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La Gran Fruta – Great fruit franchise in Lima, Peru

I love finding hidden gems… and in Lima, Peru I think there is one.

If you love fruits salads, natural juices and smoothies look no further than La Gran Fruta. They are a fruit based establishment that offer great alternatives for vegetarians. It’s not a vegetarian place, but we had some wonderful breakfasts thanks to them.

La Gran Fruta offers various sizes of fruit salads, all accompanied by yogurt, granola and honey.

Some of us were more adventurous than others. I ordered the largest salad only because I wanted to try a few new fruits I was not familiar with (and hey, I shared with my mom and a few others who also wanted to try):

Granadilla – very similar to a passion fruit in texture, but the taste is sweet and not tart like a passion fruit.
Chirimoya – very similar to a soursop but much creamier and sweeter. My friends went bonkers for cherimoyas and were seeking them out everywhere we went.
Lúcuma – this fruit is very similar in taste and texture to a mamey or sapote. It’s dense in texture and a tad bit grainy. Makes a wonderful juice but I think it would make an even better milkshake or smoothie.

In this plate you also see soursop… this one I was familiar with, but this one was super tart… in my opinion, it needed a few extra days to fully ripen.

At La Gran Fruta, they not only make awesome fruit salads and juices… they also have these awesome cookies made with only a few ingredients – oatmeal, sugar and fruit pulp. My favorites were the ones made with passion fruit. Imagine a tart and sweet cookie?? I am telling you it’s something to taste to believe… They also have them with apples, figs, mango, strawberry and a combination of several fruits. These cookies are gluten-free and egg-free… perfectly vegetarian!!!!

Because we went in wintertime, we did not get to try something everyone was recommending – Raspadillas. I am sure this is something very similar to our piraguas, shaved ice doused in pureed fruit pulp. Yum… something definitely to look forward to in the Summer, no?

La Gran Fruta has several locations throughout Lima… check them out if you’re ever in Perú.

Tags: chirimoya, cookies, food, fruit, fruit juices, fruit salad, granadilla, granola, honey, La Gran Fruta, lúcuma, Lima, miraflores, natural, oatmeal, passion fruit, Peru, South America, travel, vegetarian, yogurt

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Categories MY EDITORIAL, Travel

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You are what you eat…

28 Jun

Tags: avocado, eat healthy, food, mindful eating, natural, raw, vegetables, vegetarian, veggie-full

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Categories healthy thoughts, Veggie Bites of Wisdom

Natural Safe Ways to Clean your Produce

3 Apr

I’ve mentioned to you already how I like to use a produce cleaner like Fit to clean my fruits and vegetables from the chemicals, pesticides and wax companies throw over produce to make them look particularly pretty for display at the supermarkets. They might look pretty, but those chemicals are definitely no good for our health.

But what do you do if you don’t have Fit or any other commercially available produce wash with you??

There are indeed natural ways to clean your fruits and vegetables… using lemon juice, vinegar or a combination of the two.

Grapes are fruits we enjoy a lot – we love to welcome in the New Year by eating 12 grapes to ask for 12 wishes for the new year. And after 10 days of fasting and cleansing your system, the last thing you want is to intoxicate your body with the pesticides and wax non-organic grapes are coated with.

All you need to do is soak the grapes in water and add the juice of 2-3 lemons or limes to the water the grapes are soaked in. Try for the grapes to be submerged as much as possible in the acidic solution. If not possible, then be vigilant and rotate the grapes so at some point they’re all soaked with the acidulated water. If using vinegar, try 2 tsps per gallon of water. Soak the grapes for only 20 minutes to 30 minutes tops. After that, the grapes start to soak the acidic water and they start to become mealy… not a good thing.

The acidic nature of lemon juice or vinegar dissolves and breaks down the wax covering the grapes… Check out this side by side pic of grapes washed in just water and grapes washed in the lemon water.

Knowing this method, we were able to thoroughly wash grapes we purchased right on the streets of Allahabad. Lemons are very common in India and unfortunately, waxed grapes are too.

After the grapes, or any other fruits you wish to enjoy, are cleaned… just dry them off and store as you would usually do – in the fridge or countertop. Or just go ahead and eat them immediately!!!

Tags: clean, food, grapes, lemon, lime, natural, produce, vegetarian, vinegar, wax-free

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Categories basics, MY EDITORIAL

I want my Gatorade Natural!!!

8 Nov

Have I told you???? That I am training for my 1st ever half marathon???

Well, since June I have been training for the Run Like Diva Half Marathon to be celebrated next Sunday, November 11 here in San Juan, PR. This is the second time this is taking place. My friend Tania was eager for me to join her this year because she was encouraging me since last year to make it.

It’s been a super great experience… I have met so many new friends – Annette, Maritza, Tere, Lilliam, Nadya, Alice, Zuleyka, Ada, Vanessa, Nancy, Mariano, Diana, IsaMari, Lisandra, Kimberly and Tania and Mili who now I have one more thing in common. We belong to the training group Island Divas coached by Chewy Candelario.

Since the beginning of the training, I was opposed to drinking anything filled with artificial colorants or ingredients. You know already how I feel about that. However, for a while when we started training I always felt like my body ached all over. I thought it was just my body getting used to this kind of training. Until one day, my friend Annette told me to drink a Gatorade. WHAT?!?!??! I don’t like these… “agua d’piringas”. But I caved in and had one…

To be honest ever since I started drinking Gatorade after my trainings, I started feeling like myself again. By body might have been sore, but did not feel like before. I guess all that science and technology do count for something when you’re becoming an athlete. So I have made an exception and started drinking Gatorade as a recovery drink after my workouts. And have chosen to avoid reading the label each and every time I put one bottle to my mouth.

But when I traveled to Florida recently and had to continue on my training there, I went to the supermarket to buy my trusted and usual foods that help me prepare and recover after my trainings. And much to my surprise I found out that Gatorade comes in a NATURAL version – without artificial ingredients and colorants. And the website tells you all about how the natural ingredients work just the same as the regular Gatorade formulation. And the Orange Citrus flavor is AMAZING!!!!!

But when you search any Puerto Rico zip code to find a store near us that carries it, the closest store is…. The Whole Foods in Alton Road in South Miami Beach!!!!!!!!! Yeah!!!!! Which tells me, my dear friends in Pepsi are not distributing this amazing product in Puerto Rico. YET!!!

This is my plea… PEPSICO people, please bring Gatorade Natural to Puerto Rico. We also have athletes which appreciate the recovery qualities of the original formulation but prefer to have a more natural formulation. Just as much as I want a Whole Foods in Puerto Rico, we also have local natural supermarkets and sport stores that would love to carry your product. GRACIAS!!!

And let’s GO DIVAS!!!!! If you live in Puerto Rico, we would love for you to join our cheering section along the route of the course. Just look for our Island Divas shirts throughout the route. I’ll be the one with the I ❤ NY cap on… OK???

Tags: divas, drink, exercise, food, gatorade, natural, power walk, recovery, run, running, training, vegetarian, walk

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Categories MY EDITORIAL

Buenos Aires loves freshly squeezed Orange Juice

7 May

Ever since we started walking the street of Buenos Aires I noticed something really peculiar…

In many, many corners of the city you would find carts selling freshly squeezed orange juice. In Florida Street, a very popular shopping street, we saw between 4 or 5 in a 10 block strip.

We had the chance to get on a double-decker bus to get a snapshot of the city and those orange juice carts were everywhere. We also took a walking-tour of the city and the carts were waiting for us in every corner.

I just could not leave Buenos Aires without tasting an orange juice squeezed right in front of me. In San Telmo we had the first chance to drink it and it was super sweet and delicious. I wish I could have drunk so many more… But it will be on my next trip, because I wish this was only the first time I visit this wonderful city.