Health News

Mar202018 by Health Fitness GymNo Comments

Yoga Moves: Sliding Splits

This week’s move dynamically takes your legs to their end range, in front-to-back splits. By YuMee Chung Special to the Star While we Canadians usually go to great lengths to avoid slipping and sliding on icy streets, this week’s move uses the slick stuff dynamically to take your legs to their end range, in front-to-back splits, while building the strength and stability to manage your mobility. Stand in a partial forward bend with your hands resting on a pair of sturdy yoga blocks, set shoulder-distance apart and at their tallest height. Wood or cork blocks are preferable to the less stable foam ones for this exercise. Step your right foot forward a few inches and your left foot back the same distance, to set up your split. Slowly slide the right leg forward while simultaneousl

Mar202018 by Health Fitness GymNo Comments

Dermatologist’s tips for deeper skin tones: Doctors’ Notes

Health News

Skin is the largest human organ, but people often fail or put off taking proper preventive measures to guard it from the sun, writes Dr. Renée Beach By Dr. Renée Beach University of Toronto The skin is the body’s largest organ, so we need to take good care of it. For the most part, all skin has similar needs — cleansing, moisturizing, wearing sunscreen and avoiding the sun. But for people with richly pigmented brown or black skin tones, there are other specifics that must be considered. First, there’s a misconception that people with darker skin don’t need to wear sunscreen. This simply is not the case. It’s true that melanin, the natural pigment that gives everyone’s skin colour, offers protection similar to an SPF 8 in deeper skin tones, but this isn’t enough to prevent damag

Mar202018 by Health Fitness GymNo Comments

Counting calories is not the key to weight loss, new study finds

Health News

Research supports that diet quality — cutting back on added sugar, refined grains and highly processed foods — can help people lose weight most easily. By Anahad O’Connor The New York Times Anyone who has ever been on a diet knows that the standard prescription for weight loss is to reduce the amount of calories you consume. But a new study, published Tuesday in JAMA, may turn that advice on its head. It found that people who cut back on added sugar, refined grains and highly processed foods while concentrating on eating plenty of vegetables and whole foods — without worrying about counting calories or limiting portion sizes — lost significant amounts of weight over the course of a year. The strategy worked for people whether they followed diets that were mostly low in fat or m

Mar202018 by Health Fitness GymNo Comments

Cancer patients still suffer after treatment

Health News

Cancer patients can continue to suffer long after treatment is over By Isabel Teotonio Life Reporter A few months after being diagnosed with colon cancer and undergoing surgery to remove part of his bowel, Jim Beattie slipped into a “black hole” of depression. He was living with chronic pain, fatigue and in fear of cancer returning. And, he had stopped buying flower seeds — a worrisome sign for this avid gardener who loved tending the yard of his Leaside home. “I was feeling hopeless, bereft,” recalls the 69-year-old retired technology consultant. “I felt very, very sorry for myself. I didn’t have any clear vision that there was a future.” He’s not alone. The emotional and physical challenges that cancer patients experience after treatment is highlighted in a recent report b

Mar202018 by Health Fitness GymNo Comments

Take control of food cravings by understanding them

Health News

A yen for a favourite dish or cuisine could be based on a nutritional need, but there’s a variety of factors at play. By Carrie Dennett The Washington Post Food cravings are a funny thing. Some people think that cravings mean their bodies need nutrients found in the food they’re fixating on. (“I’m craving chocolate. I must be low in . . . zinc.”) Other people see cravings as a sign of weakness and either try to white-knuckle it through or throw up their hands and declare themselves powerless. Although cravings could be based on a nutritional need, most stem from other factors. So should you indulge cravings or ignore them? The answer depends on what your craving is really telling you. Cravings vs. impulses Some cravings would be better described as an urge or impulse. A true cr

Mar202018 by Health Fitness GymNo Comments

After mom, donor milk best for low-birth-weight babies

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It is easily digested and offer immunological and anti-inflammatory benefits to guard against serious infections. By Dr. Sharon Unger University of Toronto When it comes to feeding their newborns, nearly every new mom has heard the expression, “breast is best”. But what happens if her baby is sick, or she can’t provide her own milk, or enough of it? This is the case for many of the approximately 1,500 low-birth-weight babies in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) across Ontario each year. Their mothers’ own milk offers these infants the greatest protection from medical complications, but when it’s unavailable, donor milk is the next best thing. Screened, tested and pasteurized to ensure it’s safe for medical use, donor milk is easily digested by the babies who need it. It can

Mar202018 by Health Fitness GymNo Comments

Doctors are starting to give patients ‘social prescriptions’

Health News

Instead of telling patients to just eat better, exercise and socialize, health-care professionals are dolling out prescriptions with specific instructions. By Ranit Mishori The Washington Post About a decade ago, a colleague told me about a cool new initiative, something called “Exercise Is Medicine.” The idea made total sense to me: Rather than just tell my patients about exercising, I would hand them an actual prescription for exercise, just like the ones I give patients for high blood pressure or diabetes. The thinking behind it was that an official “doctor’s order” for exercise, in the form of a prescription-pad-style piece of paper, would be taken more seriously by patients than a mere suggestion. I quickly started giving out these prescriptions, going so far as to find some

Mar202018 by Health Fitness GymNo Comments

My elderly mom is having issues with her speech, is something really wrong?

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Nira Rittenberg advises that if you are unsure about loss of communication in an aging parent, be sure they see a doctor immediately. By Nira Rittenberg Special to the Star My mom is 82 and I have noticed she is having issues with her speech. I am not sure if this is normal aging or something is really wrong? Signed, Incommunicado It is important to look at some of the changes that occur in normal aging when considering potential communication problems. As we age, there are changes in our memory, speed of thinking and how we process information. Sensory losses in hearing and vision are also contributing factors. As we age, we tend to hesitate more often (using “um ...” “eh ...”), inserting more fillers in our conversational speech. We use more frequently indefinite words like “

Mar202018 by Health Fitness GymNo Comments

Doctors’ Notes: Wearable technologies are helpful, but not all are quite there yet

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Devices are mostly useful for motivation and offering information that may prompt you to get yourself checked out by a doctor — but don’t jump to conclusions By Dr. Atul Verma University of Toronto In recent years I’ve been impressed by the way Fitbits and other “wearable” health monitors help patients manage their heart conditions. The technology of these over-the-counter devices still isn’t as sophisticated as what you would get from your doctor, but I’ve seen them motivate patients to take better care of their hearts. There’s a huge variety of devices on the market now. There are even tiny scanners you can stick on the back of your cellphone that will give you a near-medical grade ECG just by putting your thumbs on them. But at this point, I still think the most important funct

Mar202018 by Health Fitness GymNo Comments

Peace of Mind aims to create safe spaces for youths to talk about mental health

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Loizza Aquino, 18, started hosting events in Winnipeg to normalize the conversation surrounding mental health and suicide. Now she’s bringing them to Toronto. By Courtney Greenberg Special to the Star Loizza Aquino wants to talk about mental health — and she’s inviting her peers to join her. The 18-year-old Philippines native started a nonprofit organization called Peace of Mind three years ago in Winnipeg, where she grew up, as a safe space for youth to share experiences and “normalize” the conversation surrounding mental health and suicide. She’s now bringing it to Toronto. “I lost my best friend to suicide. It changed my whole perspective on life in general. I was so young and so was he, and I’d known him ever since I was in elementary school,” she said. “That’s why I create