As an advocate for health, wellness, and the quest to be your most awesome self, I’d like to share with you my favorite destinations for healthy meals in Buffalo and the delicious options they offer that are both nutritious and yummy.  Today’s featured restaurant for great healthy eats in Western New York is Cafe 59, a casual and charming cafe on Allen Street in the city of Buffalo.  The staff is always wonderful, the soup is homemade, and the salads are bountiful; Cafe 59 is the perfect place to go for a healthy meal.

Anytime I go to Cafe 59, I get one of their vegetarian soups. From pumpkin ginger to white bean and kale, the soups always taste fresh and are never overly salted. They have vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, and meat-eater-friendly varieties to choose from each day and I’m convinced they’re the reason the line goes out the door around lunchtime each day. That being said, my absolute favorite healthy lunch item at Cafe 59 is the Mediterranean Salad. This salad is unbelievable, and arguably the very best in Buffalo. Sitting atop a large bed of mixed field greens, you’ll find house-made hummus, tabbouleh, and grilled eggplant, plus your dressing of choice (go Greek!). The hummus is the best I’ve ever tasted, the eggplant is always cooked perfectly, and the tabbouleh is delightful.  I love the way all of the ingredients blend together to make a truly delicious and hearty meal filled with protein, fiber, and so.much.flavor.  I get my salad without feta to keep it vegan and skip the pita to keep it light, but enjoying those would not completely ruin the nutritional value of the salad.

Cafe 59 is definitely my favorite place in Buffalo for soup, and their Mediterranean Salad is literally my favorite salad in the entire Western New York region. Besides my favorite items, the cafe provides a very large menu full of great sandwiches, soups, salads, and other items.  I hear from a reliable source (my boyfriend) that the reuben sandwich is outstanding!

Check out Cafe 59 as soon as you can…You can thank me later. 🙂

Be well.

As a dancer, I need Pilates to help me find my core intuitively while I’m dancing, and balance my strength and flexibility for optimal movement efficiency.

Contact me to learn more about how Pilates improves dance performance.

For people like me, who aren’t die-hard runners or devout Yogis, the best way to stay happy and healthy is to keep it interesting and try a variety of workouts.  Maybe you’ll find something that you fall in love with and do it forever, maybe not, but you’ll most certainly have a lot of fun and work up a sweat along the way.  I love Pilates and I do it often.  I also enjoy yoga, weight training, dance and barre classes, and hiking.  What’s really amazing though, is taking the time to try something I’ve never done before, like pole dancing.

pole dancing buffalo

Yes, that’s right, pole dancing.  The class, at Pole Play on Hertel Avenue, is a great time whether your goal is to get a little sexy and have fun or gain strength and work up a sweat.  I had a lot of fun shaking my booty and practicing how to be confident and sexy.  I could have done without the tidbits about what a man thinks is sexy, but I understand why that had to be said in a class that’s based on the sport of exotic dancing.  What I could NOT have done without though was the fun music, laughter, and bad a** feeling of climbing up that pole.  I’m hooked on the sensation of clutching the pole and working my abs, arms, and legs to climb up the pole, balance, and spin down.  Was it hard to get up the pole?  Yes.  Did I look pretty doing it?  No.  But did I work hard and feel the burn?  Absolutely!

In the class I attended we learned some sexy dance moves, climbed the pole, learned a few balances on the pole, and danced to fun music. And that’s just the first class.  I challenge you to Youtube competitive pole dancing and not be impressed.

The hour long class flies by and this may just be because I have a dance background, but nothing about the environment felt intimidating at all.  If you can let go, have fun, and strive to climb the pole you’ll get a great workout and feel sexy and confident when you walk out the door.

Working out in the winter can get monotonous and uninspiring so if you’re looking for something to spice up your fitness routine, I highly recommend a pole dancing class.  Seriously.