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Health, Healthy on the cheap

Yalla Mediterranean

February 1, 2015

Last weekend I was invited to try out a new Mediterranean restaurant called Yalla Mediterranea. I was supposed to go with my friend Lauren (from LaurenLivesHealthy.com) but unfortunately she was ill and could not make it 🙁 Despite the fact that I would be trying it out alone, I could not turn down an offer to try out a new restaurant (especially with Mediterranean type food, mmm). Let me just preface this whole post right now by saying that it was SO worth it.

review of Yalla Mediterranean

Yalla Mediterranean describes itself as a fast-casual restaurant that offers fresh, healthy and flavorful Mediterranean fare. Walking into Yalla Mediterranean is like walking into someone’s garden … quite literally as there are small lemon trees in the center of the restaurant and a herb garden on the wall! I loved the atmosphere; you could tell this was a place that served wholesome and healthy food that cared about using quality ingredients. The menu is set up so that you first select a type of meal (pita wrap, salad or ‘Yalla’ plate), then a protein (which is grilled right in front of you) and finally (but not least) three delicious sides.

review of Yalla Mediterranean

review of Yalla Mediterranean

review of Yalla Mediterranean

What Did I Eat?

Look at how cool that grill is! Basically, the meat is placed upon the grill and it cooks as it rotates down the grill. It takes all of 2-5 minutes. I was so impressed that Yalla offered wild Alaskan salmon as a protein choice, and for under $10. This place is so affordable and seriously so delicious. I chose the Yalla plate (which consists of you choosing rice with either lentils or grilled vegetables) with kefta (a lamb and beef meatball) with arugala and beet salad, Greek potato salad and Greek eggplant salad.

Honestly Fitness Verdict?

 What did I think? DELICIOUS. I have never had a beet salad before which tasted this good, and the kefta was grilled to perfection. Everything was so fresh and flavorful!

review of Yalla Mediterranean

review of Yalla Mediterranean

 Can’t Forget About Dessert!

And guess what I had for dessert? I had Greek frozen yogurt with honey and baklava AND a chocolate pita cookie!!! My God, my tastebuds were in heaven. The cookie was gluten-free as it was made out of almond flour and had a great chewy texture to it. The frozen yogurt was out of this world; truly a genius combination of foods.

Come to San Francisco Already!

Right now, they only have a location in Pleasant Hill but will be opening up new stores around the Bay. I have been told that a Yalla location will be opening up in Daly City (right next to ME) in April or May. I cannot wait and will be there all the time … like no joke. It is healthy AND affordable. Just typical that I will be moving out to Salt Lake City in June. I hope Yalla open up a location there soon!!

I hope this post gives you a nudge into trying out Yalla Mediterranean. And if you do, let me know what you think! The cool thing about Yalla is that they are open to new ideas and are forward thinking (they have a 1 bin policy and have made it so that everything in the store is compostable).

Honestly yours,
Alice

Thank you for always supporting me! For more Honestly Fitness, check out my Instagram, Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest.

Health

6 Questions To Ask Your Doctor/Pharmacist

January 28, 2015
6 Questions To Ask Your Doctor/Pharmacist

This week is National Drug Facts Week (January 26th-February 1st) and the American Recall Center (a website that provides drug and medical device recall information) helped inspire me to ‘shatter the myths about pharmaceuticals’. As you all know, this perfectly fits my mission of ‘helping to reveal the facts’.

Let me preface this with saying that I am in no way against pharmaceuticals, when used properly and in the right dosage. However, the danger comes when pharmaceuticals are used incorrectly, and a major cause of this is because many people are not given the correct facts or have not discussed their medication with their doctor or pharmacist.

Why Communication is Vital

I took a fascinating class last summer (as per the requirements to get my master’s degree) called Health Communication. It really opened my eyes to the importance of communication between a patient and their caregiver. You would be surprised at the amount of people who do not speak up or ask questions despite being confused or not understanding what their doctor has said. Furthermore, many patients may choose not to ask questions or feel like they have a choice regarding the treatment that has been prescribed to them. This is in spite of the fact that doctors cannot treat patients without their consent nor are patients required to follow their advice if they feel at all uneasy or worried.

Take the example of the drug Xarelto, which is a blood thinner that can have some severe side effects. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has actually challenged Johnson & Johnson over their claims and advertising of Xarelto as they found that they did not provide sufficient warning to consumers regarding the drug’s side effects.

Don’t Be Scared to ASK

This is such a relevant point. Your doctor, pharmacist and any health professional are there to help you and you should never feel scared or nervous to ask them to clarify or explain anything you do not understand, or want more information about. You could do a lot of harm to yourself from failing to ask questions or to make your voice heard. Just take a look at these interesting statistics.

6 Questions To Ask Your Doctor/Pharmacist

6 Questions To Ask Your Doctor/Pharmacist

Some pretty crazy statistics, huh?

6 Questions To Ask Your Doctor/Pharmacist

Education is paramount to keeping yourself safe and to reaping the benefits from your visit to your doctor or pharmacist. Educate yourself on what drugs and medical devices have been recalled, and make sure to always ask your doctor or pharmacist anything you are unclear on. Here are 6 questions to ask your doctor/pharmacist:

  • How will this product help me and relieve my symptoms?
  • Are there any adverse side effects of this product that could affect me?
  • When was this product released?
  • Has this product received a positive reception or have you heard anything negative regarding it?
  • How many (pills, capsules, etc) do I take, and how many time a day do I take this product?
  • What do I do if I forget to take the recommended dosage?

I highly recommend checking out the American Recall Center’s website (www.recallcenter.com) as they have so much useful information regarding pharmaceuticals (not sponsored, I just admire their values and mission).

Honestly yours,
Alice

Thank you for always supporting me! For more Honestly Fitness, check out my Instagram, Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest.

Featured image from http://www.centerforprevention.org

Health

How To Get Into A Healthy Eating Routine

January 23, 2015

Recently, I was asked about how to get into a regular healthy eating routine. It was such a simple question yet it threw me off guard because I realized that I wasn’t really sure how to answer it! I am so glad I was asked it as this is a perfect topic for a blog post and I am sure it may help you out, as a beginner in your healthy and active lifestyle or even as a ‘seasoned professional’ 😛

 The First Step – Plan

The first step with any routine is planning. Get a journal, piece of paper or even just your phone and write about what your plan is and some small goals. For example: I want to get into a routine of eating healthy and nutritious foods by including more leafy greens into my diet. Now, write down a meal plan with enough meals to cover you for five days. This gives you leeway to hang out and eat with friends. Take a look at a sample meal plan I have done by clicking here.

The Second Step – Buy

Now that you have written some goals and a meal plan, it is time to buy the food needed to bring this healthy eating routine to fruition! Everyone’s meal plans will be different and ergo, everyone’s grocery list will be different. The graphic below is a shopping list to accompany the meal plan I discussed about in the first step. Do NOT feel obligated to use this grocery list as everyone’s needs are different. It is simply a guide and something I use to help me.

Healthy Grocery list

The Third Step – Do

By ‘do’, I mean actually make the meals! Trust me, cooking is not difficult and you can only get better with practice. If you are busy and strapped for time, I suggest meal prepping the Sunday before the week starts. For me, my lunches and dinners are so quick that the only things I usually have to assemble are the meats that go into my lunches and some breakfasts’ such as overnight oats.

The Fourth Step – Keep Motivated

A downfall for many people (including myself) is a lack of motivation. This could happen for any number of reasons, such as not seeing results as quickly as you had hoped, feeling stressed out, and etc. For me personally, I find that using Instagram is a huge motivator not only because of the amazing and inspiration accounts you can find there, but because the health and fitness community on Instagram is so kind and supportive. Progress photos are also a great tool to keeping motivated as it can really open your eyes to how far you have actually come.

Good Luck!

I hope this post will help you slowly ease into a healthy eating routine or help motivate those who have been on their healthy lifestyle for a while. Sometimes it is useful to go back to basics and to re-evaluate your goals and intentions because … people change! I used to be all about getting skinny, getting to 110 pounds and whatnot, so my ‘healthy meals’ looked really different (basically all low-carb and unsustainable). My goals now are to reduce my overall body fat, to get strong and to feel confident in a bikini. My meals are balanced and full of carbohydrates, fats and proteins as well as the occasional treat to keep me from binging.

What are your healthy eating goals? How can I help you achieve them?

Honestly yours,
Alice

Thank you for always supporting me! For more Honestly Fitness, check out my Instagram, Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest.