12 Perfect Products for a Healthier Tailgate

Fall is here and you know what that means: plenty of layers, cooler workouts and football. And, with football comes the inevitable tailgate. While tailgate parties might be known for beer, chicken wings and an assortment of fattening dips and chips, there is no reason you can't keep yours on the healthier side.

SparkSpotlight: Krystin (GOODFELINE)

At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
 
This Week's Spotlight: Krystin (GOODFELINE)
Age: 31
Location: Bellevue, Nebraska 
 
Small Success of the Week
 
For #throwbackthursday, Krystin posted a fabulous before-and-after photo showing her weight loss efforts, with the caption "29 lbs to go!"  

Do Your Part for the Planet With 10 Earth-Friendly Kitchen Items

These days, seeing photos of whales washing up on beaches, stomachs full of plastic waste and other debris seems, sadly, like a regular occurance. Single-use plastics and other trash make up the majority of the pollutants in the ocean and elsewhere. One look out your car window to the side of the highway or other main roads reveals another such place for garbage disposal. And that oddly shaped "hill" with trucks running up and down it? That's your friendly neighborhood landfill, folks, and that small mountain is all your trash.

SparkSpotlight: Meg Marie (PEACELOVENYOGA)

At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
 
This Week's Spotlight: Meg Marie (PEACELOVENYOGA)
Age: 31
Location: West Salem, Ohio
 
Small Success of the Week
 
Meg Marie dropped to less than 300 pounds and is over the moon. She credits her weight loss to her daily yoga practice and determination to dig deeper into her practice and have more energy for her family.

SparkPeople Challenge Winner Trains With Jillian Michaels

When Debbie Morales discovered she won the grand prize after finishing the FitFusion & SparkPeople 28-Day Check-In Challenge, she was shocked. After all, it's not every day you win a trip to train with Jillian Michaels in Los Angeles.

But win it, she did. In order to be eligible for the grand prize, Debbie had to complete 28 straight days of workouts with the FitFusion trainers via their on-demand video series. Tailored especially for SparkPeople, these workouts could be completed at home on almost any device in 10-, 20- and 30-plus-minute time frames. The challenge cycled through workouts that targeted the entire body—buns and thighs; chest, arms and back; and abs and core. The FitFusion challenge also included built-in rest days.

Master Meatless Meals With These 10 Vegetarian Cookbooks

Anyone else enjoy reading cookbooks for fun? I can't be the only one. I sometimes read them cover-to-cover like a good non-fiction novel. Words like, "macerate," "baste," "caramelize," "deglaze" and "julienne" make my mouth water as my fingers reach out for the chef's knife. There's something so special to me about creating something out of nothing—especially when that something is delicious.
 
Because there are plenty of cookbooks out there with fabulous, good-for-you recipes, it's easy to overlook the ones that are free of meat. However, adding a plant-based meal or two (or three) from time to time to your meal rotation can help lower your cholesterol and your risk for heart disease, among other benefits. That doesn't mean you have to become a vegetarian to enjoy meals without the meat, though—you can begin by replacing just one meal a week with a vegetarian option and go from there. After a few veggie-packed meals, you might even surprise yourself with how much you don't miss the meat and opt to go meatless more often.
 
To get you started, we've rounded up ten of our favorite vegetarian cookbooks we think you'll love.

Spark Spotlight: Maricela (CHELAGETSFIT)

SparkSpotlight CHELAGETSFIT
 
At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
 
This Week's Spotlight: Maricela (CHELAGETSFIT)
Age: 35
Location: Wasco, California
 
Small Success of the Week
 
Maricela took a walk during her morning break, logging 22 minutes, 1.3 miles and burning 106 calories. "That felt good!" she says.

8 Yoga Essentials That Instructors Can't Live Without

Yoga is a practice that's been around for thousands of years. While there are different forms of yoga, the basic principles apply to each method: focus on your breathing, postures, flexibility and meditation. Many yogis practice for the spiritual aspect of the process, as it links your mind and body as you work through the postures and learn to breathe with intent.

Even if yoga seems intimidating, the great thing about it is that anyone can do it, at any level. However, if you're brand new to yoga or want to take your practice up a notch, there are products that yoga instructors swear by that can help get you in the zone and feel more comfortable while you work through your flow.

SparkSpotlight: GROWINGSOUL

At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
 
This Week's Spotlight: Jessice (GROWINGSOUL)

Age: 30

Location: Kenosha, Wisconsin
 
Small Success of the Week
 
Jessice made a small choice that had a big impact—she left her car at home and walked to and from work. The extra walking time put her at more than 10,000 steps for the day! 

Spark Spotlight: Kathryn (CHANGING-TURTLE)

At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
 
This Week's Spotlight: Kathryn (CHANGING-TURTLE)
Age: 62
Location: Sacramento, California
 
Small Success of the Week
 
Sometimes success can be as simple as making a plan and sticking to it. For Kathryn, she did just that. On her husband's birthday, she made a plan to have one thin slice of cake and a small bowl of ice cream and not go back for seconds—and she did it! 

Spark Spotlight: Linzy (LINZY7)

At SparkPeople, we love helping people accomplish big goals—but we believe it's equally important to celebrate the small successes along the way. Each week in the Spark Spotlight, we'll check in with a featured member about his or her proudest moments, biggest challenges and advice for others on living, thinking and feeling healthier. We hope these quick snapshots will help motivate you to keep moving steadily toward your own goals, week by week.
 
This Week's Spotlight: Linzy (LINZY7)
Age:  26
Location: Midlothian, Virginia
 
Small Success of the Week
 
Linzy is proud of how much she's accomplished in one year and shared her amazing "before" and "after" photos on the Community Feed. In addition, she stated her optimism toward her weight-loss journey by saying "It’s never too late to change your life."

Discover Amazing Fitness Deals at These 5 Discount Department Stores