The Challenge - Part One!

Who's Up for a Challenge?

So - January 18th, 2014 @ 12pm should be written into your daytimer.

Come to the studio for the first meeting of our "Biggest Winner" Team Challenge.
Participants will need the following:

- weight and measurements (not to be shared with the group)
- Blood pressure and resting heart rate
- three goals (1 Tangible (ie/ lbs lost, inches lost, body fat % lower etc...) 1 soul challenge (read a book, visit a friend go for a massage) 1 accomplishment (20 full push ups, walk 10KM, etc.. )
- a large (ish) jar


All participants will be divided into teams. Each team will be a support system and motivation for each other, and a push for each other as well when things get tough.

The challenge is as follows:

- follow a "clean eating" diet - good whole food nutrition (see our blog post this Friday)
- follow (and hopefully exceed) CSEP's current standards of physical activity:
To achieve health benefits, adults aged 18-64 years should accumulate at least 150 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity per week, in bouts of 10 minutes or more.
It is also beneficial to add muscle and bone strengthening activities using major muscle groups, at least 2 days per week.
More daily physical activity provides greater health benefits.

-satisfactorily achieve all their goals
- attend or have representation at monthly meetings
- complete each monthly challenge succesfully with their team

Winning team will split the original entry fees - half to the charity of their choice, the other half to a challenge end (June 2014) celebration of some kind. All participants will get awesome prize packages!

Sounds easy, right?
Well - maybe not at all easy - but small changes will make these above challenges do-able - we'll discuss how to implement at our first meeting!

Mindful Monday: Cleaning Out The Closet

Get Back on Track in 2014!

The New Year is upon us! Most of us have spent our holidays celebrating with our families while indulging in our favorite foods, drinks, treats and sweets! There is no reason to feel bad, since we should always allow ourselves to enjoy special times of the year with our family and friends. But, now it’s time to get our bodies back on track to where they were post-holidays (or where we wanted them to be). We want to improve our energy levels, fix our digestion, clean up our diets and flush out some of the “bad” chemicals we’ve accumulated and give our livers a little hand in doing this hefty job! I know that this time of year can be stressful. We have New Year’s resolutions and goals we hope to attain. But, it can be tricky jumping in right off the bat. So, there’s no problem starting small. Implementing a few easy, but effective changes that can give you a gentle push and help you get back on the right track and maybe lose those pesky 3 lbs that crept up on you, one step at a time.

So, here are some small, easy tips to getting you there.

1) Hydrate!
If there is anything our bodies need more of, it’s water, especially if we’ve been indulging in more alcoholic beverages than usual. Not only will water prevent dehydration, help with digestion, lubricate the body and assist in moving nutrients, it will also help with waste removal and give our liver and kidneys a hand in getting their jobs done. Although every person requires a different amount of water, a good average to aim for is 1.5 l to 2.0 l daily, with increases during exercise. Good rule of thumb: 33 ml of water per kg of body mass.

Annie's TipAdding lemon to your water will give you additional liver and digestive support. Try warm water with fresh lemon every morning before breakfast.

2) Fiber! Fiber! Fiber!
If we’re trying to get toxins out of our body, ensuring that we’re eliminating effectively is key! Otherwise we move chemicals from one place to the next without getting them out of our body. Fiber is a quick way to get your digestion back on track and help flush out unwanted toxins.

Annie's Tip: It’s as easy as starting your day with a bowl of steel cut oats or oatmeal, instead of a sugary cereal. Add a scoop of protein powder to it and/or throw in a few walnuts or almonds and you have a perfectly balanced meal with a healthy dose of fiber. If you want to sweeten it, try pure maple syrup, or mix in some berries or fruits.

3) Diet
We already know that we have to stop snacking on those holiday treats sitting in the cupboard. No more chocolate, gingerbread cookies or candy canes. On top of that, there are some easy foods we can incorporate that will actually help the liver function effectively after being stressed with things such as alcohol and chemicals from unhealthy foods.

Annie's Tip: add some of these foods into your meals:

Mushrooms: rich in fiber and vitamins and can assist the body in detoxification.

Seaweed (Kelp): Rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber. Can assist in detoxification and restore the acid/base balance in the body.

Turmeric (curcumin): A powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant spice. Can enhance the detoxification pathways in the body.

Green Tea: Another powerful antioxidant that can enhance the detoxification phases in the body.

Citrus Fruit (Grapefruit, Lemons): Rich in antioxidants and the bitterness of these fruits can help stimulate fat-burning mechanisms of the liver.


Annie's #1 Tip while you make these small lifestyle changes, don’t forget to get your beauty rest! Allow your body to repair and rejuvenate with adequate amounts of sleep, get back to routine with regular bedtimes and wake up calls.

Start your New Year off on the right track and the COREessentials way!

Find Your CORE!

"Get Lucky" New Year's Post

Trying to describe 2013 was tough, so I turned to the curator of pop culture itself, Rolling Stone Magazine. The magazine named "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk featuring Pharrell and Nile Rodgers as the song of the year.
It described the jam as:

What more could you possibly want in a summer jam? The French electro robots devise a stardust disco groove for the ages, getting a little space-oddity soul from Pharrell and a taste of le freak from Chic guitar god Nile Rodgers, who basically invented this music. "Get Lucky" sounds vintage and futuristic at the same time, yet it's full of twists. It was the kind of pop song the whole world could agree on. It topped song charts in 55 countries and went on to be covered by everyone from Florence Welch to Fall Out Boy to Wilco to a group of coaches on The Voice U.K. (including Tom Jones). Rodgers and Pharrell proved they're the Yoda and Obi-Wan of summer jams – between them, these guys must have scored 90 percent of them since the Nixon administration. They're both used to supporting roles, but sound energized by the spotlight here. And Daft Punk, the guys behind the robot masks, nail the all-too-human pop emotion they've been chasing for 15 years: It's a song about staying true to yourself, and a love letter to that lucky feeling you get when the mirror ball starts to spin.

Hmmm. Well, I guess it can be said that I'm grateful that it's not Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball".Even I would have a hard time connecting my year with that.


sounds vintage and futuristic at the same time, yet it's full of twists.

Yes, 2013 was an interesting blend of the old and the new. Technology continued to soar forward, but I see some hopeful trends that the human race will resist and move back towards quality connections and meaningful existences.
Also, these things happened:
- Rob Ford.
- Canadian's realise that politicians rob taxpayers money. (Hi Mike Duffy!)
- Miley Cyrus introduces cable TV viewers to "twerking". Granny's eyesight will never be the same again
- Chris Hadfield became Earth's greatest ambassador, and gave us a view of our remarkable planet unlike any we've seen before. Also, every little boy and girl wants to be an astronaut again. Reach for the stars, kids!
- Prince George and 16 year old songstress Lorde renew worlds interest in Royals
- middle East conflict threatens global balance. Not new, but always notable.
- Lance Armstrong exposed for drug use/stripped of all Tour De France titles. Lance's ego still swears he's innocent. I hear he and Alex Rodrigues are planning a joint biography based on their drug free victories. It'll be a short read.
- the Baltimore Ravens defeat the San Francisco 49ers by 34–31 to win Super Bowl XLVII.
- Pope Benedict resigns from the papalcy. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio is elected as the new pope, taking the papal name Pope Francis
- Nelson Mandella passes away at age 95
- Syria engages chemical weapons on their own people.
- Peter Higgs and François Englert win the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on the origin of the mass of subatomic particles. I don't know what this means, but it sounds astounding.
- The Boston Red Sox defeat the St Louis Cardinals in game 6 to win the MLB 2013 World Series
- some team from somewhere won the Stanley Cup. Who cares?? The Leaf's actually MADE THE PLAYOFFS!
- A partial United States federal government shutdown occurs as a result of political disagreements over operational spending. Is it wrong that this made me jealous? I wish our government would shut down once in a while.
- Canadian literary genius Alice Munro is awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize for literature. YAY!
- Phillipines hit by typhoon - thousands killed, uncountable tragedy.

So much happened this year - but that's the stuff I remember of the top of my head, which isn't too bad, because in 2013 I turned....old! Please add to this list the things you remember!

SO 2013 has been a year of the new, and of the old. I see that. Many people I know have felt a recurrence of old challenges in their life this year. A chance to revisit old struggles. For all of you for whom this is true, I wish for you a year where the hard work of recovering gets a little easier and more worthwhile.

It's a song about staying true to yourself, and a love letter to that lucky feeling you get when the mirror ball starts to spin.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Ring in 2014 with that sentiment and it should be a good one!

Happy New Year!
Find Your CORE