Foodtrainers' Holiday Helper Rosh Rules (and YK too)

Well, actually don't

We’ve just shifted out of summer mode and the holidays are upon us.

While it can feel like September presents one thing after another, we're hoping that since  many of us are still casting off our summer holiday treatsare slightly less alluring (maybe?)

Here are Foodtrainers’ tips for a “sweet” new year. The only thing sweeter than honey cake is feeling svelte when September ends. Agree? Thought so.

 Rosh Rules (and YK too)

 Create room for holiday meals. If you’re familiar with Foodtraining through the holidays .you know that we believe in utilizing pre and post holiday days. For every holiday meal, have 1 day where you skip anything sweet (wine and fruit are sweet).

 Secret Holiday Weapons: have lemon squeezed in water before your holiday meal, this will prevent your blood sugar from rising sky high and may displace a glass of wine. The morning after holidays, try our magic green elixir.

 Employ our “traditional” 1 plate rule: make a plate with 1/2 veggies, 1/4 protein, 1/4 carb. If you can skip the carb and try making your plate ¾ veg, even better. No seconds (that would be 2 plates).

 Pick 1 treat per holiday: kugel, matzo balls and next week bagels-OY (if your clothes aren’t fitting really well, nothing about these foods will help, just a “sweet’ reminder). We cannot have it all and not expect post-holiday matzo balls in unfortunate, unwanted places…

*note this isn’t 1 treat per holiday meal, got it? One treat for RH and one for YK max, if you forego other treats we’ll sound our office shofar for you.
  So what should you eat? We say GO Gefilte or via sauce removal “naked” brisket, these are good protein choices. Roasted veggies (carrots being a “sweeter” veg is the least of your worries) are fair game. Also, a little known fact some feel spinach (silka) was one of the original signs of Rosh Hashanah. In terms of carbs, gourds (pumpkins and squashes) have symbolic meaning and are your best starch selection.

 BYOT (bring your own tea) Rosh Hashanah food is super sweet. Chances are the above-mentioned honey cake is redundant. Basically Rosh Hashanah dinner is dessert. So skip the sweets post meal, Tazo makes a great, organic cinnamon apple tea. 

 Don’t binge before you fast. If you fast for YK avoid the temptation to overdue it beforehand. This actually makes fasting more difficult. Stick to the one plate rule and the 1-carb per plate rule as well. 

 Bagels are a break up food , break fast or not.  Speaking of The Little Book of Thin, the holiday chapter is a great primer for the holidays (just saying).

 You are not alone! You can also #TIDEI (via twitter) if you need extra support. For example "my aunt is guilting me into eating _________" 
 Insta your plate @Foodtrainers @onesmartbrownie, one properly composed plate will receive some "secret post holiday weapons".
And of course we wish you a year filled with health and happiness.
Did you have a holiday meal already? How was it? Which of these "rules" resonates with you? 
Do you find September a difficult month?
*Congrats to our first week of September Squeezers who took the month by storm and put in 7 days of great eating and focus.

I whipped myself

You may have read about our Whipping Week we launched for the New Year. Clients have been "whipped" in our offices and via our Foodstalking program people are getting a virtual whipping in Chicago, Texas and Florida. See what happened when Carolyn (@onesmartbrownie) whipped herself.

For the most part, I am fine with my vices and believe you should love what you eat and drink. But after a little too much “love” over the holidays it was time to rein it in. I enjoy a challenge but have to admit I’m always hesitant to go super strict. After all, I am the girl who creates my own juice/soup cleanse rules (why would I live without coffee?).  But we launched our Whipping Week and I was ready to give it a try. And so I “whipped” myself.

If you’ve read our newsletter or blog posts, you know this entailed NO booze, NO grains, NO meat and NO dairy and limited fruit. Some people have a last supper before they start a new regime, I had to have a last “sipper”.  One flute of champagne with berries and I was ready for whipping.

And here you have a day in the life of Whipping.

Breakfast

Bulletproof-ish style coffee with a little almond milk and tsp coconut butter and blended.

 ½ cup serving of homemade chia . No fruit at breakfast was the hardest part for me, but this was all about keeping it simple.

Mid morning: Wakaya turmeric tea  

Lunch- making lunch the biggest meal of the day is a challenge for me but works best. Here is my lunch deconstructed (pink is salmon). It was more of a “dunch” or dinner for lunch as we like to call it.

Mid afternoon: our new obsession from FoodMatters, was honestly my favorite daily ritual. Bone broth (made from grassfed beef) is so warming and filling. This pic doesn’t so it justice but it’s flavored with herbs and spices and lots of ginger and is so delish.  Half a bottle and I was good to go until my (early bird) dinner.

Winner winner no chicken dinner. Dinner was basically veggie heaven, tons of vegetables, my favorite way to do this is with the spiralizer. I added a tbsp of olive oil and lots of garlic and a bit of miso too.

After dinner one of the first nights of Whipping Week I had a hot date which was now going to be hot tea (instead of a drink). I’m sure he was excited about this, nothing like mint tea to really set the mood. Luckily the man in question handled it very well and tea’d it up too. (+10 points for him).

Over a solid  Whipping days  and a whipping-ish, weekend,  I felt SO good and light My snacky tendencies and  carby/sweet extras  that had been sneaking in were nipped in the bud. Of all my workouts, I only had one less-than-stellar spin class the whole week which I blame on not drinking enough water versus whipping. So this week was really neither like 50 shades nor the hunger games, much to my delight.

Have you gotten whipped or tried our whipping tenants? Tell us how it’s going, what have been your favorite meals? Does this look difficult?

Beyond paella, saffron may be a secret weapon

It may not seem like it but when it comes to food products and certainly supplements I am a huge skeptic. Clients often email me photos of food products or links to articles and often my reply is “I wouldn’t bother.” Over them summer I received the following email

Hi Lauren,

Hope you’re enjoying your summer. I loved Little Book of Thin and have been following the 10 Steps to Svelte, broke up with sweeteners etc. I also started taking saffron supplements and I’m curious if they’re green lighted.  Maybe a good YOSA topic for the blog?

IF you’re not familiar with YOSA it’s our acronym for “yay or step away”.  After some digging I saw there was some research behind saffron and I have a soft spot for spices as I feel they have been used for so long. So I also ordered these capsules but didn’t expect much.

Saffron is that super expensive reddish spice that comes in threads and is most commonly used in paella. Saffron is actually from the stigma of a flower called Crocus sativus L (such a shame nobody plays trivial pursuit anymore). Saffron has centuries of use as a remedy in Indian and Chinese cultures but these saffron capsules contain much more saffron than the spice itself.

Saffron’s potential benefits are appetite reduction, mood improvement (thought many of the studies have been small) and one of the constituents of saffron, crocetin, shows potential in terms of cancerprevention and treatment. Saffron is absolutely not something I would recommend for pregnant women as it can cause uterine contractions or in dosages above five grams per day.

Here’s the part where I start to sound like an infomercial. I took the saffron as directed before lunch and dinner. I noticed the biggest difference at restaurant meals where portions are larger. I was pushing away plates left and right. And the few times I noticed I had that typical urge to pick or graze I had forgotten my saffron. Now, nothing is going to help if your basics aren’t in order. But if you’re like the reader above who is doing your basics or “10 Steps to Svelte” and feel your portions are too large or your appetite tremendous, this is worth a try. In terms of YOSA criteria I’m going to say “YAY”.

If you’re not a capsule person or don’t tend toward ginormous portions. I also love saffron tea. It’s a Moroccan tradition. I boil water and combine green tea and about ½ tsp. saffron. I let this steep for 5 minutes, strain the leaves/threads and add a little sweetener (Nustevia or honey).

For some more Fallspiration check out our Monthly Morsels newsletter which was delivered today

Do you saffron? How do you use it in cooking? What are your favorite spices? Have you heard of the saffron/appetite connection? Anything you'd like us to consider for YOSA?

Favorite Frozen Treats 2014 Edition

If you’re familiar with Foodtrainers you know that it’s not enough for us to look at a label and tell you a food is “healthy”. We need to know what it tastes like. Every summer we pick a day for our Annual Ice Cream Test. There are many great flavors and brands we’ve tried in the past and we really like to bring you new ideas. First, we put the word out to our Twitter, Facebook and Insta friends asking for suggestions. Next, we scheduled an ice cream meeting to be sure we have scoured the city for the best pints, pops and shops. We narrowed down our list and devised a schedule for ice cream acquisition. The contenders were assembled on my desk. And of course we have secret ballots. Each flavor is rated on a scale of 1 to 10 cones. We didn’t share our conclusions until every flavor had been tasted.

For the most part, we agreed. Some flavors tasted “vegany”. Others were “too sweet” or even “too salty.” We fell in love with the texture of the stringy goat’s milk ice cream from Lezzetli. In the end there were three frozen standouts.

Culture Plain (9 cones)

I’m not typically a froyo fan. Part of it has to do with the cease and desist letter I received from a prominent company when I blogged about portion sizes. The other part is that, as I said earlier, if healthy involves sacrificing taste I’m out. Culture has great flavors but the original was our favorite. Culture takes both their ingredients and probiotics seriously and so do we. “There are absolutely no preservatives or additives.” Their product is made onsite from strained yogurt. They have both a Manhattan and Brooklyn locations. We found their kiddie size perfect.

Van Leeuwan Artisan Ice Cream Earl Grey (8 cones) 

This Earl Grey Van Leeuwan flavor elicited wows from us although, if I’m being hones,t our intern did say, “I thought it was weird” which is probably what we liked. It is unique and smoky and not overly sweet. And this is real deal ice cream but it’s made with organic ingredients. This is a treat we endorse and will probably indulge in again before the summer ends. 

Jolly Llama Banana Coconut (8 cones) 

We know our readers hail from many places outside NYC. So it would be pretty rude to make this all NY-centric.  And it just so happens Jolly Llama topped our taste test.These nouveau push pops are 80 to 100 calories, gluten free, dairy free and non-GMO and kosher. Though they are called sorbet pops we tried the banana coconut flavor which, thanks to the coconut, tasted creamy and indulgent.

What's your favorite frozen treat? Have you tried any of our winners? Which would you want to try?

*certain contenders didn't make our final list because of ingredients or sweeteners we don't endorse. For more info on what to avoid in allegedly healthy treats you can read this.