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Can you believe that we are already in September? It’s crazy to think the summer is about to wrap up, school starts again for all the students, and for everyone else summer hours end and it’s time to get back at it!
But to be honest, we’re kind of excited about that! This summer has been gorgeous – maybe one of the best ever in Toronto – and now we’re ready to pull up our socks.
And what better way to get back at it than with the 30 Day Fitness Challenge from September 7th – October 7th! We’ve all had lots of summertime snacks, patio drinks, and probably a few too mojitos! Now we get to join each other in a fitness journey, have fun together and have the chance to win some great prizes!
That’s a WIN – WIN – WIN situation!
Join us for the 30 Day Fitness Challenge! Sign Up for the newsletter to participate
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In just 14 short days the 30 Day Fitness Challenge is set to begin! That’s right, the kids go back to school and you go back to the gym!
And don’t say you didn’t get enough time to enjoy the summer – you have 2 full weeks to drink cocktails, eat sweets, and laze in the hazy last days of summer.
When you’ve had just about enough of the dog days you can pull up your socks, tie up your laces and join us for 30 FUN FILLED days in the 30 Day Fitness Challenge.
To Enter Simply sign up for our newsletter
Each week we’ll send you delicious (and healthy) recipes, an excercise plan and some motivational tips.
PLUS, each week we’ll have some fabulous giveaways from any of our fantastic promotional partners including:
Booty Camp Fitness
Burts Bees
Upper Canada Soap Company
Revolution Organics
Simon and Schuster Canada
Join Us – sign up for our newsletter to Have Fun, Get Fit & Win Prizes!
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Our latest Fearless and Fabulous Female Entrepreneur Series feature is Orlena Cain – founder of Sugarcain Entertainment, an online magazine that supports up and coming, aspiring female journalists, Belleville’s Mix97’s morning announcer, and The Shopping Channel’s TV presenter. Orlena also works closely with the Children’s Aid Society, and other charitable organizations. Busy does not even begin to describe Orlena, but you’ll be surprised by what makes her tick and what she would do differently if she could do it all again.
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How did you start your business?
I created it 6 years ago to help me build my portfolio of interviews and I kept meeting women who wanted to come on board and do the same. 2010 marks the end of a significant run in the world of entertainment news for Sugarcain Entertainment. We started out with one and currently have 25 journos that are in Toronto, Barrie, Kingston, Ottawa and Montreal. Vancouver, BC, Los Angeles, CA and TEXAS! We really are everywhere!
What’s your typical day like?
Throughout the ownership of my own online magazine, I have also continued to work as a television host and now morning show radio host too. A typical day starts at 430am/530am depending on if I wash my hair or
not, which also depends on how restless my night was…lol! Its on air 600am – 1000am in Belleville on MIX97 radio (Mon-Fri)and then if need be I may have to travel an hour and 45 minutes to The Shopping Channel (TSC) studio to work an afternoon or evening shift. I usually work weekends in Toronto at TSC.
What was your biggest worry when you started your own company?
My biggest worry was that no one would find it interesting enough to read and to date we have 250-thousand readers! Not too shabby for no advertising and purely word of mouth.
How long did it take for you to feel confident about working for yourself?
For me confidence has never been something that I wait for to do something. I walk fearlessly and sometimes foolishly in the path of the least expected. Sometimes I fall flat on my face…but most times noone is around to see it and I dust myself off, wipe a tear away if it has strayed and keep moving. Life is a battle. You don’t stop – keep moving!
What surprised you the most about working for yourself?
I will tell you what surprised me most about working for myself – you can make anything happen and it is true, ” If you build it, they will come.”
What’s the biggest reward in working for yourself?
The biggest reward is that I have had a successful online magazine for 6 years and I have helped alot of young women help themselves. I feel incredibly grateful to have met over 50 women who have been affiliated
with Sugarcain Entertainment. Some have moved on to great jobs like Monika Platek who is an in house announcer for their live TV coverage for the TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS or Loriann Vilani who works on 102.1 THE EDGE as an anouncer.
What have you sacrificed?
I have sacrificed having or starting a family. I have sacrificed sleep. But I would change nothing, because, everything is as it should be.
Is there anything you would have done differently?
EVERYTHING IS AS IT SHOULD BE. If I could change anything, I may have told a couple of people to go SCREW THEMSELVES. However, the world is small, so I silently have said it and not verbalized it, even though they deserved it.
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Other Inspiring Women: Fearless and Fabulous Female Entrepreneurs
Ali De Bold – cofounder of ChickAdvisor
Equipped with a great business idea and loads of hard work she and her husband and business partner, Alex De Bold, started www.ChickAdvisor.com – Canada’s first user generated reviews community for women to share advice on their favourite products and local places. Find out how she did it, and the one thing she would have done differently!
Lisa Ng – founder of HelloDJ
Lisa Ng is a woman that goes after what she wants. She’s never worked in a corporate office, she owns her own DJ company, Hello DJ, and she’s not afraid to take risks. But how did she do it and what’s it like?
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Tired of doing the same thing every time you get together with your girlfriends? Have cocktail parties, shopping trips, and coffee shops lost their excitement? Ready for a change?
Try a day hike with your girls! Every year a few of us head out into a nearby nature reserve, or sometimes a bit futher away, and go for a long hike together.
We chat, giggle, take some breaks to enjoy the scenery and get some excercise! It’s an amazing way to spend time together…and best of all, it’s fun that makes you skinnier!
We’ve been to Forks of the Credit, and Webster Falls, but there’s so many great hiking trails in Ontario to visit.
So next time your girlfriends want to plan a day out together, why not do something totally different? You’ll feel amazing if you do!
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If you are like most busy professionals you find yourself starving without many options when you are traveling for work, or even around your office in most suburban office malls.
So here’s your chance to share your on the road and healthy enough meal secrets!
For us, instead of having a hamburger and fries, we head over to Wendy’s to have the Manadarin & Chicken salad. It’s filling and delicious and you don’t feel like you’ve been cheated at all!
We also love the salads at Subway sandwiches – the garden salad with ham and fat free Italian dressing is amazingly satisfying – just make sure you skip the cheese to save a boatload of calories.
But enough about our faves, we want to hear from you.
What’s your favourite on the road and healthy enough meal?
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It’s getting warmer, everyone is feeling social, the patios are packed, and the cocktails are flowing ever so freely!
Sounds like a great time, but the next morning you will be feeling anything but great!
Here Are 10 Sure Fire (And Fun!) Ways To Cure A Hangover:
1. Eat a bacon and egg sandwich. Salad will not help, you need to go for the heavy stuff!
2. Wear sunglasses. They will hide your bags and sleepy eyes, and will save you from getting a headache from the bright sun.
3. Stay horizontal. Sit on a lawn chair by the pool, lay in bed watching movies or plant yourself on the sofa and chat with your man. Don’t try to be too active, you’ll stir everything up, which is a baaaad thing when you have a hangover!
4. Don’t make plans. Who wants to go for a run, eat a fancy brunch or go shopping when you feel awful. Don’t commit to something if you need to be energized and feeling great to do it.
5. Drink lots of water before bed, when you wake up and throughout the day. You’ll get hydrated and recover much faster.
6. Advil is your friend. Take 2 before bed, or right when you wake up. Actually, when you have a hangover Advil is your best friend!
7. Drink fresh squeezed juice or eat a few oranges. They have lots of vitamins, minerals, and healthy fluids that will make you feel fantastic!
8. Go swimming! Surfers swear that a quick dip cures any hangover – trust the experts!
9. Take a nap. Rest up, relax and rest some more. You need a little time to recover so drifting in and out of sleep when you are hung over is a great thing!
10. Watch feel good movies! When you are hung over you feel slow, and sluggish – so play your favourite movies that will make you laugh, smile and feel all giddy…you’ll forget your hangover in no time!
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With all the craziness in the economy over the last two years even the top bosses are feeling insecure in their jobs…which doesn’t bode well for the underlings. Crazy deadlines, no praise, damnation for small errors, and ignored emails are tell tale signs that all is not well with your boss.
Here are some great tips on how you can deflect the bad energy that’s being downloaded on to you from the levels above.
Your boss says: It’s late I know, but have this ready for me tomorrow by 8am”
What she means: I know this is a crazy request, but my bosses are on my ass to get this done ASAP, so help me out and get it done!
What you do: Involve your boss in the process and ask her what she would do to make it a success – by asking her and getting her advice it’s harder for her to blame you later if things don’t go well.
Your boss says: Zip, zilch, and she never replies to any of your emails.
What she means: I’m really, really, busy and very, very stressed. Keep me in the loop, but don’t ask for direction unless it’s urgent
What you do: Don’t leave all the decisions in her hands. You can keep her in the loop, and tell her the actions you are going to take by a certain date – just make sure you’ve given her enough time to read the emails and respond if necessary. If you really need something set up a meeting so you can have your questions answered, but make sure you come in with clear questions and have strict objectives for your meeting. The last thing you want is for her to get annoyed because she thinks you wasted her time with an unnecessary meeting.
Your boss says: You haven’t finished that yet????
What she means: I’m stressed, very busy, have lots of pressure to make miracles happen. Since I’m overwhelmed and you’re standing in front of me, I’m taking it out on you!
What you do: Take it. Sorry, that’s the truth. Sometimes you’re boss is going to need to vent, and if you happen to be the unlucky person standing in front of her, than you just have to take it. Don’t get weepy, and don’t take it personal – we’ve all freaked out at someone because something else was bothering us.
*Image courtesy of Jewlzbailey
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It’s May, bikini season is nearby, and we’re searching for ways to exercise that are the most fun. So fun in fact that it doesn’t even feel like you’re exercising! And we’ve found a secret!
As part of our May Fit Month we’re taking a walk every morning that’s a sunny gorgeous day. We get the most of this gorgeous summer weather and take in every morsel of sun and nice weather possible.
During the week set your alarm a little bit before your usual time. Pull yourself out of bed, grab a coffee and take a nice long walk along the lakeshore, or any other inspiring landscape.
It’s so nice to see the city before everyone has woken up. The air is still, the sun is white, and the grass is dewey. Joggers pass by, dogs are getting their morning stroll , and the boats gently cut through the waves.
And better yet, you get some time alone in the morning to find inspiration for the day, you get fit, and you get to enjoy the summer for a few minutes extra each day!
It’s the perfect way to start the day.
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Creamy and healthy may sound like an oxymoron, but it’s possible to have both! Last night we tested out this wonderful epicurous recipe. As part of our getting bikini ready plan to eat light, eat at home and eat healthy we wanted to try a delicious meal that was also a bit creamy and rich – but still healthy!
This meal was excellent – it took about 40 minutes to cook, we loaded up on vegetables and used lighter options for cream etc whenever possible. The result was amazing – it was rich and flavourful and we felt full and satisfied at the end without feeling like we’d overindulged.
Here’s how you make this super delicious chicken with sundried tomato cream sauce for two.
Ingredients:
1 boneless skinless chicken breast
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup drained sun-dried tomatoes (packed in oil; 1/2 ounce), patted dry and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup dry white wine
125 g light cream cheese (with 20% fat or less)
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
10 sliced mushrooms
2 cups fresh spinach
10 kalamata olives
Preparation: Pat chicken dry and season with salt and black pepper. Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown chicken with garlic, turning once, about 6 minutes total. (Chicken will not be cooked through.) Transfer with tongs to a plate.
Add tomatoes and white wine to skillet and sauté, stirring for about 1 minute. Add mushrooms, saute for 2 minutes uncovered and then cover and sauté for another 2 minutes.
Add chicken to skillet with any juices accumulated on plate and simmer, covered, until just cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer chicken with tongs to a platter and keep warm, loosely covered with foil. Add cream cheese, spinach, basil and kalamata olives to skillet and bring just to a simmer.
Transfer sauce to a deep heatproof bowl or 1-quart glass measure and purée with an immersion blender until almost smooth. (Alternatively, blend sauce in a standing blender. Use caution when blending hot liquids.) If necessary, add water to thin to desired consistency, then season with salt and pepper.
Cut the chicken breast in half, serve sauce over chicken and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons basil.
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For most fabulous ladies May is the month we all realize it’s time to slim down, trim up and get ready for beach weather.
So what are you going to do about it?
Like all good intentions they usually only ever work out if you have a plan. So we’ve devised something that’s pretty easy to follow, doesn’t interfere with fun weekend evenings and makes you feel fit and fabulous!
Fitness:
Mondays – 1 hour with a personal trainer
Tuesdays – 30 minutes swimming
Wednesdays – 1 hour with a personal trainer
Thursdays – 1.5 hours hot yoga
Saturdays – 30 minutes swimming
Diet:
Loads of vegetables and fruits, some lean protein like salmon and chicken, also dairy like yoghurt etc. There’s no set plan for diet, but there are rules for treats!
1x week a cookie, cake or ice cream (not all 3!)
2x week 2 glasses of wine
1x week a creamy decadent dinner or restaurant meal
This simple plan is a good framework to start with. Don’t get caught up in details, and don’t trick yourself either…if you have a tendency to be good Monday to Thursday and then fall apart completely over the weekend at the buffet mix up your schedule so you don’t find yourself at the buffet every weekend. Chose another place, different friends or any other mix of things that will keep you away from your triggers.
Good luck, and let us know how your May Fit Month is going!
