Inspired by the beautiful Bollywood dance number of Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionare? Want to take your chance with a new style of dance? Now is your chance! On Thursday, Febuary 11, 2010Urban Girl Squad will host an Intro to Bollywood Dance Class at The Dance Theater Workshop at 7:00PM.
Join Urban Girl Squad as we learn “BollyBasics,” an introduction to the famous Indian folk dance called Bollywood, with the founder of Bollywood dance company Dhoonya Dance. Dhoonya Dance is a growing dance company that has taught Bollywood on Oprah! In our class, you’ll learn the fundamentals of Bollywood and Pop Bhangra dance in a fun, beginner’s setting. No dance experience is necessary. You’ll get a great workout, learn a new style of dance, and meet new women in NYC!
At this class, you’ll learn Bollywood Basics and receive:
A gift bag of South Asian goodies from City Saheli, including a Bollywood CD, a pamphlet with basic Bollywood steps, a henna tattoo, and a piece of South Asian inspired jewelry. City Saheli is an online platform that brings to you New York City with a South Asian twist–you can learn more about new types of yoga, natural healing, fusion designers and more.
1 free class for every 4 class package you purchase from Dhoonya Dance
Dhoonya Dance is home of the best Bollywood talent, teachers and training providing simple, artistic instruction. The Dhooyna Method of Bollywood dance emphasizes strong fundamentals and choreography rooted in traditional, folk and classical Indian dance.
About Urban Girl Squad
Amanda Hofman created Urban Girl Squad, a community-based social group for women in their 20’s and 30’s in New York City, in January 2008. Urban Girl Squad creates opportunities for these women to try new things, spend time with friends, and meet new people. Our events include food and wine tastings, beauty and fashion nights, dance and fitness classes, sports events, cocktail parties and more. We provide special, discounted access to the city–you’ll meet store owners and designers, taste gourmet food and drinks, receive personal attention from popular venues, and score some amazing gift bags. The welcoming atmosphere at our events makes it easy for members to attend on their own or with friends!
Join us on February 11th as we learn the basics of Bollywood dance. Space is limited and advanced placement is required, so purchase your ticket today! Wear comfortable, workout/yoga attire. No shoes necessary.
Fast Facts:
Date: Thursday, February 11, 2010
Location: The Dance Theater Workshop
219 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011
I have just recently started doing yoga; something I have been interested in starting for years. I had put off starting yoga for so long due to a myriad of reasons, the biggest of my worries being that I was so out of shape that I wouldn’t be able to do it. Last February, for Valentine’s Day, my boyfriend presented me with a pink yoga mat and two beginners DVDs, knowing how interested I had been in starting to do yoga. I began immediately and after making it through my two DVDs enough times, I started to crave more of a variety.
Because living frugally is key in many households, buying a new workout DVD is slotted as a splurge and not something that someone will purchase under most circumstances. That is why I was so excited to come across Yoga Today, a website that is featuring a new yoga class every single day. Every morning when you wake up, there will be a new class posted by yoga experts to help you step by step through the workout of the day, seven days a week, plus you can watch past classes if you miss a day or are just starting. Best of all, all of the classes on Yoga Today are free!
There are a lot of small steps and extra efforts anyone can do to make their day a little brighter and healthier. A better diet, daily routine and mindset are all ways to stay healthy this winter. You don’t even have to wait for the winter to do this as you can start this whenever. However, remember the first step is starting today…not tomorrow!
Keep water with you at all times.
Take a multi-vitamin that assists with your goals.
Eat smaller portions. You don’t have to eat that whole bag.
Don’t pick off your kids’ plates, their food has calories, too.
Keep low calorie, healthy snacks in easy to reach places.
Play with your kids.
Go the distance. Take the stairs or park farther away.
Do house work or yard work.
Take your iPod for a walk.
Take up a routine (yoga, pilates, aerobics).
Keep water with you at all times.
Water is the perfect drink. It hydrates you and has no calories at all. Keeping water with you all day helps in many different ways. Having it with you keeps you drinking it. By simply having a bottle of water at your desk you’ll grab for it without even thinking. Water also helps to detox that coffee you had earlier. Strive for 8 glasses of water a day to keep down water weight and you just might notice you don’t have much room left for that soda.
Take a multi vitamin that assists with your goals.
Vitamin companies got smart, they started labeling their vitamins for what they can do. One A Day has a line of vitamins like “Women’s Health” and “Weight Smart” to make it easy to tell what they can do for you. Whether your goal is to be more energetic in your active life or to speed up your metabolism, there’s a vitamin out there that can help you get there.
Eat smaller portions.
Something as simple as eating off a smaller plate can make a world of difference. When you were little you were told to clean your plates, and now you do. But the plates are much bigger. Try and cut down your portions, chances are your eyes are bigger than your stomach. And when you’re eating out, don’t be afraid to ask if you can eat off the kids menu (especially for dessert).
Don’t pick off your kids’ plates, their food has calories, too.
One thing I used to do without noticing was eat off my kids plates. They get wonderful things like corndogs and fries. But, just because they can eat fried food and be perfectly fine, doesn’t mean I can. If you are going to pick off their plates, make sure you take those calories into consideration.
Keep low calorie, healthy snacks in easy to reach places.
In my car door I have a pack of Teddy Grahams. Within sight in my fridge, the first thing I see, is a 1 serving pack of carrots. The best way to keep yourself from eating things that aren’t good for you is to keep those healthy snacks within reach. Unfortunately, Doritos are harder to leave in your desk for a week than grapes, so it does take a bit of an effort.
Play with your kids.
We all play with our kids, but we could definitely do it more. When they go ride bikes, join them. If you don’t have a bike, take a book outside. You’re being with your kids and getting out. You spend all day inside the house or a job, it can be a great release to simply get outside.
Go the distance.
Taking the stairs or parking farther from the store can make more of a difference than the time it takes to do it. The best way to see what a difference it makes is to buy a heart rate monitor and wear it all day. Since that’s pretty much out of the question for most people, try getting a step counter. Measure your steps on a normal day, then measure your steps on a day when you try these tips.
Do house work or yard work.
You clean your house and take care of your yard, but you could do more. Redecorating or landscaping can be fun and very good exercise. At the end you have a sense of accomplishment and will probably feel a nice burn.
Take your iPod for a walk.
Walking with your kids and your dog is nice. It’s time with your family. But sometimes you need some time for just you. So load up your iPod with your favorite music and go for a stroll. When walking alone you’re more likely to speed it up because you’re not talking (and therefor breathing more steady) and you don’t have to stop for your dog to pee in every yard.
Take up a routine (yoga, pilates, aerobics).
Yoga has been my one true love. At 6am I wake up, before anyone else, and go down to do yoga on Oxygen. I’ve noticed a few differences including better weight management, better mood throughout the day, and better eating habits. Exercise in the morning is best, but if you don’t have time the afternoon can be good as well. If your job offers you a free gym membership take advantage of those classes. Pick your goal and the workout that will help you get there.
When it comes to marketing ploys, the weight loss industry is full of them. Just like get rich quick schemes are known as just that–schemes, get thin quick schemes work very much the same way.
There is no such thing as a miracle business that does not take time to build or manage and miraculously you’re making tons of money and there is no such thing as a pill, food or drink where, if taken, you miraculously lose all of the weight you’ve been wanting to shed for so long. The weight loss industry is an $81 billion or so industry and the industry did not become so lucrative by making people lose weight; if it had, they would have no customers because they would be skinny after a certain amount of time and they would have no need for the product. The weight loss industry has become one of the largest industries in the United States alone for one, simple reason–Giving people false hope. If you want to lose weight, no matter how little or how much, this industry possesses several thousands of different products to choose from and no matter which one you pick, there is a high percentage failure rate. While the failure rate is well-known, the blame (surprisingly enough) does not go to the weight loss industry or even to the company who manufactures the product you were using to aid in weight loss; the blame is on you. You didn’t try hard enough, you didn’t stick to it long enough or you lost the weight and gained it back (plus some) because you weren’t using the product as a crutch. What these companies do is make consumers dependent upon them not for a few months or for a few years, but for life; it has been drilled into our heads that if you are using a product to aid in weight loss, you must stay on that product for the amount of time you would like the weight to stay off and even then, there is still a high percentage rate that it will not work and it is not your fault, but the fault of the entire weight loss industry.
The only effective way to lose weight is to do it the healthy way–No pills, foods or drinks specifically manufactured for weight loss, but eating a healthy amount of calories for your body type and exercising regularly and doing one or the other is as ineffective as doing neither.
Losing weight takes dedication, hard work and time and coincidentally, those are the three things that people are most afraid of so the weight loss industry tries to fool consumers into thinking that they only need their product. ‘If you buy this, you will lose weight.’ Sadly, people are falling for these gimmicks all the time and yet another weight loss product has emerged and even the name sounds a little fishy.
Skinny Water is a flavored water with the tag line ‘Get Skinny, Stay Fit’ and with just that, we begin to see the holes in this assumed weight loss miracle water.
First of all, any water that claims to make you lose weight before your eyes is a ploy; if you want water with no fat, no calories and no sugar, go to your faucet and behold the beverage that can aid in your weight loss. By drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day and exercising regularly, you can effectively lose weight, but a flavored water looking for those desperate enough to believe that weight loss can come in the form of a hip drink already endorsed by celebrities (Kristen Bell and Nicollette Sheridan.)
So what’s actually in these supposed miracle drinks? Splenda, which is a sugar substitute, fruit flavoring to make the five different flavors of Skinny Water, including, peach mango mandarin, passionfruit lemonade, acai grape blueberry, goji fruit punch and raspberry pomegranate, and the green tea antioxidant, EGCG, said to help tame your metabolism. While it is true that green tea is great for your health, containing a great deal of antioxidants, but instead of taming your metabolism, green tea is used to speed up your metabolism, making you hungry so you can effectively eat a healthy, six small meals per days equaling the calorie intake best for your body type.
Skinny Water is not only doling out false information to people looking to lose weight, but they are giving people false hope; Skinny Water’s website implies that just by drinking their beverage you will lose weight and sorry to say, but your body is smarter than that. Your body is complex and it takes a great deal to effectively lose weight because our bodies are still reacting to our lifestyles and to the lifestyles our ancestors lived very long ago when humans didn’t know when their next meal was coming or where it was coming from, so your body stores the fat you eat from your food so if you did have to go hungry, your body could effectively sustain itself. While it’s true that we (hopefully) no longer live in those times, the way our bodies work simply are not up to speed and are still functioning the only way they know how–And no weight loss gimmick is going to make that go away.
It is not always in our best interest to start a complete exercise program or diet program if we are not already used to working out. I went to a huge fair last weekend, walked around for over eight hours and for the next three days could barely move because my legs were so sore from walking so much; so if you’re like me, starting a diet/exercise program could possibly end up hurting you and that is something we definitely don’t want. However, there are very small, simple things we can do to take care of our bodies and keep them healthy; ‘healthy’ and ‘fit’ do not necessarily mean you have to be or get down to a size 4; you can be a size 12 to 16 and still be in great shape.
Firstly, do not be afraid of the stairs. Stairs can be your friend–Just look at the people buying portable steps to exercise on; if you have them in your house, don’t be afraid of making an extra trip up or down stairs and to top it off, it will give you some great calorie burning and muscle strengthening.
Go for a walk around the block, walk the dog or the kids to school or to the bus stop; again, the operative thing here is that you are simply just moving. It is important to take a walk, especially if it’s nice outside so you can enjoy the fresh air and your surroundings at least once, preferably twice a day, every day.
Plan activities. Activities can mean anything where you are again, moving. Plan a trip to the park, play softball, basketball, soccer; any type of sport where you can have fun with you friends and family and make it not seem so much as exercise, but just having a good time with the people you care about.
Yes, these tips sound painfully obvious, but the next time you look at the clock and realize you’ve been sitting at your compute for eight straight hours, perhaps you can recall reading this and get out and take a quick walk or jog around the block.
Disclaimer: Woman Tribune and its staff do not condone “crash dieting” or putting undue stress on your body in efforts to obtain a “perfect” body image. No matter what size you are, we think you are fabulous. If you are currently crash dieting or are thinking about starting a crash diet, taking diet pills, or doing anything in order to lose weight, we hope that you are doing so for health reasons and are treating your bodies with the respect that they deserve. This post is about dieting, but if maintained correctly, these diet resources are in no way deemed as a way to “crash diet” and are not deemed to be unhealthy for your body. If taken correctly, these resources do have the ability to work long term. If you do choose to start a diet for any reason, we strongly suggest you follow your diet correctly and maintain a healthy calorie intake with nutritional value.
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Every season, especially during the beginning of summer, a handful of new diet and weight loss products hit the scene and because most of these products are well received by consumers and those looking to shed their unwanted pounds simply through the magic of marketing, as we continue through the seasons, these products stay on the market and again, like clockwork, the next batch hit the shelves. Needless to say, someone looking for an effective product may find themselves searching high and low for the product that will fit them just right.
Because there are so many products on the market that essentially all claim to do the same thing, when looking for diet pills, it’s easiest to find some unbiased reviews on a product and choose the brand that you think is the best match for you.
Hoodia Gordonii Plus
We see the plant Hoodia pop up in a lot of different weight loss products, however, it is believed that only Hoodia Gordonii Plus have the appetite suppressant ingredient which allows them to work so well for dieters. Hoodia is a plant grown naturally only in South Africa and Namibia that eliminates feelings of hunger.
Based on 933 reviews, Hoodia Gordonii Plus is 98% effective and is also one of the safest and healthiest forms of dieting on the market today. It is not part of a weight loss gimmick that will see no lasting power and it has also been said to be the only effective weight loss product, combined with a healthy diet and regular exercise that has worked for a lot of people who feel that they have tried everything else.
Proactol
Proactol is an effective (95% effective, actually) weight loss pill that has no known side effects and has also passed all FDA and European Union guidelines. Proactol is 100% all natural and has an astonishing amount of success stories that also include people who have used it no longer feeling the aches and pains that they used to feel every day and has also increased joint mobility.
People who have taken Proactol after a meal have reported losing 1 to 2 pounds per week and because of increased joint mobility and the ceasing of aches and pains, people who take Proactol are now finding it easier to make exercise a daily part of their lives. At 1 to 2 pounds per week, Proactol is safe and effective.
Disclaimer: Woman Tribune and its staff does not condone “crash dieting” particularly because it has been proven not to work long-term and is extreme in its nutritional deprivations, typically severely restricting calorie intake. We love each and every woman just the way they are. No matter what size you are, we think you are fabulous. If you are currently crash dieting or are thinking about starting a crash diet we hope that you are doing so for health reasons and are treating your bodies with the respect that they deserve. This post is about dieting, but if maintained correctly, these diet resources are in no way deemed as “crash diets” and have the ability to work long term. If you do choose to start a diet, we strongly suggest you follow your diet correctly and maintain a healthy calorie intake with nutritional value.
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Dieting is perhaps one of the hardest acts to carry out effectively. Women particularly have a hard time losing the weight they wish to lose because women lose weight very differently than men. If you and your partner have decided to start a diet together, you may find him losing weight at a much escalated rate than you, lowering your confidence and will power to be able to carry your diet out long enough to see changes to your own physique; I know, I’ve been there.
The key to effective weight loss is to do it right–In the healthiest way possible. When most people hear the word “diet” they immediately start thinking that they must give up the foods that they have come to love and are apprehensive about it even working to begin with. Most women who diet have also tried two or three other diets in their lifetime, all proving to be ineffective long term. The key to success is your determination to lose weight and also to treat your diet (and your body) with respect. You should not be giving up the foods you love or treating the act of eating as a chore. Food is what makes so many people happy and while this leads to portion control is some cases, the key is to limit your portions, not give up the food you love completely, ie: you can still have a piece of chocolate cake (Oh the love I have for chocolate cake…) but you can’t have an entire chocolate cake.
Grocery shopping, especially for me on a personal level, is a chore and a half. For one, I live in a strictly residential area in the middle of nowhere; I have to drive for at least a half hour to get to the nearest grocery store and because it’s the one grocery store for an entire three small cities, they hike their prices up to a degree where you feel as if you are being robbed by the time you’re ready to check out. Because of this, I usually drive over an hour to get to WalMart, which is the only other option I have for cheaper groceries. If you go through a similar ordeal when it comes to grocery shopping and also feel that purchasing the foods for your diet cost you an arm and a leg and after a few weeks have to quit your diet because it’s easier to order off the McDonald’s dollar menu than buy nutritional, healthy foods for yourself, I have a secret to share with you.
There are many diet programs who offer diet food delivery for a price cheaper than buying it in the store. This is an excellent option for people who, like me, find it difficult to get to a grocery store or find their bank accounts fast approaching zero because of what it costs to buy them in the store.
Medifast knows that dieting is all about choosing health, they believe in choosing health over anything else so much in fact, that it’s their motto. Medifast has a great food delivery service that will ship you the best possible diet foods making it easier for you to diet and not have to give up the delicious foods you love. Medifast is also a highly trusted company when it comes to weight loss, so what you receive from them is simply the best and by using their diet regimen, you will be losing weight and going about the process the healthiest way possible.
The foods you will receive from Medifast are high in nutritional value and are given to you in well controlled portions. While they are about portion control, which is what every diet thrives on, their foods will not leave you hungry afterward, eliminating the temptation of overeating. Their menu is highly diverse with a menu that will please everyone–Even those of you who are vegetarian will be surprised by their extensive menu.
For an entire breakdown of Medifast, their diet plan and diet foods as well as some of their success stories, be sure to check out the Medifast diet reviews.
Nutrisystem is a diet plan that helps you not only lose weight and keep it off long-term, but it will help you lose weight fast. For any of you who need to lose those 10 or 15 extra pounds before your wedding, high school reunion or any other event where you really want that wow factor as soon as you walk into a room, Nutrisystem is for you. Nutrisystem will also work at the same fast pace for people who want to lose up to 100 pounds or more. It has been said to be the fastest working diet plan out there right now, so it is definitely worth looking into and hey, if it’s not for you, they offer a 30 day money back guarantee if you don’t get what you expected or were looking for. With a money back guarantee like that there’s no reason not to try it!
Nutrisystem ships you prepared and packaged food right to your front door. They understand that people who are instructed to eat the same, bland meals every day aren’t going to stick with that diet, so their plan is all about choices giving you a myriad of food choices to fit your particular lifestyle. They offer over 120 different products for you to choose from to help satisfy your hunger and cravings for delicious food.
The Nutrisystem has many different systems to choose from including omnivores, vegetarians, different programs specifically for men and women because women tend to lose weight very differently than men and they also cater to men and women with type 2 diabetes. This system is so healthy that your need for insulin if you do have type 2 diabetes may even decrease over time while using Nutrisystem.
For an entire breakdown of Nutrisystem, their diet plan and diet foods as well as some of their success stories, be sure to check out the Nutrisystem reviews.
Inspired by the beautiful Bollywood dance number of Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionare? Want to take your chance with a new style of dance? Now is your chance! On Thursday, Febuary 11, 2010 Urban Girl Squad will host an Intro to Bollywood Dance Class at The Dance Theater Workshop at 7:00PM.
Because living frugally is key in many households, buying a new workout DVD is slotted as a splurge and not something that someone will purchase under most circumstances. That is why I was so excited to come across 
