WELLNESS@LXG: A Review of Centrum Multivitamins - for Men and Women

Long working hours? Check.
No time to eat three full meals a day? Check.
Have trouble sleeping? Check.

- And I don’t think I’m the only one…

Work rules your life; everything-else comes in second.  And although you’ve had the best intentions to turn your life around – taking time to eat and cook healthily, exercising, and putting in the correct amount of sleep-time – these often end up failing miserably.  Am I right?

Welcome to the Club. And don’t worry, because there is something you can do to help reverse this unhealthy trend.

There are lots of good reasons to take a multivitamin. Even if you do manage to tidy up your act and improve your diet, even the best eating plans can fall short of meeting all of the 40-plus nutrients you need each day. So taking a once-daily multivitamin is an easy way to fill in those nutritional gaps.

But with so many different brands and varieties to choose from, it’s hard to know where to begin. Which is a reason why I personally used to give up altogether and just pray that what I was eating was good enough.

But when I started to notice the increased frequencies in which I was getting ill, catching the flu, and having sleepless nights, I realized that perhaps there was something lacking health-wise.

Yes, I could just blame it on work, but when my better-half began to observe my drop in energy and enthusiasm for life in general, it was a situation which could no longer be ignored.

Many studies have also found that men are less likely to have a healthier eating pattern. We eat less fruits and vegetables, and ahem, also have a higher consumption of alcohol compared to females.

So when Centrum introduced a multivitamin designed just for men, I really couldn’t make any more excuses.

But why a multivitamin specifically for men?

Well, the greatest difference between the genders is that the average guy is bigger in size than the average woman, and so uses up more energy going about his daily activities. And in particular, his higher muscle mass makes it crucial that he receives higher magnesium to ensure proper muscle function.

Turns out that Centrum for Men is specially formulated for a man’s nutritional support - with the following key benefits: energy release, healthy muscles, and heart function. You could call it the life support system we need to improve total body wellness in a fast paced lifestyle.

Complemented with a variety of B-vitamins to promote cell metabolism, and along with a higher zinc content, Centrum helps boost a guy’s vitality ensuring he has enough energy to conquer his grueling day. A higher number of body cells, due to body size and muscle mass also mean that the demand for Vitamin E is higher to protect against oxidant attacks.

Like its female counterpart, it contains 24 essential vitamins and minerals, complete from A to Zinc – but these are offered in different proportions to cater to each gender’s needs.

After a couple of weeks of taking Centrum for Men daily – c’mon it’s just one pill a day; (how easier could it be to stick to a health plan!) – I can honestly feel an improvement in my total body wellness – and I’ve certainly got more energy to deal with the stresses of work. I also have it from a very reliable source,  that I’m no longer such a grouch in the mornings either!

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  Centrum for Women: A review by LADY@LXG

While a balanced diet is important for every woman to look and feel her best, how realistic is it for us, in this day and age, to get all the nutrients that we require through our diet? Most of us get through the day by mainlining huge doses of caffeine. This is why I am a huge fan of supplements; multi vitamins in particular!

What makes Centrum for Women special, is that this new complete multivitamin, is formulated to address the unique nutritional demands of today’s woman. You know, the sort that works her butt off at the office, mainlining espressos as she dodges a mine-field of back-stabbing colleagues and demanding clients, then gets home, only to play master chef, seductress and super mummy to her two-legged or four-legged offspring, making it a tad bit impossible for her to fit in her daily dose of assorted fruits and veges.

In Centrum for Women you’ll find more calcium, magnesium and vitamin D – which help with bone health – as well as over 20 other important nutrients based on the latest findings in nutritional science. So what you essentially get is a supplement that is custom made for us women, how awesome is that!

In the past, I used to pop between 10 to 15 tablets a day. But now, thanks to Centrum for Women one tablet with food together with my oral sunscreen capsule is all I need to keep me going for the day. Most importantly, it leaves me with a sense of security, especially when I forget to include greenery in my diet.


Centrum for Men and Centrum for Women both retail at $42 for 60 tablets, so go grab yourself a bottle today! 

STYLE@LXG: A Man on his Quest for a Fairer Complexion

My one month trial of Heliocare Purewhite Radiance! 

The missus woke up one day and decided that I was far too tanned to be attractive (seriously). To be fair, I keep forgetting to apply sunscreen and I do like just hanging out in the sun, But  I was forced into accepting certain aspects of metrosexuality, and that was only under the threat of never ending nagging and an end to any form of physical relations, so like any decent man, I caved.

But fairer skin? Is that even possible?

For almost a month, I have been consuming two capsules (one in the morning and one at night) of Heliocare’s latest whitening product; Purewhite Radiance. You would seriously not catch me dead taking any whitening supplement, but because its under Heliocare and I use their sunscreen (again when nagged and when I remember) I relented.

The jar holds a month’s supply of capsules that, like all Heliocare products, contains Fernblock®, the patented fern extract of Polypodium leucotomous, which is currently the only agent known to provide oral sun protection caused by UVA by 55%, increase skin tissue by up to 66% and increases skin’s resistance against sunburn by 300%.

Heliocare Purewhite Radiance is said to promote skin whitening through the exclusive formulation of White Tech Complex.  Enriched with Fernblock to provide protection against harmful UV rays and promote anti-ageing effects by quenching free radicals and inhibiting MMP, slowing down the degradation of collagen. 

While this all sounds great, I was skeptical and decided to give the product a go. Well, its been almost a month and to be honest I have experienced some lightening of my freckles (yes I have a few freckles, blame my English ancestry for them) and pigmentation and my skin has actually lightened a fraction. I believe to see more dramatic results I will have to continue to take the product, but for now, I have to admit that yes, Purewhite Radiance does work! 

If you would like to try this product, well the kind people at Heliocare are sponsoring a month’s supply of capsules for one lucky reader worth $106. Want to win it? Then take part below (Please note that you need to follow all 4 steps to be eligible):

1. Like Heliocare’s FB page
2. Like this post and like us on FB
3. Share this post on your FB page and tag 5 friends who you think would also like to try their luck at winning a jar of Purewhite Radiance.
4. Let us why you would like to win this product. 

Note: The winner will have to collect the prize from the NEOASIA office, during allocated office hours. Please note that a photograph will be taken during the collection of the prize and can/will be used for promotional purposes.

For more information visit their website:  http://www.heliocare.com.sg/purewhiteradiance

To be updated on the latest launches, sun protection tips and sample giveaways, join Heliocare on Facebook

TRAVEL@LXG: Mongolia - Leaving the World Behind

That's what it felt like - to be stood on a landscape, so spellbinding, and yet so alien - that it almost felt unreal to actually be there.

The steppes of Mongolia spread out like some vast cloak of grey and green over a gently undulating terrain. It seems almost too tidy, too well planned out - compact stands of pine trees crest every mountain-top. Boulder-strewn riverbeds twist, serpentine across the valley floors. Closely cropped pastures of grass cling to the ground - everything is in its right place, even the wildflowers grow in a kaleidoscope of colours.

Its the vastness of the place that gets to you though - you feel insignificant in the scheme of things, as your jeep struggles along a dirt track riddled with potholes. The sheer scarcity of people hits home, as you survey the horizon, and over a distance of say, twenty kilometres or so, only two or three homesteads lie huddled together, with a small herd of livestock scattered nearby. The characteristic yak-skin tents known as Gers are all that these people of the plains have tp protect themselves from the elements. We are here during summer and there's already a chill in the air. But when winter hits, it does so with a vengeance - as temperatures fall below zero and the entire country becomes frozen beneath snow and ice.

Yes it is beautiful, but it is a lonely kind of beauty. Even for someone like me who is happy to escape from the bonds of human society from time to time - this vastness could well become overbearing after a while. Its no wonder the Mongol people seek out each others' company in annual festivals and fairs. A sense of Community is a survival strategy in a place like this, where you could easily lose yourself in a constant landscape that stretches further than the eye can see and the mind can comprehend...

They are tough, these people - sturdy, enduring and tireless in the undertaking of their daily chores. As most of them are herders, horses take centre-stage in their lives. These wiry steeds are almost like living extensions of their riders. They move imperceptibly together across the plains in an ageless scene that could be centuries old. The Horse and the Rider - defining symbols of Mongolia.
We spent a precious few days in their company, and it wasn't long before all my sense of bravado about being able to live this kind of life, flew out of the window. They live right off the land, quite literally. And despite best-laid plans, every day is determined by the elements themselves. Only forward-planning gives these people a fighting chance, plus the ability to react fast to any given situation, be it positive or negative.

"Expect the unexpected" is an unspoken mantra, and the Mongolians' approach to life is to grab it by the throat and hold on for the ride. Yes it is a beautiful life. But a life that they have to work hard for. The blood of the Khans certainly endures out here in the vast empty plains...

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ME@LXG: A Finger Of Fudge...

It's amazing how something so small and seemingly insignificant can conjure up such happy memories...

Idling down the supermarket aisles today, I was thrilled to find a shelf full of Cadbury's Fudge! I never thought I'd see these little beauties again, well at least not on this side of the Globe...

 

As a schoolkid back in the UK, every morning my mum would diligently pack a finger of Fudge in my lunchbox, next to the apple and the peanut butter sandwiches, and off I would go to school, a happy chap.

I think almost all my mates did the same thing, and we would all sit around swapping our lunch items with each other, but never parting with our precious Cadbury's Fudge.

And here, some thirty years later, and thousands of miles away, I find my old friend once again...

I also remember a rather fun little commercial that used to play quite frequently back in the day:


The sudden appearance of such rare sweet treats in supermarkets here in Singapore has probably got a lot to do with the fast-approaching London Olympics: all things red,white and blue now becoming most fashionable...

Still its amazing how this little choc has got me all misty-eyed for Old Blightey.

Some Gentlemen never truly grow up... ;)