Are You A Night Eater?

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We all look forward to that evening snack, don't we? How else can we wind down from a long busy day than in front of the tube watching our favourite show while munching on our most favourite snack food?

We earned it right!?

If this sounds like you, you may have NES.

NES - Night Eating Syndrome is the latest eating disorder to be added to the list. You probably know someone with NES (it's estimated to happen in 1.5% of the general population and even higher rates are found in the overweight population). If you show symptoms of NES it will make weight loss efforts very very difficult.

You may have NES if you: 

An Urban Retreat @ Hammam Spa, Toronto

Hammam Spa recently invited me to experience their Turkish Bath and Spa in Toronto. It was my second visit in a very long time and I was just as impressed that this subterranean urban retreat existed along the hustle of King Street West. Opened in 2005, the spa boasts 8,000 square feet of day spa bliss and a 500 square foot steam room that is infused with essential oils.

Turkish baths are traditional steam-filled grottos. The one inside Hammam Spa is particularly dark and of course, steamy. The steam room is co-ed, so I recommend bringing a bathing suit so you feel more comfortable or use the wrap provided in your locker.

So Why Steam? - Steaming is supposed to open your pores and release toxins from your skin, while loosening dead skin cells. I always leave relaxed and my skin is glowing after I spend an afternoon in the steam room. The steam will also relax your joints and muscles - my shoulders are a wreck. I spend all day sitting at my desk staring at a computer screen. I find that hanging in the steam room before a massage usually helps me unplug and unwind. Iced towels and cold water are available to help you cool down between sessions.

Hip + Urban Mom: What Is A Doula?

When I was pregnant with my first child, my husband and I decided to go to the baby show. While we were there we learned a little bit about something we had never heard of before - a doula.

Fortunately, my cousin Jackie Streich is not only a doula but is also a doctor of naturopathic medicine and took time out of her wedding planning to teach me more about field.

She says that, “The role of a doula is to provide physical, emotional, and informational support to women and their partners during labour and childbirth.” What that entails is, “help and advice on comfort measures such as breathing, relaxation techniques, movement, and positioning” and she stresses that, “the most crucial role for doulas is to provide continuous emotional reassurance and comfort to the labouring mother”.

I asked Jackie what the benefits of using a doula were and she told me that studies have shown that when doulas attend births, labours are shorter with fewer complications or need for intervention, babies are healthier and they breastfeed more easily. Women also report greater satisfaction with their birth experience and have less postpartum depression.

Jackie told me that you should meet with a doula, “Once or twice prior to the due date. These meetings are an opportunity for the doula to get to know the parents, work on developing a birth plan as well as to teach and practice some comfort measures. The prenatal meetings are also a great time to address any concerns or fears the mother may have about the birthing process”.

Hip + Urban Girl of the Week: Natasha Koifman

This week we chat with Natasha Koifman, president of her namesake Toronto and New York-based PR agency, NKPR. Celebrating its 10th year in business, Natasha leads over 30 talented communicators representing over 40 global brands. NKPR was one of the first agencies to lead the way in social media and brought one of the most renowned celebrity-gifting suites, The IT Lounge, to Canada. Meet Natasha! She's our Hip + Urban Girl of the week.

At the office

You started NKPR 10 years ago. What was that like and what is in store for the next 10?

I started NKPR from my basement with my new puppy Decoy and our Director of Operations Cat Richens with one mandate...to love what I do and to pick and choose who I work with and what I work on. I've stayed true to that for the last 10 years and will continue to stay true to it for the next 10!

Speaking at Young Women of Influence

Tell us about some of the most memorable events you’ve been part of, and people you’ve worked with in your career.

I met my good friend Paul Haggis through our IT Lounge in 2008. He is an expert in the 'authentic relationship' and taught me the TRUE value of doing work worth doing.  He is doing amazing work in Haiti through his charity, Artists for Peace and Justice. He inspired me. Today I am on the advisory board of APJ together with Josh Brolin, Diane Lane, Ben Stiller, Russel Crowe, Charlize Theron and Gerard Butler. Many of our events raise funds for APJ and we try to have a charitable component to everything we do, whether it's for APJ or one of our other favourites like Camp Oochigeas.

Another inspirational person in my life is Stephen Graham, who recently won 'Marketer of the Year'. I worked with him at the beginning my career and he taught me much of what I know! I've also had the great fortune of working with people like Chris Bratty and the Toro Magazine team. I've loved what we've been able to accomplish with the Toro After Dark events at the Toronto film festival and of course working daily with some of our amazing clients like Kiehl's where we do some of the best work ever because the client encourages us to be the best that we can be. I'm also really fortunate to work with the amazing team of people at NKPR every day.

Go Nuts! But Which Kind Is Best?

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A common question people ask us is, "which nut is best"? It's an interesting question. It would be just plain nutty (sorry, had to!) to recommend one nut over another based on nutritional value alone as each type of tree nut provides us with valuable nutritional properties (that is, some "good stuffs"). Listed below are the common tree nuts and their special "super power" nutrient. You may wonder about peanuts, which are actually a "legume". Peanuts do have good fat but many tree nuts surpass them nutritionally in other ways.

Word to the wise: ALL nuts are a source of "unsaturated" or "healthy fat" and the 1 oz portion size listed is about 160-200 calories per 1 oz serving - so more is not necessarily better as the calories can add up quickly!

Salsa Night Out At Lula Lounge - Toronto

Looking to spice up your Saturday night? Turn up the heat at Toronto’s own Lula Lounge salsa club. Grab your beau or a group of friends and head on over to the Lula Lounge for a night of fun, awesome music and of course, salsa!

If you are new to salsa, don’t worry. Salsa Saturdays host a very popular beginner’s dance lesson at 9 pm. I admit I was a little intimidated and anxious before I got there. I expected to be the amateur trying to blend in amongst salsa dancing kings and queens, but all those worries washed away as soon as the lesson started. There were people of all different ages and skill levels, couples and friends, including girls out for a ladies’ night.

The dance lesson slowly takes you through basic salsa steps and a dance sequence. You have plenty of time to get the steps down before the dance floor opens up for everyone to freestyle it after the lesson. Partners are not required for the lesson, however after the basic steps are covered participants pair up to learn a sequence intended to be danced with a partner. I went with a girlfriend and we still had fun (laughing at ourselves). The best part is every weekend, Lula Lounge features live music on their stage from different salsa groups for you to practice your new moves to and get your salsa on. 

Hip + Urban Girl of the Week: Wendy Ding

You know when you were little and you had that friend that was amazing at drawing and could whip off unicorns and rainbows off the top of her head, while you made sad attempts? Wendy Ding is the girl who can draw anything. She's a Toronto-based Freelance Illustrator and also our Hip + Urban Girl of the Week!

What made you choose a career in art?

I've always loved it since I was little and feel it's the best way to contribute myself to the world.

How did you get your start as an illustrator and what drew you to fashion?

Illustration like most creative fields is one that you can self-start as long as you have a solid portfolio and can deliver the goods. I thought about the companies I most wanted to work with and made efforts to get them to see my work. My first client was Owlkids, a Canadian children's publishing company. I did my co-op term back in college with them.

Growing up, I was glued to Fashion Television every Saturday to see Jeanne Beker's weekly adventures in style. That's how I first fell in love with fashion.

What types of jobs do you get hired for?

Freelance-wise I've done fashion illustration, children's book and magazine illustration, storyboards for advertising pitches, and most recently portrait sketching at special events. I've also worked as a full time in-house multimedia designer for an online advertising company and apparel / product designer at a hosiery company.  

Hip + Urban Mom: Using A Midwife

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Making a birth plan seemed a little silly to me. I mean, don’t we just ask for an epidural and have the doctor tell us when to push? After I got pregnant I learned that there are a lot of options, and many are less scary than those TV water births. One such option is to use a midwife.

Fortunately, I have the honour of soon being able to call Laura my cousin when she gets married this summer. She is also a training midwife, so who better to ask all about midwives. Laura Duivesteyn is a senior midwifery student at McMaster University. She will be completing her fourth and final year this fall/winter and looks forward to graduating next spring.

I asked Laura what a midwife is and she told me that “Midwives are primary health-care providers who are able to provide care for a woman’s entire pregnancy, labour and birth, as well as the first six weeks after birth for both mom and baby. Midwives are available to their clients by pager 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”  She told me that midwives are trained to recognize situations that would need outside help and can transfer care to the most appropriate health care provider, such as an obstetrician, family physician, lactation consultant, or pediatrician. 

Three Easy Moves To Spring You Into Spring

Stephanie Joanne got her start in the Fitness Industry in 2001. Since then she found herself working as a Personal Trainer, Club Consultant, Group Fitness Instructor, Studio owner and everything in between. She spends her days training Toronto’s most high profile Television personalities and athletes. 

Stephanie is also co-owner of her own supplement company (Supplements Together), and is currently the media liaison and ambassador for Extreme Fitness. 

Life gets busier so it can be tough to find time to get into the gym. We asked Stephanie to create three easy moves for hip + urban girls to do at home. The best part? No equipment is required.  If you don’t have dumbbells, you can use anything around the house that weighs 5-10 lbs. Cans, water bottles, anything will do as long as it gets you a sweat. 

*Complete each move for 30 seconds in a row followed by a rest for another 30 seconds. Each exercise should be done at least 5 times in the circuit. Did you do the math? That’s only 15 minutes for this Spring workout that’s sure to get your heart rate up too!

Wide Squat and Press

1. Stand wider than shoulder width apart with weight in both hands

2. Squat down deep

3. As you stand up out of the squat, thrust your arms above your head. 

4. Return hands to shoulder height and repeat

This Is How We Roll In Gold

This is a hip + urban sponsored post.

The HUG website focuses on five categories: Food, Travel, Life, Style and Events. For almost two years now, our team has been eating our hearts out, jet-setting around the world, offering life advice, sharing style tips and covering the hottest events in Toronto. When we discover a goodie, you are the first to know. And that's why we can't stop talking about the American Express Gold Rewards Card and how it fits so neatly into the lives of hip + urban girls.

FOOD:

Redeem gift cards to popular and fine dining restaurants in the GTA anywhere from 3,000 to 30,000 points.

Lisa and I are quite different but one thing we always agree on is having our monthly meetings at restaurants. Can't make big decisions on an empty stomach! So we've been redeeming our Membership Reward points for dining gift cards to Oliver & Bonacini Restaurants, Colborne Lane, Bymark and The Keg, etc.

I've partied my way around the globe and not to be biased, but I still think Toronto has some of the best nightlife in the world! So when a few Vancouver friends popped by, I took them to Spice Route for girls' night out.

TRAVEL:

The Card lets you enjoy the flexibility of transferring Membership Rewards points to a wide range of loyalty and frequent flyer programs including Aeroplan and Starwood Preferred Guest.

Next stop for me? I transferred my Membership Reward points 1 to 1 for Aeroplan miles so for 75,000 points, I am in Thailand and Japan for the next 4 weeks!

Mother's Day Gift Guide

She is your Best Friend, Head Cheerleader, Your Confidant and then there are times she drives you up the wall. For all the things she is, here are a few ways to say Thanks Mom!

Nokia Lumia 800

Give Mom the gift that gives back - her time that is. This super sleek and stylish smartphone is easy to use and will allow Mom to stay connected, prepared and organized. Featuring an interactive touch screen, Windows Phone OS and eight megapixel camera, it's the perfect fit for the Mom that is always on the move. Available through TELUS for $24.99 with a 3-year plan.

High Tea For Two Please

You are here, you are there so before your calendar gets filled up (again), Ms. Social Butterfly, make sure you book Mommy Dearest in for some quality mother-daughter time. So get out those white gloves and treat her to a High Tea experience at one of our favourite venues from the HUG Tea Tour.

A Day at the Spa

Nothing says “I appreciate everything you had to put up with while I was growing up” like a pampering spa treatment. Spoil Mom with a well-deserved day of doing nothing but relaxing at Body Blitz Spa, lyashi Bedrock Spa or send her on a weekend getaway at Scandinave Spa Blue Mountain.

Hip + Urban Girl of the Week: Melissa Shin

I met Melissa 2 years ago and we instantly clicked. She reminded me of myself when I was 27... dedicated to climbing the corporate ladder, focused on personal growth and ready to conquer the world with a master plan. So when I found out that she won the Canadian Women In Communications Award, I wasn't the least bit surprised. Watch out world, Melissa is a rising star!

Tell us more about the CWC Awards. You are the youngest recipient (27 years old!) to be recognized for Excellence In Leadership, congrats!

Thank you! Canadian Women in Communications (CWC) is a national, bilingual organization dedicated to advancing women in the communications sector. They do this by providing professional development opportunities, such as a mentor pairing program; and holding networking events and educational workshops. The CWC Annual Awards honour those who have demonstrated outstanding achievements, leadership and support in the communications and technology industries.

I won the 2012 award in the Emerging Leader category, and accepted it April 16 in Ottawa.

How does one get nominated?

I asked my boss to nominate me. No one’s going to take control of your career for you, and sometimes you simply have to ask for what you want. Thankfully, he said yes.

We Get Re: Creative At Toronto's Newest Craft Studio

Ever thought about trying your hand at a DIY bracelet? How about making your own custom stationery or a ruffle headband? 

When I was growing up, crafting was my WHOLE. WIDE. WORLD. A shopping trip usually ended with me begging my Mom to stop at either White Rose or Lewiscraft to pick-up some more gimp, friendly plastic, magnet backings or jewelery-making tools. I learned to knit. I started a scrapbook.

I was a crafting machine.

Then one day, I just stopped crafting. Maybe I just grew out of it, but I know my inner eight year-old is still in me ready to bust out a friendship bracelet or two.

Hip + Urban Girl of the Week Renee Elliott has launched a cute little craft studio in Parkdale, Toronto called Re: Creative. It's a DIY studio that caters to both adults and children looking to get a little crafty. Class prices range from $30-40 and the studio is located just behind Shopgirls Boutique on Queen Street West.

Renee shares our love of crafting and talks about why she opened the studio, "I wanted to share my love of handmade items with others. Not only will they have a fun interactive social experience but they will leave with something they made and are proud of. That's the best feeling in the world for me." 

Hip + Urban Mom: My Birth Plan

When I took my prenatal classes the teacher mentioned a birth plan. We were told that it’s just a basic plan about how you want the birth of your baby to go. Which brought up the question, what are my options? In our classes we learned about some different coping strategies and outside of it I learned about midwives and doulas.

The most important thing that I learned about the birth plan is that it's just a plan and it can change at any moment because things won’t always work out the way you expected.  Whether it was deciding on natural child birth and then wanting the epidural or not having your doctor do the delivery because they are dealing with the woman down the hall or because you kicked your almost fainting husband out of the delivery room.  So your birth plan is just a way to allow you have some control of a scary situation, but it is not written in stone.

Hip + Urban Girl of the Week: Gail McInnes

You can never miss her in a crowd with her hot red lips and gorgeous outfits. This week we chat with Gail McInnes, owner and director of Magnet Creative Management.

What made you choose a career in the fashion industry?

My love of beautiful things and people. I loved what the pop stars of the 80's wore, and experimented with fashion as a pre-teen as much as I was able to. Then in the early 90's it was all about the supermodels. That world fascinated me and I wanted to be a part of it.

How did you get your start in PR?

I actually started my career as a model agent. My first job was as the model booker in the men's division of Armstrong Models in the mid-90's. It was my boss Mel Mateus at B&M Models who really helped me discover my love of PR when I was the Marketing & Promotions Director of the agency. They were celebrating their 25th anniversary in 2005 and I had the role of bringing in all the right people and creating some buzz. It was thrilling to see the results in print afterwards. It was that moment when I knew that PR was exactly what I should be doing, but it took me a few years after to truly find my own path.

What types of clients do you represent?

I represent a range of fashion , entertainment and lifestyle clients. From emerging designers like DeMOYO and Feesk, to established brands with a strong following, like Lucian Matis, as well as working with other clients on a project basis. The great thing about this industry is that it's ever evolving and there is always something new coming up, so I never truly know what new project may come my way.

What I Learned From Oprah's Lifeclass

I have always been a big Oprah fan. Sure, I wasn't shaking, crying and hysterical like some of the people in the front row - but I admire and respect her for everything she has done and accomplished. I was incredibly lucky when a last-minute seat opened up in the Executive section, where ticket holders had paid $500 for a seat to be about 10 rows back from the big O. In front of us were the Emerald seats, worth over $1000 each. Of course, every single one of the 8500+ seats were filled and Toronto went crazy for Oprah.

So what did I learn during the five hours I spent in Lifeclass listening to motivational speaking pros Tony Robbins, Iyanla Vanzant, Deepak Chopra and Bishop T.D. Jakes? Well this was just the tip of the iceberg:

1) A positive outlooks goes a long way. It was the one uniting theme I picked up from all the speakers that day. Iyanla Vanzant points out that you should never say, "I'm broke." Try, something along the lines of, "I'm temporarily out of funds". Never say, "I'm single". Try saying that you're just waiting for the right person to present themselves in a form that I am happy with. I like that Iyanla. She was by far the most entertaining speaker of the day. She's funny, sassy and you can't ignore her when she's trying to get her point across.

Are You Eating These Top 5 'Healthy' Food Frauds?

Here are some “food doozies”: they have a rep for posing as "healthy" but really, they may not be doing you any favours (say, keeping your waistline in check). Get in the know and be sure to identify a "food fraud" when you see one. And stay away. Or modify as suggested. Have fun!

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1. Food Fraud: Smoothies
That "healthy" berry blend at a smoothie shop can have a whopping 80 grams of sugar, 350 calories, no protein and often, no fresh fruit. Fruit "concentrates" are often used instead of fresh fruit. Sorbet, ice cream and sweeteners can make these nutritionally speaking, no better than a milkshake.

Food Fix: Get the "small" cup. Ask for fresh fruit, low-fat yogurt, milk, or protein powder to blend in good nutrition.

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2. Food Fraud: Energy Bars
Many of these are simply enhanced candy bars with more calories (up to 500) and a higher price tag. Their compact size also leaves many people unsatisfied. Think noch, noch, noch = it’s gone!

Food Fix: Choose bars that have 200 calories or less, at least five grams of fiber, and some protein, which helps provide "go-go gadget go" for at least a few hours.

Hip + Urban Girls of the Week: helloberry

I've been spotting these cute bracelets all around the city. They remind me of the simple days of trading friendship bracelets at summer camp. So I was super stoked when I discovered they were homemade right in downtown Toronto! With big startup dreams and a passion for colourful gimp... say hello to Sunta and Charlene of helloberry!

What is a typical day in the life of the helloberry team?

There are no typical days for Charlene or myself. We work at different schedules on different areas of the business but our goals by the end of the day is to make sure all customers feel taken care of and products are being shipped. The faster bracelets can be on wrists, the better for helloberry as a whole.

If there were a typical day it might begin with coffee and breakfast while checking emails and the status of our online shop. We try to answer customer questions as soon as possible. Using a really nice email from a helloberry fan to fuel the rest of the day works wonders. Lucky for us, our helloberry shoppers are ridiculously sweet and have been encouraging us since the very beginning.

Tell us more about helloberry!

Behind-the-scenes at helloberry you’ll find a very hard working team working to grow helloberry and reach more people with our products.

We bounce product ideas and designs back and forth until we’re ready with a new release. Charlene rocks the camera as you can see by our product shots and is an extremely talented designer (like the deliciously cute helloberry logo!)

Top 10 Foods You're Probably Not Eating Enough Of

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We all love top ten lists, am I right?

But why do nutrition lists always seem to feature crazy “superfoods” that you’ve never heard of, don’t know how to prepare or can’t find at your local grocery store? Frustrating.

So in the spirit of gettin’ real, we’ve comprised our list of the top ten common, everyday, healthy foods, you probably aren’t eating enough of, but should. In no particular order – we don’t discriminate when it comes to healthy foods – here they are:

1. Beans - like kidney beans, black beans, chickpeas, white beans, navy  beans, lentils - we don’t care, they’re all healthy. Full of soluble fibre, magnesium, folate and potassium- all important nutrients the average person doesn’t get enough of.

2. Leafy greens - like kale or collards – nutritional superstars compared to their other leafy counterparts like iceberg or even romaine lettuce. And you can eat them as a “chip.” Ever make kale chips? Yum. 

Jet-Setting With An Infant - What You Need To Know!

Air travel solo with an infant is no fun, but if you’re organized it can be manageable. I’ve conquered the challenge a couple of times (solo and with help) so I thought I would share the stuff I think you need to know if you're planning a vacay with your little one.

Passport Party! - If you're flying anywhere outside of Canada your little dude/dudette needs his/her own passport. Fill out the form for children on the Passport Canada website and get your babe's picture taken wherever they take passport pics in your area. L'il E was five weeks when we had his pic taken and you can imagine the difficulty we had ensuring his mouth was closed, both eyes open, looking forward and ears showing. One word. PACIFIER.

The Best Seats In The House - When you book your flight, ask to be in the bulkhead or try to book a seat with an empty one beside it. Fortunately for me, I had a vacant middle seat beside me on the flight to and home from Florida so I was allowed to bring my car seat right on the plane and L'il E ended up getting his own seat (lifesaver!). If you can't swing this, I suggest bringing your Moby Wrap on board and wearing your babe so you can be hands-free. During takeoff and landing E just sucked on his pacifier, but he wasn't really bothered by the pressure (I was shocked!).