Have you checked out the latest POM Wonderful contest? Did you submit a work of art? I did. And if you’re interested, I share my slightly embarrassing submission  experience in this post.

POM Wonderful put on one of the best contests I’ve ever had the pleasure to participate in. They left it easy, open and allowed the creativity to flow!

There are some really inventive pieces and I invite you to check them out here. A community prize is being offered to the most popular, so make sure to vote for your favourites.

Lessons learned in the POM Heart Art Contest

Although I had fun with this contest, life (and myself) got in the way a little. POM gave us an entire month but I still managed to barely get my submission, POM Wonderful Angel, in on time.

The embarrassing part of this is that there was another earlier submission very similar to mine. It totally appears as if I copied this other person’s idea. Oy! *blush*

And, it’s about 20 times better than mine so if you like the concept, please vote for berfrancis’ Cupid’s Love Potion.

Here are my lessons from entering this contest so you won’t make the same mistakes:

1. Submit as early as possible, especially when there’s a voting aspect to the contest.
2. Check the other submissions before you submit yours. I did check them when I first contemplated entering the contest but because I left it to the last minute, I neglected to check again. And now I’m SO embarrassed.

Moral of the story? You may be on the same wavelength as another contest participant so get your idea in first!

If you check out the contest entries, I’d love to hear which ones you liked most. And if you’ve had a similar experience, would you share it with us so I don’t feel so silly?

February is the month of Love; it’s also American Heart Month. Since pomegranates are loaded with healthy antioxidants which may improve heart health, POM Wonderful wants us to create some fabulous heart art for a chance to win awesome prizes!

Pomegranates have been listed by Shape.com as one of the top 15 healthy foods to have in your kitchen at all times. Between the juice and seeds, the antioxidants (including tannins and anthocyanins) have been shown to increase blood flow and reduce levels of harmful cholesterol.

I’m psyched to enter POM Wonderful’s Heart Art Contest!

All we have to do is create an original, heart-themed work of art. According to the contest rules, we’re free to use any medium but our finished pieces must include the POM Wonderful logo. As an option, we may include any POM Wonderful packaging.

To finish entering the contest, we take a pic of our art, sign in or register to their POM community and upload the pic along with a title and description of our masterpiece.

Easy and fun, right? But what’s up for grabs?

The Grand Prize is a POM Wonderful gift basket which includes a Flip Video, $100 American Express gift card, $250 donation to the American Heart Association in the winner’s name, and more!

The Community Prize includes a whack of POM products like a backpack, POM juice, POMx coffee and POMx bars.

Click here to find out how winners will be determined and here for the official contest rules.

Contest ends at the end of the month on February 28th, so we’d better get our creative juices flowing! Ooo… I feel something brewing…

Have you ever looked at movie stars and said, “Sure I could be thin and beautiful, too, if it was my job!” Well, there’s a new website that actually pays overweight Americans to achieve their weight-loss goals!

Recently covered on Time.com, HealthyWage.com launched in October when founder, David Roddenberry, discovered research in the Journal of American Medicine suggesting that small monetary incentives triple the effectiveness of weight loss and smoking cessation programs.

The lure of cash seems to be working: 5,000 people have signed up on HealthyWage.com so far. Click here to see a 2:30 minute news clip.

The website has 4 incentive programs in effect this year:

1. BMI Challenge provides $100 from corporate sponsors to obese Americans (nearly one third of the nation) who lose weight.
2. SuperSizer allows you to “bet” on your ability to lose weight.
3. Top Motivator pays you when you’re friends lose weight.
4. Weekly Weigh-in celebrates your success and commitment each week with product giveaways from sponsors and motivational support.

To qualify for the reward in the BMI (Body Mass Index) Challenge, members are required to weigh-in on the website once a week and have their starting and ending weight verified by a physician. If you achieve a healthy weight (typically 30-80 pounds) by December 30, 2010, you will be rewarded $100 for your spanking new slim figure!

It’s free to enter the BMI Challenge. The final deadline for this 12 month challenge is January 20.

Or, while you’re on the BMI challenge, you can choose to “super-size” your weight-loss efforts. Up your ante from $0 to $300 and increase the stakes to $1,000!

HealthyWage also pays America’s Top Motivator $1 for every pound lost by his or her top 100 motivatees in the BMI Challenge. Motivatees are HealthyWage members who designate a “Motivator” within the website.  Example: 100 motivatees x 200 pounds each = $20,000 prize.

The Top Motivator incentive celebrates the important role that friends and family play in encouraging and facilitating weight loss. The winner will be announced at the end of the BMI Challenge.

Finally, each week HealthyWage challenges members to continue their weight loss journey by sharing tips and reporting their weight loss progress in its supportive online community.  On Tuesday at 10:00 pm ET, HealthyWage reports who lost the most weight for the week. Sponsors may provide coupons or free products rewards for weight loss winners.

HealthyWage is an incredible opportunity for those looking to lose weight this year. The website is unique in that it was created based on encouraging results from published academic weight-loss and motivation research, as well as previously tested weight-loss programs using incentives.

Special Offer for Live Lighter Readers!

HealthyWage has graciously offered to give away 5 free SuperSizer programs to allow YOU (at no cost today) the opportunity to get paid $1000 for losing weight in 2010! The first 5 American readers to leave a comment below will receive this special offer!

So, Readers, would you be more motivated to achieve your health goals this year if someone paid you?

It’s hard enough to get kids to eat healthy but it’s nearly impossible these days. Our society promotes convenience and hectic lifestyles, with fast-food restaurants on every street corner and snack foods marketed specifically to kids. We’ve reached record highs for illnesses linked to lack of nutrition among children – from depression to diabetes, from limited attention span to cholesterol imbalance.

Enter: The Sears’ Family. In their book, “The Healthiest Kid in the Neighborhood: Ten Ways to Get Your Family on the Right Nutritional Track,” they promise to help you shape your child’s tastes and metabolism for optimal health!

In a “wise but accessible tone,” the Sears’ family:

• identifies foods and eating habits that can counter or prevent many common illnesses
• reveals how you can shape young tastes to crave healthy foods in the right proportions
• provides the tools, the tips and the knowledge you need in virtually every nutritional circumstance – from dealing with a picky eater to curbing an adolescent’s junk-food cravings
• draws on the latest research in biochemistry and nutrition science as it outlines steps you can take to guard your child against Nutritional Deficit Disorder

That’s not all you’ll find in this book! They devote an entire chapter to healthy recipes and another to food shopping, which will teach you supermarket savvy and how to read nutritional labels. They cover some common nutrition questions, discuss obesity in their chapter, `how to raise a lean family’ and provide 11 ways to feed growing brains.

Why listen to the Sears’ Family?

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Does it trouble you to see your little one suffer through a cold? Too young for cough and cold medication, they have no other choice than to live through even the of worst cold symptoms. All we want to do is give them relief.

Well, you’re reading the right post then! Sinupret for Kids is a safe, natural remedy that supports healthy sinus, respiratory and immune function.

And we’re giving away free sample packs here on Live Lighter! The first 15 readers to leave a comment and send this post to a friend will receive:

• A copy of Dr. Bob Sears bestselling book The Healthiest Kids in the Neighborhood
• A sample of Sinupret
• Yellow children’s binoculars
• Sinupret for Kids Activity Book
• Sinupret for Kids Stickers
• Mini Plush Bear

The mini plush bear is sooo adorable. Any kid – including the kid in me – would love to snuggle with this tiny, soft handful of bear!

About Sinupret for Kids

Recommended by pediatricians like Dr. Bob Sears (click here to read his tips for keeping your kids naturally healthy in the winter season), Sinupret for Kids has a proprietary blend of five-herbal blend combination of European Elder, Sorrel, Cowslip, European Vervain and Gentian.

It’s one of the world’s leading herbal remedies for upper respiratory health in children age 2 and up. Sinupret has been Germany’s #1 most widely recommended and scientifically tested nasal and sinus support formula for children and adults for more than 30 years.

The American Botanical Council published a monograph (a technical paper focusing on one subject) in February of this year (click here to read the news release). The monograph concluded that,  “Sinupret has a relatively significant level of safety and efficacy data compared to many other natural products intended for use in maintaining the health of sinuses and the upper respiratory tract”.

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