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Walnuts In The Shell-iStock

A Very Good Reason To Buy Unshelled Nuts

Notoriously addictive nuts are one superfood that should be consumed daily. Here’s how to avoid over indulging.

Walnuts-In-The-Shell-iStock-300x300EATING RIGHT | Jeffrey Steingarten, a leading food writer in the U.S., once compared ingesting a single pecan to swallowing a pat of butter. That didn’t stop the sometime judge on Iron Chef America from indulging in pecans, but this fact stopped me cold when I read it in Vogue—and it put me off pecans forever. After all who would knowingly shove multiple slabs of pure butterfat into their mouth? Read more

How To Loosen Tight Hamstrings Quick

If you struggle with tight hamstrings, this five-minute yoga challenge will feel like a blessing for sure.

Five-Minute Yoga Challenge with tennis ball

 

FIVE-MINUTE YOGA | Massaging the soles of the feet loosens the starting point of a network of connective tissue that runs up the back of your body to the crown of your head. Rolling a tennis ball under each foot for just five minutes a day will lead to more relaxed feet and flexible hamstrings. Read more

Bubblegum Girl-iStock

Chew On These Three Sugarless Gum Brands

Some sugarless chewing gum is not like the others: these three brands are actually good for your teeth.

Bubblegum Girl-iStock

 

BUY RIGHT | A chewer from way back, I could tell you I gobble gum because it stimulates the production of saliva which has been scientifically proven to help neutralize acid erosion on tooth enamel—but really it’s because I’m a fresh breath fanatic and mints and sprays leave me with a dry mouth. Read more

AirFloss

Floss Much? No? Then AirFloss To The Rescue

This cool new dental tool can help with a cumbersome chore many of us avoid like the plague.

AirFloss

 

MONEY WELL SPENT | Floss much? Didn’t think so. Don’t worry; you’re not alone. Daily flossing is as important as daily brushing, but most people don’t floss routinely, and if/when they do floss, it’s guilt flossing, the kind you engage in just before or after a trek to the dentist. Read more

Macaroons-Shutterstock

The Absolute Best Mother’s Day Gift Ever

Give her a Mother’s Day gift she’ll remember for the rest of her life.

HELLO Moo

 

MONEY WELL SPENT | You could give your sweet mama any number of indulgences for Mother’s Day (It’s May 13 in case you need a reminder), a box of heavenly macaroons, for example, or her favourite expensive perfume, but these sorts of gifts are ephemeral. If you really want to go all out for the woman who grew you up, give her a gift that will do right by her beautiful mind. Read more

kombucha-Kathy Patalsky- Happy Healthy Life

Need A Quick Energy Boost? Try Kombucha

This newly mainstream fizzy health drink can make you sparkle.

kombucha-Kathy Patalsky- Happy Healthy Life

 

CULT PRODUCT ALERT | Kombucha is a centuries-old fermented-tea beverage consumed for its presumed health benefits. While there’s no hard scientific evidence that kombucha stimulates the immune system, improves digestion and liver function or boosts physical and mental energy in humans, growing legions of kombucha devotees will tell you otherwise, including such celebrities as Gwyneth Paltrow, who pitches GT’s Raw Organic Kombucha as part of her dietary regimen. Read more

Eva Markvoort

Watch 65 RedRoses, Oprah’s 2012 Hot Doc

Make Valentine’s Day more than a Hallmark moment—give someone a new lease on life.

Eva Markvoort

 

PASS IT ON | Talk about hot documentaries. The locally made film 65_RedRoses about New Westminster’s Eva Markvoort, the irrepressible artist/writer/blogger who squeezed 10 decades of loving—and living—into a quarter of a century before succumbing to cystic fibrosis two years ago, is the 2012 official selection of Oprah Winfrey’s Documentary Club. The film, which has won a boatload of other honours for filmmakers Philip Lyall and Nimisha Mukerji, will premiere on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, sometime this spring, but you can watch it for FREE on March 8 (and meet the filmmakers) at the Nat and Flora Bosa Centre for Film and Animation at Capilano University. Read more

Dental Floss - iStock

Great Threads: The Best All Around Floss

Everyone plans to floss more (according to a survey of New Year’s resolutions): This product will insure that happens..

Dental Floss - iStock

 

MONEY WELL SPENT | Is Canada a nation of flosser wannabes? You would think so if you glanced at the December 31 Huffington Post “picture gallery” piece that ran under the bold headline “New Year’s Resolutions 2012: The Top Resolutions For Canadians.” Read more

Feet On Scale - iStock

Lose Extra Pounds With Help From Fitday.com

Fitday.com is a fab, free website that can help you lose weight, get fitter and more.

Feet On Scale - iStock

 

FREE & FABULOUS | I’ve been trying on a quasi-casual level to lose “those last five pounds” for the last five years, but haven’t been able to. Now I know why and what to do about it, thanks to Fitday.com. Fitday, for the uninitiated—and there are still one or two of us out there—is a free, superbly organized weight loss website that allows its five million members to easily set a weight loss goal that will trigger an action plan that includes daily food consumption and physical activity requirements.

All of this is great, of course, but the best thing about Fitday in my view, and in the view of Innovative Fitness trainer Josh Allen who introduced me to the program, is the way it tracks the nutrient values in the foods you consume—and nutrient values, as I’m coming to learn, are at the root of my problem.

Carbs and Fat and Protein, Oh My! Read more
yoga woman meditation pose - dreamstime

The Perfect App for Time Strapped Yoga Buffs

Frugalbits columnist Eve Johnson has developed an easy, inexpensive app for time-strapped yoga buffs. Here’s how you can win a copy.

yoga woman meditation pose - dreamstime

 

TAKE FIVE | Have you ever thought you might lower your stress levels with yoga, then watched them soar into the red zone as you battled your way through traffic to class? Or noticed that the unlimited monthly pass at your local mega studio isn’t such a great deal if you only manage to use it twice?

What if you could work yoga into your day in small bites—five and 10 minutes at a time—with detailed instructions that take you deep into the pose?

And how about paying less than you would for a cup of coffee? Read more