Bioglan Skinny Greens* - Review and Results

I have mentioned in a previous blog post that I am a Holland and Barrett Good Life Insider which means I sometimes get the opportunity to sample products which is great. I received this selection of Bioglan Skinny Green’s, available at Holland and Barrett and I couldn’t wait to try and review them after seeing Lucy Watson from Made in Chelsea post a photo of them on her Instagram.

Week 1 began with the Bioglan Skinny Greens Superfood 7 Day Cleanse RRP:£17.99. This is the smallest pot and contains 70g of the powder and a scoop to measure your 10g daily portion. The Skinny Greens aim to help you achieve the shape you want in a natural way. I have tried shakes and things before and to me it’s just empty or wasted calories so it’s great to hear that these aren’t a replacement, they are an addition to your lifestyle and this one contains only 25 calories a serving. This is step one in the three step regime and has been formulated with milk thistle and dandelion to naturally detox and cleanse your system over 7 days and prepare yourself for step 2.

The instructions advise to mix one scoop of the powder with 200ml of water and mix until dissolved. For best results it is advised to consume once a day before breakfast for 7 days. I mixed my first portion and was surprised at the bright green colour. I’ll be honest I really didn’t like the taste of it. It was sickly sweet with an odd aftertaste but I held my nose and gulped this down.  As this was before breakfast I was rather hungry and drinking this on an empty stomach made me feel a bit sick. I genuinely wondered if this was going to be worth it! By day 3 I was used to the taste and could down this in one without holding my nose or gagging. By the end week one, I hadn’t actually lost any weight but I did notice I had less bloating.

Week 2 began with the Bioglan Skinny Greens 14 Day Superfood Thermo Burn RRP:£24.99. As this was a 14 day cleanse I really hoped it tasted nicer than the last one! The flavour is described as citrus and aims to raise your bodies temperature and stimulate metabolism. I definitely noticed I was warmer, it was a welcomed change – I normally freeze in the office. The taste on the other hand was not pleasant. At least with step 1 I was able to down this, but due to the cayenne in this one I couldn’t drink it fast as it was rather spicy. It had a distinct orange taste but I could also taste cocoa. Once again this was to be taken before breakfast or before exercise for 2 weeks. I had a couple of nasty side effects with very little time to get to the toilet. I was at work, my stomach made the loudest rumble ever and I had to rush to the toilet when I exploded. This happened twice, around 4 hours after taking the drink. After about 4 days it was a lot more manageable and I thankfully had no more bad side effects but it did keep me regular, that’s all I’ll say! After 2 weeks on this shake I lost 1.5lbs. I was very happy with that because I ate so much in these 2 weeks due to having a hectic and busy social life with meals out and birthdays. Normally I would have gained weight but to lose made me feel chuffed.

I was told by other people using this that during step 2 you can incorporate some of the skinny greens for step 3 but one was enough! I decided to save step 3 for when it was time. When I got to week 4, it was time to move onto step 3 of the cleanse which lasts another 2 weeks. This is where I drank the Bioglan Skinny Greens 14 Day Superfood Replenish Shake Vanilla RRP £24.99 or the Bioglan Skinny Greens 14 Day Superfood Replenish Shake Mixed Berry RRP:£24.99 instead of a snack each day. The Vanilla flavoured shake smelled and tasted like Playdough. It was far too sweet for me and made me gag drinking it. With all of the drinks after a few days I got used to them but it wasn’t something I looked forward to. I will be honest I couldn’t finish it, the taste was just too much.

Overall at the end of the 6 weeks I had lost weight (around 5lbs) and inches despite eating loads as I had a hectic social schedule. I did continue to exercise throughout the 6 weeks. Usually I would have gained or maintained my weight eating this way but I was impressed that I still managed to lose throughout taking the Skinny Greens.  I imagine if taken with a healthy diet then this would product fantastic results but for me I just couldn’t stomach the taste and would definitely look to other ways if I wanted to lose weight.

Would you ever try Skinny Greens?

*I received these items from Holland and Barrett free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not influenced in any way.

My 5 Favourite Healthy Recipe Books

I love recipe books. I almost have an obsession with them. I'm a sucker for a book with a nice spine and have already filled a shelf in my bedroom with all different types of recipe books. Most of my books were cake related and if this post goes down well perhaps I will list my top 5 cake recipe books! These are in no particular order.

The first recipe book with a healthy theme to it that I bought was the Deliciously Ella book. After being a huge fan of her blog and the healthy recipes on there, I had to get the book. It's written similarly to her blog and the photo's are laid out really nicely. The recipes are all plant based which I am happy with but I can't imagine serving a meat free meal up to my carnivorous family. I've tried the baked beans and the energy balls so far. I would love to try more but it's quite expensive to get all of the ingredients. I'm looking forward to book two!

My most recent purchase was the I Quit Sugar: Your Complete 8-Week Detox Program and Cookbook by Sarah Wilson. I flicked through this in a book shop and thought the recipes looked really good and a great way of reducing sugar in my meals. The bacon and egg muffins are amazing. I haven't tried much else but I am hoping to start cutting down on sugar so this will come in handy.

I also recently got Get The Glow by Madeleine Shaw. I was also a fan of her blog before I got this book and although these recipes are also really healthy, the ingredients are a bit more readily available and there are plenty of meat dishes to please everyone. There is so much I want to try, I have practically put tabs in half of the book. This fish recipe looks really delicious and simple to do and I think this will be my first experiment!

My boyfriend bought me this book for my birthday and it's the Sainsbury's Healthy Recipe Collection. This is great because I know all of the ingredients are readily available at Sainsbury's right around the corner. I can also adapt these recipes to my Slimming World plan and the majority of them are meals that everyone in the family will enjoy. I've made the Turkey Koftas with rice so far!

The final healthy recipe book I love is the Thug Kitchen cook book. This is filled with plenty of vegan recipes and although American, it is simple enough to find the British equivalent of the ingredients in my local supermarkets. This book is not for the innocent, it is filled with swear words which I personally find hilarious and fitting. I haven't tried anything from this book yet but the pancake recipe looks amazing and I can't wait to get some ingredients to create some of these delicious mouth watering recipes.

What are your favourite cook books?

Ozeri Sport 4x3 Pedometer Review*

I was recently given the opportunity to try out a pedometer from the Ozeri range so I picked the Ozeri 4x3Sport Pocket Pedometer, which you can buy here for just £19.99. It comes in 3 colours; grey (as pictured) yellow or red. 

The design is sleek and modern and the display is very easy to read and understand. The pedometer comes with an instruction booklet which I recommend you read as it did take me a while to figure out how to turn it on, and I could have avoided the confusion by reading the booklet - silly me!

Set up on the other hand was very simple and I followed the step by step guide. The display also shows the time which I think is really handy and you don't often get this with your standard pedometers.

This pedometer can count up to 1 million steps and has a 30 day memory so you can see what you've done throughout the month. The Ozeri Pedometer easily clips onto a belt or a waistband and is barely noticeable. I wear mine at work clipped onto my belt.

When it comes to accuracy, I think if you correctly work out the length of your stride and input this in accordingly then the pedometer is fairly accurate. I had mine set up wrong at first as I guesstimated but once I corrected it, I noticed a difference. I compared the distance in Km reading to the distance traveled by working it out on a GPS and it was pretty much spot on.

The Ozeri Sport Pedometer also comes with a lanyard, I find this great for attaching it to myself in the gym so it doesn't fly off. The feature of having a sports timer is also valuable for gym workouts.

Overall I think this is a great product if you're looking at tracking steps and it can really keep you motivated seeing how far you've gone. It's great fun setting yourself challenges and trying to complete your goals. You could even get your friend one too so that you can challenge each other.

To buy the Ozeri 4x3sport Digital Pocket 3D Pedometer with Tri-Axis Technology & 30 Day Memory for only £19.99 click here.

*I was sent this item free of charge for the purpose of a review. All opinions expressed are my own and I was not influenced in any way. Photography by Jimmy Scribble.