Winners! and Blogger Awards

First things first, the winners of the Glee Gum Giveaway selected via RNG at random.org are:

10 - Family Fresh Cooking
1 - Healthy Exposures
8 - Erica

Congrats ladies!!  Post your e-mail address in a comment below, and I'll e-mail you for your mailing address so I can send it on to Glee Gum!

I also recently received the following awards from Jessica at Healthy Exposures - thanks!

Instructions for the above 3 awards:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award
2. Paste the award on your blog
3. Link the person who nominated you for the award
4. Tell 7 interesting things about yourself
5. Nominate 7 bloggers or less
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominated.

My 7 interesting things are:

1. Last week I went on my first solo road trip to Indiana U, U. of Illinois, and U. of Michigan - 3 places where I may be going to graduate school in library and information science this fall!

2. I ran cross country and track all through high school and still love to run.

3. I adore animals and pets and can't wait to have a cat of my own :-).

4. I've lived in Iowa all my life and love it.

5. I don't like big cities - too much cement, buildings, and people.

6. I love horseback riding, though I very rarely get to do it.

7. I started practicing yoga this past January and will never stop!

The Rules and Regulations of The Sunshine Blog Award:

1. Put the logo on your blog or within your post
2. Pass the award on to 12 bloggers!
3. Link the nominees within your post
4. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award

I'm going to pass on all these awards to the following 12 wonderful bloggers:

Family Fresh Cooking
Healthy Exposures
Erica
Change of Pace
Endurance Isn't Only Physical
Prevention RD
Hungry Meets Healthy
The Candid RD
Peace. Love. Nutrition.
Simply Life
Fashion Meets Food
An Opera Singer in the Kitchen

And I could certainly go on since there are many more great bloggers out there, but I'll stop here.  I also have to let you all know that I won't be commenting on blogs as frequently for the next month or so because the rest of my semester is going to be very busy!!  I'll have much more free time during the summer though, and I'm looking forward to blogging more regularly!

I hope you're all enjoying some great spring weather!

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Glee Gum Review and Giveaway!

Most people I know like to chew gum, and I'm no different :-).  It is a great treat that can sometimes satisfy your sweet tooth after a meal or can be a nice little snack to keep your mouth busy while studying or working.  Unfortunately, a lot of gum is full of unnatural ingredients and artificial sweeteners like sorbitol (which is linked to bloating, flatulence and diarrhea http://www.foodintol.com/food_intolerance/hot_ibs.htm)  Such ingredients aren't necessarily terrible if you have them every once in awhile, but some people I know chew A LOT of gum. 

Therefore, I have decided to investigate natural gum.  The first brand I came across was Glee Gum, and they generously offered to send me some samples to try and review for my blog.  Here is a link to their website: http://www.gleegum.com/

Here is some general information about their gum:

Glee Gum is all-natural, gluten-free chewing gum with no artificial coloring, flavoring, sweeteners nor preservatives. Glee Gum is the only gum in North America made the old-fashioned way, with chicle! Chicle is a natural tree sap harvested sustainably from the rainforests of Central America. Once all chewing gum was made with chicle, but today most gum is made entirely from synthetic stuff. Not Glee Gum! Glee Gum uses chicle because it is an eco-friendly way to help conserve the rainforest. Chicle is also what gives the gum such great, long-lasting chewing texture! Glee Gum is a “green” gum right down to the packaging, which is made from biodegradable, recycled cardboard. So chew with Glee, naturally!

Very impressive credentials if you ask me!  So far I have tried 3 of their flavors (more reviews to come in the future!):

Tangerine: 9 of 10. Very sweet, fresh and chewy!  The only caveat is that the flavor wasn't that long-lasting.  Personally, I don't mind giving that up so I can have all-natural gum.

INGREDIENTS: CANE SUGAR, GLUCOSE, GUMBASE (CONTAINS NATURAL CHICLE), RICE SYRUP, GUM ARABIC, NATURAL FLAVORS (LIQUID AND POWDERED TANGERINE FLAVORS), RESINOUS GLAZE, BETA CAROTENE, BEESWAX AND CARNAUBA WAX.

You can't go wrong with ingredients like that!!!

Triple Berry: 9.5 of 10.  Loved how I could taste all 3 berry flavors: STRAWBERRY, RASPBERRY AND BLUEBERRY!

INGREDIENTS: CANE SUGAR, GLUCOSE, GUM BASE (CONTAINS NATURAL CHICLÉ), RICE SYRUP, GUM ARABIC, NATURAL FLAVORS (STRAWBERRY,RASPBERRY AND BLUEBERRY), BLACK CARROT AND BLACK CURRANTJUICE FOR COLOR, RESINOUS GLAZE, BEESWAX AND CARNAUBA WAX.

 

Peppermint: 9 of 10.  Just like a peppermint candy, but in gum form!  Again, I just wish the flavor lasted longer.

 
INGREDIENTS: CANE SUGAR, GLUCOSE, GUMBASE (CONTAINS NATURAL CHICLE), RICE SYRUP, GUM ARABIC, PEPPERMINT OIL, RESINOUS GLAZE, BEESWAX, CARNAUBA WAX, AND CHLOROPHYLL.


So, where can you find Glee Gum you ask??  Check out their store locator here: http://www.gleegum.com/retail-stores-locator.htm

It's not terribly expensive - especially if you decide to buy it in bulk online :-).

You should check out Glee Gum on Facebook and Twitter while you're at it too!

Now for the Giveaway:

Glee Gum has generously offered to provide 3 winners with 3 packs of Glee Gum and a coupon each!


How to enter:

Leave a comment below and let me know what your thoughts are on sugar-free gum and why you want to try Glee Gum.

For extra entries:

Post a link to this giveaway on your blog and comment below with the link to the blog post in which you do this. (one entry)

Follow me on twitter AND tweet about the giveaway by stating: @gleeguy Glee Gum Giveaway on Food, Fotos, and Fun! at http://foodfotosandfun.blogspot.com/2010/03/glee-gum-review-and-giveaway.html. (one entry)

The contest ends on March 23, 2010. The winners will be chosen at random via Random.org generator and will be posted on my blog. Only one person per household may enter. The winners will have 72 hours to post a comment on my blog with their e-mail address.  I will then e-mail them in order to get their shipping address.  If a winner doesn't respond, another winner will be chosen. Contest is open to U.S. Residents, 18 yrs. and older only. Each entry must be submitted in a separate comment.

Good luck!

Oh, and you should really check out Glee's Fun Facts About Gum here: http://www.gleegum.com/glee-gum-funfacts.htm

One of their facts: Chewing on gum while cutting onions can help a person from producing tears.  Good to know!!

And my Spring Break is next week!!!!


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