caveat emptor

 

i'm afraid my praise for the vibram five fingers was a little premature (see post here). after wearing them just four times, i noticed a pretty significant pain in my left foot which was later followed by swelling and more pain.  after a trip to the sports medicine doctor and an uncomfortable 30 minutes in an mri, it was confirmed: i had a stress fracture in my second metatarsal. i have not one doubt in my mind that the vibrams are to blame.  look at all of these people that have suffered from the same thing: stress fractures from vibrams.  for the time being, you'll be seeing me in a lot of spin classes and perhaps a few pools. if you are considering purchasing these aqua socks also known as shoes, i have two words for you: caveat emptor (which is latin for 'buyer beware').

stinkey monkey

tonight i tried stinkey monkey pudding for the first time and I was very pleasantly surprised. made up of only six ingredients (raw coconut meat, organic coconut milk, organic raw cacao powder, organic palm sugar, organic raw vanilla bean, and pink himalayan salt), it is both healthy and vegan friendly. judging by the label (and the size of the container), stinkey monkey puddings are most likely meant for people under the age of six, but i don't discriminate. i have a strict open door policy with anything that even resembles chocolate, so it wasn't hard to convince me to buy this $3.99 4oz pudding. other pluses: gluten-free, soy-free, low glycemic, and made in our very own culver city.

on my ipod now

having a good mix on your ipod is almost as important as having comfortable running shoes (or even a sports bra). i hate to admit it, but there have been times when i've driven to the gym, realized i forgot my ipod, and turned around and driven straight home. that's how i feel about music when i workout.

so what's on my ipod right now?

1. rihanna - only girl
2. 2Pac - hit em up
3. shakira - waka waka
4. michael jackson - billie jean
5. rihanna - what's my name
6. michael jackson - dirty diana
7. major lazer and la roux - bulletproof
8. matchbox 20 - how far we've come
9. phoenix - 1901
10. arcade fire - wake up
11. eminem - my band
12. diddy featuring keyshia cole - last night
13. the game - how we do
14. grizzly bear - two weeks
15. jason mraz - butterfuly
16. jay-z - numb/encore
17. kele - everything you wanted
18. kings of leon - sex on fire
19. la roux - in for the kill
20. passion pit -little secrets

if you can, run a bit faster when the quicker tempo songs come on. you'll be doing intervals without even thinking about it!

image source: http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2007/02/2g-ipod-shuffle-230pxl.jpg

Elvino

while wandering abbot kinney this weekend with one of my friends, we suddenly got the urge to do a late afternoon wine tasting, so we ducked into elvino. elvino, although conveniently "the wine" in spanish, is actually the name of the owner's grandfather. every weekend elvino offers tasting flights from a different part of the world. this particular weekend the focus happened to be on portugal. we tasted three delicious wines with fresh bread and spanish olive oil to clean our palates. elvino is a great place for an impromptu tasting and an even better place to find a new favorite bottle of wine.

elvino is open every night until 8pm during the week and 9pm on weekends so feel free to stop by for a quick tasting before or after dinner (or on a random saturday afternoon).

veggie chili

last week i attended a chili cook-off at a friend's house and i ended up making a vegetarian chili at the very last minute using a recipe i found using the whole foods iphone app. not only was the chili fairly easy to make (minus all the chopping), it won me a trophy for best vegetarian chili! ok, so maybe there was only one other vegetarian chili in the running and maybe i added avocado and cilantro as garnishes to make my chili super gourmet, but still!!

i was totally impressed by this chili and i think you will be, too.

ingredients:
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms (i used regular and portabella)
1/4 cup dried mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 20 mins, then drained and chopped (i skipped these)
2 jalapenos, seeded and finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup uncooked bulgur wheat
1/2 cup cooked kidney beans, drained
1/2 cup cooked black beans, drained
1/2 cup cooked navy beans, drained
2 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro

method:
heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. add onions, celery, carrots, bell peppers, fresh mushrooms, dried mushrooms, and jalapenos and cook for 3 minutes. add garlic, chili powder, oregano, and cumin and cook for 1 minute longer. add tomato paste and brown with vegetables for 1 minute longer. add tomatoes, bulgur, beans, and 1 to 2 cups water (enough to cover ingredients). simmer for 45 minutes, or until bulgur is tender. stir in tamari and cilantro and serve.

mrs meyer's clean day

i love mrs meyers' cleaning products. not only are they natural, biodegradable and animal friendly (no animal testing), they smell amazing and they have the cutest labels ever!

i just started worrying about cleaning products this year when i saw a holistic doctor about my allergies. this doctor isn't your typical doctor. she has her m.d. and went to traditional medical school, but decided to take a more holistic approach to medicine. she feels that we should be treating the sources of many issues as opposed to just medicating or covering up symptoms. when i asked her what i should avoid (and i was thinking food-wise) to stay healthy and steer clear of diseases like cancer, she said that she thought that most of these diseases are caused by things in our immediate environment - harsh chemicals in cleaning products being one of those things.

i immediately threw away all of my 409 and windex and purchased mrs meyer's cleaning products. they work just as well and i feel so much better when i use them. there are some other brands like seventh generation that are good, but their labels aren't nearly as cute as mrs meyers'.

rawvolution

eating vegan is hard, but eating raw is just crazy. this weekend we walked down the street to the popular raw food restaurant called euphoria loves rawvolution. if the name doesn't scare you away, the food might. i ordered an enlightenment salad and my husband, joe, ordered a breakfast burrito. i don't know why, but, even though i knew this was a raw food restaurant, i was still picturing a huge burrito coming out in a warm flour tortilla with guacamole and sour cream on the side. even vegans know how to make a good breakfast burrito! this "burrito" (if you can even call it that) looked more like a sausage. it was wrapped in some kind of a raw version of a tortilla and inside was vegetables, avocado, and something they decided was the closest thing to cheese. not as tasty as it sounded on the menu.

the enlightenment salad was ok, but it was a little too seaweedy. it was made up of kale, seaweed, avocado, and some kind of raw cole slaw on top. there is no doubt that it was healthy (green, green, and more green), but it wasn't the tastiest thing i've ever eaten.

we both left feeling unsatisfied and a little malnourished. i'm not against raw food, but i don't think euphoria loves rawvolution is going to be a place that i frequent. as much as i love raw fruits and vegetables, there's nothing wrong with throwing a little steamed brown rice or sauteed kale in the mix. just sayin'.