October 2020

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Mind

Exercise your mind too

In the West, we think of yoga as a workout for the body. From Hot or Power to Yin or Restorative, the focus is usually on the physical. But the truth beyond the spandex is that yoga practice is a state of mind. It is experienced best when the mind is calm, without distractions. That’s when the real mind-body connection can be made. And you don’t need to move through a strenuous sequence of poses to get there. But it certainly helps. The poses in yoga are designed to build strength, increase mobility and improve the ease with which your body moves. But there is a huge, often-forgotten component of a yoga practice that requires no movement at all. Yoga’s ancient text, The Living Gita, presents four distinct paths—Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Ra-ja Yoga and Jnana Yoga. Each is described as leading us back to our True Self. This month

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Jennie Graham October 30, 2020
Healthy Recipes

As-you-like-it Roasted Veggies

Tis the season for delicious and nutritious root vegetables and it’s time you take advantage of them! This is a great recipe to make in bulk and reheat throughout the week. Be sure to pick vegetables that have a variety of colours, textures and flavours to keep it interesting. Veggie Inspiration: Parsnips Turnip Celery root Butternut squash Brussels sprouts Pumpkin Carrots Beets Potatoes Instructions Preheat oven to 400°F Drizzle 2 Tbsp of olive oil in the bottom of a rectangular baking dish. Place your veggies of choice in a large bowl. Drizzle with remaining olive oil and toss gently to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Place vegetables into the prepared baking dish and spread into an even layer. Nestle a head of garlic into vegetables, cut-side up and drizzle bare cloves with olive oil. Roast vegetables 40-60 minutes to your desired tenderness, gently tossing every 20 minutes. Squeeze the

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Jessica Clerke October 29, 2020
Longevity

The art of being slow

The positive in the pandemic is that it has forced us to re-evaluate our lives. This is the message of Dr. Greg Wells, a performance physiologist and senior associate scientist at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. Wells’ latest book, Rest, Refocus and Recharge: A Guide for Optimizing Your Life, comes at a time when we could all use some help for living our best lives. INSTEAD OF MULTITASKING, THINK SINGLE TASKING. Take a step back from the manufactured and imposed busyness of our past experiences and embrace this opportunity to slow down, calm our brains and rejuvenate our bodies. “So, this idea of constantly pushing and having to be busy has been upended recently,” says Wells. “We now have an opportunity to reimagine the future and slow down.” How? By taming those electrical waves in our brain and shifting gears. There are four main categories of brainwaves. All four are active at

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Marylene Vestergom October 28, 2020
Health

Top 8 Hormones for longevity

Maintaining the proper balance of these eight hormone help you fight aging and feel younger longer. Do you have lifeless hair, dull skin, and weak nails? These are all signs of aging. If you want to turn back the clock, I suggest starting your anti-aging regimen with an inside look at your hormones. They affect everything from immune response and inflammation to cellular growth and tissuerepair. Let’s address each of the top eight hormones that impact our appearance and discuss methods you can use to achieve the healthy balance necessary for radiant, youthful- looking skin. The countdown begins: EIGHT: Testosterone Excessive testosterone, in women or men, may result in acne on the face, chest or back. With age, women tend to experience an increase in androgen (a male sex hormone) levels and a decline in estrogen. Men tend to experience the opposite—an increase in estrogen and a decline in testosterone, which causes the skin to dry out. If a testosterone deficiency is suspected, herbs such as tribulus terresteris, stress management and weight-bearing exercises may help to restore optimal levels for both men and women. You can also ask your health practitioner about bioidentical testosterone cream. SEVEN: DHEA Dry skin is a problem that

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Dr. Natasha Turner October 26, 2020
Healthy Recipes

Big Crunch Black Bean Burgers

Get ready for a taste explosion! These Big Crunch Black Bean burgers taste amazing and hold up to the challenge. We have developed and refined this recipe after years of experimenting for making whole food plant-based burgers without oil. The challenge: to create a great tasting burger that holds together as most veggie burgers are soft like toothpaste and squeeze out the other side of the bun when you take a bite. Dig in and enjoy a satisfying crunchy burger experience that is healthy and most importantly, tastes great! MAKES: 6-8 BURGERS PREP TIME: 1⁄2 HOUR / COOKING TIME: 1 HOUR INGREDIENTS 16oz/454 grams whole mushrooms 1 cup old fashioned oats 1⁄4 cup chickpea flour 1 can of black beans 1 can of green lentils or chickpeas 1 cup grated raw red beets 1 cup cooked brown rice or quinoa 1⁄4 cup walnuts, finely chopped2 cups kale, tightly packed 3 Tbsp

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Max Brennan October 23, 2020
Fitness

Your optimal daily movement routine

For the first time in human history, we live in a digital world that doesn’t require us to move enough to maintain basic physical and mental health. All too often, many people in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s find it difficult to sit, stand or twist without help or pain. Many people complain of back aches, neck and shoulder pain, hip and knee pain, as well as depression and anxiety. A sedentary lifestyle interrupted by an hour-long workout at the gym consisting of predictable repetitions of aerobics and resistance movements is not the kind of movement hygiene we need today. Our physical training has to change because what we are required to do in the world has changed. As we move towards the future, physiotherapists, kinesiologists, and other movement specialists are beginning to map the intelligence of the body in motion to ask questions about what kind of movement—and how

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Suzanne Bechard October 20, 2020
Travel

Winter Divers are Explorers

The winter cold doesn’t stop these divers from exploring the depths and observing the sea creatures revealed by the diminished plant life. THE snow is falling and ice is forming on the water—time for scuba drivers to hang up their suits for the winter months or plan trips to warmer destinations. Although this may be true for many divers, some prefer to get a little chilly, especially in New Brunswick. “A lot of the plant life dies off or becomes much thinner underwater in the winter, so things that seaweed was hiding are now visible,” says Kim Langille of Moncton, a diver since 1998. “The fish seem to be a bit slower, making them easier to photograph.” The sea life is one of the things Langille likes most about diving. “I love the sea creatures,” she says. “There are so many weird, ugly, freaky, prehistoric-looking sea dwellers in our waters.”

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Trudy Kelly Forsythe October 19, 2020
Health

The rise of personal health technology

Are you ready to trust your health to a giant technology company? Apple’s latest smartwatch, the Series 6, came to market this October and the big selling point this year is a sensor that monitors your blood oxygen level.  So, now the Apple Watch can monitor your heart rate, conduct an ECG and monitor blood oxygen. And like other smartwatches, can track your fitness activity and put all that data together in the Health app to give you a better picture of your personal health.  Apple is making a big play into the fast growing health and wellness sector. Google and Microsoft are making moves into this space as well. So what’s all this health technology about? What about privacy and the relationship between healthcare providers, doctors and patients? While the Apple Watch is certainly in the lead when it comes to personal health and wellness technology in smartwatches and

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Giles Crouch October 16, 2020
Health

Key factors affecting heart health

The heart never takes a break. It is the ultimate survivor. Even if you are physically drained and exhausted, your heart keeps pumping at about 4,800 beats per hour. But it is not invincible. Taking care of your heart should not be taken lightly. Heart disease is the leading cause of premature death in Canada and globally, according to the 2017 Global Burden of Disease study. While there are multiple causes of heart diseases, health conditions such as diabetes and obesity play an important role. Diabetes increases heart disease risk Adults with diabetes are four times more likely to die of heart disease or stroke compared to those without diabetes, according to the American Heart Association. The alarming statistics indicate that diabetes and cardiovascular diseases have a direct connection. Cardiovascular diseases refer to conditions that involve narrowed or constricted blood vessels, which can lead to chest pain, heart attack, or

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Sonia Jhas October 13, 2020
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