There are a lot of big things making some big headlines in the health space these past few weeks. We sought out some insight on the hottest stories of late from one of the most respected names in health and wellness, Dr. Melina Jampolis.
Known to most as Dr. Melina, she is an internist and board certified physician nutrition specialist whose focus is on weight loss and disease prevention. She’s previously published the No Time to Lose Diet, The Busy Person’s Guide to Permanent Weight Loss, and this spring will publish The Calendar Diet.
Watch our interview as she shares insight in to Paula Deen’s diabetes announcement, the new school lunch guidelines, and why heart month is pretty important.
Few people know more about the fitness industry than Dr. John Spencer Ellis. Active in the fitness and health community for more than 20 years, and a renowned member, Ellis is known for a variety of things, including his stint on the Real Housewives of Orange County, the creation of NESTA, and most recently the launch of DietGuru.com.
We had a chance to speak with John and catch up on a few goings-on in the fitness world right now. We talk about making the resolutions last (yes, there’s still time!), identifying the best personal trainer for your needs, and how Diet Guru can help you become an A+ eater.
You’ve seen online diets before, but have you seen one on Facebook? The social network is quickly becoming the hub for people’s social lives, so why wouldn’t you make it the point of entry for yourweight loss program? That is exactly what Dawn Jackson Blatner has done in partnership with Florida Grapefruit. They’re calling it the Grapefruit Active Lifestyle Meal Plan and, as you can probably guess, the diet centers around grapefruits, be it whole fruit or 100% juice.
By visiting their page at Facebook.com/JuicyScoop you can download a free eBook, a 62-page PDF that outlines the program with daily meal plans, tips and recipes. Blatner, a registered dietitian and certified specialist in sports dietetics, has organized a balanced, healthful eating plan that will lend followers about 1600 calories each day. There are three meal plans to choose from:
Standard with dairy, meat, fish, and eggs
Vegetarian with dairy and eggs
Vegan with no animal by-products
We spoke with Blatner about the new program, which she said is plant-based with the option for chicken or steak (this is fitting as she is the author of The Flexitarian Diet). As for building a weight loss plan around the grapefruit, she says the fruit has “a bold, invigorating flavor… that provides natural energy.” It can be an acquired taste for some, but Blatner says they’ve incorporated the flavor subtly and won’t often have you eating it straight from the peel.
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.
