Into the Fridge 👼🏼
Elizabeth Grace Hand on pregnancy cravings and eye health
Elizabeth Grace Hand 👼🏼
Elizabeth Grace Hand is an esthetician and founder of Ställe Studios, a treatment-focused facial spa in NYC. She lives with her husband, Jon, and their cat, Muesli in Soho. Elizabeth has what I like to call a “magic touch” — meaning everything in her life is extremely beautiful — so I’m excited to share a little bit of it with you.
What is your fridge philosophy?
I like having stuff you have to make into a meal, versus a lot of snacks.
The thing is, I love snacks — but I’ll eat them all immediately. I’ll even get up and do a little midnight snack. When I lived with roommates, I used to have a fridge locker for the peanut butter. It’s my weakness.
Your fridge is always always always stocked with ____.
Sparkling water. That’s usually the only thing that’s in there — lots of sparkling water. Gerolsteiner is my favorite, but I like to change it up. Especially when I shop at Happier Grocery since they have a ton of options.
Top condiment picks, go.
Seed + Mill Tahini. Does that count? I use that as a condiment.
Xilli Salsa Macha con Cacahuates — it’s this crunchy chili and I put it on everything too. I don’t know if it’s the healthiest but UGH it’s so good.
Ketchup
Mustard (I like Heinz for both of these two. Sorry. I try for the healthy ones but they’re not as good.)
Casa Picosa Has Me Sweatin’ hot sauce
Fine, I’ll open it up to pantry too. Let’s hear your favorite snacks / pantry staples:
Peanut butter (I love the From the Ground Up. Their Organic Hazelnut Butter is so good.)
Activist Manuka Raw Honey — I do that with peanut butter and the coconut chips. Amazing.
Cassava Flour, we use that for baking and cooking. Jon makes homemade tortillas with it!
Olive Oil — I love the Baroncini one, plus it’s very economical because it’s comes in that huge tin.
A meal that’s on heavy rotation these days:
Tacos with homemade purple potato cassava tortillas and ground beef. I’m very meat averse during this pregnancy, so for some reason the only meat I can tolerate is ground beef.
How have things changed since being pregnant?
I’m 15 weeks currently, and in the first trimester, the cravings were huge. Anything bread and cheese was all I wanted, I ate a plain bagel toasted with plain cream cheese almost everyday.
Pre-baby, I’d skip lunch and just snack on pizza crackers all day at work. And drink a lot of coffee. But now I’m really trying to be healthy — I think a lot about this baby in me and I want to eat good things for them. I’m trying to incorporate lots of veggies and grass fed meats from the butcher.
Dinner hasn’t changed much because I’d always have a healthy dinner, but I’m forcing myself to have a smoothie for breakfast and a salad for lunch. If I’m home, Jon will make me something.
Let’s go a little deeper…
What’s the mantra you keep coming back to?
Worrying is like wishing for something you don’t want to happen.
What products / practices are part of your regular mental wellness habits?
Honestly, every since I opened my business, I’ve sort of put my mental health on the back burner, which I know isn’t great.
I would go on and off meditation, and I know I need to be better about it. I do like to read self help books, if that counts. And take long baths.
I try to get a massage once a month. I see a woman named Ilaria who comes to my apartment — she doesn’t have any social or anything, you just text her to make an appointment. I also try to get a facial once a month from one of the girls at my studio.
And your physical?
I probably workout 3 times a week. Before I was pregnant, I used to do the Studio EMS once a week. They would come to the studio which made it so easy.
I still do a lot of Pilates. I love going to Chelsea (at Boa Pilates). I’ll also go to
’s studio TERA, Forma, and Natural Pilates. Stef is amazing. Soto Method too!I do a super intense workout every Sunday at CONBODY in the LES. Basically, this man developed a workout routine when he was in prison, and it completely changed his life. It’s all bodyweight and it’s so freaking hard, but I feel so good after.
We can’t not talk about beauty products for just a second. Can I hear your top 5 skincare products?
Retrouvé moisturizer (any of them, they’re all good)
What do you think is the most underrated part of wellness?
Being that I work in skincare, I’ve seen a lot of people are so obsessed with injections (like Botox and filler) and they don’t do anything for their skin health. I think it’s underrated to really take care of your skin.
If you can, do your LED mask. Get monthly facials. But all you really need for a good skincare routine is an antioxidant serum, retinol, and sunscreen. Maybe some growth factors, if you want.
And overrated?
LED lights that aren’t Celluma. They don’t do anything. You may as well lay under a Christmas tree.
Picture this: you wake up one morning and feel like shit. What’s your next move:
Hit snooze on my alarm and go back to bed. I want to be that person who just gets up and goes to Pilates anyways, but I can’t.
If I have to get up, I’ll go over and pet the cat and snuggle with her.
Give us your ride or die wellness products:
Since I’m working on my feet, I love to lay on this orange ball at the end of the day. (Jon: It’s called a trigger ball.)
I’ve recently gotten super into eye health. The Therabody SmartGoggles are so good for us since we’re looking at screens all day. It’s changed my life. It’s this heated mask and it’s so great for headaches, going to sleep, everything.
If you don’t want to go all out right away, I think the CorneaCare self-heating masks are a good entry point. I just started using them in my facials.
It’s not a product, but I swear by alternate nostril breathing for soothing anxiety. You breathe in through one nostril, hold it, and then breathe out through the other. It works instantly.
One thing you do everyday that makes you the most YOU version of yourself:
Ok, this isn’t every day, but I feel like the best version of myself when I walk on the West Side Highway.
Whose taste inspires you?!
My interior designer Madeleine Asplund Klingstedt.
For fashion, Elsa Hosk. I love her style.
Not lying, I had the time of my life hanging out with Elizabeth (and Jon! and Muesli!) to work on this, so I hope you enjoyed it half as much as I did. You can find more of Elizabeth on Instagram and book an appointment with her or one of her team members at Ställe Studios. Her fridge favorites + more are here.
Feel free to leave a comment or respond to this email with questions you want asked, people you want featured, or anything else that’s on your mind. Don’t be shy, I love hearing from you.
ooo love these recs. I swear by my trigger ball and bring it everywhere I travel! it’s worth every inch of the carry-on space. 20 min of rolling every night before bed is truly transformative, especially when I’m off my normal pilates/barre/yoga routine
looove this series! keep em comin :)