Breggie is the new Breakfast

CB Collagen Smoothie

It’s officially our second Whipping Week! If you’ve missed our incessant posting, Whipping Week is one of our programs/resets that we offer three times a year. Pre and post summer, we call it The Squeeze but after the holidays, we all need to be whipped into shape. Participants receive a packet with Whipping rules, a sample Whipping meal plan and recipes. Every day, for seven days, there is a Whipping tip of the day and personalized food journal feedback. Week 1 was a breeze, with Whippers reporting they felt “rejuvenated, in control, on track, mentally and physically clear, lighter” and much more. The average participant lost 4-6 lbs, pretty damn good! Most importantly, they all felt they had made changes to their habits that they will stick with.

We can’t give away all our Whipping secrets (but we’d love to have you in our next program: The Pre-Summer Squeeze in May), so we’ll give you a taste and let you in on one of our favorite Whipping tip. This is what we sent participants:

Breggie Is the New Breakfast

You know we love veggies at lunch and dinner, this week we would love you to veg at breakfast too. Enter: BREGGIE. Yup, add veggies or fermented veggies to eggs, greens to smoothies or mint leaves or basil to yogurt. Have a salad for breakfast and you will be an all-star Whipper. Fiber in vegetables helps you excrete fat and keeps you full. Plus, we need vegetable action for that healthy glow. So, how veg can you go?  

Regardless of your personal, wellness goals, you too can benefit from BREGGIE-ing it up. One of my fave fast breggies is a smoothie, of course.

CB’s Collagen Breggie Smoothie

*This isn’t a Whipping recipe

·      1 scoop of Vital Proteins beauty greens collagen

·      handful of spinach

·      ½ banana

·      almond milk

·      ½ avocado

·      a splash of almond extract

·      ice

Blend and sip! (you could absolutely add frozen blueberries or strawberries in here too. Just might not come out as breggie-beautiful).

The collagen in Vital Proteins is SO good for your skin, hair and nails.  It’s also great for your GI system and helps increase strength gains from exercise programs. This beauty greens blend also raw organic greens, hyaluronic acid and probiotics. OK that might not sound so yummy but I promise it is.

What’s your best way to breggie? Can you commit to it for the rest of January?

Foodtrainers' Summer Finds and winning smoothie recipe

My losing smoothie

Greetings from Vegas! I have to admit, it's a little strange to be here, of all places, when we open up the sign up for our September Squeeze program (a few spots remain). In today's newsletter we mentioned our "work"trip to the wild blueberry barrens of Maine. In Bar Harbor, a little competition took place for the best wild blueberry smoothie. I made a basil blend and Carolyn concocted something with avocado. Full disclosure, it was pretty annoying how into food styling their creations some people were. Carolyn and I did not win but our non annoying, awesome friend Marnie did. Here's her winning recipe.

Wild Blueberry Basil Mojito Smoothie AKA the "Marnito"

recipe via Marnie Schwartz, Nutrition Editor, SHAPE Magazine

1 cup wild blueberries (different than cultivated blueberries)

juice of 1 lime

10 basil leaves

10 mint leaves

1/2 cup full fat plain yogurt

1-2 dates

Add yogurt to a powerful blender, follow with the other ingredients and blend.

Do not spend more than 30 10 seconds on your garnish. 

Enjoy the last days of summer!

Foodtrainers' Summer Finds and winning smoothie recipe

Greetings from Vegas! I have to admit, it's a little strange to be here, of all places, when we open up the sign up for our September Squeeze program (a few spots remain). In today's newsletter we mentioned our "work"trip to the wild blueberry barrens of Maine. In Bar Harbor, a little competition took place for the best wild blueberry smoothie. I made a basil blend and Carolyn concocted something with avocado. Full disclosure, it was pretty annoying how into food styling their creations some people were. Carolyn and I did not win but our non annoying, awesome friend Marnie did. Here's her winning recipe.

Wild Blueberry Basil Mojito Smoothie AKA the "Marnito"

recipe via Marnie Schwartz, Nutrition Editor, SHAPE Magazine

1 cup wild blueberries (different than cultivated blueberries)

juice of 1 lime

10 basil leaves

10 mint leaves

1/2 cup full fat plain yogurt

1-2 dates

Add yogurt to a powerful blender, follow with the other ingredients and blend.

Do not spend more than 30 10 seconds on your garnish. 

Enjoy the last days of summer!

If you're mourning summer, try this

Sept Squeeze program people, skip that fruit

Everyone is so dramatic. Everywhere I looked yesterday I read about a "last glass of rose'" or "last bonfire". I'm here to say we're passed Labor Day and you made it, it'll be ok. And in fact summer isn't technically over, in NYC it's still hot as hell. We're not ready just yet to soup and sweater, for us it's still smoothie season. If that intro annoyed you, if you're a little sad today (I get it I'm sad Bachelor in Paradise is over, silly things affect us) try one of our favorite smoothie recipes this Lemon Basil Smoothie. It's gluten free, dairy free and friggin' delicious. Everyone in the room not only accepted a sample but genuinely liked it (not always the case). See what you think. 
 And as you can see the Foodtrainers' blog is back. One client asked me, "did you stop blogging?" Nope, just generally unproductive this summer but hopefully that tide is turning. Any topics you want to see covered? Anything foodwise you're looking forward to? Anyone else watch that silly show Paradise? Someone say yes.

Carolyn made me cry and then changed her shirt

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?

I lost weight doing this (and know this sounds like an Infomercial)

This morning we sent out our March Monthly Morsels newsletter.  The subject? All things spring break and by that I mean all food-related things of course. We asked some of our favorite experts what they bring when they travel (love to see what others do), included highlights from the LBT “pre-beach” chapter and we did what we do best- we tested anything and everything we possibly could. Last month it was chocolate but this month there were teas and sprays and roll-ons (more on that Thursday) and lots of dandelion greens and lemon slices. We sipped and sampled all in an effort to select the items we could tell subscribers and clients about to help shed that little extra before their trips. Or so I thought…

I don’t write that much about my weight because it’s a boring story. Although, as a 5 foot 3 inch person a few pounds can make a difference in how I feel my weight, grief aside, is very stable. So when I stood on the scale last week and saw a number four pounds lighter than my usual, without really trying, I smiled. If you want to know what I did it’s a little complicated because I did a lot of different things but here are the new items  I was happily consuming daily for the past couple of weeks.

Sunbiotic probiotic

I take a probiotic from Renew Life. I write about probiotic supplements and probiotic foods in LBT.  They help with GI function, immunity, mood (yup serotonin is produced in the gut) and most interestingly for some people weight. The Renew Life supplement contains a strain Lactobacillus rhamosus that has been correlated to weight loss. I added in Sunbiotics chewable (and yummy) probiotic the past couple of weeks as we were test-driving them.  The Sunbiotics chewable has prebiotics that perhaps were giving my probiotics a boost?  If you aren’t taking a probiotic these are two great options.

Green Dream

I’m a smoothie girl and an ingredient snob so it’s hard to find a protein powder that meets my standards. Welcome Philosophie. I have and love all 3 flavors but I’m partial to the Green Dream. I’ve been adding fresh mint, extra spirulina, a little avocado or coconut oil, greens and almond milk (which I make or I found this Manuka almond milk that’s pretty great).

Bitters

Carolyn, oops sorry One Smart Brownie, has been pushing bitters on me for a while. Bitters for the occasional hangover (it happens), bitters for travel and digestion but then I found these while in Vermont. They remind me of binaca but help with appetite and bloat. They’re not for everyone, our snack queen wasn’t initially a fan but as we sprayed and giggled she now can’t resist. Positive peer pressure at its best.

Tummy Tea

I have tea every night. It’s a ritual I love and typically it is something like a Pukka Nighttime tea with lavender or Traditional Medicinals makes another one I like. We had heard great things about Heather’stea. I love these jumbo tea bags and let them steep a while. The first time I had the fennel tea bag- I was a fan. I “debloated” the next morning, in LBT I have a “makes you pee tea” and this had similar effects.

So those are my new discoveries, they’re in my Food First Aid Kit in my purse. As I said, I can’t pinpoint which change was most effective because I switched many things at one but hey maybe it’s synergy. I’ll take it.

Have you tried any of the foods/items mentioned above? What do you eat to debloat or pre vacation? What's in your Food First Aid Kit when you go away?

Juice and Smoothie Recipes on Instagram

I am fairly new to both the iPhone and Instagram but I'm having a lot of fun with them. I get a lot of questions about smoothies and juices mostly ..."what do I put in them?" It's funny, this is the one place this normally recipe-centric girl is creative. You can put whatever you want in them or whatever you have on hand. Here are some ideas:

Tuesday something very rare happened, I found myself with no greens- we were kale, microgreen and spinach-less. This proved a delicious, refreshing combo.

Have I mentioned the puppy? Yes, it's been a little over a week. This was my effort to make up for sleep with juice.

I love Prince although I named this smoothie only after making it. Some of my favorite ingredients are used here.
Do you juice or smooth? What are your favorite ingredients or combinations? Do you use Instagram...it's fun.

Healthy Scavenger Hunt New Orleans

So clearly I didn't take this photo, via BonAppetit

My book  (if I can call it that with the gazillion edits I received) The Little Book of Thin tackles the scenarios can potentially throw nutritional wrenches in our healthy habits. Early in the project, my agent was blunt “the advice for each of these topics cannot be to bring your own, you have to go beyond that.” When it comes to travel, you may recall I do like to BMO (bring my own) and I hear I’m not the only one who feels avocados are a perfect travel food. However, I also love to seek out healthy, fresh, local options when away. This past weekend I was in New Orleans for Jazz Fest. There was a lot of unbelievable music from Maroon 5, Fleetwood Mac, my new favorites the Revivalists and of course gospel greats but I also had a list of healthy items I try to find whenever I’m away.

A running route or workout- we were staying in Warehouse District. Gena, at Choosing Raw had told me about a juice bar located further uptown. Marc and I decided to run up Magazine St. On a beautiful but chilly morning we ran past the galleries and the Crescent City Farmer’s market, a little further up there were clusters of antique stores and crowds waiting outside brunchy places. 

You really forget about the running when you’re taking in your surroundings. I also noticed a  Pure Barre studio along the way.

Green Juice or Green Smoothie- if New Orleans, home of the Hurricane, is any indication you can find healthy pockets in most cities and towns. I used Twitter, Facebook and our hotel concierge to find some healthy hotspots. Heeding Gena’s advice we checked out Superfood Bar. We had worked up an appetite so I went with the Avocalada (have a Matchacolada in my book, had to taste the colada competition) a mixture of avocado, coconut, pineapple, coconut oil, dates and topped with coconut flakes. Marc went for the Chocolate Avocado smoothie. We also grabbed green lemonades and salads to eat for lunch before Jazz Fest.

sadly a hairbrush wasn't part of the scavenger hunt

Veggie Action

My salad, the Superfood Bar, had kale, beet ribbons and avocado tossed in vinaigrette made with Jerusalem artichoke syrup. The star of the salad was this coconut “bacon”. I don’t usually like food that requires quotation marks but this was the first crouton I’ve fallen for. I dug a little bit and found you can make it like this.

that little container has the "bacon" on the right was Marc's falafel salad

As much as I loved the coconut bacon, it was dinner later that night, at Domenica, where my veggie life would be forever changed. The life changing vegetable was the Roasted Cauliflower (pictured above).  While it seems this cauliflower has a bit of a following, it was new to me. And if you think I am not to be trusted because I run miles for an avocado smoothie- Marc devoured it too. I am not sure it would taste exactly the same without a wood-burning oven but I’m going to try out this recipe. And although I dreamt about the feta situation on the side, Marc preferred the cauliflower naked (I am choosing to end the sentence here).

Sensational Seafood- For old times’ sake we went back to Emerils. We were last at Emerils after my college graduation and I had doubts whether it would be as great as I remembered it but it was. I loved the Yellowfin Tuna Butter Lettuce Sashimi and the speckled trout served over succotash  (with grapefruit butter…swoon) which was the “creative fish of the day”. I was also impressed that Emeril’s, known for its pork chop and legendary banana cream pie, was receptive and knowledgeable when I inquired about gluten.

Sorry sashimi, you looked so much prettier in person, not the most flattering photo

Commendable Cocktail- I didn’t get my green juice our first day in Nola. I did however get a “red juice”. I was wooed by the Bloody Mary at Ruby Slipper. For me, life is about the garnishes and when I saw the picked string bean, I was sold.

Worthy Treat- I was in heaven with the foods mentioned above. Marc, on the other hand, had his own Jazz Fest Scavenger hunt in mind. Day 1, he beelined it for alligator pie (unappealing to me for so many reasons).  Day 2 it was the Muffaleta (the secret is in the olives). Like a kid in a “beignet” store he remarked “I would eat so much if you weren’t here.” Fortunately for him (maybe) I was.

You're married to a nutritionist, you must eat so healthy

And later he said "I wonder why my stomach hurts" yeah I wonder

Good food, good music, did I forget the good book Where’d You Go Bernadette? I devoured.

What do you like to find when you travel? What's on your travel scavenger hunt list?

Places I didn’t get to:

Café Carmo- my friend suggested the broken noodle salad she gets “no tofu” or the Esmeralda Salad.

Maurepas Foods- Carla says the Brussels sprouts with strawberry sauce were "to die for" 

Green Goddess

Satsuma
Next time.