Need some good food recommendations? There’s an app for that. The latest food app to roll out of cyberspace is Foodspotting which allows users to “post photos of their fave dishes on the site to share with others hungry for the same sort of thing, which is why Foodspotting’s motto is “Find dishes, not just restaurants.”

There’s a new cleanse in town founded by raw foodie September Crawford. Based in Los Angeles, appropriately named the Red Carpet Cleanse is “a custom-prepared, fresh and vibrant, from the finest of living-food ingredients. Whether you’re on a first-time journey to change your diet and start into a healthy lifestyle, or you’re a seasoned food maven, Red Carpet Cleanses are for you.” Try this cleanse for five days and you’ll be ready for your red carpet close-up.

Anissete’s pain au chocolat. According to Jonathan Gold: “I have tasted way more than my share of these, both in Los Angeles and in systematic paths through the bakeries of Paris, but it was not until I tasted Alain Giraud’s compact beauties that I finally realized the crisply intense breakfast pastry’s ultimate purpose: not as a mere accompaniment to a café au lait and not just to showcase the chocolate, but as the ultimate expression of the gamy, slightly tart roundness of cultured butter. At such times is one’s soul exposed to God.”

My thoughts: Flaky. The quality of the chocolate was obvious. This is the pain au chocolat to eat if you so happen to be craving it. Pastries strategically placed near the oysters on ice, which I will have to try next time. Do I need to eat this before I die? Probably not because if you’ve been to Paris, well…

Anisette Brasserie, 225 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica. (310) 395-3200

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and big-time foodie Jonathan Gold recommends 99 things to eat in LA before you die. His column “Counter Intelligence” in the LA weekly has enlightened LA foodies of Los Angeles’ vast array of ethnic neighborhoods and their restaurants. Jonathan Gold is definitely a good thing for LA, especially since this city has turned into a transplant mecca, many of them who won’t leave their insular neighborhoods (especially westsiders). As a native Angeleno, my curiosity about Mr. Gold’s recommendations has finally got the best of me and I am determined to try all 99 things that he thinks we should eat before we die.

Jonathan Gold states about Huckleberry’s Maple-Bacon Biscuits: They have maple. And bacon. They’re reasonably flaky, with a deftness one doesn’t often see in things of this sort. Zoe Nathan is stepping up as the pastry chef of her generation in Los Angeles, coming out of a time and place where every apple tart was rustic, every croissant unglazed, every fruit from the farmers market, every pastry dashed with an appropriate lick of salt. And did I mention the bacon?”

My thoughts: These were less like biscuits and more like scones. The texture was crumbly yet dense with barely a hint of bacon. I expected the biscuit to taste more like something than nothing. Definitely disappointed, wouldn’t rush back to get more and did I mention, where’s the bacon? Did I need to eat this before I died? No. On another note, the sample of coffee cake I tried was moist and delicious. The other pastries, croissants and coffee cakes looked yummy. I bought a loaf of ciabatta that you need to eat before you die.

“Food safety regulators on Tuesday made public a January warning letter to Eggo waffle maker Kellogg Co in which they said the company had not gone far enough to address food safety violations at its Atlanta frozen food plant.” (MSNBC) With all of these food recalls happening on your most popular processed foods why leave your health to Big Food? What’s a healthier alternative? An almond butter and jelly sandwich - two slices of Ezekial bread, 1 1/2 Tb of Almond Butter and 1 t of jam. All that for about 400 calories.

Happy Valentine’s Day. I’m using this as a forum for my own accountability to stick to this eating plan. So the first day of the 5 “no’s” went by without a hitch. It was pretty easy actually. And felt good to pass up on the sugar despite the tantalizing cream puff that was offered. Ended up eating tons of fruits and veggies…is that why I woke up with more energy this morning? Breakfast consisted of gluten free pancakes made with Trader Joe’s gluten free pancake mix, egg substitute, oil, water and blueberries topped off with Grade B Maple Syrup which, by the way, is not considered sugar.

Here are some good natural sugar substitutes:

• Honey
• Agave
• Rice Syrup
• Maple Syrup
• Date Syrup

Most people think that just because I am a Registered Dietitian I have a healthy diet. Granted I work out regularly which luckily keeps me in shape. But I do have my moments with the chip bag and plate of brownies. Assumptions by other people about what I eat really got me to thinking - what do I eat? And truthfully I kinda cringe when I think about it. Aside from the week cleanse I did in November my diet has been far from stellar over the last few months. More carbs than anything else (no wonder I can’t get rid of that stomach pooch!), lots of sugar, caffeine, some alcohol and definitely lacking on the veggies. So last night I got into some heavy research on vegetarianism and veganism and read about what Oprah did last year with her 21 day vegan diet, which entailed sticking to the 5 “no’s”…no sugar, no meat, no caffeine, no dairy, no eggs. Since I don’t want to give myself a shock I’ll start out with giving up a couple things at a time - meat and sugar.

This morning I got up a little after the crack of dawn and headed to a yoga class. My poor body hadn’t seen a yoga mat in a couple of weeks and was grateful for the stretch. I followed that up with a simple breakfast - 1 cup of cooked millet, 1 Tb of almond/flaxseed butter and 1/2 a banana. As I was preparing breakfast I thought about how easy it is to know what you are putting into your body when your ingredients are so simple. I’m getting some meal ideas from chef Tal Ronnen who cooked for Oprah while she was doing her cleanse and trying to keep the recipes as simple as possible. Being a healthy and balanced takes some planning, which is actually a good thing. It forces you to take some time out for yourself to do something good for you. This way of conscience eating may affect other aspects of my life in a more positive way.

Eating chocolate has just gotten sweeter. So many people feel guilty because they eat chocolate associating it with being a “bad” food. Guess what? There are so many great health benefits to eating chocolate that wipes all that guilt away.

So here’s the science behind it. A 2008 study found that people who ate a small amount of dark chocolate a day (about 6.7 grams) had lower levels of a protein that is associated with inflammation in their blood. Other recent studies have found that blood platelets clump together more slowly in chocolate eaters. Clumping platelets can lead to the formation of blood clots, which in turn can cause a heart attack. Chocolate consumption may lower blood pressure, help prevent formation of artery plaques and improve blood flow, according to other research. Eating chocolate may even help with math, or at least counting.

The best chocolate to eat is unsweetened because it has the greatest concentration of flavonoids - flavonoids - the antioxidants that are thought to help protect cells against damage that might come from environmental toxins. If that’s to bitter for you go for ones that have a higher percentage of cacao above 65%. And remember - moderation!

Valentine’s Day is not just for lovers. It’s a time to express your love to the people you love. A moment to open your heart to the world, possibly forgiving those who wronged you and letting go of all the negative energy that surrounds them.

This is an appropriate reminder from The Daily Om.

“Approaching life with an open heart means that we have opened the door to a greater consciousness within ourselves. Recently Western science has found evidence to support this realization. It turns out that the heart has its own central nervous system and is not simply under the rule of the brain as formerly believed. Anyone who has taken the time to explore the heart knows this and, more important, has realized that the heart is the source of our connection to a consciousness greater than the ego. Approaching life with an open heart means that we have opened the door to this greater consciousness, taking up residence alongside it in the seat of our soul. Fortunately, at this time there is a lot of support for this shift energetically as well as practically. To some degree, approaching life with an open heart is as simple as shifting your attention onto your heart. This process asks us to practice some of the heart’s greatest lessons - patience, compassion and unconditional love.”

Ever curious about the world of raw food but don’t know where to start? Being a raw foodie doesn’t mean you have to munching on carrots all of the time. There are so many delicious recipes out there you’ll have a hard time believing your food hasn’t been cooked. Try Leaf Cuisine’s Raw Food Academy where super experienced raw food chef Rod Rotondi will demonstrate how to make nut milks, smoothies and hummus. He will teach you the secrets to sprouting, dehydrating, dressings, dips, soups, salads, entrees, desserts, crackers and so much more. You’ll leave with an arsenal of recipes and techniques that will make you think twice about making that salad from the bag.