IHeartMD ~ February Founder’s Box

IHeartMD is a brand new monthly subscription box dedicated to promoting a heart-healthy lifestyle. Boxes will contain foods/snacks, exercise-related items and general wellness tips and products.

Each month you’ll receive 5-8 samples, all of which go hand-in-hand with the teachings of the Mediterranean diet. Best of all, these products are all hand-picked and pre-approved by a panel of 10 board-certified physicians specializing in cardiology.

I really liked their packaging: the interior and exterior boxes were box customized with their logo and designs, plus the interior box seemed reusable and high-quality.

Plus, I really liked their color combinations! It’s an unusual mix and yet I was so drawn to it..

They included this detailed fold-out information booklet filled with background info and health tips on the included products, plus you can go online to find out more.

So first up, we have this single-serving Pearl’s Black Olives To Go . They included a little print-out to go along with it, showing what a full-size package looks like and how most grocery stores carry them. I personally prefer assorted olives that come in oil (i.e. the greek ones, those green ones w/ almonds inside, spicy garlic ones, etc) however these were a nice alternate to using canned black olives.

Next we have these Mary’s Gone Crackers Original Crackers, which are wheat-free, gluten-free, organic and super crunchy seed crackers! You definitely have to go into trying them knowing that they’re going to be different from a normal cracker, as they’re made with brown rice, quinoa, flax seed and sesame seeds. They’re a bit boring plain, but dipped into hummus and greek-yogurt based veggie dips, I found them to be quite good!

Here we have Matt’s Munchies Premium Fruit Snack in Apple-Licious. It is a delicious blend of mango and tangy apple flavor, and only 35 calories! I absolutely LOVEEEE fruit leathers and fruit snacks, so this had to be one of my favorite items in the box. Definitely interested in purchasing more..

Next we have TeeChia Super Seed Cereal in Cranberry Apple. This 1-serving of cereal made with oats, flax, quinoa, nuts and fruits has a good amount of protein, fiber, whole grains and omegas. The best part is you can choose whether to eat it hot or cold, so I personally would heat it up with skim or almond milk until it becomes an oatmeal-like consistency and just sprinkle a little cinnamon on top!

Of course you need a little sweetness and chocolate! So, they included two Ghirardelli Intense Dark Twilight 72% Chocolate Squares. Hey, a little cocoa can be good for your health!

Ah.. and gift cards. From previous reviews, many of you know I can be skeptical of sub box gift cards, as more often than not, you need to spend money to get anything. I’m 50-50 on these, because the iTrain giftcard is great and I will definitely be using it for kickboxing and cardio workouts, however the NakedWines giftcard is kinda useless to me (I have 2 already) as you have to spend $100+ to order anything from them. Also, I know some red wine is good for the heart, but I’m a bit surprised to see it in this box.

All in all, I was pretty content with my IHeartMD Box and believe it has a lot of potential to be great (It’s only the first month) but it hasn’t quite hit the mark yet. I really liked the packaging and thought there was a good variety of snacks, but it wasn’t as ‘packed’ as I expected the box to be. With only 5 single-serve samples and the 2 gift cards (1 free, 1 costly), it left me expecting more (either quantity-wise OR quality-wise), as the box costs $30 per month. Either by including some full-size products, or more samples, as well as more fitness/active-related products, I believe they would get a positive bump in subscriptions, and so I hope to see it improve with my constructive criticism and that of other bloggers.

What do you think of the new IHeartMD Box? Sign up for your own here!