There’s no arguing that atfive-foot-six and 115 pounds,Haylie Dudley is petite.

But the energetic second-yearmember of theCrush Dance Teamwants everyone toknow – especiallyyoung impression-able girls dreamingof following in herfootsteps – that shedoesn’t believe instarving herself.

“I love food. I eattons of it,” says thebubbly 22-year-oldSherwood Park res-ident during a re-cent interview atRexall Place. “(If youdon’t eat) you’ll be weak andyour body will be under somuch distress that it doesn’tfunction properly. You physi-cally wouldn’t be able to dosomething like this.”

Dudley remembers growingup and having people questionwhether she was anorexic or bu-limic – people like her grand-mother, who she says wouldforce chalky proteindrinks in her face.But the Edmontonnative insists shehas never had anyissues satiating herhearty appetite.

Admittedly, Dud-ley is blessed with ahigh-octane metab-olism, which helpsher burn plenty ofcalories while sheworks hard to keepfit. And that cer-tainly doesn’t hurt when she’sstoking a crowd of about 10,000lacrosse fans at Edmonton Rush

games – while clad in her sexyform-fitting and midriff-reveal-ing outfits.

“Like any other professionaldance job, you haveto look good in youruniform or your cos-tume,” she explains.“It’s more of a confi-dence thing. For us,it’s making sure ourtummies are toned,our arms are nicelyshaped and our legsare good. So you’reconstantly worryingabout that, but in agood, healthy way.”

Dudley hits thesouthside WorldHealth Club three

times a week, including Sundays,when the dance squad meets torun, stretch and pump iron to-gether.

The team currently goes for aweekly 3.5-km run.

“I really stress running,” Dud-ley says, explaining that it pro-vides a great overall workout,including core fitness. “Withrunning, it actually tones your

abs, too.”While she prefers

running outside tothe monotony ofthe treadmill, Dud-ley says there isn’tmuch of a choicethis time of year.“The treadmill getsso boring.”

As for weighttraining, two ofDudley’s Crushteammates are per-sonal trainers. “So

they’re great because they giveus input on what we need,” sheexplains. “If we ever have any

questions, they’re there to helpus.”

When she’s not in the gym,it’s a safe bet you’ll find Dudleyin the Edmonton dance studiowhere she teaches. In fact, hav-ing started dancing at just threeyears old, she has practicallygrown up at the studio, DanceTheme Ltd., on the city’s northside.

Besides eating small mealsthroughout the day to fuel heractive lifestyle, Dudley – whoalso has a gymnastics back-ground – makes sure to drinkseveral litres of water daily.

“I find that water just fills youup, so you don’t feel like you’rehungry all the time and it justcleans out your system,” shesays. “It’s really healthy for you.”

And health is what the Crushare all about, Dudley says.

“The great thing about thisteam is that we have so manydifferent sizes and heights.We’re not just that standardblond and skinny, you know,”she explains. “We’re natural.Our calendar’s natural. There’sno Photoshop done. We arewhat we are. We don’t try tohide that we might not have asix-pack, but we’re all in shape.”

THE BIGGEST WINNERFollow my progress in Club

Fit’s Biggest Winner Contest at:www.edmontonsun.com/Life-style/castagna.html and

www.clubfit.ca/biggestwin-ner/blog.

Do you have an inspirationalstory for Keeping Fit? E-mailCary Castagna at

ccastagna@edmsun.com

Got a Crushon food

Cary

CastagnaKEEPING FIT

“Like anyother

professionaldance job, you

have to lookgood in youruniform ...”

— Haylie Dudley

Edmonton Crush dance team member Haylie Dudley performs during a break in playas the Edmonton Rush take on the Philadelphia Wings during the second half ofNational Lacrosse League play at Rexall Place on January 6, 2007.

DARRYL DYCK/SUN

Heart-healthy olive oil in a league of its ownRICHARD BELIVEAUSpecial to Sun Media

For Mediterranean coun-tries, January is when olivesare harvested and their pre-cious oil is extracted. En-joyed by locals for its tastefor more than 5,000 years,olive oil is now consideredan essential cooking ingre-dient. It is also one of the fatswith the most beneficial im-pacts on maintaining overallgood health.

The heart adores olive oil.The first clues to the posi-tive healthy role of olive oil

came from observationswhich showed that the pop-ulations of countries whereolive oil is the main source offat (Greece, Italy, the southof France, Tunisia, Mo-rocco...) have a much lowerincidence of cardiovasculardiseases. We now know thatthis protective effect ismostly due to the high con-tent of monounsaturatedfats in olive oil. And thesefats comprise up to 85% of allfats in this vegetal oil.

Numerous studies haveshown that substituting sat-urated fats in the diet (red

meat, butter, etc.) withmonounsaturated fats suchas olive oil triggers a de-crease in total cholesterollevels – especially “bad” low-density lipoprotein choles-terol – while it accounts foran increase in the concen-tration of “good” high-den-sity lipoprotein cholesterol.The beneficial fats in oliveoil also prevent the oxida-tion of bad cholesterolthereby minimizing damageto blood vessel walls and de-creasing the formation ofclots that can lead to cereb-rovascular accidents

(strokes) and myocardial in-farctions.

Olive oil also stands outfrom other vegetal oilsthanks to certain phenoliccompounds such as oleu-ropein and hydroxytyrosol,two molecules that exertstrong antioxidant activity(similar to that of vitaminE).

In fact, a study conductedwith individuals from fiveEuropean countries showedthat oils rich in phenoliccompounds had a muchhigher positive impact onblood cholesterol levels than

oils that contained very lowconcentrations of thosecompounds.

Olive oil therefore plays akey part in preventing cardi-ovascular diseases and – ac-cording to a number of ex-perts – represents one of themain factors accounting forthe greater longevity of theinhabitants of Mediterra-nean countries.

In addition to its protec-tive effect against cardiovas-cular diseases, recent re-search results suggest thatolive oil could also diminishthe risk of developing some

cancers. For instance, stud-ies with frequent consumersof olive oil indicate that itspredominance in the diet isassociated with a lower inci-dence of many types of can-cers, notably those of thebreast, colon, mouth, esoph-agus and prostate.

This protection seems tostem from the antioxidantproperties of olive oil, whichminimize damage to geneticmaterial caused by oxida-tion, which in turn preventsthe appearance of mutatingcells that could develop intocancer cells.

54 edmontonsun.canoe.ca Edmonton Sun YOUR HEALTH Monday, January 22, 2007