November 1, 2007

I was doubtful at first that an all-natural nail polish remover would work, but I decided to give No Miss Almost Natural Nail Polish Remover a shot after seeing it for sale in Whole Foods.

Unlike most commercial nail polish removers, it contains no acetone and no ethyl acetate.

In animal studies, long term exposure to acetone caused kidney, liver, and nerve damage as well as birth defects and reproductive problems. Pregnant women are advised to avoid all acetone products because they may lead to birth defects.

No Miss isn't tested on animals and is a vegan product. It has a natural vanilla scent. The ingredients are: fruit acid solvent (Methyl-Pentan-2-one, Multi-fruit acids), amber acid (derived from plant lichens), deionized water, vitamin A, and natural vanilla fragrance.

All of these great things wouldn't matter if the product didn't work so I was pleased to find that it works better than the traditional nail polish removers I've used. The polish came off quickly and I wasn't knocked over by any overpowering chemical smells in the process.

If you're looking for a more natural way to remove nail polish, No Miss just might be the way to go. For those who don't have a Whole Foods or natural store nearby, there are many online stores that carry No Miss products, including the No Miss website.

Filed under: Beauty Products

July 26, 2006

Reviewed by Ben of Eat Smart, Stay Fit

FitDay is a simple, straightforward program that enables one to track calories consumed, calories burned, nutritional balance, and exercise. The program recaps the data you enter to chart weight and nutritional goals. It comes with a base inventory of foods but you can add your own foods by entering nutrional information. It can be time-consuming to enter all of your foods into the database, but once they're all in there you don't have to worry about it again.

The online version of the Fitday diet and weight loss journal is free. You can track the food you eat, what exercise you get each day, and get reports on your weight losses or gains. You can set goals and track whether you have met them or not. It allows you to view your caloric intake and consumption as well as your nutritional intake. It also projects trends of weight loss or gain so you can see where you are headed.

For $29.95 you can download a copy of the program and customize it to your specific needs. The added benefits of the downloaded version are: more reports, easier to use, no need to be online to use, advanced weight loss goals and tracking, enter custom foods faster.

FitDay does not champion a specific diet or healthy eating program. You choose how you want to eat and it provides the feedback to enable you to understand what you are doing, target what you want to accomplish, and then monitor your progress and project short term results by analyzing trends. FitDay is a dietary information system. It provides immediate feedback on calories eaten, calories burned and nutritional balance. It also provides histories of daily nutritional and caloric intake, physical activity and even mood swings if you choose to use the entire program. Or you can focus on individual aspects. In my case, I focused on caloric intake, physical exercise, calories burned and nutritional balance.

After using FitDay for about a month I found that I could estimate meals easily and enjoy dining out without feeling restricted to a certain diet. I had learned about portion size and what foods were simply laden with calories. I could choose to either avoid the morning muffin at the breakfast bar or compensate for it. But I knew what impact my food choices would have on my daily calorie intake. I had become aware of the relationship between what I weighed, what I did (activity) and what I ate.

After using it for a year I can say that it really has worked for me. I have achieved my weight goal and maintained it almost effortlessly for the last six months. I control the calories by selecting what to eat and when. With the help of Fitday, making these choices has become a habit and I do not find it restrictive.

FitDay.com

Filed under: Health Websites | Comments (1)