Recently, at JFK Terminal 5 (JetBlue’s Terminal) I found a special spot with at least a selection of gourmet goodies I could choose from that fit better into my potential meal options. They even had coconut water selection which is one of my staples.

If you want to expand your list of options I would start by sampling any of the locations below. It is a well composed list of healthier meals which some do actually tempt my palette.  The bad news is that there is still great room for improvement. Personally, I think having only one healthy option on a menu hardly qualifies an airport restaurant as “healthful.” In my mind, each airport restaurant should have several healthy food choices geared towards several different food allergy items including gluten-free, lactose, high salt/sugar, organic, etc. In addition, I favor the labeling system in California now where the calories from the meal are listed so I know what I am consuming and NOT burning off daily.

PCRM (Physicians Committee of Responsible Medicine) rated healthy food choices include at least one low-fat, high-fiber, cholesterol-free breakfast, lunch, or dinner entrée. The airport’s score is then calculated by dividing the number of healthy establishments by the total number of establishments. The review does not include facilities that don’t serve entrées, such as snack food kiosks and small coffee shops.

The chart below provides a summary of what PCRM nutrition experts found at each airport, ranked from best to worst by their rating system.

Questions:

>What are some of your favorite airport-friendly meals? 

>Do you have food allergies or a food dietary preference?

>Favorite dining experience?

traveling, flying, speaking and I actually stood on the ground. I have tweaked my fitness and adventure needs to be more fine tune and reflect my earlier fitness model days in 2012. I’m heavily into weight training, cross fit and just learning about the joys of marathon running.  My daily duties as an digital agency owner come to fruition on the laptop.

Side Affects Include

• Increased food consumption
• Insatiable random cravings
• Need sleep normal hours again. (8-10 hrs at least 4 nights a week)

I found myself when on the laptop and logging long hours very subconsciously eating large quantities of food and drink. I do have some food allergies and have adapted my food purchases to reflect more Paleo, Gluten-free. Whenever possible consuming unprocessed and foods with  little-to-no preservatives, low-to-no salts, sugars. Essentially, I only shop organic and at Whole Foods. This is just my default to escape

In the processing of toxins and retraining my excerise routine the cookie monster has appeared. In my career work I am very focused. My mother says I’m the reverse of ADHD and laughs at me. If I’m on taste I am on task, for that set amount of time.

The gift bag items were delicious, most of these items I consumed soon after the event and am working them off this week hiking on Camelback Mountain. My top favorites are the Pumpkin Pecan Pancake mix and Vermont Maple Syrup. Growing up in New York we lived off everything Vermont Maple Syrup.  Anything else was unacceptable. All made with no artificial flavors. They are worth a tasting of your own!

Meeting up with Fresh & Easy’s sommelier also made for some educational conversation. I learned about and was able to taste one of his favorites “Doon Buggy”. My personal favorite was a mulled wine labeled Winter’s Tale.  As a resident fan of sweet wines the Winter’s Tale is very sweet. It should be warmed in a microwave or on the stove but never brought to a boil as it’s flavor change. Perfect for snuggling by the fire on a cold night!

Do you have a favorite wine or drink to warm you up on a cold winter night?

(Share in the comments below)

As an online entrepreneur my travels take me to many clients and many locations. Today, I’m in Scottsdale enjoying a day by the pool at the Intercontinental Montelucia Resort And Spa. Grabbing my sunscreen 50 and my laptop and hoping for an excellent down time to write in the shade I headed to a brunch meeting at the main restaurant overlooking the pool.

The Intercontinental is a full service resort and spa and offers all the standard amenities a resort would. Brunch was a delicious and very relaxing.  The service was exceptional.

Activities: N/A

User Experience:
My poolside experience was less than rosy.  The pool area was less than quiet or spa-like. There were few seats available and non of my favorite cabana’s available. Yet there were several cabanas empty that could have been offered to guests but were not. I inquired with one of the hotel staff as to why after 20 minutes of waiting they were still unoccupied. I was told they were reserved, unfortunately as I see it reserved for no one. Finally, I asked a staff member to find me a chair with coverage which they did now 35 minutes later. In general “reserving cabanas” is a very poor idea when paying guests are standing idly nearby awaiting service that the Intercontinental Montelucia promotes..

After settling into my chair, setting up my laptop and earbuds and writing a bit I noticed there was no wait staff service drinks.  So, I wrote for an hour and left. The pool was beautiful but the service offered was just unacceptable.

Location:
Stunning views of Paradise Valley and Echo Canyon on Camelback mountain. Noise level was high and required ear bugs to block out and to find my happy quiet place.

Ratings:

(Very simply we rate on a 1-5, 5 being the best rating.)

Spa: N/A
Sports: N/A
Pool: 2
Fitness Center: N/A
Meals: 5
Service: 1
Room: N/A

I find it kinda entertaining that someone once thought “We can sell more candy if we shape it to look like something else healthy like a fruit!” I giggle at the fact that it has worked on people for many years. More amusing is when we made rock candy in elementary school we still wanted to eat it even after seeing what ingredients were included in making rock candy.

I tried this experiment for the last two weeks. Everything that I consumed that had a nutritional label (excluding restaurant dinners) I counted the grams of sugar that was included in my portion.  I stay away from all soda’s and processed and preservatives on a daily basis. Oh course a few slip in but realistically I’m consuming a lot less processed food than the average consumer.  Because our bodies aren’t designed to ingest a ton of sugar if any our bodies react wildly to the influx of what should be considered a toxin.

I’ve written about natural foods and traveling and eating healthy. If you have more travel and eating healthy ideas I’d love to hear them! Send em over.

Why watching your sugar is important:

• Sugar consumption has also been indicated in raising bad cholesterol while lowering good cholesterol. Weight gain from sugar is indicated in hardening of the arteries which directly contributes to heart disease. Further, sugar definitely plays a role in developing some types ofdiabetes.
• Sugar, particularly sugar in fruit juice, is also known to cause tooth decay. Consumption of sugar may also make one more likely to suffer from gum disease. Thus vigorous brushing of the teeth should always follow consumption of sugar.
• Sugar plays a role in how we behave as well. It has been suggested that excess sugar may cause depression. It may also result in hyperactivity or mood swings as one drops from sugar highs to sugar lows.
• Recent studies also suggest that too much sugar can lower the body’s natural immune response. People who consume a lot of sugar are more likely to get bacterial infections than are people who avoid sugar. Sugar is also indicated in digestive problems, because too muchsugar can cause higher acid amounts in the stomach. This can lead to diarrhea, particularly in those who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome.
• Pregnant women who eat too much sugar raise their risks for developing preeclampsia. In fact, pregnant women have their urine levels monitored for high sugar levels as part of their routine prenatal care. Many pregnant women benefit from eating a low to no sugar diet.
• Some other health conditions in which sugar may play a role include:
• Liver and pancreatic disease
• Premature aging
• Eczema
• Kidney disease
• Osteoporosis
• Poor absorption of minerals
• With so many health risks associated with sugar, it helps to have a guide on how to avoid excess sugar. A few things can help. Eat sugary treats only occasionally. Avoid simple carbohydrates like white rice and white flour. Do not eat packaged foods, especially cereals. Read labels on foods to see which contain sugar or high fructose corn syrup. Especially avoid soda, as this is like drinking liquid sugar.

Personal Effects:
All around all of those symptoms are ugly. My own personal side effects include massive migraines. Anyone who has had anything close to a migraine knows their fun effects.

Test yourself:
Do this: Read all the label of what you consume right before you eat it. Usually, with the thought of impending ingestion and the thought of all those nasty grams of sugar it will quench your appetite. You will start to feel better in a week or two. In a sense,  you are taking first steps to retain your ability to eat for a healthier you. Remember everything is good in moderation but sugar is in everything except for the veggies I purchase at the super market.

Questions:
Do you have a favorite healthy portable snack? If you have more travel and eating healthy ideas I’d love to hear them! Send em over.

Photo Credit

The other evening I met friends for a wine tasting there. For cost, the value was exceptional. It included a dinner plate sampling of several entrees as well as a complimentary wine pairing. The experience allowed for a briefing sampling of their other menu items and I was not displeased.

One negative, when seated in the center of the dinning room the acoustics are exceptional. You can hear everyone else’s conversations at other dining tables. The down fall is you cannot hear the person sitting next to you. I’m assuming it is the result of the way the ceiling is shaped. Best idea when you want to grab a serious conversation of business negotiation aim for the seating closer to the walls. The food is delicious where ever you sit.

They offer a wine club that I would strongly recommend.  Wine Club
Eat well!

Activities
This month, I have the extreme pleasure of visiting Sedona which is a two-hour ride from Scottsdale, AZ. It was nice to escape the heat into the mountains with a high intensity cardio plan in mind.  I grabbed my CamelBak and toted my mountain bike up to the Solder’s Pass Trail of Route 89A. If you are driving up to Sedona 89A from Cottonwood, AZ is an excellent and beautiful drive into Sedona. The trail is intense and is a long intense trail that winds down into The Village of Oak Creek through Schnebly Hill and Route 179.

Some local incredible features include Devil’s Kitchen ( a huge sink hole from 1891) and Seven Pools where rain water pools. I’ve been visited Sedona every couple of months for the last 5 years and every time I find a new location or unique rock structure unlike anything I’ve ever seen. From a fitness perspective, this is one of the many locations you can just jump into the wilderness and trail run or hike within an hour.

As you can imagine all this exciting outdoors adventures does turn into a lot of sweating, (one of my least favorite experiences) and I want to find some quiet and comfortable place to write on my laptop.

Location
To make a full day of it I headed over to the Hilton Sedona Resort & Spa. Although, I did not stay at the resort I did indulge in all the amenities the Spa had to offer. The spa offers a private lap pool with poolside service, tennis courts, a fully stocked and overly accommodating ladies locker room, a fitness room that could keep me busy for hours, massages and treatments, and a luxury golf course across the street. In addition there is a cafe and a hairdresser on site. The cost for Hilton Spa access is $20.00 for the day for non-guests and gives you access to all the amenities except the spa treatments and golf.

User Experience
Upon walking in you are in a tranquil setting and the hostess behind the desk immediately welcomes you and discussed all the elements the spa has to offer. The offer you a private locker key so you can dump off you gym bag and travel light.

After exploring the spa my travels took me to the Fitness Center because well… I’m like a kid in a candy store around weigh machines. Have to try them all! The room was clean and the equipment was very new and fully functioning.  At the tennis courts I indulged in the ball machine which I scheduled for an hour with when I signed in to the spa. Special perks are the phones at the Hilton, from any blue phone you can order drinks/food and they bring it to you! TOTALLY fabulous experience! I am a big fan of feeling catered too and cared for.  (Many businesses seem to miss this element and fail on user experience).

After showering and heading to pool to set up in a cozy chair, views of the incredible red rock formations in sight, with my laptop I was very comfortable and the surroundings were quiet. So, amazingly quiet you could hear the white puffy clouds forming above you. Snapping back from my inspirational moment to write another chapter. My salad and margarita arrived as a good sign of another break to be had. The salad was delicious and fresh. The service was prompt and they came to pick up my plate and freshen up my drink moments after I finished. A particular aspect of service I crave is the clean up. If you eat outside the leftover plate attracts flies and bees and it is terrific if the area is cleaned promptly.

After and hour and handful of laps I retired to the ladies locker room to clean up and spend sometime in the hot tub before my ride home. There are many amenities including all toiletries are included. I particularly love the conditioner smells like something I can’t recognize but calming. There are many facilities and amenities I have not mentioned but worthy of experimenting yourself. I would highly recommend if you need a private escape off the map for the day this is an excellent location.

Something about Sedona is a clarifying on a deeper level. The stress and deadlines just melt away into accomplished bullet points and time management for the next week.

Extra Note: I grabbed dinner at A Fork In The Road down the hill. Read my review HERE.

Ratings:

(Very simply we rate on a 1-5, 5 being the best rating.)

Spa: 5
Sports: 3
Pool: 4
Fitness Center: 4
Meals: 4
Service: 5
Room: N/A

Yelp Reviews Online:

The healthier I am on the inside the healthier  and more insightful business products I can produce for my clients!

The Berry Shake

Required: Blender, glass and a straw color of your choosing:)

• Frozen organic berries, mixed berries or fresh berries.
• Granola. I buy the organic and try to stay away from the “favored” version. That is when you get the processed and preservative junk.
• Almond Milk. Unsweetened, unflavored almond milk.
• 6oz yogurt. Flavor of your choosing. (6oz is equal to one standard serving of yogurt.)
• Ice cubes if you want the drink colder.
• Flax Seeds (4 tablespoons)
• Nuts. Unsalted sliced almonds, walnuts, pecans.
• Oatmeal. Raw and uncooked (2 handfulls)
• The Green Vibrant Boost. A green powered super charged with Green goods, probiotics supporting the four foundations of your body systems. (1 scoop) *Tastes awful by itself.

You can add stuff at will. This drink fills me up for hours because it is dense with nutrients. In the above recipe I have stripped all the preservatives and processed items out of it.

Travels take us places in life that we either decided to go to or sometimes we unexpectedly just end up there. This evening I am in Sedona, AZ enjoying the cool air under pristine night’s sky and twinkling stars.

Lots of buisness growth poised for the Fall. It’s is fun times ahead for my little company! Many small biz products going live; originally we just shared them with clients but with so much interest it seems time to create product and sharing with the rest of the world.

Life is good and change is excellent when embraced!

Interact:
What changes do u have planned for Fall? Any new business endeavors in sight?