Working Out During Vacations

There should be no excuse at all to fit in cardio when you are on the road!

It's hard to keep up with your daily workout routine when you're out of town for the holidays, but you want to have some way of keeping that holiday weight down. What do you do when you're in a particularly tough environment that doesn't really allow for much outdoor activity?

I was just in Telluride, Colorado for the holidays, where my daily run/hike was not possible because of the ice and snow on the streets. What did I do to keep up with my cardio? I jumped rope. It's easy enough to carry on your luggage - just pack the light weight and lets not forget inexpensive rope.

But I'll be the first to admit it, it's not as easy at it looks. I can easily run seven miles, but, wow, was I sweating after only thirty minutes of jumping rope. Even if this sounds too intimidating, break it up in 10 minute intervals mixed in with planks/side planks/bicycle crunches.

What are the benefits to jumping rope?

• Rocks your heart rate on par with running, but without the joint-jarring impact.
• Works on your agility, posture, balance, reflexes and coordination
• Tones your calves, delts and arms and abs.
  

Kelp Noodles: Indulge Without Pasta Guilt

Are you a pasta lover like me? (Isn't everyone?).

But if you're also like me, you don't like feeling full and heavy after a nice big plate of Grandma's special spaghetti.

When you feel like having pasta but not the carbs or that heavyness, substitute pasta for Kelp Noodles. You can serve them hot or cold, but I actually prefer to warm them up and prepare a nice yummy all natural tomato sauce. You can also drizzle a little bit of olive oil and salt & pepper to taste. Top that off with a little bit of feta cheese, and you have a pasta ever your Italian Grandmother would love.

Best of all, they are only six calories per serving! So you can indulge without guilt.

Magic Chia Seeds

Ever heard of Chia seeds? Of course, you have. Especially if you have heard about chia pets. But did you know that Chia seeds are so useful and packed with high energy that the Aztec warriors used it during their battles? Only if you eat them, of course, not grow them as decorative sheep.

It's especially useful if you run, and actually is able to keep you hydrated. The way you take these is with a glass of water. Extra water if you're running.

These little magical gems are packed with fiber, packed with antioxidants, proteins, vitamins
and minerals, and omega-3. They're also way easier to digest than flaxseed.

Nature's Electrolyte Guru: Vita Coco

Vita Coco is my new favorite obsession when I need a refreshing alternative to plain old water. It has a hint of flavor, but best of all it contains electrolytes, is fat and cholesterol free, and it's completely natural (no preservatives or extra ingredients that you can't even sound out).

I am mostly into the natural flavor, but they now offer acai, tangerine and pineapple...now tell me if that doesn't sound super yummy and exotic.

It's especially helpful once you've gotten a great workout over at my Pilates Plus HBV and you need to feel energized and quench that crazy thirst you get after losing so much H20.

Love it!

Raw Foods Live! Banana Flax Bar

Raw foods is a particular favorite in some circles, and has been getting a lot of attention because of its great, healing qualities and benefits over cooked foods.

Raw food is said to contain enzymes that cooked food does not - and any food that was cooked over 116 degrees looses these enzymes, which actually aids in digestion. And from personal experience, when you eat raw foods you really do feel that it's easier to eat.

Where can you try out raw foods? You can start with places like Euphoria Loves Rawvolution, or Juliano's Raw in Santa Monica.

But if you want to start small, try Goraw, where you can find real live food snacks and is "the easiest way to incorporate living foods into anyone's diet". My favorite is the banana bread flaxseed bar.

Get Your Water Right!

You might be surprised to learn what's floating around in your water - and I'm not talking tap either.

A great alternative is pH water, which is alkaline water - said to remove acids from the body by neutralizing them.

My favorite is the Delphi alkaline system. It is costly up front but when you add up all of that cost of bottled water it is well worth it.

Or, if you would rather buy alkaline water by the bottle-full, Real Alkalized Water is the best way to go. It is energizing and tastes great.

Luvalla: Oganic, Healing Skin Toners

Many of you know me - and as you know I am all about the least amount of steps to get the job done.

This also applies especially to the end of a long day, when I want to get ready for bed but I do not want to do the six steps necessary to fully clean your face after the end of a busy day on the job and around town.

Enter Luvella into the equation, an organic, natural toner that is super gentle on your skin. This product is alcohol-free so it does not dry your face and is therefore great for make-up removal and basic cleansing needs. The toners also PH balance the skin to a 4.5 acidity, which is why the skin looks even and soft all around.

I often just tone my face when I'm too tired to go through the whole face cleaning and make-up removing routine at night. At least that way I know I'm going to bed with clean, PH balanced skin in just one step.

Luvella is especialy helpful and healing for those who have skin that is too sensitive for regular toners.

Bethenny Frankel's Mock-a-mole!

Guacamole is one of my own personal favorite dishes, but the problem is when too much dairy or cream (or mayo even) is added to the mixture. Also, too many avocados might be a little too harsh on the tummy - not to mention calorie heavy.

Skinny guru Bethenny Frankel has the solution - in her NY Times Best Seller book, The Skinnygirl Dish, she includes a low fat mock-a-mole, which, as she explains, has more fiber and less fat than its "regular" cousin.

Try it out and tell me what you think on your blog or in the comments below!




* 1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and mashed

* 1 cup cooked green peas

* 1/4 cup chopped fresh tomato

* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro plus more for garnish

* 1 tablespoon chopped red onion

* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

* 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

* 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

* 1 teaspoon garlic salt

* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

* 3/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

* Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with tortilla chips, whole grain crackers, and raw vegetables.

Use any of these variations, or mix and match them according to your tastes

* Variation 1: Instead of cooked peas, try an additional avocado.
* Variation 2: Instead of tomato, try chopped pear, grape, or cherry tomatoes.
* Variation 3: Instead of cilantro, try doubling the amount of parsley.
* Variation 4: Instead of red onion, try: Any other onion -- scallions, white parts and some of green -- chives.
* Variation 5: Instead of fresh parsley, try adding 1 extra tablespoon fresh cilantro.
* Variation 6: Instead of fresh lime juice, try other citrus juice.
* Variation 7: Instead of Worcestershire sauce, try soy sauce (including tamari or shoyu).
* Variation 8: Instead of garlic salt, try: 1 clove garlic, minced, plus ¾ teaspoon regular or seasoned salt.
* Variation 9: Instead of Tabasco sauce, try: any other hot sauce -- 1 dash cayenne pepper -- 1 pinch red pepper flakes



*Photos from Bethenny.com.

Vitamineral Green: Heather's Favorite Multivitamin

You just know that you're screwing up by not taking your vitamins because you drew a blank when your MD asked you "so what multivitamin are you taking?". But with so many selections to choose from - so many brands and different types - it's really hard to know whether you are choosing the right one.

Enter Vitamineral Green, which I swear by. It increases my energy and my mental state, and makes me feel refreshed and awake. I still try to get as many serving of veggies as possible, but it's especially great to know you are getting your veg nutrients on days that you might not be getting enough - because you are rushed for time or simply can't stand to look at another arugula.

You can buy Vitamineral Green at Amazon or at the HealthForce shop.

Ever some of our best friends use this stuff!

Pilates Plus HBV Does First Fridays, Joins Meals on Wheels West

Pilates Plus HBV had a fun, wonderful weekend the first month of November. We were able to throw a fun little event to support Meals on Wheels West and their Team Meals during Abbot Kinney's First Fridays, which included wine, appetizers, and a donation-based class.

Meals on Wheels West will participate in the 2011 LA Marathon. It's a great group - join them as a volunteer, join their running team, or support by donating funds. Visit their website at http://www.mealsonwheelswest.org/



Our Meetup group also kicked off with its first running meet. We met everyone over at the Brentwood Pilates Plus HBV, we checked out the studio, and then Heather took us on a running tour of Brentwood and the nearby neighborhood. Head over to Meetup.com and join us on our monthly meetups.

Get Fit With Tracy Conner At Pilates Plus HBV

During exercise our bodies primarily use carbohydrates and fat to fuel our workouts. So what is a great pre-workout snack?

Yogurt and ½ a cup of berries

Toast with nut butter and honey

Healthy eating habits and exercise are essential to a healthy life. Optimal nutrition contributes to a great workout and exercising contributes to a person’s ability to use and store nutrition optimally. Proper nutrition and exercise have many benefits such as increased self confidence, easier weight control, more energy, less stress, enhanced immunity, and more.

Who doesn’t want all of that?

But poor eating habits can contribute to poor fitness, low energy, and development of such diseases as heart disease, diabetes, obesity and some types of cancer. We need to be aware of what we are consuming and the effects it has on our bodies.

So how can I eat healthier? Well we have a special event going on this weekend! We will be having a lecture on the importance of balanced nutrition from Tracy Conner. Tracy has been a nutrition coach and fitness instructor for 10 years now working with a wide variety of people and lifestyles.

Tracy will speak with us this weekend about why a balanced nutritional lifestyle is so important, diet myths, great pre and post workout snacks and more. Plus a great special we will be running. The times to come are:

Sat. 2 pm Hollywood location

Sun. 12:30 Brentwood location

Sun. 2:30 Venice location

See you then!

Map Your Own Run at Mapmyrun.com!

I travel a lot - at times I may only be home just a few days out of the month. But regardless of how rarely I am home, it is always super important for me to keep up on my cardio.

Whether I am in Hawaii, Texas, Barcelona, or even here in LA, I turn to a very useful tool to assist in my daily jogs: mapmyrun.com.

On this site, you enter your home address and a personalized running or jogging route is created for you. The info you get includes a map and info entered by other users that might be on the same route.

I know I can always rely on this site, whether I am in the mood - or have time for - a 2 mile run or a 6 mile run. I map it out, put on my shoes, crank up my iPod, and head out the door for a run. What I love about this service is that I can enjoy the run without trying to calculate how far I have gone and without worrying about time - I get to just focus on my running and fitness.

What online tools do you use for your own jogging and running adventures?

Get Your Own BluePrint!

Are you feeling like you want to cleanse your system for a few days but the thought of only drinking juices scare you? I felt exactly the the same. There's just something about being able to chew and enjoy your food that obviously turns most people away from the idea. But I tried it out to see how it would make me feel - and if it does what it promises. Boy was I pleasantly surprised.

I have never done a cleanse, but was feeling brave last week and wanted to try what everybody has been talking about. I went out and signed up for the Juice Till Dinner cleanse by those amazing folks at BluePrint Cleanse - and let me tell you, I am hooked

I did the cleanse for three days. The four juices, raw meal and two raw snacks are sent to your doorstep through FedEx, so it arrives really quickly.

From the website:

JTD is a hybrid between a juice cleanse and a raw food diet that delivers delicious raw food meals and fresh-pressed juices. A daily supply consists of four BPC juices, a delicious two course vegetarian meal, and two tasty snacks. It's 100% vegan, gluten free, wheat free and about 95% raw.

The Juices:
Juice one, two, three and four were all delicious. They have perfected their recipes to the point where I was looking forward to the juices the next day.

After you finish all four you get to enjoy a raw meal. Mine this time was carrot soup, raw kale salad a raw nut/fruit bar and a little raw dessert. AMAZING and DELICIOUS...and after three days my stomach felt completely flat, but I was not starving and felt energized and satisfied.

Mind you, this was the first cleanse that I have ever done, so I was a totally newbie - but I was able to do for three whole days! And if your preferences differ, they do have a lot of options for juice cleanses, including complete daily juice cleanses that last for days on end.

Try it! You will fee great on the BluePrint Cleanse.

Heather Dorak At Cure in the Canyons

Heather Dorak attended Cure in the Canyons on October 3, 2010, to support and honor breast cancer survivors, in a beautiful private estate in Beverly Hills, CA. To find out more about this great organization and event, visit Cure in the Canyons and the upcoming Run 4 her Life.

Lunch In Morocco!

My first two days in Morocco have been totally amazing. The wonderful food out here makes it easy to keep healthy and fit while having fun. It’s tough to eat right while on vacation, but if you try and stick to it, you’ll be fine.

Yesterday I started out with fresh fruit at the airport, because the only other option was pastry and McDonalds. When traveling you should always rely on fruit – it’s all natural and all healthy. Lunch consisted of Gaspacho soup and a Caprese Salad. It was delicious! Dinner turned Italian – a mixed green salad, which didn’t even need dressing because the lettuce and tomatos were locally grown and thus juicy and full of flavor. If you ever do need dressing, always ask for it on the side! Also, the next best thing is to use balsamic vinegar, with fresh lemon and a tiny teeny bit of olive oil.

I also asked for a nice piece of grilled fish – but I asked for light oil, and they infused it with salt-pepper and garlic. On the side, I got steamed broccoli, grilled eggplant with diced tomatos and one small peeled and boiled potato. The key is portion control!

Another great tip while traveling? Stay away from bread! To make it easier, instead of reaching into the bread basket, chow down on olives and nuts.

Check back this week for more tips and trips to having a great vacation while still watching what you put on your plate!

Traveling The Healthy Way With Backroads.com

I'm heading out on a two week trek, and I am traveling with the ultimate companion - Backroads Travel Company.

Backroads is a type of agency that coordinates your trip and basically makes it more efficient. They find the best of the best trails and paths, and they assist you in finding your favorite spots and restaurants. I don't have to worry about carrying books or googling till' I'm blue in the face.

Backroads does the research for you and provides everything that you need along the way.

What ends up happening is you have more time to meet amazing people from all around the world - folks who are just as adventurous as you and who also love to work out.

They make your trip the most amazing experience, always finishing your days in gorgeous hotels and the best restaurants.

I am heading to Morocco with Backroads next week and I will be blogging along the way about how to eat and work out in different countries, and remain healthy - even when you don't know how the language. I hope you join me on my trip!

Carrington Farms Organic Milled Flax Seed: It's Good For You!

I know that flax seed probably ranks up there with prunes for you, but I can’t stress enough how important it is to have fiber in your diet, particularly if you want to stay healthy and have a great digestive system.

One way to get all of your fiber is using Carrington Farms Organic Milled Flax Seed, which is basically a powdery, seed-like mixture that you can add to your food – by sprinkling it to your salad, spreading it to peanut butter rice cakes, adding to your yogurt or smoothies…or making Flax Seed brownies!

What’s so great about flax seed? It keeps your stomach clean, contains omega-3 fatty acids and helps you feel full. I love this product because it comes in convenient packets that you can also take with you on the go – while traveling or at your job.

But don’t forget to drink plenty of water!

You can buy this from their website, but you can also find it at several locations nationwide. Try their store locator to find a good place.

Bloom Cafe: Picolicious!

Sometimes you're in the mood for good, earthy cuisine that will be good to your tummy but that will fill you up too. If you're in LA, you are going to want to visit Bloom Cafe, located in Pico. Bloom really serves the epitome of fresh, clean and filling food.

Bloom seems to have the market cornered for simple, hearty, healthy food. I normally go for the salmon quinoa bowl and my dude companions get a good burger or fish tacos - all the protein they can handle.

They have amazing juice blends too, and it's all fresh squeezed - like the Sweet & Spicy, made up of spinach, celery, apple juice and limes or the mmmmm good Crushed Mint Lemonade that makes you feel like you're tasting a little bit of heaven on a scorching Sunday afternoon in LA.

Their smoothies are to die for! With drinks with such names as Java Jolt, Bloom Blizzard and Forever Young, how can you go wrong?

I never go wrong when visiting this place. Check them out!

Bloom Cafe
5544 Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90019

*photo courtesy of LAT

Apple Cider Vinegar: The ACTUAL Best Stuff On Earth!

What do you do when you want a refreshing treat with a kick and you don't want a junky, preservative-loaded soda or a snapple? When I can't bear to drink another glass of boring water, I pick up a bottle of Dr. Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar Drink and it cools my senses and calms my tummy.

But I bet I know what you're thinking: vinegar?! yuck! But it's actually delicious and there are so many benefits to apple cider AND vinegar - for one it's a cleanser and a cleaning agent for your system, but it's also great for weight control and soothing a sore throat. Mark my words, pretty soon you'll get addicted to this stuff. My favorite is the Apple-Cinnamon flavored one.

So pick up a bottle...or two at your local health food shop or online. You'll thank me for it.

Meet Richard Simmons!

Richard Simmons is the ultimate fitness guru - maybe even the guy that sparked the fitness craze in the US. He's incredibly motivating, witty, talented, and his happy vibes absolutely fill up an entire room. And guess what? You can meet him and work out with him in person!

That's right - I was shocked too! I was blown away when I found his studio, Slimmons, over in Beverly Hills. I take the sweat class, which is a cardio class for any level of fitness. When he's in town, Richard teaches Tuesday evening at 6:30pm, Thursday evening at 6:30pm and Saturday morning at 11:15am.

I'm totally in love with the class! You really leave there feeling like you are on cloud nine - and nothing better to help you on a crappy week than heading over to take a class with Mr sunny himself!

Slimmons
9306 Civic Center Drive
Beverly Hills, California 90210