Baby Bootcamp Halloween

There's nothing more adorable on Halloween then seeing little munchkins, like our Baby Bootcamp cuties, all dressed up. We asked the moms to bring them in their costumes for their Baby Bootcamp workout yesterday at Mt Doug Park to hold our own Halloween photo shoot. They seriously kill me with their cuteness. God I love my job...

Now we just need to convince mom not to eat any of the candy these little muffins collect trick or treating...

Some tips:

DO NOT buy candy until Halloween morning...no need to have it sitting around all week to snack on.

Buy a kind of candy that you don't even like and then you won't even want to eat it.

The Importance of Fish Oil

One of the most common questions we get asked by clients is what supplements they should be taking, if any. The one at the top of the list hands down is an Essential Fatty Acid supplement (fish oil). Even our BDHQ mascot Remmy gets his daily dose of fish oil. But do you know why?

Essential means a nutrient vital to cell life, and our bodies are unable to produce it; therefore, it must be taken in from a food source. Only plants can produce omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids; animals and humans cannot.

Here are some of the many benefits of EFA's:

• Reduce inflammation throughout your body
• Reduce the risk of becoming obese and improve the body's ability to respond to insulin by stimulating the secretion of leptin, a hormone that helps regulate food intake, body weight and metabolism, and is expressed primarily by adipocytes (fat cells)
• Healthy skin, hair and nails
• Alleviate the symptoms of PMS
• Reduce the risk of heart disease
• Important for cognitive (brain memory and performance) and behavioral function
• Reduction of blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels

There is a HUGE difference between the fish oils you buy at Thriftys or Safeway and the kind you would get from a nutrition company. Nutritionists will tell you that if you’re buying fish oil from a regular store, “you’d have to take upwards of 26 fish oil pills a day” to see any results.

BDHQ carries the highest quality Essential Fatty Acid supplement on the market, OMEGA OIL, made by Fusion. Remmy and I take it daily. The benefits are just as amazing for your dog too, for all you dog lovers out there.

There are also Essential Fatty Acids in the following foods:

1. Flax oil (contains both omega 3 and omega 6 fats, best balance of omega 6:3)
2. pumpkin seeds
3. walnuts & walnut oil (contains both omega 3 and omega 6 fats, but richer in omega 6)
4. soybeans & soybean oil (contains both omega 3 and omega 6 fats, but richer in omega 6)
5. dark green leafy vegetables like seaweed, broccoli, mustard greens, spinach and kale.
6. salmon

Kale made yummy by Michele

Michele's culinary skills never cease to amaze me....she can make the most unpleasant sounding food taste AMAZING. Like this kale salad she made us the other night. Not that I'm making fun of kale, which happens to be highly nutritious with powerful antioxidant properties and is considered to be anti-inflammatory. It's also very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium. Blah, blah, blah, still not the most exciting vegetable out there...BUT, if you make this salad Michele made, you will have a new found LOVE for Kale, I promise. Besides the fact that it's SO easy to make that even I can make it.

The dressing is 3 ingredients with equal amounts of each: Braggs (amino acid), lemon juice and flax seed oil. Wisk it together. Then add some thinly sliced red onion and let it sit all together while you prepare the kale.

Stem the kale (take the stem off as it's too rough). Then slice the kale into 'ribbons' (long, thin strips about 1/4 inch long). Add the ribboned kale to the dressing and massage the dressing into the kale with your hands.... this breaks the kale down and makes it soft and nice to eat raw. That's it. Add toasted sesame, sunflower and pumpkin seeds. For fun you can add avocado and feta.

The coolest thing about this salad is that it keeps for a few days in the fridge...unlike regular salad with dressing on it.

Sweat with DJ ANGER twice on the weekends

Get your sweat on with one of Victoria's best and BDHQ resident mix master, DJ Anger in the morning at The Drill class and again on the dance floor at his new night at the renovated Shark Club every Saturday night! Oh yeahhhh.....tickety boo.

Pumpkin Pie OUT - Black Bean Brownies IN!!

I know what you may be thinking...Black Bean Brownies? Umm, eww. That's what I thought anyways when Michele baked a batch and made us all try them at the studio the other day. They certainly looked like normal brownies, but I'm a chocolate professional so I was hesitant...but man was I wrong! These were seriously the cats pajamas! If she hadn't told me they were made from black beans I never, ever would have known. Make them for Thanskgiving this weekend and don't tell anyone until after they're all demolished.

1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 eggs
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup agave syrup
1 teaspoon instant coffee (optional)
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x8 square baking dish.
Combine the black beans, eggs, oil, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract, agave, and instant coffee in a blender; blend until smooth; pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the mixture.
Bake in the preheated oven until the top is dry and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.

Ommmm.....bomm bomm bomm

We're all gettin' ready for Hip Hip Yoga at BDHQ....even James was gettin his stretch on with a little pre-lesson from Michele. Check out the new class on Tuesday nights at 6pm.

"Steph's Bootcamp Buddies" at Run for the Cure

Big high 5 to everyone who made it out for the Run for the Cure this weekend. There was a team of bootcampers out representin' our good friend Stephanie. Thanks to Trish Chan, Denise Heemskerk, Cheri Reimer and Carol Hutchinson for organizing and participating.

Did you know....
The more weight a woman gains from age 18 on, the more likely she is to have breast cancer later in life.

A third of breast cancer cases could be avoided through regular exercise and a better diet?
Source: Internaional Agency for Research on Cancer

Please practice regular breast self-examinations.