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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Website Review: Mayo Clinic Health Manager

Have you ever switched doctors and filled out those long forms of medical history, only to forget half of it? Have you ever worried that you'd have an emergency and not be able to communicate a drug allergy or an important piece of medical history to the doctors treating you?

Well, now with the Mayo Clinic Health Manager you can keep all of your medical information in one central location, accessible only to those you give permission. This site was just launched Tuesday, April 21 and I had the opportunity to set up an account and check it out a bit. The site is fantastic! When you sign up, you get recommendations based on your gender and age. For example, one of my recommendations was that I calculate my BMI. Another recommendation was that I enter my vaccination history. The more information you enter, the better and more accurate the recommendations will be.

The other thing I like about this that you can be reminded of upcoming appointments or appointments you need to make, such as annual exams, etc. You can also track your entire family under 1 account, which is very nice. Other features include personalized tools like the weight tracker, a place to keep health-related contacts, allergy tracker, and a helpful tool to prepare for an appointment.

The site upholds strict privacy guidelines and only those people you specify can have access to your information. These individuals might be doctors or other family members.

Overall, the Mayo Clinic Health Manager is a very useful tool for the health conscious person. Check it out and leave a comment letting me know how you like it!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Website Review: SparkPeople.com

SparkPeople.com: Get a Free Online Diet


At the beginning of 2009, I decided I needed to start eating healthier and maybe even drop about 5 lbs. However, I found this to be very difficult. I tried to count calories throughout the day, but would lose track or wouldn't know how many calories were in a particular food, so I would guess. Was I guessing accurately? Probably not.

Also, I was so focused on avoiding the things I didn't want in the foods I ate that I wasn't paying attention to the nutrients I needed. Was I getting enough? Probably not.

The uncertainty of how much of what I needed and didn't need was daunting to say the least. Needless to say, my diet wasn't working very well for me.
Then I stumbled upon SparkPeople. I first noticed that they offer a Free Online Diet Plan. That seemed pretty cool, so I decided to sign up and give it a try.

I found that the website has tons of features like a nutrition tracker, fitness tracker, message boards, articles, recipes, and blogs to name a few. The first thing I did was set up my goals. You can select from a plan to lose weight or to maintain your weight. I then took a look at the nutrition tracker, where you can track everything you eat throughout the day and your water consumption. I love this feature! I simply select the food from the dropdown menu (or add a food if it's not in the list) and enter how much I ate. It adds your food to the day and tracks the calories, carbs, and protein. You can also add numerous other nutrients to track. For example, I also track fiber, vitamin D, sodium, and calcium just to be sure I'm getting the correct amounts. The totals run at the bottom of your list along with the amounts you should be getting, depending on the goals you set.

The fitness tracker is great as well. You can easily track the exercises you do throughout the day and see how many calories you have burned. I have also joined a few of the message boards, which help me to stay motivated. Another fun feature is the points. By doing different things on the SparkPeople website, you can earn points, which earn you trophies. While these points and trophies don't mean anything, they are motivating to a competitive person like me who likes to see how many points she can rack up in a day.

The only downside to this website is all of the advertisements. However, the ads are what keep the site free, so I don't mind them at all.

Overall, SparkPeople is a fabulous website that has a lot to offer. Whether you're trying to lose weight or just maintain a healthy lifestyle, this website is the perfect tool.

Join me at: SparkPeople.com

Monday, April 20, 2009

Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's 4/21

Ben & Jerry's shops are giving away a free cone of ice cream tomorrow, April 21. This promotion goes from noon - 8pm. Click here to find a shop near you.

Enjoy your ice cream!

Giant Deals Week of 4/19

Here are a few good deals at Giant this week.

Boneless Sirloin Steak
Price: B1G1FREE ($9.49/lb)
Total: $4.75/lb

Kellogg’s Cereal-Frosted Flakes-14 oz., Froot Loops, 12.2 oz. or Corn Flakes-18 oz. box
Price: $2
Coupon: $1/2 printable
Total: $1.50 each (not my stock-up price, but a good deal if you need cereal)

Totino’s Pizza Rolls-7.5 oz. box
Price: 10/$10
Coupon: $0.35/1 from insert
Total: $0.30 each

Gorton’s Crunchy Fish-Popcorn Shrimp, Fish Portions, Fish Sticks, Crispy Fish, Beer Battered Fish or Potato Crunch Fillets 14-24.5 oz.

Price: $3.99
Coupon: $1.25/2 from insert or $0.75/2 printable
Total: $3.25 each or $3.50 each

Kelloggs Fiber Plus bars 6.3oz box

Price: 2/$5
Coupon: $0.75/1 printable
Total: $1.50 each
Gas Deal: In group of buy 4, get $0.20/gallon


Thursday, April 16, 2009

Weis Deals week of 4/16

Looks like it's a good week to shop at Weis Markets. Here are some of the highlights. To see all of the Weis Deals, click here.

Zatarain’s Rice Mixes-Chicken, Spanish, Yellow or Cheddar Broccoli 5.7-8 oz.
Price: 10/$10
Coupon: $0.75/2 from insert
Total: $0.50 each

Heluva Good Refrigerated Dips-12 oz.
Price: $1.50
Coupon: $0.50/1 printable
Total: $0.50 each

Doritos Tortilla Chips 11.75-14.125 oz.
Price: BOGO ($3.99)
Total: $1.98 each

Turkey Hill Teas or Drinks-64 oz.
Price: 3/$4
Coupon: $1/2 from insert
Total: $0.83 each

Ronzoni Smart Taste Pastas-selected 14.5 oz.
Price: 4/$5
Coupon: $1/2 from insert
Total: $0.75 each

Musselmann’s Apple Sauce-Totally Fruit or Healthy Picks-4 ct.
Price: 3/$5
Coupon: $.30/1 printable
Total: $1.16 each

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Printable Coupon Websites

Are you new to the printable coupon world? If so, it can be very confusing to say the least. The last time I was involved in couponing, most stores wouldn't take printable coupons, so I didn't really know what was out there. When I came back to couponing last year, I was amazed at the number of printable coupon websites there are. Now that all my stores accept them again, I can save much more money at the grocery store.

I thought I'd share a few of the good ones with you to help in your money-saving adventure!

Coupons.com
This website has all kinds of manufacturer coupons with long expiration dates, which are updated very regularly. No registration needed, but if you do register, you will get emails when the coupons are updated.

Smartsource.com
This is website for Smart Source, which is one of the inserts that come in the Sunday paper. This website has different coupons than the inserts.

Mambo Sprouts
This is a website for Natural and Organic products. They update their coupons regularly.

Red Plum
Red Plum is the other coupon insert you get in the Sunday paper. Some of these tend to be the same as Smart Source, but there are also additional coupons, so worth checking out.

Bettycrocker.com
This is Betty Crocker's website, which has coupons for all sorts of General Mills products. Updated about once a month.

Pillsbury.com
If you purchase Pillsbury products, here is a way to save money on them. There are not tons of coupons on this site, but, hey, every little bit helps!

Target
If you shop at Target, this site has Target store coupons you can print for groceries. And don't forget, you can combine Target store coupons with manufacturer coupons for even more savings!

Other places to find printable coupons are on the websites for the manufacturers of the products you buy and the websites of the stores you shop.