Veg Out

Is it just me, or are restaurants becoming a lot better about accommodating allergies and dietary restrictions? Two years ago I never would have dreamed I would be able to find a bakery with nut-free treats. And now I know of two.

I also used to never be able to eat at vegan restaurants. In fact, I've called London's only fully vegan restaurant, Veg Out, a few times in the past to ask if they can accommodate nut allergies, but each time I was told it would be too risky. But this week when I called again I got a different answer: they said it would be no problem and that they would be sure to take measures to prevent contamination in the kitchen. This made me so happy!

So on Saturday evening I went there for dinner with my friends Andrea and Rae, who are both big fans of the restaurant. It had such a cute cozy feeling inside - I almost felt like I was eating at someone's house.

For my meal I was debating between the tempeh bacon mushroom melt sandwich and the "bowl of plenty" with greens, veggies, sprouted lentils, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, and apricots, but when I heard the daily special, I was sold. It was a sweet potato stuffed with curried chickpeas and spinach - yum!

I was so impressed with this meal, and also with the great service. The waitress did a great job of taking care of me and making sure all my allergy-related questions were answered by the kitchen.

I wish I wasn't moving out of the city in 4 days, because I could definitely see myself becoming a regular here!

What's your favourite kind of stuffed vegetable?

Do you have any allergies or dietary restrictions that make it hard to eat at restaurants?

Running update

Well, it's been a while since I talked about anything remotely fitness related on this blog, hasn't it? It's because my passion when it comes to fitness is running... which I haven't been able to do regularly since last July.

The last time I blogged about running in March, I mentioned that I was gradually starting to run again through very slow run/walk intervals. But a few weeks ago I started experiencing knee and hip pain again.  So that put an abrupt end to my return to running and sent me back to my physiotherapist for another assessment.

When I went to a sport medicine doctor in November, I was told I had patello-femoral syndrome because of my weak leg and glute muscles, which cause my knees to collapse inwards. So I've been doing exercises given to me by my physiotherapist to strengthen them, such as clamshells and hip bridges.

My legs look like the picture on the right when running.

But when I returned last week complaining of hip pain, she did a more extensive evaluation of my pelvic area and told me I also have awkward posture. Basically in my natural standing position I tend to tuck my tailbone in instead of pushing it out a bit, which is contributing to my hip and lower back pain. So I was given even more exercises to do:

1. Stand in a lunge position with my front leg on a step and gently push forward with my hips, keeping a straight posture, then return to my starting position.

2. Sit on a stability ball and push my pelvis forward all the way, then push it back all the way while keeping a straight posture.

I'm really frustrated because this pain should not have kept me sidelined from running for so long - it's been more than 8 months! I think I'm partially to blame though because I haven't been taking my recovery as seriously as I should - I stopped going to physio after January and I've been terrible at remembering to do my exercises every day.

But it turns out there's another cause to my pain that is not my fault. On Monday I had an appointment with a foot specialist and found out I have extremely flat feet, which cause my knees to turn inward when running and contributes to my problems. So he had me fitted for a pair of orthotics, which will help correct that! He seemed pretty confident that the lack of sufficient support in my shoes is one of the major reasons why I'm still experiencing pain.

I'm hoping between doing my physio exercises (and staying committed to doing them) and getting these orthotics, I'll be able to kick this pain for good and get back out running this summer!!!

Have you ever been sidelined from exercise due to pain or injury? Did recovery go smoothly for you or did you encounter lots of obstacles?

If you've ever done physio, how do you stay motivated to do your exercises?