Eating well and good eatin' aren't always compatible things.
Rather than denying yourself life's simple pleasures, i.e. delicious food, just try out these awesome healthy cafés and delis instead.
10. Hopsack
While this isn't a café, they sell so many healthy food options it can't possibly be left off the list. This health store in Rathmines has a salad bar with fresh, nutrient rich salads and soups for sale everyday, along with some healthy treats to keep you going if you have a sugar craving.
The smoothies and juices are also well worth checking out, some of which come with added vegan protein powder (if you're pumping iron in the gym you'll be particularly please to hear this).
The best thing about this place is all the healthy food products on sale that you can use to make the most delicious lunches and dinners. Trying to stay healthy but craving a Sunday fry up? Buy their dehydrated aubergine 'bacon' and try it with some poached eggs and tomatoes.
Miss your usual chicken club sandwich but trying to avoid bread? Take home their dehydrated carrot and flax wraps and fill them up like you would a regular sandwich. Their homemade peanut butter has to be tried to be believed...
9. The Organic Supermarket
The Organic Supermarket is a staple for many a health fanatic across Dublin. They originally set up in Blackrock, but their new store in Rathgar has a brand new kitchen whipping up the most delicious fresh salads, soups, pies, stews and cakes every day. You can sit by the window and people watch or take your lunch to go.
They also stock the Green Beards cold pressed juices which are hands down the nicest in the city, so pick up a 'Beets By Ray' to accompany your lunch for a nutritional boost. After picking up your lunch you can stock up on some healthy groceries while you're at it as their selection is fantastic.
8. The Lo-Cal Kitchen
This place does exactly what it says on the tin, low calorie meals that taste delicious. One of the main problems of eating out when you're on a diet is all the 'guesstimation'. 'Did the chef use one tablespoon of olive oil or three?', 'how many calories are in the salad dressing?', 'I have no idea what kind of cheese this is!' It makes calculating what you're consuming very difficult.
The Lo-Cal Kitchen in Castleknock makes things easier by listing the calories in each menu item, so you know exactly what you're eating and don't need to ruin your hard work in the gym.
The food is tasty and there's lots of treats available too, so don't worry... It's not all porridge made with water and green juice.
7. Chopped
Chopped on Baggot Street has been on Dublin's healthy eating scene for a long time now, but it's still a favourite spot for so many people across the city. The ability to have complete control over what goes into your salad is great and the novelty of watch the staff use the mezzaluna knife to chop it all up together never ceases to wear off.
6. Select Stores Dalkey
Select Stores Dalkey is another gem worth checking out. In this café/health store you can stock up on a number of things including fresh zingy salads, healthy treats and smoothies so good that even Woody Harrelson popped in for one! This place wasn't on our radar until health guru Indy Power put it on our list of places to check out... Definitely a must visit if you're in the area.
5. Honeysuckle, Clontarf
If you're popping into Honeysuckle, Clontarf, you'll be spoilt for choice.
At breakfast time, you can go saintly with porridge, or treat yourself to their breakfast crepe. For lunch, they serve up delicious fresh salads every day and you can choose to add on beef or turkey patties if you want a protein hit.
Their juices start at just €2.80 so add a green one to your lunch and your digestion will thank you for it. These guys stock the Wyldsson health foods (that we're just a little fanatical about), so don't leave without a tub of the Belgian chocolate nut and seed butter!
4. Blazing Salads
Blazing Salads on Drury Street is an absolute staple for most city based folk that are heath conscious.
Most of the food is vegan and it's all absolutely packed with nutrients. Despite their stews, curries and tarts being epic, the main attraction remains the veggie salads which you can top with all sorts of extra superfoods like sprouted beans and seeds (unbelievable for the digestion and full of enzymes) or tahini (packed with essential fatty acids, calcium and more).
My favourite thing this place makes though has to be their orange chocolate seeded slice... So good!
3. Cornucopia
As well as satisfying the needs of many vegetarians and vegans of Dublin, Cornucopia on Wicklow Street also has plenty to offer for raw food enthusiasts. Despite a great selection of salads, it's the hot dishes that are always the main attraction. You can definitely have a hearty, comforting and filling meal in here that is totally good for your body. Their butternut squash and cashew cannelloni is my favourite thing on the menu... Utterly divine!
2. Staple Foods
No doubt one of the best lunch spots in the city, the salads from Staple Food in Temple Bar just knock all the others out of the park.
What's great about this place is that they put so much flavour into every dish. Every salad is zingy, spicy and fresh while still being filling enough to keep you satisfied until dinner time.
Must tries include the Chinese sticky pork salad and the middle eastern chicken salad. They also do falafel rolls, soups and stews so there's something delicious to choose no matter what mood you're in. If you're ravenous then get the toasted soldiers with guacamole to start... So so good!
Their cold pressed juices are also delicious, I don't know how they make a broccoli juice taste so great but I pick one up every time I'm there.
1. Alchemy
This place really packs a nutritional punch. Every item on the menu at Alchemy, Grafton Street, is thoughtfully considered and developed with health gurus Susan Jane White, Doris Choi and Patricia Daly.
You can have a miso soup which will kick start your digestion thanks to all the fermented goodness in the miso. The rare beef salad with quinoa and kale is just so incredibly packed with not only nutritional benefits, but insane flavours too; it has that great sweet and sour balance.
If you feel like having a treat then follow it with the bounty brownie which tastes like it should be a naughty treat, but is in fact packed with chia seeds and almond flour. You can wash it back with an 'anti-everything' juice which contains carrots, flax oil and black pepper.
If you're feeling really wild, finish it all off with a 'spice girl' shot... So lemony and sour, you'll find it hard to ever open your eyes again!
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