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The Weekly Eater
AFTER a couple years of fairly mild summers, it feels like this is going to be the hot one. Healthy grinds
at The Gym --
what a conceptYou knew you were going to have to shed those sweater sets some time. That means bare arms and bare shoulders in air-conditioned camisole tops. Time to work out like a madman! I chose to go the hip-hop route.
Problem is, one does work up an appetite stomping, kicking, thrusting hips and shoulders and generally making like a flex Barbie in the hands of 2-year-old. And with the Muvement Center's proximity to Kaimuki's restaurant row, well, it sort of defeats the purpose of working out when my friends and I end up at Azteca afterward, or Big City Diner, chowing down on burgers, or worse, at Cafe Laufer scarfing down ice cream desserts.
The futility of it all came to me as I lay on the floor in dead cockroach position, trying to kick myself up into standing mode.
"Don't worry," our instructor cooed, "No one gets it the first time."
"Yeah right," I said, "Maybe never!"
THE GYM HONOLULU
Food1/2
Atmosphere
Service
ValueAddress: 768 South St.
Don't let this happen to you. Exercise regularly. Eat sensibly. On the last count, I find there is a great opportunity out there for someone to create a spa with a companion restaurant. Hyatt and Ko Olina restaurants have a few vegetarian items on their menus to complement their spa services, but this is a limited approach to health and wellness tourism so talked about today. If Hawaii is to be competitive globally, someone needs to commit to getting the food right also.Chefs have complained that when they do offer healthy items, no one orders them. That's because the restaurant setting is celebratory, social, conducive to pigging out. Show people a steak and they will take it.
A spa setting, instead, is stark, pure, elemental, conducive to fruit salads, low-sodium ratatouille or mesclun with a few pieces of shrimp. No deprivation there.
UNTIL this happens, we can check out a couple of gyms where staffers are wise to the body-diet connection. Why, I had never set foot in The Gym behind our building, even though the sign I walk by every day advertises "Food, juice, all day."
Two people work a counter from which they produce smoothies, ham, chicken or turkey sandwiches ($5.50 to $5.25 on bagel or multi-grain bread), a Greek salad light on feta cheese but heavy on kalamata olives ($5), a turkey wrap ($4.75) with a low-fat Caesar-style dressing served with tortilla chips and homemade salsa. Just the basics, but pretty decent.
They could probably come up with a healthier chili. Theirs, made with red beans, kidney beans and some lumps of beef, seems to be high in sodium. It's served on brown rice, which is better for you than white.
If you really want to be healthy, you'll probably have to choose between food or a juice bar specialty. Having both would likely double your caloric intake, but it's so hot outside, chocolate-strawberry and raspberry smoothies ($3.75) are tempting.
And, contrary to the healthy concept, cookies here are wider than a newborn's head. At least giant peanut-butter cookies are egg-free. They're a little more powdery than the usual PB cookie, but taste fairly sinful.
Best thing is, customers at The Gym's food counter look fit and healthy. There's nothing like a dash of hope to rejuvenate mind and body.
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Nadine Kam's restaurant reviews run on Thursdays. Reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Bulletin. Star ratings are based on comparisons of similar restaurants:
-- excellent;
To recommend a restaurant, write: The Weekly Eater, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802. Or send e-mail to features@starbulletin.com
