What's in my bag? Nutrition edition

I am weirdly obsessed with what people have in things. What’s in their fridge, what’s in their shopping cart and Us Weekly’s “what’s in my bag”. It has nothing to do with wanting to critique. As I said in The Little Book of Thin, the fridge is the new medicine cabinet and I can’t help myself from wanting to snoop. Even if I don’t know who person is or don’t especially like the person the mint or makeup they swear by is interesting to me. And of course if someone has a Foodtrainers-approved snack or product they’re immediately on my “like list”.

US Weekly isn’t calling any time soon so in case you’re wondering (and I realize you may not be) here’s what I have.

In my Matt and Nat cork bag: I love these bags out of Montreal which are sustainable and ecofriendly with liners made out of plastic bottles.

1. Foodtrainers’ Nutcase  always have a nutcase with me as this is my snack most afternoons. I'm currently loving SuperSeedz and always on looking for interesting nut mixes or flavors. No more overnutting or hangry afternoons.
2. Swell Water bottle  if I’m carrying a bag it’s huge and there’s plenty of room for a water bottle. I'm loving these bottles from Swell for every one of these wood bottles sold American Forests plants a tree. Plus, these bottles will not open in your purse. Laptops do not need to hydrate.
3. Vitamin case- I always fill a case with my “pills” du jour. Lately my every day vitamins have been saffron, evening primrose and Coq10.
4. Teabags- I’ll generally take something with caffeine like a puEhr or Runa and something herbal. Pukka makes the best teas.  
5. Fitbit Charger- I panic when my fitbit battery is low. If this charger isn’t connected to my laptop is always in my bag.  
6. 21 drops- roll on fragrance is fantastic. We discovered the aromatherapy from 21 drops. MY favorite is Abstain, I love the spicy scent and let’s face it- worth a try when the dessert menu arrives. 
7. Mykitch hair ties- there are always a few of these floating around my purse. When you have “fine” hair like I do the last think you want is a hairband ripping out precious strands. I run in the headbands too. 
8. Lanyard- my younger son makes these keychains every summer at camp. This year he had me pick my colors on visiting day. This makes me happy whenever I see it in my bag. Who knows, maybe making lanyards is the next cure of evening snacking?
9.  Ilia lip gloss- most women have their go to shade of lipstick or gloss. The Butterfly and I from Ilia is mine.  Aside from the versatile color, the ingredients are all safe and high quality. It’s not just what we put in our bodies…
10. Woowoo bamboo-I’m anti gum and try not to mint too often. Yes, I carry a toothbrush in my makeup case. These from woo woo bamboo are great. You can see this one is used (ick but true).

So these are my top 10 purse staples. I left out the laptop, Ipad, phone, cork (of course) notebook etc. because a) I didn’t want my photo to look messy and b) I tried to stick to food or wellness items. So I cheated, I didn’t do the bag dump but you know what? I’m guessing  the ladies in Us Weekly don't either.

So now it's your turn, what do you always have in your bag? Any of items on my list you're curious about? Are you going to try making lanyards?

Foodtrainers Video Debut and Metabolism Boosting Cocktail

We finally got our act together and shot a few videos. We debuted the first of three in our “Two Foods You Should Be Eating More of “ newsletter today. Thank goodness for editing, we may have had more outtakes than good takes but I think you’ll really like the final result (just don’t tell me if you don’t).

So one of the two summer must-eat (or drink) foods is matcha. I’ve gushed about matcha before. There’s a Matcha Colada in my book. I survive winter thanks to matcha almond lattes. And I adore these matcha on the go packets, our newest matcha love.

 These are perfect for smoothie making, water bottles (shake well with ice water) or in our matcharita cocktail. Sorry to give matcha all the love; you’ll have to read the newsletter for the other food you should be eating more of this summer. Isn’t it nice to be told (or nudged) to eat more of something? 

Are you familiar with matcha? How do you drink or eat it? Did you like the video? Do you find your voice as annoying as I find mine?

Top 10 Savory Breakfasts

Why is breakfast a sugar fest? Even if you’re not eating cold cereal and pancakes what you’re having is most likely a desserty start to the day. Whether you’ve quit sugar with us for June or you’re just becoming more sugar conscious breakfast can be a challenge. I’ve suggested dinner forbreakfast before, but here are some of our favorites from the past couple of weeks.

Eggs- My son and I rush to the farmer’s market on Sunday morning to buy eggs before they sell out. There’s a huge difference in taste between these eggs and supermarket eggs so that would be my first suggestion.

1. Try eggs scrambled in coconut oil (virgin if you like a coconut taste, refined if not). Sprinkle with a little hot sauce and voila.
2. Green Eggs- in LBT I have our Green Eggs or muffin frittatas (see below)
3. Be a Poacher- I'm currently conquering something I hadn’t been able to without a microwave and that’s egg poaching thanks to this there are many versions be sure what you purchase is BPA free.
   
4. Paleo bread, without gluten the only bread I eat is this Paleo Bread from Food Matters- I’ve been topping it with coconut butter or avocado and Malden sea salt.
5. For a little “tartine” try our Orgran quinoa crackers with and wild smoked salmon and Greek cream cheese
6. Plain, unsweetened yogurt isn’t for everyone. I’ve been using Siggi’s plain and topping it with cinnamon or cardamom. Almond and coffee extract have been useful too.
7. Sohha Savory Yogurt- Carolyn discovered this savory yogurt and if you can get your hands on it do so. I think we’re going to see more yogurt along these lines.
   
8. If you're yogurted out try Nancy’s Cottage Cheese- this organic cottage cheese contains probiotics. Probiotics can improve mood, digestion and immunity. Probiotics also impart a little tang that I like but may come as a little surprise.
9. Miso soup- if you were in Japan you’d have this for breakfast (or part of breakfast). It’s a fermented food, in my opinion it's the best soy to eat. My two favorite brands are South River and Miso Master. I would skip the tofu and instead use sea vegetables or mushrooms. Click the South River link for an easy recipe.
10. Savory smoothie- OK so smoothies were a little sad when we first started this no sugar experiment. I don’t even need my smoothie super sweet but super bland was another story. I'm pleased to say I discovered the secret. Blend 1/2 avocado or 2Tbs unsweetened almond butter (or other nut or seed butter), 1/4 cup almond or coconut milk (yup unsweetened), 1Tbs protein powder (love my Green Dream), you can add greens or spiralina and then throw in a handful of ice. And drumroll….the key to smoothies that aren’t sweet and pretty much all of these breakfasts is salt. Add a nice pinch of Himalayan salt. You will not miss the sugar.

I’ve used lavender salt, truffle salt and Malden salt this week so a salty shoutout.

What do you usually have for breakfast? Have you thought about the sugar in your breakfast or your children’s breakfast (a whole other story)? Why do you think breakfast here is super sweet?

From The Little Book of Thin
Green Eggs 
Makes 4 Servings

1 cup sautéed or steamed kale (or other leftover vegetables though if not green, change title)
4 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp chili powder
Black pepper to taste.
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Spray four cups in a standard-sized muffin pan with Spectrum cooking spray. Divide the kale between the 4 cups.
In a small bowl whisk together eggs, salt, paprika, chili powder and pepper. Pour eggs evenly over the kale in the muffin cups. Bake until just set, 15 to 20 minutes. Let the frittatas cool in the pan for 5 minutes then gently remove.

Should you quit sugar? Should your kids?

There is some saying (it may be more of an advertising saying) that you have to hear about something a few times to notice or take action. Last week, Jenna Helwig the talented chef who worked on the recipes for LBT and is also an editor at Parents tweeted me the following link. In response to the recently released Year of No Sugar, a book that chronicles a family forgoing sugar for a year, Parents was taking part in a day without sugar (it was 4/9 sorry to be late to spread the word).  When I first read I thought the magazine and book author were encouraging adults to test this out for a day. This is something we already do with Foodtrainers clients but they meant it for the whole family. Initially I had mixed feelings.

That night, when I got home from work my copy of  the book/cookbook I Quit Sugar arrived. A client had tipped me off to this Aussie’s blog a while back and I couldn’t wait to read it. It’s not often that I feel inspired by a health expert but the author Sarah Wilson’s tone and ideas are impressive.

And remember I said  something about 3s? Saturday I looked through my DVRd shows and Dr Oz had the mother from the no sugar year on with him.  My first response to things is often cynical and in my head I thought “what’s with these one-year experiments?” We’ve seen No Impact Man give up waste, I’ve written about the woman giving up makeup (scary) was this all started by Supersize Me?  Maybe it's just that I highly doubt I could forego anything I enjoy for a whole year. As I listened, I heard that her children were hardly sick in the year they went sugar free. The kids and their mom spoke about sweet foods now tasting too sweet and about being knowledgeable about where sugar lurks (everywhere).

So, with sugar on my mind, at dinner last night I brought the subject up. Even my husband, who has lived with me for 20 years, was shocked when I explained breads, tomato sauce and many seemingly unsweet foods with sugar. Even though involving the kids initially sounded a little diety for the younger set my 10 year old woke up asking “is today the day we’re going to skip sugar”? I’ll review I Quit Sugar once I have a chance to make some of the recipes and read the whole book but curious

What do you think of skipping sugar for one day as a family experiment? Is it like Meatless Mondays or too rigid? Aside from desserts do you pay attention to sugar in your meals? 

Healthy Scavenger Hunt: Austin Edition

Lauren is off enjoying warm weather (she reports back that she found a Jamaican hotel with green juice and has a new favorite green callaloo), so we are dreaming of other destinations too.... We've hit up Chicago and New Orleans in the past, and Carolyn recently did Austin, TX, Foodtrainers style.

I am not one to truly veg and do nothing on vacation, but recently took that to the next level and grabbed 8+ of my friends to run a destination half marathon in Austin, TX. I’d only ever experienced Austin on what we called “hurrication” (pre – Katrina) from Tulane. Years later both my style of eating and my “activities”  were a little different, but the margaritas were a constant. Here's what I found...

Whole Foods Austin: The original Whole Foods is in Austin, so I barely dropped my bags at the hotel before beelining for the Foodtrainers mecca. I had a whole week (and a kitchen) so I stocked our hotel room up with the essentials, from Mary’s Gone Crackers to avocados, fresh fruit and green juices. The juice bar was funky too, with drinks made with bell peppers and sweet potatoes.

Daily Juice:  The Daily Juice was my daily go to spot, from spicy after-flight immune boosting shots to pre and post run fueling smoothies and greens. They also had our office favorite Hail Merry Snacks on hand so I was in heaven. My top pick, and the spiciest thing I’ve ever had, was the MR. RESISTOR: Lemon Juice, Cayenne Pepper, Ginger, Oregano Oil.

Uchiko: Uchi and Uchiko are restaurants by chef Tyson Cole (James Beard award winner). The “Japanese farmhouse” style food was my favorite meal of the trip – the Brussels sprouts were out of this world and the Hamachi with pickled green apple and jalapeño also hit the spot.

Blenders and Bowls: Right next to our hotel was Blenders and Bowls, part of Wanderlust Yoga studio. They make the most insanely beautiful “smoothie bowls” that are a dream come true for post yoga breakfast.

La Condesa: Our post run meal was at La Condesa, a swanky little Mexican restaurant on 2nd street. My favorite part was what our friend Damien called the “poshy guacs”, one made with pomegranate and queso fresco and the other with jumbo lump crab, apple and coconut vinegar.

Milk and Honey Day Spa: I treated myself to a 90 minute deep tissue massage post-run and it was a game changer…. And will now be a built in for future runs.

Workouts: in addition to the long run (a fantastic way to learn a city), we did a few short runs and walked (15k + steps, thank you fitbit!) all over the city. I also hit up several yoga studios. Wanderlust and Core Power Yoga are both heated studios that play great music. Friends went paddle boarding but truth be told, I went margarita-ing instead...

Rainy street is a block of old bungalows and formerly rundown houses that has morphed into bars and cocktail lounges with huge porches and yards. We went to Clive Bar but I don’t doubt you could have fun at any or all of them on a given night. 

There is so much to see in Austin, so we weren’t too disappointed when our flights got cancelled back to snowy NYC. I still didn’t get to hit all the juice bars I wanted but there’s always next year...

 

(My friend Liz taking an LBT-break and quoting it for the entire trip)

So have you been to Austin? Done any destination runs?