She Runs LA Powered by Nike and Giveaway

Source

Nike will be hosting their first digital 10k race in Los Angeles and surrounding areas on April 27th starting at 4p.m. and ending on April 28th at 4 p.m. You have that 24 hour time period to run a 10k and then upload it to the nike+ website. The idea is that women all over LA will be running at the same time to show our love for running! After the "race" Nike will be hosting a big red carpet event at the Nokia Theater in downtown LA to celebrate in style. 

They just announced that Mike Posner will be the performer for this event! There will also be guest appearances of Nike athletes and other fun things. Sounds like a fun post run bash Hollywood style!

The best part of this event is that a portion of the proceeds will be donated to a program called Students Run LA. This is their awesome mission statement: The mission of Students Run LA is to challenge at-risk secondary students to experience the benefits of goal-setting, character development, adult mentoring and improved health by providing them with a truly life-changing experience: The training for and completion of the Honda LA Marathon.

Nike has offered 50 free passes for my readers to participate in this fun event!! If you would like a free pass for this event please email me: simplyfitmama@gmail.com for the details.

I would love to see a bunch of us out on the streets running on April 27th. If you are not 10k ready that is perfectly okay come on out and run/walk or walk the 6.2 miles. If you are in the Irvine area I would love to run with you!

I plan on running a 10k on April 27th, why don't you join me?

Register HERE!

Winners for the SimpleNutrition Giveaway!

Congratulations to...

 JC said...

Love this program, this would make my life much easier since I read labels all the time.

 Mami2jcn said...

I think this is definitely a step in the right direction. It's great you can spot the organic foods so easily.

If you could send me a quick email with your name and address I will get those gift cards shipped out and on their way to you!

simplyfitmama@gmail.com

SimpleNutrition at Vons and Giveaway!

Source

I think it's great that a lot of conventional stores are starting to come on board to try and make shopping for nutritious food easier. It can be overwhelming trying to make good food choices with all the products that are offered especially if you are at the store with fidgety toddlers wanting to go home.

Vons has started a new program at their store that is called SimpleNutrition. And it is exactly what the title leads you to assume. Simple. If you are looking for Organic foods they have a green label that sticks out on the shelves that let's you know quickly that it is an organic product. If you are looking for low sodium items the green SimpleNutrition tags lead you to the low sodium items quickly.

Vons started this program around the middle of February and they are planning to expand this program throughout 2011. One of the features Vons plans to add to the SimpleNutrition program is a personalized tool online that will help shoppers find healthier options for products they already buy. I think this tool sounds great and I will be interested to see it once they have it up and running.

They already have a whole new section on their website that includes an overview of this program, recipes and money saving tips.

SimpleNutrition labels are meant to give you a quick view of the key health benefits of healthier products. You will still need to check the label for specific nutritional information. The labels should help keep you away from all the processed, sugary and high in fat foods, which is a good thing!

As a thank you for reviewing the new SimpleNutrition program Vons sent me two $25 gift cards and I would like to give them away to two readers!

**To enter the giveaway please leave a comment at the end of this post. The giveaway will end Monday evening at 11:59 p.m. (PST). There will be two winners ($25 each) picked randomly and announced on Tuesday morning. The gift cards can be used at the following Safeway Company stores: Safeway, Vons, Pavillions, Genuardi's, Dominick's, Carrs and Randalls.

Whole Foods Market Pantry Makeover

Source

Are you trying to clean up your eating habits for the new year? Are you working on restocking your fridge and pantry with healthier food? Then hop on over to Whole Foods Market blog and make sure to leave a comment under this post. They are giving away ten $99 gift cards to help stock your new healthier pantry.

If you win they will give you the gift card, a list of suggested products and one of their Healthy Eating Specialist will be in contact with you to help you get started. Deadline is January 31st so make sure to get to their blog and leave a comment soon!

And the winner for The Real Food Diet Cookbook is...

 Tim and Shannon said...

Once upon a time, I stumbled upon your blog - and have been checking it ever so often since then!! It would be so wonderful to win this cookbook. Just had a baby October 27 and am looking for ways to keep my nutrition in check!! What a great help this sounds like it would be.

Congrats to Tim and Shannon! Thank you for reading my blog and congratulations to you and your husband on welcoming a new baby to the world!! Please send me an email with your mailing information: simplyfitmama@gmail.com .

If you did not get the chance to win this cookbook I would still encourage you to take a look at Dr. Axe's website. There is a wealth of information on his site. If you missed the review of this book click here.

The Real Food Diet Cookbook review and GIVEAWAY

I'm not a big fan of diet books in general and when I was asked to review this new "diet" book I was hesitant. I took a look at Dr. Axe's website and I was intrigued and my hesitation dissolved. I really found his website overflowing with sound health and nutritional advice. This book is less of a diet book and more of a nourishing your health through food book. The last week and a half I have been trying new recipes from this book.

The beginning of the cookbook is filled with great nutritional advice. Dr. Axe breaks down nutrition into easy to digest information:

• real vs. fake food
• explanation of nutrient density
• the real food pyramid vs. the standard food pyramid
• five best real foods 
• five worst fake foods
• a great explanation of sugars, fats and oils
• healthiest milk and dairy
• cooking tips
• label reading
• cooking equipment
• glycemic load --eat this not that section is good

My favorite statement in the whole book is this:

QUALITY OVER QUANTITY

• Stop counting calories.
• Stop counting fat.
• Stop counting carbs.
• Stop measuring every last portion on your mini-scale.
• Start focusing on eating quality food.

If you are just starting out on your real food / whole food journey then this would be a good book to get you started, mainly because of the first part of the book. 

If you have been eating with a real food / whole food concept for a while then some of this information will be stuff you already know.

Another nice feature of this cookbook is that the majority of the recipes had color pictures to accompany them. I liked that. 

Here are a few of the recipes I have tried:

Chai

This was a nice warm fall drink that uses almond milk. I enjoyed it and my kids did too. I plan to give this  to them  after they come in from playing in the chilly fall weather.

Almond Berry Cereal

I had high hopes for this cereal because it looked soo good but I didn't really like it. It had a paste like consistency  which was not very appealing. I still ate about half of it because I was hungry and didn't want to waste the food,  it was a very filling breakfast. I loved the coconut milk which I have never had before. The coconut milk was nice and creamy. Because of this recipe I plan on trying coconut milk in other ways.

Spinach Salad with Spiced Nuts

I actually made this salad for Thanksgiving. It was delicious and wonderful combination of flavors.  Since I had all the ingredients on hand I ended up making it a couple time during the weekend. It was good!

This morning I threw all the ingredients in the crock pot for the Crockpot Turkey Stew from  Dr. Axe's cookbook. I have just a little bit of turkey leftover so I thought I would give this recipe a try. 

Crockpot Turkey Stew

recipe from: The real food diet cookbook by Dr. Josh Axe

*recipe provided with permission from author.

2 lbs. boneless, skinless turkey (breast thighs, legs, etc.)

1 med. leek, sliced

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 tsp. thyme leaves

1 tsp. oregano leaves

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

1 c. winter squash, peeled and cubed

1 med. carrot, chopped

1 cinnamon stick

1 16 oz. can organic tomatoes

1 32 oz carton of chicken/turkey/veggie broth or water

• Place turkey, leeks, celery and spices into crock pot. Turn on high and saute until leeks become translucent. (I did this in a skillet on the stove)
• Add squash, carrots, cinnamon stick, tomatoes, water or stock and simmer covered for 2-3 hours on medium or 6-8 hours on low.
• Remove cinnamon stick just prior to serving.

The turkey stew was yummy. The winter squash was a nice addition and the cinnamon stick made the house and stew smell delicious. The cinnamon didn't read sweet it actually added a little kick. The kiddos loved it probably because it smelled delicious. My husband did not like it but I thought it was good.

Giveaway!

As I mentioned in the title this is also a giveaway. When they sent me this book to review they were kind enough to send me one for my readers (that's you!). To enter the giveaway here's what you need to do:

1. Leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

2. Twitter about this giveaway.

 (come back and leave a comment re: tweets). 

3. Post a comment on Facebook about this giveaway. 

(come back and leave another comment re: facebook)

So that is three ways to enter. The giveaway is open until midnight tomorrow,  December 2nd. The winner will be chosen by random.org. I will announce the winner on Friday morning, December 3rd.

Blog Makeover Giveaway by Sweet Faerie Designs

I am super excited to see that Carrie is celebrating her 5th blogoversary and she is celebrating by giving away a POSH BLOG MAKEOVER!! This is an amazing giveaway it's worth $150. Plus you get to work with Carrie, she's a peach!

Carrie is my blog designer and friend. She has done an amazing job on this site and also on my photography site. I love working with her. 

So head over to her site and enter this giveaway! She also gives you a chance at five entries for the giveaway. The giveaway is open until midnight on Friday, October 15th.

Good Luck!