I live, I eat

Okay, I'm on day three.  In so far.... I like the workouts.  A couple of things I have to improvise on because my gym doesn't have a couple of pieces of equipment, but is otherwise completely doable.  I'm doing supersets and a couple of singular movements and then abs.  I'm working out Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.  She gave me a supplement suggestion, and I have to get a couple of things shipped. I normally go to bodybuilding.com to order my supplements because they usually have the best prices and ship super fast.  They also have great customer service. I have some bread products in my meal plan for these two weeks, and that is a little different to get used to.  Not bad though.  The rest of the food I like as well and eating every 2-3 hours.  Pretty clean eating.  I'm trying my best to drink my allotted water and not my coffee as I normally do.  I've also premade a bunch of food and have some of the steam bag veggi...

Okay, I'm compiling a list of places that I like and recommend to people.  You may not see a place on the list.  This either means I wouldn't put it on my list of recommendations, or I haven't tried it. If you have a question about a particular restaurant here in town, just ask in the comments.  I will try to get back to you quickly.  I haven't finished the list of descriptions, but will work on it as I have time.  I will then endeavor to add links to the websites or something similar to help you find these places. ANCHORAGE Downtown Alaska Cake Studio - Cake and coffee yum. Good location for while walking around. Simon and Seaforts - Good menu, but try out the bar for quick service and the drink specials. Orso - Brewhouse's sister.  Okay mix, not as busy as Brewhouse, Still need reservations on weekends. Food is good. Nice wine list Glacier Brewhouse - Make a reservation.  Seriously. Good food, noisy. Popular year round with locals and to...

So breakfast can actually be a hard thing to seemingly find in downtown Anchorage, but after scouring the downtown area and trying some places out, I've come up with a small alternative list. 1.  Snow City Cafe - 1034 W. 4th Ave   Snow City Cafe Website Snow City can make a great breakfast.  They have two soups that change out and are available for early lunch, so if you are having a late breakfast it gives you some more options.  They also have a specials menu that you can preview on their site.  (For lunch the salad special is usually yummy.)  The service is generally slow but usually nice.  The drip coffee is actually drinkable here.  The food is tasty and well prepared.  The portions are big. This place gets PACKED!!!!!  You have the five million tourists during the hot season and then all of the local business people that come in for breakfast/lunch/coffee year round.  They have somewhat recently added the ability to put i...

I am going to Mexico in a week.  It looks like its time for a Almased fast to make sure that I am swimsuit ready. I have strategically placed blender ball mixers at the house and at work.  I also made sure to have a brand new canister, almond milk, and some stevia.  I'm not too sure about loading up on other flavors to add.  I really do enjoy the taste.  I think the only downside to Almased is the bit of chalky texture that it can get.  But its not nearly as bad as another name brand vegan protein shake mix I have, so blessings counted. I'm going to start with the three shakes a day.  I start my mornings with a glass of water.  I have a pitcher that I put some sliced cucumber and orange in to up the flavor. Definitely makes it easy to get your water in.  Then I have my cup of coffee.  (I've cut way down on coffee, and after my trip to Europe, I've found American coffee severely lacking.  Perhaps I can get a coffee maker ...

It's been a rough start to the week.  Work is stressful as always, but I am starting to get the hang of it.  My judge that I work with is high maintenance, and high stress himself.  So part of MY stress is learning to work with him.  This is also a guy that talks S*&T about almost everyone there, and I hate that.  He got very smirky when I told him I was trying to eat a predominately raw diet, so I can only imagine what he says behind my back. Current issues I will need to work on....... Hmmm let's see what I've noticed.... Coffee.  I've always enjoyed coffee.  I love the smell and the taste.  I like mine black with a bit of stevia in it. I have not had the wanting to get rid of it.  I see on youtube that pretty much all raw foodies are not down with coffee, and I understand why.  Coffee is dehydrating and stresses the adrenals.  But that knowledge does not alleviate my craving for the taste and warmth of my cup. ...

So it's been a long weekend and the neighborhood streets are like ice.  There has been rain and it is making all the ice on the road an ice rink.  I actually got stuck trying to leave my girlfriends house.  Everytime I went forward I would keep sliding or slide to the left.  I almost hit their cars twice.  Finally, we gave up and looked for the kitty litter.  That worked. I actually woke up at 4am.  Apparently the power had just gone out.  So I got out my LED lamp and some strategically placed candles.  Pretty cozy.  They went on a couple hours later. So no juice this morning, but I had some water and took it easy this morning.  About the time the lights came on I had a watermelon.  I also had 1/2 a cantaloupe after that, cause I was still hungry.  I had a  couple dates as a snack, and made sure to eat a small fruit before I left the house to curb any cravings I might get.  Tonight I am making ...

I've been loving eating raw foods.  There are some things that can be difficult when starting.  One thing is that I've been conditioned to think that all sugar is the devil.  So, even high sugar fruits were out and rarely ate the lower sugar fruits like berries. My goodness you should have seen me with my bag of oranges the other day.  I juiced half of the bad and had it in the morning and cut up the rest for snack and lunch.  So glorious.  Also, to sit with a melon and mow away as much as I want!! Second thing, is that I need to make sure that I have some fruit before I leave work, because by the time I get home I don't want to do much and make my excuses and eat "filler food".  You know that food... It's the crap that tastes like cardboard and has tons of fat and sodium.  Let's not forget how processed or even fake it can be.  Generally, I would just throw all of this crap out, but I live with my husband.  And though, he will eat v...

It has been so cold lately.  I must admit that I am being a bad dog mommie with the walks.  I know they need more exercise, but I've been cutting the walking distance.  I'm a wuss.  I did however get a new pair of Boggs so I can at least walk them without my toes going numb on me.  Perhaps that will do the trick. The skies are clear and there is only a small amount of snow on the yard.  The streets are clear except for some ice patches and it is turning out to be a really weird winter here so far.  Usually we are dumped on with snow and it warms up a bit.  Sometimes I cannot believe that I live in a place that is buried in snow most of the year, when the sky is covered it means that its warmer out, and that when the temperature goes from -6 to 10 you start thinking about if you need your coat. Today is the day after Thanksgiving.  My husband is sick, so we ended up not going to my brothers for dinner last night.  And, of all things, ...

So I am subscribed to Rawmazing, which I totally recommend.  Recently she made a post of a new recipe for cookies.  These things are soooooooo delicous.  I brought a couple batches to work, sent some off with a friend for their trip.  And the nice thing is that they are raw!! They are comprised of almonds, chia seeds, coconut, salt, vanilla, grapeseed oil, sweetner, with a puree of fresh strawberries on top, then dehydrated.  I used a flaked coconut that I ground down, the almonds were soaked and dried and for my sweetener I used coconut nectar and a touch of stevia.  So yummy!!  I might try it with blueberries instead of strawberries next time. http://www.rawmazing.com/raw-strawberry-thumbprint-cookies/   Photo from Rawmazing

So I haven't been feeling quite up to par, so I changed my diet again.  It's helped somewhat, but it was a major struggle.  Meat is out.  I am not juicing every morning, but I am trying for about every other.  LOTS of veggies, and trying for mostly raw.  This of course takes some prep due to making it work around my schedule, but now that I've kind of gotten into my groove, it's not too bad. Recent items that I made include: Radish Kimchi ( which I got from Maangchi, http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kkakdugi and made with soy not fish sauce) Marinated veggies (faux stir fry) with shiritake noodles Veggie rolls with nonroasted nori  Cashew cheeze Flax "Pizza" chips (made with leftovers from my juicing and some extra ingredients) Munchie mixture (Golden berries, goji, mulberry, raw cacao nibs, raw cashews) My average juice contains: Romaine 1/2 cucumber 1" ginger small handful parsley 4-5 carrots 3-5 stalks collard greens 1 lemon (whole...

Lest I say, this is my most favorite sushi place to go.  Brandon, chef/owner, is so imaginative and willing to alter anything to your needs.  The menu has some excellent choices for cooked and non cooked items.  If I'm in the mood for something hot I like the sauteed mushrooms.  Yummy! Prior to this most recent trip, one of my friends and I were talking about meeting up for sukiyaki at another local place downtown called Kumogoro.  (We had previously been there for shabu shabu.)  I mentioned this when I stopped off for sushi to Brandon, and he said that he would make it for us.  What a treat.  I mentioned it to my friend and it was a no brainer decision. I started this trip right after work.  One of my girlfriends was going to meet me and was already there, but Cody and I were planning on going a bit later.  So I met up with the girls for an appetizer.  Normally this would have been sushi roll happy hour but Min (Brandon's wife)...

I've been eating out like a mad man.  This last adventure is a place close by to my work, Bangkok Cafe.  I've been here many times yet stopped going after they messed it up that last time too many.  After my hiatus I return with low expectations. My order:  Hot tea with sugar, fresh rolls, and mild chicken Kow Pad (Thai style fried rice). Service was swift yet seemed that the two were not synched yet which makes me think that the one at my table was new.  I ordered my dishes, which were some of my usual fav's and made sure to order mild (which is usually hot and I am not weak).  The tea tasted like Lipton.  Not one of my favorite's but was nice to have on a colder day while warming up, and apparently their heat was not really working well. The fresh rolls arrived and looked fresh.  The sauce was thin, but tasty.  Most places around here give you a honey based sauce, which just leaves me with sticky hands no matter how hard I try.  Th...

Crush in downtown Anchorage is generally one of my favorite places to go to hang out with a glass of wine or to get a small nibble (especially when going to a show at the PAC).  This time around I went in for lunch, which is rare for me, but I was at Nordstrom on a Saturday and was trying to figure out where to go. Lest it be said, parking downtown can be a nightmare.  Spaces are limited on the street and there are pay lots, but instead of being the ones that you pay a dollar and hour, it's five dollars for 0-2 hours.  Another option is to park in the JCPenny parking garage, which I tend to do in winter.  Crush is attached to the 5th Avenue mall, so if you are shopping, there is also the B street parking garage. Crush is owned by a group of guys that are very knowledgeable and you can see them variably every day you come in to the place.  The decor is sleek and they are part of the Friday art walk so you can check out the new work every month.  The tabl...