The Celebrity Trainer That Loves Philly

Catch up with Bravo star Jackie Warner as she chats about her new book, Philly, and her local fight to cure psoriasis

The National Psoriasis Foundation is hosting the Walk to Cure Psoriasis at the Philadelphia Zoo this Saturday, May 15, from 8am to 11am. I had the chance to chat with Bravo star and celebrity trainer Jackie Warner about why she’s partnered with NPF, her awesome new book, This Is Why You’re Fat (And How to Get Thin Forever), what she loves about Philadelphia, and the two junk foods she goes for when she wants a treat. Read our Q&A below, and get out there and walk this weekend!

BE WELL GIVEAWAY: Oh, and if you can’t wait to check out her new book, email me 100 words or less on what you do to stay fit in Philly by Monday, May 24th, for a chance to win a free copy of her new book. Five lucky winners will be selected randomly.

How did you get involved in the National Psoriasis Program?
I helped develop a health program for the National Psoriasis Program; it’s called Fit In Your Skin. It really is a comprehensive program. If you go to Fitinyourskin.com, you’ll get a free DVD where I created a workout program for people suffering with psoriasis and I give a lot of nutritional tips from my new book. It really gets people started in thinking about health and wellness in regards to their disorder.

Why did you feel drawn to the cause?
My grandmother had psoriasis and I watched a very vivacious and outgoing women really change in personality when she got this and she wouldn’t leave the house when she had her flare-ups which would last for months at a time and she was just very embarrassed by the condition. And back then there was no treatment for it really. So it affected our family, so of course when they came to me I was jumping at the chance to work with them.

What do you want people to know about psoriasis or why you want them to get out there this weekend for the walk?
There are 7.5 million people living with this chronic, autoimmune disease that presents itself in red, scaly plaques. Not only is this disease physically and emotionally debilitating, but there is research that shows people living with psoriasis are at risk for other diseases like heart disease, obesity and depression. People need to know that Fit in Your Skin is a great, first-of-its-kind program that helps people manage their overall health by addressing three key areas: fitness, diet and nutrition, and emotional well-being. Like I mentioned before, I watched my grandmother isolate herself for many years because she was embarrassed by her appearance – I think it’s important for people living with this disease, and those indirectly impacted, to get out in their communities and raise awareness as best they can.

So, I know you were just in Philly to promote the walk. Have you been here before?
No, it was my very first time and I walked around a little bit and just kind of, by myself, and it’s a beautiful, beautiful city. I only had one day to myself though.

Where did you go? Did you check out any of the restaurants?
Well I did go to Raw, the sushi restaurant, I went there and ate sushi, which I love, and I stayed at the Ritz Carlton. I don’t even know the section of town that that’s in, but I kind of walked around that section of the street and looked at all the shops, its really kind of a progressive city and it was a lot of fun.

So do you want to tell me a little bit about your new book? It sounds great.
Yeah absolutely. It’s called This is Why You’re Fat (And How to Get Thin Forever ), and this book took me about a year and two months to write. It was definitely a passion project, I wrote everyday after work, I sat down and wrote for two solid hours every day for that solid year of time. This book really addresses what is making America fat, and it’s very simple and easy to follow. There are three factors that are making America fat. One is hormone imbalance, physically estrogen dominance is a real issue in this country because of processed food, you know, having a diet so high in processed foods. And if we know anything about estrogen, we know we don’t want to be estrogen dominant because we carry extra weight, specifically around the mid section and the hips. Number two is organ toxicity, so our organs are toxic, specifically our liver, adrenal glands, and thyroid glands. So I give a lot of tips on how to clean up and detoxify the organs. And number three is sugar addiction. Sugar is in every food that we consume since childhood, it is in everything. So you may not know you’re an addict, but trust me, if you live here in America, you are. And so I address those three issues very specifically in the book and give fat burning and balancing foods to start incorporating in you diet.

How is it different from other diet books on the market?
What’s unique about this program is that for the first two weeks of the diet, is I don’t take anything out of your daily routine, I actually add certain foods that you must eat every day just to balance and naturally lose weight. Some of those foods are one cup of oatmeal, two eggs—and that means including the yolks, which contains lecithin, which is a major fat burner—and three liters of water with lemon juice. The lemon juice is a liver detoxifier and is very important, and it also speeds up your metabolism by 33%, which is significant. And you know, foods like avocado which is a really, really good fat burning fat, you want the good fats in your diet. An apple, which contains pectin, which is a major fat burner. So you get it, I incorporate certain foods before I take anything out of your diet. But the truth of this book is the culmination of every secret and tip I’ve ever learned in my career and it’s all in there.

So basically all the things you share with your famous clients, everyone can get now?
Yes, absolutely. People pay $400 an hour to sit with me and workout with me and it’s all in there, it’s all in the book so it’s really, really worked well.

Are there also work out programs?
Oh yeah, absolutely. I am a trainer so that has to be a large part of the book. What I do is I say it’s not how long it’s how strong. So I give these combinations of power surges where people can combine these basic exercises for a maximum, maximum burn. So that’s in terms of strength training, mostly using your own body resistance, so it’s easy to do. You don’t need a lot of equipment, number one. And I combine it and show you exactly, examples of what you should be doing daily so you don’t get tired of the program, number one. Number two is I believe in high intensity interval training, so I give you a 20-minute cardio program to start you off especially in these first two weeks when you’re adding food, you also start priming your body and doing the 20 minutes of cardio everyday and it’s called high intensity interval training, and my book is extremely unique because I apply that style of training to every piece of cardio equipment that’s known in the gym or even outside of the gym so swimming, biking, if you’re a climber, elliptical, so it gives you a lot of options.

So with all this sugar-cutting and eating the whole foods, what do you crave when you’re going to take a night off?
I love pizza and ice cream, if only I could eat pizza and ice cream everyday. [Laughs] If I want a treat I’m probably going to learn towards something like that. But I’m going to be honest with you, I eat such a clean diet that I don’t really have a desire for them often. I’ve broken the sugar addiction in my brain.

What else is in the pipeline that you’re excited about?
Well I’ve got my show that I’m filming right now, that’s in production, and it’s going to be on Bravo. It’s called Thintervention, and that’s you know, I’ve completely thrown myself into. This is a life-change show where I take seven individuals and I take them through a life changing journey through the course of eight weeks. Its something different, nobody has ever seen this style of show before, we really address the entire person and it’s pretty intensive and just a fun, fun show, too.