Welcome! 
I'm an illustrator and graphic designer living in Los Angeles, training for my first marathon, and working towards a healthier lifestyle. I hope to inspire others to live healthier lives by sharing what I learn along the way!
Disclaimer Please keep in mind that I am not a registered dietitian or doctor. This blog is not intended as medical advice. I base my recommendations on my own research and personal experience. You should always consult a doctor before making any changes to your diet and exercise routine. You are ultimately responsible for your own health!
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By Megan, on February 25th, 2010
Hi everyone! Happy Thursday!
Guess who’s birthday it is?!
I’ll give you a hint: 
Yasha is 7 years old today! My little girl is growing up!! I can’t believe I’ve had her for so long! I kept calling her “birthday girl” today, and she looked at me like, “Who are you talking to??” Ha ha. Guess I’m the crazy dog lady! 
What did we do to celebrate? Well, first of all, she got lots of baby carrots. Her favorite snack! I pretty much bribed her so I could get her on our counter for a haircut:
She HATES being on the counter! (she wasn’t thrilled about me taking her picture, either!) She’s terrified of the buzzer, and she knows it’s coming when she’s on that counter! However, it still beats being dropped off at the groomer– which she hated more! And once we moved to Los Angeles, professional grooming was no longer in the budget!
But before long, she was a buzzed beauty:
See how happy she is that it’s OVER?! I love that little face.
She got lots more carrots for being such a good girl! She loves her raw veggies!
It’s been a high-raw day for me, too. I had a beet-filled juice this morning for breakfast:
 Romaine, red kale, 1 stalk celery, 1 large beet, 1/2 apple, and a small lemon. Despite it’s deep, dark color, this juice was delicious!! I felt so good after drinking it, too! Ahhhh….
When lunch time rolled around, I was craving a similar salad to the one I had yesterday:
 This was a monster! I eat out of big mixing bowls, because they’re the only bowls that will hold all the veggies I want to stuff in there! Today it was an entire bag of mixed greens, crunchy red bell pepper, roasted beets, and an ounce of shredded raw goat cheddar. All topped off with my new favorite dressing. I can’t get enough of this salad! Roasted beets + Goat cheese = pure heaven.
After work, I met my friend Heidi at the gym for a strength workout. We decided to try the Fitnessista’s Winter Shape Up Workout! It was a nice change of pace– we usually use Jillian Michaels’s Hot Bod in a Box workout cards, so changing up our routine got our muscles guessing again! I can already feel my arms and abs getting sore! YESSSSSS! Thanks, Gina!
We worked up quite an appetite, so I snacked on some un-pictured baby carrots while preparing my dinner. (Yasha wasn’t thrilled about sharing, though!)
I started with a small salad:
Then I got out of my “food rut” with some vegan nachos:
 Blue corn chips, vegetarian refried beans, fresh chopped red pepper, and jalapeno peppers. Served with plenty of fresh guacamole! I pretty much eat nachos as a vehicle for guacamole.
To be honest, I wasn’t very happy with this dinner. I have really grown to love eating sweet potatoes and winter squash lately! Here I was, trying to change things up, and I just missed my “usual” dinner! I find that I get really attached to the same foods for a while, then I finally get sick of them and move onto the next food obsession. That ever happen to anyone else?
I’m really trying hard to stay awake, but I don’t know if I’m going to make it for Project Runway tonight… I really hate how it doesn’t start until 10pm out here! If TV-scheduling were up to me, everyone would be on “central time.” I miss all my prime-time shows starting at 7pm! I hate waiting until 8:00! I’m such a grandma.
Alright, this old lady needs some sleep– see you all tomorrow!
Reader Feedback: Do you ever get into a food rut? What foods are you loving lately? (Obviously, I need some new ideas!!)
By Megan, on February 25th, 2010
Hi friends!
I had a change of plans tonight– my pup wasn’t feeling so hot, so I stayed home with her to make sure she was okay. My dog tends to get into some random things (trash, bits of food while walking outside, etc.) so it’s not too unusual for her to get sick and recover quickly, but I always like to be on the safe side and stay home with her when I can. She’s my fur baby!!
We decided to cuddle up on the couch, and watch a movie I rented from Netflix:
 [source]
Food, Inc. After watching Michael Pollan on Oprah the other week, I really wanted to see this movie. I was a bit nervous, too, because I dread seeing any sort of scene from a slaughter house! I wasn’t sure how bad it would be! Fortunately, it wasn’t too bad. Only a couple parts really made me cringe. 
That being said, I am SO glad I saw this movie! I think everyone in America should watch it! It is SUCH an eye-opener to the food system in our country. I’m appalled!
But I’m also motivated to do my part!
As frustrating as the movie can be, showing how HUGE companies are bullying the food system (all the way up to a legislative level!)– there was a ray of hope. We, as consumers, can vote with our dollars for the types of food and products that we want. If we want organic produce, we need to buy organic produce when we can. If we want less corn-fed beef, we need to stop buying corn-fed beef. If we want more local, seasonal produce carried in our stores, we need to buy more local, seasonal produce!
I, for one, am guilty of not buying seasonally. I walk into the grocery store, and naively pick whatever looks appealing to me at the time– not even thinking of how it got into the store! How many miles did that piece of produce travel to get here? Was it ripened naturally, or with chemicals? Is it a genetically modified crop?
Eyes. Opened.
With my newly acquired knowledge, I’m going to make a point of buying seasonally, and locally, whenever possible. I found this great website, Sustainable Choices, where you can pick your state, and the time of the year, and it will tell you exactly what produce is available in your area!
You can also use Local Harvest to find organic food that is grown closest to you, including farmer’s markets, family farms and CSA subscriptions. I discovered the L.O.V.E. Delivery program near me, where I can get local fruits and veggies delivered right to my door! Pretty cool, huh?
Since winter squash season is almost over here, I better use up all the sweet potatoes and squash in my house! I made a very tasty dinner tonight, using all organic veggies:
 A simpler starter salad, filled with mixed greens, red bell pepper, and my new favorite dressing.
Followed by:
 A heaping portion of steamed broccoli, and sweet potatoes roasted in coconut oil, garlic, onion powder and Himalayan salt. This was my first time using coconut oil to roast potatoes, but it most certainly won’t be the last! In fact, coconut oil is officially my new cooking oil of choice!
According to Natalia Rose, coconut oil and real butter should be your fats of choice for cooking– they don’t mutate and become carcinogenic like other oils can! Plus, my house smelled amazing while my potatoes were roasting tonight! (But I couldn’t taste the coconut at all!) It’s a win win!
Alright, I’m off to bed! Hope you all feel inspired to watch Food, Inc. and take a better look at where your food is coming from! I know I will be!!
By Megan, on February 24th, 2010
Hey there, bloggy friends! Happy hump day!
I’m exhausted today! I feel like I’ve been half-asleep all day, just going through the motions…
And I blame her:
 Don’t let that innocent face fool you. She woke me up at 2:30 am this morning! I woke up to her sitting on my chest, looking down and me and whimpering! What the heck?! I was afraid she needed to go outside for some reason, but some belly rubs seemed to satisfy her until 6 am, when I woke up to work. I’ve been a bit zombie-ish ever since.
Fortunately, I got a little boost from my morning juice:
Beet greens, Romaine, Kale, 1/2 an apple, a small lemon, and 3 carrots went into this beauty:
 Very tasty! A nice balance of sweet and tangy.
I felt a little snack-ish before lunch, so I had the other half of my Strawberry/Romaine raw soup from yesterday.
Then made a new-to-me salad dressing:
House Vinaigrette
makes 8 servings
1/3 cup + 1 T. olive oil
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
3/4 tsp. pepper
3/4 tsp. sea salt
3/4 tsp. onion powder
3/4 tsp. Dijon-style mustard
1/2 cup + 2 tsp. red wine vinegar
Combine all ingredients, then blend until smooth!
[source]
This is the best vinaigrette I’ve made in a LONG time! It’s for sure my new favorite! The key to making a good salad, is a good dressing, so this made a GOOD SALAD:
It’s all about the dressing folks! I was almost saladed-out there for a while, but this dressing is a game-changer! This salad was a nice mix of sweet and savory: mixed greens, roasted beets, crunchy red bell peppers, and shredded raw goat cheddar. I loved every bite.
I had a couple pieces of raw goat cheddar for “dessert” too:
Best. Cheese. Ever. Hands down. (and way less acidic than cow’s dairy!)
After lunch, I went on a run outside with my friend Heidi, in some cool, about-to-rain weather. I love the rain!! It started to drizzle a bit on my way home, and I almost wanted to keep running! Almost. My feet told me no, so I stopped. I’m working on listening to my body!
I’ve got another “Bad Movie Wednesday” ahead of me tonight– our friend Brad has picked out a Sci Fi “original movie” for tonight! Boy, oh boy, I can’t wait…
Hope you all have a great night!
By Megan, on February 23rd, 2010
Good evening! Hope you’re all having a wonderful night… everyone excited for LOST?
I’m building up some slack on my DVR right now (I hate commercials!) so I thought I’d give you guys a recap of today’s eats. My new Vitamix got a WORKOUT!
First up, was Natalia Rose’s Pumpkin Pie in a Bowl:
 I’ve tried making this before with my OLD blender… and it was unpleasantly chunky. But just 30 seconds in the Vita-Mix, and I had a smooth, velvety, detoxifying soup!
Holy yum. I even have some leftovers for tomorrow!
I also decided to make a Ginger Miso Dressing, to top off my HUGE lunch salad:
 I stuffed an entire bag of mixed greens into this salad, along with 1/2 an avocado, sugar snap peas, chopped zucchini, and micro greens. See how creamy the dressing is? The Vita-Mix completely emulsified the olive oil into my dressing, leaving it thick and creamy! The dressing was pretty simple, but full of flavor:
Ginger Miso Dressing
makes about 1 cup
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons white miso
2 tablespoons fresh minced ginger
1/2 cup olive oil
dash of dulse flakes
liquid stevia, to taste (I used about 10 drops)
dash of pink Himalayan salt
water, as needed to thin
Combine all ingredients, and blend until smooth and creamy!
This dressing came together so fast in the new blender, too! I’m in love!!
My late lunch turned out to be perfect workout fuel– I wasn’t too weighed down to go workout immediately after work! I did 45 minutes of intervals on the elliptical machine, while watching a couple episodes of Friends. I was really glad I was all alone in the gym, because there were a couple times that I burst out laughing! That show never gets old for me.
When dinner rolled around, I just had to come up with another excuse to use my Vita-Mix! I decided I’d make a blended raw soup, to fill my body with some extra enzymes:
 This combo was super-simple: a head of romaine, plus a cup of fresh strawberries! I didn’t even add ANY liquid! I just used the tamper to feed it all towards the blades!
A few seconds later, I had a perfectly smooth, blended soup! I served myself half of it immediately, and decided to save the other half for tomorrow:
 Even the strawberry seeds were pulverized in that thing! It’s amazing!!
The rest of my dinner was also incredibly satisfying:
Broccoli and zucchini, roasted in coconut oil, minced garlic and salt.
Followed by a bowl of steamed sweet potatoes:
Topped with a bit of organic butter and Himalayan salt. YUM. Real butter really is more satisfying than the fake stuff! And now that we know we want to eat LESS acidic food (as discussed in my last post), let’s compare the pH levels of butter to margarine:
Butter: -3.9
Margarine: -7.6
How about that? Not only does butter taste better, but it’s LESS acidic! Pass the butter, please. (in moderation, of course!)
Alright, I’m off to make some herbal tea and watch LOST! Hope you all have a great night!!
By Megan, on February 23rd, 2010
Hi friends! How’s Tuesday for you so far? My day has been WAY better than yesterday…
After watching a rather disappointing Bachelor: The Women Tell All last night, I decided I wanted to start reading a new book. As I was scanning my bookshelf, I came across a book I purchased almost a year ago:
 The pH Miracle. I’ll admit, the first time I opened this book, it was a little over my head. I knew very little about pH in general, let alone what it had to do with our bodies! Over the last year, though, I’ve been gradually learning about how our bodies are the healthiest when our blood pH is slightly alkaline.
Did you know that, despite the many variations of cancer, one thing that ALL cancer patients have in common:
Low pH levels in their blood– meaning that they have an acidic environment in their bodies. [source]
In fact, an acidic body is a breeding ground for all types of bacteria, germs and viruses! Bacteria, germs and viruses can’t live in a highly-oxygenated, alkaline environment! That accounts for why many people may come into contact with the same germs, but some get sick, and some don’t!
This also explains why it’s so important to eat a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables! They build up your body’s alkalinity reserve! According to the authors of The pH Miracle, if you don’t build up your alkalinity, your body will be forced to draw upon your body’s emergency alkaline supply– meaning it will leach calcium from your bones, or magnesium from your muscles! (Can we say, Osteoporosis?!)
Now that I’ve scared you into building up your alkaline reserve…
Here’s a chart, to give you a basic look at foods that are acidic or alkaline: (click to see it larger)
 [source]
Most experts suggest eating 80% alkaline foods, and 20% acid forming foods, if you want to heal your body. Jumping into a 100% alkaline diet can be too hard on your system– the body could be drawing up toxins faster than it can eliminate them! So, be smart and ease into eating more alkaline foods. If you want a good program to ease yourself into a more alkaline-rich diet, I highly recommend The Raw Food Detox Diet.
Okay, enough of the science lesson for the day!
After falling asleep to that book, of course I was going to flood my body with alkalinity this morning! Time for fresh vegetable juice!
 A small-ish head of Romain, beet greens, half an apple, half a lemon, carrots and a piece of fresh ginger all went into my Breville juicer, and turned into a lovely salmon-colored juice:
Holy sweetness! Seriously, I think my no-sweets challenge is starting to really affect my taste buds! This juice was almost too-sweet for me! I think I’m going to have to cut out the apple tomorrow, and see how that goes… I love sweet stuff, but I think I’m liking more “lightly” sweet things now.
For lunch, I have plans to use the new Vita-mix! I can’t wait!!
Be back later with the full report.
By Megan, on February 22nd, 2010
Bonjour mes amis!
My husband is in Paris today, and he’s been sprinkling a bit of the language in his emails to me. When we were in Paris for our honeymoon, I did most of the talking, since I had taken four years of French through high school and college– but now that he doesn’t have me to translate, it sounds like he’s picking it up a bit! Je l’adore! (I love it!)
I did not, however, love the rest of my day– it was a rough one! We have gotten slammed with new opportunities at my job (which is a good thing!), but it means that I have to schedule a last-minute business trip to the office next week. Not only do I have to find a last-minute dog sitter for my pup, but my sister-in-law is going to go into labor any day now, and I’m responsible for watching her cat, too! So I spent most of the day stressing about finding pet sitters, before I could even think about booking a plane ticket.
I’ll also be REALLY bummed if I miss the birth of my new niece!!!
My husband is already going to miss it, but I thought I would at least get to be there and send him pictures! I’m really crossing my fingers that we get to meet the new little baby girl before Sunday! My sister-in-law is convinced she’s going to be in labor soon– she was already having contractions on Saturday! Cross you fingers for me!
I think I got the pet situation figured out this afternoon, thanks to my wonderful friends out here! It’s really hard living in a city where you know very few people– your options are limited! But luckily, we have just enough good friends here that it all worked out. Yasha has never stayed in a kennel before, and it would break my heart to leave her in one. 
I already feel guilty about leaving my pup, so I spoiled her rotten with some baby carrots:
Yasha loves baby carrots! When I break out the bag, she begs like crazy!! She’s very good at eating her veggies.
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Despite my rather stressful day, it did get better when the mailman came by…
Meet my new best friend:
I finally got a Vita-Mix! Wahoo!!!!
I’ve pined for a Vita-mix for years now… but I’ve had a blender that worked “well enough” and I couldn’t rationalize spending the money for a blender when I didn’t need one. However, my situation changed last week, when my old blender started looking like this after using it:
Everything I blended started spewing out of the bottom! My counter wreaked of vinegar after making my dressing last week. Gross. My blender was already on it’s last leg– it’s 5 years old, has already needed replacement parts, and I’ve used the heck out of it! It was good while it lasted, but it’s finally time to move on.
Lucky for me, my mom noticed that the Vita-Mix on our wedding registry at Amazon.com had decreased in price last week! I ended up buying the Vita-Mix 4500, an older model than the one they’re currently selling on the Vita-Mix website, but it still had all the features I wanted:
A 2-peak HP motor
Easy-off lid and removable lid plug, along with a tamper
64 oz. container, made with new State-of-the-Art Eastman Tritan (making it quieter and more chemical-resistant)
5 year warranty
I can’t wait to try it out! Sadly, I’m not really in the mood for a smoothie for dinner, so I guess I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to use it. *sigh* In the meantime, you can check out the Vita-Mix deal I got, if you’re interested.
Anyone else excited for The Bachelor “Women Tell All” tonight? Normally, that show isn’t very exciting to me, but it looks like this one is going to be juicy! They’ve got Rozlyn (the one who got kicked off for having “inappropriate relations” with a producer) coming back tonight, and I bet you anything they’re going to announce that Ali is the next Bachelorette! Can’t wait!
Please, don’t judge me for liking crappy reality TV. It’s one of my guilty pleasures.
Hope you all have a wonderful night!!
By Megan, on February 22nd, 2010
Good Monday morning! I’ve got a busy day ahead of me, but I don’t want to keep you all in suspense about the Kitchen Gadget Giveaway! So, without further ado…
 And the winner is…
Congratulations, Jocelyn! Please email me with your mailing address and which one of the Kitchen Gadgets you would like, and I’ll pass it along to CSN stores!
And thank you to all who entered!
By Megan, on February 22nd, 2010
One of the things I missed most when experimenting with raw foods was ice cream– particularly the soft serve variety! Fortunately, I discovered the wonder that is “banana soft serve.” It’s so rich and creamy, you’ll never miss the traditional stuff again!
My favorite flavor to make is chocolate– it masks the banana flavor, fooling even the pickiest of eaters!
Chocolate Banana Soft Serve
Makes one serving
1 frozen banana
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon pure Grade B maple syrup (or 2-3 drops of liquid stevia)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
splash of almond milk, as needed to facilitate blending
Combine all ingredients in a Vita-mix or mini food processor, and blend until smooth and creamy.
This recipe is great for using those overripe bananas that you don’t know what to do with– simply store them as chunks in the freezer, and you’ll always have frozen bananas on hand that are perfectly sweet and creamy!
By Megan, on February 21st, 2010
Happy Sunday, bloggy friends!
As I mentioned last night, I had a 10-miler planned with my running buddy, Heidi, this morning. I woke up about 30 minutes before we had to run, meaning I didn’t have much time to fuel up! I decided a fresh juice was probably going to be the easiest on my digestive system:
 This juice was a simple combo of one part Romaine, one part carrots:
 Natalia Rose calls this combo “chocolate milk” because it is really creamy and reminiscent of chocolate milk! In fact, it was so sweet and creamy, I almost didn’t like it! Not sure if I’ll be making it again anytime soon, but it was FAST! I actually timed myself this morning, and it took me 3 minutes to make this juice (including washing the veggies!) and another 4 minutes to clean my juicer. Total time: 7 minutes!! Not bad, eh?
I’ve got my juicing routine down pat! I leave my juicer on my counter, so that helps, time-wise. I also use the same towel to dry my veggies, to let the juicer parts air-dry after I wash them:
 I usually just rinse and scrub all the juicer parts immediately after using them (typically while I’m sipping on my juice), so cleaning is a breeze! I do throw the parts in the dishwasher about once a week, though, just to make sure they get extra-clean.
I also took one of these for some extra energy during my run:
 In her book, Making the Cut, Jillian Michael’s recommends taking 5 mg of guarana per pound of body weight prior to exercise. While I’m not the biggest fan of Jillian Michael’s since her new “weight loss supplements” hit the market, I have found guarana to be effective for me. Here’s her argument for using it:
Guarana contains a compound nearly identical to caffeine. Unlike caffeine, which produces an energy surge with a sudden rush and quick drop off, guarana is not readily water-soluble and therefore is not too quickly absorbed. Guarana’s caffeine is released much more slowly, over a period of hours, producing an energy boost that continues to escalate gradually. [source]
I found the supplement I use at Whole Foods, and Kal is a brand I trust, so I feel good about taking it– especially since I only use it once a week before my long runs. Plus, it beats the “crash” that drinking coffee can give me!
For additional running fuel, I packed a couple of dates to bring with me:
 Dates = Perfect running fuel.
I snacked on half a date at the 40-minute mark, and another half at the 60-minute mark. They were a life-saver! I got an instant energy-boost with no digestion side effects!
Unfortunately, lack of energy was not my problem today… my feet were! My right foot, to be specific. I’m not sure what is wrong, but my right foot has been giving me problems lately! My toes start sending shooting pains through my foot, and around mile 7 today, I just had to give them a break. I was only 3 miles short of the 10-mile goal, but I was pretty sure that running for another 30-minutes would probably mean I’d be limping the next few days! In fact, I’m still kinda limping after quitting when I did!
I got home, stretched and iced my foot, and made a lovely recovery smoothie:
 Blender full of spinach, 1 cup almond milk, 1 banana, 1 T. raw almond butter, 1 T. hemp protein powder, dulse flakes, cinnamon and 1 cup blueberries. YUMMY!
I noticed my mouth was blue after drinking that monster! Remember– don’t leave the house without checking your teeth after drinking blueberries!
To make up for my lack of mileage, I decided to take the pup on a 2-mile walk once I felt a little rested. She was thrilled! I love taking her on longer walks– she’s pooped for the rest of the day! That’s a lot of walking for her tiny, little toothpick legs!
 Hopefully, she’ll be this calm for the rest of the day!
I see some relaxing in my future, too… then dinner out with my father-in-law! Too bad my hubby’s not here to hang out with his Pop, but at least his brother, and his wife, live here, too! I’m lucky to have great in-laws, so I think we’ll have fun together tonight. Probably won’t take any pictures of my diner, though, because none of them know about the blog!
Something to do: Enter these awesome giveaways!
Kristen’s Nut Butter giveaway
Raw Juice Girl’s Glass Dharma giveaway
By Megan, on February 21st, 2010
Good evening! Hope you’re all having a great weekend so far! Tonight, I remembered what it sometimes felt like to be a “single lady”– I was the third wheel going to a movie with two of our best friends! Since they are our good friends, it wasn’t that weird for me going to a movie with them, but it did really make me miss my hubby! I didn’t have anyone’s arm to squeeze when I got scared!
And believe me, I was scared a lot tonight! We saw Shutter Island!
 [source]
My husband and I have been waiting a long time for this movie to come out! As you can see on the original poster above, it was scheduled to be released last October! But it was pushed back for a variety of reasons, and came out this weekend instead. Bummer, since now my hubby isn’t here to see it with me. I had heard a good and bad reviews on the internet today, so I went into the movie with pretty low expectations. However, I really enjoyed it! (Besides the fact that I was totally tense during the whole movie!!) It’s one of those movies that you think about after you leave the theater, and I really like movies that do that to me.
That being said, I’m totally wired now, and can’t go to bed until I distract myself with something happier! Perhaps I’ll fall asleep to a Disney movie?
Before leaving for the movie, I had the rest of my lasagna leftovers:
Not very pretty, but it still tasted awesome! I was in a bit of a hurry before the movie, so this was pretty much all I had time for! It was filling, but during the movie I could feel myself wanting a bit more… probably because everyone around me was eating tempting movie-theater snacks! The scent of chocolate was wafting through the air during the whole movie!! Torture!!
Fortunately, I didn’t give into temptation, and came home to a little snack:
These blueberries really hit the spot! It had been over 4 hours since my dinner, so I figured my stomach was “empty” enough to handle a bit of fruit. I’ve got a long run tomorrow morning, so a little extra fuel can’t hurt!
Alright, I’m off to bed! Goodnight!
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