The Right Diagnosis

Best Doctors all started back in the 1980s when a group of Harvard professors gave the world’s health care systems a check-up. They found that many individuals were paying top dollar to come to the United States for diagnoses and treatments. But why should they have to leave their personal physician and family support to get adequate medical attention and advice? This question was part of Best Doctors’ foundation and remains at the core of its service today.

“The beauty of what we do is that it doesn’t matter where [patients] are located,” explains Dianne Carmichael, president of Best Doctors Canada. “Our model is to – wherever possible – work with the existing treating teams so patients aren’t uprooted from their support system and to provide as much information and knowledge as possible to the patient and their treating team.” Read more

Healthy Eating

Add these items to your grocery list if you know what’s good for you.

CHEESE, PLEASE: There are hundreds of cheddar cheese makers out there, but none are as bold in taste as Balderson Cheese. No wonder they market their product as the “World’s Finest Cheddar Cheese.” www.cheese.ca

GOING WITH THE GRAIN: This is the renaissance of grocery shopping. Organics Delivered offers 100 per cent organic fruits and vegetables delivered from the farm to your door for less than what you’ll pay at the grocery store. www.organicsdelivered.com

EAT ME-AT: Skip the hassle of indoor barbequeing this winter. Taste the cornerstone of American culture with a gourmet twist at m:brgr Restaurant – home of the infamous 100-dollar Read more

Seasonal Allergies: Natural Treatments

The splendour of spring that most of us look forward to all year is finally here. However, for many Canadians, the upcoming seasons bring unwanted symptoms of sneezing, itchy watery eyes and runny noses.

Many allergy sufferers resort to treating their symptoms with over-the-counter or prescription medications. While these medications may address and relieve symptoms temporarily, many of them can lead to undesirable side effects and sometimes even worsen certain symptoms with prolonged use.

If you have suffered from allergies chronically, adding some natural therapies to your arsenal may prove to be helpful. It is wise to see a naturopathic doctor to identify, address and treat your allergies, as well as to ascertain any potential interactions with Read more

Alzheimer’s Disease

Every once in a while, our minds dip into the past, sifting through the vast files of our temporal lobes for the memories and moments that shaped our early days. When I think of my grandmother, I think of a hot summer afternoon, the air so thick the kitchen walls seemed to melt onto the linoleum floor. I remember the crackling noise eggs make in a frying pan, the red of ripe tomatoes perspiring against fresh basil. She stared emptily at the vacant wall before her, glancing at her plate and eating reflexively, her tight white curls matted to her head. Midday came and went. Rimmed red, her glistening green eyes pleaded for help. A flurry of words escaped her mouth, her arms flailed about. She had not eaten, she said, she was left to starve. I didn’t know then not to feel a ripple of burning hurt freezing my insides. I didn’t know then that the woman who stood before me was dying while living, her brain being ravaged by synaptic failure. All I knew was that a strong woman who had borne Read more

Northern Karate Schools: Dare to be Disciplined

Looking for a great physical workout that also develops discipline and mental focus? Do you want an activity ideal for the whole family? Then Northern Karate Schools has the answer.

Established in 1972 by internationally renowned martial arts champion Cezar Borkowski, Northern Karate maintains a traditional philosophy of respect for others, and a practice of self-discovery and positive change. “It’s not just about punching and kicking. We’re about personal development. Once they start, our students are far more focused and tend to do better in school,” explains instructor and sixth-degree black belt Kyoshi Cos Vona. “I’ve had many, many families tell me they see a huge difference in their kids after just six months of karate.” Read more

Too Young to Die: The Tragedy of ALS

Two of Dr. Lorne Zinman’s patients die of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) every week. This rapidly progressive neuromusucular disease that is commonly associated with baseball legend Lou Gehrig, and more recently with the loss of former Canadian Football League star Tony Proudfoot, has no known cause or cure in most cases. “It’s a very complicated disease … it appears that an area of cells in the brain or spinal cord start to commit suicide, which then spreads to the rest of the body resulting in paralysis or death,” says Dr. Zinman, director of Canada’s largest ALS clinic at Sunnybrook Hospital. A fatal disease that affects between 2,500 to 3,000 Canadians, ALS is most common in individuals over the age of 55 and causes an array of symptoms from muscle weakness, cramping and twitching, to speech and respiratory problems. Read more

Organ Donation: You Decide Where Your Organs Go

In Ontario, someone on a waiting list for a vital organ dies every 72 hours. A tragic figure, especially when one organ donor can save up to eight lives and enhance up to 75 more. Right now, there are more than 1,500 desperate individuals on waiting lists in Ontario. These are mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, and maybe, you. And guess what? There aren’t nearly enough donors.

When someone requires an organ transplant for a second chance at life, a whirlwind of medical tests and procedures sends families on an emotional roller coaster ride of despair and often enough, tragedy. At the age of 19, Eddie Sabat was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition where the muscle of the heart thickens and enlarges, making it difficult for the heart to pump blood. Sabat desperately needed a heart transplant to live a life he barely started. “There’s anger, frustration, nervousness. But when Read more

Anytime Fitness

Committing to a healthy lifestyle is like walking a tightrope: it requires balance, determination, and is easy to fall off. There are plenty of ways to keep you on this difficult path, but even more to pull you off, like that ever-so-tempting fastfood craving. Anytime Fitness will keep you committed by offering a gym that embodies the very definition of “convenience.”

Tony Caparotta – former owner of Fitness Source – has been in the fitness industry for 27 years. After selling his business, he discovered Anytime Fitness – a U.S.-based, community driven club that strives to be exactly what the name implies: a gym open at “any time.”

“That little key card grants members full access, giving them ownership; they come in here and treat it like it’s their own facility, and it works,” explains Caparotta Read more

100 Ways to Live to a Century

Although living to 100 may seem unachievable to many, life expectancy in Canada is at an all-time high. According to Statistics Canada, men live to an average age of 78.3, and women to 83. Being conscious of the lifestyle choices you make today can extend the duration of your life in the future. Here are 100 ways to help you live longer and happier.

1. Take nothing for granted.
2. Accept your mistakes … everyone makes them.
3. Relax and detoxify your mind with meditation, hot yoga and tai chi.
4. Have a best friend. Camaraderie promotes happiness and can offer an avenue to vent frustrations.
5. Avoid greasy foods. They lack nutrition and will cause health problems down the road (common knowledge but still a problem).
6. Read a book (or 12). Read more

The Aspartame Controversy

“Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation,” said Saint Augustine. Now, over 1,600 years later and in a world filled with preservative-pumped food products, his words have only become more pertinent.

Aspartame’s potential toxicity has been debated for over 40 years but this popular additive – dubbed ‘sweet poison’ by skeptics – can be found in sodas, puddings, yogurt and chewing gum, as well as in 6,000 other products worldwide. It is better known as Nutrasweet, the low-calorie alternative to sugar, and it is approved for use in over 90 countries.

“There has been no credible, scientific evidence that links aspartame to any health-related problems,” says Susan Somerville, a registered dietician and program coordinator of Humber Read more

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