Jada Pinkett Smith is an all around “do it all” woman. She juggles her own successful career as well as being a wife to the famous, Will Smith, and mother to three children. She not only is a super woman, she looks like one too. How, you ask? Because she keeps fitness and nutrition in the forefront of her and her family’s lifestyle. Read on to find out how she does it.

Jada makes nutrition an integral part of her family’s life. Even though the Smiths are a busy crew (remember Will Smith is a very famous actor and rapper, Jada has her own successful acting career. Add to that daughter Willow’s emerging career as a singer and son Jaden’s success in movies), they still make family dinner a priority. Studies show that family’s that eat together have healthier attitudes toward food and nutrition. She also enforces this basic but important rule for her kids: “I tell them, You have three bottles of water a day, then drink what you want.” This rule in fact does help one lose weight and maintain their health. It is one rule I would recommend if you want to lose weight or just improve your family’s overall health! Some other key things Jada does is to eat a protein rich diet and low GI foods, such as grilled chicken or fish and apples with peanut butter. Finally, Jada does not eat any junk food! This one may be tough for most but if you start by slowly eliminating junk food, over time, you can in fact eliminate those foods from your diet.

As for Jada’s exercise plan, she used to hit the gym and do a lot of weight lifting and cardio. However, she told Cookie magazine that that type of workout no longer motivates her. So, she changed it up – this is key to losing or maintaining weight! If you get bored with your exercise routine, DON’T STOP exercising…Rather, switch it up. Jada chose to move to doing a lot of outside sports. On her Christmas vacation, she focused on cross-country skiing. She also likes to hike and do yoga. Jada admits that sometimes it is very difficult to make it to a yoga class so she will opt for doing yoga at her home and even includes her kids in when exercising. She said, my kids like to join me when I do my fitness exercises. We do a lot of yoga exercises together. It is part of our connection time so I am killing a couple of birds with one stone.” One more thing it does is show kids the importance of exercise and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Bravo, Mrs. Smith!

The Brown Fat Revolution diet plan was created by plastic surgeon, James Lyons, MD. He asserts that fat can be good. Yes folks! Fat can be good – the right kind of fat. The right kind of fat can keep you looking younger and even provide you with a slim, toned physique. The key is consuming “good fat.” Dr. Lyons essentially color codes fat. The bad fat is called yellow fat. This is the fat in our body that stores all those extra calories. The good fat is called brown fat and is found in smaller amounts in your body. Brown fat, he asserts, actually burns calories to generate body heat. So, how do you reduce the yellow fat and increase the brown fat in your body? Dr, Lyons asserts that by following his four week diet and exercise plan will help you achieve that goal. What you will do during these four weeks is alternate days where you take in high-carb and high-protein. Dr. Lyons claims that alternating the carb and protein levels will control blood sugar levels thus preventing yellow fat from accumulating. He writes, “When you eat high-fiber, low-glycemic index carbs, you manage insulin [and] blood sugar levels and prevent overeating, which in turn reduces yellow fat deposits and increases brown fat.” You will also exercise 20 minutes a day, focusing on your core muscles, using bungee cords and light weights. This helps build lean muscle, boost metabolism which he says will also help convert yellow fat to brown fat.

The guiding principles of The Brown Fat Revolution diet are:
-You eat 6 times a day to maintain optimal metabolism levels
-Alternate “carb days” with “protein days.” Carb days include consuming grains, starchy veggies, high-carb fruits and small amounts of protein. Protein days include consuming protein, low-fat dairy, non-starchy veggies, low-carb fruits and healthy fats.
-Recommends using Glycemic Index to choose the best types of carbs like fruits, veggies, whole grains and Legumes.
-Recommendations for protein includes lean meats, poultry, seafood, eggs, soy, legumes, nuts, low fat dairy, and eggs.
-You are encourages to eat before and after every workout.
-You are encourages to eat a variety of foods but to keep the portions reasonable and drink plenty of liquids.
-You are allowed a “choice day” once a week but must keep your caloric consumption at 2,000 calories.

Another message from this diet is to keep processed foods, artificial sweeteners, colors and preservatives at a minimum. Also daily multivitamin/mineral supplement are recommended as well.

Alicia Keys has tried several diets including the master cleanse diet plan (a diet plan where for 10 days you are only allowed to ingest a “lemonade mixture”). However, she found that too difficult to stick to this diet plan. She has since found success on the 5 Factor Diet Plan by the celeb fitness trainer, Harley Pasternak. She has said that this plan is easy to follow because you’re never hungry….On this diet plan, you eat 5 meals per day (see my review of this diet plan). Keys praises the diet plan saying it is addicting because she feels amazing and tells us that it is the best diet plan for anyone wishing to lose weight, maintain their current weight or just eat right and healthy. Keys has also decided to give up fast food (after watching a documentary, “Food Inc.”). However, she is not ready to give up her one weakness – bread. Keys said, “Delicious, warm soft bread is an indulgence of mine.” Hey, it’s all good – so long as it is in moderation!

As for her exercise plan, Keys hits the gym 4 – 5 times a week. In order to keep from getting bored, she also does a lot of running, switches up her cardio exercises, biking, rowing and hits the exercise machines. One of the exercises Harley Pasternak has Keys do to burn maximum calories is the following: Exercise with only one arm or one leg at a time when strength training with exercise equipments such as dumbbells. This way, while you’re resting one side of your body, you’ll keep the other side going strong. Your heart will also have to keep pumping hard through your entire fitness training exercise, which means that you’ll actually burn more calories overall.