I heard that carbs are bad.

Let's talk carbohydrates.

I was talking to another lady who I volunteer with today, and she had a cleanse drink with her. We started talking about cleanses, and the conversation ended up something like this:

Lady: I heard that your body can produce it's own carbohydrates, so I don't need to eat them. Carbs are bad, they make me fat.
Me: noooo.... your body can't produce carbohydrates.
Lady: Yeah it can! So it's ok to do a Master Cleanse for weeks.
Me: oh god... no, your body can produce glucose from fat and protein. But it's incredibly inefficient, and can lead to really major health problems. Plus you'll probably have some major vitamin deficiencies from not eating for weeks...
Lady: I guess, but I'd still lose weight, right?
Me: *cringe*

Oh, it makes my ears bleed! There are SO many people out there who think that carbs are evil and make you gain weight, and that therefore reducing or eliminating carbs is the best thing ever.
SERIOUSLY???

Let's talk.

What's the deal with carbs?
Carbohydrates break down into glucose when you digest them. Depending on the type of carbohydrate, it may break down faster or slower (e.g. complex carbs, like whole grains, versus simple carbs, like table sugar). Carbohydrates also includes fibre, which is super important to help material get moving through your digestive tract. Soluble fibre can also reduce blood cholesterol!

Why do I need carbs?
Glucose is the body's main source of energy. Your brain ALONE needs 100g of carbohydrate daily just to maintain normal function, let alone everything else your body needs to do (heartbeat, breathing, voluntary muscle movement). This is why things like the Atkins diet scare the crap out of me - I've heard tell that the diet cuts participants down to about TWENTY grams of carbs per day. That's the equivalent of about 1/2 a banana.

But carbs make me fat.
No. An excess of ANY macronutrient will make you fat. Carbs are not the only thing to blame. You could cut carbs entirely out of your life and eat nothing but fat and protein, and still gain weight if you're eating more than you need. All three can be converted to body fat if consumed in excess. A diet that is well balanced, including adequate carbohydrates, will help you to lose/maintain your weight.

What if I don't eat carbs?
A couple of things can happen. As I mentioned, your body can produce glucose from fat and protein, but it's incredible inefficient. From the fat cells in your body, only about 5% of the triglyceride molecule can actually be used to make glucose. With protein, the deamination of a protein also frees up pieces of the molecule. The rest of the molecules are left unused, and can cause some major health problems. Those extra fatty acids and amino acids produce ketone bodies, and when produced in excess (i.e. you're relying entirely on fat and protein for glucose), the number of ketone bodies gets out of control and can lead to ketoacidosis. This condition lowers the pH of the blood making it more acidic, and can be FATAL.

Another major issue - the body doesn't store protein like it does with fat (remember, excess protein is stored as fat, not as protein). Protein that is in the body is active, being used as muscle tissue, hormones, enzymes, bone, and other major functions. So, by taking protein away from it's regular function to make glucose, you could be taking away some major body functions. Not to mention wasting muscle tissue, increasing risk of osteoporosis and reducing your ability to metabolize anything else you eat since you won't have functional enzymes.

Oh, and since you won't be consuming much/any fibre, you'll probably be pretty constipated too. Fun!

So yeah, you'll lose weight. But then you might die. Just saying...

I don't want to be constipated/wasting away/osteoporotic/dead! How much carbohydrate do I need?

The recommendation in Canada is that 45-65% of your total caloric intake should be from carbohydrates. In particular, it emphasizes focusing on complex carbohydrates, such as veggies, fruit and whole grains, and limiting the simple sugars and added sugar.

How's School Going?

I get this question a lot. I am so in love with my program and all the amazing stuff I'm learning, despite how swamped with readings/assignments/essays/craziness I have been all semester. And today, I received some new and exciting news to make me love it even more!

I have just been accepted into an international interdisciplinary course for spring 2011! The course is for students in the Faculty of Community Services (including social work, nursing, midwifery, nutrition, urban planning, etc) to work together in helping a community with all of our specialized knowledge and skills put together. We learn from each other's disciplines to understand how all of our knowledge comes together to help communities in a holistic way.

Neat huh?

But you know what the best part about the course is???



WE'RE GOING TO NEW ORLEANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We will be in N'Awwlins for TWO WEEKS to work together and help to rebuild the community that has been devastated, after surviving Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill. Thousands have lots their homes and their jobs from these two events, and the community needs not only physical rebuilding, but economic as well. As health professionals-in-the-making and other community support people, our job will be to explore how the community has been impacted, how far-reaching these impacts are, and what can be done to help improve the health status of the residents of New Orleans and rebuild their lives.

WHEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

I have no idea yet what the actual course content will be or what the project in New Orleans will entail (I suspect it involves a lot of hands-on community involvement, potentially assisting in construction and education opportunities). But I'm SUPER excited :D!!!!

Preparing to Run

Hello!

I decided to update you all on my progress toward my first half marathon! Another 30 Day Challenge has come and gone, and this time, my body was pretty unhappy with me for it. My hip flexors and knees were, at times, painful to walk on. Even though the 30 Day has been over for a couple of weeks now (and I've only been back to practice a few times since then), I still don't quite trust my knees... they've been doing funny things, like hyperextending at random when I walk. It's not cool.
So, I'm a little afraid to start a running program with unstable/unhappy knees and hips. Instead, I've been working on a hard walking program and LOTS of weight training to build up muscle around the knees and build more stability! I'm doing something that looks like this:

• 15-20 minutes on treadmill: start off with 2 minute warmup, then jack up the speed to a fast walk. Alternate between fast and brisk walks every 2-3 minutes. Or, bring on the hills by jacking up the incline, alternating between mountain size and big-but-manageable-hill size. One minute cooldown.
• 20-25 minutes of weight training: LOTS of squats and lunges to build lower body strength and raise the heart rate. I've been trying to incorporate movements that work both the lower and upper body at the same time (e.g. squat with press, lunge with bicep curls), and of course, working the core muscles!
• 5 minutes of abdominals: alternating different types of ab workouts, mainly planks and side planks, with some traditional crunches and variations mixed in.
• 5 minute stretch and cool down.

I'm doing this 2-3 times per week, and trying to fit in a yoga practice at least once a week as well. It's been tough with midterms/final essays winding down and final exams starting to sneak up! I'm hoping to keep up this routine until the beginning of December, then evaluate my knee situation. Hopefully I'll be able to get into some actual running, and will post on my progress then!

I'll also start posting about nutrition needs for endurance training. We've started learning more about how the body metabolizes nutrients, and debunking some of the myths surrounding exercise physiology and nutritional needs (e.g. what do those gels/goo's do? How much water do I need to drink and how often? What's "carb loading", and is it really necessary? What's the deal with electrolytes? What foods are the best to choose, and what should you avoid before training runs?) I know! Exciting, right?!??

I just got an email today from the Toronto Women's Half Marathon saying that it is already over 80% sold out! WOW!!! I'm so excited that I signed up early and get to be a part of this awesome event! Oh yeah, there's also a chocolate rest station. And um, can we all say FIREFIGHTER WATER STATION??? Yeah. No wonder it's already 80% sold :P!

Determination

Hey everyone!

So I'm in the middle of studying for my third midterm, and decided to take a break to finally post again on this blog!

I have some BIG NEWS today! I've been a bit lazy with running lately, given that I've been crazy busy with school and work and teaching, and currently undergoing yet another 30 Day Challenge at my yoga studio. So, I decided that I need a kick in the butt to get my running back in gear.

Soooooo...

I registered for my first half marathon today!!!!!!! :D SO EXCITED! I'm officially in for the Toronto Women's Half Marathon in May 2011! I'll also be signing up for the Sporting Life 10K again (registration isn't open yet). I figure that knowing that I have an upcoming half marathon will be just the push that I need to keep training, and give me determination to keep going when I get sore and tired and whiny. Stay tuned to see how it goes! I have about 6.5 months to get ready, which I think will be more than enough time for me :)!

Also, I know it's kind of ironic that I'm a nutrition student and haven't posted much of anything to do with food since I started school. I promise that more food stuff will come: recipes, neat food info, etc! Just for fun, here's a random fact to tide you over:

Did you know...
We've all heard the commercials from All Bran saying that psyllium fibre can help lower your blood cholesterol, but why??? Psyllium is a type of soluble fibre. When mixed with water (e.g. the fluids of your stomach and GI tract), soluble fibre forms a kind of gel substance that moves through the intestines with the rest of your food. This gel binds with bile, a fat emulsifier (breaks down dietary fat) released by the gall bladder. Normally, bile breaks down the fat in your food and is reabsorbed in the large intestine. When bound to the gelly soluble fibre though, this can't happen! In order to create more bile and emulsify fats properly, the body must use cholesterol (i.e. that which is found in the blood), thus, your blood cholesterol lowers!

Now you know!!!

Dusting off the blog - Thanksgiving!

Hello world!
I know, it's been a while! I owe you an apology. I've been so busy with school and work and general life that I've neglected to post anything! Here's the gist of what's been going on lately:

School is going awesome. I love it :)! So far, my classes have been super interesting (even chemistry :P). The downside - a LOT of homework!!!! There's a lot of reading involved in university O_o!!! I'm so happy that there's a long weekend coming up!

I work two jobs and volunteer once a week as well, oh, and I teach yoga sometimes too. This leaves me very little time for a social life in between, so I squeeze it in whenever I can...

I've also started teaching yoga more regularly (yay!)

In other words, I've been doing well, but just been ridiculous busy!!!

So, let's talk about Thanksgiving. This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving, meaning a) long weekend!!!!, and b) TURKEY DAY!!! This time of year can be very difficult for people who are trying to watch their weight and/or make healthy choices in their diet, as a Thanksgiving meal can often pack on HUGE amounts of fat! Most of this fat comes from things like butter and cream/milk in mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie/other pies, dark meat turkey, and my favourite thing - stuffing (mmmmmmmmmm...). So, how can we deal with this awesome holiday, which is essentially centred entirely around food???

Ideas to survive Turkey Day:

• Plan ahead. Eat smaller meals/lower cal meals during the day so that you will be able to indulge a little bit for dinner with less guilt. Try not to sit down for dinner feeling starved - eat a small salad or veggie soup beforehand so that you won't feel the need to dive in and binge.
• Exercise. During the day, go for a workout! If you've got the time for it, give your workout some extra push today to burn more calories to store up for later.
• Take control. If you're the one cooking, take control of what you'll be feeding people. So what if buttery fluffy mashed potatoes are the norm in your family? Try lowering the fat by substituting out some of the butter. Or, mix in some steamed and mashed cauliflower!
• Stock up on produce. Fill half your plate with veggies. Go for steamed veggies, roasted squash/root vegetables, salad, green beans, etc. They'll fill you up with their stellar fibre and low calorie content!

Most of all, enjoy your time with family. Make this holiday less about the meal, and more about the people you are spending the day with instead.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving!

Financial Health

Part of overall health includes budgetary health too! As a future student (ONLY TWO MORE WEEKS!), I'm extraordinarily conscious of my budget and finances. Mind you, I've always been a pretty frugal person, but now that I have a $6000 bill coming at me every year for the next 4 years, plus my regular expenses (rent, food, living), suddenly my situation seems much more dire.

Now that my boyfriend and I are living together (yay!), my living expenses have been cut significantly. We're splitting the costs of food, hydro, rent, internet, etc., so I'm super lucky that I don't have to worry about covering these costs by myself! In all, I'm estimating my monthly expenses to be just over $1000/month (and they literally cannot be cut any further). The problem? I'm working 3 jobs part-time, possibly 4 once I start teaching yoga regularly, which will give me approximately $1000.month. Oh good. I just break even, and that's assuming that no emergencies come up. How the crap am I supposed to save $6000/year for tuition when I can barely sustain my own living expenses???

Mind you, I have been saving for a couple of years for my education. I currently have enough for the first 2 years, so I'm not in a critital situation at this point. But come this time next year, it's going to seem a lot more crucial.

First step: Create a Budget

First thing to creating a budget: write EVERYTHING down! Much like tracking your food to lose weight, you need to track everything you spend and earn to lose debt! I keep a spreadsheet each month where I can easily track what I've spent broken down into categories: Rent, Food, Hydro, Phone, Entertainment, Clothing/Gifts, etc. For the first month, I tracked everything I would spend normally without trying purposely to cut down, just to see what my normal spending habits were like. As I said, I'm a pretty frugal person to begin with, and I was REALLY surprised to see how much I was blowing on takeout food, coffee and little impulse purchases things! It only costs a couple of bucks at the time, but it really adds up over a month! I used this as a guide to see where I could trim down my spending to a level that was reasonable to maintain (e.g. don't cut your grocery bill to $50/month, because that's impossible).

I highly recommend checking out the resources on Gail Vaz-Oxlade's website and getting yourself addicted to Till Debt Do Us Part :D. Her website also has groups for various people (e.g. by geographic location, by life stage, etc). For example, there is a student group where I've learned some more tricks and tips specific to university students on how to save and earn a few extra bucks!

Second step: Save your money

Now that you've got your budget written down and you're ready to track, see where you can get more for less.

I'm a major coupon clipper/flyer shopper. Check the flyers for grocery stores near you online to see what's on sale. If something looks good (e.g. pork tenderloin or gigantic club packs of chicken are on sale), I will either arrange my weekly menu around these items in order to use them, or make some room in the freezer to accommodate them and use it later. As for coupons, there are TONS of coupon websites around that I have used to get some awesome deals on things I use every day, e.g. toothpaste, cereal, cleaning products, etc. Examples:
www.save.ca
www.brandsaver.ca
www.smartcanucks.ca

From BrandSaver alone, I racked up about $17 worth of coupons for things I actually use!

You can find coupons for nearly everything that you want to buy, especially if you're buying online. Most companies have a place for promo codes before you check out. Google search the company you're buying from and "promo codes" (e.g. "shoes.com promo codes") and you'll be amazed at the things that pop up. You can really save a lot this way! I got a few coupons for clothing stores just by doing a quick search. Buying stuff online is often cheaper than buying in stores (e.g. Chapters), but watch for shipping fees. Some companies will ship for free if you purchase more than a certain amount before taxes.

If you're looking to buy something like electronics, furniture, etc., I recommend checking out Craigslist first. You can often find items that are in excellent condition for incredibly cheap prices. Often the owners just need to get rid of the item because they're moving, got a newer model, etc. This is also a great way to earn some money too - get rid of the stuff you no longer need on Craigslist! You'll get more from it this way than you would from a yard sale. When we moved in, I sold some bookshelves, my Nintendo Wii (we had duplicates of the system and some games), a dresser and a few other things, and earned myself about $350!

Loyalty and points cards are a great way to save as well. Some companies will charge a small amount at first ($20-25 usually), but if it's a place you shop at frequently, it will pay for itself. I have cards for Chapters, Suzy Shier and many other stores that give me discounts on every purchase and coupon books for cheaper or free product at certain times of the year. I also have a President's Choice credit card, where I earn points on every purchase that I charge to the card which I can put towards free groceries/other stuff sold in the store. After racking up points for years, I have nearly $500 worth of free groceries sitting on the card waiting for me.

Finally, a great way I've found to save on exercise and athletic fees --- volunteer! Many yoga studios offer free yoga classes to students who volunteer a few hours a week to help clean up. I've heard that the YMCA offers free memberships to their athletic centre volunteers as well! Don't forget that going outside for walks and runs is free :)

Third step: Earning Extra

If you have heavier debt or need to save extra, you may need to go beyond frugality and actually earn some extra cash. I mentioned one great way already - selling stuff on Craigslist or yard sales. You'll help to declutter your home and your finances all at once :)

If you have the time to work a part-time job, this is the easiest way to get extra cash. Or, if you are able to pick up overtime/extra shifts at your current job. In looking for my part-time jobs through the school year, I admit, I purposely applied at places where I knew I would want to get discounts *shame*. e.g. I wouldn't apply to a high fashion retailer because I'd never in a million years be able to afford their product. But applying to a clothing store I frequent anyway was a good move!

Ask around your neighbourhood or put up signs advertising your services to earn some more cash. Offer to shovel snow or rake leaves for your neighbours, walk their dogs, babysit, clean houses, get groceries for them, etc. If you have neighbours who are elderly or who have a lot of kids/are super busy people, this kind of service can be incredibly helpful for them!

Fourth step: Banking and Saving

Now that you have some money to save, make sure that you save smart. Put your savings into a high-interest savings account (i.e. an account that you won't be dipping into regularly. Let it sit there and earn money for you!). TFSAs are great for this - you can put in up to $5000 per year tax free! If you know you won't be touching the money for a longer time, GICs can be a great investment to earn some interest and know that your money has been tucked away safely for a few years.

I don't claim to be an expert financial consultant or anything, so if you are interested in other kinds of investments (RRSPs, mutual funds, etc), see a pro who will be able to fix you up with investments that fit your life, needs and future plans.

What are your tips to save money? Do you have other interesting and creative ways to earn extra bucks?

Back to Reality... sort of

Well friends, it's official -- teacher training is already over :(! Now I sit in unemployment (except for a few WW meetings) and try to prepare to go back to school and find part-time work to pay the rent. But the good news.... I'm a certified Moksha teacher! I've completed the first 300 hour segment of the course, and now have the remaining year-long portion to complete. This includes things like 150 practice hours, 50 feedback hours from a senior teacher, 25 workshop/continuing education hours, and 8 projects to do throughout the year.

But the most fun of all: TEACHING HOURS!!! I have classes scheduled in August that are open to anyone and everyone, for the low low price of FIVE DOLLARS! I'm teaching 60 minute and 90 minute classes, both heated and non-heated, so it's totally accessible to everyone!

Interested in coming to a class and/or thinking about going to hot yoga in your area? Read my FAQs below!

"Why hot yoga?" Practicing yoga in a heated room presents several benefits over practicing in a regular temperature room. The body detoxifies through breath and sweat - and you will sweat a LOT in hot yoga! In addition, the fascia and connective tissue of the body respond well to heat, allowing you to stretch more easily and more deeply than you would generally be able to in a regular temperature room. Warm muscles operate better than cold (which is why you should warm up before any exercise), but the flexibility and strength benefits will extend beyond the hot room into your everyday life!

"I'm not flexible enough to do yoga." That's crap. You become more flexible by coming to yoga! Heck, when I started I couldn't come within a couple of feet of touching my toes. I'm still not as flexible as many other students, but that's not the point of yoga. The point is to get in touch with your own body's needs and abilities. It's not a competition!

"I'm too out of shape to do yoga." Again, completely not true! Yoga is open to all shapes and sizes of people. In fact, hot yoga (and any other hatha yoga) counts as physical activity, which will help with weight loss and building lean muscle mass. It is believed that hot yoga adds more cardiovascular challenge for the body, and burns more calories than regular temperature yoga (though I don't have stats on that, and it depends on the type of regular temperature yoga - e.g. ashtanga will burn more calories than restorative or yin)

"I have injuries/conditions, so I can't do yoga." Pretty much anyone can do yoga. I've seen people in wheelchairs who have done yoga. You just need to understand your body's needs and what you're capable of. Every pose in Moksha can be modified to suit different injuries and sensitivities. I attended classes regularly after dislocating my elbow, despite being unable to straighten or bend my left arm, and unable to bear any weight on it. Most people find that their injuries and conditions improve greatly from practicing yoga, including those with arthritis, rotator cuff injuries, ACL tears, lower back pain, bulging/herniated discs, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc. There is even some research to suggest huge benefits for those with chronic conditions like MS and cancer.

"I'm a dude. Yoga's for chicks." It's true that in many studios, the ladies far outnumber the men. However yoga is open to any gender (yes, even transgender/transvestite). Yoga only became available to women fairly recently, having been a male-only practice for centuries. Many of the most "famous" yoga instructors and gurus worldwide are male. Besides, you'll be able to check out all the chicks in your class and probably have a better chance of scoring if you're one of the only dudes there :P

"I don't have a mat/clothing/other equipment." All you need to wear to hot yoga is something that you're willing to sweat in, ideally clothing that breathes (i.e. sweat wicking) rather than cotton. So really, anything that you wear to the gym/other activities that you do is appropriate. As for other equipment, all you need for hot yoga is a mat, towel for your mat, towel to shower afterward, and a bottle of water. If you don't have these things, they can be rented/borrowed from studios for a low price (usually $2 for mats/towels).

Come sweat with me!

My upcoming classes are all at Moksha Yoga Bloor West on the following dates/times:

• Sunday, August 15th at 1:30pm (1 hr class) Heated class
• Thursday, August 19th at 10am (1.5hr class) Non-heated
• Sunday, August 22 at 1:30pm (1.5hr class) Non-heated

In the meantime, I've also gotten most of my schedule for school already (everything except my elective, whatever it will be)!!!! I'm sooooooooo excited :D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe that I'll officially be a nutrition student in less than a month!!!! AAAHHHHH!!!!