Born Tara Leann Stiles on May 6, 1981 in Morris Illinois, Tara grew up with her only sibling, an older brother named Chad. After high school Tara attended the University of Chicago where she majored in dance and graduated in 2003. Shortly after graduating she was spotted by a modeling agent and signed by Ford Models, after which she moved to New York City to begin her career.

Tara found a love for yoga when Ford asked her to make a short promotional yoga video for the agency to post on YouTube. Her new-found passion pushed the model to take a 200-hour course to become a certified yoga instructor. She continued to model and make yoga videos, which generated millions of viewers and used social media to attract new students. In 2007, Tara left Ford Models and began blogging for Women’s Health and The Huffington Post, and most recently MindBodyGreen.com.
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When I first started as a personal trainer I didn’t have a studio. I worked in my clients’ homes. I had many clients with rather impressive selections of exercise equipment. However, they needed me to hold them accountable to actually use the equipment.

Others had nothing. I brought with me any tools we might need. I quickly learned how to design programs using body weight, bands and other simple pieces of equipment. One of my favorites was the medicine ball.

A medicine ball can be used in many exercises like a dumbbell, but also provides a new level of versatility because of their shape and their ability to be thrown or bounced. You can use them for strength or cardio. Check out my favorite medicine ball exercises to see what I mean.
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Celebrity chef Rachael Ray was born into a family full of restaurant business owners on August 25, 1968. Her place of birth was Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and she was raised in Lake George, New York. She’s had many successes that put her as #38 on the top 100 list for the most influential people in health and fitness 2011. Some of these accomplishments include authoring many cookbooks, starring in a daytime talk show, and hosting shows on the Food Network.

Before making it big in the food industry, Ray held many restaurant jobs that helped her to work her way up the ladder. She was surrounded by family members who worked in the food industry influencing her to lead the same lifestyle. Her first word was even “vino” after hearing her grandfather say it all the time. Ray’s mother was the food supervisor for several Howard Johnson’s, which was how Ray actually became a waitress there herself. Another job she held was a candy manager at Macy’s Market Place in New York.

The start of her career took off while working in a gourmet food shop in Schenectady, New York. Ray developed the “30 Minute Meals” and taught the cooking classes which quickly became her signature after being picked up by a local television network. The meals had to be quick and easy to prepare and guaranteed to take no longer than 30 minutes to prep. The types of dishes ranged from comfort food to entertaining food, so no matter what the occasion is, Rachael Ray could provide many options to choose from.

Not only did these meals make it on a local television network, but they also led Ray down the path to her first book deal as well as a contract with the Food Network. The “30 Minute Meals” eventually became so popular that the Food Network decided to give Ray three more TV programs called Inside Dish, Rachael Ray’s Tasty Travels, and $40 a Day.

The years 2005 and 2006 were big for Ray as she married John Cusimano in 2005, released her own food and lifestyle magazine, “Every Day With Rachael Ray,” and premiered a self-titled TV talk show. This was right about the same time her first TV show, 30 Minute Meals, won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Service Show. Barely two years later, Ray won another Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Entertainment.

Also on her list of achievements is the non-profit organization “Yum-O!,” launched in 2006. The program is designed to help feed American children in need, and to educate young people and their families about the importance of good nutrition. The program offers an interactive website that enables kids to do things like learn family-friendly recipes by getting started in the kitchen at a young age.  Yum-O’s three-word motto is “COOK – Educating Kids and their families about food and cooking, FEED – Feeding hungry American kids, FUND – Funding cooking education and scholarships.”

Ray has two homes with her husband in Luzerne, New York and Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. They spend most of their time at their lake-side cabin in Luzerne where Ray’s mother actually lives with them. Ray has one younger brother named Emmanuel and one older sister named Maria.

Here are a few of the cookbooks Authored by Rachael Ray:

2001’s Comfort Foods
2003’s Get Togethers
2005’s Rachael Ray 365
Yum-O!: The Family Cookbook
Rachael Ray Nutrish Premium
Rachel Ray’s Big Orange Book
Book of 10

*Photos from www.foodnetwork.com and  www.ohmygoshbeck.com 

By Karen Sherwood

In a land of go-gurts, happy meals, lunchables, and clever junk food marketing geared toward kids, raising a healthy child is becoming increasingly difficult. We are never more than five feet away from a food message and 90% of those messages are not about health food. So what’s a parent to do? KISS (Keep it Super Simple) those problems away! Here are four super simple tips to keep your child healthy while maintaining your sanity.

1. Lead by example – How can we ever expect our children to grow up healthy if we are setting examples that are far from it? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity is the result of more than just genetics, but a culmination of behavioral and environmental factors. Like it or not, until their 18 years old (sometimes even longer), parents are responsible for setting a healthy environment for their children. Needless to say, it does a child no good when they’re receiving orders to eat more broccoli while their parent is lying on the couch with a bag of potato chips and a diet soda.
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I can say that the Fourth of July is my hands-down favorite holiday of the year. It’s smack dab in the middle of summer and everyone is happy. It’s a good-time vibe all day, and usually all weekend when the holiday doesn’t fall on a Wednesday.

Like most Americans, I love the food aspect of these patriotic celebrations. Picnic food has got to be some of the best, but it tends to be some of the worst for us. Just like I had to rethink my go-to beef burgers and swap them for a pretty tasty turkey burger, I had to rethink my sides. Particularly potato salad.

I love potato salad! I used to day dream about that big yellow dollop on my plate. Now I kind of shudder when I see that pail of mayo-mustard mess. I felt like I owed it to myself and my guests to come up with something better, and so I did.
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