, but all totaled it’s not bad). Some highlights in the special herbs department include the mushrooms (I love to see this in a green drink), the green and white tea (powdered tea which is better than extract), and the adaptogen blend.
In summary, this is a good blend that is heavy in grass powders and covers a wide spectrum of everything else…all for only $2.73 per ounce.
* to compare, you have to double the numbers on the ORAC Energy Greens label, due to the smaller serving size used in the calculations.
Add comment November 30th, 2008
by Annmarie Kostyk
Chocolate is good for your heart! Surprised? Among its many healthy attributes, chocolate is rich in flavonoids, just like apples, cranberries, peanuts, onions, tea and red wine. Dr. Carl Keen’s research at the University of California Davis says that the best way to get benefits from the heart enhancing effects of chocolate are to consume cocoa powder and a moderate amount of dark chocolate. Dark chocolate gives the highest amount of chocolate solids in a bar and possesses the lowest percentage of both fat and sugar. Dark chocolate is a natural heart protector.
In comparing dark chocolate with red wine, both full of rich phenols for your heart, Dr. Andrew Waterhouse finds that one and a half ounces of dark chocolate is the equivalent of phenols found in a glass of red wine. You get similar results from cocoa powder which contains 75 percent the amount of phenols found in red wine. Chocolate protects the development of heart disease by oxidizing LDLs (bad cholesterol) which protects them from damaging artery walls and helps reduce the chance of heart disease.
1 comment November 17th, 2008
One thing you’ll find in every Brazilian’s home, whether they are inside or outside of Brazil, is (no, not cake) what’s known as a bucha, or loofah in English (scientific name Luffa Cylindrica). In my grandmother’s house there was a mature loofah plant that supplied our home and those of our friends and neighbors too. I remember when I was a kid, my uncles and aunts were always giving us cucumber (known as pepino in Portuguese) from my grandmother’s garden and I remember asking why they always had those loofahs in their hands. It’s funny how back then, people from the countryside were helping the environment by using those biodegradable loofahs to wash their dishes instead of using synthetic sponges.
Today in Brazil, there is an environmental project called (roughly translated) “The Brazilian Loofah Project,” which is to get more people using this plant.
Loofah comes from the Curcubitaceae family, which includes cucumber, chayote, watermelon, strawberry, squash and other melons. Loofah is somewhat cylindrical, green, and can reach over a meter in length. It grows as a vine and has beautiful yellow flowers. It’s rich in fibers that are soft, flexible and strong.
There are many types of loofah and they come from Asia, Africa, and the Americas and can now be found all over the world. It’s used in popular medicine; its roots and leaves are said to be good for the liver and regulate iron in the blood, thus helping with anemia and menstruation. The seeds are used in homeopathy to help with regularity.
Loofah is also used as a base for skin exfoliation in natural beauty products. It’s wonderful for baths and even crafts. I found a wonderful, large loofah with seeds inside at a Hispanic market here in the United States. I’m hoping the seeds will grow!
Add comment November 9th, 2008
This is one of the most robust formulas I’ve seen in a green drink, with a HUGE portion of spirulina, chlorella, and algae (bladderwrack, dulse, kelpl) together with green grass juices (barley, alfalfa, parseley, spinach, kale). Together these ingredients represent over 4.5 grams of each serving. Those are great numbers! Next on the list are the “fillers” and fibers, which include sprouted millet and Quinoa. Not bad choices if you want to include some bulk while also keeping the quality high. There are some fruits, including apple, blueberry, raspberry, and papaya. The herbal additions are an interesting and unique blend of mushrooms, root herbs and healing plants. Some highlights include Reishi, Shitake and Maitake mushrooms; Astragalus, Teng Kuei root, and ginger (among many others); plus nettle, burdock, yellow dock, and dandelion (many of my favorite botanicals). This mixture is not sweetened and it tastes pretty green and earthy–so you probably want to mix it with fruit juice or vegetable juice. The manufacturing is all in-house and the quality of this formula is among the top on my list. The price is not the best, but for the quality of this product, it’s not bad at $4.24 per ounce.
Compare to Emerald Balance, which has a similar price tag and robust mixture but a different combination. Also, compare to Vital Greens, which has some similarities in its formulation, but a higher price.
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Add comment October 25th, 2008
This is a quick view of sweeteners for those of you who want to enhance the taste of your green drinks, while remaining healthy. I’m not even going to talk about artificial sweeteners, such as saccharine and Aspartame. These are highly toxic chemicals and should never EVER be considered as a sweetener. In fact, you should never ingest any of these toxic chemicals for any reason. You’d be better off with ANY of the sweeteners listed below.
Sucrose sugar, which is made from sugar cane and sugar beets is 50% fructose and 50% glucose. The glucose is a simple sugar that gets processed quickly by the body into energy. Thus the energy spike when you eat sugar. If your blood-sugar metabolism is normal, then your body processes half of the sugar (the glucose) into energy quickly, while the other half (the fructose) is probably stored as fat. Sugar is high on the glycemic index, so it’s not good for diabetics and should not be eaten in excess.
1 comment October 25th, 2008
Movement is probably one of the best things you can do to stay young. It tones your muscles, stimulates your lymphatic system (which only works through movement), cleans your pours and skin, helps your repertory system (breathing), and aids digestion and elimination. All that from something so fun!
Best of all, dancing will make you feel young and gets you smiling and laughing, which hare known to have beneficial effects on your well being…and two and three…and turn…and…
Add comment September 27th, 2008
Before you make breakfast and drink that morning coffee, try making yourself a green drink smoothie. Choose your favorite green drink and mix with fresh berries, rice or almond milk and a little maple syrup. You may find that you aren’t even hungry for breakfast. And the nutrition you’ll get is far better than any traditional breakfast you might have eaten.
Try the same idea again in the afternoon. Instead of making a cup of coffee or a snack between lunch and dinner, try mixing a green drink smoothie instead. You’ll get more energy than you would have from a cup of coffee or sweets.
2 comments September 27th, 2008
For ages, Arruda, also known as Rue and Herb of Grace (scientific name Ruta graveolens) has been used to purify environments, repel parasites, and clear the mind of negative thoughts and energies. Arruda as it’s known in my homeland of Brazil, is originally from the Mediterranean region and grows well in dry environments. It thrives in direct sunlight. In my country, it’s commonly used as an anti-parasitic and many people place a sprig of it in the closet or dresser drawer to keep the bugs away.
The Romans and Greeks commonly used Rue to remove negative energies and to treat a variety of health issues. You know the classic image of a Greek male with a sprig of leaves in his hair? Well, that was probably Rue in his hair…there to keep the lice away. Even Shakespeare referred to Rue as the “sacred herb of sundays” (Hamlet). It was commonly dipped in water and shaken at the faithful to clear them of negative spirits. Some cultures use Rue in cooking, as it’s rich in vitamin C. Its leaves and seeds are used in salads and sauces while its leaves are also dried and used in tea. In Europe, it was often infused into wine and stronger alcoholic drinks, such as Grappa, to aid in digestion.
Rue is from the Rutaceae family, rich in salicylic acid, alcaloides, flavonoids, rutin, quercetin, fenols, and many other substances useful in pharmaceuticals. A plant with similar properties in my homeland of Brazil, known as Jamborandi, is used widely in the pharmaceutical business, including medicines to fight glaucoma.
Besides all this, it can also be used to counter Belladona poisoning and for bad breath.
In natural health circles, Rue is used to support the kidneys, bladder, intestines and inner ear. It can also be used for infections of the eyes, constipation, sciatica, asthma, headaches, dermatitis, and strokes. However, it must be used in moderation, as too much Rue can be toxic; pregnant women or those desiring to get pregnant should stay away from Rue, as it has abortive properties.
You can grow Rue yourself in the backyard. It’s a hardy plant the requires direct sunlight. It can be found under the names Arruda, Common Rue, Herb of Grace, Ruta, Golden Rue, Herbygrass, Somalata, Weinraute, Sadab and German Rue. If you’re not up for growing your own, you can also find it in herbal mixtures of all kinds.
Add comment September 21st, 2008
Although ProGreens was formulated for use by doctors who need specific information about ingredients for their patients with food allergies and other issues, its formulation is utlimately quite comparable to several others. The approach is to offer a variety of greens for nutrition, along with a collection of botanical herbs for overall health and immune support.
The greens consist largely of spirulina and a variety of grasses with some wheat sprout, beet juice and spinach powders to round out the mix. It does not have much fruit (just acerola berry juice powder), but makes up for that with a host of anti-oxidant-rich botanicals (green tea extract, billberry extract, milk thistle, astragalus). Other key ingredients include plenty of bee pollen and royal jelly (two of my favorite superfoods), ginko and Echinacea. The fillers include lecithin, apple pectin and flaxseed meal (3000mg total, which is higher than I like to see). Overall, the formulation is decent, but not spectacular…and the price is on the high side at $4.85 per ounce, but this may be offset by the security you get from knowing the exact amount of each ingredient in the formulation (not many products provide this).
Compare with Delicious Greens 8000 and Green Vibrance.
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Add comment September 21st, 2008
This formulation is a lot like many others: fairly robust with a variety of greens (barley grass, spirulina, chlorella), followed by filler (oat betaglucen, apple fiber, brown rice, lecithin), and then antioxidant herbs and fruits (carrot, green tea, blueberry, plum, and other fruits and veggies). The rest is a collection of veggie powders and herbs. This particular formulation is pretty heavy in the fillers with almost 4 grams of it (I look for under 2 grams of filler in a good formulation). This product’s label, like so many others, call their fillers a “Fiber Blend” to give it a purpose in the formulation. And while it’s true that many of these fillers add fiber, I look for a more substantial reason for the filler to call it anything but “filler.” The rest is really nothing special…a few herbs and not enough kelp to even warrant mention (a token amount). At $4.22 per ounce, I think this is a bit pricey for the quality of the blend.
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1 comment September 14th, 2008
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