This story category covers nutrition, wellness pursuits, meds, massage and physio.
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
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.
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
CREATIVE SOLUTION | The trouble with gloves is that they get lost, loaned, separated from their mates, mangled by pets—or can’t be found where you put them last. Read more
FITTER BY THE MINUTE | Anyone who checks this website routinely knows I’m obsessed with the fact I sit too much. I HATE sitting in front of a computer for hours at a stretch but that is what I do for a living. Sure I can use a sit/stand desk like the ones we reported on HERE last week. And yes I can—and do—exercise outside normal work hours, but I know from reading the research these practices alone will not keep the Grim Reaper from calling early, most likely unannounced. Read more
LOSING IT | Losing weight wasn’t at the top of my To Do list. It hovered somewhere between sorting out the basement and organizing the family photos, promising to be just as much of a chore. Then recently, I looking around on Abebooks.com and I noticed that they are practically giving away copies of the The Dukan Diet. Read more
CHEAP + EFFECTIVE | While our own jury of dentists gave a thumbs down to repeated, long term brushing with baking soda as a safe way to whiten teeth (CLICK HERE for our story), every one of them we spoke to on the topic sought fit to add—on the condition of anonymity—that white strips really were as effective a bleaching agent as the bleaching gel dentists provide with their custom-made application trays for in-home teeth bleaching kits. Read more
BACK TO BASICS | Say goodbye to spa therapies that only go skin deep. Thermo- therapy and hydrotherapy, practised throughout Europe, are showing up across the country. These therapies use extreme heat and profuse sweating to flush out deeply lodged toxins, relax muscles and improve heart health. Read more
SPENDING SMARTER | With the high cost of specialty dental work in North America, it’s no wonder Canadians, especially those without dental insurance, flock to Mexico when they need multiple crowns or bridges. Whole communities like Los Algodones, which is minutes over the Arizona border and boasts 350 dentists, have grown up all along the U.S.-Mexico divide to churn out crowns priced as low as $150 to $350 (in Vancouver a metal-ceramic crown costs on average between $900 and $1,000). Read more
SAVE TIME + ENERGY | Before I got involved with this online magazine, I worked out pretty hard at least four times a week. Now it’s just twice—if I’m lucky. Most of the time I sit in front of a computer screen; I can actually feel my bottom deflating (dare I say spreading?) as I type these words. Yikes.
It’s hard to stay in shape when you sit for a living, but I do not intend to let my whole bod to go south without putting up a fight. So I won’t get bored I need a multitude of seriously quick and efficient workout routines I can do in street clothes (if I need to) in my weensy office space. Read more