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Cure For Alzheimer’s Disease??

June 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

One of several medical mysteries bogging the minds of scientists for ages is the crippling power of Alzheimer’s disease. Defined in Chamber’s 21st Century Dictionary as “an incurable disease, usually occurring in middle age or later, in which degeneration of the brain cells results in gradual loss in memory, confusion, etc. eventually leading to total disintegration of the personality; named after the German neurologist Alois Alzheimer (1865-1915) who first identified it”.

Never a fan of the term “incurable disease”, the scientific community is hoping to change the definition of Alzheimer’s disease by finding a its cure by 2025  thanks to the big chunk of funding announced by President Obama towards Alzheimer’s research.  The heat is on, as several researchers have tried, and apparently not without success to find a cure for the previously dreaded disease. The race to find a cure started  a few years ago, when NIH scientists announced “Reversal of Alzheimer’s symptoms within minutes in human studies” in their article in Science Daily article published in 2008.

A few months ago, a news item on the beneficial effects of coconut oil appeared, with some indications of miraculous healing or improvement of simple brain activities, as a result of consuming pure saturated coconut oil every day.  They further displayed documents or testimonials received for several other indications of coconut-oil-based cure for Alzheimer’s.   Then came the vitamin group of cures: Vitamin B, Vitamins C or E ,which have shown promises (emphasized through a lot of scientific reasoning and research) in reversing the symptoms.  A group of UK-Canada researchers claim to have found a vaccine that brings relief  in days.   The image on the left gives us an idea of  how the disease cripples the brain, Apparently.   The vaccine developed by these researchers prevents or even erodes the build-up of a protein called beta-amyloid, which is known to form  plaque on brain cells, that causes Alzheimer’s disease.  The group’s latest research, reported  in Nature, suggested that  the drug restores some of the mental faculties, in addition to removing the plaque-building protein.

And finally, the linguists, who did not want to be left behind, claim that learning several languages (actually, they emphasized on the term ‘bilingual’) can help delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease by a few years.  I am not sure if this was intended to be an attack on unilinguals, but one of my aunts was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s pretty early on, and she is trilingual.  Maybe if we can cause her to forget one language and make her officially ‘bilingual’, her condition could improve.

The results of each of the above tested and proved treatment plans seem pretty promising, which is very encouraging to the relatives of Alzheimer’s patients. But looking at the big picture, one begins to wonder what is the validity of the variety of treatment possibilities? If just about anything can cure Alzheimer’s disease, then why have we been sleeping on it for all these years? Mind you, not all of these researchers promise cure – most of them promise ‘reversal of Alzheimer’s symptoms’ (and its too early to predict up to what percentage), but a few of them do venture to call it a cure. And we might hear a lot more on this subject.

Actually I have a theory myself, but first I would like to find out how does the diagnosis of the disease compare with determination of the treatment effectiveness. While diagnostic tools to determine the electrical activity of the brain such as an electroencephalogram (EEG) and some other latest sophisticated technology have enabled medical science to pinpoint very narrowly the very nature of the disease, we know that our brain could play tricks on us, or rather, we do not know to what extent our brain could play tricks on us.  Many people would claim that meditation, exercise, a leisure walk, etc, helps them think clearly, coordinate things better, reduce stress or in common language, improve brain activity.

So before I share my theory on treatment on Alzheimer’s disease, I would like to know:  Will my memory improve if I go for an EEG every week?  Now, I do exercise, meditate, walk a lot on a pretty much daily basis, but I do not see a definite or marked improvement in my memory.  And hey, I have been good at those puzzles, especially word jumbles for several years now. I do not have the patience to solve crossword puzzles.   But all this has absolutely no bearing on the fact that my memory could use some (actually a lot of) improvement.

Answers, please??

One cannot give enough emphasis to healthy lifestyle by choice, to avoid many health complications.  I can offer some help, through these:

For good fitness tips, Check this out!

Or, this one for A good fitness plan!

A lot is being said about detoxification. This may be a good Starting point.

Wishing you a happy, healthy lifestyle!!
 

Filed Under: Fitness, Recreation and Health Alerts Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Conquering Cancer through Healthy Living- Part A

May 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Antioxidants

“Cancer death rates show decline” was one of the CBC/health headlines on May 09 this year, that got a lot of of people thinking.  The article seemed to have raised awareness to some extent, hoping to catch the eye  (I mean, breath) of stubborn smokers, for 27% of all cancer deaths are due to lung cancer, says the group director of Cancer Cancer society.  The decline was attributed to increased screening and decreased smoking, so that the consistent hike in cigarette prices might have been a blessing in disguise. I certainly see laboratories busy screening people with increasing wait times over the past few years, as cancer has changed its status from being  a ‘stigma’ to a ‘death threat that everybody wants to avoid’.  Well, that is good news.

But then, is that all?  ‘Quit smoking and go for screening to reduce cancer death rates’ is all that we as a society need to do in order to look good on the frontline of  our fight against cancer??  Surely, cancer is more than just a side-effect of smoking (I hear that smoking causes more heart problems than cancer and some people might even argue that all these attacks on smokers is merely a publicity stunt).  We hear a lot about anti-oxidants such as Vitamin C and Vitamin E having shown some promised results in fighting cancer. Wow!! A magic pill indeed? Well, what does it do and how does it cure the deadly disease that even chemotherapy and radiation fail at times in controlling?

Anti-oxidants, as the name suggests, have something to do with the process of inhibiting oxidation (removal of oxygen from complex compounds) inside our bodies. The plain English definition of oxidation in us is “any chemical reaction in which a material gives up electrons, as when the material combines with oxygen such as burning (rapid) or rusting (slow).”  Basically, it is a chemical reaction or a series of chemical reactions caused by eating (my best guess) in which body compounds  lose electrons.  Can we avoid that? As much as we can avoid eating – the ultimate thing to do if we are generating too many ‘free radicals’ which nothing but charged ions or electrons. What do these free radicals do to cancer?  Most likely, are major sources of causing cancer. A free radical, if energetic enough, can run around in the neighbourhood and if happens to be present at the wrong place at the wrong time, can disrupt the fine process of cell division inside our body. There are certain areas inside our body where cell division does take place continuously.  We do not want free radicals in that neighbourhood, because once the cell division process disrupts, it can go haywire and boom!! Before we know it, we get a tumor.

Scary, isn’t it?? But that is what a renowned Radiation Biologist once told me.  I have no reason to believe he was lying.  We must, as much as possible, have as few free radicals inside of us as possible, and that is where antioxidants help. They neutralize the free radicals floating around in our body and essentially catch the tiger with its tail.

I will give you some time to think on this for a while and encourage you to do your own research. We will talk more on cancer once I get you more involved.

For additional health information or insight into your health concerns, Check this out!

For specific information and more on cancer, Click Here!

For living healthy and looking good, You may want to look into this!

After all, your health is in your hands.

Filed Under: Healthy Living Tagged With: , , ,

Heart-healthy Living

May 7, 2012 By 1 Comment

Watch Out for Cardiac Arrest!!  

‘Swimming world champ Dale Oen dies in Arizona’ made the headline news in ‘The Associated Press’ on  May 01, 2012, and many of you might have read this on Yahoo.  The press report from STOCKHOLM (AP) clearly stated that Alexander Dale Oen, a breaststroke world champion swimmer and Norway’s top medal hopes for the London Olympics, died suffering a cardiac arrest during a training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona. He was 26.  Was something done at all to prevent this tragedy??  Well,  the federation stated that the 100-metre world champion was found collapsed on the floor of his bathroom late Monday. He was taken to the Flagstaff Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

I took the time to read the entire report, and found out  some more shocking events:

“He is the second high-profile athlete to die from cardiac arrest recently, after Italian football player Piermario Morosini collapsed on the pitch during a Series B game for Livorno last month. That incident came just a month after Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba also collapsed during a game, but survived’.

Basically, two  young people from the athletic world, who have  been training to be world champions since a very young age, recently (barely a month ago), as per one source of information.  There might have been other unreported deaths from sudden cardiac arrests in the world that we are not aware of.  There might bave been many other deaths from heart attacks, but that is considered as commonplace now.  We do not see these deaths as a medical tragedies – we simply see them as a way of life now.  Most of them are not in time for being prevented anyway.  There is no magic pill for bringing a person back to life, who dies out of our ignorance or lack of precious time or resources for resuscitation.

Prevention, however, still is an option.  It may be a long road to health heart,  but the only option available to us for minimizing  incidents of sudden deaths from heart disease. The good news is that preventing a Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA)  follows  a very similar path to preventing a Heart Attack or Myocardial Infarction  (MCI).  In many words, you lower  your cholesterol, lower your blood pressure, control your diabetes, quit smoking, lost weight, manage stress, control depression and exercise.  In a  few words, eat healthy and exercise. May I remind you to try my oil-free recipes – they are easy and delicious – plus, you can eat as much as you want.  They are free of sugars and oil.  If  you have lots of questions, there are resources available (all on google – basically on your fingertips) where you can get most of your answers.  Then there are family doctors and cardiologists who can help.

I would suggest (in case you haven’t been told yet) that the first thing to do is ask for getting testing for diabetes, through the regular normal procedure of Glucose Tolerance Test.  That seems to be a major risk factor for hypertension and heart diseases. Determine all other risk factors that apply to you and remain informed.  In addition, if you find out that you are a candidate of SCA, you must take some kind of anti-arrhythmatic drugs or keep an Automated External Defibrillator to have handy in your home or place of work/workouts, as these can save your life.

Remember, your health is in your hands.

Filed Under: Fitness, Recreation and Health Alerts

Healthy Mind

April 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A Beautiful Mind   

Mental health is an issue that we choose to not address. To varying extent, each and every one of us could go through mental ups and downs, not all of which may need special attention. A certain percentage of our population, however could (and probably does) suffer from greater extents of mental health problem for which help is available, provided the patient specifically asks for help.  Our health care system, which does not permit us to ask for help directly for our loved ones, expects some level of self-diagnosis by  those suffering from depression, anxiety or other mental health problems, in order to treat them.  Believe it or not, this seems to have become a humongous problem itself, since adult mental-health patients may not choose to see their problem or even go through the very first stage of self-diagnosis, most of the time.  We, as a society, therefore, are stuck in a sticky situation, which affects several aspects of our lives.

Consider the mental-health statistics reported in Canada:

It is believed that every fifth Canadian experiences mental health problem each year[1].  Mental health affects a high percentage of teenagers: 18% of adolescents (aged 15-24) report having  either a mental illness or a substance abuse problem [2].  A Canadian workplace study indicates that about 26% of employees suffer from depression [3].  It is believed that at least one person in 100 can be expected to develop schizophrenia[4.  Currently in North America, one child in 88 suffers from Autism [5]

Most of the homicides or other serious crimes committed in our country (or anywhere in the world for that matter) can be associated with mental health issues of the criminal.  Issues that are usually ignored till they lead to serious consequences.  By that time, many innocent people are victimized.  I understand if we have an unmanageable population that needs to be fed first, so that issues such as poverty and economic crisis need to be addressed.  But that is certainly not the case with our country, supposedly the “best country of the world”’ from UN standard (a fact that our Prime Ministers never fail to remind us on Canada Day, each year).

Some of the not-so-viscous consequences of mental health issues also show up in our lives in many forms. At workplace, employees suffering from mental health are not very productive and the effect is usually cascading if he/she happens to be managing other employees. Considerable amount of tax-payer dollars is invested into teenagers and adults who have problems with substance abuse and are unable to work, therefore (usually) on welfare.  The cumulative effect is that our economy suffers, big way, and would continue to do so unless we choose to do something about it, and figure out a concrete way of addressing the root cause of our mental problems, which could be as varied as the number of living species on this planet.  While we cannot come up with a magic pill to eliminate all mental health issues, we can begin to make a difference, by encouraging people to get help.

That brings us to another problem: the wait times for obtaining psychiatric treatment. It may take up to a few months [6] to get proper mental health evaluation and treatment for an adult.  There is, however, help available over the phone, and something can be surely arranged quickly enough for people who seek early intervention.

My heart goes out to you if you have kids that suffer from autism, depression or other disorders.  While there is still the time for intervention, I plead with you to get help and get your child evaluated, even at a very young age.  Please watch for abnormal behavior, and do not try to come up with an excuse.  There is usually a pattern for children who are displaying signs for mental disorders, as opposed to those who are throwing tantrums to get attention.  For example, check for these signs, that your child may display:

  • Consistently does not make eye contact, when you call his/her name, appears to be deaf.
  • Is too focussed doing whatever he/she is engaged with, ignoring everything else and shows less interested in interacting with others or bonding normally.
  • Carries himself/herself as if there is everybody else in the room is an object, not sensing another human presence.  This can be seen by pushing other children out of the way, without noticing it or realize that there was someone in the way.
  • Difficulty in learning language or oral communication skills
  • Not laughing or crying when you would expect or unable to control when upset
  • Other physical signs such as learning disability which are easily measurable.
  • Some dietary symptoms, such as gastro-intestinal disorders, self-restricted or elected diet, etc.
  • Consistent pattern of aggression, alternating positive and negative thoughts
  • Delusions, hallucinations, other extreme emotions or reactions

It is important that you check for  a consistent pattern of these symptoms, for certain symptoms may not persist.  After a short time, and the child could display normal behavior, so keep an eye on what’s happening, putting all biases aside.  Once you are clear that your child is displaying one or more of these symptoms consistently, then approach your family doctor or paediatrician for proper direction. Please keep in mind that early intervention the most effective way of addressing mental health issues.

References

  1. Kessler, R. C., Chiu, W.T., Demler, O., Walters, E.E. (2005). “Prevalence, Severity, and Comorbidity of 12-Month DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication”, Archives of Gen. Psychiatry, 62 (6), 617-627.
  2. Kirby, M. & Keon, W. (2004). Report 1, “Mental health, mental illness and addiction: Overview of policies and programs in Canada (Chapter 5)”,  Interim report of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology.
  3.  Ipsos-Reid, “Mental Health in the Workplace”, Largest study ever conducted of Canadian workplace mental health and depression. Public release date: Nov. 19, 2007.
  4.  “Schizophrenia: An Information Guide”, published by the Centre for Addiction and mental health, March 2012
  5.  Autism Canada, 2011 Annual Report
  6.  Barua B., Rovere M., and Skinner B.J. (2011), “Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada”,, 2011 report. Fraser Institute. The Fraser Institute study (2011) reported that across the provinces, the average total wait time between the referral by a general practitioner and the time that the required elective treatment begins by psychiatric specialist increased from 16.0 weeks in 2010 to 18.8 weeks in 2011.


Filed Under: Healthy Living

Open Your Mind and Heart

April 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Those would be the opening words of a meditation centre that never fail to catch our attention, even so for just a moment, before something else (probably of greater significance) diverts our minds and our hearts. For, at the bottom of our hearts, we all long to be stress-free, happy and peace-loving individuals. We all want to enjoy life apart from the joy that comes from indulging in fatty diets, and let somebody else take care of other things.

Well, for those of us living in the National Capital of the ‘Best Country of the World’,  it is not too difficult to do that – and we do not need to visit meditation centres either.  I would restate the above punch-line this way:

“Open your eyes and let them take your mind and heart through a journey of awesome beauty that will remove your stress and restore your peace and joy”.

All this is possible without having to travel too far from your comfort zone. For we, living in Ottawa, are blessed with beautiful sights and opportunities to enjoy things around us in less than 20 minutes drives from where we live!  We have at least eight museums and several other historic sites that can take our breath away, giving us that desired peace and our children a place to find their own heaven (another factor that give us that extra-added peace as a bonus).

Now, I agree that most of these places require from us a price to pay, or entry fees.  Well, in that case, annual membership is a good option -  giving you  the opportunity to visit the museums every week (or everyday if you live close to one of these). Visiting museums during the winter is a great way to refresh your mind and get some cardio-vascular exercise (museum visits involve a lot of walking and climbing the stairs)- thereby helping your heart. During summers, the Parliament Hill offers some breath-taking Sound and Light shows every week night – FREE!!

Downtown Ottawa is a great place to just walk around and look around – the Rideau Centre area, the famous Byward Market, the Major Hill Park, the number of historic and majestic beauties around the Peace Tower, and then the super-famous Museum of Civilization just a walk away.   Parking maybe a problem – so it might be best to avail the facilities of OC Transpo to enjoy Ottawa downtown.

I would like to draw your attention to something else  that may have caught your attention sometime, or not. If you (specially if you work downtown) happen to be near the famous Bank Street, check out these historic architectural sites. They never fail to open my mind and heart and pretty much have the same effect of a 20-minute meditation session.

Filed Under: Fitness, Recreation and Health Alerts

The Do’s and Don’ts of Staying Fit

April 13, 2012 By 1 Comment

Well, since you know all about this, why take the time to read somebody else’s views? You do not need anybody’s opinion, for you have mastered the art of collecting all the information there is about staying fit.  And that is what most folks do anyways – gather all information to gossip about it, while making it clear that they do not have the time to do all that it takes to stay fit.  Let me give some examples:

  • We absolutely feel the need to spend about half-an-hour to an hour ‘sorting issues’ at the coffee table, but have no time to spend ten minutes to go around the block, even if it’s nice outside.
  • We, being strong workaholics, would rather send somebody else to run around and get coffee for us during coffee breaks, while we are tackling that pile of papers, or online files.
  • We choose to completely automate our lives so that we do not have to move our legs, hands or even fingers, even when it comes to stapling a bunch of papers.
  • Going to the library looking for information is either pre-historic or a dedicated event in elementary schools.
  • There has to be a good reason why telephones and electronic media exist. Face to face conversation is pretty much what the movies, or better still, animated movies are made up. We do not want to talk face to face with people and ‘create a scene’.
  • Pilates and gym memberships draw our attention and money, but not us…
  • Somehow, we strike a common chord with those Himalayan savants or Tibetan monks when we are seen watching our HD TV or playing with our iPad.

OK, you get the point. We are all guilty of doing something in the above list to a greater extent than others; for if it is not the case with you, then you are not reading this article either. Fitness seems to be such a far cry for most of us, especially when we ‘really’ do not have any time out of our  busy schedules. Looking for some sort of solution or a balance in life?  Love to find out how to stay fit without doing much, or better still, the bare minimum? Let me try to suggest some tips that are not awfully demanding and can be incorporated in your hectic 18-hour day calendar:

  • Steal a few minutes from your coffee break to walk around, or better still, choose your coffee shop as the next Tim Horton’s, not the one closest to you.  That way, you are guaranteed at least 10-15 minutes of brisk walking.  You would then need just 15 more minutes to complete your recommended daily exercise quota .
  • Remember, the one who does your errands for you is the one getting the exercise, not you. A good rule of thumb is: “Get up, and do it yourself”.  That cute girl behind the counter serving you coffee deserves a smile and a simple ‘Hello’ from you, once a day at least.
  • If you walk at least 25 meters to reach that automatic stapler, walk the same distance in the other direction and use a regular stapler.  And try using your left and right hands alternatively.  It helps to train both your hands to do things that normally only one hand is accustomed to do. Especially if you break your wrist or squish your thumb (ouch!).
  • Sometimes, it helps visiting pre-historic sites like public libraries they’re free, and sometimes arrange some fun events or information sessions for people very much like you and me. You can get some face to face information, tips on how to make public presentations (as I did), make friends and influence people.
  • While it is hard to get off our addiction of using phones and electronic media for communication,  people are likely to pay more attention when you talk to them in person. So go ahead, knock at your neighbour’s door and inquire how she/he is doing.  Or better still, invite your neighbour for a walk around the block with you.  You will be surprised how much you both enjoy it.
  • Consider buying a treadmill or a machine that can give you a whole-body movement instead of buying a gym membership, if you cannot frequent the gym. Chances are that after you are tired of watching it accumulate dust, you will use it.
  • Remember, nobody ever finds out what happens to those Himalayan savants or monks that live their lives in isolation. You want to be doing something creative rather than watching TV, when your ‘time’ comes.  Chances of your being more likely to take action to save your life increase if you are ‘active’.

Now, that wasn’t difficult at all, was it?  Keeping fit can be fun and fruitful, with several bonus points – you get to get involved in your environment and that can help you in different ways. You are also helping others stay fit, and saving big bucks on attempts to boost your fitness.

Filed Under: Fitness, Recreation and Health Alerts

Heart Attack or Cardiac Arrest?

April 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 

Heart Attack or Cardiac Arrest?

Until yesterday, I wasn’t familiar about the difference between those two terms. Now that I am a bit enlightened, I believe that it is perhaps a good idea to educate ourselves of  what ails us, given a truckload of stress triggers and unhealthy lifestyle choices not entirely in our control. When the heart is in a really bad shape, neither a heart attack nor a cardiac arrest is in our control; so it might be a good idea to do something about our heart before it gets there.

 My heartfelt thanks to the enlightened genius (medical specialists, researchers and/or authors who are a source of our vital information), because of whom I am able to share this with you.  Plainly stated, a heart attack is a problem of pumping blood in and through the heart as a result blocked arteries, weak heart muscles due to blockages in arteries due to high cholesterol or something similar. A cardiac arrest, on the other hand, is a damage or irregularity  of heart’s rhythm (too fast, too slow or just no rhythm at all), also called ‘arrhythmia’ or ‘atrial fibrillation’.  This could happen as a result of several things: Long QT Syndrome (LQTS),  Brugada Syndrome, Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia (CVPT), Arrythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC) or Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. Those are big and scary names, and can lead to scary heart conditions as well.

There are, however, some warning signs, and it would do us good to heed to them.  Heart attacks occur due to blocked arteries and those do not happen in a day. The plaque inside the arteries builds up gradually, over the years, causing angina pain or heart attack one fine day.  If we let our arteries get blocked to the extent of getting a heart attack or requiring a heart surgery, we can kick ourselves – because it is ultimately our fault.  And though there are several risk factors, some of which such as genetics may not be in our hand, avoiding conditions that lead to atherosclerosis is in our hands.  Taking precautions such as diet control, regular exercise, controlling stress, etc, can help us get on track towards a healthy heart.

Similar is the case with cardiac arrests. There are three key warning signs that need to be noted: dizzy spells or passing out during exercise, fainting as a result of a loud noise or being startled or family history of sudden deaths due to heart failure. A simple electrocardiogram, an echocardiogram or a heart ultrasound can detect arrhythmia.  Treatment options include antiarrhythimic drugs,  anticoagulation therapy,  electrical or chemical cardioversion,  catheter ablation of the AV (atrioventricular) node, pulmonary vein antrum isolation (PVAI), etc.

While we cannot do everything everywhere about every thing at all times, sometimes, somewhere, we can always do something about some things.  Let us aim to do the max we can, for things that matter the most

 

Filed Under: Fitness, Recreation and Health Alerts

Deliciously simple

April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Oil-free Green Chinese Eggplant curry

Healthy Eating can indeed be deliciously simple – particularly if you are my type of personality – always in a hurry to get the job done without spending enormous amount of time reading the ingredients and stressing out for not having the right ingredients, or cooking something which requires enormous amount of preparation time.

Besides, I believe that taste depends mainly upon how fresh the vegetable (or meat, for that matter) is.  So try out this deliciously simple Recipe, and feel free to experiment with other chunky type vegetables (like plain and simple potatoes, squash, zucchini, Italian eggplant, etc) and develop your taste buds with this simple, flavorful dish.

Filed Under: Healthy Living Tagged With: ,

Cooking Healthy

March 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 

This is my favorite part in my long-term health planning. I can trust what I   eat for my good health the most if I were involved in its preparation.  There were not very many fast-food options during the times of our grandparents who lived a relatively healthier life than we do. Undeniably. So let us spin the wheel a little backwards and try to do something that used to be a chore of choice – cooking!

I guess most of you are familiar with the cooking paradox – oils which are healthiest in terms of their fatty content cannot be overheated (or used for cooking, basically) and oils or fat that can be heated to cooking temperatures may not necessarily be the best ones for your health.  The debate is ongoing and for that  matter, the research is ongoing.  As of today, scientists are still trying to figure out whether or not saturated fats are entirely bad for you.

While the oil debate is still on, how about keeping the fat off the diet for a bit, and try to do some oil-free cooking?  It may sound a bit absurd or unconvincing to some of you, but that is exactly what I am talking about.  The concept is not new – recipe books for oil-free cooking are available with a colourful variety of recipes for breakfasts, meals and desserts.  Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn’s book “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease” offers a wide variety of reasons and recipes for vegan oil-free diets.

Although most components in an oil-free diet are baked or stewed, it is possible to try some stove-top cooking and improvise on existing recipes by simply eliminating the oil and reducing the time it takes to ‘fry’ things by dry-roasting them, and actually make them taste good. A good place to start would be to buy good quality non-stick cookware that allow you to cook without oil and preserve the taste of the food.  You could use heavy bottom stainless steel cookware too, as long as you cook within the safe limits of slow-medium high heat.  It also helps to do your preparation beforehand, because you do not want to burn your pan while you wait to do something else. I can share some tips for awesome recipes with you, and I promise you – these are so simple that you can do nothing wrong to make them taste bad. So go ahead and begin cooking!!

The best food, however, is the one that you can eat raw – fresh vegetables and fruits. A variety of vegetables offered in those colorful veggie platters taste best and exotic when eaten raw. If you can do without a dip, you can also avoid the excess salt and eat it as salad along with your favorite main dish.  Consider reducing the complex carbohydrates, or substitute white bread/ rice/ pasta with whole grain bread, pasta, brown or wild rice.  There are lots of colorful choices, low GI choices, even in ‘carbs’.  You will never find out unless you try them out.

 

Filed Under: Healthy Living, Uncategorized

Shopping for Health

March 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 

A good way to begin your day is by eating healthy.  Normally, healthy food doesn’t come laid out on a platter for us at each meal time, except for the priviledged few.  It does require some effort on our part to say NO to the junk or unhealthy food and step out for healthy shopping. But how do you determine what’s healthy?

Thankfully in North America, it is mandatory to label all processed food or canned food, so that the consumer has the privilege to read and choose. Produce (including fresh vegetables and fruits) is considered healthy by default, hence I haven’t ever seen a label on those.

Most of these items are found in any grocery store in your neighbourhood. Now-a-days,  grocery stores also carry organic food and health supplements, in limited quantities, however.  Health food stores, on the other hand, carry chiefly organic food and health supplements, and it might be a good idea to check out these, to help you figure out what works the best for you.

In the Nation’s capital, downtown Ottawa is cluttered with a lot of places to eat, drink and be merry. If you come for a visit on the famous Bank Street of downtown Ottawa  not too far from the Parliament Hill, there are locations of  health food stores who will be happy to serve you.  For those of you who are allergic to chemicals or drugs from the Pharmacies, a visit to ’Nature’s Care Heatlh Products’ in downtown Ottawa maybe a good starting point.  The owner of this particular store is upto  his sleeve with helpful tips and genuine advice, to the best of his knowledge.  He will carefully listen to your health concerns and come up with something that would suit you, so make sure  you share your specific concerns with him before you decide. By and large, I haven’t heard of  people complaining against health food store drugs.

If you opt for healthy, organic food and meals, then ‘Herb and Spice’, also in downtown Ottawa is a good place to be during mealtime. It offers a variety of organic produce, readymade meals and organic supplements.  I remember one of my professors at the University of Ottawa would bike all the way to Herb and Spice for enjoying the ‘best soup of the season’ in his words, most of the days.

And then there are reasonably priced salad bars and fresh sandwiches for quick pickup at Hartman’s Independent store, Loblaws and other supermarkets.  It might be a good idea to take a break from fries, hamburgers, hotdogs, etc, for a healthy intake.

Filed Under: Environmental Friendly Products, Healthy Living
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