When Your Kids Use the "F" Word

  

I thought about this post a lot. At first, I decided not to discuss this because it’s a conversation I had with one of my children. Then I realized I could present the scenario but not attribute it to anyone in particular. That didn’t seem the way to go. I then was going to write about another topic altogether like how Paul Ryan “forgot” his marathon finish time or the Times article that concluded organic foods are no better. But why waste time on lies? I’m going to tell you something truthful.

My boys were away at camp for seven weeks this summer. We can email or occasionally call them but their only means of communication with us were letters (no technology, love it except the spelling errors).  One son would give us the date and time and a maximum of two sentences. His brother, on the other end of the information spectrum, told us everything. I would’ve been fine without knowing every score of every game or when they were “robbed” but my sentimental side comes out while they are away. One letter in August talked of a visit to a girl’s camp. “They had a carnival with rides and delicious food.” Interesting. “And all the girls thought I was cute.” Whoa, did he write “girls” and “cute” if it weren’t for the handwriting and abundant sports scores I would’ve thought this was written by another child. His lack of modesty aside, I was happy he shared that information and I didn’t say another word about it until he came home.

First night home (within an hour of seeing him) I couldn’t contain myself:

“So you mentioned girls, they thought you were cute?”

“Yes, it was strange, I’ve never heard that from girls my age.” I let the age thing go and skipped to “and did you think they were cute?”

“No mom, they were all fat.”

I wasn’t prepared for that. Especially with my profession, “fat” is not something he’s heard me say. I may say way worse words, such as the original "F" word especially when I cut myself cooking or get cut off while driving but not fat. I may say I feel “gross” or “bloated” or many other not-so-positive things but I stay away from fat.

“You know it wouldn’t hurt somebody’s feelings if they were called that.” I said. “Mom, I didn’t call them that and I’m not being mean, they were fat.” Some people are fat and some are thin.” My head started to spin. This poor child was enjoying his first hour home in his house and I was thinking of a frat house with him surrounded by older versions of his camp friends as they discussed various females and their appearance. Was I raising one of “those” guys?

I went off. I told him that girls develop sooner than boys. He had learned about puberty at school or as he said “when you get hair in all sorts of places”. I added it’s what’s on the inside that counts. I gave alternate words for fat such as large and overweight and rotund. My mother always pinned everything on my friends so I told him if others were saying hurtful things about girls, he shouldn't join in. And then I realized this kid will never share anything with me again so I said “I’m happy they had good food at the carnival, it sounds like a fun day.”
We spend so much time working on girl's self esteem and body image do you think we neglect speaking to boys? We are all influenced by appearance how to we make sure boys get right message? What would you have done in this situation? And if you'd like to chime in about Paul Ryan or organic food that's fine too.

Healthy Indian Food at Restaurants and at Home

We are having dinner with good friends tomorrow night. As we made plans, my friend said, “you pick the place, we’ll do anything except Indian.” In no way did I have my heart set on Indian but in a city where even toddlers eat sushi and Thai, I find my friend’s Indian avoidance is way too common. Plus it’s probably my very favorite cuisine. While some people are coming around to Indian food, many remain unfamiliar.  Clients are often flummoxed when they’re headed to Indian either because they’ve never been or perhaps they feel it’s an unhealthy cuisine. Time to clear up the confusion.

Here are some simple suggestions for healthy Indian restaurant food:

• Indian is mainly a carb challenge with the most delicious delicious breads and rice. If you’re having a carb at Indian choose between roti, sort of like whole-wheat naan, and rice but not both. 
• Select items cooked in the tandoor oven. Tandoori salmon, shrimp and chicken are smart selections. These will be flavorful but less caloric as there’s no sauce (less sauce, less carbs to soak up sauce). 
• In terms of vegetables cauliflower, okra and spinach are good choices.  
• For appetizers, soups are your best bet. Mulligatawny is a nice lentil soup. 
• Indian is usually shared so watch your portions; remember the one-plate rule.

Of course, the best way to sure healthy Indian is to take matters into your own hands.

So while we’re likely going to a seafood restaurant tomorrow, I was thrilled to be was sent a copy of “Vegan Indian Cooking” by Anupy Singla. This chef’s “Indian Slow Cooker” book made our ski weekends much more delicious last winter and both the chicken curry and chicken tikka masala were favorites.

I have enjoyed this book just as much. The book starts out with basic recipes such as one for cashew cream to replace dairy in recipes. There are fantastic ways to use grains from dosas (which my family loves from Hampton Chutney in New York) to my new favorite Chickpea Flour Crepes. My kids have been loving the Spiced Stovetop Popcorn. There are also handy recipes for beans and lentils to be cooked in the slow cooker.  And for you Brussels sprout people how about Masala Brussels sprouts? Some of the recipes can be found on Anupy’s blog Indian AS Apple Pie. I can see this book being the go-to resource for healthy Indian home cooking.

I don't usually read the forward in cookbooks but I did in this case. There's a great section in the opening pages entitled Indian Food Myths. Indian food doesn’t have to be spicy, heavy or unhealthy. It doesn’t have to be complicated either. Naan isn’t served in most Indian homes and finally the slow cooker is Indian (you’ll have to get the book to figure that one out, interesting). I may send these myths over to my friend to see if I can convert her.

In honor of my 500th blog post (not really, just realized that as I started writing), Anupy is giving two hungry readers a copy of Vegan Indian Cooking. To be eligible, comment and tell us where you are on a scale of 1-10 in terms of Indian food love. What are your favorite Indian foods? Or, you can tweet about our Indian Cookbook giveaway @Foodtrainers on twitter. 
You have until Friday 9/14 to enter. Congratulations to the Olove winner Ameena.

I decided to refresh my spices before doing any recipe testing.

Spices and Tease NYC, the tease is that the tins of spices are impossible to open (see below)

All fun and games until a turmeric explosion

On the breadbin, not so bad but white (now yellow) countertops? Oy.

Are You Skinny Fat? Find Out Why.

 When it comes to meals there’s breakfast and lunch but then there’s brunch. A similar combination exists when it comes to weight, there’s skinny and fat and then skinny fat. Skinny fat is a person who’s thin for the most part but has a high body fat percentage. Skinny fat can also apply to that friend who you think can eat “whatever she wants” and stay skinny. Skinny fat people may weigh the right amount for their height, they may look fine in clothes but under it all there’s extra, some mush, less muscle mass.

What type of exercise makes you skinny fat?
For some reason cardio, in particular spinning, takes a lot of heat for its connection to skinny fatness. A trainer named Charles Poliquin was asked about spinning in Oxygen magazine and let’s just say he was not a fan.

“In spinning exercise, the body adapts by storing both intra-muscular and subcutaneous fat in the thigh and hip areas to provide a more readily available source of fuel for the aerobic recovery periods. The body figures out, if I store fat there it reduces the time to get to the muscles to provide the energy source. Result: Kobe beef thighs and butt, all plump and marbled with fat inside.”

 I enjoy spinning (I’m a Flywheel fan) but I think the key word in the harsh (Kobe beef thighs?) quote above is “adapts”. Our bodies adapt to anything. I think those most in danger of being skinny fat, or not changing their bodies, are those who only spin. We need more than spinning and ultimately more than cardio too. Whether it’s superslow training, barre, Crossfit you need some strength work and variety. Getting better at something may be when your body gets worse. And let’s face it,  some skinny fat people don’t exercise at all.

When you eat may make you skinny fat

Another ingredient for skinny fatness is erratic eating.  Some erratic eaters skip breakfast, others “save up” for dinner. Or the biggest clue when I’m talking to a client when it comes to skinny fat is “I’m not hungry.” You’re not hungry when your body assumes food isn’t coming in regularly, so it hangs onto that fat. Hungry people are the ones burning through all their food.

Sitting
This information was relatively new to me. I mentioned it when reviewing Drop Dead Healthy. Sitting isn’t bad because you’re not moving. It’s worse than that. Lipase helps muscles absorb fat. When we sit, we don’t produce lipase so fat can “go off and do naughty things”. 

Does Veganism Make You Skinny Fat?

Vegan Diets get picked on for making people skinny fat. I’m not a vegan but it’s not all vegan diets it’s vegan diets or any diet missing one of the following

• Protein- I know I’m going to hear it (read some of the comments in “are meat substitutes worse than meat”) but when I drop my animal protein down, I feel a little skinny fat. Organic chicken, wild fish, grass-fed beef, if you aren’t morally against them, may help. And yes, some vegans get plenty of protein.
• Good fats- certain types of fat, consumed strategically can decrease body fat. Omega 3’s in fish, omega 3 eggs and chia seed. We’ve also discussed the power of sunflower seeds. And finally, a little coconut oil is a good saturated fat.
• Vegetables- every 10-gram increase in fiber decreases body fat by over 3 percent in a couple of years. Not everyone who avoids animal products is automatically consuming enough fiber and certainly the same can be said of most omnivores. Salad is not enough. Try for produce at every meal and hone in on crucifers: broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy and kale. I also think cabbage needs more love.

We can joke at this skinny fat term but doctors are seeing lots of young people who aren’t overweight but exhibit signs of pre diabetes. You can be skinny fat on the inside too. Mark Hyman writes “they are normal weight but metabolically obese with all the same risks of disease and death as the obese. One in seven normal weight kids has pre-diabetes or Type 2 diabetes.”

There are also some skinny fat variables are out of our control. Getting older with the natural decline in muscle mass can lead to complaints of skinny fat. And some may feel skinny fat is fine. The New York Times documented the hipster belly among men that don’t want to be muscleheads. Just one more way I’m not hip.

Are you aware of the term skinny fat? What do you think it's about? If you spin, are vegan or sit a lot I'd love to hear from you.

RefrigeRaider: How to Organize a Healthy Fridge

My fridge, I swear it looks better in person

I love a website called Well and Good, their content is smart and they’re onto things in NYC often before we are (and our clients keep us fairly current). They have a feature called Refrigerator Look Book where they look into the fridge of various chefs, fitness instructors or other health professionals. I love this feature as I do feel your fridge says a lot about you (dating ladies, the fridge is the new medicine cabinet) but I have an issue with many of the featured fridges. You see, while I should be focused on what super healthy ingredients are displayed I really want to climb into my laptop screen and organize what I see. I’m a Virgo, what can I say?

As you reboot from summer fun, your refrigerator is a great place to start.

• Purge, I know it’s strange coming from a nutritionist but you need to be able to see what’s in there. If you haven’t used something this summer, it can go. When we do RefrigeRaider sessions we first remove everything a shelf at a time and toss, toss, toss.

• Put items you want to eat at eye level. You’re more likely to eat the first things you see so precut veggies, fruit front and center eye level. Use those middle shelves for a smaller middle. I’ve talked about these ceramic baskets before but I love this vegetable garage (it’s designed for picnics, you can put ice underneath but we repurposed it).

• Have a master fridge list for basics:

Omega 3 Eggs

Organic Half and Half (Ronnybrook)

Organic Vegetables for crudité (radishes, jicama, celery, carrots, cucumbers)

2-3 Fruits

Greens for salads and juicing

Fresh Herbs

Olives

Organic cheese

Organic Sliced Turkey

Applegate Sunday Bacon

Organic Milk (2% or Whole)

2% Greek Yogurt (Fage or Siggis)

Kefir

Harmless Harvest Coconut Water

Almond Milk

Nut Butter

• Success starts Sunday- this is your time to make iced tea, hard boil eggs, wash greens

• Rewrap- I love this cheese paper from Murray’s. Cold cuts paper dry out too try foil, plastic wrap or airtight container in meat drawer.

• Place fresh herbs or asparagus in a glass of water to retain freshness.

• Place eggs toward back, where it is colder and not on the door.

• Label sauces, stock or leftovers so you know when you put them in. I use these, yes I know they're called Freezer Labels, it's ok. 

• Consider a charcoal odor absorber, I find these work best I use one called Fridge-it.

Your fridge is going to set you and your family members up to eat well. I put the veggie garage on the table when the kids come home from school and they're excited to see what's in it. They can come and easily grab organic grapes or a yogurt, they know where everything is. 

When's the last time you organized your fridge? What are your staple items? What sets you up well for the week? Tweet or post a photo, I shared it's only fair.

College Food Survival Tips: No More 15 if You're Eating Clean

As our beloved intern Joanna leaves us for Mass General we asked for her help with our Foodtrainees heading off or back to college.

Eating healthy and sticking to your Foodtraining can be tough in college.  Trust me, I’ve been there.  I often found myself snacking on chips and even finishing boxes of cereal convincing myself they would help me through all-nighters.  College students are always looking for something easy, fast, and convenient. Who wants to spend time thinking about what to cook when you have hours of studying (or partying) ahead of you?

Having recent first hand experience, I helped Lauren and Carolyn compile the

Top 5 Nutrition Mistakes College (and some grads) Students Make

Late for Class, Breakfast Skippage
Most college students would choose sleep over breakfast. Plus, there are no parents lecturing reminding you eating is important.  Skipping breakfast leads to overeating later so even if it’s 11am, have something. Vigilant Eats Superfoods Cereal is high in fiber and protein to keep you full through those morning classes.  All you need to do is add hot or cold water. This is the perfect on-the-go or sit-in classroom breakfast it even comes with a spoon. If utensils are too much effort, try Orgain ready to drink shakes or Zing bars. Starbucks has Kind bars, as long as you steer clear of the “yogurt” or chocolate flavors they are fine and we know you will not skip your coffee.

Study Snacks
Most snacks are brimming with carbs, carbs tend to make you sleepy. Why then do we think snacks help us stay awake? If a snack is on hand every time you study then, for the sake of your weight, we hope you’re not the studious type. If it’s been over four hours since your last meal, strategic school snacks are blueberries or sunflower seeds. Anthocyanins in blueberries as well as thiamin in sunflower seeds can improve memory and cognition.

Energy Drinks
On the flipside of snackiness is forgetting to eat. It’s easy to forget when you’re pounding Red Bull or any of its equally unhealthy counterparts. Foodtrainers' college students swear by Brain On a supplement for attention and alertness that seems to work magic even if you’re coming off a rough night out. And if you’re looking for an energy drink, we suggest something all natural such as EBoost.

Late Night Bites (or Binges)
It’s 2 or 3am, you’ve been out partying and pizza seems like the obvious nightcap. For any of you reading this and telling yourself that will not be you, feel free to #TIDEI (tweet it don’t eat it) to us afterhours and we’ll be super impressed. Waking up bloated and hungover with a vague recollection of eating something greasy is a harsh reality check. Have a designated late night bite. Pick 1 thing:  popcorn, kale chips or crackers and hummus and have it waiting for you. Be prepared, those nights will happen much to your parents’ chagrin.

Dorm Potato
Perhaps your school has a sprawling campus or maybe buildings are in a more urban setting. Whatever the case may be, you’ll most likely find yourself walking to class. Though it may seem like you’re doing a lot, this isn’t exercise. Your daily walking may burn off your fro-yo (which could be college mistake #6) or a drink. So you need to exercise. There are great workout DVDs from Physique57 or Tracy Anderson and websites such as Yoga Download but we love the FitKit Dorm. Whether it’s in-room exercise or gym-based try to get into a workout routine within 2 weeks of getting to school. Exercise is one of the best things for physical and mental health and is a really good way to meet cute guys. Just sayin.

We've put together a College Survival Bundle that can be shipped to campuses nationwide.

What were your biggest food mistakes in college? Did you gain weight? Please share your lowest college dietary moment.

I'm A Camper and a Biker

"A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving"

-Lao Tzu (should've listened to the quote on the Amika travel blow dryer box)

I promise not to turn this into a travel blog but I thought I’d at least let you know how I fared in the wilderness. So many of you were so supportive with my lame and inflated fears. Well, maybe they were just misdirected. What I’ve learned about fear is that Murphy’s Law is inaccurate. It’s not necessarily that what you fear will happen will but that what will happen may be way worse than what you feared. Let me explain.

I have never, despite a close call at Eagle airport in Colorado, missed a flight. Just to be safe, we arrived two hours early for our flight to Chicago where we intended to connect to Jackson Hole. After an ambiguous gate change, when we were about to board the flight at the new gate we were told, “this is another Chicago flight, your flight left.” To make a long story short, we spent the night in Denver (actually Aurora, creepy), flew to Jackson Hole in the morning where our bags spent the night and took a taxi up to Yellowstone (3 hours) to meet our trip.

Wait, it gets worse. Remember my over preparation? Somewhere between Jackson Hole and Yellowstone, Marc checked our bags. He had packed an extra bag but never informed me so when I counted our bags, I assumed we had everything. All our supplies? They were in a suitcase that never left NY. I am sure our taxi driver will be talking about a crazy lady from NYC for many years to come. We sorted out to have bag FedExed to our campsite. Remind me to “like” FedEx on Facebook or send a thank you note.

My “reward” for all of this rushing and arranging was that we met our group in time for lunch in Yellowstone just as everyone was getting fitted with their bikes. Yellowstone doesn’t have a bike path per se so we were instructed to stay all the way to the side and watch out for RVs and bison. As the late family, there was no way I could completely express my biking fears though I did hop in the van and start the ride after the “biggest hill of the week.” Did I mention we were at 10,000 feet elevation?

When you’re tense or worried, you zero in on what can go wrong. As we started to bike, I realized why we were there and I almost crashed my bike taking in the view. Yellowstone, aside from wildlife, is best distinguished for its thermal features (can you name the 4 types of thermal features?). We rode past hot springs and geysers and finished at Old Faithful.

Do we really need to see this?

According to this photo it's not that special, in person it is. 

After waiting and waiting for Old Faithful to do its thing, we were shuttled to our campground. Many of you wished me wine while camping. Along with our tent assignments, there was hors d’oeurvres and wine greeting us. Cheers. 

I will not lie, the first night in the tent, without our pillows, in the missing bag, I was awake listening to the noise from other campsites and convinced myself I was not cut out for camping but that quickly changed. 

Day 2 was a hiking day around “Grand Canyon” of Yellowstone. It was breathtaking.

 After lunch, the kids were swiped up for their own activity and the adults hiked on. 

We were rewarded with showers at our second campsite, clean showers no less. It’s amazing what can turn into a treat when you’re stripped of luxuries.

camping legs, I'll save the chipped tooth story for another day

 Our bag arrived and surprisingly the only thing I had missed was our inflatable pillows (sweatshirts don’t cut it) and toothbrushes. I slept like a baby.

We kayaked on the third day and enjoyed a delicious Mexican dinner at night. For many of the days, we packed our lunches from a spread the camp crew presented us. They were great about gluten (three of the women were gluten free) but without bread my lunch was often some tuna or turkey with avocado or a slice of cheese and some veggies. This would seem small-ish at home but we were eating regularly and it was really satisfying. The only food "tools" I ended up using were my probiotics and some mornings cocochia,also contains probtioics, over fruit (stay tuned for a future post on probitoics and weight). Though some complained, I lost a couple while away.

The next day was “OYO” or our on your own time. We bid farewell to Yellowstone and arranged fishing on Jackson Lake in the Tetons or “the ladies of the lake” as our fisherman guide Phil called them. With the wildfires in Idaho the view was hazy and the fishing had been affected (the fire kills the bugs and the fish eat them).

Nonetheless, our boys pulled in enough lake trout for all of our new friends at the campsite to taste.

After an hour of nothing and many great stories from our captain Phil...lake trout

For a trip full of “highlights” stopping our bike ride in the Tetons for a herd of bison may have topped the list. We had to stay back and wait as 1000 bison crossed the road (hopefully not to get to “lunch” on the other side).

bison jam

After lunch we finished the 25-mile route in Jackson Hole. We somehow ended up at the Cowboy Bar where our time was limited. I had never suggested a tequila shot as a post-exercise beverage and I don’t think I will start to any time soon.

We were all sad for the week to end. Andrea, in a blog comment before I departed, articulated things so well "I like the contrast camping provides to my "normal life." I like appreciating all the little conveniences again and also realizing that I don't need certain things." We were outside all day, every day. We were with families from all over the country with 13 combined children who never complained. There’s nothing like ending the day around a campfire although I have enjoyed crawling into my bed. In a nerdy way I feel sort of proud of myself. Mission enjoyed.

I know many of you mentioned you’re not the tenting type, would you ever try it? Your kids would love…Have you been to any of the National Parks? Do you have any sports-related fears biking or skiing etc. you want to face?

Oh and the 4 types of thermal features are geysers, hot springs, mudpots and fumaroles (if you’re on Jeopardy you’ll thank me).

Gone Camping

There I am unibrow, frizz and all.

In my head, I am the type of girl who camps. After all, I love travel and the outdoors. I did Semester at Sea in college and some of my best memories are sleeping out on the deck at night in a sleeping bag or exploring a new country with a small backpack and not much else. Today we’re on our way to Yellowstone National Park we’re we will be camping for the next week but I’m thinking I’m not really the camping type, maybe I’ve changed. And I realize I'm not off on a solo expedition to Antarctica, so why the nerves?

It’s not the food, the outfitter we’re going with is known to have delicious meals. I feel comfortable navigating most food situations and I informed them I’m wheatless and that will not be a problem. I’ll also have some EBoost, wild salmon jerky Hail Merry, Cocochia, Bars (Pure and Zing) with us for hikes and bike rides.

So what is it, you may be wondering that’s making me apprehensive?

First, I know how to ride a bike but I am not someone who grew up riding a bike to friend’s houses. I have a bike I purchased this summer to brush up and I’ve been on it a bit but not on roads with major hills and possibly cars. I’m fine skiing and running and hiking for hours but the biking thing is throwing me off. Let’s hope it’s “just like riding a bike”.

Second, as natural and wholesome as the food I cook and select is I’m really not au naturel in general. The hair isn’t wash and go, more like blow dry and flat iron. Even though I don’t wear a lot of make up, other than when exercising, I don’t really go without it. And I’m tight with my magnifying mirror. Can one tweeze in a tent?

While we travel a fair amount, I’ve come to realize I replicate my comfort zone in most places. I’ve found juice shops in Europe (hard but they’re there) and organic food in New Orleans. As you may know, I have a collection of coolers for transporting food and a jar of strong, fair trade ground coffee comes to most hotel rooms. This trip I will not be able to seek things out, it is what it is coffee and all.

My favorite antidote to trepidation is neurotically over-preparing so that’s what I’ve done. I have travel sized everything (unscented because bugs like scents). I have dry shampoo, every version of a wipe including one from MD Skincare that “cleanses, tones and moisturizes”. I have Zyflammend nighttime to help me sleep (another fear, tent sleeping), I have a backup phone battery and a solar powered charger thingy despite the lack of cell service. Plus bug stuff, altitude stuff, cut stuff. And because 10 trips to Patagonia and Eastern Mountain Sports didn’t completely calm me, I googled. I googled camping hair and “tying a bandana” (never can get it right), if only there was an online camping therapy site, I would’ve signed up.

So why did I plan this trip I’m clearly not cut out for? Because part of me thought it sounded beyond amazing and though time has passed since my outdoorsy days, I haven’t changed all that much. I recall wearing wedge sneakers as I trekked through the Blue Mountains in India way back when. I couldn't resist these, campfire chic.
Do you like to camp? Any advice? Anything you've done lately you were nervous about? 
I'll post in a week (no computer in the tent) and have lots of fun posts coming in September.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. My mother saw and said "who needs to look nice?"