February is Health and Wellness Month

There are so many places to go for health advice I never know where to turn. Diet books, magazines, blogs, health food stores – you can get lost in it all. We all know it’s best to eat real food and move our bodies once in a while, but when it comes to overall health its best to talk to a pro. Luckily my dear friend Dr. Giselle Lefebvre, a Naturopathic Physician at Vancouver’s Sinclair Wellness Centre gave us a list of 5 simple things for us to do. First and foremost – •    Pay attention to how your body feels, how different foods effect your body, what happens when you stay hydrated all day. •    How are you sleeping? 7-9 hours waking rested? •    How are your bowel movements - ideally once a day. •    How is your cycle? Is your period regular? Future plans of having babies can be supported by doing the work now to ensure your body systems are healthy. •    How is your energy?

5 THINGS TO DO

Breathe - Pay attention to your breathing, it helps us deal with stress, keep our body oxygenated, and helps with our energy flow

Eat - Office work doesn't always support a proper diet. Have healthy snacks on hand. Whole food like fruit - apples are great and in season and travel well or try figs, dates or nuts. Make your own trail mix. Make sure to have lunch every day and don't spend that time at your desk. Give yourself a break from the florescent lights and get your body moving.

Drink - Workplace is full of coffee and muffins so do your best to not  get sucked in to the unhealthy lifestyle. Coffee is okay for the mornings but try alternatives for the rest of the day. Drink herbal teas such as rooiboos (antioxidants), mints (good for digestion) cold or hot.  Have lots of water and keep it by your desk at all times. Take movement breaks to fill it up every other hour.

Exercise - Movement is important.  Stretch every morning. Break a sweat at least three times a week. Since most jobs involve sitting all day, this affects posture, circulation and begs for weight gain. Move to help your blood circulate and rid yourself of the toxins of the work place.

Breaks - Take a technology break. Many of us spend ALL DAY with computers and then go home and do the same. Find space for nature and give your eyes a break. This will reduce eyestrain, carpal tunnel and headaches.

Starting a new job or semester means lots of change and a new schedule. It is good to take stock of where you are and also to pay attention to what your benefits are with the job. If you are spending all day in an office or library you need to take advantage of the support your job offers. Get a health team together to make sure those occasional aches and pains don't turn in to chronic problems. Remember this is the time to get a good understanding of your health - go see a naturopath to help you get yourself organized and learn simple natural ways to take better care of yourself.

For more questions visit Giselle at the Sinclair Wellness Centre located downtown Vancouver or email her at doctorgiselle@gmail.com.

January is Financial Planning Month

For the last few years, ever since we turned on the news to find out we were heading into the “second great depression”, money seems to be everywhere. People are losing it, governments are giving it away, schools want more of it.  It’s a discouraging scene as I begin my way to beef up my own bank accounts, and I know I’m not alone. I get asked often what its like being a young woman just starting to make it on her own, right when the rest of the world seems to be falling apart. I always reply with a quote from an unlikely source, Bob Dylan “when you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.” My main fiscal responsibilities (feeding myself, splitting a rent bill with my generous boyfriend, and supplying wine for the weekends) pale in comparison to those with women with student debt, four hungry mouths and a monster of a mortgage to feed. Because of this, I am a lucky one. We at YWiB are lucky, all of us. We live in a time where, yes there is financial stress, but it’s fashionable to be a penny-pinching Recessionista. It’s cool to be frugal and hip to be cheap. With hero’s like Smart Cookies blazing the way and support from our fellow YWiB members, we can find a fulfilling job and watch our saving account steadily grow. Together we can start money groups and discuss personal finance tips catered just to young women. We can halt our gym memberships, go for jogs around the seawall and bring Catey Hill's Shoo Jimmy Choo, The Modern Girls Guide to Spending Less and Saving More to the beach. And we are going to save our hard earned cash because we are smart enough too.

We know that in this uncertain world we have to have a safety net, money to fund living expenses for up to nine months.  We know we’ll live longer, change careers more often and that those daily $5 lattes really do add up. And we also know debt, although paralyzing isn’t permanent, and that it’s okay to ask for help ( Smart Cookies and Women's Institute for Financial Education are great places to start ).

For you YWiB members that have great money saving tips, are open for more or are just getting started planning your financial life come chat with us on ….. …

YWIB + Chris Flett: An Entrepreneurial Match Made in Heaven

Chris Flett in a room full of bright and beautiful young women. No, this isn’t the opening of a joke or a scene in a polygamous comedy. It’s Campus CEO – the life altering opportunity presented by Chris Flett and YWIB.  Helped run by the lovely Tara Clark, Campus CEO is a business bootcamp, offering advice, guidance and inspiration to YWIB members with an entrepreneurial dream. Over thirty women take time out of their busy lives to attend workshops once or twice a month.

Led by Chris, they cover the essentials of business development, or “how to make money”. By using stories of personal experience and the dissection of successful international businesses (including Starbucks and The Fairmont Hotels), Chris effortlessly debunks the myths that young women “can’t do businesses” and provides the framework to understand entrepreneurship. Televisions Dragons Den is used as a regular example to spur on conversations on negotiation and partnerships. It’s a steep learning curve with the banner event happening in May. Each participant gets the chance to pitch their business idea to a “Dragons Den” style Panel made up of established entrepreneurs with the hope of receiving financial backing.

To make it even more exciting, the ladies of Campus CEO are thrown into the trenches with prize-winning challenges. How would you like to have a spectacular lunch picking the brain of Chris Flett? All you’ve gotta do is get Obama, Steven Harper or Kevin O’Leary on the phone…

To find out more about Campus CEO and trace the progress of the incredible women involved check out the Campus CEO Facebook page, Chris' Blog (chrisflett.com) and visit YWIB for upcoming event announcements.

Post-Beyond Pink Event

Beyond Pink was an incredible weekend where energetic young women came together in a unique, high-impact and eco-friendly conference.  The delegates had the opportunity to participate in intimate workshops, partake in interactive roundtable discussions, engage with industry professionals, build lasting personal connections, and celebrate inspirational women in business. To celebrate the culmination of the weekend and encourage delegates to learn more about the YWiB network and future YWiB events, Beyond P!nk delegates, YWiB members and friends of YWiB are invited to attend a post-conference event.  This is another opportunity for the women of Beyond P!nk to continue to connect with each other - it is sure to be an engaging evening!YWiB

when | november 30th from six pm to eight pm where | ayden gallery, second-floor of tinseltown (eighty-eight west pender street) rsvp | http://pinkchristmas09.eventbrite.com price | complimentary

all photos credited to Jeremy Lim

Y-Pink?

learn more about YWiB during an evening of sweet treats and fun! come out with a friend and meet other fabulous ladies, find out about our upcoming events & programs, get excited about beyond p!nk and have the chance to win a free membership to YWiB!  hosted at the stylish noir lash lounge in yaletown, with frozen yogurt treats provided by qoola, it's sure to be a fun night!

date | monday, oct. 19th time | five thirty to eight pm venue | noir lash lounge tickets | complimentary!!! rsvp | y-pink.eventbrite.com [please do this to ensure your spot, capacity is limited to 50 people!]

look forward to seeing you all there!