The 4-Minute Miracle Workout (That Really Works)

Tight on time?

Don't give up on your workout today. If you have a mere four minutes—that's just 240 total seconds—to spare (and who doesn't), then you do have time to squeeze in a super effective workout that provides major health, fitness and weight-loss benefits.

What is this 4-minute miracle workout? Read More ›

You Asked: How Should I Train for a Mud Run?

Last summer, I surprised a few family members by asking if they wanted to form a team to do a mud run.  I’m not known as adventurous—or as someone who likes to get dirty—but mud races were becoming so popular among runners (and non-runners alike) that I was ready to step out of my comfort zone and try something new.  To my delight, the race was lots of fun and definitely something I’d do again in the future. 
  
Mud runs have exploded in popularity over the past few years.  One example is the Warrior Dash, which started as one run in 2009 with 2,000 participants.  In 2012, 65 Warrior Dash events were held across the world, involving more than 1 million participants.  Today, you have no shortage of mud-related "obstacle" races from which to choose. Each race is different, so it’s important to know exactly what you’re getting into before you sign up.  Read More ›

13 Healthy Foods to Try in 2013

Did you resolve to cook more in 2013? Want to branch out from your favorite healthy foods? Here are my top 13 healthy foods you have to try in 2013! Some of these foods will be completelyt new to you; others will simply be new uses for old favorites.

Bison

Traditionally grazing animals on grass brings on the flavor but leaves the fat back on the farm.  Swap out ground bison for any recipe calling for ground turkey or beef.  According to the USDA,  a comparison of bison to 90% lean ground beef awards the medal to bison.  A 3.5 ounce serving of bison contains 146 calories and 7 grams of fat, while the beef arrives at the table with 176 calories and 10 grams of fat.
Bison Bolognese
Greek Turkey Burger
Ground Beef-Potato Casserole
Keema (Ground Beef Casserole)
Salsa Turkey Burgers
Turkey Chili with Corn and Black Beans
Vegetable Beef Soup
Read More ›

5 Reasons I've Never Tried CrossFit

During the last few years, ultra-intense workouts have been gaining popularity—and not just among athletes or hardcore exercisers who are gluttons for self-punishment. Even the relatively unfit and overweight are jumping at the chance to push their bodies to their limits. Why? Some consider it fun. Others feel that is the best (or only) way to really get in shape. Whatever the reason, intense workout programs are attracting a wide variety of participants who have a variety of different goals (whether strength, speed, power, health, muscle tone, weight loss, or looking better naked).
 
By now you've probably heard of CrossFit (the "sport of fitness") or know someone who has tried it. I stumbled upon CrossFit videos on YouTube a few years ago and was immediately intrigued. I would spend hours a night watching people work out competitively and was in awe of their strength and capabilities—not to mention their physiques! I've learned a good deal about CrossFit since then, through my husband and sister-in-law (both of whom are certified CrossFit trainers), friends who do the workouts, and my own research and reading.

As a certified fitness professional with a traditional background (and without any firsthand experience in an actual CrossFit gym), I can certainly tell you that CrossFit is unlike most other workouts and workout programs out there. It strives to be the total fitness package—to help people achieve optimal health and fitness across all measures of strength, agility, speed, power and endurance. (Read CrossFit's full description here.) It combines Olympic powerlifting + gymnastics + plyometrics + speed work + weights + time + competition in a way that continuously challenges one's body in new ways. And although it has a reputation of being intense (which it certainly is, no doubt about it), proponents also claim that it's completely "scalable" to every individual's fitness level.  
 
Sounds great, right? Well, could it be too good to be true? Read More ›

Is Hooping Really a Workout? We Tried It to Find Out!

More and more people these days are turning to workouts that feel less like work and more like play. Dodge ball leagues for adults are increasingly popular, and out-of-the-box exercise classes like aerial yoga, circus arts and trampolining (rebounding) are almost as commonplace as kickboxing.  Another fun pursuit on the list of fun fitness trends is hooping—as in hula hooping—which you probably used to do as a kid.

SparkPeople alone has almost 600 hoopers in one SparkTeam, and the website hooping.org has nearly 8,000 registered members. Celebrities rave about the benefits of hooping workouts, and actress Marissa Tomei even released a series of hooping workout DVDs through Gaiam in 2010.

With the popularity of hooping on the rise, we've received a lot of questions about how many calories it burns and whether hooping can actually take the place of more traditional workouts. There has been very little scientific research on this subject, but I always find that it's best to answer these questions not just with the research available, but also personal experience.

So I gathered several of my SparkPeople co-workers to investigate hooping firsthand. We took a class at Shine Yoga Center in Cincinnati, led by hooping instructor Leslie Kreines, and were joined by SparkPeople's most famous hooper, member Shelli (MOSTMOM1), who regularly blogs about her hooping adventures.

What did we discover? Read More ›

Why I Hoop (Hula, That Is)

Normally, I’m not athletically-inclined. I took marching band to get out of gym. For me, to like something that resembles a sport is nothing short of a Christmas Miracle. Hooping is my sport and I'm not joking when I say I love it. Maybe it’s more an art form than a sport. Not that I'm graceful at it, but it's expressive and joyful. As hippy or cheesy as that sounds, it's true. I chug along on my elliptical, do strength training and lots of other things. And that’s all good. But hooping brings me joy; it makes me laugh. Belly laugh. While exercising. That’s new territory for me.
Read More ›

Poll: Do You Still Use Fitness DVDs?

In this era of on-demand entertainment, where everything (our phones, our TVs and our laptops) is connected to the Internet to stream whatever we want to watch right when we want to watch it, what does it mean for the humble little fitness DVD?
 
The first exercise videos were introduced on VHS in the '80s, and they revolutionized fitness. Home workout videos made exercising in your living room a regular thing—cheap, accessible and private, compared to paying to take classes at a gym. I've never known a world without fitness videos (I'll be 30 this year). But could fitness DVDs soon be a thing of the past? Read More ›

Free Pass to a Fabulous Fitness Event in New York City

Tomorrow I'll land in one of my favorite cities: New York. I'm be there to attend the ECA/OBOW Fitness Convention, which is one of the most talked about health and fitness events for fitness pros in the world! As a conference attendee, I'll be taking fun workouts and workshops to help me get all the details on the newest workout trends so that I can share them with you guys (and answer your burning questions) and become a better trainer in my future videos and DVDs. WooHoo!
 
Thursday through Sunday, I'll expand my fitness knowledge and skills by attending a kettlebell class from my favorite trainer Paul Katami, a Pilates workshop with world renowned Pilates expert and author Alycea Ungaro,  and even a "Groove" style workout with Misty Tripoli (whose Body Groove workouts I recently raved about). In addition, I'll attend lectures to learn more about the latest research in back health, exercise and weight loss, and body-weight training among other topics.
 
Even if you're not a fitness professional, you can get still join in for some of the fitness fun if you'll be near the Marriott Marquis hotel on Broadway in New York City between March 9 and 11!  Here's how. Read More ›

Cool Infographic: How Kids Consume Food Marketing

As some of you may remember, Coach Tanya recently blogged about how First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined celebrity chef Rachael Ray and announced last month that there will be changes to the school lunch program. To help support these new nutritional standards in schools, Teach.com has created and shared the following infographic with statistics that share lifestyle, consumption, and media activity relating to children, which contribute to obesity in childhood (and for some, into adulthood).


Read More ›

Do Rising Food Costs Change Your Buying Decisions?

I am a creature of habit.  If you took a look in my grocery cart each week, you’d see many of the same foods- bread, produce, milk, cheese, etc.  I stick with the same foods and the same brands for a few reasons.  One is that I’m slightly lazy, and don’t like to take the time to comparison shop for the best deals.  My goal is to get through the store as quickly as possible (especially when my kids are with me), so once I find a brand I like, I stick with it.  Another reason is that once I find something my kids like (our sandwich bread, for instance), I don’t usually deviate from it for fear that I’ll hear: “This is different.  I don’t want to eat it.”  Read More ›

You Asked: What's the Best Diet/Fitness Program for Weight Loss?

There are thousands of diet plans available these days, and there are just as many different workout programs. The trendy diets and workout plans of the past couple of years (think Paleo, Dukan, the 17-Day Diet, hCG, PINK, P90X, Insanity and more) will rise, peak and fall just like the popular diet and workout plans of the past. There will always be a new, trendy diet or workout plan. As different as they all may be, they all have one thing in common: They promise to be "the program" to help you take off the weight. But can they all be telling the truth?
 
As a health and fitness professional, the question I get asked most often revolve around my opinion on other diet or fitness programs.

 
My answer to these common questions may surprise you. Read More ›

Top Restaurant Trends to Watch in 2012

Here are some interesting statistics regarding restaurants –

• Sixty-two percent of consumers have been cutting back on visits to casual-dining restaurants.


• Forty seven percent of consumers want healthy restaurant options while just twenty-three percent select healthy food when dining away from home.


• Fifty-two percent of consumers suggest that different and unique flavors influence their restaurant visits.

 
Technomic is a consulting and research firm that focuses on the food industry by providing proprietary studies and research based guidance. Their research has found many interesting consumer trends. Here are some of the top restaurant trends they want us to watch in 2012.  
 
Read More ›

What's Cooking for 2012? Our Experts Weigh In

In just the last few years, healthy eating and cooking have become much easier, thanks to the advent of "healthy" restaurant menus, the expansion of the health-foods aisle into entire sections, and the resurgence of farmers markets and backyard gardening--all due in large part to the demand from conscious consumers like you.

Old favorites like oatmeal are once again our breakfast of choice; once-foreign foods like Greek yogurt, flaxseed and pomegranates are familiar sights in supermarkets; and salads are no longer considered "rabbit food" but a chance to bulk up your meals with vegetables.

As 2011 draws to a close, our food and nutrition experts weighed in with their predictions for the future of food and what will be on their--and your--plate next year.
These trends are a collaboration among:

• Chef Meg Galvin, culinary instructor and SparkPeople's healthy cooking expert and author of "The SparkPeople Cookbook: Love Your Food, Lose the Weight"
   
• Becky Hand, L.D., R.D., SparkPeople's head dietitian
   
• Tanya Jolliffe, SparkPeople Community Moderator and healthy eating expert
   
• And me, Stepfanie Romine, SparkRecipes.com editor and co-author of "The SparkPeople Cookbook"

Let food be thy medicine:

Diabetes affects one in eight Americans (source); heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. (source). We're hearing from our more than 11 million members that they're not ready to become a statistic. They're taking control of their health through exercise and nutrition.

That means taking the salt shaker off the table, eating at home more often to control what's going into their food, and making health-conscious choices whenever possible. In "The SparkPeople Cookbook: Love Your Food, Lose the Weight," we kept a close eye on sodium, and Chef Meg shared numerous tricks for tricking taste buds and cutting fat but keeping flavor.

If the popularity of SparkPeople's diabetes program is any indication, 2012 is set to be a year of major change for many Americans. They might have diabetes, but it doesn't have them.

Expect to see more people fighting for their health--starting at the dinner table.  Read More ›

Follow SparkPeople on Pinterest!

I have a confession. I am obsessed with a website that isn't SparkPeople. com. I think about it during the day. I visit the site before I go to bed each night. I even had a dream about it once. Don't get me wrong, I love SparkPeople and would recommend it to anyone for all of your healthy lifestyle needs, but I have a new flame. It's name is Pinterest. I could waste spend hours a day looking for cool ideas and pinning the ones I stumble upon on Pinterest. Sometimes I do! Pinterest has changed my online world for the better.
 
Those of you who have a Pinterest account probably "get it." Those of you who have no idea what Pinterest is are probably scratching your heads and saying, "Huh?"
 
Allow me to explain. Read More ›

Nutrition Year in Review – 2011

The American Dietetic Association conducted a survey this year to evaluate people's attitudes about nutrition and physical activity and found a variety of interesting statistics. One interesting finding was that today 46 percent of those interviewed actively seek information about nutrition and healthy eating compared to only 19 percent in 2000. TV and magazines are the top two sources people use to gather their nutrition information. The internet has increased 18 percent since 2008 to become the number three source especially for those between the ages of 25-44.
 
While there are plenty of poor nutritional options available, this year has also provided information and options to help you make healthier choices and changes. Here are some of the highlights from this year that you might have missed.
Read More ›