Ricky Gervais is going to make that tuxedo look pretty good tonight. In 2010, inspired by his girlfriend, Gervais lost more than 20 pounds. He said at the time that it wasn’t about the weight, but instead, “It was more that I was a fat, lazy, out of shape slob, to be honest.”
Nothing could be further from a description of tonight’s Golden Globes host, a gig that requires as much energy as it does personality and thick skin. This will be the British actor’s third go at hosting the awards show, which can foreshadow the upcoming Oscars. He’s brutally honest, but with that brutally entertaining, which is what these often cut-and-paste awards shows can need to hold an audience’s attention. Last year, Gervais’ biggest joke might have been about the collapse of Charlie Sheen; this year, a bounty of Hollywood divorces in recent news could fuel his sharp tongue.
Gervais’ weight loss first made headlines in 2010, when we first reported on it. Fortunately, his focus on fitness hasn’t waned in the past year. At that time, he credited much of his weight loss to the sport of running, something he and his girlfriend Jane Fallon enjoy doing together in their Hampstead Heath, London neighborhood; or, when traveling, he’ll pound the pavement in NYC first thing in the morning. Read Full Post >
Last week the DASH Diet wasn’t exactly a household name, although it should have been. Since US News and World Report announced its Best Diets of 2012, DASH Diet is about all anyone can talk about, or search for online.
“It was exciting to see it happen again,” Marla Heller, MS, RD told us this morning about learning that DASH Diet had received the top recognition from US News for the second time in six months. “The first time it happened last summer was over the top.”
Her book, The DASH Diet Action Plan, was the result of research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “My patients couldn’t really understand [the information]. I knew I needed to break it down,” she told us about publishing the book.
She says it’s been a challenge to get the word out about the healthy eating plan, citing its only likely downfall is “that it doesn’t have the sex appeal of a fad diet.”
If lacking sex appeal, or even a slimmed-down celebrity endorser, is the DASH Diet’s only negative attribute, we have to ask, why aren’t more people on it? Heller and I discussed how a “diet” has come to be revered as a packaged set of rules and organized eating instructions. However, most health experts will agree that the real definition of a diet is just what you eat. Which is why Heller proudly calls her DASH Diet an eating plan.
“It’s just common sense,” she said. “Not enough people have any idea how to put together healthy meals.” She says DASH Diet can re-educate. Read Full Post >
If you haven’t quite found your fitness niche yet in the new year, maybe it’s time to look at yoga. Praised for its benefits ranging from fitness and weight loss to disease management and stress reduction, this ancient practice has become quite mainstream in the US over the past few years. “Yoga slows you down, keeps me calm,” Kathryn Budig told us, one of the brightest stars in the yoga community today.
More and more yoga studios are popping up in towns across the country, and a growing library of yoga DVDs from true experts are making the practice more accessible than ever. Kathryn Budig’s name can be found on both of these.
Originally from Kansas, and not quite 30, Budig is making quite an impression on the yoga industry. Now calling Santa Monica home, where her yoga studio is located, she’s steadfastly creating a growing yoga brand that shows just how open and fun the practice can be. She was even recently praised by Forbes Magazine’s Stephanie Taylor Christensen in a feature article that focused on her business acumen and less on her eye-catching yoga poses. Christensen called her “a savvy business woman who has built an enviable career that encompasses the goals that many strive for– but struggle to achieve: Getting paid for your passion, traveling, giving back to others, and keeping the mind and body healthy.”
Watch our interview to see why we named her as one of theFitness Stars to Watch in 2012 at Yahoo. You’ll learn more about Budig, including the major projects she has in the works this year with Gaiam, Rodale, and ToeSox, and what she calls the biggest trends in yoga this year.
There’s a new face on the Biggest Loser ranch, but not one you’re likely to see very often. While her handiwork is witnessed throughout the season, we rarely get to see her teaching the nutritional skills the contestants rely on. Meet Rachel Beller, MS, RD, the new nutrition expert for Biggest Loser. She’s filling a position vacated by Cheryl Forberg, RD at the end of season 12, the co-creator of the current Biggest Loser diet.
“If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” she told us, saying there aren’t any plans to change the Biggest Loser diet. It’s certainly not in need of change, since the plan, based on the program outlined in 6 Weeks to a Healthier You written by Forberg, was recognized as the best diet for weight loss and diabetes by US News and World Reports last week. “We at Biggest Loser are so pleased to receive top ratings from so many of the world’s leading nutrition experts who served as judges,” Michael Dansinger, MD, the Biggest Loser Nutrition Doctor and co-author of the plan, told us. “There are many great eating strategies for maintaining or regaining great health and we are proud to be among the very top of a very important list.”
So far Beller calls her new job “a lot of fun and very hands-on.” She has an impressive background in nutrition, coming to the ranch from her own Beller Nutritional Institute, where she translates clinical research into real-world results. Dr. Dansinger, her new colleague, had this to say about Beller: “Rachel is a nationally recognized nutritional authority who knows how to motivate people to be the best they can be. She knows that good nutrition is the best medicine and has a special way about her that helps people gain clarity and perspective about the importance of healthy eating.” Read Full Post >
Tonight, college football season will finally come to a close as the Louisiana State Tigers take on the Alabama Crimson Tide in the BCS National Championship game. It’s the second time these two powerhouses have met on the field this season, and the second time one will walk away as a winner, and another won’t. Tensions will no doubt be high, but delicious guilt-free snacks will help keep everyone cool.
The game kicks off at 8:30, and if you’re hosting a watch party, you’ll no doubt be serving your fellow fans a dinner worthy of a championship nod. Now, we’re all for enjoying finger foods and snacks while watching your favorite team charge the field. We’re also big fans of remembering those resolutions are just nine days old. So, serve the snacks your crowd expects, but do it in a healthy way that doesn’t sabotage the home team, or the visitors!
Try our recipes for Chicken and Shrimp Gumbo for the Tigers, Winning Fried Chicken for the Tide, or the 7-Layer Dip peace keeper for everyone. Read Full Post >
