Easy Swaps for “Cleaner” Cocktails with Jen Smiley

Expert food coach, Jen Smiley is the founder of Wake Up & Read the Labels, a multi-platform brand that encompasses online courses, a new membership community called The Wake Up Jumpstart, and an engaging informative social media presence.

She is endlessly passionate about helping others eat clean and having nutritionally sound diets. Her advice? Swap out the nutritionally unsound for clean options. For her, she seeks real ingredients and helps others become total “label detectives.”

 

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We asked Smiley how bartenders can swap out ingredients to created “cleaner” cocktails. Here’s what she had to say.

 

Tell us first, what are “clean cocktails.” 

Cocktails often use a pre-made mixer, made with such a long list of ingredients. In fact, I ordered a Margarita recently from a high-end restaurant in Aspen, and I happened to see the bottle of Margarita mix the bartender pulled out. Me, a food coach, stopped her in her tracks and said, “hey, can I check out that bottle before you use it?” She, busy managing multiple orders said, “sure, here ya go!” I took a picture and shared it with my followers. Beside the artificial sugars, corn syrups which we know are bad, there were artificial dyes, flavors, and tons of chemicals. Words we cannot even pronounce or pick out in nature. That goes from a “clean drink” to a dirty one quickly. I requested a clean drink instead: 100% agave tequila, simple syrup (asked if she had honey and confirmed she did) so she mixed the honey and warm water to create a simple syrup then some fresh lime juice. That’s it.

 

I’ve done self-studied research on alcohols and found out which ones are naturally gluten-free, do not contain grains (as those lead to inflammation, bloat, puffy eyes, and fingers). Recommendations of potato or grape based vodkas help with inflammation and headaches the next day.  Also, mixers made from real ingredients (lemon, lime, cherry, fresh squeezed juices, fresh fruit, and herbs)

 

Looking at traditional recipes (Margaritas, Mimosa, Martini, gin cocktails) we reach for those made naturally gluten free, pair it with a mixer that comes from real ingredients and BOOM! You have a much better tasting drink that is both easier to digest and doesn’t cause that next-morning headache or joint pain.

 

Can you give bartenders tips to creating clean, healthy, and eco-friendly cocktails? 

1.  Use raw honey and water for simple syrup in every drink that calls for it.

2.  Champagne should always come from a NO-sugar added, low sulfite source.

3.  Read the labels of the mixers you are using and do the research or reach out to Wake
Up! to get the cleaner brands.

4.  Use coconut cream as a swap for any drink that calls for dairy or heavy cream because
“you are what your cow eats,” and most conventional dairy comes from sick cows fed grain diets.

5. Use a bamboo straw :)

 

Why is “clean” drinking important?

It’s important because it’s how drinks were meant to be. Real, no additives, not made with sources that drive up inflammation. Also, it’s important for people to know they can have a good time, relax, and unwind all while still feeling good the next day.

 

How can bartenders encourage “clean” drinking?

They can mark which drinks are naturally gluten free, the source (grain, corn, grape potato, berry) of which the alcohol comes from, and list cocktail ingredients, including mixers.

So, instead of saying “Margarita,” tequila, simple syrup, and lime juice—It should say: 100% agave tequila, simple syrup made with raw honey and water, and fresh squeezed lime juice.

 

Talk to us about reading labels

Labels are deceiving. We are focused on nutrition facts and are missing what matters … the ingredients. When reading the ingredients ask yourself: do you recognize them in nature?  If so, win. If you do not recognize an ingredient, neither does your body.

 

Talk to us a bit about your background

I am born and raised in NOLA and a drink goes with everything here. Growing up in New Orleans, you start drinking young—the legal age of course but you hit the ground running at 21. I was drinking famous hand grenades, Margaritas from bars and Hurricanes but then around age 25, newly married, I noticed my fingers swelling in the morning and belly bloating! What’s happening? I am in my twenties.

I was then woke up to the fact that everything we are eating and consuming is filled with refined grains, inflammatory oils, preservatives and refined sugars—all of which are causing inflammation. Set on a mission to find every clean label—food swaps made with real ingredients our bodies could recognize and after finding clean crackers, pizza, condiments, etc… my inflammation peeled away. I did not have any more heartburn, reflux.  It was amazing!  I started helping others grocery shop and make simple swaps – their bodies, energy, skin, and sleep changed, and they told their friends!!  Results were rolling in, so I developed group coaching then an online course, Clean Eating Academy and now a membership program, Jumpstart to help everyone find clean foods made with real ingredients and learn the labels.