I also discourage pharmaceuticals when and wherever possible, as there are many plant based alternatives that can be very effective in countering certain health problems.

With all of that in mind, I find the Nopalea wellness drink I have been hearing a lot about recently quite interesting.

I had not previously heard of the Nopal cactus, nor the name Opuntia Ficus Indica, but when I looked up more information on the plant, my suspicions were confirmed: this is the cactus also known as the Prickly Pear, which is native to my home region, the Sonoran desert.

With the help of Nopal cactus extracts, Nopalea is packed with rare and potent antioxidants that are scientifically proven to help the body reduce inflammation.

TriVita claims that when you take Nopalea daily, it can help your body:
Reduce inflammation
Cleanse itself of daily toxins
Promote optimal health

Seeing as though the anti-oxidants contained in this drink have been proven to help with inflammation (the leading cause of pain), I can see this product being a very helpful plant-based solution that could help many people. In addition, I personally LOVE the taste of the prickly pear cactus fruit, so it’s very likely that I would enjoy the taste of this wellness drink. I’m certainly looking forward to trying out Nopalea for myself in the near future.

Over 3 million bottles of the Nopalea anti-inflammatory wellness drink have been sold. To learn more, check out the Nopalea Facebook page or try it for free (only pay $9.95 for shipping) by calling 1-800-203-7063.

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of ING Direct. All opinions are 100% mine.

Widgets Widgets Widgets

Everyone has a widget available these days don't they? I remember when hardly any one ever knew what they were and only the 'geeks' made or used them. The reason there are so many though is of course because they are incredibly useful and beneficial for both the people using them and the company offering them.

Here's the latest widget I have been having fun with from ING Direct – I love the fact that you can use it to find out how much households in your area are saving. You can also use the handy 'my comparison table' to find out how much you could be saving – why not give it a go and leave a comment to let us know?

I have had a few Savings Accounts with ING Direct for years now and always found them fair and good to deal with – on the odd occasion I have needed to get in touch with their customer service team it's always been a pain free experience and that can only be a good thing after hearing a lot of the rants my friends have when they need to get in touch with their banks.

Find out more about ING Direct Savings

I have been reading loads of Cosmetics Tips and Make Up Tutorials on cosmohut.com recently, it’s a really great site for women to chat and share and learn from each other. I enjoy it there a lot and am pleased they have so much information about make up as I feel I have a lot to learn

However I went to Spain in the summer and got a lovely natural golden glow from the long lazy days on the sunbeds and have been hooked ever since.

I came home and right away started asking my girl friends what methods they use for their tans – a lot use sunbeds, a lot get spray tans and many use those rub on creams you can get. You can even get a tanning implant these days that will last as long as 90 days, so for those that love to be tanned and are short of time it’s the ideal solution.

This might be something that suits me a lot as one of my main objections about beauty treatments and the like is that once you’ve started with them you have to keep up with them – I don’t bother going to beauty salons for things like nails and plucking and waxing as I am too lazy to keep going back every few weeks, I’d rather just do it myself at home.

The tanning implant works by giving you an injection of Melonatan, you get a tiny rice sized implant just under your skin that slowly releases the melonatan in to your system – so once it’s there that’s that, you don’t need to do any thing else and can just sit back and relax while your tan takes care of itself.

This post brought to you by Straight Talk. All opinions are 100% mine.

I remember the days when cell contracts used to cost a small fortune and you hardly got anything on the packages, a few hundred minutes, 50 sms and any data you used was extra – and it's not even like it was that long ago, we are only talking a few years.

Now it seems like you get more than you could ever use and for a fraction of the price.

Straight Talk is a great example of this, they offer everything you need and without pesky contracts or hidden charges, what you see is what you get with Straight Talk. There are a number of plans to choose from so you can be sure you are getting the best possible value for money and like me Feel Richer with Android and appreciate The power of Android – whether you are a heavy cell user and love to message and call a friend every five minutes, or someone who only uses the phone now and then when you have something important to attend to.

The “All You Need Plan” offers a whopping 1,000 minutes, 1,000 texts and 30 MB of web data and is only $45 a month. That's a bargain price if you are a chatterbox and always on Facebook and the like – think about what you could do with the money you save with Straight Talk! Check out this Straight Talk customers testimonial below:

Ok I admit it I do have some pink gadgets, if the option is there and the pink version is just as good as any other colour then I will always select it, but it isn’t what gets me interested in the gadget in the first place.

A great resource for all of us gadget geeks is Geekalerts.com – they have loads of Geek Products and Discount Coupons as well as news and information about all the latest gadgets and gizmos, it’s updated regularly and often features quirky items I had no idea I even wanted until I read about them. They also offer discount codes for many online retailers allowing me to combine my love of gadgets with my love of shopping and saving money

They always seen to have Carbonite offer code and that suits me as I love to shop in Carbonite, I am a Carbonite nerd! Plus I am always on the look out for Amazon.com coupons as it’s my absolute favourite site on the entire Internet, I just love their affordable products <3

I have a bookmarks folder full of funny sites and I now have a new one to add to it, it’s a site I came across just a few days ago called uBerhumor.com. It is updated on a daily basis with new content and as well as funny pictures they have some videos as well – the content is laid out into categories such as ‘fail’ and ‘cute’ so you can jump straight to the kind of content that you know amuses you personally. For me I love animal pictures but am willing to look at every thing as lots of things tickle me – I tend to like slightly inappropriate and dirty humour as well, I guess I have an immature sense of humour but I’m OK with that. The more we can find to laugh about the better, right?

I have bought specs from many online stores before, and I have blogged about them here at LosingPounds.org on more than one occasion because I am always surprised and impressed by the wide range of frames they sell and the price they are able to sell them for — you can get eyewear for as little as $8, which given the prices these things cost in the big high street stores here in the UK, is pretty amazing. Even money and bargain expert Clark Howard mentions Zenni in his new book full of tips and tricks for the savvy shopper.

I was pleased as punch when I logged on back in November and discovered they had a new range of holiday frames, mainly greens, reds and golds…the colours of the season…they also had some really funky ones with flowers on the side and the like. I ended up buying a few pairs for myself because at just $8 a time it’s hard to resist. I wear them all the time, my much more expensive glasses have been relegated to the drawer!