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Losing weight childs play

Castagna

edmontonsun.canoe.ca

Edmonton Sun YOUR HEALTH Monday, February 19, 2007

After giving dance and birth last teaching backMothers Day to ground, Baudina bouncing baby Griffin, who has girl, Jessica Baubeen dancing din-Griffin desince she was cided she wasnt three, soon begoing to return to came the liher job as an elecensed owner of mentary school Salsa Babies in Cary teacher. Edmonton. But the new The 24-yearmom needed to old is now teachdo something to KEEPING FIT ing four Salsa help supplement Babies classes her husbands every week at income. three locations across the Plus, there were those ex- city, with plans for expantra 35 to 40 pounds she had sion in Sherwood Park, St. packed on during her preg- Albert and Spruce Grove. nancy. She needed to shed During the high-energy that excess weight and she classes, Baudin-Griffin with knew it wasnt going to be her daughter Bria snuggled childs play. into a baby carrier teaches Or was it? basic Salsa dance steps to In her search for post-par- other moms and their pinttum fitness, Baudin-Griffin sized dance partners. stumbled on Toronto-based While the moms move to Salsa Babies, a parent-infant the Latin beat, the babies as Latin dance class that just young as six weeks happily happened to be looking to shake their maracas. expand into Alberta and You get to watch them reneeded teachers. spond to the music, which I Thanks to her extensive think is so much fun, Bau-

WALTER TYCHNOWICZ/SUN

Dance instructor Jessica Baudin-Griffin and her daughter Bria, 9 months, get set to lead a Salsa Babies dance workout class at the Dance With Me studio, 6111 101 Ave.
din-Griffin says. Youre spending time with your baby and it allows you to get fit and stay healthy, so you can be the best mom you can be physically and mentally. She says the dance class is an effective stress reliever and emotional soother for both her and her daughter, w ho i s no w nine mon t h s old. It calms her down and it calms me down, she adds. Were both happy after. It feels great. And through Salsa Babies, which is also open to dads, Baudin-Griffin has managed to melt off most of those unwanted pregnancy pounds. But she admits that at fivefoot-three and 128 pounds, she still has about five more pounds to go. Im trying to do it the healthiest way possible, she says. That includes eating a balanced diet that emphasizes her everything in moderation philosophy. But Baudin-Griffin, the daughter of former U of A Bears and Pandas volleyball coach Pierre Baudin, does more than just dance. During her pregnancy, she went for 90-minute hikes through the river valley. After giving birth, she has been doing Strollercize taking her daughter for brisk walks in her stroller. And up to three days a week for 45 minutes a session, she tones her body with light weight training, isometrics and pilates. She has also been known to hit the gym, usually working up a sweat on the elliptical machine, stationary bike or rower. Im not the kind of person who can just do the same thing over and over again, she says. Above all, Baudin-Griffin hopes to be a fitness role model for her daughter. I think if your child sees you (exercising) right from the get-go and how important it is to you, thats going to be something that stays with them, she explains. Shake those booties.

Follow my progress in Club Fits Biggest Winner Contest at: www.edmontonsun.com /Lifestyle/castagna.html and www.clubfit.ca/biggestwinner /blog.

THE BIGGEST WINNER

Do you have an inspirational story for Keeping Fit? E-mail Cary Castagna at ccastagna@edmsun.com

Stem cells both angels and demons

DR. RICHARD BELIVEAU Special to Sun Media
Stem cells play an essential role in the development of organs, and their use for therapeutic purposes could help treat several incurable diseases. In some cases, however, stem cells contribute to the development of cancer and seem to be largely responsible for the relapses observed following the treatment of the disease. Both angels and demons, we havent heard the end of stem cells! Our body contains more than 100,000 billion cells, and each of them performs a very specific function. For example, our brains neurons send electrical signals that allow us to think while our intestines enterocytes absorb the molecules contained in food. There are more than 200 types of specialized cells in the body and they all play crucial roles in the bodys normal functioning.

Not yet specialized

On the other hand, a stem cell is a cell that hasnt yet reached the specialization stage. It is pluripotent, which means that it can divide itself into more than one type of specialized cell. Cells present in the first stages of embryonic development are probably the best examples of pluripotent stem cells. These cells are in-

deed able to self-replicate and produce all the types of cells necessary for an organism as complex as a human being! This ability of embryonic stem cells thus allows us to consider the use of these cells to regenerate organs destroyed by degenerative diseases, like muscular dystrophy or even Parkinsons disease. Indeed, some believe that the addition of stem cells to damaged tissues could help renew the cell population and thus permit the normal functioning of the damaged organ. The use of embryonic stem cells, however, currently raises a huge amount of controversy, mostly for re-

ligious reasons, which considerably slows down the research in this field, particularly in the United States. Nevertheless, its a very promising line of research that could have extraordinary repercussions on the treatment of several degenerative diseases. Even though the large majority of cells specialize themselves after our birth and lose their ability to divide themselves into several different types of cells, a small percentage of our cells retain the nature of stem cells, even at adult age. The best example is probably bone marrow, which contains large quantities of blood stem cells, called hemopoietic stem cells. These

bone marrow stem cells are already used for therapeutic purposes. Bone marrow transplants are commonly used to heal people suffering from serious diseases, like acute leukemia and a certain number of serious immune disorders.

Potential treatments
There are also other types of adult stem cells that have the potential to treat serious degenerative diseases. Last year, for example, an Italian team showed that a type of vessel-derived stem cells, mesoangioblasts, was capable of regenerating muscles in a model of muscular dystrophy. Since muscular dystrophy

is an incurable disease that dramatically reduces the quality of life and shortens the life expectancy of affected people, these spectacular results indicate quite clearly that research on stem cells could have an extraordinary impact on the treatment of serious diseases. But beyond the positive effects associated with stem cells, several studies carried out in the last few years have indicated that a number of stem cells also play a decisive part in the progression of several types of cancer. And, as will be discussed next week, preventing the development of these cancerous stem cells could play a significant role in the fight against this disease.