Feel good, French style

Do you spend lunchtime juggling between your fork, your phone and your keyboard? There was a time when we had to squeeze less things into the day. That meant we could stop and eat lunch.

These days, mealtimes tend to fall by the wayside.  Neglecting the need to nourish yourself is a byproduct of the working culture which has emerged in recent years. As Tony Schwarz explains in his book The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working, employers and employees alike have come to believe that humans operate like computers, simultaneously running multiple programs at ever faster speeds.

The problem is that humans aren’t machines. We have distinct rhythms, needs and energy patterns. Understanding how to work with your body and your psyche is a first step to harnessing your energy. Your energy, after all, is the ultimate springboard to achieve everything you want to achieve.

Taking a small, but real, lunch break is a good place to start. Here are the advantages:

1. Efficiency. Studies show that you work better when you take breaks. You’re quicker, more alert and more creative. A break puts a distance between you and your workload and allows you to get perspective. That helps you focus on the essentials and keep less important matters at bay.

2. Bottom-line. By this I mean your very own rear-end. If you eat while distracted (working, reading or watching TV, for example), your stomach and brain can’t communicate. You miss out on the signals that you’re getting full, and on the signals of satisfaction and comfort you derive from eating. This makes it difficult to eat to your real appetite. It creates feelings of frustration that are usually satisfied by 3 pm candy bars or heavier dinners — not a good route for optimizing energy or weight.

3. Connection. When you take the time to eat, you recognize yourself as a person. That’s the key to making connections between your body and your self, to tuning into your emotions, needs and ideas.

Similarly, the office that eats together, stays together. Getting a job done is also about creating bonds and sharing the day’s highpoints and challenges.  If you’re a boss, set the example.

Every Wednesday this Summer, The Energy Project is organizing collective lunch breaks all across America. In New York, they’ll be at Madison Square Park. That’s a great inspiration.

Grab yourself a sandwich and soak up the rays. Your in-box will always be there, but the Summer won’t last forever.

Live épanoui*

Elisa

* in full bloom

Sometimes you need a little help to relax and get in the mood.

My Brazilian dance class helps me relax, but it’s my Brazilian dance teacher Michael who provides the added incentive to come back each week. His gorgeous bumbum is sheer perfection. Imagine my delight when I recently stumbled upon more gorgeous Brazilians, in Mario Testino’s book Rio de Janeiro.

This homage to Rio’s beautiful people is a feast for the senses. It’s sensual, it’s sexy, it’s a bit of a guilty pleasure that begins on the page and leaves you feeling like heading to the bedroom. A perfect book to share with your chéri.

If you’re suffering from Kitchen Performance Anxiety, Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights will put you in the mood to cook. Model and writer Sophie Dahl relates more of the story she published in Vogue earlier this year, explaining how she found harmony with her weight and food. Sophie gives you her take on natural versus processed foods and shows you how to eat from the garden with mouth-watering, seasonal recipes.

Since we’re on the subject of books, women’s health expert Christiane Northrup, M.D. recently released a revised version of her groundbreaking classic Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom. I grew up on this book. It belongs on any woman’s bookshelf to help you heal not only the bobo’s that come up in daily life, but to teach you everything that can go right with your body.

What’s on your reading list these days?

Live épanoui*!

Elisa

* in full bloom

I am ashamed to say that it took my own mother to get me into a pair of short shorts. While everyone has been in their cute tie-waists and cut-offs this Summer, I watched from the side-lines, convinced I was way too old…

Thank God mothers sometimes have the wisdom we don’t. It doesn’t matter how old you are, style is about WHO you are, and looking good in what you wear.

While I wouldn’t do hot pants like Cameron Diaz (nor do I by any means have her legs), she’s in short shorts at 37. That’s refreshing.

As I hum the jingle from Nair’s classic 80’s commercials, “If you dare wear short shorts…” I am thinking about how pre-conceived ideas can hold us back.

Thank God fashion is here to give us a good kick in the pants!

Live épanoui*

Elisa

* in full bloom

There is a myth that French women stay skinny by drinking espressos and smoking cigarettes. Many magazines and “experts” tell you that caffeine, in the right amounts, helps you lose weight and maintain your energy.

I love a good cup of Early Grey or a (decaf) espresso after a meal. However, I’ve learned from most integrative health professionals, and witnessed on myself and my clients, that caffeine quickly makes you fat and tired!

To caffeinate, or not to caffeinate? Here are my tips for happy sipping.

1. Break the stress cycle.

Americans drink 400 million cups a day of coffee. Caffeine, also found in tea and sodas, is a powerful stimulant that jolts your central nervous system. That jolt may get you going in the morning, but it also stimulates the excretion of stress hormones, and decreases blood flow to the brain by as much as 30%. This negatively affects your memory and mental performance.

In our overstressed lives, does it make sense to add more fuel to the fire? Repeated use of caffeine ends up overworking your adrenal glands, which leads to more fatigue, compromises your immune system, and stimulates skin aging.

If your fatigue and headache subside after your morning coffee, it’s not the benefits of caffeine you’re experiencing; it’s the alleviation of your withdrawal symptoms. To begin calming your nerves and harnessing your real energy, take it nice and easy. Mix decaf and regular as you wean yourself off. Try herbal teas and coffee substitutes such as Pero or Teechino.

Your best source of viable energy? Foods and juices which are alive and speak your body’s language. These include fresh lemonade, summer peaches, raw carrots or green superfoods, for example.

2. A few secrets to staying slim

With the advent of Starbucks and coffee shops at every corner, our thirst for Joe has increased, but so have our waistlines. It’s not just the caramel Frappuccinos with extra whipped cream that are to blame, but caffeine itself.

First, coffee and soda (just like sugar and processed foods) create an acidic environment in your stomach. That acidity isn’t conducive to weight loss, and leads to all sorts of gastrointestinal problems and heartburn.

Second, caffeine plays yo-yo with blood sugar levels and often leads to carb cravings. These yo-yo’s are antithetical to staying slim.

Some tips:

- Lessen the yo-yo effect and impact on your stomach by drinking caffeinated beverages with food or at the end of your meal. Don’t caffeinate on an empty stomach.

- Ending a meal with a cappuccino or a latte isn’t smart. The combination of coffee and milk is difficult to digest. Your body ends up digesting your whole meal less efficiently. Poorly digested food gets turned into balls of toxins and fat.

Instead, copy Italian women who keep milky coffee to breakfast, and finish your meal with a real or decaf espresso. Or, end on a sweet note with a square of dark chocolate or a handful of cherries (keep these stashed in your bag).

- Don’t be fooled by green tea. Green tea has anti-oxidants and can in theory be brewed to have less caffeine, but it still has the health and weight downsides of caffeinated beverages.

3. Find the flavors you enjoy.

I feel much better in my body without caffeine, and avoid it as a general practice. However, another one of my important practices is to drink what I enjoy. That’s why I have a cup of real Early Grey a few times a week. The flavors are stronger and more subtle than the decaf version. Other days, I drink rooibos tea (a red tea which is naturally caffeine free) or other herbal teas such as chamomile, mint or ginger.

When it comes to food and drink, practice making educated and enjoyable choices. To caffeinate, or not to caffeinate? The difference is important, and all in good measure when you practice happy sipping.

Live épanoui*

Elisa

* in full bloom

Technology may be bad for your love life, but it has its merits. Here are five sites that have caught my eye, or my ear, recently.

1. Birdsong Radio: If you can’t be outside among the birds, this could be the next best thing – birdsong streaming.

2. Green Kiss: To incorporate more green kisses in your day-to-day, this site offers a hip viewpoint on everything green (some English, mostly French).

3. My Little Paris: It’s Daily Candy, French style. Full of little-known addresses and original ideas for your next week-end in Paris (in English and French).

4. The French Beauty Club: This could be as addictive as Garance Doré! Created by Victoire de Taillac (sister to Marie-Hélène de Taillac the jeweler), this blog combines art de vivre and beauty (some English, mostly French).

5. Tiger Text: This is for the James Bond girl in all of us – an app which automatically erases your text message once the recipient reads it. Sometimes it’s good to be naughty…

Live épanoui*

Elisa

* in full bloom