Hey guys. Some of you remember when I bought my Ninja Kitchen System, you asked for my opinion on it. Here’s my video demonstration of the Ninja’s cool features (you’ll even see how I whip up my daily Shakeology). Ninja is having a holiday sale right now. Earlier in the year I paid $159.95 + the cost of shipping for my Ninja, but right now it’s on sale for $103.85 with FREE shipping.

Here’s my demonstration video…

I am NOT a Ninja affiliate and I do not gain monetarily by telling you about this deal. I just envy you right now, because you have the chance to snag it for waaay cheaper than I did. This is the only link where I see the sale price. If you go straight to the main web page, you might NOT see the discounted price, so use the sale link. I don’t know how long the sale price is good for, so don’t wait if you’re thinking about getting it for yourself or as a holiday gift. Enjoy!  

‘Twas around this same time last year that I posed the question, Is It Safe To Drink My Own Pee?

Welp, how can I confess to you that I did in fact see for myself if it was safe. Would you call me crazy? Would you call me Filthy McNasty? Would you change your opinion of me if I did a little pee-pee drinking experiment of my own?

I blame it on the handful of athletes who do it for athletic performance (mostly boxers and MMA fighters) and others who encourage urine therapy in alternative medicine for homeopathic purposes. Urine therapy dates back thousands of years. It’s believed to prevent and cure certain ailments, and even treat external woes, like wound sterilization and calluses. Madonna has been known to piss on her feet to cure her athlete’s foot. This all made me very curious.

As for urea, that’s the chemical compound found in urine that is widely used in cosmetic and pharmaceutical products.

Although I still have a lot of research to do (I’m currently reading through the webpage on Urine Therapy Testimonials with an open mind), I did learn that urine is sterile right out the body. It’s when it comes into contact with bacteria and other outside exposures that it gets all foul and pissy-smelling like a baby’s overdue diaper.

So yes, I did in fact try it. Uh huh. And you know what? It didn’t really taste like anything. It wasn’t even salty. It was just liquid with no real taste. It didn’t gross me out. It was literally only a few fresh drops (maybe two or three at a time) on several different occasions.

These experiments were non-scary enough that I decided if I ever do get some type of major sickness (God forbid) I would, in fact, try urine therapy. I’m VERY big on homeopathic treatments for medicinal purposes because it’s worked for me and my family (I’ve got lots to share on that subject), so I would not rule out pee-drinking in the future, no matter how extreme or taboo it is.

Now lemme get back to my research. I hope you don’t change my name to Miss Pissy now.

I was workin’ in the garden, burning calories ‘n stuff, while posing as a weed-harvesting slave. But (gasp!), no. I’m not talking about marijuana harvesting. It’s those dang pesky garden weeds that make my flower beds look all trashy.

So I was pulling out the weeds to re-beautify the landscape when those bastard mosquitoes started chewing on my flesh. I forgot to use protection! Since I’m all about being natural and healthy, and kinda organic, I can’t see using those commercialized mosquito repellents that contain the neurotoxin, DEET.

DEET is the active ingredient in many anti-mosquito body products that prevent them from snacking on your azz like some chicken & biscuits. But DEET is also a pesticide, so why would you spray/smather that stuff on the bodies of you and your family? It’s absorbed by the skin and into the bloodstream. It’s part of the same family of chemicals found in paint solvent. (Sigh. Why the does FDA approve this crap for human use?)

Mosquitoes are attracted to floral-ish perfumes, dark clothing, sweaty funk, and the carbon dioxide we give off as we breathe. So some keys are to wear light clothing, hold your breath and make yourself as aromatically un-appealing to the mosquitoes as you garden, exercise and play outdoors.

The site right here lists a host of natural ingredients that those pests hate to deal with, like lavender, eucalyptus, catnip, thyme, lemongrass oil, mineral oil and more. Read that site for a natural homemade recipe, and you can certainly Google a bunch more recipes to find one with ingredients you might already have on hand.

Then there’s the OFF! Clip On Repellent (coupon link) you can get that doesn’t involve any spraying on your body at all – just clip it on your clothes and it creates a force field around you (although I’m still wondering if the scent the clip gives off is toxic to us in anyway?).  I’ve been using DEET-free Bullfrog for years, and there’s always the good ‘ole Avon Skin So Soft that will do the trick. Based on Livestrong’s breakdown of Skin So Soft ingredients, you might wanna pick some of that up, yet Avon now has a specialized line of bug repellents as well.

What good is it to be working on your fitness if you’re gonna be smathering DEET-pesticides on your body? Take yo’ azz outside for some physical activity, but use these natural tips so you don’t get all bit up, okay?

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Here’s the deal. My very first whack at couponing wasn’t as extreme as what you see on TV, but I didn’t do too shabby considering I watched only one episode of Extreme Couponing and picked up enough tips to get everything in my cart pictured above for way cheaper. But please pretend you don’t see those Froot Loops in my cart.

Here’s the breakdown:

• $395.19 = full cost price of groceries before savings card and coupons
• -$106.33  deducted for sale/coupon savings
• Bonus item: FREE $25 gas card with my purchase

$288.86 = final price paid for two weeks worth of groceries for my family of six, plus free gas!

My cart contained high-priced items that I got for cheap like toddler pull ups (normal price, $30), paper towels, several boxes of Keurig coffee, and EIGHT boxes of cereal that normally run no less than $3.50 per box.

How did I get all for $106.33 in savings? It took some work. I had to do the following:

• I watched TLC’s extreme couponing for tips and inspiration.
• I Googled top couponing blogs and “printable coupon” websites for more tips and savings deals.
• I studied the grocery store circular meticulously to a pair my coupon stash with weekly sale items.
• I shopped slooowly. It took me 2.5 hours in the store to be sure I didn’t miss any deals.

So yeah, it took some work. The key is to plan ahead to combine sale items with a coupon. For instance, with most of those cereals I only paid $0.88 per box (YES!), because it was on sale AND I used a coupon on top of that. My coupon stash only represented two week’s worth of coupon-collecting from Sunday papers, so as a novice I had less to work with, but still fared well. As I build my coupon stash, my savings will grow and I’ll get better at this art form.

But there’s a few problems with Extreme Couponing.

I will never end up paying only $40 for a $500 cart load of groceries. Why? Because these professional couponers are famous for buying a bunch of crap foods that us health-conscious peeps generally don’t touch with a 10-foot wide food trap.

I don’t care if it will cost me only pennies with my coupon. I don’t care if it’s FREE. I refuse to buy that piece of crap food. Extreme couponers on the show are buying things like hot dogs, processed and packaged dinners in a box (like Hamburger Helper), soda, chips, etc. I also don’t feel like stocking up on 35 bottles of Mylanta to get a deal. No thank you. You get me?

And here’s an absurb remark from one extreme couponer:

“If we don’t have a coupon for it, we don’t buy it”.

Well, damn! That explains why I didn’t see any of these TV-extreme couponers with produce items in their carts. Fresh fruits and vegetables? Nope! You’d think these people would buy their kids an apple or some grapes, but I guess not all of them are doing that. I suppose it would have to be a coupon for canned peaches instead.

I also refuse to dumpster dive for coupons like some of the pros do. Hell no!

Besides this, there’s the issue of there being a very limited selection of sale items and coupons for the healthiest of foods anyway, so our extreme savings will be handicapped straight out the gate. However, I did find Saving Naturally, a site that focuses on coupon deals for organic and other health-minded foods. But yes, the extremists are in fact scoring bottom dollar deals on non-food times like cleaning supplies and health/beauty products, so us peeps can definitely go crazy with that part of couponing.

Refining the Craft of Extreme Couponing

The couponing blogs do let us know that it takes time and patience to refine the art of the coupon. Study these blogs! Pick up their tips! Go to sites like The Krazy Coupon Lady and Coupon Mom. And I’m sure there’s even more great sites, so as I refine my craft of couponing, I’ll be creating a quick reference resource database in the coming weeks!

The longer you faithfully coupon, the better you will get at organizing your shopping trip, studying sale times and pairing up deals. Can you believe, after I got home from my shopping trip, I ran across more printable coupons for stuff I had paid full price for at checkout? Dang it! I’m working on getting better at this. And I will.

Top couponers may laugh at my first whack at couponing as if it wasn’t good enough, but this shopping trip not only kept over $100 in my pocket, it also showed me the potential I have to keep saving while bringing home MORE groceries than I have in the past through strategic planning.

I love Extreme Couponing already, because it’s a challenge. And I feel like I’m beating the system! haha.

So tell me: Do you have any couponing tips? If not, will you at least give this couponing thing a try? You really should, especially if you have greedy people in your family.

“When you add extra butter sticks to your favorite foods, it makes the calorie molecules slippery so they can’t stick to your azz. Therefore? ….butter is diet food.”

Important Note: You absolutely must adhere to this tip, because it took me two frackin’ hours to figure out how to Photoshop the butter stick into the Cyclops portrait.

I’m having another conversation with myself. I need to scan my brain cells for the answer. Why was I in Rite Aid pondering the purchase of age defying, trick lotions that cost $40? And then I thought, What the FRACK am I doing?

This is very stooopid.

Ya, I’m getting old(er). I’ll be 40 in less than three years. And ya, I’m noticing skin changes in my face, like a few age spots and fine lines here and there. If you don’t fall into the 30+ category, don’t click away, because once you get there, you’re body is gonna play big jokes that hit you real suddenly, like a face slap.

Hence, my situation right now.

She’s absolutely beautiful.

But I refuse to be in denial. I don’t look like I did when I was 20. And 15 years from now, I won’t look like I do today. But if you and I continue to take care of ourselves, we will STILL be beautiful anyway.

My beauty – and yours – will simply evolve and redefine itself to be beautiful in different ways. I don’t want magic tricks, plastic surgery or a ton of makeup to cover up my aging. I’m more interested in how to keep myself looking great naturally as I age grow in grace.

AGE GRACEFULLY ACTION PLAN

How can you stay vibrant and beautiful without surgery, expensive potions or caking on makeup?

• Water
• Sleep
• Exercise
• Proper nutrition
• Healthy relationships
• Spiritual connection
• Sexy-time (aka, chick-a-bow-wow) …wait! Who wrote that!?

In the absence of one or all of these, I get weirded out real fast. I get drained and moody, and completely off balance – no doubt that contributes to the aging process. There’s lots of scientific evidence to prove what I’m saying. Just Google any one of my action plan items and do some investigative reading for proof.

So this is my action plan and I’m sticking to it.

How do YOU plan to age beautifully without lotions and potions?

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Are you up for some greedy reading on mindful eating to put your Food Trap in check? I invited Ami Spencer from Writing Her Life, a health-conscious chick and aspiring Yogini, to share her take on the book, Savor. Because I need to stop savoring blueberry muffins. Ami is cool peeps, so you should follow her on Twitter.

Having swiftly kicked dieting to the curb, I’ve continued to lose or maintain my weight by making healthy choices (most of the time) and staying as active as I can with my busy schedule. There’s always room for improvement, though, and as I started exploring yoga more, I also found myself wanting to practice more mindfulness in all areas of my life, but particularly where eating is concerned. Right around that time, I heard about the book Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.

I plowed through the first couple of chapters quickly. Unfortunately, my excitement quickly waned and my interest in the book dwindled. I found myself skimming over the fitness and nutrition information and going straight for the meditation and mindfulness sections.

Healthy Eating Strategies…Too Basic?

While I’m sure the healthy lifestyle topics would be helpful for people who are just beginning to make diet and activity changes, for someone very familiar with nutrition and fitness recommendations, it wasn’t anything new. Of course, the truth is there isn’t any new information to provide. A healthy diet includes plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean protein. Period. We all know this, but I suppose it never hurts to be reminded. And I have to assume that I’m probably not the average reader of this book. I would guess that the target audience is people who are either making their first steps toward a healthy lifestyle or looking to revamp their entire eating and exercise approach. Those people would certainly benefit from the information and strategies in Savor, particularly the “Action Plans” that help to take the knowledge provided and translate it into actions that will get positive results.

Mindfulness & Meditation to Improve Eating and Exercise Habits

I was more interested in the portions that focused on mindfulness and integrating mindful meditation into our lives, though. Thankfully, Savor didn’t disappoint where those topics were concerned. The discussion of mindfulness as it applies to our eating and exercise behavior had me nodding as I recognized my own bad habits and unhealthy patterns in the examples. The sample meditations were also useful and I’ve been gradually trying to integrate them into my life, especially when I catch myself eating for the wrong reasons or mindlessly completing my workout. If you are open to exploring applications of meditation and mindfulness in your life, particularly where your eating and exercise habits are concerned, this book is an accessible option.

Overall, I’d say that if you’re looking for a book that goes beyond dieting advice and delves into the influence of our thoughts and mood on our health and weight, providing actionable strategies for improving health through a more mindful life, you’ll find Savor useful and interesting. However, if you’re looking for a typical diet book with extreme weight loss promises or cutting edge dietary and fitness recommendations, this isn’t the book for you.

I dunno why we’re having this conversation. I don’t want to drink my pee, but the little voice that lives inside my brain asked me about it. So here I am. Answering myself.

When people thirst after their own pee-pee, is it really safe to drink?

I’ve heard stories of mountain climbers, stuck-in-the ocean adventurers and Sahara Desert-types drinking their own pee when lost and craving rescue. But I recently found out this ancient yellow juice is not just for emergencies.

UFC cage fighter Lyoto Machida professed his love for urine in a 2009 Yahoo! Sports article, calling it a natural medicine. Pee is claimed to be an anti-cancer agent, acne medicine, an athlete’s foot cure, and a callus remedy, among boasting other special powers. Machida’s Mixed Martial Arts peer, Luke Cummo, reluctantly gave up his secret practice of urine therapy because he claims pee drinking gives him an advantage over his competitors. Cummo says pee “contains minerals, hormones and elements that bind moisture to protein.”

The Complete Guide to Urine Therapy points out that the amniotic fluid surrounding a fetus contains his/her own urine, which it constantly breathes in AND swallows inside its momma. The Guide has a lot of other interesting stuff to say. Go check it out. Or not.  (if you have trouble opening links, right click to open or drag into a new window)

REACTIONS FROM THE TASTE TEST CREW

Health-hater Husband: I’m not drinking my pee. I’d eat wolf breath first.

Greedy Kid #1: If it cured cancer, I would drink it. But none of this makes sense.

Greedy Kid #2: I’d rather drink bad milk, but I won’t test that either.

Greedy Kid #3: How can you eat wolf breath?

Special affiliate offer! The Yum Yucky eBook, Watch Me Cook With Pee, will be hitting the Internet Undernet soon. Sell my eBook to your family and friends, and earn a 55% commission every time they take a piss.

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Before you try that Cookie Diet or swallow some fat burning pills, are you really sure it’s gonna work?

You can tango with the sinister Dr. Diet, but when things don’t work out, don’t be surprised if he adds you to his collection.

[photo: Dan DeChiaro]

Is it just me? Am I the only one that suffers from the Exercise Wedgie? Exercise sucks when the panties are in a bunch. Whether you’re running, stretching, squatting, or yoga-ing, a spontaneous wedgie can really slow you down.

Take a look at the panties in the pic. Those are GAP Low Rise Stretch Cotton Hipsters. I now own 6 pairs.

These panties are a best. Yes, better than Victoria’s Secret. If you normally don’t associate the GAP with panty-buying, just go browse their panty table and see for yourself.

Cotton Hispters are great for curvy women and really flatter you in a full length mirror. They obediently stay in place on da booty without shifting or bunching. Now I go can running at the park without de-wedging in front of random strangers.

HIPSTER NOTES

• Price Paid: $5 a pair on sale
• Fabric: Knit stretch 94% cotton, 6% spandex
• Care: Machine wash
• Sizes: S, M,  L, XL, XXL (these are true to size)

Yum UP! to: A great pair of panties that helps me appreciate my curves.

Yuck Down to: Running wedgies. They are the worst.

Today I wore a pair of Hipsters. I did not have to pick out even one little wedgie. Zero wedgies, baby!