Eat Dance Live

I have to prelude this post with the disclaimer that I am ideally a fan of whole-food based nutrition. Having dedicated myself more seriously to LFRV-ism over the past week, it's obvious that I will always pick the banana over the vegan supplement. That being said, I do also respect and recognize the place that supplements and protein powders hold for some people, especially vegan athletes. I've used them in the past, and when they're organic, natural and plant-based, I think they're great! So last week, the lovely people at Sequel Naturals sent me a couple packs of their Vega Sport to try out. (They ship both in the US and Canada!) As you may know, Vega was designed by plant-fueled triathlete, Brendan Brazier, and if there's a guy who knows vegan fitness nutrition it's him. He's got pre-workout, during-workout, and post-workout nutrition down to a science. As a triathlete, he's worked really hard to find optimally-absorbable vegan supplements and p...

For starters, avid running followers might have noticed that I've taken out the Daily Mile widget from my blog because it was depressing me. I committed to increasing my mileage and running at least three times a week a couple weeks ago, only to find that I've developed some serious knee pain that has forced me to lay off the treadmill for who knows how long. It's often surprisingly been frustrating to the point of tears, but c'est la vie. I realize I'd rather take it easy on my knee that not be able to walk in my old age, so I guess I'll take it for now and I can get back to focusing on swimming! For now, my short lived running career is already on pause. Anyway, I thought I'd follow up my last post about protein powders with a couple recipe example. While I have a couple recipes under my belt, I asked Andrew to jot down the second recipe he's been using a lot recently because it tastes fantastic. I know I already covered workout recovery foods here ,...

Over the years, I've learned lots about how both to fuel and recover from a good workout. From my post-workout rest and nutrition tips , to some recovery smoothie ideas , to the much perfected rebound ball recipe I wrote back in the early days, this household has workout recovery in the bag. Obviously, the two most important things to do after a workout are rest and proper nutrition. Though we don't do it often, I find that early morning workouts require a different kind of muscle rebuilding strategy, especially if your planning a serious weights workout. While I don't usually do this and stick with morning cardio, Andrew is a big fan. Having said that, neither of us recommend you do weights on an empty stomach. Eat anything before you hit the gym, whether it's a couple of dates, a banana, or anything to get your blood sugars running. For after? I've expanded the infamous vegan overnight oat recipe to post-weights workout perfection. Why oats over the usual...

I'm always in the market for post-workout recovery foods and drinks. I can't say I really feel like I need them too often myself, but Andrew's weight lifting routine really requires that he gets all the building blocks to recovery when he's done. Pre-raw, he swore by Nature's Path Optimum Banana Almond Cereal , previously called Rebound Cereal. It contains a lot what you need after a good workout: whole grains (for slow energy release and recovery), almonds and flax (for protein, healthy fats, to repair muscle), cinnamon, molasses, and bananas (all three of those rebalance electrolytes, and the fruit restores glycogen levels), and matcha green tea (check out an earlier post about its amazing benefits). It was so effective that I adapted the cereal to a mostly-raw recipe a little while ago, and more recently created a 100% raw one which I have yet to measure and post. To make a good recovery snack, consider the following: 1) Pre-hydrate! Hydrate! And rehydrate! W...

What bounces back after a workout? My new raw recipe of course! Here is my attempt at recreating the health benefits of Nature's Path Rebound Cereal for a quick post-workout snack. I took the cereal box and imitate as much of its ingredients as possible with their raw counterparts, and I got something I'm pretty satisfied with! If a raw counterfeit ever existed to that cereal, I think I just made it: Rebound Balls 3/4 C sprouted then dehydrated buckwheat groats (grind 1/2 of this amount) or ground oat/wheat flakes 1.5 tbsps flax seeds 1 tsp ground flax 1/2 C ground soaked almonds pinch of sea salt cinnamon (to taste) 1 tsp matcha green tea powder 2 tbsps wheat germ 1/4 C sunflower seeds, soaked 1/4 C raisins 1.5 large ripe bananas, well mashed 1 tbsp honey 1 tsp molasses 1. Blend/Mash bananas 2. Add all dry ingredients 3. Add all other wheat ingredients 4. Mix, if it's too dry, add tiny bit of water until you can form them into b...