Thursday, February 17, 2011

February 2011 Newsletter

Product Highlight: ALRI Chain'd Out - Brand Chain Amino Acids
It might be winter, but that is no excuse to neglect your body. Feed your muscles and stay in shape year round with ALRI's non-hormonal branch chain amino acids Chain'd Out in three delicious flavors including blue raspberry, berry banana and appletini.

From a company established in 2001, Author L. Rae has done it again with this cutting edge formula created for people like you. Whether you are a body builder looking to bulk up, an avid runner wanting to avoid muscle breakdown, or a new mom trying to get back into gear, this product is for you.

Some benefits of ALRI’s Chain’d Out include:
- Increased energy, stamina and focus
- Increased muscle mass
- Enhanced oxygen and nutrient utilization
- Faster recovery
- Anti-fatigue, anti-aging and anti-stress effects
- Non-hormonal amino acids

Check it out for yourself at an Emerald City Smoothie near you and find out more info about Chain’d Out and other ALRI products at http://www.alrindustries.com/ .


Health & Fitness
10 Easy Ways to Eat Right

Dr. David Katz, founding director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center, says eating right is easy you just have to follow these ten simple guidelines:
1. Use smaller plates.
Whether you're already trim or trying to lose weight, one of the best things you can do for your waistline and your health is to downsize your dishware. Cornell University nutrition researcher Brian Wansink, PhD, has found that switching from a 12-inch to a ten-inch plate leads people to eat 22 percent fewer calories. If you downsized only your dinner plate, you'd be eliminating more than 5,000 calories a month from your diet. It really is that simple.

2. Make half of every meal fruits or vegetables.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends five to nine servings of produce a day, but if you follow Dr. Katz’ rule, you won't have to count. At breakfast, fill your bowl halfway with cereal, then top it off with berries or sliced banana. At lunch, eat a smaller—or half—sandwich, and add two pieces of fruit. At dinner, make sure your plate is at least 50 percent salad, broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, or whatever veggie you choose. This ensures that you get enough nutrients and automatically reduces the amount of fat and calories you consume (provided you don't go crazy with fatty dressings and toppings).

To make sure you get all of the fruits and veggies you need in your diet try any Emerald City Smoothie selection. We have several low calorie options, as well as the Beta Boost which is made with 100% all natural carrot juice.

3. Don't eat on the run.
The first problem with grabbing and gulping is that it usually means fast food. And even a smallish fast food lunch (small burger, medium fries, diet soda) delivers around 800 calories—more than the average woman would want to get at dinner. When we eat on the go, our brains tend to register the food as a snack—regardless of how many calories we consume—leading us to overeat at our next meal.

A simple solution if you are in a hurry is a smoothie. Emerald City offers quick service and healthy meal alternatives. In a real rush? No problem! Call ahead and we’ll have it ready when you walk in the door, or better yet use our curbside service and we’ll bring it out to you.

4. The shorter the ingredient list, the better.
Most of the healthiest foods have only one ingredient: Think broccoli, spinach, blueberries, etc. Try the Island Breeze with strawberry, banana, papaya or the Fruity Supreme with strawberry, banana, non fat milk and protein. These simple options are packed with the nutrients and vitamins you need to fuel your body.

5. Nutritious food doesn't have to be expensive.
Dr. Kratz and a few colleagues completed a study in Independence, Missouri, comparing prices between a diverse list of healthy grocery items and a list of less nutritious ones. With rare exception, they found that the smart choices cost no more. In fact, there was a potential small savings associated with the healthy selections. And that's without considering such economical options as occasionally substituting beans or lentils for meat, or making a sandwich at home rather than spending money at a restaurant.

Emerald City Smoothie offers numerous smoothies for under $5. This is much less than you would spend on lunch at a restaurant with much more nutritious ingredients for the price.

6. Take an extra ten minutes a day to prepare healthy meals.
By devoting a few minutes to planning for more nutritious eating, you invest in your own health and that of your family.
Preparing a smoothies at home will help your whole family eat healthy. Stop by any Emerald City Smoothie to pick up protein powder and vitamins to add to your smoothies.

7. Retrain your palate.
As any 5-year-old or picky eater can attest, familiarity is a powerful driver of dietary preference. But taste buds are malleable and can be taught to appreciate new and subtler flavors. When you swap processed, high-fat, sodium-packed, and over sweetened food for healthier fare, it can take one to two weeks before your taste buds acclimate. Don't expect to love new flavors right away (and certainly don't expect your kids to). Just keep serving the new dishes, and soon neither you nor your palate will recall what all the fuss was about.

8. Stop eating before you feel full.
Slow the pace of your meals. Pay attention to what you're eating. And call it quits when you're about 80 percent full. After a pause, you'll likely find that "mostly full" is full enough. Studies indicate that simply by eating at a leisurely pace, you could drop up to 20 pounds a year.

9. Sit down to dinner with the entire family.
Whether it's just you and your spouse or a family of 12, demand that everyone treat the dinner hour as holy. Kids who eat with their parents are less likely to consume junk, less likely to overeat, and less likely to be overweight. Parents who eat with their children report greater satisfaction with family life.

10. You really are what you eat.
You want radiant skin? Consider that your skin depends on the flow of blood for nutrients and oxygen—which, in turn, requires healthy blood vessels and a steady supply of red blood cells generated by your bone marrow.

The best way to keep your body humming is to eat a well-rounded, nutritious diet. Want to-die-for, salon-style hair? Then you need healthy hair follicles to build hair in the first place—and that, in turn, depends on having a healthy heart to pump nutrients to those follicles, and healthy lungs to give them oxygen.

Emerald City Smoothies offers an array of boosters you can add to your smoothie to keep you healthy. For shiny hair, glowing skin and healthy nails, along with many other benefits, add flax oil to your smoothie. This supplement is rich in omega fatty acids (good fats) which keeps you a well oiled, healthy machine. To find a location nearest you log onto our website at www.emeraldcitysmoothie.com and click on store locations.

Customer Feedback
Message:
Nadia from Virginia wrote:

I used to live in Bellingham, Wa for 5 years and went to your location there about
4-5 times a week. I moved back home to Richmond, Va and I want to say I really miss your smoothies. I have tried other smoothie places here and they just don't compare, nothing compares to the store the manager/owner, the people that worked there and most of all the smoothies. I often think maybe I can get one over-nighted but, unfortunately I do not have the money for it, Mango Mania was my favorite just talking about it makes my mouth water with delight the craving gets bad sometimes for the smoothie and the experience of watching them make it for me right there. There are times of where I think if I had the money to fly out there for a smoothie I would do it in a heartbeat. I have told everyone I know here about your smoothies and how if they had one they would never want one from anywhere else again.

Emerald City Smoothie is my favorite smoothie shop ever and nothing once again can compare to you. Thank you for reading my message and all I have to say is if it is possible for you to open a store here where I live, I can guarantee you would be the top smoothie/health store here.

Thank you,

Nadia

You Tube Channel!

We have our very own You Tube Channel! Check us out at http://www.youtube.com/user/EmeraldCityHQ

January 2011 Newsletter

Health & Fitness
10 Healthy Snack Foods

When snacking you want to make sure you are both satisfying your belly and nourishing your body. Make sure to stick to high-protein, healthy carbs and fiber to keep you feeling fuller longer without the spike in blood sugar.

If you are craving something salty try these foods:

Food Should Taste Good Chips – made with all natural ingredients and available in 3 delicious flavors: Sweet Potato, Multi-Grain, Jalepeno

Ostrim Sticks are made with both ostrich and beef making them an extra lean snack for kids and adults

Snacktrition offers almonds, cashews and other healthy nuts mixed with sea salt or dry roasted

If you are craving something sweet:

Peeled Snacks offer the perfect satisfaction for any sweet craving – choose from an assortment of dried fruit, and dried fruit and nut mixes

Froose whole grain fruit snacks are a fiber rich, gluten free, low sugar alternative to candy and other fruit snacks – great for kids and adults

Any one of our Low Sugar smoothies including Fruity Supreme, Island Breeze, Pacific Splash and the Zip Zip.

Stop by a location nearest you to stock up on snacks for your kids’ lunch box or your office desk.

Did You Know

A healthy heart is the golden ticket to a longer, healthier life. Make sure to keep your heart in optimal health by keeping your cholesterol and blood pressure down.

Here are a few quick tips to help:
1) Cut out bad fats and eat good ones like omega 3’s, olive oil and canola oil instead. You can find essential oils in fish, nuts and lean cut meats.
2) Whole grains are essential to lowering your risk of cardiovascular disease. So, eat your oats!
3) Reduce your salt intake. Increase levels of sodium in the diet can lead to high blood pressure. Try reduced sodium options or add just a pinch yourself instead of heavily salting your food.
4) Exercise! Get up and get moving! The best way to strengthen your heart and contribute to your overall health is by exercise. Try to walk, run, hike or bike at least four times a week

Product Highlight: Bee Sure
Bee Sure is a drink mix you can put in smoothies or other liquids containing over 200 nutrients! Bee Sure is made up of whey protein concentrate, bee pollen, Hawaiian spirulina and Siberian Ginseng.

These ingredients combined, do a body good. Whey protein concentrate helps repair and build bones and tissue; building muscle and promoting fat loss. Bee pollen is rich in protein, amino acids, enzymes and co-enzymes and essential fatty acids. Spirulina is mostly known for its anti-ageing benefits. However, it is also an energy boost and helps detoxify the body. Last but not least Ginseng is associated with mental and physical health and assists in the absorption of vitamins and minerals in the body. It also aids the body in eliminating toxins and resist daily stress factors.

Bee Sure is an easy way to make sure you get healthy and stay healthy. Visit your local Emerald City Smoothie to check it out for yourself.

Bee Sure All Natural. (2009) True Organics USA Site. Retrieved from http://www.trueorganicsusa.com/beesure.html

Customer Chat

Linda writes:

“My nephew was in a car wreck around Thanksgiving and he went into Emerald City Smoothie and they bent over backwards to help him. They gave him suggestions on things to help him stay healthy and not lose weight while he had his jaw wired shut. Thank God for Emerald City Smoothie.”