healthy and beautiful

Dallas…I can still hum the theme song to my first, lowbrow TV obsession. More recently, this season’s Bachelorette Jojo (finale tonight) hails from Dallas. There’s the Dallas Cowboys oh and some videotape I recall floating around our house (ahem) when I was growing up. Most places live as stereotypes in your head until you actually visit. Let’s be clear, we didn’t have plans to visit Dallas. I have good friends from college in Dallas and    my favorite Joanna Czech opened her skincare mecca there but we were supposed to be just passing through the Dallas Fort Worth airport en route to Cabo. As the “friendly skies” would have it our first American Airlines flight left late due to a mechanical issue. And after a 5K, barefoot sprint through the humungous Dallas airport, our second/connecting flight left EARLY. Wait, it gets better. There were no other flights out that day, it was hours before our bags were located oh and did I mention if was Marc’s birthday? All I can say is it’...

Most people watching yesterday’s final round of the British Open were likely focused on who would win the Claret Jug (or is it mug). I watched, and although it was as exciting as golf can be, I wasn’t fixated on the jug/mug. Two topics were more interesting to me. The first was that these athletes breaking records and duking it out were both in their forties. And second, Phil trimmed down. It turns out Phil has gone Paleo and upped his fitness game and, as a result, he’s dropped 25-ish pounds (over 2 stones). I’m not sure that Phil got the idea from Lebron. It’s not as though Lebron started the paleo diet but of course “Phil lost weight following the Lebron diet” was a headline I came across more than once. Lebron was hardcore paleo for 67 days. This means their diets consisted of fruit, vegetables, protein, nuts and limited carbs (no dairy, no grains/gluten/sugar). For me, it’s one thing for average people to pursue paleo but quite a shift from old-school “carbing up” for athletes to...

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...

photo via Smitten Kitchen, mine never as pretty As much as we like tradition, there's nothing wrong with poached wild salmon, roasted asparagus or sweet potatoes or other simple recipes. Make sure to balance out your holiday menus or bring one of the following to your gathering. Here’s a mishmosh of Passover and Easter inspo. Gluten free “matzoh” ball Asparagus Stuffed Eggs  I use ghee or plain Greek yogurt Skinny Matzo Brei - we like Yehuda brand Gluten Free/fiber enriched (wink wink) Horseradish Brisket Carrot Kugel  (I use local honey not agave) Homemade Sauerkraut Zoodles (Zuchini Noodles) , we love the Veggetti Homemade, nastiness free, Peeps lauren’s Favorite Lamb Chop Recipe (use grass fed lamb available on Fresh Direct or at Citarella)  Ina Garten Lemon Chicken - no recipe roundup complete without Ina. What are your favorite Passover or Easter foods? Where will you be? What are you making or bringing?  I actually made Cat Cora Lamb Chops (#9) last night

Yes, the look decent but read on... Last night, I was on my way home from work tired and hungry. I’ve had a couple travel days and as a result my office days are packed which isn’t a problem until the end of the day. I knew the boys would be getting home from hockey and they’d need dinner and I also had brownies to bake. My friend Shari started a campaign called Bake it Happen where you bake one of her mother’s recipes and in the process raise money for breast cancer research. One of the recipes is Judy’s pumpkin brownies.I had the tired thought “do I have to do this tonight?” and quickly reminded myself of Shari’s work and Judy’s battle. I was going to bake.   I would’ve had an easier time if I stuck to Judy’s recipe but no, I insisted on making a gluten free/paleo version. I expressed to Shari my conflict with unhealthy (Minute Made pink lemonade on my recent Delta flight) in the name of disease research. Shari explained she wasn’t looking at things through the lens of healthy s...