Opinion Queen

On one of his recent shows, Dr Oz mentioned a new line of Neti Pots and Nasal Irrigation Products called Waterpik SinuSense (here is the recap in case you missed it: Dr Oz: Sinus Infections).  There are four products in Waterpik’s SinuSense line: the WaterPik SinuSense Water Pulsator, the WaterPik SinuSense Neti Pot, the WaterPik SinuSense Neti Bottle and the WaterPik SinuSense Squeeze Bottle.  For those of you who are not yet familiar with Nasal Irrigators or Neti Pots – they are life changing.  It is an all natural and medicine-free way to prevent sinus infections, clear up allergies and it can even fight off colds.  The concept is that you pour water in through one nostril, and it comes out the other nostril, rinsing out allergens, debris that you breathe in during the day, and congestion from colds that can cause sinus problems.  But with four different Waterpik SinuSense products to pick from, how do you know which is best for you?  Well luckily, Waterpik sent me all four products to test out so that I could tell you the difference between all four models!

Waterpik SinuSense Water Pulsator Review

My husband is talented in many areas, but pouring water up his nose is definitely not one of them!  That being said, the WaterPik SinuSense Water Pulsator was by far the easiest for him to use.  Here is how you use it:

How to Use the Waterpik SinuSense Water Pulsator:

1. You pour a package of saline solution into the water reservoir, along with 8 ounces of warm distilled water, and screw it back onto the top of the Water Pulsator.

2.  Lean forward over the sink (or in my husband’s case, he does it in the shower stall before he takes a shower).  Note: if you do it in the shower, make sure that the water is not running because an electronic device plus running water is never a good idea.

3.  While leaning forward, place the tip of the WaterPik SinuSense Water Pulsator into your left nostril.  Make sure that throughout the rest of this process that you breathe only through your mouth.

4.  Now comes the most interesting part about the WaterPik SinuSense Water Pulsator, you can pull on what they call the FlowControl Trigger (the blue trigger shown in the photo below) to control how fast or slow the water goes through your nasal passages.  This is what made this process easier for my husband I think, in addition to the fact that you do not pour the water through your nose but rather the machine basically pumps the water through your nasal passage for you.

5.  After around 10 seconds, repeat steps 3 and 4 but this time place the tip of the WaterPik SinuSense Water Pulsator into your right nostril.

Waterpik SinuSense Neti Pot Review

The WaterPik SinuSense Neti Pot has improved upon the classic Neti Pot design by placing what they call a One-Touch FlowControl vent on the handle of the neti pot.  This means that you can have some control over how quickly or slowly the water flows through your nose.

How to Use the Waterpik SinuSense Neti Pot:

1.  You pour a package of saline solution into the Neti Pot, along with 8 ounces of warm distilled water, and shake it up to make sure it is mixed together.

2.  Next, lean forward over the sink, or in the shower.

3.  While leaning forward, tilt your head to the right and place the tip of the WaterPik SinuSense Neti Pot into your left nostril.  Make sure that throughout the rest of this process that you breathe only through your mouth.

4.  Now as the water pours through your nose, you can control the water flow by moving your thumb to cover the hole on the top of the handle.

5.  After the Neti Pot is half full, repeat steps 3 and 4 but this time tilt your head to the left and place the tip of the WaterPik SinuSense Neti Pot into your right nostril.

Waterpik SinuSense Neti Bottle Review

There are two main differences between the WaterPik SinuSense Neti Bottle and the WaterPik SinuSense Neti Pot.  One is the shape of course, and the second is the way that you control the flow of water.  With the WaterPik SinuSense Neti Bottle, you control the water flow with a special FlowControl Valve on the top of the bottle, and with the WaterPik SinuSense Neti Pot you slide your thumb over a hole on the top of the handle to control the water flow.  I honestly enjoyed both designs, but if I had to pick my favorite between the two, then it would probably be the classic WaterPik SinuSense Neti Pot because I find it slightly easier to hold the handle of the original design rather than the body of the WaterPik SinuSense Neti Bottle.  Of course, the steps are basically the same, but to be 100% clear, here is how I used the Neti Bottle:

How to Use the Waterpik SinuSense Neti Bottle:

1.  You pour a package of saline solution into the Neti Bottle, along with 8 ounces of warm distilled water, and shake it up to make sure it is mixed together.

2.  Next, lean forward over the sink, or in the shower.

3.  While leaning forward, tilt your head to the right and place the tip of the WaterPik SinuSense Neti Bottle into your left nostril.  Make sure that throughout the rest of this process that you breathe only through your mouth.

4.  Now as the water pours through your nose, you can control the water flow by pressing the FlowControl Valve on the top of the Neti Bottle.

5.  After the Neti Bottle is half full, repeat steps 3 and 4 but this time tilt your head to the left and place the tip of the WaterPik SinuSense Neti Bottle into your right nostril.

Waterpik SinuSense Squeeze Bottle Review

The WaterPik SinuSense Squeeze Bottle is basically like a non-battery operated version of the WaterPik SinuSense Water Pulsator.  So rather than using gravity to push the water through your nasal passage like the WaterPik SinuSense Neti Bottle and the WaterPik SinuSense Neti Pot do, you force the water through your nose by squeezing the water bottle which forces the water to go up through one nostril and out the other.

How to Use the Waterpik SinuSense Squeeze Bottle:

1.  You pour a package of saline solution into the Squeeze Bottle, along with 8 ounces of warm distilled water, and shake it up to make sure it is mixed together.

2.  Next, lean forward over the sink, or in the shower.

3.  While leaning forward, place the tip of the WaterPik SinuSense Squeeze Bottle into your left nostril.  Make sure that throughout the rest of this process that you breathe only through your mouth.

4.  Now as you squeeze the bottle, the water will flow up one nostril and come out the other, because there is a special FlowControl Valve that only lets water out (and not back in).

5.  After the Squeeze Bottle is half full, repeat steps 3 and 4 but this time tilt your head to the left and place the tip of the WaterPik SinuSense Squeeze Bottle into your right nostril.

I know what you are thinking at this point (“ok, so now I know how to use the four Waterpik SinuSense products, but how do I decide which one to buy?”).  Well here is what I suggest.  If you are new to the world of Nasal Irrigation or have had trouble with Neti Pots in the past, I would highly recommend checking out the WaterPik SinuSense Water Pulsator and if that is out of your price range, then a close second would be the WaterPik SinuSense Squeeze Bottle.  If you have used Neti Pots before and are just looking for a new and improved model, I absolutely adore the WaterPik SinuSense Neti Pot.  The WaterPik SinuSense Neti Bottle is also wonderful, but I think it might work better for people with larger hands than mine.  If you prefer holding onto a handle: go with the WaterPik SinuSense Neti Pot.  If you prefer holding onto the body of the device: go with the WaterPik SinuSense Neti Bottle.

For more information about WaterPik, visit the WaterPik Website.

One of the products that Dr Oz had on his show recently was the Measure Up Bowl (in case you missed the segment, you can read the recap here: Dr Oz Measure Up Bowl).  Many of us struggle to figure out what an appropriate portion size looks like, so the Measure Up Bowl takes the guess-work out of Portion Control for you.  I can’t tell you how many times I have read the Nutrition Facts on a box of cereal and said to myself, ok I am just going to eat one cup of cereal – but then I never actually measure out the 1 cup – I just “eyeball” it and hope that I am close.  And we all know what that leads to … if I am hungry, I rationalize eating a bit more by telling myself that I did not really eat a full cup.  The genius of the Measure Up Bowl is that you do not need to take out a measuring cup every time you eat because the measurements are etched right into the inside of the bowl.

As you can see in the photo above, the large Measure Up Bowl has markings for a 1/2 cup, 1 cup, 1.5 cups and 2 cups.  There is also a smaller version with marking for 1/4 cup, 1/2 cup and 3/4 cup.  Before using the bowl for the first time, I decided to do a quick test to make sure that the 1 cup marking really gave me a full cup – this way I could have no excuses to take a bit extra on the off-chance that the measurement markings were a little bit off.

And into my Measure Up Bowl went the Rice Krispies that I had already measured to be exactly 1 cup.  This bowl is precise!  My one cup of Rice Krispies filled the bowl up to the 1 cup measuring line.  But this bowl is useful for so much more than just your bowl of morning cereal.  It is microwave-safe and dishwasher-safe, so warm meals are accounted for, as well as easy cleanup.  The Measure Up Bowl website even has a couple of diet plans that you can follow using their bowls.  Here is one for a Low-Sugar & Heart Healthy Plan and here is another one for a Weight Management Plan.   Heather Harvey, creator of the Measure Up Bowl lost 83 pounds in just 11 months through portion control, eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly.  If you are looking for a product to help you with portion control, I highly recommend checking out the Measure Up Bowl for Portion Control in a Bowl!

For more information, please visit the Measure Up Bowl Website.

Everyone who is health conscious or who has ever tried to lose weight knows the importance of reading the Nutrition Facts on the back of food products before buying them.  I am one of those ladies who will stand in the grocery store and compare the Nutrition Facts on 3 or 4 boxes of cereal before I decide which one to buy.  However, even with reading the ingredients and the Nutrition Facts, you can be tricked by the clever food manufacturers if you are not careful.  Have you ever noticed that for many foods, the servings size is ridiculously small?  Who can eat just 8 potato chips after opening a bag or 1 cookie when you have a delicious box full of cookies sitting in front of you?  So even if the food seems low in calories and fat, if you eat two or three times the serving size, it can add up really quickly.  What can be done though?  Well, how about a product that will create a Nutrition Facts label for the exact amount of food you are about to eat?  That is precisely what the Perfect Portions Scale does!  Dr Oz spoke about this scale on one of his segments (here is the recap: Dr Oz Perfect Portions Food Scale) and so when I was approached to do a Perfect Portions Review, I was beyond excited!  It was the first thing I told my husband when he came home, because he had been talking about how we should get a digital food scale for a while.

The Perfect Portions Scale comes in black, white, blue, red and silver – but you know how I like neutral colors that match everything, so I went with the black one.  The setup is easy – just remove the plastic strip from the battery compartment and start using it.  For breakfast, I had run out of my favorite cereal, so I decided to have some Rice Krispies, which were leftover from the Rice Krispies Treats that I made – definitely not diet food!  To use the scale, you first put your empty cereal bowl on the scale and then turn it on.  The scale automatically calculates the weight of the bowl and zeros it out so that it will only calculate the weight of the food that you pour into the bowl.  Next, I added the amount of Rice Krispies that I was planning to eat.

The Perfect Portions Scale comes with a Food Code Book  that has a database of 1999 different foods.  So after adding the Rice Krispies to my bowl, I looked up the Perfect Portions Food Code for Rice Krispies and as you can see above it is 0434.  There are a TON of foods listed in the book, but on the off-chance that you cannot find the food you are eating or something extremely similar, you can also enter your own customizable food entries.

Voila!  The complete Nutrition Facts for the exact amount of Rice Krispies that I was about to eat.  What I love about this is that if I see that I am about to eat way too many calories or too much fat, I can cut back the portion until I get the exact amount I can afford to consume for the meal.  Sometimes I even found that I was eating fewer calories and fat than I thought, so I added some extra food to my plate.  The Perfect Portions Scale completely takes the guess-work out of what you are eating.  Plus, you can have the scale monitor your calories, sugar, carbs, sodium and cholesterol so that you can track how much of each you are eating daily and even weekly.

A few more things that I absolutely must rave about – the Perfect Portions Scale is a dream to clean because there are no cracks, grooves, nooks or crannies.  The entire scale is a flat piece of glass material with touchpad keys.  And if you are a baker (like me) then you know the importance of weighing ingredients like flour rather than measuring it with measuring cups which is extremely inaccurate.  This scale also handles basic weighing functions (perfect for bakers!) like any other digital scale.  I can’t imagine why anyone would ever buy a regular digital scale when you can get the Perfect Portions Scale which is the most multi-purpose digital food scale that I have ever seen.

For more information about the Perfect Portions Scale please visit the Perfect Portions Website.  And a giant thank you to Perfect Portions for sponsoring this product review!

Having struggled with digestive issues for much of my life, people have told me before that I should consider doing a “cleanse.”  But I must admit, I was skeptical about all of these “cleanses” that have popped up on the market lately.  But when the folks at DrNatura contacted me and asked me to do a review of the Dr Natura Colonix, I was intrigued.  Whenever a company asks me to review a product that I actually consume, I always do some due diligence before accepting.  After reading review after review of glowing feedback about the Dr Natura Colonix program, I decided to have an open mind and to give it a try.

For those of you who are like me, and may not know much about what a Colonix is, I will elaborate.  A Colonix is a form of colon cleansing and body detoxification that is supposed to give you a thorough internal cleansing.  The Dr Natura Colonix program is made up of three different products: the Colonix Intestinal Cleanser which is a fiber supplement for cleaning out your colon and for flushing out toxins – the Paranil, which are capsules containing detoxifying herbs – and the KleriTea which is an herbal tea that will keep your bowel movements regular.  Here is what the instructions look like for a one month cleanse:

Dr Natura Colonix Instructions:

At first glimpse, the Dr Natura Colonix program sounds a bit overwhelming, but after the first few days it becomes habit.  You start off slowly the first 5 days, and then increase the amount of product that you use for the next 25 days.  The instructions on the Colonix fiber says to mix it into juice, water or your favorite drink.  So I mixed it into my favorite breakfast smoothie of strawberries, bananas, ice and some fruit juice.  The taste of the KleriTea was fine, especially if you like tea like me!  If you do not like tea, I think that adding a little lemon juice would make it even tastier.

DrNatura Colonix Results

This is the most important part of any Colonix review – did it really work?  Like I said, I was a skeptic, but I definitely started to see changes after starting Dr Natura’s Colonix.  My bowel movements became extremely regular – as in multiple times a day (sorry if that is too much information … but this is a Colonix review!).  I definitely noticed improvements in my energy level, and even my skin and hair seemed healthier.  But the most impressive thing that Dr Natura’s Colonix did for me was to clear up my IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) symptoms.  I am so happy to say that I have not had any “tummy problems” or “bathroom problems” since a few days after I began the Dr Natura’s Colonix program.  I wonder how long the results will last for me.  Frankly, I suffer so badly from IBS that even if I have to take Dr Natura’s Colonix every 6 months, it will be worth it!

Where To Buy Dr Natura Colonix

You can buy the full Colonix program here: Dr Natura’s Colonix

Or you can buy each step of the program separately here: DrNatura Colonix Fiber, Dr Natura Kleritea and Dr Natura Paranil.

ZOOM Organic makes a health drink called Zoë, which means life in Ancient Greek.  ZOOM Organic’s concept is that the health drink can be equated to “life in a bottle.”  I approach “health drinks” with a cautious eye, because what companies often claim to be healthy are anything but that.  So when ZOOM Organic offered me to test out their product, the first thing I did was to research a bit more about what goes into their product.  What caught my eye was the fact that it is 100% organic juice and nothing else.  ZOOM’s Zoe is made up of Acai Juice, Goji Juice, Noni Juice, Mangosteen Juice and Camu Camu Juice.  If you have not heard of all of these antioxidant-rich fruits, I will elaborate on them shortly, but suffice it to say that this juice drink sounded very promising.

Of the five fruits that make up ZOOM Organic’s Zoe drink, Acai is the fruit that I have heard the most about.  According to ZOOM Organic, the Acai Berry has “antioxidants, amino acids, essential omegas, fibers and proteins” and is thought to help increase energy, strengthen your immune system, promote good sleep, improve digestion and slow the aging process to name just a few.    The Goji Berry is supposed to help people to age more gracefully and is thought by some to help with arthritis, cardiovascular health, diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure.  The Noni Fruit is thought to help with back pain, your immune system and hypertension.  The Mangosteen is packed with antioxidants and has 40 Xanthones.  Mangosteen excited me because it is supposed to be great for acne, eczema, diarrhea, headaches and skin problems in general.  My husband has the worst eczema, so I am always on the lookout for new products to help him.  Last, but not least, Camu Camu is supposed to be a natural anti-depressant that also helps your liver, lungs, eyes and even cold sores.  Camu Camu fruits are about the size of a large cherry, but they have 20-30 times more vitamin C than an orange.  And that is all that is in Zoe — nothing else, no fillers.

When I received my bottle of ZOOM Organic’s Zoe Drink, I was not sure what to expect.  Several people have told me that Noni Juice tastes like cheese or like feet or at the very least, that it is bitter.  So I was a bit concerned that the Noni Juice would overpower any good taste that the other juices might have.  The bottle says to take 2-3 ounces daily as a nutritional supplement, so the first few times that I took Zoe, I measured it out exactly until I got a good feel for exactly how much liquid is in 2-3 ounces.  You can see the color of the juice in the photo above.  Unfortunately, you cannot taste the flavor from the photo, but I was impressed by how good it tasted.  Would I say that it is the best juice drink I ever tasted?  Probably not.  However, this is a nutritional supplement, not a juice drink that is sugary and aiming just to taste good.  The real test was how I felt after just a few weeks of drinking this juice.  I definitely felt more energized and my skin really did improve, which I did not appreciate nearly as much as I should have, but as soon as I stopped drinking the juice, I definitely saw the change in my skin.  If you are looking for a nutritional supplement with Acai, Goji, Noni, Mangosteen and Camu Camu, I would look no further.  If you are interested in trying out ZOOM Organic’s Zoe drink, please visit them here.

Do you have seasonal allergies? Year-round allergies? Sinus infections? Headache problems? Then, I am pleased to introduce you to the NeilMed NasaFlo Neti Pot.  Dr Oz has mentioned the benefits of using a Neti Pot in quite a few of his shows including this one on Sinus Infections and this one about Allergies & Neti Pots.  A Neti Pot is basically a device that helps you to clean out your sinuses and nasal passage by pouring water in through one nostril and letting it come out through the other nostril.  As the water comes out of your other nostril, so does the mucus, allergens and any debris stuck in your nose.  In addition, the nasal passage gets moisturized, which helps you to stay healthy.

My first Neti Pot was not the NeilMed NasaFlo, it was a very basic plastic Neti Pot that did not even have a lid on the top.  As a result, I often ended up with water all over my face rather than just in my nose.  So when my husband found the NeilMed NasaFlo, I was excited to try it out since the lid on the top would keep the water from bathing my face haha!

How To Use a Neti Pot:

Ok, so this part is crucial.  It took me quite a bit of time to play around with my Neti Pot until I mastered how to use it.  I highly recommend following these steps closely.

1.  Fill your NeilMed NasaFlo only half way with lukewarm water (you do not want the water too hot or too cold).

2.  Empty into the Neti Pot one NeilMed Sinus Rinse Packet.

3.  Fill the NeilMed NasaFlo the rest of the way (until the fill line) with more lukewarm water.  By filling the Neti Pot only half way before adding the sinus rinse packet, you will help distribute and dissolve the sinus rinse solution throughout the water in the Neti Pot.

4.  Standing over a sink, lean your head forward and tilt your head to the right.

5.  Place the Neti Pot’s spout into your left nostril and pour the water into the left nostril, while the water comes out the right nostril.  It is very important to breathe through your mouth during this time, otherwise the salty tasting water can go down your throat instead of out through the other nostril!

6.  I usually pour half of the solution in through my left nostril and then I tilt my head to the left and pour the rest of the solution in through my right nostril.

7.  When I have no more solution left in the Neti Pot, I push on one nostril with my finger and blow my nose hard to get out any loose debris / mucus and leftover salty water… and then I repeat this on my other nostril.

Stay tuned, because I just received 4 new styles of Neti Pots from WaterPik that I cannot wait to test out and review for you!