Dad was still working with the town decades later when another developer came in to tear down the dead retail hulk that the mall had become and replace it with shiny new Target, Costco, Work Out World and other associated retail uses. Our mall had died slowly over the course of several years due to a variety of things including mismanagement and the failure to find and keep a third anchor as one department store after another filed for bankruptcy, but mainly what killed it was the decline in mall usage in general. Our mall was not the only one in our region to die.

Many of these malls are being be torn down and replaced with a newer retail model, something I call the drive-only village, with a cluster of large box stores placed so far apart that you have to get in your car to go from one to the next. Many others are being given superficial face lifts and interior renovations in the hopes of breathing new life into them. However, as Mother Nature Network points out, these building also present an opportunity for adaptation to newer, perhaps greener, uses:

Well, if a mall hasn’t already closed, it can consider one of the new iterations of the contemporary mall. Communities and city planners have gotten creative, using abandoned mall spaces for schools, government offices, medical clinics, casinos, wedding venues, call centers and churches. And while some malls are being torn down and housing or completely new retail buildings are being built, it is much more economically savvy and green to reuse the existing infrastructures.
via A green revolution at our nations malls | MNN – Mother Nature Network.

One of my recent clients did something like this. He found a dead strip mall which has withered from a vibrant retail center to a mostly empty hulk housing only two small restaurants, a dry cleaners, and the occasional short-term furniture liquidator tenant. He cleaned the whole place up, reworking the parking fields, refacing the entire building, and then rather than finding a bunch of chain stores to lease his space to, he creating a new business to occupy the bulk of it–an indoor amusement center and entertainment/banquet venue. He took this huge indoor space and made it home to carnival rides, laser tag, a go-cart speedway, several restaurants, and a classic seaside arcade. What was once an homage to consumerism is now a place where families can spend an afternoon or evening actively playing together and having fun.

While this is not necessarily a “green” use, the clever reuse of the existing building shows that there is truly hope that all these huge buildings littering our communities can be successfully adapted to non-retail uses. I would love to see the indoor park idea brought to life–in fact I suspect that doing so in a mall on life-support might even boost its viability. If the mall had comfortable and landscaped indoor running paths for me to use, they would be luring me in several times a week rather than several times a year! And who’s to say that I wouldn’t wind up stopping by the Starbucks for a post-run drink or check out the newest in running shoes while I was there?

So when I saw this on Grist, it was a much-needed reminder that even the meanest, greenest new gadget is not nearly as green as using up the stuff I already have:

• Use Up, Wear Out, Make Do: Buy Less in 2012 – Lifestyle – GOOD.

Things which you already own have much less of an environmental impact than new things which are made to replace them, even if the new things have a shiny green pedigree. Buying a green replacement for something you already own that you don’t need to replace isn’t green; it’s wasteful.

Giving my life an occasional makeover by buying lots of new things is therefore not in line with my goals of living with a smaller footprint, but I can still have fun creatively reusing what I already own. For example, last weekend I was inspired to reinvent our living room. Rather that buying new furniture and repainting, we rearranged what we had before making any purchases. The space looks completely different, and the costs, both in terms of cash and environmental impact, were limited to a few house plants.

I don’t plan to forsake ever buying anything new (God forbid!), but taking some time to think about whether something I already own will serve my needs is a good habit to develop. And if I do need or want something new, I will still aim to make better decisions, such as looking for something used, especially for things which do not wear out easily, or buying something made with sustainability and/or longevity in mind. My new watch, for example, is only new to me–when my old watch showed signs that it was wearing out and winding down for good, I purchased an heirloom quality watch from the estate (used) case of a trusted jeweler rather than buying a brand new one. In this case I needed a watch, and I met that need with a used piece that is so well made that I can expect it to outlive me.

Now if only someone would start making heirloom quality shoes!

My Omega J8006 with most of the ingredients for my favorite juice.

Back in November at Dr. Furhman’s Weekend Immersion, I picked up an Omega J8006 masticating juicer. I had wanted to take my juicing to the next level, and replacing my old entry-level Juiceman with a more powerful machine was the step I needed to take, though I was afraid that I would be dropping a rather sizable amount of cash on a fancy dust collector if my enthusiasm for juicing waned. So far, it has not, and I owe it in large part to this magnificent machine.

The Omega J8006 doesn’t just make excellent juice. I have also used it to grind flax seeds and coffee (though not together!), make almond butter, and extrude pasta. This multi-tasker has earned a permanent place on my counter, which encourages me to use it almost daily. My favorite juice at the moment is a mixture of kale (5-6 leaves), ginger (a small hunk), cucumber (4-5″ piece of English cucumber), 1 apple, celery (3-4 stalks), carrots (2), and the juice of half a lemon. I credit this juice in combination with topical coconut oil for clearing up my skin.

Like all machines, this one has its good and bad points, so for those of you shopping for a juicer here’s a breakdown of each:

Pros

• Produces a high volume of juice. Seriously, the ejected pulp is practically dry, so I know I am getting the maximum juice for my produce.
• Easily cleaned. I keep the machine right next to the sink, which makes it easy to dump the dirty parts in a sink of hot suds at the end of my juicing session. The included brush is the perfect size for ensuring that any little bits of food leftover are removed from the screen. I find cleaning this machine to be much easier than cleaning my old Juiceman.
• Fairly quite. Since the machine slowly pulverizes the produce, it lacks that horribly loud grinding sound of other types of juicer.
• Multi-tasks. I love that it makes perfect ground flax-seed in addition to excellent juice.
• Looks good. Just look at it! Isn’t it a sexy thing?
• Telling people you have a masticating machine is always good for a few giggles.

Cons

• Produce must be cut before juicing. There’s no shoving whole apples and carrots into this puppy. To deal with the extra work, I set up a cutting board on the counter right in front of the machine, making the work slightly more streamlined.
• Making pasta is hard because it sticks together as it extrudes. A friend (Hi Chris!) recently suggested that I set up the juicer over a pot of boiling water to prevent this, but I have yet to try it.
• Making almonds into butter takes many passes. First you get almond meal. Then you put the almond meal through again and again and again. Eventually it turns into butter, but it takes a while.
• It can get stuck if overfed, especially with seeds. The machine has a reverse gear to help it get unstuck, and over time I have learned where its tolerances are for various substances, but initially I found it annoying.
• One last thing–it doesn’t do citrus. I don’t really see this as a “con”,  but if all you want is fresh OJ, the Omega J8006 is not your machine.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is serious about juicing. The Omega J8006 is worth the expense and can make juicing a simple part of your daily routine for a fraction of what it costs to have someone else juice for you.

I have given up a lot in pursuit of good health. Meat went first, more than 15 years ago. More recently I gave up eggs and dairy (and blue cheese, heaven help me) as I transitioned to an almost completely vegan diet (I cheat with marshmallows and the rare egg and dairy when traveling). I drew the line at gluten, however.

I did try. So many health gurus have been spouting off the benefits of gluten free living that I decided to see what it does for me. Perhaps I was one of those unfortunate souls with a hidden gluten sensitivity! Perhaps it would came me to miraculously drop those last 10 pounds!

I found instead that it made me miserable with no benefit to my health. I did not feel better, but I did feel deprived. It’s not that you can’t have wonderful vegan, gluten-free food, but it takes soooooooooooooo much work for so little reward for someone who doesn’t have a gluten allergy.

It would seem that Doctor Furhman agrees that while gluten is a problem for some, avoiding gluten is not worth the effort for most of us:

Does Going Gluten-Free Equal Fabulously Healthy or Fabulously Foolish? : Disease Proof.

So if you’ve been thinking about giving up gluten, there’s two things you should know:

1. It’s going to be really tough. Gluten hides everywhere. It’s not just in bread and cookies, but also in beer, soups, spices mixtures, and even in envelope glue.

2. If you buy gluten free substitutes for traditional wheat products, it won’t help you lose weight. Often the gluten free version has more calories, as the manufacturer ups the fat and sugar to compensate for the tougher texture.

Despite this, I do include some gluten-free items in my pantry, in part because I came to like them, and in part because I have a friend who cannot eat gluten for genuine medical reasons. I love brown rice pasta. I will make “oatmeal” with quinoa instead of oats. My gluten free-chocolate cupcakes are as good as the wheat version.

But my seitan is all gluten, and my pizza crusts are whole wheat. That’s fine for my system, because I am in the 90% that has no problem with gluten.

As is my usual habit, I am not so much making Resolutions and Setting Goals. There are a few things I want to work on and accomplish in the coming year. They are:

• Learn Spanish. I plan to spend at least one hour a week studying Spanish through Rosetta Stone.
• Improve my photography skills. To do this, I will choose a theme each month to focus on, and then post the best results here.
• Get back to my green schemes. I have drifted away from my ideals the past few months, and it’s time to course correct.
• Train to run my first marathon. This one will take some dedication, as right now I cannot run even 2 miles pain-free. My plan is to spend January and February healing my knee problem, which may be due to IT Band syndrome, and then start training in earnest in March.
• Set up a keg system. I haven’t brewed a batch of beer in months, mainly because I have been too busy for bottling, which can take several hours. Kegging would spare me the need to rinse and sterilize all those bottles, saving tons of time. My plan is to replace the win fridge in the kitchen with an undercounted kegerator to hold two kegs, with taps up on the counter.
• Blog more regularly. I should be able to do one post a week. I’ll aim for Fridays.

What are your goals for the new year?

The main thrust is to eat a diet low in calories but high in nutrients. The focus is on eating greens, onions, mushrooms, berries, beans, and seeds/nuts. Animal products, if consumed at all, should be extremely limited. The basic daily  eating plan looks like this:

• eat 1 pound of raw veggies daily, with a lot of that being green
• eat 1 pound of cooked veggies daily, including some mushrooms and greens
• eat 1 cup of beans daily
• eat some seeds and/or nuts daily (1/2 ounce to 4 ounces, depending on your activity level)
• eat 3-5 fruits daily
• avoid salt, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, and refined grains

There’s a whole bunch of research and science backing up the plan, and you can read more about that on Dr. Furhman’s website or in one of his many books. I’m not going to discuss it all here, but the information is out there if you care to learn more. What I’m going to talk about here is implementing the diet, and how it impacts my life.

I already know that this way of eating is powerful because I used this eating plan to drop 30 pounds and get my energy and health back. In the past few months, though, I’ve gone from the occasional compromise to the daily compromise, which lead to gaining back a few pounds and losing the spring in my step. Attending the immersion helped me refocus on my goal of staying healthy and vibrant.

I also already know that this way of eating is not easy. I will compromise, of that I have no doubt. I know that am not going to eliminate my daily cup(s) of coffee–I just brought back several pounds of super-awesome Costa Rican coffee beans, and those are going to be honored and properly consumed! I also have concerns about cutting my salt too low since I have borderline low blood pressure–just two days of salt-free eating caused me to have chest pains, which I take as a warning sign.

That said, I can do a huge daily salad, lots of cooked greens, and a cup of beans. I can avoid the white flour and rice, and I can cut way back on the sugars. I came back from the immersion with a brand new masticating juicer, so I can now also add fresh juiced greens to my day. I can eat those daily nuts and seeds, adding them to my smoothie in place of the isolated protein powders I had been using.

And of course, I can blog about it, sharing my recipes, triumphs, and moments of weakness here with you. I just hope you like reading about kale! If you want to join in the fun, Dr. Fuhrman is running a Holiday Challenge, complete with a free 6-week trial membership to his website, and I encourage you to check it out!

A pretty little mound of Gallo Pinto, splashed with just a wee bit of chili sauce.

While traveling in Costa Rica, I made an effort to sample local flavors. The fruits and fruit juices were amazingly fresh. The tree-ripened bananas, for example, had a depth of flavor that I had never experienced before. I tried many fresh juices, including one made from cocona fruit which I can only hope I will someday get to have again. Roadside vendors sold us agua en pipa (coconut water from an unripe coconut), often drunk straight from the shell, which was the most refreshing thing after a long hike in the jungle.

Many restaurants we went to served both American meals and Typical (local) fare. Of course I had to try to Typical breakfast, which was centered around Gallo Pinto, a hearty mixture of rice and black beans. The Typical breakfast was usually Gallo Pinto with some fried eggs, farmer’s cheese, tortilla, and fruit. I confess to having tried the full deal, since I am sometimes less strict with my vegan rules when traveling abroad and will permit the occasional egg and local cheese. The meal was usually served with a bottle of Salsa Lizano, a green vinegary sauce of which I have become quite fond, and a piping hot cup of amazing Costa Rican coffee.

Last night I whipped up a batch of Gallo Pinto for dinner, splashed with hot sauce and served with salad rather than eggs, though it would also be great with a side of sautéed greens and maybe a little scrambled tofu. The trick with this recipe is to cook it down just enough that you can put it in a mold and have it hold its shape on the plate. I used a 1-cup measuring cup, and you can see in the photo how the mixture held the form. If you don’t have Salsa Lizano on hand, you can splash it with anything vinegary, like a hot sauce.

Gallo Pinto
makes 6-8 servings

• 1 cup long grain brown rice cooked in 2 1/2 cups water (about 3 cups when cooked)
• 3 cups canned or cooked black beans
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, cut in a small dice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 green pepper, cut in a small dice
• 1/2 red pepper, cut in a small dice
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• pinch sea salt
• 2 cups liquid (water, broth, or a combination of the two)

1. Cook the rice and beans, dice the veggies, and measure out the spices before beginning to cook.
2. Heat the coconut oil in a wok or pot. When melted and hot, add onion. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until clear.
3. Add garlic, and cook for about 30 seconds (until fragrant). Add peppers, and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes or so.
4. Stir in spices and pinch of salt, and cook for 30 seconds, then add rice and beans. Stir to mix evenly, then add liquid.
5. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook, stirring vigorously once in a while, until the liquid has reduced or evaporated and mixture is thick enough to mold.
6. Measure out and serve hot. Top with some fresh chopped cilantro if you have it, but don’t worry about it if you don’t!

That's me basking in a little Pura Vida somewhere between San Jose and La Fortuna, Costa Rica.

A few months ago, I declared here my fierce determination to chisel that last 15 pounds off my body. I intended to update you all with my progress, when it happened. Days passed, then weeks, then months. The scale failed to budge much, and I was too embarrassed to write until I could report measurable progress. I’ve done a lot in the last few months that I could have shared here–amazing vegan meals, gardening victories, hurricane survival, and other wonderful adventures unrelated to the number on the scale that was keeping me mum. I even trained for and ran a half marathon, but I ran it at my start weight, so I didn’t write about it.

How friggin pathetic.

Then last week I went on a trip to paradise. I spent a week exploring Costa Rica with my sister, Shannon. As is often the case with travel, it changed me forever and gave my attitude a much needed adjustment. The country was so full of life, and its people so friendly and hospitable. I spent nearly the whole week gawking in amazement, full of the wonder I had thought only children could feel.

The Ticans, as the locals call themselves, have a philosophy called Pura Vida. This literally translates as Pure Life, but it is so much more. It means being full of life–awesome, grand, and amazing life. It means finding the good and wonderful in whatever situation you find yourself. Sometimes it means “Your tour will start when it starts, Gringa, so sit back and enjoy a hot cup of coffee on the house and learn to relax a little.” Sometimes it means “Pull off the road here for a fun adventure that will leave you full of wonder.” But it always means that you should enjoy the moment you are in and milk it for all its worth.

In Costa Rica, I experienced Pura Vida over and over again. I felt it birdwatching in the jungle every time we found another amazing animal that I had never seen before. I felt it when we found familiar species, both bird and plant, in an unfamiliar and wild environment. I felt it soaking in the volcanic thermal springs in the Rio Celeste river in Tenorio National Park. I felt it when the horse I was riding decided to gallop and then to jump over a boulder, forcing me to learn how to ride like a real caballero very quickly. There was so much to thrill and wonder over, that it was all Pura Vida.

Worrying about the numbers on my scale is not Pura Vida, especially if it keeps me from doing things I enjoy, like writing here. So I’m going to let it go. So what if I’ve lost 2 1/2 pound rather than 15? A Pura Vida life is measured in moments, not pounds.

We’ve been together for what feels like ages. You joined me when I ate my way through two pregnancies. You stayed behind when most of the other weight fled, including not only the other pregnancy pounds but also your good friends “The Wine Fridge Ten” and “The Grief Eating 15.” We’ve been through a lot together, but I’m sorry to tell you that it is now time for you to go.

I was fairly patient with you over this winter, assuming that the cold weather was responsible for your lack of motivation to pack up and get out of my life. I figured when the weather warmed up you would start to move on. This spring I tried dropping some not-so-subtle hints, like upping my exercise routine to include weekly kettlebell class, 1.5 hour long sessions in the dojo, and increasing my running distance to six miles. You just don’t seem to be getting it, though. Like a houseguest who has knowingly overstayed his welcome, you have remained oblivious to all the little signals that I’ve grown weary of your presence.

And so it has come to this: no more Mrs. Nice Guy. Today I am serving you with your eviction notice. You have two months to get the hell off my stomach and thighs. I want you gone, and I am prepared to do whatever it takes to get rid of you. That daily dose of chocolate you rely on? It’s history, pal. The extra-big handful of raw nuts and dried fruit after a good workout? Get used to carrots instead. You think 6 miles is long? Let’s go for 13.1.

Get ready to feel my fury, you stubborn son of a bitch.

Yours Truly,

Alli

That's me taking a stroll through a lovely crevice cave.

This past week, my exercise routine included:

• Sunday I ran a lazy three miles in 29 minutes.
• Monday I spent 25 minutes on my bike then marched a mile and a half in a Memorial Day parade.
• Tuesday I took a 1 hour kettlebell class.
• Wednesday  I took a 45 minute strength and conditioning class and a 45 minute MMA class.
• Thursday I ran six miles.
• Friday I took the day off, having no time to exercise. We left early for New York, and I think the rambling around New Paltz that we did after lunch hardly counts as exercise.
• Saturday was filled with the wonderful mountain hike, which was easily one of the best days I’ve had in years. There is nothing like the feeling of climbing to the top of a bluff, feeling exhausted and drained, only to turn around and have your breath stolen away by a stunning view.