10 tips for an easy fast (and the ultimate fasting secret)

It's not a turnip

I don’t fast for religious purposes but I have many religious and semi-religious clients who fast on Yom Kippur. We've been known to suggest non-religious lent so there’s no reason why everyone can't fast or atone. If you do, some tips:

1. Don’t feast before you fast- I get the “last supper” (wrong religion I realize) tendency to feast before you fast but that leaves you feeling gross and, more importantly, makes your fast more difficult. Have a dinner portion you’d call skimpy if you were served it at a restaurant.
2. Fat is your friend- fats take a long time to digest thus providing more staying power. Include avocado (taco Tuesday meets Yom), coconut oil, ghee or tahini in your dinner before you fast.
3. Go green- fat and fiber are the magic combination, have two cups of green vegetables with dinner (just skip asparagus). 
4. Portion your  protein- you can have fish or roasted chicken at dinner but protein uses up a lot of water as it digests, so aim for palm-sized portion max.
5. Drink until you sink :) in the PM hours before a fast have a class of water or herbal tea per hour.
6. Take a shot- combine 1Tbs apple cider vinegar, a dash of cinnamon and a lemon squeeze in a shot class and bottom's up before dinner (bottoms will come into play in tip #9). This will help balance your blood sugar.
7. Take D3 to be less hungry- vitamin D decreases appetite, it also helps your body's melatonin relax you. Take your vitamin D after dinner.
8. 8 is great- be sure to get your sleep before a fast,  less sleep means more hunger. Eight hours of sleep will set you up perfectly.
9. Another way to get caffeine-try a caffeine suppository. I had 2 orthodox clients mention this so I guess it’s not cheating. It seems silly that the other end is fair game but I don't make the rules. Tylenol makes caffeine suppositories and they will help you remain headache free when fasting. "The fast is best thought of as an instrument to achieve greater things. And so there’s nothing wrong with making your fast as easy as possible, within reason" says a smart rabbi. Why suffer?
10. Better not bagel! Let’s be honest, even if you’re fasting for religious purposes, a little weight loss never hurt. Or, why gain weight after you spent day fasting? Don’t bagel,  BYO Bagel substitutes such as Organ crackers or Siete, almond flour wraps.

For more fasting thoughts, check out this article from Prevention I was quoted in.

A healthy and happy new year to you! Any other fasting tips or tricks you'd like to share?

Picking the perfect protein powder, give peas a chance

‘Tis smoothie season and whether you’re at the smoothie shop (we love our Juice Gen) or picking a protein for home blending there are a whole lotta choices. Well and Good recently asked for my opinion of protein powder newcomer pea protein.

Protein Pros

In general, increasing protein can increase metabolism and decrease levels of a hunger hormone ghrelin, So, ”go pro” and don’t be too concerned about it. How much protein?  I think safe to go up to 1 gram per pound of body weight. So, a 150-pound person can consume 150 grams pro/day. Trust me, I don’t think you don’t have to count grams but some people need metrics.

Why Peas?

We hear about whey, soy (yuck) and even hemp protein powders but let’s give some props to pea protein. It’s a non-dairy, soy free, vegan protein made from yellow pea. Pea protein is a great option or those with allergies or food sensitivities. And rest assured, pea powder doesn’t take like peas or split pea soup.

Picking a Protein:

Look on your labels for pea isolates and organic if possible. Some of the best brands are Swanson, Sun Warrior blend (not 100% pea) and Naked Pea.

So expand your protein horizons, different proteins have different benefit. And if you need more "smooth" advice check out our 7 Steps to Smoothie Success video . 

The MUNCHIES: What too little sleep and marijuana have in common

If you read our manifesto, The Little Book of Thin, from cover to cover like you better have (wink wink), you know sleep is one of Lauren’s 10 Steps to Svelte. When you sleep your hunger hormones recalibrate. We’ve known that less sleep generally means more hunger but a recent study found that sleep deprivation could trigger eating similar to the “marijuana munchies”.  Uh oh. 

In the study, participants slept for different amounts of time (8.5 hours vs 4.5 hours). On the 4.5-hour nights, subjects report significantly higher scores for hunger and a stronger desire to eat. On the sleep-deprived nights, they ate about 400 more calories and almost twice as much fat when they were given access to a buffet full of cookies, chips and candy.

What does this have to do with POT?

Sleep deprivation produces higher peaks of a lipid in our bloodstream known as an endocannabinoid that seems to make eating more pleasurable – our endocannabinoid system is the same one targeted by the active ingredient in weed. “Sleep restriction boosts a signal that may increasethe hedonic aspect of food intake”… Yup, too little sleep and you’re basically stoney baloney … without the fun.

So what should you do? Aim for 7+ hours of sleep per night and turn off those screens to avoid the “MunchieZZZZ” (props to the NY Post for that pun). And for our Non-religious lent, Lauren’s committed to going to bed earlier, join us for #NRL, it’s not too late!

How much sleep do you typically get a night? Have you noticed “munchieZZZ” when you sleep suffers? Do you still  get stoney baloney?

Eat these foods to keep eating in check Memorial Day weekend

Me/laptop and bulletin board (why crop)

 Thank goodness there’s a shift away from tiresome calorie counting. If you counted the calories in your breakfast, step away from My Fitness Pal. it’s not a real pal. Instead, think about the quality of your food. What your food to do for you (as always it’s all about you). Do you need more energy? Maybe some “GI” assistance, I discussed a reliable remedy for that in Tuesday. Or are you hungry all the time? Do you you overeat? Often want something more after a meal?  I hear you.

Last week, I sat down with CBS at the beautiful, new Madison Square location for Dig Inn. The topic? Foods that cut your cravings, at Foodtrainers we dubbed these foods Full Foods.

Here are five foods to keep you satisfied longer:

1. Yogurt- yogurt is a fermented or probiotic food. Greek yogurt or Siggi’s Skyr is also higher in protein. Fermented foods improve appetite signals to the brain (shortens that lag between eating and realizing you ate) and protein at breakfast results in eating less later in the day.
2. Raspberries- every food group has a hierarchy. For fullness, raspberries are on top. They are the highest fiber fruit, 8 grams per cup, and they’re also in season (if you’ve read Little Book of Thin you know that I warn about overfruiting so stick to that cup of raspberries). And I’m not lying when I say some (favorite) clients reported rereading LBT as a refresher. Swear. Try it while you eat your raspberries.
3. Avocado- full disclosure the avocado people are involved in these avo-studies I reference but I don’t care. Half an avocado at lunch reduces snacking later in the day and makes lunch worthwhile. So long snack monster. And potassium in avocados is a “delicious debloater”. Pack avocados in your overnight bag, snap a photo if you do. 
4. Eggs- eggs may be the numero uno Full Food even though I’m listing it forth for no reason. Eggs decrease ghrelin (horrible hunger hormone, I always envision Little Shop of Horrors “feed me Seymour feed me all night long”). Boil half a dozen eggs and use them on salads or as snacks.
5. Beans- I said during filming no bean jokes. If you’re worried about “beaniness” at the beach stick to mung beans- the gas free bean. After eating beany meals people reported they were 30% more satisfied than similarly composed bean free entrees. Not legume-inclined? Try these bean pastas I mention in the segment.

Have a great weekend. No need to be hangry (or gorging), got it?

What are your “Full Foods” that satisfy you most? Are these five a part of your diet? Do you calorie count?

When “don’t get too hungry” backfires

Open any fitness magazine and you’re likely to read, “eat small, frequent meals” and “don’t let yourself get too hungry”. These aren’t the worst pieces of dietary advice.   “Everything in moderation” probably holds that title. However, eating frequency and grazing has been taken to an extreme. This has resulted in most of us having no clue when we’re hungry because we’re never really anywhere close.

I have clients admitting “I’m scared of being hungry” or “my friends joke I never miss a meal.” I’m certainly not advocating stomach growling (there was actually a Christian weight loss program I reviewed a few years ago with some sort of a “love the growl” slogan, I swear) or starvation. And yet we need to be in touch with what our bodies need and not simply eating and “feeding” preventively.

First, regularly assess your hunger. A 1-10 scale works nicely. If 1 is very little hunger/satiated and 10 is feeling faint/not good you want to eat at a 7 or 8. A rule I use with non-vegetarian clients is the “Chicken Test”. If I ask you if you want chocolate or even cheese and crackers, you may say yes. However, these treat foods are appealing regardless of hunger. If I ask you if you want a piece of grilled chicken, you will only accept when you are hungry.

Another exercise is to pick a day and let your appetite determine when you are ready to eat. If you’re worried about your work hours or schedule, simply have your meals prepared (boiled eggs, a salad and nuts aren’t difficult to transport) ahead of time. In the morning, don’t eat at 6am on autopilot if you aren’t hungry. Wait a bit…but not too long, I’d say up to 2 hours. Try to use the 1-10 hunger meter throughout the day.

There are days I’m upper super early and it’s 11am and I decide it’s lunchtime.

Or, if breakfast is a substantial smoothie, it may be 2pm before that mid day meal comes. Don’t push intervals between meals or snacks more than 4 hours at first but learn that your appetite isn’t fixed. And now tell me the diet advice that bugs you the most or if you’re scared of getting too hungry.

“If you pay attention to when you are hungry, what your body wants, what you are eating, when you've had enough, you end the obsession because obsession and awareness cannot coexist.” Geneen Roth

And, the winner of our Smoothie Giveaway/ Socal Detox Powder is Randi