My Sugar Free Sweet Life

I am still in Bacolod City and we'll still be staying here until the 29th. This trip was more tiring than I expected. We started touring almost the whole of Negros Occidental to visit my husband's relatives as it is our first time to visit this part of the Philippines.

One of the town that we visited was Sipalay City. It was a welcome surprise that we were brought to a part of the city where the white sandy beaches are. The place reminded me of Boracay before the bars and the crowds sprouted in the island.

The white beach of Sipalay,however, was smaller than Boracay. It was just a few kilometer stretch of white sandy beach. You will not need to ride a boat to reach it but it approximately takes four hours to reach Sipalay from Silay City where the provincial airport is.

Though I experienced internet-less days in that small paradise, I can honestly say that I enjoyed the experience I had away from work and everything else. It gave me a chance to bond with my family. Heck, I didn't even care if I'll need blackhead treatments after the days I spent under the sun.

I am going to post photos as soon as I get back to Manila. Stay tuned! :)

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Sorry, but I'm on a no diet mode for almost a week now. I realized that it may take us a couple of years before we can visit Bacolod again so I went all out on the Chicken Inasal (roasted chicken)! LOL! I tell you, the best and the authentic chicken inasal is in Manokan Country which is just a stone's throw away from SM City Bacolod.

I'm still in Bacolod, by the way, and I'm going to make a lengthy mouth-watering post that is deserving of its fame in my travel blog when I get back to Manila. I'll think about how to lose weight quickly as soon as I get back, too. For now, I will just enjoy my deliciously authentic pecho-pak chicken inasal!

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My answer is NEITHER! I'm not rooting for the man who swam in a sea of garbage either. ;-)

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A month ago, thousands of college students hopped on the fitness bandwagon. Now, only the Top 10 barkadas are left to compete in the Del Monte’s Fit ‘n Right Fruit Snacks’ - Fit ‘n Fab 4 Challenge. The winning barkada will get P100,000.00 and a free adventure in Boracay. How’s that for a hot incentive to lose those extra pounds?

Making fitness even more fun, Del Monte Fit ‘n Right Fruit Snacks conducted a variety of exercise classes every week. Contestants got to choose from Badminton, Capoeira, Yoga and Barre 3, the latest exercise routine that combines dancing, yoga and Pilates.

Participants also got help from renowned Sports Scientist and trainer of national athletes, Coach Jim Saret whose 4-minute high-impact FIT workout videos were posted online for everyone to lose more weight in less the time.

The Fit ‘n Fab Four Challenge was open to barkadas of 4 who shared a common goal to get fit this summer. All finalists agree that the ultimate secret to losing weight is adding fun to the discipline + diet + exercise + Fit ‘n Right Fruit Snacks.

Lizzie Concepcion, 19, from DLSU, admits that she can’t help but give in to her sweet tooth. “What’s life without dessert?” she exclaims. But with Del Monte Fit ‘n Right Fruit Snacks, she found a way to satisfy her cravings without the guilt. Jasper John Jimenez, 21, from UST, shares that his on-the-go lifestyle has left him with a bad habit of eating and munching whatever is convenient. Now that he has a healthier snack option, he commits to himself, “For me the junk food has to go".

Del Monte Fit ‘n Right Fruit Snacks is the only low calorie snack with 300mg of L-Carnitine that helps burn fat! Fit ‘n Right Fruit Snacks is made with real fruits and it has no added sugar.

Get to know more about the losers and how they are facing the challenge to get fit. Visit www.fitandfabfour.com and be a Facebook fan of Del Monte Fit ‘n Right Fruit Snacks (www.facebook.com/delmontefruitsnacks).

Judgement day is set tomorrow, Saturday, April 17, 8pm at Fiamma. It’s going to be one hot summer night for losers to win and party!


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I get up from my office chair and go down to the kitchen. I open my kitchen drawer and stop. "What am I doing here?" I ask myself. I try to retrace my steps and then I remember that I was going to get a glass of water. Has this happened to you?

Here are some of the things I'm doing at present to help combat my absentmindedness:

Stop and breathe. I am guilty of multi-tasking. I think women (and mothers) like me have become accustomed to that. While typing my words away, I tap my feet as a form of exercise and I listen to (not watch) the morning TV news. Multi-tasking is tiring my brain so much that I now give a few minutes of my every working hour to stop and breathe. After I've done a few deep breaths, my mind feels refreshed again.

Organize and take notes. I have a Belle de Jour Planner that keeps my schedules in place. I also bought a To-Do list to remind me of the things that I should be doing. I have notepad widgets on my desktop and they're color coded. Hey, even my notes are color-coded. I assign specific colors for each categories of my task.

Have proper rest and nutrition. I am now trying to sleep earlier than before. Not only do I get cranky when I lack sleep, I also get more absentminded. As to the food, I read that fish and seafood are memory boosters so I'm stocking up on tuna and salmon.

So, where was I? Ahhh, I remember now. I was writing my liporexall review. Back to work I go!

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I recently received an email from a reader with relevant information about coco sugar. Honestly, I've been using artificial sweeteners and Muscovado sugar but it was the first time I read about coco sugar. And to think that the Philippines has an abundance of coconuts! I really got the surprise of my life that I remporarily left the article I was writing about free insurance quotes and did a quick research about coco sugar.

Here are some facts I have gathered about it:

• Coco sugar has a low Glycemic Index (GI) of 35. It's even lower than commercial honey and cane sugar.
• Coco sugar is high in Potassium, Magnesium, Zinc, and Iron. It is also a natural source of Vitamin B1, B2, B3, B6, and Vitamin C.
• Coco sugar is all-natural and unbleached.

Aside from its nutritional benefits to diabetics, the use of coco sugar also benefits the local community that produces it. My email sender alone sources his coco sugar products from a small local community based in Agusan del Sur. He sells a 250-gram pack of coco sugar for 100 pesos which is 50% - 70% lower than those sold in health stores. Kindly send me an email to mail maureenflores com so I can share with you his contact details.


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We just brought Black Beauty to our dealer's service center for its scheduled 15,000 km check-up this past weekend. As we entered our dealer's garage, the first thing that the manager asked was "Na-Ondoy ba yan?" probably because most of the cars brought to them lately suffered the great flood that Ondoy (Typhoon Ketsana) brought last September 2009.

We were lucky that we were spared from the flood. I can't bear to imagine if we weren't. The Tucson will be technically ok because the auto insurance that covers it includes a coverage for "acts of god" like floods and other disasters. Our 98 Honda City isn't. As much as I wanted to avail it, our older car is not qualified for that kind of coverage because of its age. I believe that having an "acts of god" coverage" is worth the extra money spent because we'll never know when a disaster will strike.

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I love reading books but my busy writing schedule seldom permits me to have time to read them. That is why I am such a fun of e-books. I get to read books on the go without even being able to bring the books themselves.

But since I don't own a Kindle or an iPad yet, it becomes convenient for me to read Java mobile e-books on my Samsung Jet. I used to download Java e-books from Wattpad when I was still using a Sony Ericsson K750i but the application doesn't seem to jive quite well with my new phone. It was then that I discovered www.mobiles24.com for Java e-books.

I found it better to download Java e-books for my mobile phone instead of just downloading PDF e-books even when my phone can read e-books in that format. Using a Java e-book enables me to start reading from the last page I read. It will take me minutes of scrolling to find the last page I read if I were reading a PDF e-book.

Since I'll be leaving for a week-long Bacolod and Iloilo rendezvous on the 22nd, I stocked up on mobile e-books to read while on the plane or while relaxing by the beach. :)

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Stretch the Fun by taking home a new Nintendo Wii or PSP! Simply post your funniest face (e.g duling, wacky, etc), get your friends to vote or like it and have a chance to win a Nintendo Wii, Sony PSP and KFC Gift Certificates!
Mechanics

To post a photo, go to the wall of the Chewy Cheese Fan Page and upload photo.

1. Entries have to be original. 
2. Entries may not be composed or edited through Photoshop. 
3. Post as many entries as you can! 
4. Criteria for Judging Number of Votes (1 like = 1 vote)
   – 50% Creativity
   – 30% Humor
   – 20% 
5. Promo period is from March 31 to April 30, 2010 
6. Prizes:
   1st place: Wii
   2nd place: PSP
   3rd place: 5,000 worth of KFC GCs
   4th place: 3,000 worth of KFC GCs
   5th place: 2,000 worth of KFC GCs
7. Prizes are transferable but not convertible to cash.
8. Winners will be announced on May 5, 2010 through the site.

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During my early blogging years, I chose to host photos on Photobucket. It's a free photo hosting service and I saved most of our digital photo files over there as online backup. A few months ago, I bought myself a Flickr Pro account and saved my high resolution photo files over there.

Most of my blogger friends who have their blogs hosted over at Wordpress use Flickr to host their photo files. Before, I thought that it would be impractical for me to buy a Flickr Pro acount just so I can save more photo files than usual. Now, I believe that I made a wise choice. Compared to Photobucket, Flickr saves photo files and stays true to their original photo quality. Actually, I think Flickr makes my photos even look brighter and more vibrant.

So, there. Flickr wins... for me at least. Having Flickr Pro makes the choice even more perfect.


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