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?

Make Your Own Almond Milk To Avoid This Ingredient

A real blogger would have their own photos, this from Vitamix

I am not one of those people who feels I have to make everything myself. Part of me would like to be that person. Realistically, I’m of the belief if someone else can do it better I will defer to them. I buy Rao’s tomato sauce, Purely Elizabeth granola and Siggi’s yogurt. I could technically make of each of these things but not like Raos, Elizabeth or Siggi. There are other foods I make at home either because it tastes better or has better ingredients.  I like my smoothies better than any shop or juice bar; I also make my own almond milk.

Homemade almond milk is delicious and incredibly easy (if you own a good blender). You can use it in smoothies or oatmeal, for chia pudding or steamed with matcha. Almond milk is a good source of magnesium. Warm it up, add some cinnamon or lightly sweeten and it’s amazing after dinner.

I didn’t always make my own almond milk but started when I read the ingredients on my unsweetened almond milk and saw carrageenan. Carrageenan is a thickener derived from seaweed; it’s related to Irish Moss and very difficult to digest. Research has confirmed it’s inflammatory and can affect insulin function. Dr Tobacman is one of the primary carrageenan researchers; it’s hard to believe carrageenan is so widely used once you start reading her work. When you make almond milk at home, simply shaking the jar avoids the need for any additive of this type, what would you prefer?

So, to make your own almond milk you’ll need

1 cup raw almonds

3 to 4 cups filtered water

pinch of Himalayan salt

optional: stevia or maple syrup

optional: cinnamon, vanilla bean, cardamom, nutmeg, cacao powder

What you’ll do:

1. Place almonds in a bowl or jar and cover with water. Soak almonds overnight (some at the Foodtrainers’ office rush this soaking but I like an overnight soak). The almonds plump up nicely.
2. Rinse the almonds and put in the blender (Vitamix plug, works beautifully for this) cover with 3-4 cups of water.
3. Add sweetener or spices if you’d like. I was burned by a potent vanilla bean one time so I often make the milk plain and spice/flavor when I add it to a recipe..
4. Blend 1-2 minutes or until smooth.
5. You can stop here but I suggest straining through a fine sieve. There also are such things as nut milk bags for this process but I’ve never gone there. I have been known to strain twice.I know people do amazing things with the almond meal (baking and such). Mine goes bye bye.

Store in a large Mason jar for 3-5 days.

Yield is approximately 3 cups and in the vicinity of 100 calories per cup.

If you’re not interested in DIY-ing; OMilk in NYC and 365/Whole Foods make nut milks without carrageenan.

http://foodtrainers.blogspot.com/2012/05/foodtrainers-favorite-milk.html

Where do you stand on the DIY spectrum? What do you make yourself? Which foods to you purchase premade? Are you aware of carrageenan? Any nut milk variations to suggest?

While I have no almond milk photos I do have some recent celebration pictures. A thank you to Fat Witch bakery for these football-themed brownies and blondies (see I didn’t make my own) and a shout out to Hint, kids loved it.

Skinnygirl or Suspicious Girl?

In case you haven’t heard (or do not really care and I get that) Bethenny Frankel’s Skinnygirl Margarita was yanked from the shelves of Whole Foods because it contains sodium benzoate. And in case you don’t know who Bethenny Frankel is she was on Bravo’s Real Housewives of NYC (though then not a housewife or wife) and the author of “Naturally Thin” though you can decide if natural is the first word that comes to mind with Bethenny. Skinny and natural don't always go hand and hand.

 I’ll try and stick to the food/drink part, sorry.

What is sodium benzoate and is it bad?
Sodium benzoate is a preservative, the salt of benzoic acid. CSPI, The Center for Science in the Public Interest, ranks additives and puts it in the “caution” category. The real danger occurs when sodium benzoate is combined with ascorbic acid (aka vitamin C). The two combine to form benzene which is linked to leukemia and other cancers. Many fruits, including the limes in Skinnygirl margaritas, contain ascorbic acid. But Skinnygirl says they use a “miniscule amount” of sodium benzoate. As CSPI points out,  not specifically on the subject of Skinny girl “though the amounts of benzene that form are small, leading to only a very small risk of cancer, there is no need for consumers to experience any risk.” You’ve heard me point out that companies justify sub par chemicals saying they are safe at a certain dose, safe is safe and unsafe is unsafe. Plus, neither Skinnygirl nor the FDA knows how many margaritas me or anyone else plans to drink. 

“It’s a very common preservative.”
Beam, the company who supplies the margarita noted that sodium benzoate was “a very common preservative.” Is “common’ supposed to reassure us?  This ingredient is commonly used in sodas. It was more common before the FDA encouraged companies not to use benzoate in products that contain ascorbic acid. The companies continued with the carcinogen. Then, a lawsuit filed forced Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and other soft-drink makers to make necessary changes.  Other commonly used and crappy  things such as food dyes, high fructose corn syrup and textured vegetable protein aren’t healthy or “high quality” as these margaritas claim to be.

Where are the ingredients?
Skinnygirl’s website states “Bethenny’s Skinnygirl Margarita combines clear tequila, the juice from three lime wedges and a tiny splash of triple sec.” I guess listing sodium benzoate wouldn't exactly increase the appeal. I checked the bottle for the full ingredient list, which I assumed would contain sodium benzoate, but there isn’t one. If Skinnygirl, as the first paragraph on the site states, “is the margarita you can trust” why not list the ingredients? Hmn, I smell something fishy. 

The reaction
 Bethenny’s reaction also left a little to be desired: “we were bound to piss someone off and everyone loves to try to tear down a success. This is a non-event. I haven’t lost even a wink of sleep.” Whole Foods wasn't, in my opinion,  trying to tear her down, they just didn’t approve of the sodium benzoate. While, I'm sure it would involve a huge expense "we're looking into this matter and hope to find a substitute" would've been well received. VnCCocktails, mentioned in our latest newsletter, doesn't use sodium benzoate.

The bottom line

The truth is this is a margarita mix and not a children’s snack or a bunch of kale. We can improve cocktails but no matter how much we love them we shouldn’t drink too many if we want to be healthy. The concept of an improved margarita or a lower sugar, lower calorie cocktail is a great one. Bethenny deserves full credit for refining the recipe. In fact, as The Stir points out the original skinnygirl recipe “tequila, fresh lime juice, and a splash of Triple Sec over ice” is a real improvement over the mixes and sweet drinks used by most establishments. Bethenny’s fans describe her as “brutally honest” and not holding anything back. In the case of the Skinnygirl margaritas, full disclosure would’ve been refreshing.

Have you ever tried or purchased the Skinnygirl margaritas? Would knowing it has sodium benzoate affect your decision to buy a product? Are you a Bethenny fan?