Foods to undo some of the holiday bulls#!t

Last night Carolyn and I had a talk to give. If you’re in NYC,  you know that it was an insanely rainy night. So, like the true professionals we are, we emailed our host 10 times saying “are you sure we’re on, it’s so bad out maybe people would like to do another night?” We were on and, as is often the case when you least expect it, it was great. We had a smart/fun group in a small, swanky 51^st floor room. There was booze we didn’t drink and chandeliers we did NOT swing from (we didn’t know these people yet). The topic was top 10 foods you should eat to undo holiday damage.

Issue: Hangovers

Shockingly over 20% of people do not experience hangovers. Most of us do. Try our 1 for 1 rule and have 1 water for every drink you have or just stick to 1 drink (some people can do this). If you overdo it, think ginger. Most hangover issues stem from inflammation. We like Wakaya ginger Mix it with water after you drink or next morning or be like us and plop some in your clear spirit of choice.

Honorable  hangover mentions:  coconut water, eggs, vitamin B12

Skip: hair of the dog or bacon egg and cheese rituals

Issue: Sweet tooth (or teeth)

Sweets are a big issue this time of year or really every time of year. If sweets are your kryptonite- be ferm! I’m talking fermented foods. Your gut is really the control tower for your body and what’s going on there affects your cravings, especially sweet cravings. The “top shelf” ferm(ented) foods are  fermented  veggies (farmhouse kraut, bubbles pickles and BAO are great brands) & kefir (sort of turbo yogurt when it comes to probiotic count).

Issue- Dry, gross skin

Winter, sugar, booze and too much time inside = parched, sad skin.

If you haven’t started collagening, you have 2 choices:

collagen powder or bone broth. In NYC check out the new brodo shops west village and Bryant park.

Issue: Zero Energy 

First I’ll remind you to sleep more and hydrate (professional obligation). If you want a little metabolism boost, make that water ice cold. If  you’re seekinga more interesting upper, drink matcha. Matcha, because you consume the whole leaf via this pretty powder, puts plain old green tea to shame.

Matcha gives you a push without making you jittery. It revives you and calms you down at once, impressive. If you’re really feeling low, drink matcha with brain octane in it and thank me when you decide to take a break hours later.

Issue: Stress!!!

Once upon a time there was a mineral called magnesium. This super-crucial mineral helps you chill out and keeps your metabolism humming along. However, there’s also a demon called stress that runs around the city scopping up magnesium. I don’t’ know where I’m going with this but most of us are deficient in magnesium which means both our mood and metabolism are subpar.

Don’t freak out. I love magnesium bath flakes (Naturopathica makes amazing ones), you can supplement magnesium (we love pure encapsulations or natural calm packets). And you can eat real, potent dark chocolate, 70% or > and avocado morning, noon and night.

Issue: family 

Solution: I’ll get back to you on this one, Foodtraining can only fix so much.

Happy Holidays! Cheers to not feeling like Santa at the end of this season.

Foodtrainers' Fancy Food Show Finds

Yesterday was our annual summer trip to the Fancy Food show. Basically, the Javitz Center is filled with a million food booths, some healthier than others. I have to give us a little credit and say we have become pros at the food fair thing. We didn’t eat ourselves into complete food comas or sample any more ice cream. Plus, we hit our 10k steps right away. It was great to see many Foodtrainers’ friends – Banza, Organic LivingSuperfoods (love the new look) and Grady’s cold brew . As always, we were on the hunt for new products too. Here are a few Fancy faves we’ll fill you in on, others we’re keeping a secret for our September Squeeze program and the Foodtrainers’ shop.

Super Sauces: do you believe in love at first bite? Filfil garlic hot sauce was my first taste of the day and my favorite. With over 20 cloves of garlic per bottle you may not want to consume this before a date or important meeting, but I  promise you’ll fall in love with this spicy new Brooklyn based brand. We are also all about Primal Kitchen’s paleo Avo-mayo which now comes in chipotle lime   And you might know The New Primal from their super spicy jerky  but they have a new, clean bbq sauce line  – sweetener from pineapple juice which also helps tenderize meat before you BBQ.

Alternative flours: Almond, cassava and chickpea oh my. We love seeing these gluten free alternatives in wraps, snacks and yup even pizza. Our faves go to Cappello’s pizza and pasta, Siete cassava wraps and Simple Mills crackers. 

the far right had basil, wow

Chocolate: we are so happy that chocolate isn’t going anywhere - we are forever Eating Evolved and Hu faithful (Hu  assured us single serves are coming) but the beauties from Moonstruck and the drinking chocolate from Treehouse Chocolate caught our eyes and tastebuds too. 

There wasn’t a ton of new kombucha but we did dig Revive, which uses alternatives to black tea for some fermenting… coffee kombucha anyone? That was Lauren’s pick of the day and we also loved their white tea with cucumber and mint. 

We have some ideas for summer travel snacks and our next September Squeeze. Make sure you are signed up for our newsletter to stay in the loop. Have a wonderful long weekend!

Which of the items mentioned are you most curious about? What do you see as the current trends in healthy eating?

Coffee, Crickets, Kombucha and other trends from Expo West

So sad this is among best photos with both of us from the trip

I’m sitting on the plane. My magazine binge is complete (Food & Wine’s “The New Healthy” issue good but Bon Appetit’s Culture even better), inbox has been cleaned out, the book I’m reading at a lull and it’s not yet time for a snack…so I thought I’d tell you a little about Expo West. Expo West is this massive Natural Foods Show; all the big players have booths and events and rookie players or new food companies come to get a jump-start. People spend days at this show. Carolyn and I were determined to see it all in one day and 23, 000+ steps later we did.

If I were to pick out a few trends or things we saw a lot of I’d say jerky is a big deal. These new offerings are a world away from Slim Jim. If you don’t think you’re the jerky type I’d do some taste testing. Carolyn said she felt many more products geared toward men and I’d agree. “Mancakes” is an example of this  (get it man + pancakes?). We saw some tea but coffee, particularly jazzed up coffee, was everywhere. There was coffee mixed with other ingredients (maca and guarana) and also coffee blended with nut milks. And our favorite of course….lattes on tap.

There was a whole lotta kombucha happening but many of the newer brands had more sugar than the Heathade and Synergy we covet. In terms of other beverages, a few of our favorite companies have come out with unsweetened versions. We’re saving our winner for May and our Pre-Summer Squeeze  program (so good, sorry to tease). In terms of sweeteners, monk fruit is making a name for itself. It’s zero calories and has no aftertaste. To be honest, I haven’t monkfruited a lot and initially dismissed it so I have to do some tasting.

 

And for anyone who said gluten free was a fad, read this study and take our word for it, it’s bigger than ever. And I’m not talking gluten free treats or gluten free crap but gluten free meal items like our beloved Banza. See their new packaging?

Carolyn and I were determined not to over sample. We tried to divide and conquer- Carolyn would taste sweet and I’d cover savory. We ended up both tasting both. I refuse to really ponder what I ingested but there was gluten free pizza (sample size but it was 9:30 am), Banza’s new mac and cheese, every coffee product offered, apple cider vinegar and more.  Did I mention we walked 10 miles? I said to Carolyn we’d need to do it again to make up for our excessive testing.

Oh and the nastiest item of the day was definitely a nutrition bar made from crickets  (not Exo…those are fine) and flavored with matcha. It had the worst aftertaste and we felt ill but as we rounded the corner Hu Kitchen to the rescue, a chocolate chaser makes every better.

Which of these trends or categories would you like to hear more about? Would you eat products made from crickets (you will likely see more…protein)? What’s your favorite magazine or podcast these days?

Are Periods Going Public?

We field a lot of hormone-related questions. After all our hormones affect everything from our appetite to our mood, throw in 198 other potential symptoms and you have a major wellness impediment. Last month, Carolyn and I filmed a video we called “WTF PMS” because a) we didn’t feel the need to choose a classier title and b) let’s face it we have no issue with semi taboo topics. The strange thing is that cycles, hormones and periods have sort of come out of the closet. Yesterday, the New York Times ran a story called “Candidly Spelling Out the “P” word about period tracking apps. One could argue that using “P” instead of period is neither candid nor spelled out. On the same day, I received an email from Greatist “what’s up with digestion during your period”. I feel one-upped by them because they hit two taboos in one title, dang.

Check out the video for our Food First Aid Kit for PMS, find out why the snack below from Navitas Naturals is a PMS crusher and hear our PMS theme song. We'll also introduce you to the new "zoodle" in town, yup hello swoodles. Subscribe to our you tube channel and let us know if there are topics you’d like us to tackle. Be Well (wink).

Do you think it’s good that woman (and men) can discuss hormones and other touchy topics? What are your worst PMS symptoms? Do you track things in an app?

Top 5 Healthy Movie Theater snacks (if it were up to me)

As I sat through the worst half hour of movie previews yesterday, my mind wandered. My mind has a few favorite places it wanders to but this time it went to food. I thought about movie theatre food. While my kids will get something from time to time, either when I’m not there or when I choose to ignore everything I know, I don’t really think about it. For my book, I tackled sports arenas and airports and many places that trip people up with food choices. I contemplated the movies and ran the idea by a friend who said, “I think if people want to lose weight part of that means saying no from time to time.” I’m pretty sure her wording was a little meaner but it was a good point.  Just for kicks though (interrupted by my son saying, “who is that guy, I have never seen him before?” Sean Penn) I contemplated my dream movie concession stand.

I know some theatres have real food now but I’m not a fan. First, I am against anything in a theatre that smells. And let’s face it, it’s total darkness and the ultimate in mindless eating, you don’t need a full meal. I’m sticking with snacks and beverages.

• Popcorn- movies and popcorn seem to make sense and Quinnpopcorn is amazing. The Foodtrainers’ theatre would have their popcorn popped in coconut oil even though my heart belongs to smoky cheddar. I just worry about the scent issue (I have a thing about smells).  Ignore the blue bowl, there would be tubs (recycled) but in normal sizes.

• If you’re not a popcorn person but like some crunch, I’d try these Snip Chips. I’ve always loved parsnips and these come in fun flavors. 
  
• Chocolate- of course there has to be a chocolate component. There are a ton of healthy chocolates but I don’t like the idea of a chocolate bar here. My movie chocolate needs to be more snacky. I’d have Sweet RiotChocolate covered cacao nibs. It’s ok to eat the whole tin.

• Beverages- I’m sure it’s no surprise that there’s no soda happening if I’m making decisions. There are also no plastic water bottles either (something I’m almost as against as soda…almost). If you want those monster-sized cups I suppose we can have filtered water in them (and Strawesome straws). I’m really thinking kombucha. As much as I like a cocktail, I think I’d be asleep before the movie starts.

• Since we’re talking sleep, we may as well have a coffee bar. Almond milk cappuccino or some bulletproof action?
  

And I can’t be the only one who contemplates the “cleaning” of the theatre. If you’re like me I’d spritz a little Clean Well (available for purchase before you take your seats).

In case you’re wondering we saw American Sniper. My son had a crepe and I had a Sin-o-bun from Juice press before we went to the theatre.

What’s your favorite movie snack if life had no rules? What would be served at your dream concession stand? Have you seen American Sniper? Did you watch the Golden Globes?