Galina Ivanova DenzelYou may know me as Galya from Eat Love and Train, a blog I started to support my online fitness and nutrition clients in their search for easy quick recipes and better health. I am a personal trainer, nutrition coach, corporate health counselor, writer and recipe creator. Together with Diana Shingarova, I am the creator of the Art of Real Food, a Bulgarian collection of delicious, beautiful and inspiring recipes for modern, yet healthy urban living, recipes that go back to our roots and connect our soul with our plate. I recently moved to the US where I am navigating a whole new grocery jungle, but I am able to find stores that carry great quality food and farmers' markets that inspire with local variety.
I believe in cooking, not the kind that keeps you chained to the kitchen stove for hours, but the kind that frees you to be a magician: putting together ingredients that start their own reactions, chopping the right herb on top of your spring salad, warming up the right spice to drop in your 2 ingredient soup, making simple foods play off each other in a way that feeds, satisfies and pleases.
I will be sharing recipes that are made from scratch, using only a couple of healthy and tasty ingredients, giving you time saving and nurturing options, whether you are looking to lose fat or maintain a healthy weight.
If you have a question or want to schedule an online consultation regarding your meal plan or workouts, drop me a line at eatloveandtrain [at]gmail [dot]com
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| please eat dessert responsibly |
You may have followed me from my personal blog, little dog lost, where I do have quite a few thoughts on food and cooking, but in the way, you'll also find stories about my life, my quest for the girl, movies, getting the girl, kettlebells, keeping the girl, and also some stuff on nutrition. Having landed said girl (Galina, above), I'm not so much lost anymore, but I'm letting that title ride!
Speaking of dogs, you can find me and my far-too-many-posts over at the JPFitness Forums, where I'm known as Lost Dog. Over there, there's not just talk about fitness, but about health and nutrition, plus some cooking, as well. That's the place I like to hang out. It's the Cheers of the internet. Go see.
My philosophy on food, nutrition, and cooking is complicated in its simplicity and extreme in its moderation. On one hand, I think most grains are best left uneaten, yet tacos al pastor often call my name. I often eat fast food and make the best of it, because a sitdown bunless burger at $10 is no more healthy or unhealthy than a $3 bunless burger at In-N-Out. I own a million cookbooks, and never follow any of the recipes. I prefer to cook simple food, yet my mole sauce has dozens of ingredients. What can you do?
My goal here at Meal Survivor is to share what I've learned about food, nutrition, and cooking since I lost all my weight and kept it off. I haven't been deprived, and I've stayed fit and lean for almost ten years now, all the while surviving on a healthy, fun, and satisfying combination of home cooked meals, smart restaurant and fast food choices, and even selected favorite "box foods" from quality stores like Trader Joe's.
I'm basically about the meat and veggies, but don't confuse that with the American-style "meat and potatoes" guy; meat and veggies from any culture will do it for me. I minimize my grains, and avoid the evil seed oils when possible. My wife sometimes mocks me for my paleo leanings, yet in my beliefs I continue to stand erect! ...and I think she respects that about me.
You can reach me at rdenzel@gmail.com, by the way.
Elisabeth (Lisa) Wolfe
I’m newer to this whole fitness world than Galya and Roland—I met the lovely couple two years ago, in Kansas City, at the JP Fitness Summit. At the time, I had had vague thoughts of becoming a trainer, but it was kind of a wild dream as it represented a total career shift (I had been Executive Director of a Nonprofit Montessori School). Not only was it a career shift, I had only been “athletic” for a short time—I grew up as the uncoordinated chubby kid and I had been a chubby adult my entire life. That Summit changed my life and I decided then to become a trainer.
Over the last five years, I’ve gone through major life changes—I recovered from a life-threatening, chronic illness; rebuilt my health and lost 60 pounds; left a business that had been my life for 10 years; assisted a friend with building her business; changed careers; left a marriage of 21 years; and finally, as a single mom of three children, I am in the midst of building a thriving fitness business, which includes everything from one-on-one fitness coaching to a Bootcamp out of the largest rec center in Pasadena, CA.
Through all of it, I have had to feed myself and my family. One of my major challenges was eating healthily; I was always a bit overweight or downright fat through my entire adult life, through my early 40’s. So I not only had to feed people, I had to do it in a way that I could lose weight and/or maintain. It’s been a huge learning process.
When I was single in my 20’s, I ate poorly—I don’t have much motivation to cook for myself. However, with a family, I had to put food on the table every night, with the added challenge that I was teaching myself for the first time to eat well and to lose weight. It’s a good thing I had someone to cook for, because it forced me to eat better than I would have otherwise.
Somehow, I’ve done it—and in my own sporadically updated blog, I’ve documented some of my cooking in unattractive pictures. Convenience has had to rule my life, and I’ve generally been able to do it since I do enjoy cooking and I am pretty good at it(the business I helped my friend with was catering). Recently, a single client of mine has been having trouble losing weight and I reflected on how hard it is to cook for oneself, so I revisted the idea of a blog of convenience food and the idea for Meal Survivor was born. Luckily for you dear readers, I have the experienced bloggers Galya and Roland to help with this project.