Welcome to the 5th edition of “stuff I like”, where I feature different products, services, and well… trash TV that I like.
In no particular order:
Tonica Kombucha
If you don’t know what kombucha is, it’s simply fermented tea. They first hit the market maybe around 2008-2010, and it would be in the hippie stores only at that time. It was trendy because kombucha has live bacterial cultures (AKA probiotics). So it was healthy for you.
And it certainly tasted healthy – you know – disgusting. A mix of sour and weird. It was bad enough that you knew it was healthy.
Over time, kombucha formulations got better. They started to taste like sparkling water, but without a ton of sugar.
And then, I discovered Tonica Kombucha – the best kombucha I’ve ever tasted. It’s not quite as low calorie as most kombuchas (most are in the 4-20 calorie per bottle range, whereas Tonica is 60 calories), but not as high in calories as well… fruit juice, or pop (at 120-150 calories per can).
Although they have a variety of flavours, my favourites are peach and blueberry.
I have no affiliation with Tonica Kombucha, and don’t make any money whether you buy it or not.
Easy Mealz
In my articles and seminars/webinars, you heard me say that I love to eat, but hate to cook. My solution: a meal delivery service called “Easy Mealz.” There’s a lot that I like about them:
- The taste. For something to be sustainable long-term, it actually has to taste good. Easy Mealz certainly checks that box. My favourite regular item on their menu goes by the same name – “The Easy Meal.” It’s penne, tomato sauce, and ground beef. Lots of ground beef. Yum. My favourite specialty item on their menu (it only appears once in a while) is called “Seoul good.” It’s beef, rice, and veggies.
- The nutritional profile. Easy Mealz readily discloses the nutritional profile of each of their meals. Most of them are loaded with protein (typically 40-50 grams per meal), without being loaded with calories (most meals are in the 450-650 calorie range, but very filling).
- The price. Most meals are around $9.99 CAD.
- The customer service. They frequently take surveys to better their customer service, and it’s impeccable. They’re very responsive by email, they give you a relatively narrow window of when they’ll deliver, etc. Every touchpoint is a pleasant one.
If you want to give them a shot, you can get $25 off your first order if you use this link. Full disclosure: I’ll also get $25 off my meal.
Blindspot
After 7 or 8 years of never watching TV, covid hit, and now, there wasn’t much else to do. So for the first time in my life, I started watching Netflix.
I watched a number of comedies, but eventually came across a series called “Blindspot.” Oh. My. God. Is it ever riveting.
It’s a crime drama. A woman is dropped off at Times Square inside a sports bag, comes out of the bag naked (don’t get excited), with tattoos all over her body. Her memory has been erased, and she doesn’t know who put the tattoos there, or what they mean. As she works with the FBI to decode it, each tattoo leads to larger and larger crimes.
The only problem with this show is the suspense. I can’t handle suspense. I have to know what happens right away. On a couple of occasions, my girlfriend had to work hard to prevent me from just reading about what happens in the next episode online.
The other problem: my bedtime. I go to bed at 10:30 every night. So I can’t binge watch. Booooo!!!
TRX/Suspension Trainers
The TRX is a very versatile piece of exercise equipment. It’s a rope that you can hang inside your doorway, around poles, and lots of other places. When the pandemic first hit, that was the first piece of equipment I bought.
In my article on the best home fitness equipment, I outlined why I like the TRX and suspension so much, but I’ll recap here:
- Versatility: you can do several thousand different exercises with them
- Portability: it’s very light (under 5 pounds), and doesn’t take much space. You can take it anywhere
- Price: it ranges from around $70 for a no-name, personal use suspension trainer, up to $250 for a brand name, commercial use suspension trainer.
- Easy to use: switching from one exercise to another takes just a few seconds
Konjac Jelly
I recently moved to a neighbourhood where there’s a Korean grocery store nearby. On a whim, I decided to walk in, and see what products they sell. One that caught my eye was konjac jelly (pronounced like “cognac”).
As I always do, I checked the nutrition label, and saw that an entire pack of konjac jelly is just 2 calories. Apparently, that’s the “secret” to how K-pop (Korean pop) stars stay so thin (to their detriment – where they develop osteoporosis in their 20s).
For someone with a sweet tooth, a 2-calorie snack that keeps you pretty full, and tastes great is a good deal. My favourite flavours are pomegranate, grape, peach and lychee.
If you’d like to read about other editions of this article, here’s Stuff I like, Part 1, where I talk about some supplements, people who’ve influenced my methodology, and a speed reading software that helped me improve my reading speed from 230 words per minute to 420.
In stuff I like, part 2, I talk about a supplement that speeds up recovery from exercise, Lululemon pants that look like dress pants, but feel like track pants, and one of my favourite grocery stores.
In stuff I like, part 3, I talk about my favourite site to figure out if a supplement is legit or not, the most authoritative site to figure out the nutritional content of any given food, and my favourite book on how to break emotional eating.
Lastly, in stuff I like, part 4, I talk about one of the folks that I follow who’s taught me a lot about hormones, acid-alkaline balance, anemia, and more. I’ve been following his work since 2010. In addition to that, I talk about one dress shirt in particular that is wrinkle-resistant and stretchy, as well as a snack bar – like a chocolate bar, but with a better nutritional profile, and not addictive.
