Beets!!!

I love these beets!  I used to grab them all the time and throw them into my shopping cart without looking.  Now that I am reading everything before buying, I decided to check out the ingredients.  The ones I picked up below are perfect.  Very tasty.  They have other flavors that I used to buy and when I went to look at the ingredients on those, they all had added sugar.  So, I put those back.  Beets naturally have enough sugar in them, so there is no need to add it.  They are also very high in Vitamin C and Iron. As well as a good source of dietary fiber, folate, potassium, and manganese.  Theya re great to throw in a salad, or eat on their own as a quick afternoon snack!

New Kitchen Gadgets!

Since going raw/vegan I have been making tons of salads!  That can get pretty lame and boring after a while! So I have been getting creative with my ingredients. It's also more time consuming then you think.  I was cutting/chopping each individual vegetable or fruit that was going into the bowl.  Until…. the Salad Chopper from Prepara!  

I love this!  Now, I can throw everything into a bowl, and chop it up quickly and easy!  I had marinated beets, broccoli, shitake mushrooms, with a mix of lettuce.

Here is my end result! I put a little Balsamic Vinegar on top and was ready to go.  I used to use olive oil  on my salads as well.  I thought it was considered a healthy oil.  While it is still a "healthier" choice then animal fats, it is not necessary in our diets.  While it is made up of mostly mono saturated fats, it is still 14% saturated fats, no nutritional value, and a whooping 120 calories per tablespoon.  Here is a quick easy read on olive oil

Food Shopping!

Well, I'm finally over my cold, at least the worst of it.  I worked out yesterday.  It wasn't the best of workouts.  Simpler, yet hard, body weight exercises.  Tried to run after, but I have a shooting knee pain, which is something I have never had before and it just came on last week for a day, and then again Saturday.  Not happy about this, as I can't run with it.  I can usually work around injuries, but this one is a B!#@H.  We'll see how tomorrow goes.

After the gym, I headed to Trader Joes.  It was so much fun buying foods I knew were good for me.  I went organic with raw and frozen fruits and vegetables.  I picked up sprouted Hemp Seeds and raw almond butter, checking to make sure the only ingredient was almonds.  So I basically went mono-ingredient.  Its surprising how so many foods I thought were "healthy" had ingredients that I could pronounce, nor had I heard of!  So I put them back on the shelves.  I managed to find one bag of raw, unsalted mixed nuts.  I left with two full grocery bags, and it was $75 total.  Much better then my trip to Whole Foods.

It was a nice day yesterday, so Shorty and I headed North up into the 30's from our Soho block and then down the West Side Highway.  The walk was beautiful and I even felt a little over dressed. Then we spent a quiet afternoon home.

Today, Sunday, We headed to the gym for Shorty training.  He did so good today!  He was on fire.  I recently changed his diet back to Honest Kitchen.  It is a dehydrated dog food made with meat and veggies.  I'm wondering if this is way he has a sudden pep in his step.  I felt the change in me when I got rid of processed foods and went raw/vegan.  After training we took the long way home up the WSH.  I had a client, and a class to teach at the gym today so I wanted to get him tired out while I was at the gym.

A sad ending to the day.  I attended a memorial service for friend and fellow co-worker Lance Turnbow. I am never good with these things.  Really, who is? Rest In Peace Lance.