I know sounds like an oxymoron but yes it is possible to get injured doing yoga. Especially the kind you find being practiced at most gyms and advanced yoga studios in the US.

I consider myself a pretty advanced asana practioner, but for the past 4 months or so have maintained a consistent 6-7 day a week practice. Many of my classes are very physically challenging (Baptiste Power Yoga is the style).

Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue as my body would have time to heal, but I started developing a bit of aching in my wrists. Instead of doing the smart thing and modifying poses (which you are told to do in case of soreness or injury) or taking a few days off, I just decided to power through.

Using a laptop computer 12 hours a day didn’t help matters.

In the end, one class was especially challenging, and I my right wrist was super-sore afterwards.

I continued to going to class for a week or so, modifying poses whenever arm balances were in order. The pain was not and is not that bad, in fact, I could practice through it without a problem, but I fear it getting worse.

Therefore, I took 3 days totally off, and did an Iyengar practice that  was much easier on my wrists. Iyengar practices focus on alignment, and I figure it would be a good thing for me to really delve deeply into to prevent any further injuries.

I figured out that my injury was caused by improper hand position and pressure. My position was just a few degrees off, but after hundreds of Sun A and B’s. this eventually wears you down.

Moral of this story is to never stop focusing on the basics, even if you are advanced. Really nail technique and you’ll go much farther over the long run and be more likely to avoid any injuries.

I’m now enjoying the Green Smoothie you’ll see in these pictures.

It never occurred to me to throw cucumbers or celery in the Vita-Mix, but after reading Anthony’s blog for a while and his comments about cucumbers being good for skin, I figured I would try it out. Celery is also a fantastic source for electrolytes, which is perfect for active folks like me. Especially with all the yoga I do (the room is heated to 95 degrees), I lose a lot of fluid through sweat every day.

This smoothie has a very neutral taste.I just finished a 7.5 mile run, and ate half a pineapple when I got home. After doing some things around the house, I was a little hungry and decided this would be a good way to get some of the micronutrients back into my body that I lost through sweat on the run.

As a bonus…I was dropping off a few things at the goodwill 1 mile down the road, and discovered a little farmers market tucked into a small park there! It has a whole bunch of local produce, including the pint of strawberries I had for breakfast, and the 1 medium sized cucumber and three celery stalks used in this smoothie.

I cut the ends off the cucumbers and the bottoms off of the celery, but that is it. I don’t peel anything. Especially not the cucs, you want all that green stuff in you!

A little longer than I planned. I really like exploring new areas, and now that I’ve moved to Downtown Bellevue, there are plenty of new areas to explore. Today I ran through Clyde Hill and Medina, past Bill Gates house and back along Lake Washington Blvd to Bellevue.

Details about the route here.

Just got back from seeing Bigger, Stronger, Faster. The movie is OK.

It’s a documentary about steroid abuse, and how people will really do anything to get ahead, even if it could cost them their lives in the long-run.

I’ll cut straight to the punch. 1. Quality 2. Timing

I should know a thing or two about this. I spend the first half of my life as a massively overweight kid. I tried all sorts of tricks and different diets. It took me a long time to realize that are just two simple things you need to get a handle on to get complete control of your diet.

Understanding these two simple concepts gives you the intellectual ammo you need to start being aware of the quality of your food choices and the timing around when you eat them.

It’s heck of a lot easier to just focus on these simple guidelines than some other elaborate diet. In fact, if you are following any other diet, just add in these concepts and you’ll be sure to get better results.

1. Quality is all about the nutrient quality of the food you eat. Is it unprocessed? Is it organic? Is it fresh? Is it ripe? There is a lot to be said for quality. You can consume an apple as a mashed up apple that has been sitting in a del monte can on a shelf for years in some warehouse until it makes it to your supermarket and finally to your mouth…..or you can enjoy a fresh, ripe and crisp apple plucked straight from a tree.

There is a difference in the quality of nutrition you get from different food choices. Eating 500 calories worth of pizza is not the same as eating 500 calories worth of fresh greens, avacado and tofu or beans. Even if the “labels” look the same, use your common sense and think about what your body will have to do to digest that food.

In accounting, you look at assets and liabilities, revenue and expenses to measure the health of a business. When you look at food, just don’t think about what it puts into you, think about what your body will have to do (”spend”) to make those nutrients available to every cell in your being.

Focus on quality nutrition. There is no price too high to pay to feed yourself the highest quality food. I hear lots of people complain that organic food costs too much, and in the next breath blow $50 on an overpriced bottle of wine with a dinner. You body deserves the best and most high quality food around.

2. Timing is critical. Eating 500 calories after cycling a century is not the same as eating 500 calories when you are awake at 2am wasting time using the computing instead of going asleep. Your body has a rhythm and digestive fires need a break.

Eating a burger and fries in the middle of a sedentary workday is not the same as eating a high calorie smoothie before a big day of snowboarding.

It is time for common sense.

People get fixed into eating the same things and the same amounts (often too much) regardless of their situation or time. Feed your body what it needs, when it needs it. Don’t feed it what YOU want.

Perhaps the single biggest change people can make to their regarding timing is to limit the size of their final meal in the evening. In many cultures, the evening meal is small, consisting of a few fruits, breads, salads, etc. The midday meals were also lighter unless the daytime was busy with physical activity.

Today, we eat for convenience, which means a skipped breakfast (coffee is the most popular breakfast in the USA…how sad), a quick fast food lunch of pizza or a burger and an oversized dinner to feed a body that has been so starved of real nutrition during the day.

Today I started my day with a large glass of water mixed with dried greens. I ate 1/4 of a large pineapple midmorning and a vegan sandwich with lots of veggies for lunch. I had another 1/4 pineapple for afternoon snack.

After work I did a very intense 90 minute yoga practice, and am now enjoying a smoothie made with 3 celery stalks (great for replenishing electrolytes) and more powedered greens blended in my vita-mix. My dinner will probably be a soup of some sort. Something light. If I don’t wake up in the morning and feel a little hungry, I know I overate at dinner.  I burned a lot of calories in my yoga practice but I still am getting more than what I need because I have timed my nutrition appropriately and am getting high quality and unprocessed nutrients in my body.

This is typical of my average day. Some days I fall off the bandwagon and have a large plate of Chinese food for lunch, in general I try to keep my meals as high quality as possible, and timed appropriately.

Try focusing on quality and timing a bit more during your day and your bound to make better choices. Remember that the goal is not to get it perfect. The goal is to simply make 1-2 changes that stick and move you in a more positive direction. Even a 1% shift in course over the long term will translate to massive positive change over the long term.

Namaste.

(me doing Natarajasana “dancer pose” at Badlands National Park in South Dakota) 

I’ve been practicing for almost 7 years. The past 6 months my practice has been very consistent, making it to a studio 6 days a week on average. For yoga, I have found that practicing more frequently really does yield superior results. I’d go so far as to say it is better to practice 20 minutes every day than for 90 minutes 2-3 times a week.

Yoga is infinitely challenging though. My studio, Shakti Vinyasa, recently switched up a few of their classes, substituting a couple of my the normally “advanced” level II/III classes with “beginner” level I/II classes.

(me doing Trigonasana “triangle pose” in the Grand Tetons)

From my perspective, the levels don’t mean much. I sweat about the same in any class. I also come out of any class feeling worked about the same amount. In a level I class I might go deeper into poses or be able to make some more advanced modifications. With a level III class I might take some modifications to make certain poses easier (e.g. dropping a knee in “twisted crescent lunge”). Either way I get the same “workout” physically, mentally (focus) and emotionally (dealing with ego and expectations).

It’s funny because on many occasions I’ve had people comment about how hard a level III class is or why I am going to a level I “intro” class (meant for people new to yoga). For me, it is all the same. Yoga is yoga. You get out what you put in.

So today I came out of retirement!

I stopped racing for a long time. My last real event being Ironman Coeur D Alene (I know I probably butchered the spelling but oh well). After I imploded during that race I decided to take a step back and stop all my competitive stuff. After over 10 years of racing and over a hundred events…it was time for a break.
Since then I have done a few half-marathons, a few shorter road races and swam across Puget Sound with my friend Kris, but in all cases I really did not race against the clock. I also didn’t train crazy hard either. I didn’t have a training plan, and just did things day by day. I ditched my heart rate monitor and my watch. I took the opportunity to travel more and deepen my yoga and mediation practice.

Lately, Yoga has been (and is) my passion. However, yesterday I really got this feeling, actually more like a compelling urge, to go running. I hopped in my car late in the afternoon and went to the trails at Cougar Mountain, a wooded area filled with challenging trails about 30 minutes drive from my home. When I was serious about training I would do most of my long runs down here.

This time, I parked at my usual trail head and made it about 200 meters (really) before I was slowed to a walk (hey, the trail starts on a steep hill!). I did about 30 minutes in total, a mixture of slow running and fast walking. This was literally the third run I’ve done this year and I realized how despite my diligent yoga practice, my cardiovascular system was not use to dealing with stress at this level!

In yoga, you get an outstanding total body workout with a mildly elevated heart-rate. However you do not get the same prolonged intensity that you would get from a hard bike ride, swim or run.

I decided then and there that is was time to start running again. I got home and saw that a 5K was going on the following morning (today) through Seward Park on Lake Washington in Seattle, WA, so I went on down there today to see where I was at. As added motivation, the Furry 5K supports the Seattle Animal Shelter, and I love animals so if nothing else I would be supporting an outstanding cause by doing the event.

The race itself was a total blast. Having all the animals around was a huge stress reliever for everyone. It was really hard to take anything seriously when you see all these critters running and playing, their owners trying to get them to go in a straight line and sniff each other! There had to be about 1000 runners and walkers….and at least as many dogs.

Walking over to the starting line, I was pretty late and most all the runners were gathered….waiting for the gun to go off in about 5 minutes. I decided to saunter up to the front of the line, like I always do, but then remembered that I haven’t done any training and would definitely get run over! I still stayed about 10 feet from the front, off to the side (which was a good thing since some of the dogs took of in a mad dash from the start pulling their owners for the ride!!!).

Right before the gun went off there was pandemonium. I am not sure what was going on, I think it was the timing system emitting some sort of high-pitched frequency, because for the final minute before the race start, all the dogs were going nuts and barking all over the place…at each other, their owners, the air, the trees! It was absolutely hysterical.

Anyway, the gun went off and within the first 400 meters I definitely felt that I went out way to hard….and decided to back off and just have fun. I even stopped to use a porta potty, something I’ve never ever done in a 5k!

At different points during the race I was getting passed by all sorts of dogs. A Marmaduke dog, a Wiener dog (very humbling to have this happen I might add), a few Labs…no Poodles though!

In the end, I crossed the three mile point and sprinted like crazy and passed about 10 people in the last 100 meters. I finished in 23min 20sec or so.The course was pretty flat so I can’t blame that on the hills!

I think this is the slowest 5K time for me in 13 years, and well off my personal best of 18:10. Despite that, it was definitely one of the more fun races I’ve done in a long time. I had no expectations going in and the dogs made it a ton of fun.

I am going to start running regularly now, and will see how my body progresses. Would be great to set a new 5K personal best this year. We’ll see how fast my running form returns. If you know of any good 5K or 10K runs around the Seattle area, let me know!

I’ve been watching Tim VanOrden’s energetic YouTube videos for a while, but just today ventured over to his website. He’s a Raw Vegan and on a mission to show that that you can achieve world class athletic performance on that kind of a diet, and at an older age.

Tim is 40 years old, setting personal records and beating runners over a decade junior to him.Here’s a taste of his goals for 2008:

• 2008 - US Tower Racing Champion at the Empire State Building
• 2008 - US Mountain Running Team - World Championships
• 2008 - World Record - Mile on outdoor track - First 40 year old to break 4 minutes.
• 2008 - US Olympic Track & Field Team - 40 years of age
• 2010 - US Olympic Nordic Ski Team - 42 years of age

I’ve been searching for a top Raw Vegan athlete that managed to improve performance radically after embarking on a Raw Vegan diet. I know of a few Raw Vegans who were top athletes, but they were either super fast before going raw, or stopped racing seriously altogether after cutting out cooked foods.

It looks like his diet is mostly fruits and raw food bars during the day (Lara Bars is a sponsor of his), with a monster salad in the evenings. No supplements either! He’s been doing this since late 2005, after several years as a vegan.

If someone like Tim can achieve significantly improved performance at an age where most would say his career as a top runner is over, then I would have to say there is something to his dietary approach. If this diet can power him to this level, just think about what incorporating more living foods in your diet could do to your energy levels at work or school?

Skip the sandwich, go for the salad.

I’m really into my blender drinks. I start out every morning with one, before work and even on weekends. I’ll add anywhere from 8-10 ingredients…a real mess of things. It’s tasty, organic, cleansing, energizing, alkalizing, hydrating, satiating and yes….I said tasty.

My drinks get pretty crazy because of all the great stuff I throw in there. When in doubt….toss it in. My Vita-Mix does the trick every time. If you don’t have a high quality blender…get one…..my Vita-Mix is one of the best investments I’ve made. I didn’t think there was a difference between a $40 blender and a $400 blender….but now I know that there is. You’ll never taste a smoothie so smooth.

My blender drinks are perfect meals. In the morning, they are so packed with nutrition, that if this one drink was the only nourishment I  had all day, I would be alright. Note that I said if, since I do eat several snacks and lunch every day.

I enjoy the process of eating, but modern day lifestyles make it tough to just sit around and chew all day. That’s why blenders are so valuable. They also take foods that might not taste great on their own (e.g. raw cacao, spirulina, maca root) and make them down right tasty when blended with banana, honey, dates, berries or other fruits.

Blenders also pulverize food to the point where your body can more easily assimilate nutrients. I typically have a second smoothie after my yoga practice in the evening, while I am preparing dinner. This will be lighter drink (about 3-5 ingredients).

I am a big believer that any craving for food is ultimately born from a craving for nutrients. We are so used to eating calorically dense foods are nutrient light. Pizza, pasta, rice, sandwiches, etc. Lacking the nutrients it needs, the body starts to crave more food. This causes us to eat even more calorically dense foods in a desperate attempt to get the right nutrition. In most cases, this nutrition is in the form of key vitamins, minerals, amino acids and enzymes. Unfortunately, our food choices rarely give us what we need. We get tons of calories but not enough real nutrition.

Blender drinks give you a way to consumer natural superfoods in a user friendly way. These superfoods (cacao, maca root, flax, goji berries and hemp are my favorites) are ridiculously nutrient dense. For example, cacao (raw chocolate beans) have > 5x the antioxidants of blueberries and is the top sources of minerals like sulfur and magnesium out of all food products. A high quality meal with these superfoods make food cravings a thing of the past. They make a perfect meal.

I’m on my way to the Arnold Sports Festival. It’s one of the largest Bodybuilding and Fitness competitions in the world, with a very large health and fitness expo. For four days I’ll be hanging out with thousands of other health and fitness enthusiasts……looking forward to meeting people, getting motivated and learning some new things!

I just stumbled across this stuff at Whole Foods, and yes it is killer! I got the Dave’s Killer Bread sprouted grain variety and have already had 6 slices today….boy was it tasty.

It’s locally made, organic, healthy and Dave’s story is super compelling (it’s on the back of every load). Gotta love that mullet. Go Dave!

Source: wYnand!

I know many vegans….that have stopped being vegan. The reasons tend to differ, but the root causes are more similar. Being vegan is not easy, at least not at first. People who initially adopt a vegan way of life can find it difficult to maintain unless they do a lot of homework and have a ridiculously strong will.

I saw this post at We Like It Raw, and it references a great NY Times Article about the Maca Root and a Medicine Hunter in Peru. The multimedia slideshow is great.

I started using Maca Root as a new ingredient in my Raw Power Smoothies every day. I was introduced to it after seeing it as an ingredient in my favorite meal replacement drink, Vega.

It’s great for adrenal gland support. Especially useful for people working stressful jobs and exercising intensely and regularly. It helps me sleep much better (it regulates my energy very well) and recover faster. Maca is an “adaptogen,” which means it normalizes body functions, lowering things that need lowering and raising things that need to be elevated.

I buy a powdered form (”Maca Magic” brand), and it has a very neutral taste. Just 1-2 teaspoons are all you need to add to your smoothie or juice.

Tony Robbins was on Larry King Live yesterday, and though I cannot find the recording online, I have something better…the full transcript! Larry interviewed Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Tony and a few others about diet and health. There are great tips in here.

Check out the full transcript here.

See my last post for a video of Tony’s last appearance on Larry King Live.

Below are highlights focusing on the comments made by Tony:

I get asked what I eat on a weekly basis. Most people can’t fathom being vegetarian, let alone vegan. I don’t find it hard at all. Even travelling abroad is a doable thing as vegan, you just need a little preparation and willpower. Here are some of my favorite high protein vegan foods. Unlike meat, these foods all have a fair amount of carbohydrates. This isn’t a problem. It just means that you eat more of them to get enough total protein, while limiting intake of other more carb-rich sources of food (e.g. pasta, rice, bread) to keep overall calories in check. Lastly, I’ve found that when you eat a more balanced diet based on whole foods, your body runs more efficiently and the fat starts to melt off, even though you are ingesting a fair amount of carbs. So here it is, my top ten favorite high protein vegan foods:

1. Tofu: it is a staple of my diet. I’ll go through 32 ounces a week. I try to avoid soy-protein isolates and soy-milk. I prefer to ingest actual soybeans (edamame) or tofu in stir-fry’s and soups.
2. Sprouts: I buy packs of sprouts and take them to work. I prefer the crunchy variety (as opposed to alfalfa or broccoli sprouts). Mung bean sprouts are the best.
3. Black Beans: great in wraps/burritos.
4. Quinoa: It’s a grain that is really high in protein. I eat it in the same way you would eat rice. It has a much lower glycemic index (which means it causes less of an affect on blood sugar) and has a more complete amino acid profile than other grains. The Inca used to subsist on this grain, corn and potatoes for the bulk of their calories.
5. Raw Almonds: I just eat them whenever I feel like a snack. It is better if you soak them for a few hours first. This is supposed to activate enzymes in the raw nuts that helps your body break them down faster/more effectively.
6. Hemp Seed Powder: I don’t use soy protein, and this is a great substitute. It is really high in Omega fatty acids, and tastes much better than soy (in my opinion). I love Manitoba Harvest brand Hemp Protein.
7. Cliff Builder Bars: In a pinch, these do the trick. They also taste really good and have a nice consistency.
8. Soy Dogs: I don’t have a favorite variety, but they cook really fast, are pretty inexpensive and have a % of calories from protein. I’ll usually chop them up and throw them into a stir fry, or just toast them and eat them with ketchup and mustard.
9. Meatless Meatballs: I usually get’s Nate’s variety. Good with any pasta. I’ll usually crush them to make a “meat sauce” with pasta.
10. “Chicken” Patties: I prefer the Boca brand “Chik n Grill” variety. These fake chicken patties that have a more meaty texture. I will just eat a few of these plain with some type of sauce or make a sandwich out of them.  

I wrote a post last week about my lack of motivation when it comes to weight training. In fact, for the past several months I have been hard pressed to put more than 30 minutes at a stretch in at the gym. I would walk in, do some squats and…and just get bored/tired and leave. This has never been such an issue for me in the past.

At first, I thought it was some issue with my diet. However, I haven’t made any radical changes of late. I thought it might have been an issue with my sleep schedule, but again, nothing really has changed there. Ultimately, I just figured I needed to change the way I lifted, and see what happens.

So starting last week, I made a few changes.

• First of all, I am starting my lifting sessions with 20 minutes slow running on the treadmill. I despise treadmills, but with the cold weather in Seattle right now, it is convenient. My logic was that….I am a good runner, and just getting in the running groove at the start of my workout would have some carry-over to the weight training.
• Next, I changed my lifting routine to minimize downtime. I don’t give myself any time to sit or stand still. In between sets, I will run over and do another exercise. For example, in between each of my three sets of squats, I will do a set of pull ups and push ups (or dips).
• Lastly, I am continuing to focus primarily on compound exercises (those that invovle multi-joint movements like squats, presses, dips, pull ups, rows, dead lifts, etc.).
• From a dietary standpoint, I am also consuming food about 1 hour prior to lifting. This would usually be an energy/protein bar, shake or some fruit (bananas, goji berries) and almonds.
• Outside of the gym, I resumed communication with a few friends who are also weight training pretty hard. I had stopped regular communication with them, and realize that it is much easier to stay motivated when you are not going at it alone.  

So far so good. I am able to do more and my motivation has gone way up. Start my workouts with a 20 minute run is a big help. It makes me break a sweat, and there is something about sweating while lifting that makes you feel like you are working hard, and gives you motivation to work even more!

I’ve gotten hooked on a series on the Discovery Channel, Everest: Beyond The Limit. You can watch full episodes on the Discovery Channel website, download series 1 (2006) or series (2007) on iTunes, or get the DVD. It’s a great show, full of all the drama and adventure you could every want. Best of all, it’s real.

I am a big fan of mountaineering books and stories, though I have never actually strapped on (or even held) crampons before in my life. I just finished Ed Viestur’s new book, “No Shortcuts To The Top,” detailing his conquest of the world’s 14 highest peaks over 8000 meters, all without bottled oxygen. There’s something about these mountaineering stories, and the extreme effort, patience and long-term planning they require; that are really gripping to read. Even though any expedition has massive logistical and team considerations, there is a huge focus on individual will that just appeals to me in the same way individual pursuits like racing an Ironman or other endurance events have.

I’ve read dozens of accounts of Everest summit attempts, but I never really understood how extreme the effort really was. This show takes you all the way to the top, using helmet cams shots from base camp (using a high powered telescope). What I was also amazed with, was how so many of the adventurers were absolutely clueless about mountaineering, yet expected to summit. Several appeared extremely out of shape, and just plain uncoordinated and unskilled on the mountain.

I can’t imagine how someone could travel to a remote region of the world, spend 3 months and $50K to land on an expedition team….and yet not put in the full effort to at least master the technical skills involved with such a climb. At the same time, the power and strength of the Sherpa people was awe inspiring. They climb ahead of the expedition teams, breaking trail, setting all the fixed ropes (miles and miles worth) up the mountain, and climbing backbreaking loads. In many cases, top Sherpa crew members will summit several times in a single season! They are the real heros of the story.

Think about your five closest friends. These are the people you spend the most time with, either in person or via e-mail, Facebook, MySpace and phone conversations. According to popular wisdom (and it proves to be correct in my life), these five people will define, over the long term:

• The level of your bank account and your salary
• Your overall health and fitness
• Your willingness to take risks and go on adventures
• Your career level and aspirations
• Your overall level of happiness and well-being
• Your attitude and demeanour while relating to other people
• etc.

This is a very unscientific, but highly demonstrable truth. Think about it. Your peer group defines not just who you are, but who you become. Choose your friends wisely.

Lately I’ve been suffering from a lack of motivation to train hard in the gym. I don’t have much of an issue going to Yoga, but weight training has been very tough. I haven’t been making steady progress which is part of the reason why I am lacking motivation.

I can get to the gym without issue, but once there, my workout becomes more of a chore. In a conversation with a friend yesterday, he mentioned that too often we do things as a “transition” “from” something else and “towards” something else. In other words, what we are doing doesn’t have any purpose, it is just a gap-filler for some cooler, more fun and more exciting thing that might be happening in the future. That future never arrives, or at least if it did, I wouldn’t know it.

So what to do? I (this week) have been combating my lack of motivation in the gym, by going back to my roots, running! I’ve been starting my weight training with 10-20 minutes on the treadmill. I used to pride myself on never using a dread-mill, but at this point I’ve thrown all my pre-conceptions out the window.

There is something about running that gets me out of my head and lets me just be. I also work up a sweat (it takes about 10 minutes running at 8 minute mile pace indoors to do that for me).  As a result, my weight workouts are much more intense. They are not very long, but at least they are more intense. This is progress.

I’m really into drinking juice right now. Not Juicy-Juice but the 100% all natural fresh squeezed variety. I’ll hit up Jamba Juice after yoga and down a power-sized (that’s 32 oz) of fresh made carrot juice, or perhaps even OJ with blueberries blended in (fresh squeezed again). I’ll typically have at least 1 of these a day, usually in the morning.

I’ll also stop by a local juice-bar and get a green drink a few days a week, made with kale, cucumber, parsley, celery and wheatgrass. These are much better for me (detoxifying), but don’t give me the energy that the Carrot juice provides. I’ll drink this in the afternoon.

The more of this juice I drink, the less garbage I crave. It’s funny how that works.

I also have much more energy than normal and have shed about 5 pounds of blubber (my bodyfat scale NEVER lies!).

Perhaps the biggest change is, I just feel really happy most of the time. Not all of the time (I’m not on medication…) but most of the time. The only other change in my life during the past 3 weeks has been dietary, so there must be something to it.

Oh yeah….I just ordered a Vitamix. They have a new model coming out in a few weeks and I am already on the wait-list.