The 5 E’s of Easy Healthy Eating

Making health both easy and attainable is of utmost importance, and spring is the perfect time to pursue this process of renewal and regrowth. As the weather warms, take this opportunity to make positive changes that will leave your mind and body feeling refreshed. To get started, here are five quick and simple tips for improving the way you eat—and feel—this spring.

Empowerment. Ditch the diet mentality and make realistic lifestyle changes. Research shows that making small, feasible changes in dietary behavior results in long-term nutrition success. Go ahead and jump-start your newfound sense of health by keeping a bowl of organic fruit, like peaches and pears, on your kitchen table. Then make a goal to add one fruit a day to your nutrition intake.

How-to Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle: Tips from Exhale Spa’s Nutrition Intuition

In the health and wellness world, March is the month dedicated to nutrition awareness and at exhale we decided to celebrate with a day of awareness entitled NUTRITION INTUITION.

I was joined by two of exhale’s healers: Laura Benge, our National Spa Director and Rachel Lustgarten, R.D. nutritionist, Keri Glassman, nationally recognized nutrition expert, Katie Lee, Cookbook author and lifestyle expert, and Jeremy Bearman, Executive Michelin- starred Chef of Rouge Tomate NYC for a panel discussion on how to incorporate good nutrition, simple cooking and tasty food  into your life on a daily basis.

We spoke on the difficulties of maintaining a healthy lifestyle day to day and some takeaways on solving those challenges; tips like how to cook a nutritious meal in less time than ordering delivery! Prepare raw foods as soon as you bring them home from the market: clean the greens, wash the lettuce, chop the vegetables and store them in containers to be used during the week as dedicated meals or reliable sides for chicken or fish.

Keri made the point that a holistic lifestyle is key to a lean, sexy, happy body. And that it’s not just the food that you eat but your sleep, stress reduction techniques and peacefulness of your home space will all factor in to maximizing health and wellness. According to Keri, a spritz of lavender in the bedroom is a great start to a sleep worthy space! Katie suggested to start your week with a good nutrition plan and if you cheat a little on the weekend, you can start again on Monday. She also shared that preparing foods in advance, like boiling a pot of rice, quinoa or lentils, or steaming a bunch of broccoli and refrigerating are easy ways to stay on track.

3 Ways to Eat Healthy On-The-Go

With January resolve starting to wane, many of us could use some help keeping our eating on-track. To keep energy high and our bodies slim as we fight off those winter blues it’s essential to eat nutritious foods throughout the day and stay well hydrated. However, we can run into trouble when our hectic and complex lives get in the way, making it difficult to eat those health boosting foods we know and love.

The solution lies in the preparation – you can choose a specially designed meal plan like Nutritious Life Meals, or prep, cook and pack yourself. Either way, the tips below will help keep your energy up and your metabolism revved while eating on-the-go. The reward will be a happier, slimmer and sexier you!

1. Nutritious Life Meals
Nutritious Life Meals is my newest tool to help you live a more Nutritious Life. The program will help you fit nutrition into your routine effortlessly and consistently, resulting in a healthier and slimmer you!

The plan works like this: each day, three freshly prepared gourmet meals and two snacks will be delivered right to your doorstep. I created each meal, so you know that you will be getting the right balance of nutrients in the proper portions to help you lose weight and gain energy. If you have allergies, dietary restrictions or simply don’t like certain foods (broccoli may never be your favorite, no matter how nutritious it is!), before each meal is delivered you can log into your online account, choose between four meal options, and even give some foods a “thumbs down.” This ensures that you’ll get nutritious meals that you will enjoy and be excited to eat!

2. “Brown Bag” 2012 Style
A portable cooler may not be the chicest carryall, but it’s an excellent tool to help you eat empowered. Portable coolers allow you to bring along more substantial snacks like endive and hummus, cheese and turkey slices or yogurt and nuts. These snacks are great because they combine protein and fat to help you stay satisfied. Okay, maybe a cooler is going a bit above and beyond for some of you, but a Built insulated lunch bag is something even the most uber-fashionistas can handle.

3. RX for Snacks: Have an emergency stash
Sometimes you need to run out the door and simply don’t have the time to prep a bag full of snacks (some days are just too unpredictable). For these times, a pre-packed snack bag is essential. Keep this bag loaded with nonperishable items such as mixed nuts, high fiber crackers, natural peanut butter packets and organic turkey jerky. Some of my favorite choices even include ‘unconventional’ items like tuna packets and oatmeal packets. I also recommend stashing some green tea and True Lemon packets in your snack bag to add to water so that you can always stay hydrated. Keep this emergency stash on hand at home to throw in your bag, glove compartment and inside your desk at work.

To order Keri Glassman’s Nutritious Life Meals click here.

Nationally recognized nutrition expert and published author Keri Glassman is the founder and president of Keri Glassman, Nutritious Life, a nutrition practice based in New York City.  For years, Keri has been a leader in advancing a “whole person” approach to health and wellness.She has dedicated her career to creating services and promoting education through her Nutritious Life brand. She has authored two books; the most recent is The O2 Diet. The Cutting Edge, Antioxidant-Based Program That Will Make You Healthy, Thin and Beautiful. (Rodale, December 2009.) This book translates complex scientific research on antioxidants and the ORAC scale into useful and usable tools that everyone can benefit from. It empowers people to live a more Nutritious Life by combining a nutrient dense, high antioxidant diet with the other components of a Nutritious Life. The O2 Diet follows the Snack Factor Diet, (Crown, 2007.)Keri is a contributing editor and advisory board member for Women’s Health Magazine, and was the first registered dietitian to create a real food based snack bar, KeriBar.Additionally, Keri is the Nutrition and Health contributor for NBC’s New York Live, and is regularly featured on national television programs including NBC’s The Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, Access Hollywood Live, The View, Dr. Oz, The Doctors, The Wendy Williams Show, MSNBC and The Fox News Channel. Keri resides in New York City with her children, Rex and Maizy.