Veggie Grill

Granted, I am not overly cultured and I don't consider myself to be one of "those kinds of people" who gravitate towards the finer things in life BUT I do know one thing...and that thing is food.

My mother raised me on a fine diet of ice cream breakfasts and Hungry Man dinners doused in butter and salt. Over the past 10 years, my eating habits have become healthier and thankfully, more well-rounded. The more I have learned about food and how sugar/chemicals and preservatives come into play with long-term health, healthy food has become even more delicious to me. Knowing I am eating good food that is good for my total wellness makes eating it so much nicer.

Years back I attended a seminar about Candida at Mother's Market. During the speakers presentation she spoke about her son who suffered from ADD and Autism. Her journey into wellness was started through her desire to increase her son's quality of life. As she began researching autism, she found overwhelming studies which showed how red food dye #40 a.k.a Carmine, Crimson Lake ,Cochineal, Carminic acid, Carmines ,and Natural Red 4 as additive E 120, Cochineal, Natural Red 4, C.I. 75470, and E120 (present in MOST processed foods) was a huge factor in manifesting symptoms of autism and ADD. She decided to eliminate her son's intake of all processed foods containing red food dye. This isn't an easy thing to do because it is present in so many foods everyday children eat such as; Cheetos, Jello, Chips-a-Hoy Cookies...pretty much anything you find in the inner isles of the grocery stores--contains red food dye. She successfully managed her son's food and within 6 months his symptoms were significantly decreased and she was able to take him to a much lower dose of medication.

I liken food to being like the fuel or oil we put in our cars. The cheaper the gas, the less efficient our cars run. The lower the grade of oil...well to be honest I am not sure what that does to cars, I am a chick and my car knowledge only extends so far. But metaphorically, you see where I am going here.

Eating healthier is a tough thing to do in today's world. Organic foods are more expensive, fruits and veggies have a shorter shelf life. Packing lunches for your loved ones requires more preparation and sometimes, I agree, it is easier to throw a Lunchable in a backpack than it is to make a salad or sandwich. I don't think healthy living means you have to do away with all foods you have grown to love, but it does require a healthy balance. If you put healthy food into your body 80% of the time and the other 20% is filled with food you eat during birthdays, holidays and the occasional weekends you are still doing a great service to your body and to your health.

One of my biggest current food loves is a delicious and magical place called Veggie Grill. While there are only 3 locations currently, 2 in OC and 1 in LA, I would venture to say there will be more sprouting up soon.

Veggie Grill is fresh and vegan cuisine made up to be so yummy that the non-vegan patron would be none the wiser. Their menu ranges from hard core vegan tastes like the All Kale Salad (which, mind you, I would eat every day 3 times a day if I were a millionaire and could afford to do so) to their more mainstream cuisine like Sweetheart Fries which when dipped in the chipotle ranch is AMAZING.

My boyfriend has even found something he loves there, which is saying a lot since his idea of culinary magic is Mountain Dew and Slim Jim's. While it took him a moment to warm up to the idea of eating Vegan cuisine (for a while he would eat next store at Chipotle's while I ate Veggie Grill) he has discovered something he enjoys, the vegetarian chili. Veggie Grill is a wonderful alternative to eating fast food and given that it is fresh, chemical free and organic it is very reasonably priced. Try Veggie Grill and let me know how delicious you think it is!

And, if you are feeling frisky I would suggest the vegan carrot cake. It is delicious!

Thanks But No Thanks for the Memories?

There is a story in today's news about a new pill being tested by the Dutch that will erase painful memories or to frame it more accurately, it will block the unfortunate emotions tied to the event. The painful memories we have would essentially be replaced by feelings of numbness, happiness or even euphoria. The drug is being developed by the University of Amsterdam and is known as Propranolol, many may be familair with the liquid form of this drug...alcohol. I joke.
But seriously people, I have to wonder where we are headed as a "modern society". We live in a society that is more detached than it has ever been. Customer service is mostly automated, people text instead of calling each other, we learn how and what our friends are doing by reading their Facebook status'. Children spend hours on the computer, we watch countless hours of television. Even I am guilty of watching so many movies that sometimes I can't decipher fact from fiction. So to me, a pill that will make us more detached from the events that are happening in our lives makes me uneasy. Isn't part of living...learning? And without living through emotions, without experiencing pain tied to certain experiences aren't we robbing ourselves of valuable life lessons? They say this pill won't erase the memory of the event but it will make you essentially numb to the bad feelings that the memory brings. I realize this pill could be very useful for treating symptoms of PTSD, however I think there always needs to be a great amount of caution when using any drug to numb feelings, no matter how severe. By drugging a symptom you are truly just masking the cause and not fixing a thing.

Personally, I'm not sure I would take a pill that would erase my emotions. First, I have seen Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and given I learn most of my life lessons in a dark theatre, I know how this one ends! I also know there is a lot of wisdom to be found in pain. Because of the pain I have lived through, I know what I want out of relationships, I know what I will and won't put up with, I have learned the importance of telling those you love how you feel about them as often as possible, because I know what the pain of not doing so brings. I know the pain of being seen as ugly and as a result I have a much better understanding of beauty. So, although I've lived through some painful moments, as everyone has, I am with Bob Hope in saying, "thanks for the memories". While this may be a drug for some people, I say thanks but no thanks, that's too tough a pill for me to swallow!

Bikini Mama

It is almost swimsuit season...you know what that means! In exactly three months I will be standing in front of a full sized mirror under harsh fluorescent lighting swearing I will never eat again and cursing my terrible body genes. Unfortunately I am cursed with a low threshold for starvation and an affinity for eating, to put it simpler, I am screwed. I wasn't blessed with a model's ability to eat under 500 calories a day and I certainly am not one of those women who are blessed with a naturally thin body. If I want to be thin I need to work hard for it. Daily gym visits, food logs, dessert deprivation AND even then, I still have curves. Skinny rail thin women say how badly they want curves, how they wish they had a butt or hips. If only they knew that with curves, came the constant threat of looking heavy even with the tiniest jump of the scale. I run double digit miles every week, I play soccer, I do pilates and I even recently cut out all refined sugar from my daily plate. Even with this I still am no supermodel and I am still not the ideal candidate for 7 jeans. Society is harsh on women, case and point, Jessica in her mom jeans....
The truth is that yes, this girl is a little heavier than the Jessica we know, but she is by no means heavy or fat or even thick. This is a girl who gained 5 pounds or so and picked a terrible outfit for her current body type. And yes, this is a crime in itself, given that she has stylists, tons of money and the looming threat of criticism. Often times I think that with money to spend on nicer clothes other than my current choice of cheap synthetic Forever 21 clothing, I would look much more attractive and stress less on how what I am wearing makes me look even fatter. But how is a normal girl like me supposed to feel attractive when the ideal of beautiful isn't Jessica Simpson plus 5 pounds? Especially when the normal woman is Jessica Simpson plus 20 pounds?

To remain beautiful in society's eyes requires constant and vigilant attention and deprivation. We don't have it like men do. Most men don't have the unfortunate voice in their head that says...I can't walk around naked because my ass is too big or my thighs are too giggly. Men are lucky in that they can look like ass but still walk around like they are Brad Pitt circa Thelma and Louise. And when a girl does walk around, unconsumed with her body flaws - - case and point -- Jennifer Love with her buxom floaties, she is attacked and criticized for letting herself go.
I do agree, Jennifer is not the picture of perfection here, however neither am I. And if I had to pick a body type that I felt mine looked like in a bikini, I would have to say that Miss. Love and I have more in common here than we don't have in common. As bikini season nears, and my naked anxiety increases, I am plagued by the idea that sometimes, the only thing harsher than the terrible fluorescent lighting in the dressing room, is society and their unrelenting views on beauty.

Dreams

I have freaky dreams. They are always vivid and sometimes leave me feeling foggy and unsorted when I wake up. Last week I had a dream that there was a twig growing out of the center of my head. When I called to ask my mom if she remembered me getting hurt when I was little, or something that would account for a twig growing out of my head she replied, "oh yeah, when you were 5 you fell out of a tree, that must be what it is from." I woke up in the middle of the night and felt my scalp to see if it was indeed a dream - - obviously... it was. That same night I went back to sleep only to dream that my boyfriend's mom was Vanna White and he said she was a very private person and didn't like him to tell people about her or introduce them to her. Now I am not an expert in dream interpretation but I am sure there is some deeper meaning to these dreams beyond the fact that I am weird.

As a kid I always had terrible scary dreams. I would dream I was dying, being chased, losing my teeth, struggling to put contact lenses the size of plates into my eyes. All strange dreams and all very vivid. Recently I have dreams about spiders, swimming in a lake with alligators and the always popular trying to run but unable to stand up. I have now found a website that is dedicated to the interpretation of dreams and will help me to decipher what my subconscious is trying to tell me...beyond that I need a much less active imagination.

http://www.brilliantdreams.com/dream-dictionary/dream-dictionary-c.htm

Going Organic

I have been in a bit of a transition for the past couple months trying to become more organic conscious about the products I use and the food I buy. Last month I stopped using "regular" shampoos and soaps and switched to organic ones after learning how they seep into your pores and enter your bloodstream. Not many people know that beauty products aren't regulated by the FDA because they aren't ingested and therefore contain many harmful elements.

Over at The Cosmetic Database created by The Environmental Working Group you can do a search for your makeup and see where it is ranked in toxicity. On the website you can also check out the hazard ratings for other personal products including: Skin Care, hair Care, Eye Care, Nail Care, Baby Care, Oral Care, and Perfumes. It is eye opening and you will find that many of your favorite product lines unfortunately rank very high in toxicity.

Making healthy decisions about the food we eat and the products we use are tremendously important in our long term health and happiness.