Christie’s Fitness Tips
Check out the latest exercise tips, quick workouts, awesome stretches and how-to videos.
Finding The Right Exercise Mat
If you attend group fitness classes regularly, have you considered investing in a high-quality mat? The right exercise mat can enhance your practice, making the whole class experience more pleasant. If your hands slip forward in Downward Facing Dog (so distracting!),...
Homemade Dark Chocolate From Christie’s Chocolate Factory!
I love creating homemade, useful holiday gifts. And I love dark chocolate. (Who doesn't!?) So this year's DIY holiday gifts are a no-brainer: homemade dark chocolate! Making chocolate is so much easier than I'd imagined. You need only 4 essential ingredients, a...
Don’t Be A Turkey! 4 Tips To Help You Avoid Holiday Weight Gain
The holiday season comes with all kinds of stress, from gift-giving anxiety to dealing with difficult relatives. But the biggest stress-causer of the season, for me anyway, is the parties: all those appetizers; all those chocolates; all that wine; all those calories!...
Fat Is Not Your Enemy: 4 High-Fat Foods That Could Help You Lose Weight
In the late 1970's, rising rates of obesity, heart disease and some cancers were blamed on dietary fat. A few early studies linked fat consumption with higher blood cholesterol levels, and suddenly fat was a new enemy. It seemed so simple: eat fat, get fat. So...
Healthy Recipe: Guilt-Free Pumpkin Spice Smoothie
It's autumn, and here in Vancouver you can't walk a block without passing a cafe offering delicious Pumpkin Spice coffee drinks. The creamy, spicy aromas waft out onto the sidewalk to tempt you with their sweet, warming flavours. Yum! Reality check to the rescue...
Healthy Recipe: Country Kitchen Blueberry Pie
Vancouver's July heatwave brought out the blueberries earlier than usual and in abundance. At last weekend's West End Farmers Market I bought a huge bag of them -- ripe, delicious and far too many to eat before they spoil. What better reason to make a pie! Try this...
Healthy Dessert Recipe: No-Bake Carrot Yum Cakes
Confession: I have an insatiable sweet tooth. I love rich, decadent desserts. But I don't love how they make me feel after the sugar rush wears off -- not to mention how they seem to settle on my lower belly! Last week I was inspired by a carrot cake recipe my friend...
Healthy Recipe: Banana-Nut Breakfast Smoothie
Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day; I look forward to it the moment I wake up. But when you rise at the crack of dawn, making a healthy and filling meal can sometimes seem too time consuming. Here's a fast and easy smoothie recipe that's super delicious,...
Pull-ups: One Powerful Move for a Strong, Sexy Body
So you want to do a pull-up? Pull-ups have long been used as a measure of fitness and upper-body strength. From those gruelling middle-school gym tests (remember ParticipAction?) to military training, pull-ups are tough enough to humble even the most dedicated gym...