KT Walsh
CREATIVE  PRODUCER | WRITER | MEDIA RESEARCHER 

By: KT Walsh | 2013

HIP Studio February Newsletter

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This month kick off our very first HIP 90 Day Challenge! Congratulations to everyone taking on 90 days of eating clean and working out! The next few months participants earn points for good efforts with a chance to win a free 3 month membership! Participation also has the side effect of shaping up for summer. 

Even if you’re not participating in our challenge you can still take a pledge to eat clean! But what is clean eating anyway? It’s cutting out processed foods, or eating only real food. What’s a processed food? Basically anything that lists over five ingredients and half of them you can’t pronounce. Stop sounding out chemicals and additives and eat more real foods.

Eating whole foods, less food from a box or bag is a great start to clean meals. Stalk your farmer’s market for the best produce, and skip the drive thru. Stay away from refined grains like white flour. Don’t buy refined sweeteners, like sugar, cane juice, or foods incorporating corn syrup. Eat more seafood, and bake with honey and maple syrup. Dairy, whole grains, locally raised meat, nuts and seeds are all considered part of a clean diet. Cook more, eat out less.

In support of the HIPsters in our challenge, we will post clean eating tips and recipes on the blog and social media. Be sure to share any favorites too! We’re crazy about intense workouts and intense foodies. Clean foodies!

Better at 60 – Client Spotlight: Jan Davidson

Jan Davidson joined us last year in search of a rebirth of vitality. HIP owners, Christine and Amber, had been clients at her skin care salon. The more they talked about their love for HIP, the more Jan was intrigued. Was this the answer?

Jan had recently lost her mother to lung cancer. Losing someone close to her, she easily fell into a rut. A corporate gym was her mainstay, but boredom crept up, leaving her feeling uninspired. After a rough year Jan needed a jump-start. Christine and Amber made HIP studio sound fun. It took Jan some encouragement to execute her resolution, but she soon exchanged courage for her first High Intensity Pilates Class.

At first she felt old, puffy and challenged. The community of members encouraged her to continue taking classes. Jan adores the warm and caring disposition of all the instructors, and began to see growth. She had finally found her home.  2 classes a week to start. Then 3 classes quickly grew to 4 and 5. Now she’s attending 6 classes a week including 2 Bag of Tricks!  Jan says she loves her new addiction to our HIP workouts. 

In addition to increasing exercise, Jan made the commitment to eat real food and stopped eating processed food.  Feeling deprived and miserable on diets that never  seemed to worked  she felt eating clean could become a lifestyle. Working on her skin care clients all day leaves her little time sit down for a day time meal, so she cut out the food confusion. During the day Jan can be found drinking juices, small nibbles of nuts, or hard boiled eggs until the evening when she can have a healthy dinner. Jan recommends eating sit down meals with loved ones while leaving electronics and cell phones away from the table for better enjoyment of both. We agree!

Because of her efforts at HIP and eating clean Jan says she feels better at 60 than she did at 30! Her friends and family are all blown away with her newfound athleticism and renewed vitality. We are so proud to have her positivity, radiant energy and work ethic in our HIP community.

Jan’s HIP Skin Tips!

Carry toner pads to HIP for after those sweaty workouts to wipe your face and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!!! 

For more tips on healthy skin you can sign up for Jan's Newsletters at jandavidsonskincare.com  

In honor of her fitness success she's offering a 15% discount to all HIP members!  

Jan Davidson

Jan Davidson Skin Care

806 Manhattan Beach Blvd. #209

Manhattan Beach, Ca. 90266

Vivacious Valentines

This year shake up the usual wine and dine, chocolate and hearts holiday with your honey. Do something that won’t break the bank or add inches to your waistline. Studies show that completing tasks together helps strengthen loving feelings to build stronger bonds, more so than a heart-shaped boxes or teddybears. We have a few ideas to spice up the special day.

A Daring Date – Concur fears together. Take a surf lesson, or rock climbing, even sign up for a trapeze class. Whether it’s trying something new or just finding a new path, create your adventure together.   

Give back – Volunteer together at an animal shelter or clean out the garage to donate goods. Even something as simple as giving blood or putting in time at a community or school function. Chaperone your kid’s dance and take a slow song for each other.

Friendly Competition – Grab your racquets and hit the court, turn an evening jog into a race, take your trash talk to the Scrabble board. Raise the stakes with a friendly bet… winner takes all kisses.

Nurture with Nature – Enjoy the great outdoors with a hike and a packed lunch. Make a sunset date to snuggle on the beach with extra blankets. Go whale watching. You’ll feel like mother nature is putting on a show just for you.

Long Distance Lovers – Take the time to put together a care package. Bake a batch of clean eating brownies (yes, those exist) and get out your best stationary for a hand written love letter. It is the thought that counts.

Single Celebration – Fictional feminist, Leslie Knope, who coined the term Galintine’s Day to celebrate her family and closest friends. Send your mum a homemade classic construction paper Valentine. Have lunch with an old roommate. Meet your friends at HIP for a class and spend 20 minutes chatting in the parking lot, that’s what good friends are for!

Quickies – Some years the minutes don’t add up. Make each other’s lunches and leave a quick love note on the napkin. Commit to an hour of yoga together. See how fast you can get the kids tucked in for the night, then eat a late dinner just the two of you. Even a foot massage could be worth more than an expensive meal at the end of a long day. 

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