Live Longer, Age Better – Heart & Brain Health Even With the Holiday Craziness

Happy Chanukah to those of you celebrating! After a number of years of trying to find the right combination of gift giving for the girls – we finally came to the conclusion that they love taking in the big haul on “Opening Night” rather than getting a present each night over the 8 nights of Chanukah. Everyone has their own family traditions. I decorate the house in blue and silver – with the challenge of the decorations not looking like Christmas ornaments. I have scoured the city for glitter and sparkle of the silver and blue variety and have found over the years that I have gathered quite the collection. I’m actually quite impressed with my efforts to make the house feel festive while not losing sight of what the holiday is really about. My mom’s homemade potato latkes last night were as good as ever 🙂

Stealing this line from social media on how to explain Chanukah & The Miracle of Lights: “Imagine your cell phone was at 10%, but lasted 8 days. Now you understand Chanukah.” Also, everyone spells it differently, but they all work 🙂

Speaking of the holidays, I had a ton of fun writing my “Fit at Home” column for Ottawa At Home Magazine and the Gift Guide edition. If you haven’t had a chance to pick up a copy – here’s the layout. You can always check out my website under the health and fitness section for all my articles and ideas.

I also wanted to add my final video with Stephanie Karlovits from Epic Fitness and Lifestyle. How agile and coordinated are you? How often do you skip exercises where coordination is needed? How often do you consider working with focus and hand-eye coordination together? I really enjoyed this quick tip, focused on brain health, from Stephanie – especially as we age.

“Living Your Life with Lianne Laing” Podcast:
I was beyond thrilled that Dr. Thais Coutinho from the Ottawa Heart Institute took time out of her schedule to make it to the Extension Marketing Studios to tape our podcast. Dr. Coutinho is a cardiologist, who is working as Chief, Division of prevention and rehabilitation at the Ottawa Heart Institute as well as the Chair of the Canadian Women’s Heart Health Center. She is a brilliant scientist, researcher and student of her craft. The best way to describe her is fierce. She inspires people just based on her passion for what she does. Heart disease is the number one killer for women. This podcast covers the real differences between men and women when it comes to this disease, the critical preventative factors for avoiding heart disease and just how seriously we need to take the indicators. My dad died at the age of 57 from a massive heart attack – I always say I wish he had been able to use the services of the heart institute, but he never made it there. It was sudden, and it was deadly. It was also two weeks before my wedding. My hope is that others don’t need to experience what I went through and that you listen to the podcast with the intent to make changes. This disease for many is preventable.

Also, thank you for those who reached out following Arnold Zeman’s podcast on anxiety. While I know the subject matter was a little different than other segments, I was happy to hear it resonated with listeners.

I’ll be off to the 24hr Tremblant event this coming weekend. I am incredibly touched and proud to be an ambassador for the Ottawa Senators Foundation for this event. It will be my 11^th year as ambassador and I have met some amazing families and children over the years. It truly is my favorite event of the year, as people ski, snowboard, walk or run with their teams over the 24 hours. There is a beautiful sense of community as teams get to know each other on the ski lifts or on the trails. Thousands gather for the concerts at the base of the mountain throughout the day and night. We find refuge over great food, drinks and hot chocolate. When I first joined the event, they were almost approaching the $1 million threshold – last year the event brought in close to $4 million. This is a major fundraising event for the Ottawa Senators Foundation as they are recipients of some of the funds. We started with just a few teams from the area but over the years the city has responded, and we will see Ottawa well-represented on the slopes. This year our ambassador kids are Zach and Henry – they will feel like rock stars over the weekend. You can find more information about the event through the link above.

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