Learn how to eat gluten-free from top local experts and chefs.
 Attention gluten-free eaters! Here’s an event that should tickle your food-allergy fancy: the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness is hosting its Appetite for Awareness 2012 affair on Sunday, September 23rd.
Diet constraints can be, well, difficult to manage. This event is your chance to talk to local chefs and physicians about how to eat gluten-free it while still enjoying the food you eat. And did I mention you get unlimited gluten-free food and drink? And that Philly’s top chefs will be doing demos? And that the founder of Gluten Free Philly, Michael Savett, is being honored? Click here for more info and here to sign up.
$20 for children, $25 for students and $50 for adults, September 23 from 1 to 5 p.m., The Historic Strawbridge Building, 801 Market Street.
>> Have a health or fitness event you’d like to share with Be Well Philly readers? Email eleaman@phillymag.com with details.
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Our editors wanted to find the tastiest green juice in Philly, so they did a blind taste-test—and got their yearly intake of kale in the process.
 Jar Bar’s Clean (Green is the Way)
The good stuff: Kale, cucumber, celery, romaine, spinach.
Price: $5.50.
Prep time: Made fresh to order.
Where to get it: 113 South 12th Street, Philadelphia, 215-923-1600; jarbar.com.
Editors say: Way too watery and zero flavor, except maybe grossness—and a little celery.
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A day of health just for women
 Attention, ladies! Dr. Oz is officially coming to town, and you know what that means. You’re going to learn how to stay youthful and live healthfully, Oz style.
The ever-popular surgeon/author/daytime TV host will be attending Virtua’s Eighth Annual Women’s Health Symposium on Saturday, September 15th, where he’ll talk about tools women can use to improve overall health and wellness while still having fun. Who doesn’t want that?
Even better, Lisa Oz, the doc’s wife, will also be in attendance. As a best-selling author and radio/TV personality herself, Lisa will jump start the day with her presentation, to be followed in the afternoon by her all-knowing hubby. And if the Ozes aren’t enough, the event also includes breakfast and lunch, informative speaker sessions, demos, giveaways and prizes, health screenings and more. So if you want to learn how to buff up your physical and mental strength, you’ll want in on this day dedicated to health. Click here to sign up.
$60, September 15 at 7:30 a.m., Pennsylvania Convention Center, Center City.
>> Have a health or fitness event you’d like to share with Be Well Philly readers? Email eleaman@phillymag.com with details.
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A half marathon and live bands. Not a bad deal.
 Calling all runners: the third annual Rock & Roll Marathon Series hits Philly on Sunday, September 16th, and it’s time for you to go the distance. All 13.1 miles of it.
To ease the pain of this arduous half marathon, stages will be put up around the course where rock bands will jam out. The run starts near the Philadelphia Museum of Art and travels four miles through downtown, passing City Hall, the headquarters of the American Philosophical Society and Philadelphia’s Washington Square. The course then turns back to where it began and leads runners through the scenic Schuylkill River Banks and Fairmount Park.
Walkers and runners are equally welcome. But, be warned, you must finish the race within four hours, so this won’t be a casual, all-day stroll. More information is here.
$110 until September 9th/$135 at race expo, September 16 at 8 a.m, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 26th Street and Ben Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia.
>> Have a health or fitness event you’d like to share with Be Well Philly readers? Email eleaman@phillymag.com with details.
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Lots of food co-ops are taking root in our city. Here's what's driving them—and how you can get in on the action.
 The Mariposa Food Co-op's new storefront in West Philly opened earlier this year. Wegmans and SuperFresh aren’t only stores keeping pantries and refrigerators full in our area. Community-run grocers, called food co-ops, are popping up all over Philly, offering local alternatives to big-chain grocery stores.
Put simply, food co-ops are a kind of business model, in which the stores are owned by community members, each holding a share of the business; some require members to pay an annual fee, sort of like at BJ’s Wholesale Club. They’re typically governed by a board, elected by and chosen from the membership. They make the policy decisions and may hire a professional management team to run the day-to-day operations. Members are sometimes asked to volunteer their time to keep costs low.
Alison Fritz, South Philly Food Co-op board president, says the benefit to this set-up is that community members have a say in where their food comes from. They’re also able to more closely connect to these food sources and aren’t beholden to revenue and earnings goals set by a corporate headquarters in another state or country. (Ahem: Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.)
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A celebration ripe with activities.
Late summer is the most wonderful time of the year: It’s peak tomato season. As an addict of this delicious fruit, I couldn’t be happier. To celebrate the season, Terrain at Styers in Glen Mills is hosting its annual Heirloom Tomato Festival this Saturday, August 18th.
The afternoon will be filled with all things red and juicy, including recipe tastings, a salsa-making contest with Terrain employees, farm stands with locally-grown produce, outside-the-box ideas for what to do with summer tomatoes, live bluegrass music to set the mood, and more. It is free to enter but the workshops come with a fee. For a complete festival agenda, click here.
Free entry, Saturday, August 18, from noon to 5 p.m., Terrain at Styers, 914 Baltimore Pike, Glen Mills.
>> Have a health or fitness event you’d like to share with Be Well Philly readers? Email eleaman@phillymag.com with details!
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Forget the shrink-wrapped cuts at the ACME—get your grass-fed, pasture-raised beef directly from local farmers.
Like beef but suffer from an overbearing conscience? Here’s a way to have your meat and eat it, too: Philadelphia CowShare, a farm-to-table, CSA-like service in which subscribers receive deliveries of farm-fresh, grass-fed beef right to their doors. Yup, that’s right—Philly is sharing cows.
Two years ago, the city that’s become internationally known for its beef products (cheesesteaks, people!) became home to a business dedicated to bringing humane, healthy farming practices to the area, one cow at a time.
“We wanted to take the old-fashioned concept of meat distribution and put a modern twist on it,” says Jessica Moore, Philadelphia CowShare founder and owner.
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So you can eat fresh all year round.
 I’m just going to go ahead and state the unfortunate reality we’re all trying to avoid: Summer is winding down, people. And with it, we lose one of the season’s most glorious gifts: the deliciously ripe, fresh fruits and veggies we’ve been enjoying for the past three months.
But there may be some hope in maintaining our fresh-food fix. The Delaware Center for Horticulture is hosting a Fall and Winter Vegetable Gardening Class on August 22nd, because August can be a great month to plant veggies, too.
The class, taught by DCH’s urban farm expert, Alice Davis, and seasoned vegetable gardener and blogger, George Davis, will explore ways to extend your own growing season later into the fall and winter months. So, when you’re bundled up and raking leaves after the turn of the season, you’ll be able to hang on to at least one summer custom that will bring you back to those much-missed warmer months.
Click here for more info and to sign up.
$10 for members, $15 for nonmembers, Wednesday, August 22 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., The Delaware Center for Horticulture, 1810 N. Dupont Street, Wilmington.
>> Have a health or fitness event you’d like to share with Be Well Philly readers? Email eleaman@phillymag.com with details.
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Experts explain how to look great without the frightening chemical intake: Say hello to natural makeup and beauty products.
Here’s an interesting tidbit: Women use an average of 12 personal-care and beauty products every day. It may sound extreme but makes sense when you think about it. We’ve got our moisturizers, cleansers, shampoos, conditioners, soaps, shaving creams, perfumes, hair products and makeup, which includes everything from mascara to foundation, concealer, eye shadow, lipstick, bronzer and so much more.
Now the scary news: According to the Environmental Working Group, an organization which looks at the intersection of public health and the environment, one out of every five personal-care products on the market contains chemicals linked to cancer, 80 percent contain ingredients that commonly contain hazardous impurities, and 56 percent contain penetration enhancers that help deliver ingredients deeper into the skin. Yikes.
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Support a non-profit that helps people and puppies.
 In the spirit of International Assistance Dog Week (seriously), here’s a worthwhile way to raise some cash for a unique organization: The Tail Trot 5K Run/Walk, benefitting the nonprofit Amazing Tails, which trains service dogs to help people with physical disabilities.
The run will be held Saturday, August 25th, in the scenic Evansburg State Park in Collegeville. It’ll be accompanied by music, a bake sale and, if you have little ones who want to help, a Kids’ Fun Run. To register, click here. For more information, email Christina Myers at walk4tails@yahoo.com.
$25 for an individual/$90 for a family of four, 2 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, August 25, Evansburg State Park, 851 Mayhall Road, Collegeville.
>> Have a health or fitness event you’d like to share with Be Well Philly readers? Email eleaman@phillymag.com with details.
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