The Fit Foodie 5K

If you've been following my blog and social media posts, you know that I recently spent two weeks in Japan. And while the overall Japanese diet is one of the healthiest around, there were lots of noodles and rice along the way. I am excited to be a race ambassador for the upcoming Cooking Light + Health Magazine Fit Foodie Race Weekend, hosted by John Hancock. The Austin event is June 24-26, with the main 5K race/walk being Saturday morning at Mueller.

There's a reception Friday night, followed by the race itself on Saturday with lots of sponsor booths, culinary demos, and mini fitness classes. On Sunday, there will be a cardio sweat session for those inclined! The main race on Saturday is $35 to register, but prices will go up to $55 on Monday, June 13th, so hurry up and join me! I'll be the one walking! :)

A portion of the event proceeds go to the American Diabetes Association. Until then, I'll be checking our some of my old Cooking Light cook books for healthy inspirations!

Refreshed from the R3 Summit!

Last weekend, October 17-18 was the Prevention Magazine R3 Summit -- refresh, revive, and reinvent. Held at the Long Center here in Austin, the event brought together presenters and panelists from the health, fitness, and beauty industries. Here's a quick look at what I attended.

Friday night was the kickoff reception and the screening of the movie Resistance, which looks at the use of antibiotics in our food and medicine supply; there's a preview of the movie in the link. Following the screening was a panel discussion with the director Michael Graziano and other health experts.

On Saturday, you could check out fitness classes -- with Barre3 founder Sadie Lincoln or exercise trainer Chris Freytag.

Or hear panel presenters. The keynote speaker of the weekend was actress, model, and L'oreal spokeswoman Andie MacDowell. She now 56, and embraces her age and her look. Through her teens and 20s as a model, she was constantly pressured to be very thin, but it did not suit her physically or emotionally to be rail thin. She says everyone has to find their healthy weight, and you can't be healthy if you're starving, and said "I don't want to waste time being miserable." She's right: life's too short.

Another panel which was moderated by Prevention dietitian Ashley Koff, and included local chef Sonya Cote of Eden East. They stressed eating clean -- things with real food ingredients, no additives! And Sonya also did one of the cooking stage demos. I wish I had caught more of the panel on nutritional supplements, but from the tail end that I heard, the experts were keen on curcumin and Vitamin D3, and you definitely want to take ones from quality manufacturers.

I also really enjoyed:
Creating your own personalized fragrance; I made a body lotion with grapefruit, ginger, and a light musk scent!

 Get your chakras balanced... something I probably need more of, as well as a better understanding of it all!

Fabulous henna tattoos... the top picture is my friend Girl Gone Grits getting her hand done, and the bottom pic is my finished henna! It literally took 2 minutes for the lady to complete the design on my hand! And 10 days later, you can still see the image on my skin. (Yes, I am washing my hands, but not exfoliating them!) Pretty much every person I saw at the event had some sort of henna design on them.

And of course, the heart of it all! (From Applegate Farms, one of the main sponsors.)

Thanks, Prevention Magazine for inviting me to be a Very Important Blogger for the R3 Summit! Look forward to next year! Disclosure: I was an invited guest of Prevention to the R3 Summit; all opinions are my own.