healthy and beautiful

At an event last week, Sam Kass (former chef for the White House/Obamas) was a speaker. He explained that there’s a missing piece with most health advice. I’m paraphrasing but he said that we can’t simply say “ginger is healthy” but need to include the HOW. I went back to the office with this truth nugget and we brainstormed a bit. We’re going to add a   “how to” series to the blog. I’d love to declare it’ll be a weekly feature but we’re not so great at that kind of structure. Today, Carolyn kicks things off with a great way to cut your carbs. Like any normal human, I love carbs. Like any good nutritionist, I love fiber too but not enough to ever eat another GG crispbread*. If you can’t consider cardboard, enter your new, best cracker buddy ORGRAN . Orgran fiber crispbreads are our fave crackers on the market because they are gluten free, low cal, and have some fiber. They are the perfect vehicle for pretty much any topping. We usually give two a day to clients as a “non-carb”. The...

  Oh structure we missed you so. We are midway though our Foodtrainers’ September Squeeze fall reset weeks.   Week 1, led by lauren, concluded Sunday and week 2, my week, is off and running (shout out to our Squeeze achievers doing both weeks). We design a new program, with new recipes each time (why do less work when you can do more?) but we never really know how it will go until we have a group of all ages, living in all different places, going through it. Many of lauren’s week 1 squeezers told us it was our best squeeze yet…nice!   We asked our week 1 Squeeze grads to tell us how they felt: I feel back on track/more confident/able to say no/in control/clear-headed, rested and resolved to continue. This Squeeze is NO booze, grains, sugar, cheese or scale (yup a full week no weigh ins).   While it sounds like a lot of no’s we have a lot of yes’s too. We select special ingredients and what we call “secret weapons” to spice things up. My favorite this go around is ash...

lauren and I are no strangers to airplane rides or adventures. I’m sure our shared history traveling on Semester at Sea and desire to live FULL lives are two of the reasons we work together so well. This past year, I made it a priority to say 'yes' to as many escapes, adventures and retreats as my calendar (and bank account) will allow. Rather than having a Year of Yes (great book by the way), I think of it as only saying YES to things that make my body feel really good. Food, movement, and good people are my priorities. ( yogascapes  Moab with  Kerri Kelly  +  Jason Bowman )  I should share that as an anti-type A person (more type Z), retreats are my favorite way to travel. After showing up in Thailand itinerary-less a few years ago, I’ve realized that planning, or outsourcing the planning, is in fact wonderful and necessary. Interestingly, lauren is a self-confessed type A-person and likes outsourcing the organizing too. This way, she can obsess about somethin...

Yesterday was our annual summer trip to the Fancy Food show. Basically, the Javitz Center is filled with a million food booths, some healthier than others. I have to give us a little credit and say we have become pros at the food fair thing. We didn’t eat ourselves into complete food comas or sample any more ice cream . Plus, we hit our 10k steps right away. It was great to see many Foodtrainers’ friends – Banza , Organic LivingSuperfoods (love the new look) and Grady’s cold brew . As always, we were on the hunt for new products too. Here are a few Fancy faves we’ll fill you in on, others we’re keeping a secret for our September Squeeze program and the Foodtrainers’ shop. Super Sauces : do you believe in love at first bite? Filfil garlic hot sauce was my first taste of the day and my favorite. With over 20 cloves of garlic per bottle you may not want to consume this before a date or important meeting, but I   promise you’ll fall in love with this spicy new Brooklyn based brand. W...

If you're procrastinating with your Monday to do list, let me help you continue. Carolyn and I have been working away at our Foodtrainers.com   NEW WEBSITE . It has been some time and we needed something fresh. One of my favorite parts of the site is a Q andA we did on our bio page . Please check it out. Let us know what you think and if you haven't be sure you sign up for our Monthly Morsels newsletter. What do you look for in a website? Do you look at sites on your phone or mostly on your computer? And while I have you favorite part of our new site? A thank you to Scott at Bellina Creative for tweaking this until we got it right.

We’ve said it before…if you do dairy (and we do), you have to skip the skim. It’s better for your weight, your skin, your bones and your fertility . Recent research adds further evidence to our skim-stance. A study published in Circulation analyzed the blood of 3,333 adults for 15 years. It’s difficult to “skim” over (had to) their findings.  People who consumed more full-fat dairy had a 46% decreased risk of getting diabetes. Another study published in the American Journal of Nutrition looked at obesity risk with full fat versus low fat dairy among 18,438 female participants. Those who consumed the most full-fat dairy products lowered their risk of being overweight or obese by 8%. At Foodtrainers, we believe fat makes you thin. Fat keeps you full. It’s crucial for your skin, hair, nails and Vitamin D absorption. Cutting back on calories by cutting out fat typically results in eating more sugar/carb calories. And when your sugar and carbs increase your body stores more fat (rememb...

lauren posted all about our Expo West Experience , but she left out our “adventure” getting there. Here’s a travel day follow up, because there are always things (monsoons, traffic, room reservations gone missing) that throw off the best laid plans. Foodtrainers' LA picks : Pre-Flight breakfast: As predicted, we omeletted it up with veggies and hot sauce (greens instead of toast), and tons of coffee. lauren whipped out pre-flight probiotic coconut shots and I drank a liter ++ of water (thank god for aisle seats). Mid-flight: We had our nutcases, filled with living organic sprouted pecans, while plotting our Pre-Summer Squeeze Program. get excited. Post-flight lunch: Heaven is Gjelina in Santa Monica. lauren and I could have spent all day there tasting -- and sipping -- but the winners were the tuna conserva over arugula (almost Nicoise but better), and the asparagus with crispy sunny side egg. Bulletproof shop: We were full but had to make a pit stop at the Bulletproof mecca. While...