Healthy Travel Tips with Jared Koch of Clean Plates and another Rockin' Playlist

What's up Nibblers?  What a week!  It's like spring here on the east coast, we almost forgot Valentine's day is around the corner.  Valentine's Day!  Have you entered our contest yet?  Win cool NibMor products and gear by writing to us about your favorites.  For more deets, click the link below:

Love Letter's For NibMor

 

Today's blog is awesome (when isn't it?!).  Co-founder Jennifer Love interviews Jared Koch of Clean Plates.  Clean Plates is the Zagat Guide to healthy and tasty eating around your favorite cities.  Jenny S. has provided us with another stellar playlist.  Have a great week!

 

JLove’s Healthy Eating Travel Tip #2

Do you struggle in finding delicious and healthy restaurants while traveling? You are not alone.

To add to my ‘eating healthy while traveling’ woes….I’m mostly vegan. But, it’s not as hard as you might think. One way I combat the nutritious and delicious traveling paradox is using sites like www.CleanPlates.com <http://www.CleanPlates.com>  to quickly and easily locate vegetarian friendly restaurants. I went straight to the source to discuss this topic with my dear friend Jared Koch, founder of Clean Plates.

JLove: As an owner of Clean Plates, you are a person that travels a lot, especially with Clean Plates’ huge presence here in NY and the company’s expansion into LA and other cities. BUT, what do you personally do to find healthy and delicious food while on the go?

Jared: When I know that I will be traveling to another city, I will usually contact any friends that live in that city and ask them for recommendations, or I will do a quick search online to find restaurants that use sustainable, local and organic ingredients. The key is that I’m prepared before I travel.

JLove: That’s a great point Jared. Being organized and knowing in advance where to go certainly will keep you on track. Do you find that most cities have healthy restaurants?

Jared: Eating healthy is a growing trend and more and more restaurants are either solely focused on serving sustainable, local and/or organic foods or offering healthy options. I’ve never had an issue where I couldn’t find a restaurant in a city I’m traveling in that had at least some healthy options. I allow myself the 80-20 Rule. 80% of the time I make sure I’m eating healthy and 20% of the time I allow myself to indulge. BUT, I always order vegetables and I keep a stash of NibMor in my pocket too.

JLove: I like the sound of that! This is a really balanced approach. What are the two things you do to eat healthy while travelling?

Jared: I bring a meal or snacks, like nuts and dried fruits, with me. I also bring packets of oatmeal for my breakfasts, because breakfast is the hardest meal to get in/find healthy while travelling.

JLove: Excellent! I’m sure that a lot of people that struggle to find healthy and delicious food while travelling will find these tips helpful. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your personal tips. Keep up the amazing work you are doing over at Clean Plates.

You can download Clean Plates new free iPhone app at http://app.cleanplates.com/ which allows you to quickly and easily find healthy, sustainable and delicious restaurants by browsing a database of dining options for organic meats, vegan and vegetarian top picks, gluten-free options, and naturally sweetened desserts.      

 Jenny's Playlist: Electro-FUNK (theme of the Week)

This week I have been in somewhat of a Funk… In order for me to get out of that I have just recently joined a gym and started making healthier choices in not only food but men! I think the greatest tunes to listen to when you need a “Shock” back into your life is “Electro-Funk” jams. Funk it out Nibblers!

Jam List
1.       Cry for you by September

2.       Derezzed by Draft Punk

3.       Midnight City by M83

4.       Young Folks by Peter Bjorn and John

5.       Lights (Bassnectar Remix) by Ellie Goulding (My ultimate favorite song right now)
http://www.NibMor.com

 

 

 

More from the NibMor Gals

We are sticking to our New Year Resolution to get you more info for your health and wellness, are you?!  Co-founder Heather K. Terry shares one of her favorite alt junk food recipes and Lauren found out something that shocked the whole office!

If you haven't entered our 'Love Letters For NibMor' Contest yet- get to it!  We are giving away some amazing prize packages.  For more info go to: 

Love Letter's For NibMor Contest

Have a great weekend Nibblers!

HKT's Pizza Throw-down
I love pizza.  Plain and simple!  I grew up on the south side of Chicago where Gino's East and Giordano's were standard fare.  Cheese was a big down fall for me, as was all that bread.  You KNOW what I am talking about! 

As my diet and lifestyle have changed over the years, I found it difficult to keep my coveted pizza in my life, until I discovered a few key ingredients.  It's no Gino's East Nibblers, but it's pretty darn good.  Without all the fat and calories, you will be satisfied and still on track.  Enjoy!

ALT PIZZA
1 Ezekiel tortilla flat or brown rice wrap
2 tbsp pizza sauce
Toppings:  this equals VEGETABLES!  ANY KIND!  My favorite is 3 shitake mushrooms, sliced and a handful of spinach.
2 tbsp daiya cheese(this is dairy free) or shredded mozzerella

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Assemble the pizza- tortilla, sauce, veg and then cheese to top.  Place pizza on a pizza stone or baking sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the crust is slightly browned and cheese is melted. 


Lauren discovered the most awesome thing this week! 
Hey Nibblers!   I am really excited about this new fact I learned this week from the nutrition contributor at NBC.  I am a big fan of artichokes and I just learned that they are at the top of the list for the vegetable that has the most antioxidants and the most fiber as well.  1 cup of artichokes has about 14 grams of fiber.  So load up on artichokes because they are great for you and they will help improve your overall health.  For the Super Bowl, instead of an unhealthy dip try a dip that has lot of artichokes in it!  Your body will thank you for it!

http://www.NibMor.com

 

Traveling Tips from the J's

Hi there Nibblers!  We're so happy that you are here.  And we hope you are taking this month to lay down some new habits as you rock your resolutions!


Today's blog is all about travel.  Jennifer Love, one of our co-founders, interviews a Nibbler who travels often and lost a ton of weight after being inspired by the NibMor lifestyle.  Jenny S. is a commuter and her Jam list is centered around travel time (it's super fun and funny- we wish what Jenny proposes in this blog would actually happen).  Enjoy and have a great week!

JLove’s Healthy Eating Travel Tip #1

Those of you that travel, likely experience challenges staying on track and eating healthy during business meals. One of our Nibblers, an Executive at Hewlett Packard, is constantly on the road traveling to and from customers, suppliers and business partners. He has been living the NibMor Lifestyle, focusing on healthy eating, for over a year now and has seen some great results. I heard about a tool he uses while traveling that helps keep him on track and I asked him if he’d be willing to share it. Here’s my interview with him:

JLove: When you go to a restaurant with customers,  suppliers or colleagues for a business meal, while traveling, you use a tool to help yourself stay on track. Tell me about it.

RW: I know that I should be eating healthy. What I do is make sure that everyone else at the table knows that I’m going to be eating healthy. I use the opening of the menu as a trigger to remind me of what I want to do next. At that point, I verbally declare to the table that I’m working on my health and trying to eat healthy even when I travel. I let everyone know that I’ll be focusing on vegetables and fish. I let the table know, that I use to use business meals as an excuse to over indulge and make bad food choices, but not anymore.

JLove: That’s a great tool. How does this help you?

RW: It literally puts me in a public position where I cannot eat badly because I just declared that I’m going to be eating healthy. If I did make bad food choices it would make me an outright liar. As a result of this public accountability, I make great food choices while at these business meals and I walk away from the table feeling very good about myself.

JLove: How do your customers, suppliers and/or colleagues respond to this?

RW: Their responses are usually very positive and quite often they join me in those good food choices. On occasion, I’ve had times that the entire table joins in on a meal of fish and vegetables.

JLove: Do you find that the conversation around the table turns to nutrition and health?

RW: Absolutely yes, especially when they learn that the result of my doing things like this, over the period of 16 months, has resulted in my weight loss of 130 pounds.

JLove: Wow, that’s great! Keep up the good work. I’m sure that a lot of people that travel and have business meals will find this tip to be very useful. Thank you so much for sharing your experience.

If you have a healthy eating travel tip, reach out to me by sending an email to info@NibMor.com. I’d be interested in hearing all about it.


Jam List from Jenny S:

Theme: “Dance Car”

Let’s face it commuting sucks! My friend Katelyn Gallamore and I used to storm up ideas on our daily commute of what would make them better, well… We thought a “Designated Dance Car” on each subway and railroad would be AMAZING! If that existed these songs would be a must. But feel free to dance to these tunes in your car, shower, kitchen, on your morning walk, or even at the DMV while waiting, I bet the time would go by faster. Keep Jammin’ Nibblers!

Jammin Playlist
1.       Release by Timbaland featuring Justin Timberlake

2.       Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO

3.       Day ‘N’ Nite by Kid Cudi

4.       Push It by Salt N Pepa

5.       Another Night by Real McCoy

  

http://www.NibMor.com

 

More New Year Resolution Support!

We're all about supporting you with your health and wellness goals this year.  Here are some more recipes, tips and tricks from the NibMor Gals and Team! 

HKT's Recipe of the week:

Make your own Museli

I took this recipe out of Whole Living Magazine and jazzed it up a bit.  Why am I so focused on breakfast these last two weeks?  It's the most important meal of the day!  Truly, it is- breakfast eaters tend to eat less throughout the day and are more binge resistant.  Get your breakfast on!  

2 tbsp whole rolled oats (or gluten free oats)

2 tbsp cooked brown rice

1/2 a green apple cut into slices

1 tbsp shredded raw coconut

1/2 cup almond milk (or whatever milk you like)

A sprinkle of coconut palm sugar (optional)

Add oats, rice and milk into a sauce pan.  Heat on medium high heat for several minutes- do not boil.  Mixture will thicken a bit.  Add apples and coconut and stir.  Keep on heat for one more minute.  Pour into a bowl and sprinkle a little coconut sugar on top.  Delicious! 

Juice with JLove:

Today is day 16 on the cleanse. YES, I decided to extend my cleanse another week. I want to REALLY push my reset button on this detox cleanse! One of the things that really helps me stay on track during my cleanse is being organized. Here’s how I organize each week:

1.      PLAN: On Sundays I sit down and plan what juice I will have for each meal that week (I list names/pages/books for each juice). I then put all of the recipes/books in a pile in my kitchen for easy access. (15min)

2.      CREATE SHOPPING LIST: Because I know what juices I will have each day of the upcoming week, I go through the juice recipes and make a list all of the ingredients. (15min)

3.      POST: I post my juice meal plan on the refrigerator for easy access.

4.      STOCK UP: I then take my shopping list to the grocery store and purchase all of the ingredients I need for that week. (30min)

5.      AM ROUTINE: Each morning I get up and make all of the juices for that day. (30 – 60min)


**Total Prep Time Spent = 1 hour planning and shopping. Total Daily Juicing Time Spent = 30 – 60 min. Easy breezy!!**

Being organized saves tons of time, removes frustration and makes it easier to stay on track.

Here’s a new favorite juice of mine:

Refreshing Fennel-Pear
2 Pears
5 – 8 Mint Leaves
2 Medium Fennel Bulbs

* inspired by Joe Cross’s Reboot Juice

Few health facts from Lauren:

Hey Nibblers did you know that drinking Green Tea can help boost your immune system and help boost your metabolism as well.  Research has also shown that Green Tea can have a positive effect when fighting cancer and heart disease.  Basically something as simple as drinking a cup of Green Tea each day can give your body lots of antioxidants to help fight off toxins!  So go out and get some green tea!

And finally, the fun part, your Jam list from Jenny S.: This week it's all about art and inspiration. 

Theme: Creative Calm

This week I have been in a very creative state of mind from the kitchen to creating home beauty remedies. I enjoy listening to my music loud, but when I am concentrating or focusing it's hard to have tunes that overwhelm your thoughts. So I like to listen to Jams that can create a soundtrack to me; cooking, dancing, sketching, sewing, creating art, knitting, or painting my nails hot pink, you name it!

Tunes:
1. Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve
2. Help I'm Alive by Metric
3. Save Me by Jem
4. What the Water Gave me by Florence and The Machine
5. Set fire to the Rain by Adele  

Till next week! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR with NibMor!

What's up Nibblers?!  Happy New Year!  We hope you partied safe and had fun!  But guess what?  It's the new year and we KNOW you are all committed to those resolutions.  Well, we have a few of our own too!  Wanna know what they are?  Well you are looking at it!  One of our resolutions at NibMor is to get more info out to you about how to live a healthier lifestyle.  Specifically, what all of us at NibMor are doing to maintain our own health and wellness goals.  We all help each other out over here and we want to be there for you too.  Each week you'll get Whole Food recipes and Dessert tricks from Heather, Juicing and Eating While Traveling tips from Jennifer Love,  Health & Wellness Revelations from Lauren, and a Jammin' Playlist to take the gym (or on your walk, etc..) with Jenny S.   Are you ready?  We are!  Here ya go Nibblers- rock out those resolutions with your awesome self!

Whole Food Recipe from Heather:

I'm a gym rat- I need the gym in the morning or I can get a bit grouchy!  When I get back I need to fuel up for our long days here at NibMor.  Right now, this is my favorite breakfast combo- it's fast, easy and fuels me through the mornings.  Try it out!

HKT's Breakfast Green Smoothie (2 servings)

1 banana

1 cup almond milk or coconut water

3-4 kale leaves

juice of 1/2 a lemon

one green apple- cut out the core

1 tsp agave nectar

2 tbsp cacao powder

Blend and enjoy!  YUM!

HKT's Waflles

2 whole grain or gluten-free waffles(if going GF try Van's- they are V-good)

6 almonds, chopped

1/4 cup berries

1 tbsp yogurt (soy, greek, coconut- whatever you are into!)

maple syrup- just a drizzle

Toast the waffles in a toaster or toaster over.  Plate and top with almonds, berries, 'yogurt' and maple syrup.  Let happiness wash over you. 

Juice with JLove:

I am on a cleanse!  A new year cleanse is a great way to restart your system. I do them several times a year and find that they really help keep me on track.  Though I am doing a cleanse right now it doesn't mean that I don't take juice on other days outside of the cleanse.  Juicing can be incredibly helpful in reaching your health and wellness goals and I hope to share loads of information with all of you as the year goes on.  But for now, juice!  Today is day 9 of 15- wish me luck!

 ABC’s Juice
2 Asian Pears
2 Apples
2 Beets
1 cup Broccoli
2 Carrots
1 cup Cabbage (my fav is red)
6 handfuls (3 cups) of Chard
* inspired by Joe Cross’s Reboot Juice 

Lauren picked up a few facts this week:

At NibMor I am always learning new things!  Here is a new fact I learned this week from Heather: Did you know that Berries have the least amount of sugar out of all fruits?  Well, now I know!  Add your favorite berries to your oatmeal, smoothies, or even your salads for a healthy natural sweetener!  It will help with to satisfy your sweet tooth.  Have a great week Nibblers!

And finally, your jam list from Jenny S. :

Song Choices for the week:

1.       Beyonce- Run the World (Girls)
2.       Chaka Khan- I’m Every Woman
3.       Kelly Clarkson- Miss Independent
4.       Katy Perry- Firework
5.       Gloria Gaynor- I will Survive

Female Empowerment (theme for the week)
This is what I listen to when I am looking for inspiration and empowerment. This soundtrack makes me proud to be a young independent female in what is considered a “Man’s World.” I also surround myself with positive role models and individuals I would like to be one day. Enjoy these tunes while you walk to the beat of your own drum. Alright- go out there and get em!

http://www.NibMor.com

 

NibMor's Low Glycemic Chocolate Chip Cookies!

We know how hard it can be to enjoy the holiday season when you are trying to cut back on sugar.  In fact, it can seem down right impossible! So NibMor gal Heather K. Terry decided to create something you can feel good about this season- you won't miss all the refined sugar that used to come with your holiday cookies!  Enjoy.

NibMor's Low Glycemic Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 3/4 cup flour (or gluten free substitute)

2 sticks of butter (or 1 cup of coconut butter)

1/2 cup sucanat

1 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar

2 eggs (or egg substitute)

2 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of sea salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 NibMor Original Chocolate bars chopped into small chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine the sugars and 'butter' until creamed and fluff.  Add the vanilla and 'eggs'.  When this is well combined, add the remaining ingredients except the NibMor chocolate chunks.  Add chunks when remaining ingredients are combined well.  Drop about 2 tbsp of batter per cookie onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.  Let cool on a cooling rack.  Enjoy! 

NibMor's Raw Truffle Recipe

Thanks to everyone who joined us at the New York Chocolate Show this past week.  The show was a great success. We gave out over 3000 samples of Drinking Chocolate!  WOW!  People know how to drink their chocolate!

NibMor gal Heather K. Terry lead a demo of our Raw Truffles and we wanted to share it with everyone.  They were a huge hit and are a great alternative to all those sugary holiday treats.  Add them to the table- no one will ever know they are good for them!  Happy Nibbling!

NibMor's Raw Truffles:

For truffle:
1 1/2 cups walnuts
1 1/2 cups almonds
½ cup cacao powder
2 tbsp chia seeds

2 tbsp hemp seeds
 7 majool dates soaked overnight (or 14 piglet dates)
agave or maple syrup to taste

For coating:

cacao powder, tempered chocolate (we use NibMor’s Daily Dose of Dark 72%), shredded coconut or NibMor’s Drinking Chocolate mixes

Use a food processor to combine the nuts first.  Slowly add in cacao powder and flax. Add the dates a few at a time, you may have to stop the food processor and scrape down the sides.  Add agave or maple syrup.  Mixture should not be watery but clumpy and dough like.  Form into desired size truffles and roll in cacao powder, coconut, or tempered chocolate. 

Makes roughly 40 truffles.