Tag Archives: Soapbox of Sequins

What are YOU doing this weekend?

I’ll be whipping up several dozen prettily packaged bits of yum to be put on offer at Toronto Bakes For Japan; so it’d be fantabulous if you could drop by and stroke my ego a tiny bit by making a donation in return for the privilege of taking one of them home with you!

If you can’t drop by either the Saturday (April 9) or Sunday (April 10) event, then you can still help out by donating online in the form of cold, hard cash. The process is simple & secure and all donations will go directly toward the total amount collected from the bake sale.

You don’t have to be from Toronto, either. You just have to be generous.

Let’s get our bake on, Toronto!

I was approached last week by a lovely young lady named Heena, telling me about an exciting fundraiser she was organizing to benefit the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan; that’s right, Toronto – we’re kickin’ it old school with a bake sale to raise money for Japan Relief efforts.

I’d been watching the news and thinking about what possible help I could offer – any monetary donation I could afford would hardly make a dent – so when she threw her idea at me, I jumped. And the best part? The first venue to come on board is right in my hood: Liberty Noodle @171 East Liberty St in Toronto.

Toronto Bakes For Japan started off as a small bake sale in a funky community in downtown Toronto and has already blossomed to include three more venues (including the Farmers’ Market at Evergreen Brick Works, The Rivoli & Cafe Diplomatico) across the city as well as an extra date (Saturday, April 9 for the Farmer’s Market venue.)

The event takes place Saturday, April 9 & Sunday, April 10.

100% of the proceeds will be donated directly to the Japanese Red Cross Society and not only will the event organizers be publishing a total amount raised by the initiative, but they’ll also upload a receipt after the funds have been transferred. Oh, if only our government could operate so transparently. But I digress.

An extensive set of FAQs regarding this initiative is online – as well as all the event details, times and locations. And if you can take part, Heena asks that you contact her via the website’s Contact page or directly, via email: torontobakesforjapan@gmail.com. She’s super speedy at replying as well – so you won’t have to wait long for a response with how you can get involved.

Bakeries, Restos or Small Businesses can jump on board with donations (including more venues!), pledges or just with help spreading the word.

I plan to get my bake on as my way of helping. And I’ll be on hand throughout the event as an extra pair of hands wherever they may be needed. So if you can bake something, volunteer some time, attend the event, or just tell someone else about it who can… that would be a fantastic help.

I may not be able to donate oodles of cash but I CAN bake up a storm.

Get involved, Toronto… it’s for an amazing cause!

A Pound is a Pound is a Pound

(For the record – I’m neither a fitness nor a medical expert; but I do know a wee bit about shedding a pound or two*)

I just need to do this twice... in a row...

I have aspirations of running a marathon. There. I’ve said it. It’s out in the open. It’s not going to happen this year. But I think a half-marathon might. I know that it’s within me to accomplish. But I also know that I have a lot of work to do in order to get there.

I’ve run 5 km distances countless times. I’ve even done two 10 km runs (one the weekend before my wedding, no less; yeah, I didn’t think that one through very well.) But I respect the challenge enough to know that dragging my arse across a finish line that’s a full 21 kilometres from the start line is NOT in the same category. At all.

As someone who spent a lifetime being unfit & out of shape, my battle toward fitness has proven to be a more attainable goal by gleaning advice & inspiration from outside sources; Weight Watchers was a fantastic resource that gave me the support & knowledge I needed, at the time, to shed an enormous amount of weight. Now that my aspirations are more toward fitness, however, I’ve looked elsewhere. The world of running, for one, has proven to be outstanding means to an end.

As a result of my focus shifting gears, I now spend a lot (I mean, a lot) of time surfing around various health & fitness websites and personal blogs looking for success stories, workout routines or recipes.

I’ve learned to take in the information that’s helpful and toss aside the garbage. Unfortunately, though, not everyone has a knowledge base that will allow them to filter through what’s valid and what’s not.

And, while there is a tremendous amount of correct & proven information out there from people with varying levels of experience & expertise – it never ceases to amaze me the number of times I see (in print!) “a pound of fat weighs more than a pound of muscle.”

First of all, let’s look at that sentence. Semantics aside, that statement is such a flagrant violation of the laws of physics that it makes my teeth itch. How can one pound of one substance POSSIBLY weigh more than one pound of another substance?

Remember that riddle we used to love to tell when we were kids? “What weighs more – a pound of bricks or a pound of feathers?” Didn’t we all just think we were sooooo clever? Well, this is the same thing. One pound (of anything) weighs exactly the same amount as one pound (of any OTHER thing.)

A pound of fat does NOT weigh more than a pound of muscle. A pound of fat takes up more space than a pound of muscle – yes, this is true. But volume and weight are two separate measurements.

And that’s one of the reasons women are encouraged to add strength training and exercise with weights to their cardio routines. Trust me… you’re not going to end up looking like Ah-nold. It’s not in our genetic makeup. Those female bodybuilders you see on TV? They had to work way harder than their male counterparts to get that bulked-up and ripped.

It’s also one of the reasons you’ll hear fitness experts say things like, “get rid of your scale,” or, “don’t base your success solely on the number your scale gives you.”

If you base your success (or failure) on just the number on your scale, you’re missing the big picture. Because, while you work out and feed your body natural foods within your daily caloric range, that number may change very little… and sometimes, not at all. This is because, while you’re burning away that pesky body fat, you’re building lean muscle mass at the same time.

And, while one pound of muscle still weighs as much as one pound of fat, it’s going to take up a LOT less space in your Calvins.

So do yourself a favour: invest in a tape measure & use it. If you’re trying to affect a change in your body composition you need to look at more than just your scale. Can you climb a flight of stairs now without getting winded? Does jogging around the block seem slightly less daunting than it used to? Is that mark where your bra strap used to dig into your flesh now gone? Then you’re doing something right. Keep it up. The number on the scale will move in its own good time. But, with all these other points of reference, it won’t seem like the end of the world when it doesn’t do it instantly.

And can we please (for the love of jebus!) STOP perpetuating the adage that “a pound of fat weighs more than a pound of muscle”?

Thanks.

*Slow & Steady (or: What a Difference a Decade Makes)

’tis the Season, Part 3: The Weather & The Wankery

Why is it that, with the first snow fall each year, people act like newcomers to the planet? If winter & all of its trappings were something new, I might be willing to cut a bit of slack. But it’s not. It’s a season we’ve been experiencing for generation after generation after generation. I’m guessing snow was around even before people. But I wasn’t – so it’s just a guess.

December 6, 2010 @ 3pm - Toronto's first snow "storm" of the year.

I actually turned on the news this morning in gleeful anticipation of seeing this year’s Darwin Award nominees; the fools who would, inevitably, end up in the ditch because they were certain they could take that snow-covered corner just as deftly as they did in August. It was reported that there were 170 collisions in the 12 hours after the snow started falling. Oy vey. Tow-truck companies must need relief staff to count all the extra income they make this time of year.

Also? This is Canada. The Great White North isn’t just a cute nickname. What happens when a real snowfall hits? Well, if you live in Toronto, you know all too well what happens: you become laughing stocks.

And, in Toronto, the weather doesn’t even get all that bad – not compared to Snow Belt areas of the country. But to listen to the news reports you would, honestly, believe that we were being smote by the next Ice Age.

In 1999 the lunacy reached heights of utter ridiculousness when our then-mayor Mel Lastman actually called in the military to shovel snow. Go back and read that sentence again. Yes. The military. A city the size of Toronto doesn’t have a plan in effect for the unlikely event of a snow storm? Because it is highly unlikely it might snow here. During winter. In Canada. Yes, there was much pointing and laughing at Toronto that year. And, you have to admit, it was quite richly deserved. Oh well, at least our trained military personnel were paid richly for their efforts… with free Leafs tickets.