fithiphealthy

LAUREN BOGGI FOR THE HUFFINGTON POST! 20 May 2013

Bouncing Forward...

SKINNY HEATHEN. 17 May 2013

Lithe Instructor Carrie Gero and I came up with the Emerald Mary; a lighter, GREEN version of the beloved Bloody Mary.  I must say that it's delish!  Created by Fernand “Pete” Petiot of Harry’s American Bar in Paris, the Bloody Mary was supposedly named for a woman Mary who spent long hours at the bar awaiting her lover.  The “Bloody,” has since started to include ingredients as diverse as basil and roasted garlic and has been endlessly reinvented.  Here's another...this one is light, crisp, refreshing and green. 

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces Ketle One vodka
• 4-6 ounces of Lithe Foods Greenie 
• Ice
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated horseradish (optional)
• Pinch or two of Old Bay
• Pinch of sea salt
• Pinch of freshly ground pepper
• Wedges of lemon and lime

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a shaker, add ice, shake and strain into a rocks glass and garnish with a lemon wheel.  Enjoy!

Images via Ketel One & Lithe Foods

FIT.HIP.FRIDAY GIVEAWAY! 17 May 2013

Today's giveaway is one day of Liquid Lithe from Lithe Foods (6 cold pressed juices and smoothies=$42 value). It's the perfect way to kick off a fresh routine of healthful eating for the spring season; No ordering, no delivery or shipping fees...Just grab and go straight from the studio fridges. 

For a chance to win, please tell us your all-time favorite juice or smoothie, and what you want us to create next!  Maybe it's a new juice, a food item, a workshop, or a 3-day (all liquid) Lithe detox?  We want to hear what you love and what you want and you just may see it debut on our menu!

One winner will be chosen at random on Monday, so you have three days to enter.  Rules: One entry per person.  Thank you, and good luck!

SAYEH'S LIVING LITHE! 15 May 2013

Until very recently, I have been in a negative energy haze of craze. 

Reason 1: The Internet

Usually, I feel the internet is a wonderful place. I think back to when I was in high school and wonder how on earth I functioned without it. How did I ever find my way around? How did I discover new places to eat and if they were supposed to be any good? How did I find the answers to questions like: How tall is Fredrick Ecklund from Million Dollar Listing? What did I do when I wasn't spending hours watching Ryan Gosling refuse to eat his cereal?

But despite all of its amazing usefulness, the internet can also be an AWFUL place. It's where people, protected by their anonymity, can be just plain MEAN. It's the newest iteration of road rage. The information super highway is a place where people can speed by a blog and flip their verbal bird at anyone and everyone without consequences. Kitchen and food blogs are particularly awful about this. For example, recently, while on one of my favorite sites that features recipes, reviews of different kitchen equipment, and tours of unique kitchens around the country etc., I searched the term 'food mill.' (I'm currently registering for my upcoming wedding, and was using the site help me research a few things I might want to include.) My girl Ina Garten swears it is her essential tool for making amazing mashed potatoes, so I thought hmmm I wonder what else it's good for? 

Did I find that? Oh no. I found hate. How daaaaaaare you want a food mill?? Food mills are for Food-Network-watching IDIOTS! USE YOUR HEAD...they take up all the space in a drawer! Get over yourself for wanting a food mill! Who do you think you are? Julia Child? No food mills for the likes of YOU, you pathetic wannabe chef that only wants to milk your poor guests--who are already spending a fortune to attend your wedding--for something you don't need and will never use. You are going straight to hell! You can't peel the skins off your boiled tomatoes yourself?  You need a food mill to make sauce! You are a disappointment to the human race! Carrot Top would look down on you. 

This sent me into a self-judging shame spiral. What was I thinking? Will our friends and relatives think all of these things of me if I put this food mill on my registry? Will they hate me for even having a registry?? (Some blogs vehemently say guests feel frustrated without a registry and other blogs judgingly say it's SO wrong to tell people what to buy you.) So much judgment! Why are people so mad and opinionated on things like this on the internet? Why not say--hey, I got a food mill because I thought it would be great and useful, but turns out I never use it because it's heavy and clunky and it takes up too much room. I wouldn't recommend it. Have a lovely day, you beautiful, conscientious researcher of kitchen appliances! I mean, would that be so hard?

Reason 2: The Weather

It's May. I don't want to wear a sweater anymore. That's all. 

Reason 3: I've been Phillied

Lately everywhere I walk in the streets, someone is doing something borderline nuts! A man yelled a line at me that was a more profane version of: You are a handsome woman and I'd like to be responsible for the growth of a fetus in your uterus. A homeless man yelled at a woman walking near me for only dropping a quarter in his cup. Something about being cheap was a word I deciphered between obscenities. Other people are just sucking down cigarettes while walking extremely slowly and juggling a cup of coffee and texting on their cell phones between drags. So not only are they weaving from side to side so I can't get around them, but they are causing me to hack and cough AND be late. I've almost been run over several times by drivers who do not care that my light is green and they have to wait to turn until pedestrians clear the way. It's just too much! I learned later from a friend that what I've experience is called being Phillied--when sometimes the city just kicks your ass. and chews you up and spits you out.

Reason 4: I've been on an unintentional Lithe hiatus

I was sick. Then I was out of town. Then I just couldn't get my act together because I was all discombobulated. So naturally I was eating like I was going to the electric chair, and as a result I can feel my rolls as I sit here, and have unbuttoned the top button to my pants because naturally 2 weeks of not working out (and eating fried foods nonstop) negate my weeks and weeks of hard work and I just want to punch everyone in the face!! 

Is that SO wrong??

Yes. According to several laws, I believe it is. Unfortunately. 

So, this is where I was last Friday. I trudged in the door after being totally Phillied, having had a terrible day at work, having attempted to treat and relax myself to a pedicure which came completely off when I removed the plastic they had wrapped around my freshly dried toes to protect them from my shoes and just crumpled. I AM IN A HORRIBLE MOOD, I announce to my fiance. I hate EVERYONE. I hate this weather. I hate this city. I hate the smell of horse poo. I hate people that blow smoke in my face. I hate that man that wants to father my children. I hate EVERYTHING. 

He calmly handed me a beer, told me to take deep breaths and reminded me that we had dinner plans with another couple that evening that would make me feel better. I begrudgingly accompanied him to what would turn out to be my surprise birthday party. A giant group of all my favorite people convened by my wonderful fiance and all in one room...for me. My brain couldn't compute, and when it did, I felt pretty silly for being SUCH A HATER. NO better than the mean internet bullies on foodie websites. The party was a much needed reminder that my problems are first world problems that could be way worse, and to get over myself and put a food mill on my registry if I want to and who cares what other haters think and to GO TO CLASS. 

And I did! And I feel incredibly better. (Is there a connection between being irritable and not working out, ya think?) So, if you've been feeling like I have, grab a few of your closest girlfriends, go to class or take a good, brisk walk by the river, get those endorphins going, gossip and then get some drinks. Sit somewhere in a patch of sun and drink margaritas and eat some guacamole. Nothing resets us like time with people we love. No time? Maybe write down 10 things or friends you're grateful for...right now. It will help I promise. It's my new plan too. 

More gratitude. Less attitude. Now if I can only make that go viral. 

See you in class and here's hoping you don't get Phillied on the way!

WARMTH. 14 May 2013

Josie Maran's Argan Tan Extending Body Lotion, Nora Kogan's Mama ring, Loeffler Randall Marta clogs, Madeline Weinrib cotton carpets, do TERRA Citrus Bliss essential oil in my water (via Mama's), my Mint Julip recipe and Domino Mag (it's back!). 

Images via brand websites and Lauren via Jordan

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY LITHE FOODS! 7 May 2013

Lithe Foods celebrated its second birthday on May 1st.  Can't wait to see (and taste) what this year brings!  A big thanks to Katie Cavuto Boyle, MS RD and the Lithe Foods team! 

LITHE IN PHILLY MAG! 7 May 2013

Check out The Cult of Lithe Queen of Hearts feature by Richard Rys in Philadelphia Magazine's May issue.  Kudos to Richard for having the guts to enter our culture (and experience the workout!).  Thank you to our Lithe Instructors Jaime Powers, Kim Sauer, Meg Grauzlis and Tirsa Rivas for enduring an arduous 14 hour shoot and body painting session.  And, thank you to all the Lithers of Philadelphia for shaping Lithe's history, and loving this workout and lifestyle; I'm so honored! 

Images via Philadelphia Magazine and Jonathan Pushnick

ME ON MONDAY (MY WELLNESS RECOS). 6 May 2013

Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting my recos from wellness to healthy food here in Philadelphia and beyond.  This week, I'm talking about the people that I trust with my body and mind.  If you're super busy and always on the go, you know that sometimes it takes a village to care for YOU.  I highly recommend the women above; they're true healers, experts in their fields, and I'm lucky (and proud) to call them my friends.  Read about my go-to's for when I want to really feel beautiful inside {clockwise}:

Mother's Helper:  Paige Chapman of Mama's Wellness Joint.  Have you been to the Joint?  Like Paige, it's completely beautiful and serene.  I go for Paige's yoga, raw milk, Salt of the Earth, raw local honey, and her ridiculously amazing selection of essential oils.  What's our history?  Paige was my doula. 

Eastern Medicine Master:  Julie Schwartz of Julie Heals/Queen Village Acupuncture.  Julie has been my acupuncturist and herbal guru go-to since 2007.  She has shortened the healing time of muscles in spasm,  turned Mars from his breech position at 38.5 weeks with acupuncture/moxibustion, and helps me monthly with stress management.  What's our history?  She married Jordan's best friend, Mark and her daughter Sophie is one of Mars's BFF's.  For those of you who Lithed from 2007-08, you may have experienced our collaborative workout, Lithe EnerChi. 

The Muscle Mender (who really knows your workout):  Tiffany Nork of Lithe's Body Boosters (she previously owned On The Spot Wellness).  Since 2008, Lithe Instructor and "Lithe Therapist" (Tif's our in-house, certified massage therapist), has been kneading away our chronic sore spots, peeling away super tight connective tissue, and correcting our muscular imbalances with her own two hands and her therapeutic Lithe Melt "mini-balls" since 2007.  What's our history?  Tif began Lithing in 2005 and became an instructor in 2006 (currently, she is my "oldest" instructor).  I see Tif bi-monthly for psoas and piriformis tightness from all the tucking and squeezing that I do, and those crazy, hurt-so-good spinal rolls that only she does.  And, because she performs true bodywork, it really works.  Those of us who swear by her know it's not an ordinary massage. 

Image of Paige Chapman via Paige, Julie Schwartz via Dominic Episcopo and Tif Nork working on Lauren at Lithe Old City via Johanna

 

LITHE GOAL OF THE WEEK! 6 May 2013

Remember this goal?  You're at the half-way point.  This week, check in!  How's everyone doing?  

Image of Lithe Instructor Danielle Ingerman wearing Lithe via Dom

SKINNY HEATHEN! 3 May 2013

This one comes from Lithe's Old City Manager, Chrissy Parker (thanks Chrissy!).  Have you ever tried Lithe Foods Skinny Chocolate Milk with black iced coffee?  You must!  Who knew that our chocolate milk would be a great substitute for cream and a delicious, healthy mixer (no need for whipped cream).  Add Baileys, Tia Maria or Frangelico this weekend for added fun.