Keep lean to prevent cancer!
It is important to be lean, not only for how we look, but mostly to maintain a good health and prevent many chronic diseases, including cancer! Many specialists recommend a BMI (body mass index) under 23 instead of 25 (excuding my bodybuilding friends!), and here is why… The more fat we have, the more inflamed our body is, which is the most common denominator to most chronic diseases, including cancer. Adipose tissue (or fat) releases molecules that cause inflammation. One pound of fat needs 400 km of blood capillaries to feed itself, which creates a proliferation of blood vessels. The micro tumors that we all carry as we reach the adult age use these growth factors to vascularize themselves, and that vascularization allows a microscopic non-dangerous tumor to become a clinically declared cancer. This is what we call tumoral angiogenesis. So the slimmer you are, the less chances you get to develop a chronic disease… Do you need a better reason to stay lean?! Stay active, eat well and not too much, don’t smoke, drink water, and you will significantly lower your risk of developing serious health issues. These are the first reasons that should motivate you to get or stay lean. Take care of yourself, because you deserve it! Contact us for a weight loss program! Annie Cap, personal trainer. Source: Prévenir le cancer, comment réduire les risques. -Richard Béliveau et Denis...
Half a grapefruit in the morning for a better day!
Did you know that eating half a grapefruit every morning can make you healthier? Grapefruits, delicious and refreshing but more than that they are composed of 88% water and are low in calories. Half of one contains enough vitamin C to cover 75% of the recommended daily dose for an adult and 100% for children! It’s also rich in vitamins A, B, E, K, minerals like potassium and calcium, and fibers. The more red it is the better, because it contains more antioxydants (flavonoids and carotenoids) which help prevent cancer and cardiovascular diseases. By reinforcing the immune system, it helps preventing colds and other infections. Moreover, most people don’t know that a grapefruit can save the day in case of a hangover! Grapefruits can actually help you lose weight and maintain a high level of the good cholesterol you need in your body. Some even recommend to eat half of one before every meal for better digestion and lipolysis, in other words it helps you burn fats. Be careful if you are on several medications such as cholesterol medications for example, as grapefruits can react with them and change their effects in the body. Ask your doctor in case of doubts. Why not gift yourself with a healthy treat every morning by adding this precious fruit to the usual routine?! Feed your temple the right way… 🙂 Annie Cap...
What is Reiki?
Reiki is a healing art, simple and powerful. The word Reiki means ”spiritually guided universal life energy”, it is an ancestral healing technique. Even if you are sceptical about anything that you cannot physically see, Reiki remains a really efficient healing discipline and I encourage you to read this brief introduction until the end so you can know more about this art that is part of me. Some people think Reiki originated centuries ago in Tibet and India and to have traveled to China with Buddhism. Its history has many versions so it’s difficult to know exactly how it was created, but one name that we often hear is Dr. Mikao Usui, from Japan, that would have rediscovered the Reiki formula in a holy book that he read in Sanscrit in a Zen temple in the late 1800’s, then was developed by Dr. Chujiro Hayashi, and spread out not much later to the West by Hawayo Takata. Reiki draws people into a state of deep relaxation which makes it easier for the body’s incredible healing abilities to work. It flows with the healing energy or the light of unconditional love, certain will call it divine but it’s really just a part of us and everything in the universe. No beliefs are necessary to practice it or receive it, you don’t even have to believe it works, it will have an effect on you whether you think it will or not. Practically, it’s by the imposition of the therapist’s hands that the Reiki energy will be guided and work itself in the body, and beyond. It helps any kind of health issue or blockage, whether it is physical or emotional. Reiki involves sacred healing symbols received by students through attunements in person with a Reiki Master, and that is what differentiates it from other energy healing techniques. In reality, all of us already have Reiki but we have forgotten, the attunements awake the process of remembering and reactivate the energy and symbols. I have always been using my hands to heal in various ways since I was very young, but only much later I became a Reiki Master. Reiki has helped me not only in the efficiency of my treatments but also in my everyday life; I feel stronger, complete, peacefully happy and deeply connected with everything that surrounds me. I hope you now have a better understanding of what this amazing healing practice is, and I am always happy to give Reiki sessions. I also offer Reiki courses and attunements for all levels if ever you are interested in becoming a therapist. Don’t hesitate to contact me for furthur details...
FOCUS! Make the most out of your training!
Establishing your own workout routine with exercises you enjoy and sticking to it regularly is an excellent way to stay young and healthy, along with good overall lifestyle habits of course. That being said, we don’t necessarily want or have time to spend hours in the gym daily. A common issue that I see in people training is that we don’t maximize ou efforts. That explains why we can get frustrated and it takes so long to lose that extra fat or we don’t get the results we are aiming for… Forget the two-hour cardio! There is a much more effective and faster way to stay in shape, get rid of that extra fat and get toned. The key is to focus through every movement we make as we exercise, be conscious of which muscles should be working and engage them. Don’t just do the movement mecanically, ”feel” the movement! Focusing and squeezing consciously the right muscles while training is the best way to increase efficiency and avoid compensating with muscles that can reinforce poor posture. Remember that the way you train is the way you’re going to reinforce your body’s natural position in your everyday life so you want to prioritize a good posture at all times. Whether you’re running, riding, circuit training or working out in a gym, you have to know (or get a trainer that does) which muscles should be engaged and which should remain relaxed (Please see my articles on Running and Spinning for essential tips on what to focus on performing those disciplines!). For instance, while cycling, our upper body (belly button and up) should be completely relaxed (especially shoulders, arms and neck), otherwise, not only will you lose some of the energy you need tensing up useless muscles, but you also are proned to get neck injury of feel numbness in your arms. Another example is ABS exercises, don’t get satisfied with just doing the crunch movement, instead you want to SQUEEZE your abdominals every single time you get your upper body up, and also keep the muscle contraction as you go down. That means no swings! If you are performing a couple hundreds abs a day, chances are you’re doing them the easy and wrong way and you probably wouldn’t last 15 or 20 repetitions doing them as I am suggesting, and that goes for almost any training program. I’m not trying to insult anybody here, just letting you know that doing small repetitions the right proper way and squeezing consciously those muscles every single rep will increase your results to an extend you wouldn’t suspect and also save you a lot of time and boreness....
Kilimanjaro: A physical and emotional achievement!
I made it to the top!! Of course, in my head, it wasn’t an option to not succeed, but the last part turned out to be much harder than I thought. It was a seven day journey, five days to ascend and two days going down. The first four days felt like a piece of cake, no altitude symptoms bothered me whatsoever and physically I was feeling so strong and energized by this whole adventure. As we rose to the summit we saw many different landscapes, all respectively attached with their unique astonishing beauty. The sun was mostly bright and shiny in the day, getting stronger as we rose, sometimes hidden by clouds which we had to find our way through. On the fifth day we had to get up at 11:30pm and start the ultimate climb to the top at midnight so we would reach the highest summit in Africa as the sun shows its first rays. I was feeling slightly weak because of a small insolation on that last day of climb, the sun being so strong… I thought: “Really?… What a timing!” as we were just about to face the most important part of our journey. So we left at twelve, we rested in our tents for a couple hours and fortunately I felt much better when it was time to get ready. It was really cold but we were all dressed accordingly so that wasn’t an issue. The sky was so bright and full of stars, and I saw about 7 or 8 shooting stars along the way! At that point I was thinking to myself: “I got this”, I was even getting a bit impatient because we were walking so slow. This was like a wonderful dream, i was on a high of joy and peacefulness…. Until at around 3 or 4 am I started to feel so tired all of a sudden, and really weak, my steps slowed down, I couldn’t go any faster even if I wanted to, the dizziness took me over, it became really hard to keep going. This part I’m describing is actually a steep hill of about 1000 meters of altitude difference, the summit being almost 6000 meters high! The altitude sickness I was experimenting was very similar to being drunk, and yet I was still overwhelmed with joy even if my body wasn’t quite following, I was somehow fully conscious of the extraordinary journey I had put myself into. So I had to maintain a conversation with myself for the hours of climb remaining to just keep going one step at a time, it never crossed my mind that...
Simple tips to prevent aching while I’m heading to the Killimanjaro bringing my magic hands along ;)
I am finalizing my preparations for my climb of the Kilimanjaro which is coming very soon! I will be gone from December 28 to January 27. It’s an epic journey that has been in the making for several months. Being in a recruting period for therapists and trainers, I have decided to wait for my return to grow Bioluxia’s team of professionals, therefore unfortunately, my services will not be available during this period, but I will come back very soon and with a new perspective and I encourage you to follow my blog, photos and videos now on YouTube™. The good news for you is that there are simple tips that will allow you to stay balanced and that will prevent aches and tensions while you don’t have access to your therapist for a given period! To start with, you have to react as soon as you start feeling a discomfort, pain, knots, lack of mobility or any kind of tension in your body. Get the reflex of stetching the painful zone many times a day, massage it with a rubefiant cream or lavender oil, heat it as often as possible (magic bags, warm bath, sauna, etc.), and lower the tension on that area by stopping repetitive movements at work for example, or training with very light charges if not taking a break from any sollicitation of the affected area. This is just for a couple days or until you don’t feel it anymore. It’s a very simple protocol yet extremely efficient to maintain a fluid body, you just have to apply it as soon as you feel it! Let’s now go through the general prevention… : First of all, as you have read in my previous articles, drinking water plays a major role to the good operation of the body, so drink your 2 liters of water every day. This will soften your muscle, help to eliminate toxins and at the same time, muscular tensions. Then, move! Exercise is an essencial attribute to your health and further more will help keep your muscles flexible by constantly activating blood circulation within … For those who train with me, keep doing your training! Do the exercises that you know well and that you’re comfortable with. You shouldn’t try new exercises or movements if you don’t know them, it is better to be supervised by a professional to work the proper muscles, the proper way, that way you will prevent chances of injuries and/or posture problems. After exercising, there is of course stretching. Stretch yourself after each training session, and not only the muscles that you have worked out but the entire body for it is warmed up, you will be surprised of the favorable...
Qui est Annie Cap ?
D'abord passionnnée par tout ce qui touche la santé et le bien-être, cette athlète excelle dans plusieurs champs d'action dont l'entraînement physique, la massothérapie, la kinésithérapie et l'orthothérapie. Elle a également étudié l'herboristerie et la relation d'aide, elle détient le niveau maître de Reiki, est instructeure certifiée de Spinning et enseigne le Yoga qui lui a été enseigné en Inde (membre Yoga Alliance International). Son parcours extraordinaire d'entraînement physique a commencé lorsqu'elle était sauveteure en piscine, puis elle a joué au basket-ball de niveau universitaire pour ensuite participer à plusieurs compétitions de ''fitness'', elle a couru de nombreux marathons et a grimpé de très hauts sommets en excursions, encore aujourd'hui elle reste motivée chaque jour par de nouveaux défis qui l'attendent. C'est en réunissant toutes ces connaissances et expertise ainsi qu'avec une intention pure de guérison qu'elle réussit si bien à dépasser nos attentes. Elle a créé Bioluxia pour former un réseau de professionnels chevronnés et améliorer la vie d'un maximum de personnes à travers un large choix de thérapies et de soins du corps et de l'esprit.
Who is Annie Cap?
Her passion is health and wellbeing. This athlete is very effective in personal training, massage therapy, kinesitherapy and orthotherapy but also studied herbalism and help relation. She is a Reiki Master and an amazing certified Spinning instructor. She also teaches Yoga which she learned from the roots in Rishikesh, India and is a certified member from Yoga Alliance. Her extraordinary fitness background goes from being a lifeguard to playing university level basketball and competing in figure competitions, she did many marathons, climbed some of the highest summits and is still fueled every day by new challenges. Her certifications combined with her knowledge, pure healing intentions and expertise produce results beyond expectations. She created Bioluxia to respond to her strong desire to help as many people as possible to get a better quality of life, that is by forming a team with the best professionals to help the body and mind through a large choice of services.
