Dubai residents show their enthusiasm to transform the city into the most active city in the world with the Dubai Fitness Challenge, the city's cafes and fitness centres have also joined hands to help them in the initiative.

A number of cafes in the city have come up with special fitness foods, menu, promotions and discounts in conjunction with the fitness challenge to highlight the role healthy food plays in helping one maintain good health.

Emirati cuisine café Mama Tani's has introduced a new fitness menu that offers a range of food items with ingredients that are healthy and nutritious for the body. Mama Tani Cafe hosts a variety of healthy items on its new fitness menu.

Maitha Al Shamsi, founder of the cafe, told Khaleej Times: "In line with fitness challenge, we at Mama Tani, aim to serve healthy Emirati food for a healthy living. With the stressful routine, people often ignore their health which results in being unfit. A healthy lifestyle not only includes exercises and workouts but also requires eating the right food. With The Dubai Fitness Challenge we welcome all to try our healthy and authentic Emirati cuisine that also reflects the culture of UAE."

The new menu hosts healthy dishes from salads to biryanis to drinks catering to different taste buds. A customer can also avail a 15 per cent discount on presenting the Dubai Fitness Challenge app at the café.

For starters one can enjoy the Harira soup made with lamb chunks, coriander leaves, green lentils, parsley, carrot, tomato and other fresh vegetables. The main course has dishes such as quinoa biryani with lamb chunks, green lentils, fresh coriander, parsley, vermicelli and egg served on khameer (fermented) bread bowl.

Other healthy options include a colourful chickpeas salad and a date and walnut celery salad which is infused with a mix of fresh green leaves, dates, toast walnut, feta cheese. The menu also has healthy options for drinks like the almond cinnamon and pineapple cinnamon.

Sweet offerings
Elena Weber, CEO and founder, Icons Coffee Couture, said: "We are constantly working to enrich our healthy, but joyful menu with new options! Therefore, we are very glad to announce that we just launched our first Vegan Cake and increased our gluten-free sweet offerings! We have also introduced our smoothie bowls (Acai/Matcha) to increase our healthy breakfast options, which also serve as fruity refreshers during the day.

The café is also actively participating in the Dubai Fitness Challenge by motivating its employees to take the challenge as an overall start into a healthier life. Each employee can trade one office hour against going to the gym. For all customers who are taking part in the fitness challenge can enjoy a 15 per cent discount at all our branches. "Our aim is to show that there are healthy and delicious options available at an affordable price point," he told Khaleej Times.

Anjali Chandiramani, founder of A-Tone Fitness Lounge, Cross-Cuit creator and pilates trainer, said: "We are running special promotions and discounted deals at the studio to encourage people to get fit and dedicate at least 30 minutes to workout. We have also seen more sign ups in the recent week and see that all the members are very excited to be a part of the Dubai Fitness Challenge and want to make it to a workout every day and stay committed for 30 days. We at A-Tone are also taking classes at carnivals to motivate people to make fitness a part of their daily routine."

Source: khaleejTimes