Living Healthy Isn’t Hard
Zowie, the health issue kicks off, and might I begin by saying that it already looks like a much healthier issue than its predecessor: how the USA seems to spell the United States of Anxiety for so many Canadians. But enough about that. I must admit that when Mike wrote to me declaring yours truly [...]
Harm: The Drug of Choice
Aphorism #1: Take everything with a grain of salt. I remember back in the early nineties when the internet was beginning to take off, there were internet safety classes with delightful puns like ‘Get Street Smart on the Information Super Highway.’ No one says ‘information super highway’ anymore, but I somehow retained the hardy and [...]
Something: The Drug of Choice
For years I felt as if I needed something, as if a hump was there in front of me that I couldn’t get over. I have expressed this feeling of ‘something’ to only a few, partly just because it is hard to explain. It is like a mental block that keeps me from being me. [...]
Med Student Syndrome
You’ve heard of the typical hypochondriac. This is someone who frequents their doctor because they are convinced their headaches are actually symptoms of a malignant brain tumour. This is a person who has become so obsessed with their health that it has become unhealthy, a sort of catch-22. Most hypochondriacs aren’t extreme. They suffer from [...]
Recent studies have shown that reading this article cannot prevent disease
In an article in The Toronto Star, the Montreal Heart Institute was forced to publicly denounce a fad diet that had become falsely connected with their name. The all hot dog and ice cream diet that promised people the loss of ten pounds in three days was understandably condemned as ‘foolish,’ but the institute feared [...]
Black Lung: Not Just for Coal Miners Anymore
X According to the Health Canada Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey conducted in 2002, overall, men (23%) were more likely than women (20%) to be smokers. X The Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey confirms that smoking rates continue to decrease in Canada from 22% in 2001 to 21% in 2002. X In 1985, daily smokers [...]
An Apple A Day: A first-year perspective on healthy eating
A mere five months ago, my eating habits were abominable. Around my dinner table, despite my mom’s best efforts, vegetables were never taken very seriously. In fact, my dad actually considers the sauce on his pizza as one of his daily servings of fruits and vegetables. Clearly, then, I come by my unhealthy eating habits [...]
Low-Priority Food: 4 Years None The Wiser
Many ‘starving students’ across the country find themselves without the necessary options, availability, funds and time needed to invest in and maintain a proper eating routine. Living with Mom and Dad may have meant good eats and stocked shelves all month, but these days it might take a care package or special event for a [...]
Detox: Flusing Out Old Habits
In my fridge, there’s an extra large piece of perfect birthday cake torturing me. It’s the kind that has a thick layer of vanilla butter icing, and if that isn’t bad enough, it’s even a corner piece. But I can’t have it, or anything else for that matter. I’m on day eight of a ten-day [...]
Eat Some Bread
It’s a heart attack waiting to happen. It’s easy to look at this diet and not see how unhealthy it is. But in reality, the diet consists of only eating fatty foods, which itself can lead to various serious heart conditions. Also the lack of carbohydrates takes away many of the daily nutrients people need [...]
Letters to the Editor
Three and a half years and many moons ago, three friends and I embarked on a summer during which we would research, write, workshop and perform a play about 3 characters in a mental institution. Our girl Sheila had been a counselor for the two previous summers at a camp for mental patients (I’m not [...]
