Photo Credit: Courtesy of Montage Laguna Beach
Celebrity health coach, nutritionist, and best-selling author Kelly LeVeque partnered up with Montage hotels, including the Montage Laguna Beach in her hometown of Orange County, to create seasonal menus filled with healthy options for travelers to enjoy no matter where they are in the world.
LeVeque counts stars like Jessica Alba, Jennifer Garner, Sophia Bush, Molly Sims, Chelsea Handler, and Emmy Rossum as clients so we couldn’t resist jumping at the opportunity to chat with her about her for top tips for eating healthy while traveling, her go-to healthy eateries in LA, and more.
Tell us about your partnership with the Montage hotels.
It’s really just about offering the Montage guests an anti-inflammatory and blood sugar balancing menu. It’s really fun and it changes seasonally and every menu is based on what produce is available seasonally which is really cool. They let me really just dictate what I wanted on the menu and pick the ingredients. It was really hands on and really high quality. I’m pretty excited about it. We’re in spring right now and they’re serving up my favorite smoothie, which is the Spa Smoothie. It’s just like all greens and super clean— lemon, mint, cucumber, spinach, avocado.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Montage Laguna Beach
What are your tips for eating healthy while traveling?
I always bring a refillable water bottle. A lot of airports and obviously all the hotels have filtered water and they are always willing to fill up your water bottle. I always say you have to bring snacks when you travel just because there’s something about travel that can be stressful. You’re not on your routine and being prepared is better than not being prepared. So I bring a couple of bars like the Bulletproof bars and the Collagen Bulletproof bars. I like the Primal Kitchen bars, which are sort of a nutty bar with collagen. I will also have eggs, avocado, and spinach sent to my room in the morning or I’ll have that at the restaurant because that tends to give me a good base for the day and help me stay balanced. People who eat enough protein throughout the day eat less overall and maintain their weight better than people who don’t. So I always like to start my day with some protein whether that’s like three scrambled eggs or an omelette with some veggies.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Montage Laguna Beach
For the times you have no other option but to order from the room service menu, what do you suggest ordering?
When people are trying to be healthy, they always look to the salads and I always say you should look at the mains because they tend to be the cleanest. Whether it’s a roasted chicken with some broccoli on the side or a piece of fish with some type of vegetable on the side. A lot of the times, it’s made in a really clean, simple grilled way and you’re getting enough protein to stay full. It makes you calm and you don’t feel bloated versus a lot of the salads are trying to be really fancy so they’ll have sugar in the dressing and the vinagrete and they’ll add fruit or they’ll add candied walnuts. There’s actually a lot more sugar hidden in salads then what you expect.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Montage Laguna Beach
What are your favorite healthy dishes for spring?
Currently I’m making a lot of fish and slaw. Something that I can easily either cook on the grill or in my oven. Then something fresh and bright like a salad with grapefruit and avocado or a slaw with purple cabbage.
What LA spots do you recommend for grabbing a quick and healthy meal?
I’m the queen of the grocery store. I think that there are hot bars and cold bars at the majority of grocery stores here in LA— whether I go to Erewhon on Wilshire or Whole Foods on San Vicente or Farm Shop over at the Brentwood Country Mart. Those are always my first stops because I can walk into the deli and say I want a protein meal and depending on where you go it’s really high quality. There are also some health food little shops like Earthbar and Beaming and Kreation Cafe that have the prepared little meals in plastic little to-go containers.
SPA SMOOTHIE
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Montage Laguna Beach
Ingredients
1 serving vanilla collagen fuel protein powder
¼ large or ½ small avocado
1 tablespoon chia seeds
Juice of ½ lemon
½ cup Mint leaves
Small handful spinach
1 small Persian cucumber
1 ½ cups unsweetened almond milk
Garnish: slice of lemon and mint sprig
Procedure
Combine all ingredient in a blender with ice and blend until smooth. Garnish with lemon and mint.
