Cal Naturale Svelte Yoga Class w/ Kristin McGee

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of taking a yoga class with Kristin McGee at Reflections Yoga near Times Square. The event was sponsored and hosted by Cal Naturale Svelte, a USDA Certified Organic protein shake, and also promoted Kristin's new DVD, S3: Strong, Sexy + Svelte (which I just bought for my mom's birthday, so I'll post later on with her review of it!).

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The Class
Kristin was SO sweet, but that didn't stop her from putting together a totally kick-ass yoga class. A lot of strength training work was melded into the yoga flow, so we did things like "yoga burpees" where you went through the following flow: (1) chair pose, (2) jump out to plank, (3) lower to chaturanga but then rise up again, in a sort of yoga push-up, (4) hop back to the front of the mat, (5) lower to chair, then (6) stand up -- before doing it several times over again! We also completed lunges while in Warrior 1 and flowed through a long series of balancing poses on one leg.

yes, I was a dork and asked for a picture with her

I loved the class and Kristin's energy. She was so positive and down to earth, and she had a great sense of humor, telling us that we had 10 more yoga burpees to do, then laughing, "I'm totally kidding" (thank goodness). Of course, I can't lie -- I'm totally biased about this because it turns out, Kristin is from Idaho originally. As a born-and-raised Washington State girl, I have a big soft spot for people from the Pacific Northwest. Dare I say Kristin gets some of her sunshine-y personality from growing up under clouds? Trust me, you have to manufacture your own sun when you grow up in Washington, Oregon, or Idaho...

Kristin is a yoga and Pilates instructor who has produced many different DVDs and worked with celebrities like Tina Fey (squee!), Steve Martin, and Bethenny Frankel (she leads Bethenny's DVD, Body By Bethenny, alongside Bethenny). She's also a HEALTH Magazine Fitness Editor.

the class set-up -- we got to keep the mats, which say "hello beautiful."

Cal Naturale Svelte

gotta love these names!
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Cal Naturale Svelte is a protein shake that is USDA Certified Organic, vegan, and really, really tasty! I don't like most pre-made protein shakes, but I really like this one. I hadn't bought it at Whole Foods because the only size there was the 15.9oz shake, which is 260 calories. It just seemed like it would be a meal replacement, so I wasn't sure where I'd fit it into a meal.

However, now the shake comes in an 11oz size, and it's perfect! The 11oz container is 180 calories and has 5g of fiber, 11g of protein, and 6g of sugar (which, considering how tasty it is, is pretty low). It's a soy-based, stevia-sweetened product.

samples and information were laid out when we arrived

The chocolate flavor is decent, but the stand-outs are the french vanilla and the cappuccino (the chai flavor wasn't available to sample and we didn't get any to take home with us, sadly, but it's probably a good thing since I'm currently obsessed with chai and would have chugged them all in an afternoon). I think there's a bit of an aftertaste to the chocolate, which is why I don't love it like the french vanilla and cappuccino.

This afternoon, I mixed the french vanilla with 1/2 cup pumpkin pie mix and 4 ice cubes for a delicious fall-themed pre-run protein boost. It was delicious!

I think these shakes would be great as quick snacks on the go (grab a cup of ice because they're best chilled) or as bases for making your own shakes.


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I was not compensated for this post. I received an invitation to the event (where I received some samples, a Cal Naturale Svelte t-shirt and yoga mat, and a free class) after being one of the first seven people to comment on Kristin's facebook post announcing the event.