Supernatural Botanicals

Jessica Alba’s interview with Lucky magazine this month depicts some major truths that no one is talking about.  Jessica says that she’s on a 1200 calorie a day diet, and says she’s “basically starving”.  And we applaud Jessica for admitting the obvious.  Because you really do feel like you are starving yourself when you drop down to 1200 daily calories or less.  Trying to have a personal trainer or an actress convince us that 1200 calories a day is plentyyyyyyy is simply not true.  Of course,  if you can tolerate it, it will pay off with a lean body like Jessica’s…so there are some benefits.  Here’s what Ms. Alba says about her routine:

On her meal plan to shape up after the baby:

“I have a hard time with portion control, so I have 1,200 calorie meals delivered. But I also work out, so basically I’m starving—it sucks.  I drink a lot of water.”

Working out everyday for even just 45 minutes is good for my mental state. But getting dress and actually doing it is the worst. It’s hard to get motivated.”

 Take the calories out of the cocktail with a skinny version of the screwdriver.  Screwdrivers are comprised of vodka and orange juice, but juices can lend to a lot of unwanted calories.  Cut the orange juice in half and add 2 ounces of diet 7up instead.  Not only will you save a ton of calories, you’ll also put a new twist on an old classic.  Next time you are having cocktails, ask your bartender to make you a skinny screwdriver with vodka, and equal parts of OJ and 7 up.  Yum!

Hitting that hour-long cardio class today?  Read this recent study and you may just skip the class all together.

In a recent study, people who used kettlebells torched a whopping 400 calories in 20 minutes.

Kettlebells have made strength training fun and interesting with its new design, enabling the exerciser to perform a multitude of moves that were otherwise not possible with simple hand weights.

Entire classes, and even gyms, have been created based on the practice of kettlebell exercise.  Consider jazzing up your strength routine with kettlebells, and torch 400 calories in 20 minutes while you’re at it.

There’s a reason why most hot wings taste so ridiculously delicious…it’s because they’re fried.  Not to worry, though, there’s a way to do hot wings better. Instead of frying the wings, blast them at 450 degrees on a cookie sheet in the oven.  Use a cookie sheet with edges, as the wings will produce liquid. Line the tray with tin foil first for easy clean up.  Lay the wings in a single layer, then blast them in a 450 degree oven until cooked thoroughly, about 20-25  minutes.  At the very end of cooking time, place them right under the broiler and blast them for an extra minute to get the skin good and crispy. Immediately place them into a bowl and drown them in Red Hot hot sauce.  The regular recipe calls for butter and Red Hot, but you can eliminate more calories by omitting this step.  The hot sauce will still stick to the wings. Go easy on the bleu cheese dressing, but heavy on carrot sticks and celery, and you’ll have a skinnier post-Superbowl victory dance.

According to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, bean eaters weigh less and have slimmer middles. Beans are super fat fighters because they contain the ideal combination of fat-busting nutrients—soluble and insoluble fiber, protein, and a type of fat-burning carb called resistant starch.

Cuban Black Bean Soup

CUBAN BLACK BEAN SOUP

Ingredients:

• 7 cups cooked black beans (a one pound bag of dried beans prepared according to package directions.)
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large sweet onion, finely chopped (reserve some for garnish)
• 1 tsp each ground cumin, coriander, paprika
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 medium bell pepper, chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• a handful of parsley, chopped
• rind of one orange (several large peels)
• juice of the above orange
• 6 cups hot, boiled long-grain rice, white or brown

Drain the beans and reserve the liquid.

In a large dutch oven or soup pot, saute onions, garlic, and spices in oil over medium heat, stirring until onions are translucent. Add carrots and celery, saute for 3-4 minutes more. Add peppers and saute another 5 minutes. Add salt, pepper, parsley, and tomatoes. Simmer until the vegetables are tender.

Combine the drained black beans with the vegetables. Add in as much bean liquid as you like, more for a thinner soup, less if you like it thicker. Add the orange rind and simmer on low for about 30-45 minutes. Stir often.

Remove orange rind. Stick blend the soup until it’s as thick as you like. (Or remove a cup or two of soup to blender, blend, then add back to soup.) Add fresh orange juice and cook 5-10 minutes more. Taste. Serve on hot rice. Garnish with chopped onions, chiles, and/or lime wedges.

Bethenny Frankel has been looking fabulous…even pregnant.  I can promise you, that’s not easy to achieve.  The 39-year-old, who is having her first child late in life, says she has always been obsessed with her body image.

“Since I was 8, I was obsessed with every single diet ever because I came from a very toxic, dysfunctional household with a complete emphasis and obsession with food and being fat,” says Frankel.

“It was absurd and moronic to be an adult and to be worried about dieting.”

Bethenny says she wrote her best-selling diet book “Naturally Thin” last year and finished her second book, The Skinnygirl Dish, filmed and made her her first exercise DVD this year.

Frankel says she works out up to three times a week doing Pilates, yoga and/or running.  But the compulsive exerciser says she has learned to embrace moderation in exercise, with better results.

“I’m 10 years older [now] but 10 to 15 lbs. lighter [than I was in my 20s],” she says. “I used to work out obsessively five to six times a week. Now, I work out maybe two or three times.”

In order to achieve a killer physique like Bethenny, you definitely have to incorporate healthy eating into your regimen.  Check out her book, Naturally Thin, to take a peek at what she eats to keep looking fab (again, even pregnant!)

Quote of the Day:  “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.”  Kate Moss on being skinny. 

While I can appreciate a tight, toned body, this is just ridiculous!  Kelly Ripa’s extreme hard body is making her belly button want to jump off board and go grab a sandwich.  Furthermore, her cleavage is a menagerie of bones.   There are no hip curves to speak of.  Whatsoever. 

It’s hard to say whether this is extreme dieting, extreme exercise, or a combination of both.  It certainly appears to be a diet of 1000 calories or less a day…I can tell you that.  It also certainly appears to be the results of heavy lifting in the gym. 

The red flag should be, when your chest has become pecs, it’s time to step away and reevaluate your fitness routine…..then again, it really works for Kelly.  She’s on every men’s magazine “hot list” year after year. 

I still say the girl needs a sandwich!

    One of my favorite authors, Stephanie Klein, has written a hysterical, yet touching, book called Moose, a memoir of fat camp.  It chronicles her horrific experience dealing with being the “fat kid.”  But the book is mainly about rejection.  Whether or not you can relate to the fat part is one thing, but everyone has dealt with rejection.  In actuality, I’ve never wore larger than a size 7 in my whole life….and that was on the way home from the hospital after delivering an 8.5 pound perfect baby boy.   I wore a size 5 most of my life until the last five years.  I now wear a size 2, and while I’m very proud of that fact, it doesn’t come for free.  I’m not as proud of the actual number, size 2, as I am about the dedication it takes to achieve it.  I have to work my tail off to maintain that.  I’ve found, there are no free rides in life.  But I’ve also found, as I mature, that it’s not all about the number, it’s more about maintaining health and feeling good every day.  For me, this realization didn’t manifest it’s way into my psyche until the age of 34….when I woke up in the morning and my bones were hurting from inactivity.  I grew to love all the collateral benefits of working out shortly thereafter……losing weight, gaining muscle, wearing a smaller size, looking sexier, constant compliments, and skyrocketed libido (yay), etc. 

 I first learned about Stephanie with her first book, Straight Up And Dirty.  This chronicles her young adult life while living in New York.   It has a Sex and the City-vibe to it.  It was a great read.  After reading that book (twice!), I found her wildly popular blog, Greek Tragedy.   The Greek Tragedy comes from yet another rejection….not being picked to be in a sorority. 

 You look at Stephanie now and just can’t imagine she was ever the fat kid or the unpopular kid.  She has scads of appeal, tons of crazy stories and experiences, and is a super talent with both writing and photography.  She’s so fun!  And for the record, she’s a skinny, popular girl now.  She’s more of a Greek Success than a Greek Tragedy! 

You can visit Steph’s blog, as I do weekly, at http://www.stephanieklein.com/