Queen City Dancing Queen: Angie's May 2008 Tidbits

Angie’s May 2008 Tidbits

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. ~Confucius

Hello Everyone! Thank you to everyone for another fabulous month of classes and events!!! I hope that May has brought you happy Mother's Days, renewed energy with the beautiful weather, and motivation to enjoy the upcoming summer months to the fullest!

As you can tell from the quote I've chosen this month, I've been thinking about simplicity, especially regarding fitness and health. One of the reasons why I love dancing so much is because it is simple. Simple in that you don't need fancy equipment to do it. I love that. All you really need is music, and if you are like me, you can even dance to the music in your head. It is the ultimate portable and versatile workout. Think of all the many contraptions, gidgets, gadgets and thingamabobs that are marketed to us in order to be fit- treadmills, Ab-Blasters, gym memberships with rooms full of equipment you don't know or care to know how to use, diet pills, Bowflex. We see these ads and feel momentarily inspired (or guilty) and we give in to buying. Then we all know what happens eventually, the treadmill becomes the best laundry rack you've ever owned, you throw away those diet pills because they didn't work anyway and now they are expired, you end up not going to the gym and paying for a year or two anyway, and you sell all the gidgets and gadgets at your church yard sale. So, just remember that fitness really can be simple, and in my book simple is always better than complicated.

1. Water- Simple, plain, delicious, non-flavored, 0 calorie Water- Since we are on the topic of simple, I wanted to take a moment to talk about my love for the simplicity of water. First of all, we all know that water is the most important nutrient that our bodies need. So, we know it is good for us- no arguing there. Healthy bodies need and thrive off of water, and exercising bodies need even more water. Okay, now, beyond that, is anyone out there trying to lose weight? I think there may be some of you. If you do nothing else but replace every single beverage that you might have consumed during the day with water, you will be on your way to losing weight. Liquid calories from juice, coffee (with milk/cream/sugar), sweet tea, soda can quickly amount to at least 500 calories/day. If instead of consuming those daily 500 liquid calories, and you replace it with simple, plain, non-flavored water, you will lose about 1 lb/week. So easy, so simple, you can do it!!! You will feel so much better, have more energy and you will lose weight faster- I promise!

2. What about diet drinks and artificial sweeteners? Now, I know many of you, especially those of you that are trying to be calorie-conscious may already believe you have "tackled" the calorie problem by drinking diet drinks and/or using artificial sweeteners. Again, I remind you simple is always better than complicated. I've always wondered why people who drink diet sodas still have so much difficulty losing weight, and I've always wondered if artificial sweeteners are somehow doing something to inhibit weight loss. Then I found this article: Artificial Sweeteners Linked to Weight Gain. You can read it for yourself, but the basic notion is this: Physiologically our bodies have evolved to rev up our metabolism when we give it something sweet tasting. It's like our bodies saying: "Oh you just ate something sweet, let me get ready to start burning off those calories! Go Metabolism Go!". Now when we use artificial sweeteners, we break that link and start teaching our bodies that sweet doesn't mean high calories anymore. So the body learns to not do anything in response to taking in sweet-tasting foods/drinks. The body eventually says, "What's the point? Sweet-schmeet. There isn't anything to burn anyway, so why should I get my metabolism all worked up". Now take that same body with the broken link, and put it at a birthday party. Cake is being served with ice cream and non-diet soda. The person who has trained their body to not respond to sweetness, will have a much harder time burning off these "real sweet" calories because their metabolism has gone on strike. Am I saying to drink real soda and other high sugar drinks, instead of diet drinks? No, I'm saying- Drink Water- Simple, plain, delicious, non-flavored, 0 calorie water!!!!!!!

3. Thursday Night DanceOut class in the News!!!! The Gaston Gazette featured our Thursday night DanceOut class at the Adult Rec Center in Gastonia. They wrote up a fabulous little article which appeared on the front page of Monday, May 19th's health section. Sue Plonk, Gina Moody and Lisa Burke all looked beautiful in their photographs. And thanks to the article, this past Thursday, we had a ton of new faces that were ready to jam with us, and we had a fabulous time. There was a also a video which Bernie took that was posted online. Everyone looked HOT! Check it out! So a special thank you to everyone who came out to class on the 15th and thank you to Bernie Petit (reporter) and Ben Patton (Photographer) for such a wonderful article.

4. So You Think You Can Dance is back on!!! I have been waiting a year for this, and I'm so excited!!!! This really is the best dance show ever and last year I got a ton of new songs and moves from it (e.g. Fuego, Whine Up, Girlfriend). Be sure to record it though because it comes on Thursday nights at 8:00 on Fox, and hopefully, you'll be with me at that time :)

5. June Show Me Sessions: For those of you who don't know, a Show Me Session, is not your typical class. A Show Me Session is more instructional... We will practice and review challenging steps (e.g. samba, salsa, and cumbia) and moves (e.g. winding, hip circles, chest pumps). It won't be so much of a cardio workout, but more of a toning one and you will feel those muscles the next day! The Gastonia June Show Me session will be held on Tuesday night at The Perfect Step dance studio on Hudson (in front of Kate's Skating Ring) on June 24th (time TBA but it will be 6 or after). We learned from the first Show Me Session that mirrors would help, so thankfully we were able to reserve a spot at this studio. The Charlotte Show Me Session will take place on Friday, June 20th at Tom Sykes Rec Center in the Dance Room at 5:45 pm. This will replace the normal weekly class for this week only. Here's the thing though: I will need to get an idea of how many will be attending the session because we will need to have a minimum of 10 people attending. So, I would appreciate it if everyone who wants to attend would pre-register. For more information on the June Show Me Sessions, and to register, click here

6. Thank you to the Hard-core Jamming Jam Crew! My Jam Crew members have been getting down in class and we all appreciate their efforts. Your T-shirts have been delayed due to the screen printer dude being out sick for a week. Hopefully we will have the shirts very soon, which will be exciting and helpful for everyone. Just last night, someone mentioned that it would be great if there were people stationed in the middle of the room so that the back of the room "can see the feet better." There were some Jam Crew Members in the middle, but that person didn't know who to look at. The Jam Crew t-shirts will help solve this problem, so again, hopefully they will be in soon! Again, thank you for your patience!!!

Okay, that's enough!!! Boy, do I get wordy or what? Alright then, I hope to see all of you in class very soon! If there is something that is holding you back from coming to class, let me know and maybe we can work something out!!

Let me know if you have any questions, comments or concerns, and keep on dancing!!!!

Love,

Angie

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