Golfview Elementary School in Community School District 300 is officially “Gold with Distinction” after taking the Healthier US School Challenge. Alicia Keys and JayZ contribute their congratulations!
The Rockstar Nutritionist Performs (and Works Out) at Parisi Speed School
May 10, 2010 by Leave a Comment
The Rocktar Nutritionist Performs (and Works Out) at Parisi Speed School
In April, the Jump with Jill show took over the lush indoor fields of Parisi speed school in Fair Lawn, NJ for a FREE public performance. Check out photos from the event on my Facebook page. The show was the kickoff for a series of sports nutrition workshops to be held May 11, June 14 and July 1. (Sign up HERE!) In preparation for the show and workshops, I worked out with Director of Training, Steve Leo.
First, there’s the warm-up. Rather than the static stretches I had endured throughout my running career, this warm-up could be a work out itself– Sprints! Jumping jacks! Leg lifts! Squats! This dynamic, active stretch prepared my nervous system AND my muscles. Even after being pounded by a professional, I was not sore. I have since added this magic pill to my daily exercise routine.
Parisi’s specializes in training athletes to reach their potential, working with athletes as young as seven and as advanced as NFL and Olympic hopefuls. Indeed, the state of the art facility had me inspired to do something amazing with my body. Let’s see how I did.
Jill's Vertical Jump
The Vertical Jump is the rawest form of measuring leg strength– the higher the jump, the stronger the legs . For the NFL, this helps measure an athlete’s explosiveness. At the NFL Combine, the average NFL hopeful jumps between 34-36″. To put into perspective just how ridiculously powerful an NFL athletes legs are, The Rockstar Nutritionist jumped 16″.
Jill Takes Down the Tred Sled
Next I took down the Tred Sled. Unlike a regular motorized tred mill, the Tred Sled is self-propelled, helping soccer and football athletes build acceleration and speed endurance.
Pull Ups Use My Body Weight for Strength (and making me wish like I weighed less!)
Steve made sure that we were doing exercises that used both my body weight and free weights. Using your own body weight for sprint and stability exercises builds body control for agility and power from the core. Check me out here doing pull-ups and sprints. Of equal importance is using weights, which allows isolation of muscles and full body strength training.
Jill at the Bench Press
Yeah, that’s me benching up a storm. I felt invincible with my 60 lbs, and my newly discovered proper way of doing it. Until I realized that NFL Combine standard is 225 lbs as many times as possible, serving as a measure of strength and endurance. Quarterback Brady Quinn did 24 at the 2007 NFL Combine.
Hope you can join us for our upcoming sports nutrition workshops.
Sincerely,
Jacked Jill Jayne
Jimmie Mac Benefit in Southampton, Friday Feb 5, 2010
January 25, 2010 by Leave a Comment
I spent thursday and friday last week in Southampton working with sixth graders at Southampton Intermediate School. I was returning after my performance in the fall, so the staff and students were very familiar with my messages and style.
Teacher Karen MacWhinnie sought me out to share with me a life changing event that brought my messages for health and nutrition to fruition.
Karen’s triathlete brother, James MacWhinnie, was critically injured in December while helping his father remove an oil tank from his parent’s home. When the step beneath him gave way, Jimmy was trapped beneath the stairwell as the oil tank crushed him and lacerating his liver. After a series of serious surgeries, 60% of Jimmy’s liver and his gallbladder were removed and his respiratory system was repaired.
MacWhinnie, an employee at Core Dynamics Gym in Water Mill and a triathlon athlete who twice competed in the grueling Ironman race, held on despite trauma that would certainly have killed someone less physically fit.
Doctors, family, and co-workers are convinced that Jimmy’s physical fitness level and healthy habits allowed his body to fight the trauma and the surgeries.
Karen has taken this all to heart, and has since become committed to eating healthier and exercising. She has already lost six pounds this January as she competes in the faculty “Biggest Loser.” She signed up for her first half marathon and will run this summer in her brother’s honor.
Through the horror of Jimmy’s accident comes an incredible story of recovery that has become an inspiration for everyone around him.
Jimmy was without health insurance, so despite his recovery, he is still hurting. Karen and friends are throwing a benefit dinner for Jimmy in Southampton on Friday, February 5, from 7 to 10 p.m. at the old Polish Hall on Elm Street in Southampton. The evening will feature appetizers, dessert, drinks, a DJ, Chinese auction and 50/50 raffle. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased through JamesMacWhinnieFund.com. All proceeds go directly to the James MacWhinnie Fund.
Donations may also be sent, check payable to the James MacWhinnie Fund, to c/o Hamptons State Bank, 243 Windmill Lane, Southampton, New York 11968.
Contact [email protected] for more information.
Jimmy Mac “Strength. Love. Courage” bracelets can be purchased for $5.
A Day at Work
January 5, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Let me tell you about a recent day performing for America’s youth (pull up a chair):
5 AM Awaken to the film crew staked literally outside my door to film the show “Mercy”.
6 AM Arrive at the parking garage to pick up car, only to realize I forgot my car keys.
6:20 AM Return with the car keys, but realize I cannot remember where I parked. I begin dry heave crying as I walk the garage stabbing my beeper for my car to show itself.
6:30 AM Find my car on the second floor and drive the hour to my school in New Jersey.
7:45 AM Arrive at the school and begin unloading equipment.
8 AM The principal tells me that I am actually in the wrong school and I react accordingly.
9 AM Deep into the show, when I am between sentences and it is totally silent, a second grader farts longly and loudly. I cannot laugh, or scold, or comment, for fear of drawing any more attention than it already had. The teachers cackled in the aisles and I had to just keep talking about drinking water.
The following week, the story on the show runs, with a huge picture of me on the front page. Normally this would make me very excited, except this photo looks like I am positioned to take a big dump on the front page.
In conclusion, I have decided that farts are always funny no matter how old you are, and my job is a lot harder than it looks.
Santa Claus is Coming to Town (with Sock Puppets)
December 26, 2009 by Leave a Comment
How does the Rockstar Nutritionist spend her holidays? Enjoy a performance from two talented sock puppets and my cousin Morgan, featured here singing the Christmas favorite, “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town.”
Have a Healthy Holiday and a Fruitful New Year!
December 24, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Wishing you a healthy holiday & fruitful New Year!
Thank you for making 2009 such an exciting year!! I just returned from spending 2 weeks of my normally frigid December in Florida, where I performed Jump with Jill and I Will Not Be Bought for audiences in Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach, and Port Charlotte. My body was in total shock from the high temperatures and humidity. I walked around town in flip flops while Christmas carols played and shoppers bustled to get their last minute holiday gifts. It just felt like the wrong time of year to be so festive! I loved this picture with the palm tree in front of the Christmas tree in South Beach, Miami.
Turkey Baby
December 13, 2009 by Leave a Comment
You might know that I’m a professional foodie, but what you might not know is that I was literally born into this career choice. The year that I was born, my mom enjoyed two Thanksgiving dinners, at each respective grandparent-to-be’s households. Feeling like she had had a little too much to eat was instead labor pains and I was born the day after Thanksgiving at 8 AM. I love that my birthday so often falls on or around this holiday because it involves close family and friends, delicious food, and allows me to have a huge say in how and where we spend my holiday.
Somehow I managed to convince my parents that walking three miles in coordinated jumpsuits on national TV pulling a large fictitious creature would be a great way to spend Thanksgiving/my birthday. And indeed, we now have an annual Thanksgiving tradition to celebrate my birth in true New York City style; we are balloon handlers in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. This year we were handlers on the “Blue Elf,” one of three elves that have immediately preceded Santa for decades. We lined up outside the New Yorker hotel at 6 AM Thanksgiving Day, and were all suited up in jumpsuits that all make us look like convicts. My 6’4” father is always given a suit that is not
long enough, and my mom and I always have a mother-daughter moment as we stand there laughing through tears as he tries to unsuccessfully stuff himself into it. As we made our way out to the buses at 34th Street at 7 AM, we were among a sea of other costumed characters: a spool of thread, a movie usher, a large man dressed in a diaper, a group of Rubik’s Cubes. We arrived at 72nd Street to greet our balloons that are inflated, but strapped to the ground by nets that makes them look like beached whales on a fisherman’s ship, or since we are outside of the Natural History Museum, something from “A Night at the Museum” with Ben Stiller.
As the parade is announced at 9 AM, each balloon entered the parade. We removed the netting, and eased our little elf into the air. We worked as a team to make him dance for all the passersby on the street, and pressed up against the glass on the Central Park West apartment windows. Lastyear, we were on Beethoven, a huge St. Bernard Puppy that made us each bear about 100 lbs of force when the wind blew. There were 70 balloon handlers to keep him on the ground. On this much smaller balloon, there were only 12 handlers and with almost no wind on this day, it was a breeze to walk him the three miles to Macy’s Department Store.
By 1 PM the parade was over, and we had returned all suits and hats. We parked ourselves in the local pub until we were good and ready to return home to start mushing the mashed potatoes. We enjoyed a colossal Thanksgiving dinner in my neighbor’s Jersey City apartment with about 15 friends and family and a 30 lb turkey. I was asleep by 9 PM. Every year is the best birthday ever and it’s wonderful to share this experience with all of you! Happy Holidays!
Jill debuts as a Maybelline model
November 11, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Before I became a full-time Rockstar Nutritionist, I took side work as a promotional model,campusing this fine city with my fliers, Vanna White wave, and khaki pants. As my company has grown, I’ve taken next to none of this kind of work. But I stay on the lists, just in case my company implodes and I need work, or better, something really ego boosting comes through. On one fine day in September, that ego booster came through: a casting notice for a model for Maybelline commercial–with a 5’10” minimum height requirement. I was SO in.
“I have arrived!,” I thought to myself with glee. Not only is my business growing so big that I don’t even have time to hand out fliers that no one wants, I was kind of the next Halle Berry. I admired my stats, practicing in my head the new verbiage that would describe me: Jill Jayne, Rockstar Nutritonist—ridiculously good looking.
The day of the shoot, they divided us all by height. The 5’5” girls were all put into pink dresses with ruffly, white camisoles and green ballet slippers. Their hair was curled into Farrah Faucet flips and their faces carefully crafted by make-up professionals. All the 5’10” girls were given sweat bands and ice packs. And told not to wear make-up so we didn’t sweat it into our eyes.
I was not a model in the traditional sense; I was cast as the Maybelline Great Lash Bigmascara bottle. I danced through the streets of New York City for nearly 6 hours, featuring my elbows and shins on the Times Square Jumbotron. I specialized in “All the Single Ladies” by Beyonce and though I had limited mobility because of the armholes, I put my hands up!
My head is now back to regular size after wearing that costume.
GIVEAWAY:
I have one free bottle of Great Big Lash Mascara from the event, and a $1 off coupon. To enter:
–Comment on this blog. Please leave your email address so I can contact you for your snail mail address to receive it!
–Tweet this post on your Twitter feed using @jilljayne: Jill debuts as a Maybelline Model: http://jumpwithjill.com/jwj/node/142. Please be sure you are following me so I can direct message you for your snail mail address!
Winner will be selected at random November 11, 2009.
Healthy Zucchini Bread Recipe: Replace Oil & Sugar with Low Fat Yogurt
September 25, 2009 by Leave a Comment
One of the most deceiving foods of the season are the breads and cakes that contain a vegetable, my favorites being pumpkin and zucchini bread. With the abundance of zucchini still available at the market until the first frost, baking it into bread is a great way to “keep it” through the winter.
But if you’ve made zucchini bread yourself, you know that it’s not exactly the healthiest choice—full of fat and sugar with a small amount of zucchini. At about 350 calories per large slice, this was not what I had in mind.
After receiving a boatload of garden-fresh zucchini from one of my favorite PE teachers of all times—Chissy Matz at Portville Elementary, Portville, NY—I took on healthy zucchini bread as my quest. I had heard about using applesauce as a substitute for oil, but I didn’t want an apple flavor in my zucchini bread. So I decided to get creative.
–I replaced 1 cup of oil, 2 cups of sugar, and the call for vanilla with 4 cups of lowfat vanilla yogurt. This also eliminated the need for vanilla extract. All this reduced the sugar per serving by about 20 grams!
–I also replaced 3 cups of regular flow with whole wheat flour to add fiber.
–I tripled the amount of zucchini. This won’t affect the calories much, but it will increase the fiber and the flavor.
–I reduced the amount of walnuts used so we’d still get the flavor, but not as many calories.
GRAND TOTAL: 190 calories per large slice.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Bowl 1: Mix Together6 well beaten eggs1 cup olive or vegetable oil2 cups of granulated sugar1 quart of lowfat vanilla yogurt (or 4 cups) (you need some fat, so don’t replace with fat free)6 cups of grated zucchini1/2 cup walnuts (recipe calorie calculations include walnuts)
Bowl 2: Mix Together
3 cups of wheat flour
3 cups of baking flour
1 T baking powder
1 T baking soda
2 T nutmeg
2 T cinnamon
Mix dry ingredients into wet. Fill 4 greased and floured loaf pans ¾ full. Bake for 45 min-1 hour, or until knife comes out clean. Let stand in pan for 10 minutes before removing.
Makes 4 delicious loaves.
Kristy’s Birthday Surprise!
August 19, 2009 by Leave a Comment
The average meal travels approximately 1500 miles from farm to table. In this video blog, I take matters into my own hands as we trekked from Buffalo to New York City with a jar of sauce for my Buffalo-native friend and colleague, Kristy Napora. But is wasn’t easy. Now back in my home state of New York, I tried to control the mob as they stormed me for autographs and demanded photo opportunities.
After leaving Vermont, we entered New York State at Ticonderoga for another Jump with Jill show. I was welcomed with a poster the size of a football field that each child literally had a “hand” in creating! At the end of the show, shown here at the beginning of this video, I filmed the kids showing off their hard work. They were one of the most attentive, responsive audiences I have ever performed for, and I owe that to PE teacher Michele Eicher for slathering on the hype of my celebrity status.
In all my speaking engagements to adults, I talk about the importance of role modeling in how we eat, exercise, and discuss our bodies. Telling kids to eat healthy is one thing, but to eat healthy foods in front of them and with them raises the bar for those expectations. Same with exercise. Play with your kids! Demonstrate and do exercise with them! I also include positive body talk in this role model category. Adults should talk about their bodies in positive ways, and focus on the functionality of the body rather than just the focus on beauty. Afterall, the body is more for just looking at, it’s for DOING! Don’t let your kids bash their bodies, or the bodies of people they know or see on TV. Overweight kids take a lot of heat for their weight. Encourage kids to like or dislike personality traits not someone’s size.
Body dissatisfaction among women is so common that the desire to be thinner despite how thin you actually are is now normal. Rodin, Silberstein, & Striegel-Moore called this ‘normative discontent’ in 1985. Basically they said it’s normal to hate your body. It is assumed that people who don’t hate their bodies are self-obsessed and pretentious. We know much more about this now than in the 80’s. We know that body dissatisfaction starts very young and increases with age, particularly among women.
• 21% of 5-year-old girls report concerns about their weight (Davison, Markey, & Birch, 2000).
• In a study of third graders, 26% of boys and 35% of girls reported wanting to lose weight, and 17% of boys and 24% of girls reported dieting to lose weight (Robinson et al., 2001).
• 55% of girls and 35% of boys of 8- to 10-year-olds, were dissatisfied with their size (Wood, Becker, & Thompson, 1996), and 50% of 8- to 12-year-old girls want to be thinner, while 40% have attempted to lose weight (Rolland, Farnill, & Griffiths, 1997).
• About one-third of adolescent boys desire a thinner body size, and another one-third desire a larger and more muscular body. Similarly, estimates of the number of boys who engage in weight loss strategies range from 21.5 to 50%, and the number of boys who are trying to gain body bulk ranges from 21.2 to 53.8% (McCabe & Ricciardelli, 2001).
Michele not only role modeled healthy habits, but had high expectations for her students as audience members. With video games and ipods, kids are not used to seeing entertainment in 3D and it was clear Michele took the time to explain to the kids that I was a real live person with ears and would be able to hear side conversations during the performance. With all this support from teachers and commitment from the students, I can truly become the ultimate role model for healthy habits. It was an honor to be so celebrated. There was so much love in the room for all that I had created and all the kids got to experience. It was a true performance, and for many of the students, it was their first live show ever. It was an experience to remember for us all.
Onward! Next, we spoke at a conference in Lake Chautauqua where organizers name the breakout groups in my honor: Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n Roll. They started the day with my nutrition rock, then on to teen pregnancy prevention, and drug abuse. I am very proud of their non-square behavior and realistic discussions that kids are going to do “stupid stuff”. As educators, how can we prevent the consequences of kids’ actions from being life altering?
Onto Buffalo, we stopped at the HSBC arena where Mark oogled at things he couldn’t afford from the players he loves. We enjoyed something between lunch and dinner at the world famous Chef’srestaurant. Known for their star-studded guests, they were in for a real treat with the Rockstar Nutritionist. Imagine me among the walls with Robby Takac from the Goo Goo Dolls, Regis Philbin, Jerry Springer, and scores of Buffalo Sabers and Bills. I got my picture taken with the sauce and hope that this video helps show them that I am kind of famous, if only to 8-year-olds. Chef’s is famous for their spaghetti parmesan—a crème brulee of pasta dishes where the cheese is torched to seal in the pasta like something from the volcanic era. The experience is so intense, the restaurant provides all patrons with a napkin that doubles as a bib. This is where the sauce begins its journey back to New York City in time to celebrate Kristy’s birthday at the beginning of June in the Meatpacking District.
