One in nine women is expected to develop breast cancer during her lifetime. These are our neighbors, friends, colleagues and family members, and they deserve to receive the best care in a world-class Breast Health Centre. 

Back in October, I took a position working with Women's and Newborn Health and was able to see the brand new Breast Health Centre here at the IWK. I couldn't believe the physical space transformation! Sometimes you don't get the chance to see something through to fruition, so it was really great to see the (almost) end result of 5 years of fundraising.

Back in 2009, when Bust a Move was dreamed up by the IWK and QEII Foundations, I was working with the IWK Foundation and was so excited for the event. Richard Simmons was coming!!! Hello! Sweatin' to the Oldies!! My set out to raise $1,000 so that I could participate. My hubby's coworkers were very eager to see him dressed as Richard Simmons for the day and blew my $600 challenge to them out of the water. Gordon was a good sport about it and sported his shorty-shorts and an Afro for the day.

The buzz around the IWK was infectious...

Since the event started, the circle of people that I personally know who have been touched by cancer has grown. A son is without his mother, a family is without their grandmother and a sister is without her twin. A wife is in remission, a coworker is in treatment. I bet if you look at your circle you'll realize that cancer is closer to you than you think. We all know someone who has battled breast cancer and supporting my efforts means supporting women in their fight..

Part of my job is to support Phase II of the Breast Health development. We are so close! In fact, we're so close to finishing the redevelopment that this will be the fifth and FINAL Bust A Move here in Halifax.

The last time I participated in this event, I was 30 weeks pregnant with Miss A. On March 22, 2014 I will once again be dedicating my time and effort in support of all of our loved ones because they deserve the best care. So, as a friend, I am asking you to take a stand and give generously.

Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support Our Event. My team is the IWK Double Lattes. Every donation helps and all donations of $10 or more receive an income tax receipt.

Thank you so much for your support.

Happy Whole 30!

We've reached the end of our Whole 30!

 This morning I put on a pair of pants that haven't fit me in 6 months and weighed in about 8lbs less than I did 30 days ago. Gordon is down about 14lbs (stupid men and their ability to lose way more weight with way less effort). The biggest impact for Gordon has been that his blood sugars are lower and more level and he is not using near as much insulin, which is a good thing!

I no longer have a "slump" at 10am or 3pm and I really find that I don't get to the point of feeling like I'm starving at the end of the day. I think we both would have had way more drastic weight results if we had been perfect at following the Whole 30 but I we did what we could do within our limits. While I tried to go without my Tassimo skinny latte it just didn't work. Coffee with no sweetener and coconut milk did nothing for me. So I kept my latte and my headaches stopped. I didn't eat any other dairy so really 4oz of skim latte milk wasn't going to kill me. (even though it really was against the rules)...and there was that time I caved in a meeting and ate half a muffin...and was sick for hours after. It was my own fault for not planning well and forgetting my lunch that day).

I feel less bloated and have found that since my sinus infection and congestion have cleared up, I have more energy at the end of the day. Before I would put the kids to bed and crash but in the past week or so (yes we've all been sick off and on since mid-January) I have actually been able to stay up and work on my own to do list and spend time with G. That is a major positive for me because I haven't been able to do that without feeling completely drained the next day in a very long time.

I also have way better control of my eating now. I have made cookies, muffins and scones all within the last few days for various upcoming events and I didn't feel the urge to eat all of the cookie dough or sample the finished product. I really wanted to get to day 30 without breaking the rules too badly. I felt good to have a real feeling of control over the food instead of the food having control of me.

I know that a strict Paleo diet is not in our future but I can really see us following a flexible version of a Paleo diet (Paleo-ish if you will). I plan on keeping our diet mostly gluten free and dairy and sugar restricted. I've found a lot of great recipes that my kids do like and my approach to making and cooking a meal plan for one week versus two on the weekend worked really well this week.

If you have made it to the end of this long, picture-less post thanks for sticking with me! I'm going to stay on this journey and will be posting some of our yummy meals and see where this path leads!