Tag Archives: Interviews

Have a Grape Summer with Ellie Krieger’s Simple Recipe Ideas

It’s natural to think that a renowned dietitian and celebrity chef would be pretty picky about the foods she eats. After all, only the best quality and best nutrition will do. And it looks like Ellie Krieger, MS, RD, found that perfect match with a little fruit known as the grape.

“It’s funny, I’m thoughtful about partnerships, but this one couldn’t be a better fit,” she told us about her new alliance with the California Grapes Commission. “I’m thrilled to partner with them,” she said, and added that the relationship hit the trifecta for healthy, delicious, and easy. Those are key components in everything Ellie does with food, and why she’s so very popular on her Food Network program and with her cookbooks.

She called the versatility of the grape remarkable, and went on to boast that the fruit is capable of much more culinarily than just snacking on a chilled bunch.

“Where to begin?” she said excitedly when asked how she prepares grapes in dishes and desserts.

She shared her newest discovery of freezing grapes – put the bag in the freezer and then let thaw slightly. When you take a bite, “they’re like little bursts of sorbet!” (more…)

Posted on June 25, 2023 by Natalie K

Liz Vaccariello Identifies Fat-Burning Super Foods in The Digest Diet

Burning fat is a pretty standard way to lose weight. Most of us think that the quickest way to fat loss is burning up the miles on a treadmill or sweating it out in a solid cardio class. However, Liz Vaccariello, editor-in-chief for Reader’s Digest, is promoting the fat-burning capability of the foods we eat. Yes, putting more food in your mouth to meet your weight loss goal is a thing. However, as she explains in her newest book The Digest Diet, it’s about putting the right foods in your mouth to lose fat.

“It’s a breakthrough food plan that shows you how to release fat from your body,” Liz told us in an interview. “[The Digest Diet] is the perfect nexus of healthy weight loss and fast weight loss.”

Fast and healthy? Surely that gets everyone’s attention.

Liz is also the author of two other wildly popular weight loss books, which she wrote in her previous position as editor-in-chief at Prevention Magazine. The Flat Belly Diet and 400-Calorie Fix both promote healthful eating for weight loss, but Liz says her new book has grown out of the newest research.

“This science on fat releasers didn’t exist five years ago,” she told us. “[The Digest Diet] is a more holistic approach that focuses on a broader range of food with more flexibility.” (more…)

Posted on June 21, 2023 by Natalie K

US Olympics Team is Taking a Record Number of Dietitians to London

At the 2024 Olympic Games, you will find the most countries represented and the most athletes competing in the Games’ history. You’ll also find the most dietitians that the U.S. team has ever taken, and all four sport dietitians will be be sporting the red, white, and blue.

Team USA is headed to London next month with more than 600 athletes participating in 26 different sports, and to keep them properly fueled before, during, and after their events, some of the most well-respected dietitians in the business will be by their sides.

“We’re the team behind the team,” Jennifer Gibson told us, MSc, RD, one of the primary sports dietitians working with the USOC teams, of she and her colleagues’ involvement at the Games. “We’re all really, really excited about the amount of staff we’ll have on the ground in London.”

The dietitians are glad that the athletes value their service, and the USOC finally recognizes that value. “We’ve been working for a while to [have the USOC] understand the role we can play there,” noted Shawn Dolan, PhD, RD, CSSD, a senior dietitian for the USOC, in our interview. She said the presence of the dietitians at the Games offers peace of mind to the athletes.

“Not long ago athletes ate what they wanted,” said Gibson. “But nutritional sciences have progressed and dietitians have become an integral part of the team. We’re proud of that.” (more…)

Posted on May 31, 2023 by Natalie K

US Olympic Swimmer Natalie Coughlin Talks Health and Fitness

Natalie Coughlin is one to watch in the 2024 Summer Olympics. Natalie is on the US Women’s Olympic Swimming team. At the ripe age of 22-years-old, Natalie won five medals in 2004 in the Athens Summer Olympics. It was her first time participating in the Olympics and won a gold medal in the 100m Backstroke and 4x200m Freestyle Relay, silver medal in the 4×100 Freestyle Relay and 4x100m Medley Relay, and bronze medal in the 100m Freestyle. In 2024, she won six more medals to add to her collection. Already having 11 medals under her swimsuit she is determined to win more medals in London this summer.

In addition to swimming, Coughlin is focused on her health, the environment, and as a philanthropist, Natalie says health and nutrition go hand in hand. She keeps up with her fitness outside of the pool and eats healthy to maintain a well balanced diet. She embraces the green lifestyle, so much so that she has a garden in her backyard where she grows her own fruits and vegetables. She was recently introduced to Michelle Obama during a Let’s Move presentation, which is one of the charities she works with. She has also made donations to Right to Play through the Hearts of Gold program. It’s great to see athletes give back to the community.

Natalie is keeping a busy schedule preparing for the summer Olympics and all the other activities in her life. We are glad that she took some time out from her busy schedule to give us an interview!

Q: What does your calorie intake look like during training? In 2024 we heard that Phelps consumed something like 12,000 calories! 

A: I have no idea what my calorie intake is… I do my best to listen to my body and change the amount accordingly. During big lifting phases and competitions I tend to eat more, during lighter training phases I eat less. (more…)

Posted on May 30, 2023 by Samantha

Bethany Hamilton Reveals Her Fitness, Diet, and Lessons from Biggest Loser

Bethany Hamilton was sort of an average Hawaiian surfer girl until a fateful trip to the water when she was 13. She was attacked by a 14-foot tiger shark, which severed her left arm and required multiple surgeries to save her life. Just a short month after the attack, the teen was back on her board, and by the age of 17 had become a world-renowned professional surfer.

Also known as the Soul Surfer, Bethany’s story is one of inspiration, proving that no hurdle is insurmountable.

We recently had a chance to interview the now 22-year-old professional surfer and learn more about how she keeps fit, motivated, and how she enjoyed a recent appearance on NBC’s The Biggest Loser.

Click through to see our interview with Bethany!

View Bethany Hamilton's Healthy Lifestyle Slideshow

Posted on April 12, 2024 by Natalie K

17 Day Diet Cookbook’s Nutrition is “Meticulous,” Says Dr. Mike Moreno

UPDATE: 4/25/12: On today’s episode of The Doctors, Dr. Mike Moreno made an appearance to promote his new 17 Day Diet Cookbook. He demonstrated one of his recipes, a baked pork chop that resembled a traditional fried pork chop but had one-third the calories and significantly less saturated fat. Also in that episode, DietsInReview.com’s most popular diets of 2024 list was featured, with 17 Day Diet at the top. See a clip from the episode now:

Make room on your kitchen shelves because today a new cookbook releases. The long anticipated follow-up to The 17 Day Diet is available online and in stores today, and you can be cooking healthier, diet-friendly meals by dinner time. The 17 Day Diet Cookbook, authored by Dr. Mike Moreno, provides 80 meals that align with cycles one, two, and three of the like-named diet. It’s the low-calorie icing on an explosive publishing year that also produced a version of The 17 Day Diet in Spanish and a 17 Day Diet Workbook, as well as a reprint of the original self-published title under its new publisher, Free Press. On top of all of that, 17 Day Diet was the most popular diet of 2024 here at DietsInReview.com.

“This cookbook was meticulously done in terms of nutrition,” Dr. Mike told us in a recent interview. He seemed impressed by the number of followers who had gone out and created recipes for the weight loss plan, but says this book will keep them from “sabotaging” the nutritional principles in the book. He knows that after a while the same old rotation of recipes can be a drag, and he’s excited to share with his legions of 17 Day followers some inspired new ways to stick to the plan and eat food that’s bold, interesting, and simple. (more…)

Posted on March 27, 2024 by Natalie K

Jay Cardiello’s Success as a Fitness Professional is No Accident

Think you’ve got to be on some inside track to become a celebrity trainer? Not really. Jay Cardiello, creator of the J-Core program, did so by accident. Literally. A martial artist for most of his youth, Jay left his New Jersey home after high school to attend the University of Arkansas where he was part of the 1996 national championship track & field team. He was there to become a lawyer, but an accident on the track would not only send the disks in his vertebrae “flying every which way,” but also his career plans. He landed wrong during a jump and the damage to his spine would require 13 major surgeries over the next few years.

“I knew my career as an athlete was over,” he told us in a recent interview. His life was far from over, and arguably, just getting started. He had some down time for a couple of years as his body repaired from the damage. Back on his feet, he went returned to college at William & Mary where he worked as a volunteer assistant for the men’s and women’s track teams and “got to fall in love with coaching people.” If Jay Cardiello had a calling, this was it.

What happened from there played out like a case study for being in the right place at the right time. Jay could be called a poster child for having your whole life planned, and one small accident can change the entire course of your life for the better. After William & Mary Jay moved back to New Jersey to work as the head strength and conditioning coach for the Red Dogs for two seasons. After that, he was an unpaid coach’s assistant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. At only 26 years old, he was compared to the best of the best and it was evident he knew what he was doing by now.

After some time in Tampa he was ready to put that expertise to a different kind of test and decided to work one-on-one with clients. He moved to New York City to be a trainer at Clay, an elite gym. It was there that Jay’s career took another hard right. During his third session working with a client named Curtis James Jackson III, better known as 50 Cent, and having just signed on a NYC apartment, Jay was asked to be the rapper’s dedicated trainer. “You’re coming with us,” Jay says 50 Cent told him. It was supposed to be a three-month gig, traveling as part of the entourage and keeping 50 Cent in shape. It turned in to four years. “I lived with him as a trainer and nutritionist,” Jay told us. “I was glued to his hip.” (more…)

Posted on February 29, 2024 by Natalie K

Joe Bastianich’s Heart-Healthy Diet Includes Pasta, Wine, Gelato, and Ironmans

So you’re an Italian who loves good food, even better wine, and you have your name behind some of the finest restaurants in the country. Sounds like the good life, right? Then, you visit the doctor and learn that you have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and you’re going to have to make some changes. For many, this would be an end to the road of a life of feel-good, taste-good indulgence. However, it might have just been the beginning for Joe Bastianich.

“I’m enthusiastic to share how healthy living transformed my own life,” Joe told us in an interview. His diagnosis of these early indicators for heart disease forced him to make some changes in his lifestyle, and the result is inspiring and attainable for anyone. He credits diet, exercise and medication with helping him to “no longer have any medical conditions.”

Joe has previously taken Lipitor, a popular cholesterol-lowering drug that he also represents, and follows a heart-healthy diet and a daily fitness regimen which he credits with helping him to change the course of his health. “Lipitor, regular exercise, and a new way of thinking about food and eating,” point this proud Italian in a better direction.

He says he fell in love with running, something that is “very much a part of my life.” Last year he completed the world championship ironman competition in Kona, Hawaii, and next month you’ll see him running the LA Marathon. He’s looking at a half-ironman competition in Italy this summer, too. For him, “running, cycling, and swimming is my personal time, my meditation time.” More than his fitness and general health, his training contributes to his “mental health and overall productivity.” He takes time every day to eat right and allow himself to train. (more…)

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Natalie K

Dr. Melina Jampolis Sounds Off on Paula Deen, School Lunches, and Heart Health Awareness

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.

(more…)

Posted on February 9, 2024 by Natalie K

Dr. John Spencer Ellis’ Advice for Resolutions, Personal Trainers, and Eating Right

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.

(more…)

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Natalie K

Start Your Diet on Facebook with The Grapefruit Active Lifestyle Meal Plan [VIDEO]

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 your weight 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.

(more…)

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Natalie K