Author:Vancouver Health Coach

November 14, 2014 In Fitness, Green & Healthy Living, News, Spotlight, Uncategorized By Vancouver Health Coach

Why It’s Not Too Late to Make Your New Year’s Resolutions

As the ball dropped and millions welcomed the start of 2014, countless people made a promise to make a fresh, healthy start – after all, a new year means a New Year's Resolutions and a new you, right? Well, according to new proprietary research from Gold's Gym, that new you might just have an expiration date.  Culling through four years of membership check-in data from Gold's Gym locations throughout the country, the brand began noticing a drop-off in membership check-ins starting around February 12th and leading to large number of consumers quitting the gym altogether by February 18th – the day that Gold’s...

November 14, 2014 In Food and Recipes, Green & Healthy Living, News, Spotlight By Vancouver Health Coach

Natures Medicine: The Top 3 Foods for Preventative Health

Preventative health is commonly overlooked in the western world.  It is unfortunate that many wait long into disease to look for nutritional advice.  Food either feeds the disease, or fights it.  We really are what we eat!  Food is digested, absorbed and transformed into every cell of our body.  We need to consider the power we have when choosing our meals.  Can you switch that afternoon coffee to an herbal tea?  There are so many little steps we can take to improve our health.  All it takes is changing small habits. On the other hand, with so many superfood articles on...

November 13, 2014 In Green & Healthy Living, Holistic Health, News, Spotlight By Vancouver Health Coach

Water, Our Critical Solvent

The medical community tends to examine the solutes of the body for imbalances, which is important, but it is critical to also consider the solvent. After all, it is the fluids of the body that transport pretty much everything via the blood, lymph, cerebrospinal fluid, saliva, urine, synovial fluid, extracellular fluid, tears, and milk in lactating females, and it is obvious that nothing would happen if everything were dry. Fluids are needed within each cell to keep them juicy and round so they can function properly.  Our organs can be considered water balloons sloshing around in the sea of water that is...

November 13, 2014 In Food and Recipes, News, Spotlight By Vancouver Health Coach

What does free range mean?

In my recent post on my Food As Medicine blog over at Urban Diner, I make the argument that eating meat is not only a normal and natural part of our human diet, but that meat can also serve as a medicine to treat specific diseases.  For example, bones and marrow bones can be boiled to make a medicinal broth that supports the health of the joints and nervous system, whereas liver is an excellent food to promote and support detoxification. While meat and animal products serve as a valuable food and medicine, the challenge for many consumers is to make...

November 12, 2014 In Family Fitness, Fitness, News, Spotlight By Vancouver Health Coach

Exercise to Improve Confidence and Self Esteem

If you have ever experienced the heart-thumping, invigorated state of a high-intensity cardio workout, you have likely had that surge of enthusiasm that accompanies blood flow and endorphins. One of the bonuses of having this boost is that your brain accesses a state in which your world feels manageable, and more hopeful. You feel more ‘on top of the world’, and better about yourself. Experiencing an increase in confidence is one of the best pay-offs of exercise. When we feel good, we see the world through brighter lenses. We tend to feel more confident, excited and more assured. When we hold...

November 11, 2014 In Fitness, News, Spotlight, Workouts By Vancouver Health Coach

Top Fitness Mistakes To Avoid in 2013

If you’re looking to really make that resolution count this year then here are some common fitness mistakes to avoid. Not having a plan It's like the old saying: fail to plan, plan to fail. All too often people go to the gym or workout at home on a regular basis with no real progressive plan. They may have a general idea of what they are doing but nothing concrete. They change and hit the gym floor and then have to make a decision on where to start which usually ends up with jumping on a treadmill or maybe doing some bicep...

November 10, 2014 In Family Fitness, Fitness, News, Spotlight By Vancouver Health Coach

Dogs Make Excellent Workout Buddies

Let’s face it, we don't always have time for 30-45 minutes of cardio, or do we? Any cardio workout is better than no cardio but how do you fit it in on a busy schedule? As we've said countless times before, you need to eat fewer calories than you burn over a period of time to lose body fat. The best way to up your energy expenditure is by doing a mixture of resistance training and aerobic exercise. The problem becomes finding the time to do both. While a session of weight training may take only 20 minutes, a cardio...

November 10, 2014 In Fitness, News, Spotlight By Vancouver Health Coach

EPOC: The Calories You Burn After A Workout

Do you know how many calories you burn during a workout? How about after your workout? Have you ever felt totally energized after a tough workout instead of tired? Do you continue to sweat a little (or a lot) even after you shower. Why is this? Some people call it the after-burn or a workout high. It's technical name is Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption or EPOC for short. EPOC is the increased oxygen consumed after strenuous exercise or activity to reduce the oxygen debt created by said exercise or activity resulting in caloric expenditure. In layman's terms this means the additional...

November 9, 2014 In Spotlight, Video, Workouts By Vancouver Health Coach

Plank with Chest and Back Series: Exercise of the Week

In the eighties and nineties we heard the words "six pack" used to describe strong rectus abdominals. In today's fitness industry, the words core strength is commonly being used, but what does the core really consist of? Anatomically, the core consists of the muscles in the hips, deeper muscles in the abdominals such as transversus abdominus (TA), multifidus and others surrounding the spine. One of the most important reasons to strengthen your core is because the structural integrity of the body depends on it. A very efficient method of training called Functional core training challenges the participant in an environment that uses...

November 8, 2014 In Emotional Health, News, Spotlight By Vancouver Health Coach

Increase Your Energy Tip #2: Clean, Tidy and Let Go!

Ever noticed how you rarely really feel like cleaning? But when you do, you always feel better? I sure do! What I’ve also noticed is that when something is bothering me or I am trying to figure something out in my life - say how to resolve a conflict with someone, or find a creative solution to a problem - cleaning helps. There is something about the state of mind I get into when I clean. Cleaning requires enough focus to keep my mind engaged, but not so much that I can’t think about other things. I find it a meditative...