Keira-anne.com

I can’t even begin to count the number of posts I have written over the years pertaining to exercise, eating right, yoga and general health. For most of us, maintaining some semblance of balance in these areas is an ongoing challenge.

All my life I’ve had a high metabolism. In my earlier years, I was often called a “tall drink of water” due to my waif-like frame. However, once my late 20s came calling, my metabolism changed and keeping my weight on an even keel was next to impossible without effort. Since the age of 25, my weight has always fluctuated by 10-15 pounds. While that doesn’t seem like much, diabetes and heart issues affect my family, so fluctuation can be quite dangerous.

Photo: Eric Bjerke on Flickr

Each year over the Christmas holidays, I tend to take the approach of “it’s December – anything goes!” in terms of eating and lack of exercise. On Boxing Day, as I finished off the second 48-piece box of Toffifee chocolates I’d eaten in as many days (gross, right?), I suddenly realized that this mantra wasn’t going to work anymore.

As painfully cliche as it seems, I’ve taken up counting calories over the past few days. It’s not a diet; it’s an endeavour to get back on track. Eating healthy foods isn’t my problem. Portion control is what I lack. Since starting to count the actual calories I consume, it’s become apparent to me that I was probably eating between 3,000 – 4,000 calories each day over the holidays!

Photo: Lululemon Athletica on Flickr

Along with a few friends, I recently signed up for MyFitnessPal online. Including a handy smartphone app, it allows me to log any physical activity I do each day, diarize the foods I eat and keep track of how much I eat and – most importantly – provides an opportunity to encourage my friends who are on the same journey to health.

In addition to giving a damn about what I eat, I’ve finally bitten the bullet and bought myself some flex time with YYoga. I’ve been dabbling in yoga on and off for years and it’s high time that I finally give my practice the time and attention it deserves.

I feel like when we “resolve” to do something at the start of a new year, failing is likely because we lack the support needed to back up our choices. Structuring this new lifestyle change in the way that I have will, hopefully, allow me to stick with it in a tangible way. If it’s something you’re into doing too, find me on MyFitnessPal and let’s support each other!

Created in the tragic wake of recent teen suicides in the Comox Valley, the Comox Valley Suicide Awareness group has been heroically challenging local residents to find a community-wide solution. Awareness is key with issues that have such widespread impact.

As it pushes 1,500 members, the group’s Facebook page has become the core springboard for sending out their message. The group’s founders hope to push their message further with the initiation of a ribbon campaign, kicking off this evening at Mark R. Isfeld Secondary School.

On the surface, the black and gold ribbon pins symbolize awareness and prevention. Deep down it means so much more to the group’s founders: “ours stand out because it’s also symbolic of light out of dark, hope out of darkness,” said Stephanie Lafontaine. “We wanted something that represented our community.”

The community forum on suicide awareness runs from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. at Mark R. Isfeld Secondary School’s gymnasium. The school is located at 1551 Lerwick Road in Courtenay. The group hopes to have 500 ribbons on hand, all available by donation. For more information, join the Comox Valley Suicide Awareness group on Facebook.

British Columbia has come a long way in the last decade in terms of healthy living and healthy eating. With a backyard as beautiful as BC’s, it’s impossible not to get outside and enjoy everything this Province has to offer.

Photo: Natalie Lucier on Flickr

As Vancouver Islanders we, in particular, have a virtual paradise right outside our doors. We hike in Port Hardy, kayak in Qualicum Bay, ride bikes in Cobble Hill and surf in Ucluelet. With farms and food producers dotted up and down the Island, eating healthy with local food has never been easier.

The Province of British Columbia has recently kicked off a health-focused initiative called Healthy Families BC. Its aim is to engage BC’s residents, educate them on the importance of healthy living and give them the tools and resources they need to live a healthy lifestyle.

Photo: Mt. Washington Auto Road on Flickr

Healthy Families BC wants to reach out to all of BC and initiate exciting thoughts and discussion on healthy living. Their Facebook page is a great place to start!

On the Healthy Families BC official website you’ll find comprehensive resources to start your own healthy living action plan. You can also follow Healthy Families BC on Twitter to stay in-the-loop about their new ideas.

Photo: BigA888 on Flickr

To celebrate this initiative, Healthy Families BC wants to give Keira-Anne.com readers a chance to be part of this new movement and possibly win a great prize for doing so! I have two prizes to give away:

• First prize is a $250 Lululemon gift card
• Second prize is a $50 gift card to The Market grocery store in Victoria (with locations on Yates Street and Millstream Avenue)

To enter to win, you must leave a comment below and tell me: your favourite Vancouver Island activity to stay in shape or your favourite locally-produced food and why it’s so good for you.

You can earn an additional entry by posting the following on Twitter:

I shared a health tip to win a $250 Lululemon gift card from @HealthyFamilyBC and @KeiraAnne! http://tinyurl.com/3v2yj7u

I will draw one winner at random on Wednesday, August 31st at noon. Good luck!

Keira-Anne.com contest winners from within the last six months are not eligible to win. The winner must reside within British Columbia.

There are few gathering spots where people from all walks of life converge in Victoria more than Dallas Road. Sweeping vistas over the Juan De Fuca Strait are the perfect spot for long walks, hearty talks and playing around at the dog park.

This past Saturday I spent the afternoon with an old girlfriend, trotting Jordy along the Dallas Road seawall as Sarah and I caught up on the past few years. As we looped back to make our way to a late lunch date, we saw something that one only ever reads about in newspapers or catches on the 6 o’clock news.

Photo: Victoria Daily Photo

In an SUV parked at the side of the road were three small dogs, barking, yelping and climbing over one another. Refusing to ignore what we saw, Sarah and I crossed the street to see if the dogs had water. There was none. The windows were each open about two inches, so I stuck my hand in a rear window to find that the air in the vehicle was much hotter than the air outside, as I expected.

Upon immediately phoning the Victoria-area SPCA Branch, I was instructed to “phone the Victoria Police Department right away.” The VicPD report-taker on the other end sighed after I relayed the story, telling me that this was her second of such calls in as many days. Just the day before, local police broke a window to rescue a German Shepherd from an overheated vehicle.

Sarah and I hung around until the officer arrived, and by then nearly 30 minutes had passed. Another hour later, the officer phoned me to instruct me he still hadn’t been able to locate the vehicle’s owner. Who knows how much longer those dogs would have suffered, being that the owner clearly wasn’t on a five-minute errand.

Double digits equal double trouble! According to the SPCA, brain damage and even death can occur in as little as 10 minutes in a hot car. [source]

Do your beloved pets a favour and leave them at home on hot days. They don’t have the ability to cool themselves properly and it’s simply not worth the risk. If you see an animal in such a situation, phone your local police department immediately. For more information on how to help dogs in hot cars, read the SPCA’s article with quick tips.

Naturally, all of this goes without saying ten-fold when children are involved. The risk is never, ever worth it.

Earlier on the weekend, needing a mixer, J picked up a bottle of Coke Zero and stashed the remnants in my fridge. I didn’t partake in any at the time, but last night as I flipped on a movie and popped some popcorn, I reached for a glass.

Zero calories? No sugar at all? What could go better with my evening flick before the week begins? I figured it would be harmless but doubted my choice by the time 11:45 p.m. rolled around…

Photo: joshc on Flickr

After what seemed like five minutes later I checked my cell phone clock again. It was now 12:55 a.m. I flipped, tossed, turned, stretched, covered up, uncovered and checked my clock again. 1:52 a.m. By the time 2:23 a.m. rolled around, I stopped checking and finally fell asleep not long after.

What frightened me most as I struggled with this extremely rare occurrence of insomnia was the severe impact that one little glass of “zero” cola could do to my entire body. “What was even in that stuff anyway?” I thought to myself.

If that one little glass was strong enough to impact me in such a way from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, it couldn’t be good for me. And that got me thinking to which other foods and drinks I consume that could also have potentially negative effects.

In recent weeks I’ve undertaken to increase my organic food consumption because those foods are better for me. However, I’d yet to consider the flip side of the coin and wondered why what I was cutting out was bad for me. About two months ago I gave up my daily cups of coffee, swapping them for green tea. I’ve also tried to reduce my refined sugar intake and increase my daily fibre through fresh vegetables. Last night’s wake-up call certainly served to reinforce my new choices.

What’s one thing you have a habit of consuming that you’d be better off without?

With a total population of around 750,000 people, Vancouver Island is home to a lot of women. They’re our sisters, mothers, aunts, grandmas, nieces and our friends. And in recent years, the risk of heart disease in women is now on par with the risks facing our male counterparts.

February has been declared Heart Health Month across Canada by the Heart & Stroke Foundation, an initiative that encourages women to better care for themselves, cut their cholesterol rates and take steps to a healthier lifestyle. The Heart Truth is a campaign chocked full of information for us ladies, no matter how young or old. You can take a quiz to assess your personal risk, download a Community Action Kit and find tips for prevention and also learn the warning signs of heart disease. It could save a life.

Here are a few tips courtesy of The Heart Truth to help prevent heart disease and strokes:

• Quit Smoking – Smoking contributes to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and blood clots and doubles your risk!
• Lower Your Cholesterol – Almost half of all Canadian women have cholesterol levels that are too high, a risk that’s proven to be more serious in us than in men.
• Keep Your Weight Down – If you’re 30% or more over a healthy body weight, you’re two to three times more likely to develop heart disease.
• Stay Active – 30 minutes of exercise three times a week can slash your risk of heart disease and have a positive impact on some of the other tips listed here.
• Monitor Your Blood Pressure – Keeping your blood pressure in check will reduce your risk of stroke by up to 40 per cent, your risk of heart disease by 50 per cent and your risk of heart failure by up to 25 per cent. Those numbers add up!
• Kiss Stress Good-bye – Stress is inevitable, but the more you stress, the less likely you are to make healthy lifestyle decisions. Relax, unwind and reduce your risk.
• Diabetes – Diabetes is a significant factor in women’s heart health so monitor your blood sugar levels daily, eat a healthy and balanced diet that’s high in fibre, stay active and watch your weight.
• Put Down The Third Cocktail – Some alcohol, such as red wine, is heart-healthy in moderation, but too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. Limit yourself to one or two drinks per day, maximum, to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

For more information on The Heart Truth and other campaigns, visit the Heart & Stroke Foundation online. You can also find the foundation on Facebook and Twitter.

For those of you on the Mainland or who will be traveling to Vancouver next weekend, the 19th Annual Wellness Show is happening at the Vancouver Convention Centre from February 18th – 20th. Featuring a combination of workshops, cooking, demonstrations and exhibitors, the show is dedicated to healthy living and general wellness.

Photo: The Wellness Show

Some specific highlights of the show include wellness for your kids or your pets. It goes without saying that taking care of the little ones in our lives is crucial! Tickets for The Wellness Show can be purchased online and include a goodie bag for the first 2,500 people through the door each day.

If you’d like a chance to attend The Wellness Show this year, I have two pairs of tickets and two gift baskets – one for your canine pal’s wellness and one to keep the kitty in your life healthy.

The “doggy bag” includes:

Taste of the Wild 15-pound bag of grain-free dog food (with bison, venison and lamb), Northern Biscuit Pheasant dog cookies, NiteIze Spotlit for your dog’s collar for nighttime walks, NiteIze Meteorball – a ball that lights up for playing in the park at night and 16 ounces of Grizzly Salmon Oil to improve skin and coat and work as an anti-inflammatory.

The “kitty box” includes:

Taste of the Wild grain-free cat food (with venison, salmon and chicken), Pawbreakers pressed catnip ball, VitaNip, assorted cans of super healthy wet food and PureAyre – a crucial all-natural odour eliminator.

Each gift basket includes two tickets to the Wellness Show and the gift baskets must be picked up at the Wellness Show. You have two chances to enter:

Leave a comment below with your favourite tip for healthy living and specify which of the two gift baskets you’d like to win. (1 entry)

Post one of the following on Twitter (1 entry)

RT to win a “doggy bag” of goodies and two tickets to @thewellnessshow from @keiraanne http://tinyurl.com/4dnlplt

or

RT to win a “kitty box” of goodies and two tickets to @thewellnessshow from @keiraanne http://tinyurl.com/4dnlplt

I’ll draw two winners on Thursday, February 17th. Good luck!

For more information about The Wellness Show, visit them online, find the show on Facebook or follow the show on Twitter.

Until February 11th, you can enter to win delicious Valentine’s Day prizes from Silk Road Tea, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, the Nanaimo Museum and Saltspring Soapworks. Click here to enter now.

Last night, in a landslide vote of 18-1, Victoria city council voted to ban those under the age of 18 from using tanning beds in the Greater Victoria region. This precedent-setting decision is being applauded by health care groups and physicians as Victoria is the first city in all of Canada to put such a ban into place.

Photo: Valerie Yermal on Flickr

The largest controversy over tanning is in the fact that indoor tanning is largely contributed to skin cancer despite some in the industry labeling the practice as “safe”. The new by-law has been volleyed around city council for more than five years and now the city has the power to enforce regulations, carrying penalties between $250 to $2,000 if the by-law is broken. Effective immediately, all those appearing to be under 25 will be asked for identification. [source]

Much like those under 19 cannot buy cigarettes due to their cancer-causing components, I admire Victoria city council for providing yet another avenue by which to protect the health of its city’s youth.

What do you think? Should tanning be banned to those under 18? Would another age be more suitable for the by-law?

My interest in yoga piqued years ago when, one Boxing Day, I found VHS yoga videos in a bargain bin for nothing more than pocket change. What drew me to it was not only the physical workout but also the fact that it challenges the mind and the body’s natural inclinations such as breathing and posture.

Not long after, I discovered the Starfish Yoga Studio at the Kingfisher Spa, a quiet cork and cherry wood studio overlooking the ocean shore. It was quiet, peaceful and brought balance to my body and to my mind. So much so, in fact, that I often found myself asleep and snoring by the time I reached the end of savasana in each class.

Since then, I’ve bounced around from studio to studio, enjoying the practice at each but never really committing to one place. I’ve tried out everything from Vancouver Corporate Yoga to Radha Yoga to Yoga For The People and each has offered something different to me. To be honest, the price of yoga passes easily scares me (being that it’s usually considerably more than a monthly gym pass) and drop-in rates add up really fast.

Recently I discovered Yoga Yak, an online yoga “studio” offering free yoga classes through their YouTube channel. While it’s not necessarily easy to bend, stretch and find my centre on the living room floor with Jordy curiously trying to sniff at my heart centre, it’s definitely a budget-friendly alternative.

For those of you that practice, have you committed to a particular studio? Do you find home practice more or less effective than practicing with a group of students? What are some tips you can share that have been particularly helpful to you and your practice?

Less than two weeks after the White Rock area was imposed with a boil water advisory, residents of the Comox Valley are facing the same after the presence of e-coli was detected in a water sample during routine testing on Thursday afternoon. The advisory is effective immediately and affects the following areas: Courtenay, Comox, Comox Valley, Arden, Marsden Campco, Greaves Crescent and England Road.

Photo: paulhami on Flickr

This advisory is extended until at least the end of the weekend. Three samples, each taken 24 hours apart, must come back clean in order for the advisory to be lifted. If you’re unsure if your area is affected, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Here are some tips to stay safe while the water isn’t:

• Boil water on a rolling boil for a minimum of one minute before using.
• Use only boiled or bottled water for drinking, making ice or fountain drinks, washing dishes, brushing teeth or preparing uncooked foods.
• Bottled water is a safe bet, but purchase water in recycled bottles and return the bottles to one of the Comox Valley’s recycling depots when you’re finished.

The Comox Valley Regional District and the Vancouver Island Health Authority are working together to resolve this situation and will advise the public immediately when the water is safe to drink once again. Updates will be available through the CVRD’s website. You can also follow the CVRD on Twitter for the most current information.