Author archive: lauren

Recipe: Cilantro-Pesto Marinade (best for barbequed pork, chicken, and fish)

CILANTRO PESTO MARINADE

• In a small glass bowl, combine:
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, packed firmly
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice, hand-squeezed
• 2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground oregano

Tighten up your obliques with some Russian Twists!

How to perfom the “Russian Twists”

The Russian Twist is a fantastic exercise for creating those nice vertical lines on the outsides of the abdominals. For increased core activation, try lifting your legs for as many reps as possible. This exercise will also help strengthen the muscles that support your spine, so it is completely normal to feel tension in the lower and middle-back throughout your set, and particularly near the end of each set.

How to perform the exercise:

Step 1: Sit on the floor with knees bent, feet and knees together, heels pressed to floor, and toes pointed upward.

Step 2: Clasp the hands together and place in front of the stomach

Step 3: Lean back until the abdominals engage

Step 4: Twist the torso from right to left without moving the hands from the midline of the torso and without moving at the hips.

Perform 25 complete twists without stopping. Rest for 30-90 seconds and repeat. Complete 3 sets of 25 reps each day this month.

Get Sweet on Truvia!

I have discovered something too sweet to be true!

Truvia is an all-natural 0 calorie sweetener made from a plant called stevia. Just one teaspoon of Truvia provides the same sweetness as two teaspoons of sugar. This is a great option for those who love sweets, but need to lose weight. Truvia is certified as kosher and also a safe alternative for diabetics.

I love to cook and bake, but I am always avoiding recipes that call for things like butter and sugar. Truvia has given me more options as to what kinds of food I can make. I just use half as much Truvia as I would natural sugar and viola!

Next time you need to add sugar to your coffee, tea, fruit, or baked goods, toss the sugar and give Truvia a try!

What does your body do with sugar? Make sure you’re not storing it as fat!

In order to better understand how decreasing your daily sugar intake can decrease your love-handles, it is important to note the sugar pathway of the body. When sugar is first digested, it travels to the liver. The liver can only store so much sugar, so excess sugar is then transported to muscles and then converted into physical energy. The muscles can only store so much sugar, and if this sugar is not constantly converted into energy through exercise, then any remaining sugar that enters the body will be stored as fat.

Most importantly, the liver prefers fructose (sugar from fruit) over other forms of sugar. Therefore, other sugars eaten in addition to fruit sugars have a higher chance of being stored as fat. Keep this in mind when deciding on whether to snack on a piece of fruit or a processed sugar treat like a granola bar.

And remember, if we want to lose weight, then we are aiming to have less than 40 grams (10 teaspoons) of sugar per day. Now, let’s get an idea of how much sugar is in the foods we commonly eat:

Fructose-Based Foods                                  Sugar Content

1 medium-sized banana                                 4 tablespoons (15 grams)

1 cup strawberries                                           2 tablespoons (7 grams)

1 cup grapes                                                      5 tablespoons (20 grams)

1 cup cantaloupe (cubed)                               3 tablespoons (13 grams)

1 navel orange                                                  6 tablespoons (23 grams)

1 large apple                                                     6 tablespoons (23 grams)

1 large peach                                                    3.5 tablespoons (15 grams)

1 cup watermelon (cubed)                             4.25 tablespoons (18 grams)

1 cup pineapple (cubed)                                 2.25 tablespoons (9 grams)

Non Fructose-Based Foods                          Sugar Content

2 slices white bread                                       3 teaspoons

1 bowl cereal                                                    4-5 teaspoons

1 bagel                                                               4-5 teaspoons

½ cup dried fruit                                            4 teaspoons

½ cup fruit juice                                             3-4 teaspoons

1 can soda                                                        9 teaspoons

1 cup chocolate milk                                       6 teaspoons

1 bowl ice cream                                             23 teaspoons

To monitor your daily sugar intake, just start checking the labels of the foods that you consume (and make sure that you are not eating more than 1 serving at a time). To find out the sugar content of natural foods, such as fruits, check online by using search engines. My favorite website for nutritional information is livestrong.com.

Stay fit, stay healthy, and stay happy!

-Lauren

Full Body Exercise Circuit #4 with Jennifer Stano-David and Lauren Kern

You don’t need a gym to get in shape! Just follow Lauren and Jen’s moves and learn a new full-body exercise routine that can be performed at home, or during your travels, using only your body-weight and minimal easy-to-pack equipment.

Tone-up your love-handles! Perform single arm rows with torso rotation

Happy Single’s Awareness Month! While our non-single friends are out celebrating their love for pasta dinners and chocolate truffle deserts, we will be reducing our “love handles” by implementing some fun full-body exercises that also target our oblique areas!

The single-arm theraband row is a great exercise for toning and strengthening the middle-back, the backs of the shoulders, and the biceps. Adding a rotation to the end of this movement will help target the love-handle area. Just follow Lauren and perform 3 sets of 20 reps per arm every day.

How to perform the exercise:

Step 1: Wrap the theraband around a very sturdy pole or anchor. If the anchor is thin, then grasp both handles with one hand. If the anchor is thick, then slip one handle of the theraband through the other handle to create a slipknot and grasp the free handle in one hand.

Step 2: Face the working hand palm-down

Step 3: Stand up straight with your feet flat on the floor and shoulder width apart

Step 4: Contract your abdominals for trunk stability.

Step 5: Position the Theraband, so that it is at an equal height with your shoulders.

Step 6: Pull your hand towards your chest and into your armpit by bending at the elbow. Focus on squeezing the shoulder back and sticking the chest out.

Step 7: Once the hand has reached the armpit, rotate the trunk toward the working elbow. Make sure to keep the chest lifted throughout the entire movement

Perform 20 complete rows with rotation on 1 arm without stopping. Then, switch arms and repeat for 20 more repititions. Rest for 30-90 seconds and repeat. Complete 3 sets of 20 reps each day this month.

Spring-time is just around the corner! Let’s get those arms and abs ready for swimsuit season!

To order your thera-band, visit Lauren’s online store at www.laurenkern.com

New Year’s Resolution #6: Eat a balance of monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and saturated fats every day

Do you remember those earlier times in life when we could eat everything in sight and never gain a pound? Then came along that magical event, puberty, and all of a sudden nutrition became some kind of well-hidden secret as the pounds just started to sneak on one by one. The only foods that seemed to get my attention at the market were those labeled “low-fat.” I especially remember a chemical called Olestra that suddenly made Lay’s potato chips virtually fat-free. Then the product was recalled due to health concerns and my chip-eating days sadly came to an end.

What I have since come to realize is that fat is not necessarily bad. In fact, the FDA recommends that 30% of the American diet should be comprised of fat and that health, body composition, and performance can be optimized by balancing fat intake.

With this in mind, I recommend that fat intake should be balanced by taking in 1/3 of your fats from each of the following sources: monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and saturated fats.  You can balance your fat intake by checking your labels, using livestrong.com’s online calorie journal, or just focus more on adding the following unsaturated fats to your diet. Chances are that you are already eating plenty of saturated fat (eggs, dairy, meats, butters, cheeses, coconut oil, palm oil).

Monounsaturated Fats: vegetable oils, seeds, avocados, nuts and nut butters (avoid processed peanut butter because it contains a high amount of transfats)

Polyunsaturated Fats: flax seeds and oils, soybean oil, safflower oil, walnuts and sunflower seeds, and fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring, and trout

Decrease your love handles and stabilize your sugar levels by learning just how much sugar you eat

In order to better understand how decreasing your daily sugar intake can decrease your “love handles,” it is important to note the sugar pathway of the body. When sugar is first digested, it travels to the liver. The liver can only store so much sugar, so excess sugar is then transported to muscles and then converted into physical energy. The muscles can only store so much sugar, and if this sugar is not constantly converted into energy through exercise, then any remaining sugar that enters the body will be stored as fat.

Most importantly, the liver prefers fructose (sugar from fruit) over other forms of sugar. Therefore, other sugars eaten in addition to fruit sugars have a higher chance of being stored as fat. Keep this in mind when deciding on whether to snack on a piece of fruit or a processed sugar treat like a granola bar.

And remember, if we want to lose weight, then we are aiming to have less than 40 grams (10 teaspoons) of sugar per day. Now, let’s get an idea of how much sugar is in the foods we commonly eat:

Fructose-Based Foods                        Sugar Content

• 1 medium-sized banana                      4 tablespoons (15 grams)
• 1 cup strawberries                                2 tablespoons (7 grams)
• 1 cup grapes                                           5 tablespoons (20 grams)
• 1 cup cantaloupe (cubed)                       3 tablespoons (13 grams)
• 1 navel orange                                        6 tablespoons (23 grams)
• 1 large apple                                           6 tablespoons (23 grams)
• 1 large peach                                          3.5 tablespoons (15 grams)
• 1 cup watermelon (cubed)                   4.25 tablespoons (18 grams)
• 1 cup pineapple (cubed)                       2.25 tablespoons (9 grams)

Non Fructose-Based Foods               Sugar Content

• 2 slices white bread                             3 teaspoons
• 1 bowl cereal                                         4-5 teaspoons
• 1 bagel                                                    4-5 teaspoons
• ½ cup dried fruit                                 4 teaspoons
• ½ cup fruit juice                                  3-4 teaspoons
• 1 can soda                                              9 teaspoons
• 1 cup chocolate milk                            6 teaspoons
• 1 bowl ice cream                                   23 teaspoons

To monitor your daily sugar intake, just start checking the labels of the foods that you consume (and make sure that you are not eating more than 1 serving at a time). To find out the sugar content of natural foods, such as fruits, check online by using search engines. My favorite website for nutritional information is livestrong.com.

Stay fit, stay happy, and stay healthy!

-Lauren

Make “love muffins” that won’t increase your love handles

Need a tasty, yet healthy desert for your valentine…..or for your “Single’s Awareness Day” dinner party? Try these delicious Vanilla Banana Protein muffins!

Find your heart-shaped muffin tins at:

http://www.google.com/search?q=jeart+muffin+tins&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#q=heart+muffin+tins&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=Vjz&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=qIUvT8SvN6PTiALt2eyjCg&ved=0CJMBEK0E&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=fd8ffc1bf92c023d&biw=1920&bih=980

INGREDIENTS

In a big bowl, whisk together:

• 1 cup oat flour (Whole Foods)
• 3/4 cup Tuvia Zero Sweetener (Whole Foods, Ralph‚ Pavillions)
• 4 scoops vanilla protein powder (I use MuscleTech’s Nitro-Tech Hardcore Series)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (optional)
• 1/4 tsp salt

In a medium bowl, whisk together:

• 4 egg whites
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup oat milk (Whole Foods, Ralph‚ Pavillions)
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1 4-oz jar carrot baby food
• 1 4-oz jar banana baby food

METHOD

• Stir wet into dry until well combined. Do not over-mix.
• Scoop batter into paper-lined muffin tins, carefully placing about 1/3 cup of batter into each muffin liner.
• Bake at 350 for 12-20 minutes, or until golden brown (when toothpick can be inserted and removed without dough sticking to toothpick). Keep your eyes on these ones because they cook fast!

Nutrition Facts Per Muffin (based on 24 muffins):

• Calories: 60
• Fat: 2 g
• Carbs: 5.5 g
• Protein: 6 g

Baking Tips (add one or more of the following):

• 1 thinly sliced banana
• 1 100-calorie dark chocolate bar (crushed)
• 1 oz raw walnuts or almonds (crushed)