Eating Healthy in the City

Pasto at El Pueblo

2012-01-14T02:17:00.002+08:00

I didn't realize that Pasto had so many vegetarian options until I really looked at the menu. They have salads, pizza topped with salads, vegetarian soups and pasta dishes, and various seafood dishes. Definitely worth visiting even when dining out with non-vegetarian friends as they too will have something to eat.

Various salads, I had to tell them to remove the meat though

Fresh salad on top of a thin crust pizza

Yellow Cab

2012-01-08T02:59:00.002+08:00

Okay, we all know that a pizza joint isn't exactly the first place you'd think of going to if you're looking for health food, but there are times when you get hungry at 3am and there are no other open restos in sight. Luckily, Yellow Cab is open 24 hours, and they actually serve pizza with raw veggies! Sure there are vegetarian pizzas out there, but the veggies have been baked, thus reducing their nutritional value. But here's one pizza where the sprouts and greens are not heated. You basically get a slice of pizza, add in the sprouts and greens, and roll them like a panizza.

Fresh sprouts and greens

Dear Darla Pizza, sliced horizontally so that you can roll them

Komrad

2012-01-06T01:44:00.005+08:00

Komrad - sounds Russian but has a big photo of Mao Tse Tung - is actually a Chinese resto. For the raw vegan, there's not a lot to eat in here. On a cheat day, rice and fish would be your best bet.

Komrad is located at Eastwood Mall

Fried rice

Fish with tausi sauce

Crisostomo

2012-01-05T02:00:00.002+08:00

Filipino food is not particularly known for being a dieter's best friend, what with all the fried stuff and meat-laden recipes. These dishes taste good, no doubt, but would hardly help anyone lose a couple of pounds. My personal view is that when we speak about healthy Filipino dishes, we can zoom in on seafood and vegetable dishes.

Crisostomo undoubtedly serves delicious food any Filipino would want to eat over and over again. Again, while the dishes featured below would not help you lose weight, at the very least, they probably wouldn't give you a heart attack the same way that other dishes made of pork or beef would.

Squidballs with sweet and sour sauce

Mushrooms with garlic

Bangus

More bangus

Lorenzo's Way

2011-09-22T03:57:00.001+08:00

Lorenzo's Way at Greenbelt is a member of the LJC chain of restos, so it's not surprising that they serve dishes from their other restos. This is not where you'd go to if you want to eat something light. They have way too much to tempt you with. Nevertheless, they do serve vegetarian food.

Salad with turnips

Vegetable samosas

Salmon on a bed of veggies

Chocolate cake with bananas on top

Pho Hoa

2011-09-22T03:51:00.003+08:00

The vegetarian soup is delicious! It becomes even more flavorful once you add a bit of Sriracha. The things that look like meatloaf are made of mushrooms, so the waiters say.

Bean sprouts and fresh basil come with your order of soup.

Vegetarian soup

Mexicali

2011-09-22T03:48:00.004+08:00

Mexicali has vegetarian everything - burritos, burgers, nachos.

Sicilian Pizza

2011-09-22T03:46:00.002+08:00

Picture this ... you're hungry for Italian food at 1 in the morning. Where do you go? To a gas station of course! Sicilian Pizza at the Petron Station in Katipunan serves vegetarian pizza and pasta.

Hard Rock Cafe

2011-09-22T03:43:00.000+08:00

Who would have thought that Hard Rock Cafe serves lots of dishes that would be fit for vegetarians? You'd normally assume people go there to party, get drunk, and eat lots of fatty food. Surprisingly though, they have lots of great options for people who would rather stay away from meat.

Of course, they would serve Ceasar's salad. With their huge serving size though, this would hardly qualify as diet food.

Vegetable spring rolls with a small serving of salad in the middle

Vegetarian burger! Again, the serving size is huge.

And for people who absolutely must have some form of protein, they have various fish dishes.

The presence of healthy food is just icing on the cake though. What makes this a great place is the fact that they have live music.

The Stock Market

2011-09-22T03:29:00.001+08:00

The Stock Market at Bonifacio High Street serves some really good food. Found these to be interesting: soup served in a bread bowl, salad with a whole slab of pineapple beside it, and vegetarian ravioli. If you have a BFF card, you'd be surprised to know that you can get the usual 20% discount that comes with being a BFF cardholder.

Mango Tree Bistro

2011-09-22T03:22:00.001+08:00

The logical choice for a vegetarian when eating at a Thai restaurant would be vegetable curry or vegetarian pad thai. Mango Tree Bistro at Trinoma makes these dishes, and they're bursting with flavor.

For pesco vegetarians, their fish cakes are also worth trying.

Their desserts are also unique and satisfying.

Kamoteng kahoy with coconut sauce

Kimono Ken

2011-09-21T00:40:00.004+08:00

Considering that Japanese cuisine is filled with light choices that are either raw or steamed, chances are high that we will find healthy food choices in most Japanese restos. Kimono Ken (pictures taken from their branch at the Podium) serves kani salad and California maki.

Kani salad

Kani maki

Cookbook Kitchen

2011-09-20T23:00:00.002+08:00

Cookbook Kitchen started with a small resto in a residential area in Mandaluyong. As it's not near the main road, you most likely won't know about it unless you get invited by someone who's eaten there before. Now that they have opened a branch in Eastwood, tasting what this previously secret restaurant has to offer has become easier.

Cookbook Kitchen has a lot to offer for people looking for comfort food presented in a visually delightful way. For people who are looking for healthier options, they have fish and salads.

Walnut crusted white fish

White fish with tomato sauce

Sauteed mushrooms

Total Fitness Magazine June 2011

2011-06-10T21:02:00.000+08:00

Who would have thought I'd go from being overweight to being featured in a fitness magazine? I certainly didn't have that in mind when I first made food the subject of this blog. But one thing's for sure - what we put in our mouth determines our level of health.

Eating Healthy... in Bangkok

2011-05-26T22:00:00.003+08:00

Keeping a healthy diet while travelling need not be a chore. There are still plenty of healthy food choices to have. In Bangkok, finding healthy food is easy, probably the country is full of Buddhists who are mostly vegetarians themselves. Even if you're not exclusively vegetarian, like me, there are plenty of choices to have for lunch or dinner.

At the MBK mall in downtown Bangkok I'd recommend the Fifth Food Avenue food court (located in the fifth floor). It has plenty of Thai and international fusion dishes.

When I was there I chose my favorite, tom yum goong soup, which did not cost me more than 300 baht.

Shomal by Hossein, Trinoma

2011-05-26T01:33:00.000+08:00

Shomal serves Middle Eastern cuisine which is typically known for adding vegetables, fruits, beans and nuts into most dishes. The flavors are full and the servings are filling.

The vegetable biryani smelled really good, and it tasted great too. Mixed some palak paneer with it just to further spice it up.

Shomal is at the 4th level of Trinoma Mall.

Healthy High-Roller

2011-01-16T04:39:00.003+08:00

Resorts World Manila is one of the latest entertainment hub in the metro, with circus acts, a high end mall, hotels, and casino housed in one complex. While there spending hours at the slots doesn't mean gambling your health away too. You can still eat healthy -- in Cafe Mediterranean.

The restaurant is located in the mall area, on the 3rd floor. Healthy choices include:

A sampler plate that includes hummus (chickpea dip), baba ghanoush (smoked eggplant and tahini dip), and marinated olives, served with pita bread (PhP 210)

Moroccan fish fillet, pan-grilled and served with cumin-spiced tomatoes, carrots and olives. Also served with pita bread (PhP 245).

Greek salad (tomatoes, cucumbers, sliced onions, green bell peppers served with Kalamata olives and crumbled feta cheese, PhP 195).

A serving of falafel, crunchy croquettes made from chickpeas, can be had for PhP 115 to enliven up the table.

The Ultimate in Healthy Eating: Eating Uncooked Fruits and Vegetables

2010-11-29T13:48:00.000+08:00

When asked what eating healthy means, people come up with different ideas. For some, it could just be staying away from fried food or cutting out the fat. For others, it could mean going vegetarian. However, what I've observed over the years of looking for the perfect diet is that people need time to transition to a healthier lifestyle. People who quit cold turkey (literally and figuratively) sometimes end up feeling so deprived that they quickly abandon their healthy lifestyle, writing it off as another fad diet, never to be tried again.

I recently attended a seminar on raw food preparation and what I saw there made me realize that transitioning to the ultimate in healthy eating - eating raw fruits and veggies - is easier than it seems. As a matter of fact, the food they prepared in that seminar was so good that I didn't get the feeling that I was sacrificing taste and presentation for the sake of good health. Imagine eating pasta, burgers, cake, and chocolate - all vegan - and you can see that eating healthy need not ever mean eating tasteless food.

Here's a sneak peek at some of the stuff we ate over the weekend:

Regular fettucine would, of course, require wheat pasta and heavy cream. It's a dieter's nightmare - being high on fat and carbs. But this one is not. The noodles were made from uncooked vegetables, and the cream was made from cashew nuts. There is nothing in this dish that will give you a heart attack.

The fast food variety of burgers would naturally come with grease, charred protein which is cancerous, fat, and the antibiotics that were given to the cows. Who would have thought that you could actually make burger patties from dehydrated vegetables? This one was served with teriyaki sauce made from Bragg's liquid aminos and raw honey from Palawan.

Desserts, anyone?

Diabetics think they're doomed for life, but cakes and chocolates made from things like nuts, extra virgin coconut oil, raw cacao powder, and fruits could never harm anyone. (The desserts were made by Asha who runs a school where the kids are given a steady diet of nutritious food.)

Raw Food (Uncooked, Not heated above normal body temperature)

Cooking destroys the enzymes that are naturally found in fruits and vegetables. Most people think that veggies are just for fiber, but apparently, more than the fiber itself, what makes them good are the live enzymes. The seminar entitled "I Love it Raw" which is conducted by Daniw, usually in Bahay Kalipay in Palawan, was run in Greenhills so that made it easy for city dwellers like me to get a taste of Bahay Kalipay's unique dishes.

The first thing that comes to mind when people hear "raw fruits and veggies" is a salad. But eating nothing but salads can get boring very quickly. I was therefore surprised when Daniw taught us how to make salads that looked like Japanese food.

Vegetables wrapped in nori sheets

Vegetables (and mango slices) wrapped in raw cucumber and drizzled with a creamy cashew-based sauce that tasted just like cheese

Veggies wrapped in lettuce

Miso soup with mushrooms

After tasting all of these, I see now that salads can be made to look more interesting. But considering that all of the recipes used raw veggies and fruits, virtually everything in here can be called a salad.

This is what we had for breakfast on Day 2 of the seminar: raw bananas, banana chews (bananas drizzled with coconut oil & cacao and placed in a dehydrator overnight), and papaya on top of banana pancakes, drizzled with coconut cream. Looks good, doesn't it? It tasted even better than it looked.

Daniw shows the class how to make all-veggie lasagna (without wheat pasta)

And for people who must have rice and ulam, Daniw had the perfect solution:

Instead of beef with broccoli, how about mushrooms with broccoli?

Daniw shows the class how to make rice from turnips

And a salad on the side.

Green Smoothies, your own liquid sunshine!

Plants have the unique ability to harness the sun's energy and turn it into food, and we know this from our biology class as photosynthesis. In a way, chlorophyll is liquid sunshine. Imagine taking in more quantities of this on a daily basis! Plant cells though are wrapped in tough cellulose, and you'd have to chew endlessly to get inside them. But thank God for blenders, we can just liquefy greens and drink them in the form of really delicious and refreshing smoothies.

These are the stuff that go into the blender. You'd be surprised - they don't taste like greens. The smoothies taste more like fruit shakes.

Jessica lets the blender do the work of releasing the phytonutrients.

To know more about the benefits of making green smoothies, check out http://www.rawfamily.com/green-smoothie

And for posterity, this is our class picture. Judging from the smiles, the stuff we made tasted good!

If you would like to join Daniw's "I Love it Raw" seminar in the future, email her at iamdaniw@gmail.com

Fuel for Surfers

2010-11-16T04:06:00.004+08:00

If you find yourself surfing in San Juan, La Union, there are a number of places there where you can find healthy grub, even for the pickiest surfers. San Juan Surf Resort, which is located just in front of the beach, has a selection of hearty food for breakfast: banana pancakes (PhP 120) and omelettes, with a variety of fillings (cheese, onions and tomatoes, etc; PhP 135). They are all served with coffee or tea, and toast.

Patio Guernica

2010-11-02T03:45:00.002+08:00

Patio Guernica is one of my favorite restaurants in Mall of Asia. Serving Spanish dishes, the restaurant, named after the famous painting by Pablo Picasso, has several healthful choices.

You may start with the delectable cepa de cebolla (French Onion soup, PhP 160), and follow it with some salads.

Paella (topmost pic) is of course a mainstay in Spanish restaurants, but vegetarians may opt with the all-veggies version, paella con verduras (PhP 585). You may eat it together with the main dish, such as pollo con verduras (above), sauteed spring vegetables with chicken, and served with boiled potatoes.

Patio Guernica is located in the Mall of Asia, in Pasay City.

Ultimate Cheeses

2010-10-30T03:55:00.000+08:00

Pizzas may not be the healthiest of choices but if you'll find yourself in Pizza Hut craving for a slice or two, you may have the best choice available, aside from the Hawaiian version - the Ultimate Cheese pizza, which is topped with 16 different kinds of cheeses (PhP 585 for a large pan)

Krazy about Garlic

2010-09-19T00:59:00.003+08:00

Krazy Garlic is a new restaurant in the swanky Greenbelt 5, whose food is cooked with - you guessed it right - garlic as the main condiment. Even some of the drinks are laced with garlic syrup! We'd recommend this resto after a marathon vampire movie viewing, but not if you are on a date.

Krazy Garlic has several appetizers but we dove right in with the main course:

Milk fish ajo-ajo (ajo is Spanish for garlic): pan-fried bangus garnished with fried garlic in olive oil and French beans on the side (PhP 390)

Rouge seafood coconut curry, Thai-style sauteed seafood with red coconut curry sauce. PhP 415

We skipped the plain steamed rice and tried the uncommonly-named Hara Kiri rice, which will be suicide if you don't like spicy food. The spicy fried rice is cooked with chilies, bits of octupus and shrimps (and bacon, but we told them to hold this last one). PhP 365.

The drink above is Apple Carrot Twitter, made with red apple, carrot and garlic syrup.

PhP 180.

Parvati, Trinoma

2010-08-09T03:06:00.000+08:00

Parvati is a dessert place, and not just A dessert place but THE place to go to if you want to sample the best sellers of some of the country's most sough-after home bakers. So you might be wondering what this entry is doing in a vegetarian blog that features healthy food. Well, for one, lacto-ovo vegetarians would be interested in desserts with eggs and dairy, and second, I guess every now and then, we deserve a treat.

Mel is a singer/marathon-runner/baker who came up with a deliciously sinful triple decker chocolate cheesecake but as luck would have it, it's always out of stock at Parvati. So I tried the next best thing - the dulce de leche cheesecake, which the counter girl said was also made by Mel. I'm not sure if that was just a line to get me to try something but this one was worth it. Frankly, after tasting lots of cheesecake, I've gotten bored with cheesecake, but the dulce de leche cheesecake is tempting enough to make me forget that I'm on a diet. I won't really attempt to put the experience into words as that would really pale in comparison to actually sinking your teeth into it.

There's so much to taste in Parvati that I guess the best way to taste them all would be to do so over over a period of a few weeks, unless you want to get sugar overload if you try them all in one day. Next time, I'll see if Mel's triple decker cheesecake survives the onslaught of people trying to get a taste of it. As it is now featured in a contest for the best dessert in Ayala malls, I guess a lot of people would naturally be curious if it stands up to established names like Conti's.

Looking at the options available in Parvati's, I guess I won't be dieting too much in the near future.

Dr. Tam's Vegan House

2010-07-19T04:00:00.001+08:00

Somewhere in Tiendesitas, there's a store that sells products for cleansing various internal organs. Right next to it, we see the same name (Dr. Tam) but instead of herbal concoctions, the store sells vegan food.

It was like seeing an oasis in the desert. Surrounded by stalls that sell pork, beef and all sorts of other animal-based dishes, this one stood out.

Vegan menudo! Turning vegetarian could make one miss the familiar taste of classic Filipino dishes like the menudo, but it looks like it's something one can eat sans the pork.

Miss eating chicken curry or pork curry? This one will give you the flavor of curry without the animal flesh.

The dishes were surprisingly affordable. For the two dishes and two servings of rice, P 160.00 sure went a long way.

Legends of India

2010-07-12T15:40:00.003+08:00

Inevitably, you will find a lot of vegetarian dishes in Indian restaurants, although if you're vegan, the ghee that they put in the dishes wouldn't quite do it for you. The Legends of India is something I've always wanted to try, but the tiny parking space in front of it is always full. This weekend though, I finally got to try the "North Indian" style of cooking that a lot of my Indian friends rave about.

Vegetarian samosas, very flavorful, and though I told the waiter to make it mild, it still came out with a bite.

Palak paneer - a classic dish of spinach and cottage cheese (for lack of a better word to translate paneer). Again, this one doesn't disappoint. The dish was very flavorful.

Legends of India is at Jupiter St., near Assad, and Queen's - other "must-try" places if you want some Indian food.