Thanksgiving, how did you do?

While there’s no scorecard (well there sort of is), how do you feel after the first holiday hurdle of the season? Many of our Foodtrainees checked in with us and for the most part the reports were something to the effect of “I feel much better than in past years” which was music to our ears. As the week progresses we’ll meet with and hear from some clients who overdid it. Either way, evaluate and reset if need be.

I write a lot about planning for the holidays  but wanted to show you a little recap, Carolyn and I love a plate pic. Here are some….

Never save up on a holiday eat your regular breakfast and lunch

Don't fill up on heavy apps, stick to crudite 

Love looking at various plates (actual dinnerware) 

How was your thanksgiving? Any family drama? What was your favorite thing you ate? Mine was the turkey...so delicious this year. 

What I bring away with me

I have fun prepping clients for their vacations. In order to figure out a game plan I need to know how long they’ll be away, whether they’ll be staying in a hotel or a house and how they typically eat when away. And since we refer to ourselves as “nutrition troubleshooters” I like to think that no challenge is too great. Weight restrictions for your baggage? We know which snacks are the easiest to pack (chia bars work well). Flying for almost 24 hours? We’ve done that as well and we never bank on refueling during a layover…you never know. However, like the cobbler’s children (who have no shoes) it’s easy for me to get suckered into “I know what to do” and to end up winging it, which never works.

 

This weekend I put together some of my tried and true favorites. I always bring a Nutcase and nuts to refill it with. I know jerky isn’t for everyone but I find protein, that is protein without added hormones and antibiotics, isn’t easy to come by so I like the Real Sticks. I like bars for travel; Marc and I have been loving the Jalapeno “Strong” Kind bars.  And just in case I put in something sweet, in this case one of our Dark Chocolate Coconut cups. We developed the Food FirstAid Kit Pouches so that your snacks, tea bags and other “secret weapons” are all in one place. We also put together this video on how to pack your kitcomplete with bloopers at the end. The golden snack rule is 1 item per day away.

As you go away (or if you’re already away), remember I’m here via Twitter @Foodtrainers so you can Tweet it Don’t Eat It #TIDEI when tempted. And on Instagram show me your travel snack stash with the hashtag #Foodtrainers for a chance to win our Summer Sampler Kit (complete with on-the-go metabolism boosting contents).

I was going to say “happy trails” but for some reason googled. Seriously Urban Dictionary, does every saying have some gross bodily reference?

Save travels, there.

What goes in your Food First Aid Kit? What’s the most difficult part of staying healthy when away? Did you know what happy trails meant?

Are you "well" read?

 Over Christmas break I received the following message:

Would you consider doing a post about what your twitter feed looks like or what you wake up and read immediately--a day in the reading life of Lauren?

The closing of this message included a postscript, which read:

PS: I got engaged over the holiday. A nice surprise.

Needless to say, I was much more determined to receive the proposal details than to talk reading. While the engagement specifics will remain private, I figured better late than never with my daily reading. I also called on some of my well-read wellness peers for their reading lists.

A day in the reading life of Lauren:

I do a blog hop many mornings. This includes cooking blogs, running blogs, yoga blogs and of course nutrition blog. When a new post is up, I get a little excited. Some of my favorite blogs include:

Svelte Gourmand 
Ivy League Insecurities 

Fooducate 

Herbal Water 

Formerly Hot 

Dish by Trish 

I also get the NY Times, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal on my kindle. I love Tuesday’s Personal Journal in the WSJ and of course the Science and Dining Times in the NY Times. 

On Twitter, I always check out @Blisstreedotcom, @MarionNestle, @TheAtlanticFood, @The_Stir, @AmyTaraKoch.

And there’s generally a “real” book or 2 in the mix I’m now enjoying (by the fire) Poser by Claire Dederer and also reading Keith Block’s Life Over Cancer.

Hemi Weingarten, founder of Fooducate.

Fooducate was one of the first blogs I followed when starting mine. Fooducate has a fantastic IPhone app that rates food products like students.

Hemi’s daily reading:

Newspapers:

LA Times Booster Shots is great, USA today, NY Times health (only a small % is food)

Blogs:

Marion Nestle's Food Politics is the best. She tells it like it is. It's Not About Nutrition by Dr. Dina Rose - amazing take on getting kids to eat well. 

I also get good email roundups from:

Smartbrief for Nutritionists

Phil Lempert Supermarket Guru

Food Navigator

Progressive Grocer

My best source of topics though, comes from readers who alert me to things going on (commercials, ads, new products, etc.)

Christine Egan, editor in chief of Blisstree. I contribute to Blisstree weekly and find that we’re on the same page when it comes to snark. Blisstree doesn’t shy away from honesty with its content and for that reason I visit daily. I always end up with some great information and a chuckle (the non-edible variety).

Christine’s reading list:

Well + Good NYC 

Vital Juice 

The Guardian's website does great health video series: 

Science Daily 

GOOD 

EcoSalon 

NPR radio (pretty obvious) 

 I also usually look at the health sections of all the major newspapers online.

Dr. Ayala is a pediatrician, artist, blogger, mom, and the creator of Herbal Water. Dr Ayala’s posts are so well referenced that it doesn’t surprise me she’s a voracious reader.

Dr Ayala’s reading list:

I read The New York Times and listen to NPR when I’m in the car or cooking. I go to the BBC for another perspective.  I catch yesterday’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart when I’m exercising -- he makes the news more bearable.

Blogs: 

Food52 

New York Times Well Blog  

Marias Farm Country Kitchen 

Foodtrainers 

101 Cookbooks 

Books: I’m addicted! If I don’t get an hour of reading my day is not complete!

Scientific magazines: I read mainly about nutrition and pediatrics (American J of Clinical Nutrition, Pediatrics), and go through the leading medical journals (NEJM, Circulation, Lancet, BMJ).

Twitter: Such an amazing way to meet new people and hear about what’s going on! Tweeps introduce me to news resources and new ideas I wouldn’t otherwise have known about.

 I hope you enjoyed these lists and learned about some new resources (I did). I’d love to hear what you, my readers, "ingest" on a daily basis. Please share your reading list in your comments.

April Fun

It’s April 2nd, I know I am a day late with my monthly resolution review. There seemed to be something wrong about an April Fools’ post and my day was a little busy for reflection. I am reading a great book called The Happiness Project and loved learning that the author, Gretchen Rubin, also suggests a monthly personal progress report. I am really enjoying these monthly check-ups, even last month when I had to fess up to a lackluster February . As I had hoped, March was a motivated month.

I don’t know if it was the end of a long ski season or the change in weather or the fact that I had a bunch of fun events on the calendar but I felt a noticeable change in myself. The funny thing is that I hadn't realized how much I was going through the eating and exercise motions until I switched gears. In terms of my resolutions there was progress. In addition to the Chicago marathon in October, I have a May half marathon scheduled. I've started to run every other day and made the leap from my 30 minute “better than nothing” treadmill runs to 1 hour runs in Central or Riverside Park. Yesterday I purchased a Garmin running watch with GPS built in and new sneakers further cementing my running commitment. What’s really nice is that I am enjoying the challenge rather than feeling burdened.

I actually had another fitness breakthrough of sorts. Last month I told you that I was trapped in my yoga membership and was attending a class but not fully convinced I had yogi potential. Shortly after, I was put on the spot by the yoga teacher in class. He asked “how often do you practice?” I answered truthfully and asked “how often should I practice?” He said it depends, “3 times a week is a good start or you can be like Tatiana and attend 13 classes a week.” Let’s be clear, I will never be like Tatiana (human pretzel in front row of class) but 3 times sounded like a possibility. I got over thinking “what am I doing here, this is soooo not for me” and started trying a little harder. I am a little less worried about being inept. I am looking forward to class; I even did my first bind.

There’s something about my reading resolution I’d also like to share. I had included “read more for pleasure” on my January list. I have joined a book club and loved our first book. The second book wasn’t really up my alley. We have a meeting in 2 weeks to discuss this book. I was dreading finishing the book and decided to read The Happiness Project instead. Funny enough, in the Happiness Project Gretchen Robin discusses reading. She suggested not forcing yourself to finish a book you aren’t enjoying. I am tempted to take this advice but still feel like a bit of a quitter. I like the concept of conscious quitting though. After all, it takes a lot to decide something is not for you….but if I had done this with yoga I would never have started to enjoy it. This will provide food for thought in April for sure.
Was March a motivated month for you? Do you remember and review your resolution(s)? Do you finish books you don’t love? Do you condone conscious quitting?

31st Grade Reading Journal: Nutrition At Your Fingertips

In case you’re new to this blog, a little explanation. My 7 year old son keeps a reading journal for school. He is supposed to read 20 minutes a night and keep a log of what he read. I was a little jealous of this assignment and decided I would keep my own reading journal and here it is. I am excited about the book for this week. Clients often ask me for a suggestion for a general book on nutrition. I am sure they’re not happy when I answer that there isn’t really one I like. I have books on sports nutrition, cookbooks I adore, sections on emotional eating but short of a nutrition textbook nothing general. Well I finally found a book that fits the bill and one that should be on everyone’s bookshelf: Nutrition At Your Fingertips by Elisa Zied MS, RD, CDN.

Elisa and I were introduced by a mutual friend. Shortly before I left for the ADA conference in Chicago this year, I received an email from my friend Cheryl saying “Elisa is going to the conference too, you have to meet up!” Had I received this email from anyone other than my fun, upbeat friend Cheryl I would have probably ignored it. Fortunately, I didn’t ignore it and Elisa and I met in the new products expo at the conference. Since then we’ve had lunch and I saw Elisa while she was visiting Cheryl in Vermont. I have to admit though, I run into Elisa most on Twitter. Elisa is probably the nutrition worlds Twitter champ. What I enjoy most about Elisa’s tweets is that she is quick to spot a gimmick, tell us all about it and replace the overblown advice with her sound nutritional knowledge.

I had a few questions for Elisa about her latest project:

Lauren: Who is this book geared toward? I see it as a staple on any bookshelf but who did you have in mind?

Elisa: When I wrote this book I had young adults, parents, older people, and anyone concerned about health/wellness/nutrition in mind. Lately, trainers, doctors, nurses and other RDs have told me what a great, easy to read reference book this is.

Lauren: Yes, I’ll admit I purchased (yes purchased on Amazon) the book to check it out for clients and have already used it researching for articles and client sessions. I will vouch for it being easy to use and locate information. Was that your intention?

Elisa: I wrote it as a guide for anyone who doesn't have hours on end to read about nutrition but instead wants a quick go-to reference they can spend a few minutes thumbing through to find clear, and to-the point answers to their most basic (or not so basic) nutrition questions. I also tried to make the book very practical and action-oriented so that people would not only understand why it's important to eat certain foods but to know how they could realistically do so.

Lauren: That’s so key, I think even when we know what to eat, we can all use help doing it! What do you feel are the most useful or “action oriented” sections?

Elisa: My favorite parts include chapters on Healthy Food Shopping, Weight Management, and Eating to Beat Disease. My Healthy Eating Tips chapter is also one of my favorites, since it breaks down goals like limiting saturated or trans fat, reducing sugar intake, or boosting fiber intake into practical, real world tips that are easy to follow and incorporate.

Lauren: Oh yes, I loved the Eating Tips chapter too! I earmarked your advice for “increasing whole grains.” One last question, if there were a few foods people should keep “at their fingertips” what should they be?

Elisa: You can keep nutrition at your fingertips by stocking up on and consuming all kinds of fresh and frozen (without added sugar) fruits and veggies; protein-rich foods such as lentils and other beans, fish (canned light or albacore tuna and sardines), nuts and nut butters (made without added sugar) and lean meats (sirloin, chicken or turkey breast); low fat dairy foods; whole grains such as low sugar cereals/pasta/brown or wild rice; and last but not least, healthy oils like olive oil or canola oil.

Lauren: Ooh sardines, I need to delve into sardines haven’t ever really gone there. And I think wild rice gets forgotten too. Thanks Elisa for such good advice!

What are your favorite nutrition books or cookbooks? And what foods to you try to keep at your fingertips?