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...

Before I get into the whole tempeh biznazz, if you haven't tried Laury's Vegan Pistachio Almond Ice Cream , stop reading this blog post and go make it, stat: And while I'm not getting to the topic of the day just yet, have you entered my giveaway yet? You've only got a couple more days! Anyhoo, in my constant endeavour to find new ways of preparing vegan protein for my weight-lifting spouse, tempeh is something that comes up every once in a while. Even as a raw foodist, I've already discussed why tempeh is still okay in my books and you'll find quite a few tempeh recipes in my Recipe section... but what to do this time? Since Andrew isn't a huge tempeh fan and he's the one whose going to eat the thing, I found a sneaky tempeh "tuna salad" recipe (cleverly called "Tempuna") in my trusty Green Door cookbook . Since only happy and delicious vegan things come from the Green Door , I knew this would do the trick, and it ...

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 ,...

I've been meaning to post about protein powders for months now, but never found the opportunity to do so. Conveniently, a recent post over on Kristen's blog has provided me with the perfect opportunity to give that topic a go. I have to start this post with two disclaimers: 1) I know that I have probably mentioned that protein has become a little overrated in our culture today, and I still stand by that statement. I probably only get about 10% of my daily calorie intake from protein and that seems to be suiting me just fine (even daily recommendations made by the UN and such usually place the minimum at about 5%). Our society thinks we need way more protein than we do, and I think that's allowed our economies to fuel the meat and dairy industries beyond comprehension. Industrial agriculture aside, to me, the thing that people don't see when it comes to eating "high protein" meals is that those generally boost your unhealthy fat intake as much as anything els...

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 'd like to introduce you to a new addition to my blog, my often-mentioned other half: Andrew. For the forseeable future, I shall be dubbing this day of the week Man Wednesdays, as he'll be posting on well... whatever he wants! Just to give you a bit of background, Andrew was vegan long before I was. He got off the diet when he met me (oops...) then got back onto a vegetarian one with me about a year into our relationship. When I went vegan (ironic, I know), he joined me again. When I went raw last June, he joined me down this new and amazing road as well within a couple months. As far as I'm concerned and considering other people's definitions, he now fits most people's definition of high raw, that and he's one sexy piece of man. I now give you, Andrew: "Where do you get your protein?" Like most people on any alternative diet, this is the question I'm asked most often. Doubly so since I train most every day. It's a mind-virus that is progra...

Because my partner sticks to a pretty high protein diet because of his workouts, I’m always looking for new ways to make high protein meals varied and interesting. Pre-vegan days, that was simple, but it’s a little more challenging now. It also happens that I used to be sushi obsessed (well, I still am, but it was mostly for the raw sea animals before) and that I promised a quinoa recipe today, so I concocted a way of making high protein sushi! Okay… I didn’t do much, sushi IS high protein. But once you cut out the rice, its even higher, and hey, I get credit for figuring that out. Yep, despite my Chinese heritage, I have come to find that rice is pretty overrated (blasphemy I know, just don’t tell my family…)! Plus it always makes me feel bloated afterwards, so to make sushi why not use quinoa? Aside from quinoa already being a complete protein, I always use veggies and some other form of protein to feel like I’m having a balanced and complete meal… I’ve done everything from ...

With the end of classes coming around and procrastination from papers increasing with the end of the semester, I'm hoping to be posting more frequently from now on (along the lines of twice a week). It seems like people are looking for all sorts of substitutes recently (myself included!) whether it is to make something vegan, gluten-free, low-fat, low-sugar, low calorie, the list goes on… this is why this week’s ode is to quinoa. Quinoa: it’s something of a grain, but it’s gluten free and you can use it for ANYTHING! It can substitute rice, couscous, breakfast oatmeal, you can find quinoa flour, you name it! Like I mentioned in one of my last posts, I always find it fascinating (but mostly scary) how far removed we have become from our food. When we consider that traditional South American diets understood the need for complete proteins, or that traditional Chinese cooking emphasizes the consumption of ‘internal body cleansers’ or 'energy balancers' like ginger...