FITNESS Intern

Getting Younger Women Involved: How to Walk for Breast Cancer Research

May 10, 2013 at 9:24 am
By FITNESS Intern

Written by Carrie Stevens, editorial intern

Sadly, chances are most of us know someone who’s been affected by breast cancer. Many of us know about the Susan G. Komen 3-Day walk program to help raise funds in the fight against the deadly disease. But a new campaign has come to town for the younger women looking to get involved—Young Women Walking (YW2)—and we’re ready to don our hottest pink hues in support.

Designed for women between the ages of 16 and 23, YW2 lets participants experience one day of the Komen 3-Day walk. While the 3-Day walk has women cover 60 miles in three days and raise $2,300, the YW2 contingent will clock 20 miles and raise $750.  Sounds like a great way to dip your toes into the water, right?

Here’s what we really love:  While spending the day alongside their elders, the YW2 girls learn breast cancer facts and discuss action steps necessary to reduce their own risk.  Forget the clichés: knowledge is power.

Oh, and don’t forget about the after party!  After completing a day on their feet, walkers celebrate with a pink (of course!) party and enjoy well-earned foot massages, inspirational speakers and a dance party.

Interested? Visit their website for more information, or to find an event near you.

Now you tell us: What’s the farthest you’ve walked in one day?

---

Plug Into an Audiobook to Revamp Your Workouts

May 9, 2013 at 11:55 am
By FITNESS Intern

Written by Carrie Stevens, editorial intern

Looking to re-energize your sweat sessions this spring? Instead of automatically blasting our favorite tunes, we’re listening to—wait for it—audiobooks. Macmillan Audio launched its “Listen While You Work Out” campaign, aimed to help people get in shape while listening to audiobooks. We plugged into Barbara Taylor Bradford’s Secrets From The Past, and were pretty impressed with how engaged in the story we became while still busting out a quality workout.

Here’s the rundown: lead character Serena Stone is a 30-year-old American photojournalist who’s covered wars in the Middle East. After her famous photojournalist father dies unexpectedly, Stone starts working on his biography. At the same time, a former flame returns after serving on the front lines overseas as a photojournalist, and he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While helping with his recovery, Stone stumbles upon a secret that sparks a series of events that can change everything she thought she knew about her own family.

Thanks to great narration, compelling characters and intriguing plot lines, Secrets From The Past made our workouts pass in a flash. Try it for yourself—you may sweat a bit longer just to find out what happens! In fact, one of our Fit Bloggers We Love, Meghann Anderson of Meals and Miles, is a big fan of playing books on the run. “You can only listen to the same song over and over again before you start to hate your iPod,” she says. “Lately I’ve been seriously obsessed with audiobooks; I just finished Stephanie Meyers’ The Host. It’s easy to get lost in a good story and the miles fly by.”

For a wide variety of audiobooks, check out the Macmillan Audio website, or Audible.com. There are more than 100,000 downloadable books to choose from, and Audible allows you to switch between listening and reading without losing your spot. Decide you don’t like your first pick? No sweat—swap it for another at no extra cost. Happy reading!

Now you tell us: If you could have any book on audio, what would it be?

---

How Boxer Mikaela Mayer Knocks Out Cravings And Her Sexy Abs Secret!

May 8, 2013 at 12:32 pm
By FITNESS Intern

 

Written by Carrie Stevens, editorial intern

Care to step into the ring with 22-year-old amateur boxer Mikaela Mayer? Chances are this former model will knock you out—figuratively and literally. In 2012, she secured the title of U.S. National Champion and brought home bronze and gold medals from the World Championships and Continental Games, respectively. The Los Angeles native was an alternate in the London Games (the first year women could compete), and has her sights set on gold in Rio. We talked training and being bikini-body ready for summer (have you seen her abs?), plus her genius secret for keeping that sweet tooth in check.

How did you discover boxing?
I signed up for Muay Thai at a gym near my house, and was practicing to keep myself busy. A few months in, I suffered a slight back injury that prevented me from kicking, so my trainer made me take boxing fights to develop my hands. Once I tried it, fell in love and never went back! I remember telling myself only two or three months in that I was going to be the best female fighter in the world.

Clearly that’s working out! How often do you train?

When I’m in camp for a tournament, it’s six days a week, two to three times a day for six weeks. It’s nothing but eat, sleep, train, repeat! The workouts will vary week to week, but it’s a mix of interval running, swimming, strength training, boxing and sparring three to four times a week.

Well, that must keep you bikini-body ready year-round, right?

Even when I don’t have major competitions coming up, working out is still a part of my everyday routine. Partly because I enjoy getting stronger and more skillful and partly because getting back in shape after you have let yourself go is too hard! So I always try to maintain. Staying in tip-top shape requires working out consistently. You can’t make excuses for skipping the gym. It needs to be a priority.

Read more

---

Slimmed-Down Cinco de Mayo Cocktails (Including that Margarita!)

May 3, 2013 at 1:48 pm
By FITNESS Intern

Written by Carrie Stevens, editorial intern

Plan to celebrate Cinco de Mayo this Sunday?  Even though its signature cocktail is a potential diet disaster—one frozen margarita can contain tons of sugar and sodium, not to mention upwards of 500 calories—you can indulge without the bulge.  We enlisted Tequila Herradura to slim down some of our favorite drinks that pack the same taste for 200 calories or less.  Bottoms up!

Pineapple Serrano Margarita

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz. Herradura Silver
• 3 cubic inches pineapple, diced
• 3/4 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup
• 3 slices Serrano chili with seeds

Crush pineapple and chili slices in the base of a shaker with a muddler. Add cubed ice and remaining ingredients; shake hard. Strain over ice. Garnish with a chili and star Anise pod (optional).

Calories: 169

Apricot Cooler Margarita

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz. Herradura Silver Tequila
• Large bar spoon of apricot jam
• 3/4 oz. lime juice
• 1/4 oz. simple syrup
• 1 kumquat

Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and pour into an ice-filled old-fashioned glass.  Garnish with kumquats, apricots and a mint sprig (optional).

Calories: 156

Read more

---

Slim Down Your Cinco De Mayo Spread

May 2, 2013 at 3:49 pm
By FITNESS Intern

Written by Carrie Stevens, editorial intern

Fruity margaritas, creamy guacamole, crunchy chips…there’s a reason Cinco de Mayo is such a popular holiday!  We love Mexican fare (and plan to fully fiesta), but the high calorie content can be a real party pooper.  To keep our waistlines and tastebuds happy, we consulted Rick Bayless’ new cookbook, Frontera, full of unique spins on classic Mexican recipes.  Here are just a few delicious ways to slim down and spice up that classic chip dip.

Grilled Corn and Poblano Guacamole

Makes about 4 cups

Ingredients

• 1/2 medium white onion, sliced crosswise into 3 rounds
• A little olive or vegetable oil
• Salt
• 1 small ear of fresh corn, husked and cleaned of silk
• 1 fresh poblano chile
• 3 ripe medium-large avocadoes
• 1/4 cup crumbled Mexican fresh cheese (queso fresco) or other fresh cheese, like salted pressed farmer’s cheese or goat cheese
• 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
• 1 to 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh epazote (or cilantro)

Directions

Heat a gas grill to medium. Lightly brush both sides of the onion slices with oil, sprinkle with salt and lay on the grill. Oil the corn and lay it beside the onion. Grill corn and onion 4 to 5 minutes per side,. Roast the poblano for 5 to 7 minutes, turning evenly until blackened.

Remove onion and chop into 1/4-inch pieces. Cut kernels off the cob..  Rub the blackened skin off the poblano, pull out and discard the stem and seed pod. Tear open and briefly rinse to remove stray seedss. Cut into 1/4-inch pieces.

Halve avocadoes and remove pit, scooping the flesh from one avocado into a large bowl. Scoop flesh from the other two onto a cutting board and cut into 1/2-inch pieces. Mash the avocado that’s in the bowl.

Pour diced avocado into the mashed avocado bowl, along with the grilled onion, corn, poblano and 2 tablespoons of fresh cheese. Sprinkle with lime juice and epazote, then gently stir mixture.  Taste and season with salt. Cover with plastic wrap pressed directly on the surface of the guacamole and refrigerate.

When ready to serve, sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Read more

---

Indulge Guilt-Free Using Yonanas At-Home “Ice Cream” Machine

April 30, 2013 at 1:10 pm
By FITNESS Intern

Written by Carrie Stevens, editorial intern

Have you scooped out your first dish of ice cream this season? If warmer temps have you jonesing for this cold and creamy dessert—hey, we’re right there with you—then check out Yonanas, an appliance that turns frozen bananas into better-for-you “ice cream.”

Here’s how it works: Pop a frozen banana into the chute, along with any mixings for your desired flavor (think strawberries, mint or dark chocolate), use the plunger to push down and let it do its thing. High-torque blades cream the fruit, so it’s ready in less than a minute and tastes like the real deal. But instead of the fat and calories often laden with the standard frozen treat, you get nutritional boosts from the fruit’s natural flavor. Talk about a tasty trade up.

Oh, and don’t forget about sprinkles—or better yet, Frinkles: freeze-dried fruit, like strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, that add a bite of crunch. These all-natural toppings come in four flavors, so you can indulge your inner child wishes without worrying about your waistline.

For a bright pop of red to your kitchen appliances, opt for the Elite version ($119.99, available this summer), which boasts a quieter motor and the ability to cream every type of fruit, regardless of how frozen. For a lower price tag, you can get the original Yonanas ($49.99)—just make sure you let the fruit thaw for a few minutes before tossing in the machine.

Now you tell us: Would you make at-home ice cream?

---

Celeb Chef Rocco Dispirito Talks Spring Cleaning In the Kitchen, Plus One Party-Friendly Recipe!

April 17, 2013 at 10:09 am
By FITNESS Intern

Written by Carrie Stevens, editorial intern

Listen up, ladies: Triscuit’s new brown rice crackers aren’t your mother’s snack. The brand has developed delicious spins on its classic namesake snack—like sweet potato and sea salt and black pepper—that get two nutritional thumbs up from celeb chef and FITNESS advisory board member Rocco DiSpirito. The bestselling author developed three healthy, easy-to-make recipes centered around the cracker, and after sampling his culinary creations in Times Square (the turkey chili recipe below is OMG good), we chatted with DiSpirito about his cooking inspiration, eating for the season and saving calories with simple ingredient swaps.

Your Triscuit-inspired recipes were delicious! Why did you partner with the brand?

When an established food company like Triscuit/Nabisco decides they’re going to put a lot of money, time and effort to make something better for you, I’m a big fan of that decision. It’s brave because most food companies are like, “Why change it? It’s perfect, we sell a ton of food, we make a gazillion dollars, we have big homes in the Hamptons, we don’t need to do anything.” But this shows recognition that America needs healthier choices, including their snacks, and I’m proud to associate with a company that feels that way because that’s what I do every day: I try to convince Americans to make healthier choices.

What’s your main goal when developing a recipe?

My priority is to make a recipe that people can reproduce at home very easily. So I work backward from what I find in grocery stores. Every time I start a book, I go to the grocery stores and research what’s available, and that changes all the time. From the time I wrote Now Eat This to now, a lot has changed. There are a lot more healthy ingredients available, so that makes my job a little easier and more exciting. The point is to get people to try it and understand that when they cook, they’re in control, and cooking is better than buying from a restaurant. So those are my priorities: to make it super easy for people to make it at home.

How do you “healthify” a recipe?

You want to swap fats, dairy and sugar: those are the ones that are the most calorically dense.  One ounce of any of those has more calories than one ounce of vegetables, for example. For dairy, fat-free Greek yogurt is a great swap. For fats, using something like xanthan gum. So let’s say you want to make an ice-cream smoothie, but you don’t want to use any ice cream. Skim milk and xanthan gum is a great way to create that texture that you’d get from cream. And for sugar, my favorite new sweetener is monk fruit extract. It’s an amazing calorie- and sugar-free sweetener.

What are some of your go-to spring produce?

It’s ridiculous what happens in spring! I start with asparagus, which is fresh in early spring. White asparagus is one of my favorite things on the planet. I plant a garden, so I grow several kinds of tomatoes, zucchini, squash, watermelon, cucumbers—I look forward to all of those things. If you’re one of those people who doesn’t like cucumbers, you’ve never had a home-grown one. Sometimes I pick off the leaves of squash blossoms and fry the blossoms, or make a squash blossom omelet. There are so many wonderful fruits and vegetables that are in season.

Click for the mouthwatering chili recipe we sampled, then recreate at home – it’s perfect for a party!

Read more

---

Get Lean While You Clean

April 16, 2013 at 10:26 am
By FITNESS Intern

Written by Carrie Stevens, editorial intern

Have you started spring cleaning yet? Though it seems like a daunting project, Carolyn Barnes, author of The cLean Momma Workout, says these types of household chores—think dusting, vacuuming and loading the dishwasher—offer opportunities to “taskercise,” or get in shape while cleaning up. Multi-tasking at its finest? We’re in!

Combining isometric movements, functional training and bootcamp-like exercises, Barnes’ program lets pressed-for-time ladies (and men!) firm up—no equipment necessary. We chatted with this former professional dancer and mother of two about her program, the ins and outs of taskercising, and her favorite multitasking moves.

How did you conceptualize taskercise?

I originally came up with this after my now-six-year-old was born. When he was about four months old he spit up on the floor after I nursed him— I cleaned it up by using my legs to maneuver a cloth and said, “Oh! I’m onto something here.” I started to do more moves—let me do this while I change my baby’s diaper, do this while I vacuum. Since I’m multitasking, I’m not being pulled away from my kids to go to the gym.

Exercising while doing chores is a double-whammy, though. What are your tips for success?

The rule of thumb is it takes 30 days to make or break a habit, so practice it consciously. You want to make a choice to commit for 30 days, which is hard for a lot of people because they want immediate results. For a psychological jumpstart, do 10 pushups at your kitchen sink every time you’re in there; you’ll see definition within a week. That’s going to propel you to continue.

You even have moves to do outside of the home, like the gas squat and grab and stretch. Have you ever been caught doing a move in public?

Yes, and I make them do it with me!

No way!

Oh, I’ve ambushed people and have been like, “let’s do some calf raises!” You can be free about it or do it discreetly, if that’s more your style. If you’re in the checkout line, for example, take your grocery cart and push it out and pull it back in, keeping your core tight the entire time. That’s an ab workout during idle time. I do it all the time!

Aside from “taskercising,” what other types of workouts do you enjoy?

I go for runs and hikes in the beautiful rural country. I don’t do it for weight loss, but rather peace of mind.

What does fitness mean to you?

Being healthy. My thighs are always going to be my thighs. I used to be so self-conscious about them, and my butt, but I’m over it. I wear my cellulite with a badge of honor because it’s still there, but I’m healthy.

Now you tell us: Do you/would you workout while cleaning?

---

Celebrate National Grilled Cheese Day with a Healthy Comfort Food Twist

April 11, 2013 at 5:30 pm
By FITNESS Intern

Written by Carrie Stevens, editorial intern

These national food holidays are seriously some of the best inventions ever. Nothing hits the spot quite like a warm and crispy grilled cheese sandwich, and if you’re looking to add some flavor and a boost of well, adulthood, to your comfort food game—without a ton of extra calories—then you’re covered here. We recently sampled gourmet sandwiches crafted by Jason Sobocinski of The Big Cheese with wine pairings from St. Francis Winery and Vineyard, and two sent our taste buds into a frenzy. Grill one up for a classy, no-fuss weekend meal that your guy will love. Because everyone needs to channel their inner kid a little bit, right?

Fresh Chevre, Caramelized Pear, Pickled Ginger and Honey on Sourdough

Paired with Sonoma County Chardonnay

Serves: 2

What we think: Don’t knock it til’ you try it! The crisp chardonnay intensifies the cheese and pear flavors while the ginger and honey are great complements.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1 large ripe pear, skin removed, cored and sliced

• 1 tablespoon pickled ginger, drained and finely chopped

• 2 teaspoons honey

• 3 oz fresh goat’s milk chevre

• 4 slices sourdough bread

Directions

1. Coat a small sauté pan with olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add pear slices, pickled ginger and honey and cook, stirring occasionally, until pear begins to color and soften, 5 to 7 minutes. Pour mixture into a bowl and set aside. Let cool slightly.

2. Meanwhile, spread fresh goat’s milk chevre onto sourdough bread. Add 4 to 6 slices of cooked pears to 2 bread slices. Top with remaining bread.

3. Spread butter onto outsides of each sandwich. Coat a large sauté pan with olive oil and heat over medium heat. Toast sandwiches until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip sandwiches and repeat. Let cool slightly before serving.

Calories per serving: 488

Read more

---

Yoga on the Go: Practice Anytime, Anywhere with Yogify

March 27, 2013 at 10:00 am
By FITNESS Intern

Written by Carrie Stevens, editorial intern

Wouldn’t you love to have access to a studio-quality yoga class whenever the desire to practice strikes? A calming atmosphere and knowledgeable instructor make for a restorative flow that keeps yogis coming back for more. So if you can’t get your om fix live, we recommend checking out Yogify, a new app from EA Sports.

Studio yoga flows promise different sequences every time you unroll your mat, and Yogify offers more than 30 hours of practice across 50 progressively challenging classes. The app can be downloaded for free and contains five complimentary classes. Think of it this way: once you master sun salutations, then you can try warrior poses. And thanks to audio cues and photos, you’ll have no trouble applying the basics to a beginner flow class. For intermediate and advanced yogis, there are three levels of classes available, so there’s no reason why you can’t up the ante when you feel mat time might be getting mundane.

After you’ve used the five complimentary classes, the app offers pay-to-download programs that focus on building strength, balance and flexibility.  Like its free classes, these workouts span three levels and help you perfect certain poses and engage specific body parts. We bet workouts like “Superman Abs, “Teddy Bear to Tripod,” and “Inversion Excursion” will fire up your muscles and keep your practice fresh.

For more information, visit the Yogify website.

Right now, Yogify is only available on iOS. For you Android lovers, we recommend checking out yogatoday.com – the website posts one free yoga class per week, and you can get an unlimited access for $9.99/month. Keep calm and om on, friends.

Now you tell us: What’s your favorite fitness app?

---