healthy and beautiful

Greetings from Vegas! I have to admit, it's a little strange to be here, of all places, when we open up the sign up for our September Squeeze program (a few spots remain). In today's newsletter we mentioned our "work"trip to the wild blueberry barrens of Maine. In Bar Harbor, a little competition took place for the best wild blueberry smoothie. I made a basil blend and Carolyn concocted something with avocado. Full disclosure, it was pretty annoying how into food styling their creations some people were. Carolyn and I did not win but our non annoying, awesome friend Marnie did. Here's her winning recipe. Wild Blueberry Basil Mojito Smoothie AKA the "Marnito" recipe via  Marnie Schwartz, Nutrition Editor, SHAPE Magazine 1 cup wild blueberries (different than cultivated blueberries) juice of 1 lime 10 basil leaves 10 mint leaves 1/2 cup full fat plain yogurt 1-2 dates Add yogurt to a powerful blender, follow with the other ingredients and blend. Do not sp...

My losing smoothie Greetings from Vegas! I have to admit, it's a little strange to be here, of all places, when we open up the sign up for our September Squeeze program (a few spots remain). In today's newsletter we mentioned our "work"trip to the wild blueberry barrens of Maine. In Bar Harbor, a little competition took place for the best wild blueberry smoothie. I made a basil blend and Carolyn concocted something with avocado. Full disclosure, it was pretty annoying how into food styling their creations some people were. Carolyn and I did not win but our non annoying, awesome friend Marnie did. Here's her winning recipe. Wild Blueberry Basil Mojito Smoothie AKA the "Marnito" recipe via  Marnie Schwartz, Nutrition Editor, SHAPE Magazine 1 cup wild blueberries (different than cultivated blueberries) juice of 1 lime 10 basil leaves 10 mint leaves 1/2 cup full fat plain yogurt 1-2 dates Add yogurt to a powerful blender, follow with the other ingredients a...

Do you ever read your horoscope and feel it rings eerily true? Maybe you don't read horoscopes at all but, even if you say that, I'd guess when you see yours you peek. Horoscopes are confusing for me. I'm what they call "on the cusp" between two signs. This makes me insecure as sometimes I'm a Leo and other times a Virgo. I've sided with Virgo mainly because everyone says "you're SUCH a Virgo." What they mean by that is that I'm particular and either neurotic or a control freak or, in my case, both.   Anyway, I'm on a plane right now. I have my usual seat next to the crying baby and I read Marie Claire magazine in an attempt to distract myself.  In about 10 minutes, I found myself on the horoscope page. My  horoscope basically said do one thing at a time. Revolutionary? No,  but it was a reminder I needed. For example, yesterday I was in the house for most of the day and found myself making a red white and blue açai bowl, researching ...

  In a session last week, a client mentioned it was too hot to drink warm tea. Even though I like hot coffee hot, regardless of weather, I agreed regarding tea. I suggested she make iced tea and she looked at me confused “do you just chill hot tea, how do you make iced tea?” As I explained to her what I outlined below I realized iced tea probably baffles a lot of people. We have to fix that. To answer her question, I don’t like making iced tea from hot tea. It tends to have a burnt or harsh taste. Instead, I make it cold-brewed in the fridge. All you need: Large Mason jar (or as large as you have) or any container with a lid Tea- loose or in bags, in the photo I used Bellocq's Green Mint tea Water Strainer Optional: stevia Add tea to the jar (I use 2 tablespoons of loose tea in a 32 ounce jar) but 1 teaspoon loose tea or 1 bag per six ounces of water is a good ratio. I gravitate toward loose tea as I generally have a lot to use up. And I find the flavor is better with loose tea but...

Summer seafood is a great option, my son made these! Recently, I did a segment for CBS on summer eating. Specifically, the topic was how to avoid weight gain on your summer vacation. I’ll spare you the scary stats on “beach bulk”. Around the same time, I read an article in Cooking Light on this same subject. Their advice was something to the effect of don’t worry about your weight too much, when you’re awa,y as that’ll make you binge. Let’s just say I suggest you think about weight a little and not to worry you’ll still have fun. A little consciousness will lead to confidence. What to do: Delay your Play - away for a week? Don’t lobster roll day one, you’ll end up doing it daily. Tis the season for overfruiting Overfruiting is a thing…particularly in the summer. My mother asked me this past weekend, “Is pineapple fattening?” My response? Any fruit can cause you to gain weight if you eat too much. I usually say keep fruit to once per day. On vacation, stick to two fruits a day max. Don...

via CNN Have you heard? There’s a new Nutrition Facts label but this newness will not be implemented until 2018. FLOTUS announced the changes in Washington on Friday. The labels have the sugar people (how do they sleep at night?) freaking. You see, there’s a new listing for added sugar and a % of daily value. So, using Coke as an example, label would read: 65 grams of added sugar and 130% the amount of sugar you should have in a day.  The Sugar Association/ other sugar bad guys are saying added sugar is not different than naturally occurring sugar. Are they missing the point? We cannot control how much fructose is in an apple (well that’s another story) but apples aren’t this country’s problem. Personally, I’m not thrilled with grams of sugar. Most people cannot identify with grams; teaspoons would’ve been better. Instead of 65 grams, how about listing over 16 teaspoons in that Coke? And daily values are based on 50 grams a day (12.5 teaspoons) still seems like a lot. While we know...

We had our first taste of summer yesterday with 80-degree weather in NYC. We also sent our April newsletter featuring some new Foodtrainers’ favorite products . Snickerdoodle almond butter sound interesting? In the newsletter, we announced our May Pre-Summer Squeeze Program These programs have been an unexpected hit. We pride ourselves on providing reasonable, doable, livable advice. What we’ve found is that while that works week in and week out there is a time for a push. And there has to be something better than a juice cleanse. After our most recent program, we asked participants for words to describe how they felt. They said: “virtuous, healthy and slim” “disciplined, energized, proud” “in control, leaner and lighter” “empowered, more in tune with myself” “back on track” “much, much better” We are offering two 10-day Squeeze sessions this May. You don’t have to be in NYC as it’s all email based May 9 th -18 th  Carolyn will Squeeze you May 16 th -24 th lauren will Squeeze you I...

  Today we kicked off our 3-week Summer Squeeze .   This is not a super-strict, quick fix regime (that would be our Whipping Week). This was designed to get habits in line and establish an eating system before summer officially starts.   In order to get an idea of where participants are at we asked, “give us three words for how you feel right now”.   Responses included stressed/large/blah/flabby and tired, can you relate? And then we wondered, “how do you want to feel?”. Our Squeezers said “healthy” “under control” “back to myself” “confident” “calmer” and “energetic”.  I attended a memorial for a great man yesterday. It wasn’t your traditional funeral. We were in Central Park. A group gathered mid day, a few friends and family members spoke. They remembered a kind man, a “gentle soul”.   He never raised his voice and always thought of others. One friend said, “he always found the perfect presents” and “always showed up with too much food.” We were invited ...