Pura Vida
Tucked away in the South of 5th area of South Beach is Pura Vida, a one-stop-shop for healthy meals and snacks. Pura Vida, which means the “pure life” in Spanish, has just about everything a health fanatic could possible want including salads, smoothies, soups, stuffed pitas, sandwiches, wraps cold press juices and even fresh juice that are either squeezed or blended on-site. I had a watermelon juice that tasted like you were biting into a watermelon…amazing! Pura Vida also serves breakfast all day and to make your life easier, you can order online then pick up your food when it’s ready or have it delivered. You literally have no excuse not to eat better with Pura Vida.
Pura Vida prides themselves on being able to offer fresh and natural hotcfarmersmarket.com/feast-or-fast/ food with quality ingredients that is nutritious and delicious. If you’re indecisive like me, it will probably take you longer to figure out what you want to order than for them to actually make it and bring it out because they have so many options to choose from. If you can’t decide what you want, you can always make your own combo by mixing and matching several different smaller portioned items.
What I really appreciated about Pura Vida is how well they know they’re customers’ needs and preferences. Some healthy people tend to be a bit picky—and some are straight-up a pain in the ass!—so taking them into consideration while also trying to appeal to regular folks can be a challenge. Not at Pura Vida. They’re menu has several items designated for vegetarians including cheese, eggs and bean-protein options. For us carnivores (technically I’m an omnivore), there is plenty of carne options to choose from and they don’t go skimpy on the portions either. For those who like to have additional lean protein in their diets, you can add protein to your smoothies as well as several other enhancers such as multi-vitamins, anti-oxidants, creatine and an immune blend, among others. They even have several items on the menu with egg whites.
Of all the healthy options Pura Vida offers, what they are famous for is their acai bowls. Acai, pronounced ahh – sigh – ee (how the hell does a four letter word have three syllables?!), is a wild berry found in the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil that’s packed full of vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants. It actually considered a “super-food”; a nutrient-rich food that has a variety of health benefits. They’re bowls are primarily made up of am acai and banana blend that’s has a yogurt-like consistency then is topped with a variety of fruit and granola. They even have a separate smoothie menu dedicated to just acai, that’s how serious they about this little Brazilian fruit.
Whether you like to eat healthy, want to start eating healthy or are just plan hungry, stop by Pura Vida. You’ll be glad you did—and so will your body. To the pure life…or pura vida!
