Welcome to Des Moines! There are some smaller independent restaurants around the city but I think the vast majority of the places are chain restaurants. You can find healthier items at most of the places around town but I have been unable to locate any health-specific places. Some of my local favorites include Bandit Burrito in Johnston and Zombie Burger downtown - great places, but not necessarily the healthiest.

There used to be several healthier places but they tend to go out of business pretty fast unfortunately, so I mostly cook at home anymore.

On the other end of the fitness spectrum however, there are endless opportunities for exercise in the area. There are hundreds of miles of trails, many of them are very scenic and beautiful. There are two Ski areas within 45 minutes of Des Moines that both offer ski/snowboarding as well as canoeing, kayaking, mountain biking, hiking, Gladiator races, and other fitness and outdoors activities. My personal favorite is SkyZone trampoline park in Grimes - you can burn up to 1000 calories an hour jumping on trampolines, and its a lot of fun too. There are always bike races, running races, endurance races going on, and there are hundreds of gyms if that is your thing. There are also tons of local recreational sports opportunities like golf, softball, baseball, basketball, volleyball, soccer, etc. Unless surfing is your thing, you can pretty much do anything around here.

What kind of foods do you like and what kind of fitness activities do you prefer - that may help us give more relevant recommendations. Also feel free to add me as a friend - I have been using MFP since March and have reached my goals - it really works with the right attitude and motivation.