What I've been eating

Normally food is not something that I would blog about, but recently I have been having stomach issues. Readers, please use your imagination when I say stomach issues. Over the last few weeks, almost everything I ate did not agree with my stomach. I'm not talking like a small argument that people have everyday, I'm talking about an all out war, where whatever went into my mouth was dead WRONG.

After basically not eating for nearly three days, I regained my appetite and slowly began eating "normal" foods again. I started out with plain rice, chicken soup, and simple tuna sandwiches without any veggies or sauces. Then I my body was aching for more substantial food (a good sign) and I had a plain hamburger from Pico Kosher Deli with a knish. So far so good. That was Thursday.

Friday my diet contained a protein-filled breakfast with egg whites and toast, and I was feeling good. For lunch I had a meal from Real Food Daily with my Vegan-Gluten Free partner who we shall refer to as "VGFGF". Friday night VGFGF and I ventured to simple pea soup and chicken salad with very little dressing for myself and a steamed vegetable salad for her. and it digested FAIRLY well. Saturday brunch was at Le Pain Qutidien, egg whites and bread with jam -- worked out well.

Saturday night we went to a sushi restaraunt that we had never been to, Takami Sushi in Downtown LA. The ambience gets an A, the knowledgability of the staff regarding the food, food intolerances, and dietary choices gets an A+, but the availability of gluten free and vegan food were scarce.

After that meal I can definitely say that my stomach was back o normal! I haven't jumped into the sauces, and I just observed my first Meat Free Monday! My vegan meals today were not only delicious, but healthy and nutritious. I feel more energetic overall, maybe my excitement and energy is due to the VGFGF being back in town.

Food intolerance tolerance

I recently began dating a wonderful person who happened to be a vegan. As a regular meat eater, even though I have cut down my meat intake by more than fifty percent, I didn't blink for a minute at having to eat at Vegan-friendly establishments with my partner. As our romance continues to blossom, my partner has recently been diagnosed with Celiac disease; like any concerned partner, i quickly noticed that the real world (read Whole Foods WFMI) takes gluten free and vegan diets very seriously.

I frequently go to Whole Foods, even though it is more expensive than other grocery competitors, to buy produce and almond milk. I myself have a dairy intolerance that requires me to have non- dairy milk with my cereal. I cant help but notice the extensive gluten-free and vegan alternatives that are offered at this store.

Furthermore, the ample amounts of gluten free options at two of my favorite vegan Los Angeles restaurants, Native Foods and Real Food Daily make dining out with my very significant other easy and delicious. I have totally embraced the restricted diet lifestyle myself, and do not experience any hindrances in my day to day life. So much so, that I am always seeking out gluten-free, vegan options and having nothing but good things to say about these products!

Sadly, my dairy intolerance is not as widely accepted in the yogurt world. Not that I was a huge fro yo consumer, but I definitely enjoyed my fair share of the delicious treat. The only non dairy fro yo that I have found is at Big Chill on Westwood and Olympic in Los Angeles. There hasn't even been an "adjustment" phase for me to be tolerant of my VGFGF because in addition to my love for vegan food, my partner is more than a pleasure to be with.

Dr. Addict: Does America need a dose of reality?

The bulk of TV that I watch is sports and news shows. One of the shows that I watch regularly is Nurse Jackie on Showtime. In recent years, Showtime has created some excellent original programming that has rivaled HBO. Nurse Jackie is about a drug addict nurse who is selfless, caring, and most importantly a great nurse.

In the most recent episode, Jackie’s husband is portrayed in a darker light when he breaks up a bar fight in his own bar by banging a baseball bat on the bar and kicks out the two drunk people fighting. This scene transpires with Jackie and their two young girls in the bar watching the “nice guy” father figure protecting his property.

Immediately, the father explains to his children, with the help of their mom and aunt that he was not going to hit the men fighting. He explains that he was only trying to scare them into leaving, which they did. The scene ends up portraying the bar owner/ father as a hero instead of the observed angry person that the children saw have a fit of rage.

The show somehow finds a way to show Jackie’s husband as somewhat of a bad guy who cannot catch a break while the audience constantly is rooting for Jackie, the lying drug addict, to succeed. I find it somewhat disturbing that while drug abuse is not glamorized in this show, the protagonist is the person who the audience wants to succeed especially with her drug problem.

In this era, where we have heard of way too many prescription drug overdoses, and young people are using drugs recreationally either to cope with a harsh reality or out of “boredom,” it upsets me that the writers of this adult show want their audience to be jubilant when Jackie uses drugs. I understand that it is just a TV show, but Jackie seems to get away with too many close calls that make me wonder what the show is trying to prove.

There is a major difference between illicit infrequent use of drugs that is glamorized and the addiction to drugs that is shown in carefree light. Jackie’s lack of consequence and escape from trouble through her manipulative ways is not something that even the most mature adults should be watching. Maybe reality TV has some value for the public. Maybe seeing what drugs and other terrible things can do to people and their families is the best deterrent for abuse.

Obama: Actor in Chief

Last week when President Obama came to Los Angeles, the buzz about his arrival was not about how cool it would be to see him, nor about his presence in the Greater LA Area being something of a boost to the depleted and unemployed urban center. There was plenty to talk about his arrival to LA as the cause for traffic jams in a city already used to too much traffic.

News agencies were reported the President's arrival schedules, street closures and of course alternate routes. Hollywood, Obama's biggest supporters were the main supporters at the $35,800 a head fundraising dinners took place for him. Obama, who ran his last election on "hope" is now running his 2012 reelection campaign on fumes, literally. He is talking about having cleaner and more efficient cars in addition to putting people back to work (something that is very difficult to do without raising taxes).

Obama has been an advocate of protecting the poor and less fortunate classes of people throughout his presidency, yet he ONLY reached out to Hollywood moguls, and the people who he doesn't need or want to protect financially. This elbow-rubbing excursion delayed several people who are dependent on hourly wages in getting to work. While I understand the importance of fundraising for a presidential election, something that I have done successfully (but not successfully enough). The President who wants to be reelected should be reaching out to the workers who really want and need his welfare programs.

We all know that Los Angeles is an attention hungry city. Catering to the superficial needs of high society is part of life in LA, however this should not come at the expense of the taxpayers (read: me) getting home late from work and having my quality of life, even temporarily decreased because the Hollywood execs want to eat mediocre food for obscene prices.

Obama claims to be a man of the people, in Los Angeles he is the man of the people everyone tries to look like.

Miller LOW LIFE

I'm only 25 years old but I know a lot about beer. It is not my first choice of "adult beverages," but I can tell a good beer from a bad beer. As an avid sports fan, I tend to see many of the advertisements during sporting events that billions of dollars are spent on annually.

The beer commercials have gained popularity from Super Bowl commercials with talking frogs, beautiful horses, and of course objectified women. We all know that sex sells, and as a marketing tool, sex is a huge money maker, but in this modern era there must be limits to the offensiveness of recent beer commercials that have portrayed women as second class citizens.

Miller Lite has been illustrating men who drink light beer other than Miller Lite as feminine, and thus "less of a man" or "weaker like a woman." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPiBFaTWqIs

This commercial states that there men who drink other light beers are weaker and should hit a golf ball from the ladies tee (closer to the hole than a regulation tee in golf). Besides nothing being wrong with hitting from a ladies tee in a friendly, social game of golf, there isn't anything wrong with drinking another beer if it pleases you.

Miller Lite has taken a marketing approach that would only appeal to a group of men who are so chauvinistic that I have chosen to not buy their beer, even though I have not been a patron of their products in the past. Sports happens to have a much broader audience than just ultra-macho, sexist males, and Miller Lite has yet to address the true demographics of the common sports fan.

Again, I don't always drink beer, but when I do, it won't be Miller Lite.

I'm an ALL STAR... That doesn't mean I'm going to the game.

Today is the NBA All Star Game, an annual mid-season soiree/ entertainment weekend for professional basketball. As an avid sports fan, and a huge fan of basketball, especially the LA Lakers I watch the All Star game for the purpose of being entertained, nothing more, nothing less. I don't really care about the outcome, because it doesn't affect the outcome of the season for any players or teams.

Last year, I went to the All Star game in Dallas, Texas -- I was able to get tickets mainly because there were over 100,000 seats at Cowboys Stadium for a basketball game that normally is watched live by 20,000 spectators. I enjoyed myself at the game, and while it was an experience of a lifetime, it is not something that I need to make an annual event for me.

This year, the All Star game is in LA, at Staples Center - my second home... Over the past few days, people have approached me and asked me if I am attending the game today. My response has steadfastly been "no." And when people respond with a shocked "WHY?!?!?!?" I answer them with the same answer "Because I don't want to spend $10,000 on a ticket to a meaningless game."

Yes, I am passionate about sports and basketball, and YES, it would be an awesome experience, especially because it's at Staples Center, a place I truly love to be, but TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS for a decent seat for a meaningless game would be dumb. I am perfectly happy watching from the comfort of my own home on a brand new 55 inch flat screen TV.

It's just funny that people are asking me about such trivial things in my life, when there are so many much more meaningful and exciting things going on in my life. Just ask!

The Coolest Guy in the Gym

A few weeks ago as I was leaving the locker room at a local gym, I couldn't help but notice a crowd surrounding a rather large man with long hair. I had seen this guy before, and being an LA native, I couldn't care less. The crowd of men was surrounding this man known as "Fabio."

Growing up in LA, I have become immune to A-list celebrities, so there was no need to pay any attention to this Z-lister, a person who I have seen at the gym numerous times before. Given the fact that Fabio had a little group of half-dressed men surrounding him, I started to wonder if he was really that cool.

Was this the equivalent to that popular, star athlete in high school who can't add 2 and 2, but owns whatever room he's in? Whatever the case may be, I was eager to hear what these grown men were talking about with this long-haired man. The truth is, all I heard were bits and pieces about random travels to South America. Not that this didn't interest me, but I had no intention of becoming part of this conversation.

I go to the gym for a purpose - to maintain my health and feel good - if I wanted to socialize with other half-naked men, I wouldn't choose the gym as my venue of choice. I have an objective to achieve while in the gym, and as I grow older, my time becomes more valuable. Talking with anyone in the gym extraneously as this quorum of men were doing with this good for nothing has been, proved to me yet again how silly this world can be.

Pop culture is cool, seeing a celeb out anywhere is something one can mention, but NOTHING is going to be accomplished by talking to this guy in the locker room when all I can think about is the food I'm about to consume after my healthy workout.

Fabio probably loves the attention, HIS NAME IS FABIO!!!! You can't blame him for capitalizing on the stupidity of American culture, but there is a time and place for everything... and the men's locker room at the gym is not the place to socialize even with the coolest guy there.