Green Smoothies 101

So what's all the hype with Green Smoothies and what the heck is in there? 

To start, they are a quick, easy and tasty way to get large amounts of fruits and leafy greens into your daily diet. Green smoothies give your body the plant-based nutrients it craves. Dark leafy greens contain: high-quality amino acids, important minerals, vitamins, antioxidants and beneficial phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are plant-based chemicals that support your immune system, improve health and longevity, and may reduce life-threatening diseases.

We want to share the basics to get you started and it's a pretty simple formula:

1 cups leafy greens + 1-1.5 cups liquid base + 1 cup frozen fruit + 1-2 servings fat

Leafy green options

•       Spinach

•       Kale

•       Romaine

•       Swiss Chard

Liquid base options

•       Unsweetened almond milk

•       Unsweetened coconut milk

•       Water

Fruit options

•       Banana

•       Mango

•       Berries

•       Peach

•       Apple

•       Pineapple

•       Orange

Fat options (not needed if use coconut milk)

•       Avocado

•       Almond Butter

•       Cashews

•       Almonds

Any blender will work, but the Vitamix is our all time fav blender. It's definitely one of the more spendy blenders out there, but you look at it as in investment in your health:-)

Here's a recipe to get you started:

•       1 cup spinach, fresh

•       1 cup unsweetened almond milk (add more depending on desired consistency)

•       1 handful frozen pineapple

•       1/2 avocado

Blend leafy greens and liquid base together first. Add fruit and blend again. ENJOY!

Let us know how it goes and please share a smoothie recipe that you LOVE!

Banish Belly Fat

Banish the Belly Fat

Swimsuit season is right around the corner! Well...almost. A girl can dream, right?

I’ve been preparing for those sun-filled, fun-filled days by doing foreign things like shaving my legs and painting my toenails. I’ve also stepped up my nutrition a bit. You see, I have a pretty special vacation planned in 6 weeks with my hubby and I want to look and feel my best.

Do any of you have a goal in sight? Or maybe you are just ready for a little jump start? If so, keep reading. If not, umm...just keep reading?

One of the most common complaints I hear from both men and women is, “No matter what I do, this belly fat doesn’t seem to budge.” After asking a few questions, I usually discover that there are some nutritional gaps that need to be filled or there is too much math being done.

Too much math?

Yep. True health has nothing to do with math. The number of pounds on a scale is not an indicator of health...or worth. The number of calories you count has nothing to do with the nourishment your body is receiving. The number of minutes you exercise does not equate to strength and longevity. It is a matter of quality- not quantity. We don’t do math, ok? Ok.

Instead we should measure health by how much energy we have, the strength of our body, our mood, and the beauty of our skin, hair, teeth, and nails. We are meant to live an abundant life- full of love, movement, rest and nourishment. Not a life of deprivation, frustration, and starvation.

Now, back to that stubborn belly fat.

Here are my favorite nutritional tips to help you turn into the lean, mean, fat-burning machine you are meant to be:

Snack Smartly. First of all, try to eat enough at your meals that you don’t need to snack. Then ask yourself if you are really hungry…as opposed to bored or mad or sad or having a craving. THEN- if you are truly hungry- have a snack already! Just choose it wisely. Eating a high carbohydrate snack will satisfy you for a short time and then your blood sugar will plummet. That is no good.

My favorite snacks are macadamia nuts & coconut flakes, hardboiled eggs, veggies & guacamole, ½ an avocado drizzled with olive oil and salt & pepper, beef jerky, and olives.

Sip Smartly Too. If your goal is to be lean, cleaning up your drinks is a must. What you drink can completely sabotage your wellness goals with obscene amounts of hidden sugar, trans fats, and fake crap.

What’s in? Water (especially with lemon), unsweetened sparkling waters, black coffee, unsweetened nut milks, and teas (especially green).

What’s out? Juices (even organic fruit juice), sports drinks, coffee creamers, sodas, beer, drink mixes and skim milk.

Gray Area: Milk. If you drink milk, try to keep it organic with the fat intact. Skim milk spikes blood sugar- you don’t want that when you are trying to banish the bulge.

If you choose to booze: The best choice is a high quality spirit with club soda and a splash of citrus. Think Grey Goose soda with lemon.

The second best choice is red wine. If you feel that you tolerate red wine, then go ahead. Some of us experience bloating, headaches, and difficulty sleeping.

If you don’t already drink, you don’t need to start. In fact, I am choosing to abstain while I focus on leaning up. I find that I sleep better and my belly isn’t as bloated (what a gross word bloated is) when I don’t drink.

Here’s the deal, guys- I LOVE wine. I love it a lot. However, I discovered that it doesn’t like me so much. I went through a self-experiment where I stopped drinking for a month. At first I thought I would die. Literally die. And then I wondered about my sanity. Drinking made me a nicer wife and mommy. And then, suddenly, things changed. I felt so good, that I did not care to have a cocktail. It simply wasn’t that big of a deal. It still isn’t that big of a deal. I am perfectly happy sipping on my chamomile tea. Turns out I can still be a pretty nice wife and mommy.

Sugar Strike. When you eat sugar- whether in the form of candy, pasta, or a bagel- it causes a rise in blood glucose. That glucose is dangerous in the bloodstream and needs to be moved to a safer place by insulin. If the liver and muscles are already full of glycogen (stored glucose), then your body has no choice but to store that glucose as fat- primarily belly fat. Belly fat!

Learn to read labels. There is hidden sugar in everything. Syrups, evaporated juices, honey, agave, etc...it is pervasive.

If your goal is to be lean, you may want to consider cutting the added sugar and the high carbohydrate foods such as breads, pastas, and baked goods. I have made a personal decision to avoid grains, and I’ve never felt better. However, we are all very different. Experiment with what works for you.

Eat Fat to Lose Fat. This is my favorite tip. When you choose to eat more fat in place of sugar, your body becomes really good at burning fat. You become so efficient at torching fat that you not only tear through the fat in the food you eat, but you also incinerate the bat wings, muffin tops, and beer bellies. Yeah!

Healthy fat does NOT make you fat. Sugar does. The end.

PS- If you are interested in ramping up your nutrition and getting into swimsuit shape, be on the lookout for a pretty great program to be launched at FORM. There will be much more information to come!  Here’s a hint: Real food. No math. Lifelong health.

5 Reasons to Give Pilates a Try

Here are five reasons to give Pilates a try.

Variety
There are over 500 exercises with hundreds of variations. You will not get bored! This helps to prevent plateaus and keep your body guessing!

Looking good in clothes 
Pilates in Hollywood's biggest secret. Five women in last year’s Oscar nominees for best actress and best supporting actress categories practice Pilates regularly.  Your clothes will hang better and you will appear longer and leaner. 

Improve athletic performance
Pilates will improve performance in any other athletic activity. Your focus on precision and control will help you in other sports from running to tennis. A strong core will help you prevent injuries and stay light on your feet. 

Give your brain a get-away
Pilates rejuvenates your mind because you can’t think about anything else while you’re doing it. Give your brain a vacation from daily stresses as you connect to your mind and body.

Highly skilled instructors
Pilates instructors rise to one of the highest levels of training in the fitness industry. A fully certified Pilates instructor completes a 500-hour training course that takes one to two years to complete.  

April showers bring May flowers

This Spring has been very dry but next week finally calls for RAIN! (or snow :-( ) So what does that mean for your wardrobe? You need some stylish rain boots! Rain boots are no longer clumpy or frumpy! Here are a few of our favorite ways to style them...

DENIM JACKET

Everything feels like Spring when you throw on a denim jacket...right!? Pair some leggings (print or solid) with your favorite denim jacket for an easy Spring look.

PATTERN PLAY

Stripes and plaid go together like yin and yang! Have fun mixing some prints and make a stylish statement! 

JEANS

Pair your Joules rain boot with your favorite pair of jeans. If you are like us, you may have to wipe the dust off your jeans. They don't get near the wear like our yoga pants. Add a fun top like this new tank from Coin and a lightweight Spring jacket. Simple..right!?

These three Joules rain boot styles are available in the FORM boutique. Tell us, how do you like to style your rain boots?

Healthy Fat Snack Mix

We had a great time last night at the launch of our Keepin' It Real Nutrition series. Here is the recipe for the healthy fat snack mix that Melissa made for the group. ENJOY!

1 cup each:

• goji berries *available at HyVee, Co Op, and Pomegranate Market
• macadamias, roughly chopped *available at Costco
• brazil nuts, roughly chopped *available at HyVee, Co Op, and Pomegranate Market
• pistachios
• pecans
• cashews
• almonds

2 cups:

• unsweetened coconut flakes

**you can find a great mix at Costco that contains pistachios, pecans, cashews, and almonds

Keepin' it Real Introduction

Fanciful claims and sensational headlines dominate magazine covers and Twitter feeds. Miracle pills, powders, and potions promise to banish belly fat and cut five pounds in one week. Oh, and “for less than $10 a day, you are guaranteed to lose weight while eating delicious pre-packaged foods like pasta, pizza, chocolate bars, and even ice cream sandwiches!”  Really?! 

According to Money magazine, Americans spend more than $60 billion dollars a year feeding the diet industry’s bottom line. We are emptying our pockets at an alarming rate in the endless pursuit of health, but are we getting any healthier?  No.

Obesity rates in adults have more than doubled since 1980. Rates in children have tripled. Tripled.

Ironically, the number of diet programs has risen right along with the rates of obesity. We get sicker, fatter, and sadder despite the inundation of quick-fix programs. We grow more frustrated and weary with every calorie we count and gram we graph. Friends, the answer to our problems isn’t a meal replacement shake, processed protein bar, or math equations.

The answer is food.

Real, nourishing, healing FOOD. Hippocrates so famously advised, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” But how? With all the misinformation and conflicting opinions out there, how can we keep it real and not fall for the mounds of BS that surround us?

Does anyone really enjoy feeling hungry and deprived?  Guys- we don’t need to. Life is meant to live in abundance. Food should be enjoyed without guilt.

It is my mission to empower you with the tools and knowledge you need to nourish your body, feel your best, and look your best. I want you to feel confident knowing that you are providing yourself and the people you love with clean, wholesome nutrition. You can design the life- and the vitality- you want for yourself.

So, yeah! That’s the story behind Keepin’ it Real. Let’s get started feeling awesome!

Three ways to feel awesome today:

1) Begin a love affair with fat. First of all, get over the idea that fat makes you fat. It doesn’t. Sugar makes you fat. Fat helps you become lean, energized, smart, and sexy.

Try these sources of healthy fats:

•  Saturated fats from happy, healthy animals such as ghee, organic eggs, grass-fed meats, and antibiotic free poultry.

•  Saturated fats from extra virgin coconut oil and coconut.

•  Monounsaturated fats from olives, extra virgin olive oil, nuts, seeds, avocados, wild salmon, and ground flaxseed.

•  If you tolerate dairy, use real cream, full fat cheeses, milk, and yogurt. Fat-free and skim are not the answer. Your body needs fat. Period.

Side note: Make sure you tolerate dairy. Not sure? Completely remove it from your diet for 10 days. Add it back in and see how you feel. For some of us, dairy brings on acne, digestive problems, and sinus issues. Others can do dairy just fine. Try a little self-experiment.

Another side note: My husband recently removed dairy. After 10 years of him sawing logs next to me every. single. night., he no longer snores. So...give it a try!

2) Think about your drink.

Real drinks don’t contain artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners. They don’t have cheap sweeteners like corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup. They don’t have trans fat in the form of partially hydrogenated oils. Read your labels! If you see these ingredients, move along, Savvy Shopper. Move along.

What should you drink?

•  Plain green, herbal, and black teas

•  Black coffee (add real cream if it works for you)

•  Water with lemon

•  Red wine or vodka with soda if you like a cocktail now and then

3) Breakfast is not a piece of cake. Don’t eat cake for breakfast. You may be thinking, “Umm...no one eats cake for breakfast.”  Actually, most Americans eat cake for breakfast.

Cake = muffins, donuts, toast, cereals, waffles, pancakes

You see, when you eat a breakfast full of baked goods and grains, your blood sugar spikes. Insulin is secreted to clear the sugar from the blood stream.

Where does that sugar go?  If you eat a lot of cake-like products, that sugar is stored on your belly as fat.

What happens after the insulin surge?  Your blood sugar crashes and you feel sluggish and hangry after two hours. Yes, hangry! No one likes a hangry person. Don’t be that guy.

I sure hope these tips were helpful! 

Here is my family’s favorite “no-cake” breakfast recipe. I like to make up a big batch on Sunday, so we have easy breakfasts ready for the week.

Breakfast Hash

Cook Time: 15 minutes    Serves: 4

Ingredients:

•  2-3 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil

•  1 pound ground turkey

•  1 sweet potato, peeled and diced

•  1 sweet yellow onion, diced

•  2 red or yellow bell peppers, diced

•  2 teaspoons each sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, cumin, coriander, and paprika

•  2-3 eggs per serving

Method:

•  Brown all ingredients together until turkey and sweet potatoes are cooked through.

•  Top your hash with 2-3 eggs cooked over easy.

•  Enjoy! 

Want to learn more from Melissa? Join FORM for a seminar this Sunday, March 29th from 7-8:30. Call the studio or register online.