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edmontonsun.canoe.ca

EDMONTON SUN

LIFESTYLE MONDAY,APRIL 9, 2007

Body-mind balance
Bodybuilder empowers self to help others
Catherine Norris now realIts not about a number izes the irony of the situation. on the scale. It was my body When she first began her composition, she explains. I career as a social worker with was always tired and letharthe Alberta government, she gic. I just felt gross. It showed worked hard to empower her in the stuff I wore baggy clothes and darker troubled clients and help create c o l ou r s. A n d my skin wasnt looking positive changes in healthy. Overall, I their lives. But at the same just didnt feel good time, Norris about myself. neglected herself In a bid to educate herself about especially her own health. shaping up, Norris began reading med M y w o r k i s Cary about empowerical journals, as well ing clients, she as magazines and books on health and says. I couldnt KEEPING FIT understand why I tness. And later that fall, she couldnt empower myself. It was the summer of 2001 joined a gym. I struggled at the gym. I and Norris realized she hadnt been looking after herself as really struggled, she recalls with a chuckle. well as she should have. My rst day, after ve minFive years of university took a toll on me late nights, utes on the treadmill, I was pulling all-nighters, missing spent and I pretty much went meals and not eating healthy, home after that. But Norris says she dragged she explains, adding her habits didnt improve when she her butt to the gym the next started working full-time. day and managed 10 minutes The petite Edmontonian on the treadmill. recalls visiting a client in an A month into her cardio apartment complex six years training, she added weights to ago and running out of breath her regimen. while climbing the stairwell. Within three or four weeks With about 120 pounds on I was starting to feel better, her nearly four-foot-10 frame, she recalls. Norris was by no means fat, These days, the diminubut she knew she was in poor tive Norris weighs a lean 108 pounds. physical condition.

Castagna

Soy and ax have cancer-ghting power

DR. RICHARD BELIVEAU Special to Sun Media
origin molecules very similar to estrogens that prevent these hormones from efficiently interacting with breast cells which leads to a decrease of the adverse eects of estrogens and thus, to a decreased risk of breast cancer.

She has competed as a bodybuilder and worked as a tness model. But Norris, who turned 28 yesterday, emphasizes that looking good in a bikini was never her prime objective. I wanted it to be a lifestyle and not just a short-term goal, she says, adding her healthy habits make her more eective at work. My jobs very emotionally draining. We make huge decisions for family and children. You need to be balanced at all times because youre making such serious decisions for other people. Norris, now a supervisor, goes for 30-minute walks at lunch most days. She also regularly walks her two Staordshire bull terriers and usually ends up running sprints with them in a large open eld near the home she shares with her bodybuilder and welder husband Don Norris. And five days a week she pumps iron at Golds Gym in West Edmonton Mall for 45 minutes a session. To help fuel her active lifestyle, Norris eats a balanced diet that includes egg whites, chicken, turkey, lean cuts of beef, rice, potatoes, fruits (such as grapefruit and pomegranate juice) and veggies (including broccoli and other

JUAN CARLOS LOPEZ/ WWW.HARDFITNESS.COM

Health enthusiast Catherine Norris revamped her lifestyle over several months to gain the energy and balance she needed to rise to the tasks of her challenging job as a social worker.
dark greens). Bu t s h e d o e s a d m i t t o splurging on Fridays and Saturdays with so-called cheat meals that sometimes involve greasy fare such as pizza and wings. Im about variety. Im human, she says. Its all about balance. Do you have an inspirational story for Keeping Fit? Email Cary Castagna at
ccastagna@edmsun.com

The female sexual hormone estrogen plays an important part in the development of breast cancer. Indeed, when the level of this hormone is too high, there is an excessive stimulation of the growth of mammary glands and an increase of cancer risk. Several studies suggest these adverse eects of estrogen can be decreased by regularly consuming foods that are rich in phytoestrogens. Phytoestrogens are plant-

Soy signicant

Isoflavones, molecules found in soy, are the bestknown phytoestrogens to date. Several studies have shown that the regular consumption of soy-based foods at a young age before the signicant increase of estrogens lev-

els that comes with puberty considerably decreases the risk of suffering from breast cancer. However, since soy is not part of Western eating habits, the great majority of adult women have not benefited from the protective effect of these phytoestrogens. Fortunately, other types of phytoestrogens exist in nature and these molecules can also play extremely important protective roles. Lignan, for example. Lignans are molecules present in a variety of fruits and vegetables and some

cereals, like rye. Flaxseeds are by far the best source of these molecules, with very high levels of the two major kinds of lignans: secoisolariciresinol and matairesinol.

Flax far ahead

S e v e ra l e p i d e m i o l o g i cal studies have looked into the possible role of lignans in breast cancer prevention and the results are extremely encouraging. In most studies, an increase of the level of enterolactone in the blood (formed by the transformation of secoisolar-

iciresinol) is associated with a decrease of the risk to develop breast cancer, in particular among pre-menopause women, whose estrogen levels are higher. These results match the results of research conducted using experimental animals to which mammary tumours were transplanted. Thus, we observe that adding lignans to the daily diet prevents the development of the tumours implanted in these animals. Where can you find lignans? With a few exceptions, all plant-origin products contain

lignans. These molecules are, however, especially abundant in a certain number of seeds, whole grain-based products, green vegetables, olive oil and beverages like red wine, fruit juices and tea.

Eat your lignans

Regular consumption of freshly ground axseed is the best way to obtain lignans, but we must not neglect other sources, like kale or broccoli. These vegetables also contain high quantities of other anti-cancerous molecules that block the growth of cancerous breast cells.