Product Review & Giveaway: Attune Probiotic Bars & Uncle Sam Cereal

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Coco

I first discovered Attune Probiotic Bars a few years ago, when I spotted them by the yogurt at my grocery store.

Rich, Dark Probiotic Chocolate Bars Infused with Essential Probiotic Yogurt Cultures

As decsribed on the Attune Foods website, each bar “delivers 6.1 billion CFUs of clinically supported strains of probiotics in tasty, natural and certified gluten free chocolate bars.” Of course, the dark chocolate is my favorite:

A truly healthy pleasure of smooth, antioxidant-rich dark chocolate with 68% cocoa content. Delicious, dairy-free, probiotic chocolate.

One 20g bar has 80 calories, 6 g fat and 30% of the recommended daily allowance for calcium. Most importantly, it’s chocolate I can feel good about! (I hope no one has trademarked that phrase for a different prodcut!)

The problem is, I have not been able to find the Attune Probiotic Bars in a long time, and a store locator search on the Attune Foods website confirmed what my unsuccesful trips to various grocery stores had told me: they really are hard to find around here. When I was whinng about this on Twitter, someone (@workoutmommy? @AttuneFoods? @DrugStoreDotCom?) pointed out that I could order them online from DrugStore.com. After the first shipment got melted on the UPS truck (thank you DrugStore.com for your amazingly prompt customer service!), I received a case in good condition. I shared some with friends at work and have the rest stored safely in my fridge.  I try to remember to pack one in my lunch bag every day, because they are the perfect pick-me-up to get me through that mid-afternoon slump!

I was Tweeting with @AttuneFoods about all this, and they sent me some coupons to try their products. Since I already had ordered the Attune Probiotic Bars, I decided to try some cereal. Attune Foods has other interesting products, like chocolate granola

attune Chocolate Münch Probiotic Granola

and graham crackers

New Morning Organic Honey Grahams

but I haven’t seen them in any stores.

This giveaway has ended!

I still have a coupon left for one free Attune Foods item, and I’d like to give it to a reader who has not tried any of the Attune Foods products yet. Since I’m giving away my own coupon, the entry rules are easy:

  1. Leave a comment and let me know what Attune Foods products you have seen (but not tried!) at your grocery store.
  2. Send this Tweet and leave a comment saying that you did:

Check out the @AttuneFoods coupon giveaway @Got2Run4Me http://wp.me/p131gw-BJ

One comment per entry, up to two entries per person. A winner will be selected from comment/entries received by midnight on August 14, 2011.

**FTC Notice** Attune Foods sent me coupons to try their products, with no obligation to write a review, blog, or Tweet about them. The review here reflects my own personal opinion of these products.

Posted in Food, Product Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 13 Comments

This Is My Prayer

Posted on August 7, 2011 by Coco

Romans 8:26 reminds me that I can still pray when I don’t know how to put my prayer into words:

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

Today, this is my prayer:

The knot in my stomach–Lord, this is my prayer.
The jolt of adrenaline–Lord, this is my prayer.
The loss of my appetite–Lord, this is my prayer.
The tears welling up–Lord, this is my prayer.

I offer all of this up to you, Lord,
And pray that “Thy will be done.”
I offer all of this up to you, Lord,
and wait for Your Peace–which passes all understanding–
to envelop me and the one I pray for in Your Loving Care.

Amen.

Posted in My Faith | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Geographically Challenged

Posted on August 6, 2011 by Coco

I have a pretty good sense of direction–better than my husband at least–but Arlington, Virginia always confuses me. There is a 16th Street and a 16th Road and they are not related. You could be on 16th Street, drive straight through an intersection, and be on a different road altogether. The roads twist and turn, end suddenly and begin again a few blocks over–it is just not a place you can navigavte by feel.

When my friend and I made plans to meet up for a run this weekend, I thought we should meet at her house in Falls Church and run along the Nelly Custis trail to get some hill work in. I thought we could pick up the course that I ran for the July 4th Go Fourth 8K, which started at Bluemont Park and then picked up the Nelly Custis trail for some shady hills.

 I got to my friend’s house a bit before 6:00 and we headed out. We cut through the back of the park and picked up a running/biking path, and then followed signs to the Nelly Custis trail. After a brief segment, the trail ended at a neighborhood street!

Clearly we had taken a wrong turn, but how? My friend figured that we had cut over to Nelly Custis too soon, so we ran along some neighborhood roads, trying to keep heading in the right direction. We reached an overpass and saw a path below us, so we cut through another neighborhood to get there. After a little while, the path looked familiar. We were approaching Bluemont Park!

It turns out, the park in her neighborhood is Banneker Park, not Bluemont!

Bluemont … Banneker … now I know the difference!

We picked up the course I had intended, and got in a few more hills. We weren’t sure how far it would be to run straight back to her house, so we turned around at mile 4.  We got back to Banneker Park at about mile 6, and added a loop so we hit 7 miles by the time we got back to her street.

It was a bit more of an adventure than we had planned on, but it was all good. The detours didn’t really impact our pace, although the humidity and hills took a toll.

Garmin Data
Total Distance: 7 miles
Total Time: 1:05:30
Averae Pace: 9:22 min/mile
Split Times: 9:23, 8:57, 8:55, 9:24, 9:31, 9:21, 9:55
(I was definitely feeling wiped out and whiny during that last mile!)

Have you ever gotten “lost” on a run?

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Dammit!

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Coco

Last September I had an unfortunate run-in with our coffee table that necessitated a painful “procedure” at the podiatrist’s office that resulted in the loss of the toenail on my big toe. (We’re you reading this while eating? I’m sorry!)

I recovered in time to run the Army Ten Miler a few weeks later and finally was able to get a pedicure this summer, so I thought all was well.

A few weeks ago, though, I noticed that my toenail was tender–any pressure was uncomfortable–so I started Epsom salt soaks and hoped for the best. Although the soaks helped temporarily, the overall situation has gotten worse–even the pressure of a snug-fitting sock can be uncomfortable. 🙁

I finally broke down and called the podiatrist this week. As it turns out, he is on vacation, so it will be another week before I get it checked out.  (Since there is no swelling or redness in my toe, the nurse thought it would be OK to wait).

I think I dread the podiatrist more than the dentist–and that’s saying something. I will try to put it out of my mind until my appointment August 15. At least for now it doesn’t bother me when I’m running–that would be a real emergency!

Have you ever been sidelined by a silly household accident?

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Three Things Thursday: Fitness Fallacies

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Coco

Now that I’m on “the other side” of the fitness divide, I am amused by some of the things I used to believe about fitness.

  1. Exercise video “stars” stay in shape by doing their 30 minute video a few days a week. I’m not sure where I got this idea, but I totally believed that I could get as fit as Kathy Smith just by doing her fat-burning workout a few days a week.
  2. Fit people are “naturally” fit and blessed with a better metabolism. I have come to realize that many of the people whom I assumed were “naturally” fit actually work really hard at staying in shape, they just don’t talk about it in every day conversation.
  3. You shouldn’t have to worry about raisins. I distinctly remember picking up a “diet” magazine in my pre-diet days and being instantly turned off by a meal plan that required the portioning of raisins. I thought it was ridiculous that you would have to worry about eating too much of such a “healthy” food. I had no idea about calories, or how quickly calories could add up. I still don’t worry about raisins, but I do stick to the small, pre-portioned boxes so I don’t accidentally go overboard.

What “fitness fallacies” have you debunked?

Posted in Fitness | Tagged | 7 Comments