Guilt-and-Gluten-Free Crackers

I know I often wax poetic about gluten-free food, but that's only because of how great and healthy these types of snacks are. With so many folks out there now getting tested and realizing they are sensitive to gluten in food, it's more important than ever before to find foods that treat your tummy well.

The crackers over at gluten-free-crackers.com are nutritious and delicious. These guys use sprouted sunflower seeds (which are gluten-free naturally), their ingredients are all organic, raw, vegan and they dehydrate as opposed to baking.

Crackers come in all flavors, including sunny garden herb, pesto pumpkin seed, and even one ready made for making gluten-free pizza.

You can order these over on their website, but keep in mind they only ship to the U.S.

The Green Tornado!

Summer is finally here! Of course, summertime brings bbq's, summer outings and fun picnics...and pool side cocktails!

One cool trick I have learned lately is to add lots of greens to your cocktails so that you are at least still getting some benefit from your drinks. How do you pull this off? Introducing the Green Tornado!

Try this next time you're out and about under the summer sun.
SERVES 1

1/2 stem tarragon

5 oz. green juice (2 leaves parsley, 2 leaves boston lettuce, 6 leaves spinach, 1 spring mint, 4 leaves basil, 3 oz water)

2 tbsp. agave nectar

Spike it with 1oz or 2oz of vodka.

And pick a vegetable to garnish - I usually use celery

Instructions:

1. In a cocktail shaker, muddle tarragon.

2. Add green juice, lemon juice, agave and shake with ice.

3. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice.

Pilates Platinum Loves Rawvolution

Our newest studio is now located in Santa Monica, on Arizona and 2nd street, but we have been in Venice (on Abbot Kinney) for a while now. We get to sample and taste the restaurants in the Venice/Santa Monica area often, and one of our long time favorite places to eat a good lunch is Euphoria Loves Rawvolution on Main Street.

This very popular cafe serves up the best raw dishes, food that is so delicious and filling that you may forget you are eating food that's totally raw (nothing cooked to over 40 C).

Our favorite Rawvolution meals have to be the zucchini pasta with alfredo (made with zucchini and cashew nut sauce) and their Big Matt with Cheese.
The sides are always popular too, especially their mock tuna, which has to be the best vegan raw dish we have ever tasted.

They have a very popular food service (they call it "The Box"), which we do occasionally, where you can purchase a week's worth of raw food for about $120. It's a great deal, and amazing for those weeks where you just want to detox your tummy and your mind from gunky foods.

Check them out and tell them Pilates Platinum sent you!

2301 Main Street
Santa Monica CA 90405
(at the corner of Strand Street)

*photo from welikeitraw.com

Oral-B Glide Pro

This might seem like a random post, but I love these Oral-B Glide Pro-health Scope Floss Picks! You know why? They're easy to carry and easy to use. They don't break easily and they have special flavoring that makes your mouth minty fresh.

Haven't you ever in a moment's notice needed a quick mouth refreshment, but you didn't have your toothbrush around? These are perfect to carry around in your purse and use when you are in a mouth-wash emergency!

Just pick up a bag and throw it in your car or your favorite purse and you're good to go!

Pilates Platinum Running Meetup

Join Heather Dorak for our first Pilates Platinum run/jog meetup in the very awesome and new Santa Monica studio!

Runners don't have to be signed up for the studio - in fact we encourage new faces to attend and snag one free pilates class at any Pilates Platinum location of your choice.

Beginners, intermediates, and advanced runners welcome - we will be all running/jogging/walking at different paces.

Please meet at 9am tomorrow (Saturday) morning at the Pilates Platinum Santa Monica studio, at the address below.

Tofu: My New Best Friend

I am not usually a fan of tofu - it's squishy, white an weird and it tastes funny.

Or at least I thought I couldn't stomach it. Thanks to my gluten-free friend Alex, I now have a favorite tofu recipe that's quick, healthy and super easy.

The gluten-free dish introduced me to a new food: Kañiwa, which is a type of grain not unlike yummy quinoa in that it's loaded with protein.

Here's part of the recipe - get the rest of this yummy meal over at Alex's blog!

ROASTED VEG:

1 cup butternut squash; diced

1 cup carrots; diced

1 cup parsnips; diced

1 green apple; diced.

2 TBSP Olive Oil

2 TBSP balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

3 sprigs of fresh thyme

Pre heat oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and spread on to a sheet pan. Place in oven and roast until veggies are tender and golden.

*photo taken from http://www.dishn-out.com/

SkinCeuticals: Simple Skin Care

Everyone has their own private skin care routine, all at different levels of complexity. I have always been someone who likes simplicity in routines, so lucky for me I found the perfect skin care line.

Skinceuticals has a line that provides all levels of cleansing your skin, in addition to providing protection from UV rays.

My favorite products are their Simply Clean, Equilizing Toner, Phloretin CF, and their Hydrating B5 gel.

This hydrating b5 is especially yummy because it's actually a mask that you apply at night before you go to sleep - just once a week. This gel is supposed to replenish and rejuvenate your skin by hydrating it with minerals.

All of these products come in bottles with droppers, so you never overuse or underuse the products - just 3 drops and you're good good to go.

Simple! no fuss no muss.

Long Nails - The Easy Way

My sister has never had long nails and neither have I - only because we have always found it so difficult to keep a manicure tidy for longer than a few days.

Then, lo and behold when I was at her place the other day, I noticed she had long, beautiful perfectly polished nails, and the color lasted for weeks.

What's her secret? Say Hello to Shellac, by CND! This is an amazing hybrid nail polish product that keeps your nails perfect for around 14 days. No chips, no breaks - nothing. Her nails were perfect for the entire time I was visiting her. She also noticed that dry time was next to nothing.

The CND folks are so confident in their product that they even include a guarantee that your polish will remain for 14 days straight.

I might just try having long nails for 14 days myself!

Peter Thomas Roth's SPF Stick!

I've gotten so sunburned lately, jogging along the beach or just doing my errands near the Santa Monica or Venice studios. Sometimes my nose turns a bright pink hue by the end of my day - and this is probably because it's so annoying having to carry around a gooey bottle of sunblock everywhere I go. So I just forget to do it or I mentally block it out.

Thank god for Peter Thomas Roth's Instant Mineral SPF 30. It comes in tube form, so it's easy, clean and great to carry around in your purse.

It's such a great product, that Cosmo magazine placed it in their "Top Beauty 100" list.

Better yet it's animal cruelty free!

Get these and other awesome Peter Thomas Roth products, right here.