The following post was written by chef Chloe Coscarelli, author of the soon-to-be-released cookbook, Chloe's Vegan Desserts. Chloe has won Food Network's Cupcake Wars and is also the author of Chloe's Kitchen.

In order to be a rock-star vegan — i.e., not live off of french fries and plain noodles — there are some essential products that you'll always want to have on hand. Whether you are baking up a storm or throwing a quick meal together, these ingredients will make your life much easier and much more delicious. Most of them can be tucked away into a drawer or your cabinet and will last a long time, too!

First off is nutritional yeast: this product, not to be confused for a replacement for actual rising yeast, offers a mock cheesy taste to all kinds of dishes (kale salads and Italian dishes, especially). Sprinkle it onto whatever food you like and instantly increase your intake of B vitamins, folic acid, selenium, zinc, and protein. Think of it as your very own parmesan cheese!

When it comes to vegan baking, don’t ever throw away superspotty or brown bananas! Freeze them instead: they are great to use for baked goods or homemade soft serve. Organic applesauce is a healthy substitute for butter and oil, and Earth Balance spread is equally satisfying. Available in both spreads and sticks, this substitute for butter is an excellent choice for baking. You'll be happy to find that it's gluten-, casein-, and trans-fat-free!

Stevia and Truvia are excellent sugar substitutes, and one should always have dark chocolate on hand, vegan or not. Walnuts are a snacking staple, high in omega-3 fatty acids and the perfect oatmeal or salad topping. Almond milk is essential for baking, smoothies, or a late-night bowl of cereal.

For an added kick of protein, vanilla-flavored hemp protein powder mixes into smoothies wonderfully. Silken tofu is another great product to use for desserts, particularly brownies or creamy avocado pudding. Keep cans of both chickpeas and black beans in your pantry at all times for an impromptu stir-fry. Lastly, avocados can, and should be, added to just about everything. Armed with these items, your vegan cooking will be incredibly easy and very enjoyable.

The following post was written by Olympic athlete Alex Morgan, the youngest player on the US roster at 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup and member of the 2012 US Olympic women's soccer team.

I've worked out all my life, with grueling hours indoors — a prerequisite for an Olympic hopeful. But when the weather outside is wonderful, who wants to spend any time in a stuffy gym? Instead, gather the family and invite your friends to join you outdoors for a calorie-blasting good time. These activities make it easy to enjoy the season — and still lose weight, stay motivated, and build muscles — so you can look your best in the height of bathing suit season and still enjoy your favorite summertime treats and picnics.

Put your mind into a "competitive" mode and show off your speed, strength, and tenacity by working out in the sunshine each day. Here are some great tips to keep you in shape outdoors much in the same way you work out at a gym:

1. Swim to Keep Trim: Swimming or treading water is a great way to work the cardiovascular system. Do 20-30 minutes of laps in a pool, lake, or ocean. Swimming strengthens your chest, back, arms, abs, legs, and shoulders. Talk about a total-body workout!
2. Life's a Beach: Walking in the soft sand of the beach alone is a workout. Sand gives you the extra resistance that you wouldn't have on a treadmill or on asphalt. You can do it barefooted and you'll feel a great workout in your feet, shins, and calves, and beach walking is great for ankle stability.
3. Beach Buddy: You can create a great strength workout with just you and a beach towel. Alternate walking, jogging, and sprinting to work the lower body and get the heart rate elevated. The beach can be so tranquil and yet so energizing. Start out by walking, and all of a sudden you get the energy from the earth and you start to jog a little. To maximize the experience, do walking lunges or stationary lunges the length of your beach towel. Work the upper body with pushups and reverse planks and the abdominals with crunches on the towel.

Keep reading for more Summer exercise tips from Alex.

The following post was written by the registered dietitians of C & J Nutrition, Stephanie Clarke and Willow Jarosh. We turned to them for their expert advice to answer a FitSugar reader's question on the relationship between diet and skin care.

Hi,
I need some help with my skin and breakouts. Are there any foods you recommend avoiding to decrease acne? Any foods you recommend to improve the quality of my skin overall? Thanks!
— Edible Skin Tricks?

Research is really varied as to how diet may affect acne. You’ll often hear people cite dairy as a cause of acne, but again, research really hasn’t been able to back this up solidly. If you think a specific food might be triggering breakouts, keep a food journal to see if there’s a correlation. According to some researchers, spiked insulin levels from eating too many refined carbs. Sugary, processed foods can cause inflammation in the body (including skin cells) that leads to premature aging and wrinkles. Make sure to choose whole grains and whole grain products, beans, fruit for your carb choices most often.

In general, for the healthiest-looking skin we recommend:

• Not smoking and avoiding spending time around smoke and do wear sunscreen/hats when spending time outside.
• Eat foods rich in antioxidants – they destroy free radicals – research says vitamin C, E, A (beta carotene), and selenium nourish and protect skin, which can help keep it looking better for longer! (P.S. Retin-A, Renova are high potency vitamin A creams.) Here's more on those vitamins.

The following post was written by the registered dietitians of C & J Nutrition, Stephanie Clarke and Willow Jarosh. We turned to them for their expert advice to answer a FitSugar reader's question.

Hi,
I am dealing with some serious bloating issues and it isn't pretty — especially since it's Summer and I plan to hang out in a bikini as much as possible. Can you tell me what foods cause bloating that I should be avoiding? Also, are there any foods out there that alleviate bloating? Thanks!
— Puffy Tummy

When dealing with bloating you need to approach the problems from a couple of different angles to find the source of the problems and figure out what is causing the bloating. A common cause we see with our clients is eating too much, too fast. The remedy for this is to slow down and be more conscious both before and during eating. Don't let yourself get famished between meals — because then you'll want to eat a ton of the first thing you see, quickly. Have a snack in between meals so that you're hungry but still able to make wise portion decisions and slow down at meals. In other words, try eating smaller amounts more often.

If your bloating is PMS-related, skip sodas/carbonated water/etc., as the same bubbles that give carbonated drinks their fizz can enter our digestive tract and cause bloating. Also go easy on salty foods/snacks — too much salt causes our bodies to hold onto water, leading to that puffy feeling of fluid retention. Finally, don't skimp on protein and your meals and snacks. Protein can actually help pull excess water out of your body (especially handy during water-retention prone PMS time).

Keep reading for a few more tips and foods to avoid.

Not only is a nutritional counseling session with C&J Nutrition part of the grand prize for our Get Fit For 2011 giveaway, but the duo of registered dietitians want to help you catch up on your Get Fit For 2011 challenges. These gals have some great advice for giving up a vice, the 10th challenge of the contest. Here are their tips.

Very few people can quit a vice cold turkey. Most of us need some sort of ongoing support to stick with healthy changes until they're ingrained in our life enough to make them permanent. That support comes from many different places — co-workers, family, friends, etc. — but the most important source of support is YOU. Here are a few tips for helping yourself stick with the plan to give up a vice, both immediately and in the longterm.

1. Set goals that are challenging yet attainable. It feels great to meet a goal. It feels even better to struggle a bit and feel challenged and finally meet a goal. On the other hand, it doesn't do you any good to set a goal that is unrealistic for your life. Instead, set a goal that you can achieve but that will challenge you. In order to determine this, ask yourself what it would take on a daily basis to achieve your goal/give up your vice. If your list of daily activities to achieve the goal are things that are feasible with some effort, then it's challenging yet realistic. If your list gives you an ulcer because you're pretty sure you can't (or won't) do most of the things on it consistently, then it's probably not a realistic goal for you right now.
2. Make mini-goals and track them daily. What are the daily habits it will take to make your goal a reality? If you're giving up mindless snacking in front of the TV at night, the daily mini-goals might be: Making a list of things to do other than eating at night and checking it when you feel like snacking; doing exercises in between commercial breaks on TV; putting all food into cabinets and out of sight after a certain time; eating all snacks from a portioned out bowl — not straight from the container. Once you have your mini-goals solidified, write them down, visit them daily, and keep track of your achievements.

Keep reading for two more great tips!

The following post was written by Olympic athlete and mom Kerri Walsh, two-time gold medalist in pairs beach volleyball.

The weather is terrible and you're in no short supply of reasons to stay home and stay away from the gym. Here are some tips to help get you motivated . . .

State your fitness goal. When I'm feeling a little lazy I say out loud, "I want to be the best in the world." Sounds silly but it's true! Whenever I utter this sentence I drop my lazy attitude and fire up for whatever workout awaits!

When you find yourself looking for excuses to get out of your workout, hurry up and get dressed. Tie back your hair, put on your favorite leggings, tank and athletic shoes and start looking the part. Soon enough your mind will follow!

Trade a long, endurance work out for interval and/ or circuit training. My interval and circuit workouts are typically shorter than my mopeds traditional workouts. For example: I had a nasty little workout that absolutely kicked my butt and my lungs and my heart rate and it lasted only 5 minutes and 9 seconds. What was that crazy workout, you ask? I had to do 50 burpee/pull-ups as fast as I could! Yep, I dropped down into push up position, did a push-up, popped up into a squat position then jumped up as high as I could and did a pull-up on the pull-up bar. It was nuts, but so quick and so rewarding!

Be sure to catch up and read all of Kerri's great posts on FitSugar!

The following post was written by C&J Nutrition, a duo of registered dietitians based in NYC and LA, to help you get a handle on this week's Get Fit For 2011 giveaway snacking challenge.

We are big fans of snacking. Why do we love snacks? Our top 3 reasons are . . .

1. Knowing we'll be having a snack in between one meal and the next makes it easier to stop eating a meal when we're "satisfied" versus "full."
2. Snacking keeps us from arriving at meal time ravenous — helping to avoid "grab the first thing I see and eat a lot of it" situations.
3. Snacks help us fit in nutrients we may not otherwise get enough of in our meals. Low on calcium-rich foods in meals? Try yogurt as a snack. Not fitting many veggies into meals? Pair some crudites with hummus. Short on fruit? Dip apple slices into peanut butter.

We're regular snackers and suggest AT LEAST one snack per day to all of our clients. We recommend pairing two of the three main nutrients (carbohydrates, fat, protein) together into a snack. Other than this general premise, we get pretty creative with our snacks and hope you take some of our ideas and give them your own awesome spin.

• Apple slices with peanut buttery dip
• Baby carrots and grape tomatoes with hummus: Pair 1/2 cup grape tomatoes with 1/2 cup baby carrots and 1/4 cup Tribe Origins hummus. (Tribe doesn't use any artificial preservatives!)

Keep on reading for more snack ideas!

I am pleased to introduce North Face athlete and champion rock climber Emily Harrington. Get to know her a bit better by watching this video of her deep water soloing in Mallorca, Spain. Emily will be guest blogging on FitSguar in February!

The Beginnings: Less structure, more diversity
I have been climbing for 14 years, since I was 10 years old. I started at an indoor climbing gym in Boulder that my dad took me to during the summer. I was previously a ski racer and gymnast, but liked climbing because it was a little less structured than team and school sports and more individual-focused. I have always enjoyed how diverse climbing can be. There are countless styles (i.e. outdoors: rock, ice, mountains, etc; and indoors: competitions) and it is a vehicle for traveling. I have been extremely fortunate in my career to be able to travel the world to compete and climb outdoors.

Fave Spots: Near and far
My favorite places to climb are Rifle, Colorado and the Red River Gorge in Kentucky; but I just recently returned from a trip to the Himalayan mountains in Nepal, where I taught Sherpa people climbing safety. The Himalayas offer and very different style of climbing (more big mountains — known as alpinism) that I have not yet explored, but it was one of the most powerful and inspiring places I have ever been to.

Inspiration: Exploration and evolution
I climb because it is more than a sport, it is a lifestyle that is never boring and ever-changing. There is so much to explore in this world through climbing and no challenge is ever the same. It changes and evolves with me as I grow and mature.

Check back next week for more on rock climbing from Emily. If skiing is more your thing, The North Face athlete Kit Deslauriers has tales from the mountains to share too.

Kerri Walsh, two-time gold medalist in pairs beach volleyball, has been guest blogging here at FitSugar and sharing workouts and tips. Today, we learn how to make her fave snack. Kerri was excited to share her favorite cookie recipe with us, since this week's Get Fit For 2011 challenge is to share a recipe.

This simple recipe requires few ingredients and contains no flour! Chocolate is an optional addition — a bonus in my book.


Check out Kerri's recipe

The following post was written by the gals at C&J Nutrition to help you get a handle on this week's Get Fit For 2011 Challenge.

Having healthy go-to recipes that you can quickly depend on to provide tasty, healthy, and simple meals makes healthy eating easy even with a jam-packed schedule. One of our wintry favorites is this super easy turkey chili recipe. It’s the perfect cold-weather comfort food that’s simple enough for a week night meal and tasty enough for a weekend gathering with friends and family — Super Bowl Sunday anyone?

Here are our simple tips to making home-cooked meals healthier:

1. Forget the rules — there aren’t any! What works well for one person may not always be ideal for another, so make up your own rules. When it comes to cooking, you can have breakfast foods for dinner (or vice versa); there’s no need to eat cauliflower if you like broccoli or roasted mushrooms better, and if you get home late . . . it’s OK to cook dinner past 8 o’clock (we promise you won’t gain weight if it’s a healthy meal)! Once you give yourself permission to get creative in the kitchen, cooking can be a lot more fun and a lot less intimidating.
2. Plan for it. Plan your meals for the week, starting with what the focus of each will be. The focus can be based on what’s in season, what’s on sale, your schedule, and what you crave. For instance if you want a couple cereal breakfasts and a couple egg breakfasts; wraps and salads for lunches; and for potential dinners — butternut squash, eggplant, and tilapia are on sale. Start with these meal ideas and then flesh them out in terms of what you’ll need to get in order to prepare them.

Keep reading more healthy cooking tips.

The following post was written by New York-based trainer David Kirsch.

I love wintertime in the city. In fact, as I write this blog, I'm watching yet another winter wonderland outside. The snow makes me yearn for the back bowls of Vail, Colorado, where I have spent many snowy, joyful hours perfecting my slalom turns among other things. Before I hit the slopes, I make sure that my legs, back and core have been conditioned, strengthened and stretched. I particularly like to do the following exercises:

1. Lateral lunges to a reverse lunge. Not only does this strengthen my quads and glutes, but also my adductors (aka inner thighs).
2. Stability ball push-ups/ knee tucks. Here I am not only working my core and upper body but also my lower back.
3. Walking lunges — grab a pair of dumbbells and find an area in your house, office or gym, where you can complete at least 20 walking lunges, turn around and repeat.
4. I would immediately follow those walking lunges with a set of dumbbell squats 15-20 repetitions. Doing these squats right after the lunges will definitely get your heart pumping, increase your cardio capacity, and build much needed endurance in your legs! The quad burn one feels if they are not well conditioned for skiing will no longer exist.

Enjoy, ski safely and remember to wear your helmet!

For more tips, recipes, and workouts, be sure to check out all of David's posts here on FitSugar.

The following post was written by North Face athlete and champion freeskier Kit Deslauriers.

The mountains are always in charge. To approach a mountain with the thought of "conquering" is, in my mind, setting you up for a battle, which often means someone ends up winning, someone losing, and maybe someone even getting hurt. This makes no sense to me, and I think a part of any mountaineers recurring successes can be attributed to working with the mountain more so than against it.

When I talk about awareness and senses and skills, many of these things are cultivated from experience, but there are some tools to the trade that are worthy of sharing with readers here. Before you venture in the backcountry, make sure that you have the appropriate avalanche safety equipment AND know how to use it. The most important piece of technical gear that you will need is an avalanche transceiver. This is a battery powered device worn on the body, which transmits a signal when turned on and in the case of an avalanche, allows rescuers to search for you buried in the snow. The people who will conduct the rescue turn their receivers from transmit to search to begin the process of looking for you, which you hope they will be good and quick at since the likelihood of being uncovered alive goes sharply down after even just 10 minutes of burial.

Other items to have in your backcountry ski pack include:

• A snow shovel (for digging that friend out and also for digging snow pits to learn about the snow pack, or getting your truck out of the ditch!)
• An avalanche probe; this is useful in pinpointing the exact place to dig once the searcher has honed in on the burial location.
• Water and food — be prepared
• Headlamp, you never know
• Extra hat and gloves
• Small medical kit including a space blanket and athletic tape
• Multi-purpose tool
• Cell phone (turn it off when skiing in dangerous terrain as the signal can interfere with an
  avalanche transceiver)

Beyond having your gear and knowing how to use it:

• Remember to ski with a friend, and ski one at a time in avalanche prone terrain.
• Don’t ski in dangerous places during or immediately following a snow storm.

There is no substitute for good judgment, and while that is an acquired skill which takes time, consider taking an avalanche course so you can learn more about snow science. You may just learn enough to feel comfortable out there which the experts will say increases your chances of getting caught in a slide! Stay safe and have fun.

For more mountain time fun, be sure to read all of Kit's posts.

The following post was written by Olympic athlete and mom Kerri Walsh, two-time gold medalist in pairs beach volleyball.

2011 has started off wonderfully! Full of love, laughter, some delirious moments due to lack of sleep (our 2 boys are in quite a rough sleeping stage right now), and a lot of running around trying to make ends meet. It's been a very busy start to the new year; busy in the best way possible.

Preseason has begun for my husband and I, so we are out of our Winter hibernation and full swing into our preparation for the 2011 season and the start of the Olympic qualification process. We are training on the sand three days a week (we will ramp that up in February!), lifting at the O.C. Fast Twitch (our favorite training spot in the world!), practicing Pilates twice a week, and getting ready to start our annual cleanse in a few days — it's on!

I typically have a lengthy list of "resolutions" that I do my best to abide by, but this year I'm going to pass on that. Instead of being inspired by my resolutions I started feeling bogged down by them, so I'm gonna hold off this year. Instead, I have two simple demands I am placing on myself for 2011: 1) slow down 2) drink more water. I feel that if I add these things to my life and daily routine, I'll be a much healthier, happier, and more grounded woman. I guess my "demands" could be seen as resolutions . . . Perhaps now that I'm determined to slow down, I can drink some water and think about it.

My very best wishes for a happy, healthy and fulfilling 2011. Make it great!

Be sure to catch up and read all of Kerri's great posts on FitSugar!

The following post was written by New York-based trainer David Kirsch.

I don’t believe in excuses, as any of my clients will tell you. Believe me, I’ve heard my share over the years. The classic New York reasons for skipping a workout session include rush-hour traffic, gym clothes forgotten, early morning conference calls or last minute business trips, just to name a few.

Those who know me and/or have trained with me know that I always have an answer to these often-used excuses. The response is: "And your point is?"

No (or few) excuses are actually valid. You can get your sweat on anywhere, just as I do. No excuses. Your body is an amazing tool. Push-ups, knee bends, crunches, lunges, shadow boxing, jumping jacks — all can be done with no equipment at all and assuming you have privacy, wearing anything your heart desires.

That said, here are 10 things on my list for creating your own "Wellness Zone" at home or at the office:

1. Shoes — cross trainers that offer a good deal of arch and lateral support.
2. Workout wear — comfortable and loose fitting, but revealing enough that you can see what you are working on.
3. Motivational music.
4. Water to stay hydrated.
5. Towel.
6. Exercise mat for stretching, floor work and abdominal exercises.
7. Stability ball and medicine ball — ideal for abdominal and leg work.
8. Resistance tubing for stretching and strength training.
9. Dumbbells or even water bottles or milk jugs — start with 2-5 pounds.
10. Access to a mirror to check your form every once in a while.

Think you don’t have time for a workout? That’s not a good excuse either! Check out my blog for tips on finding time for fitness.

For more tips, recipes, and workouts, be sure to check out all of David's posts here on FitSugar. Be sure to share images from your fitness life in our Get Fit For 2011 group for a chance to win a $100 Nike gift card.

Flickr User grovesa16

The following post was written by North Face athlete and champion freeskier Kit Deslauriers.

We all know we should take great care of our skin but how to do that when our love of the mountains means exposing our skin to harsh conditions?

My skin care regimen differs depending on if I am at home while preparing for my day in the mountains, or if I am on a 20 day expedition living in a tent and carrying all of my belongings on my back. Here's my basic approach, including a few of my favorite products, for at home and on expedition.

Home Skin Care

• Morning Routine: Wash your face in the morning. I just started using a Clarisonic skin care brush instead of simply my hands to apply a gentle cleanser and I love it! Next a splash of hydrating toner to keep that moisture in, followed by a high potency vitamin C serum since this helps start the day with increased moisture and protection against sun exposure. Top that off with a light lotion and then sunscreen. Always sunscreen! These five steps just shouldn’t be skipped if you want to stay on top of what you’ve got.
• Night Routine: Similar to the morning, start with a gentle cleanse, followed by hydrating toner splash, then some kind of hydrating serum, and lastly apply same lotion as in the morning or a thicker cream if you prefer. Honestly, I like to use a cream in the Winter and a lotion in the Summer.

Learn how teabags can save your skin in the back country.