Healthy Life Lessons

Have you heard of emotional labour? It is the invisible labour done mostly by women to manage a family and household. It goes beyond just the physical tasks of cooking, cleaning, etc. and involves the planning involved in making meals, scheduling appointments, dealing with homework, registering kids for camp, activities, etc. Even in heterosexual couple-led households where men do a fair share of the housework, it is most often the women who do most, if not all, of the emotional labour. I am very lucky in that this is not the case in our household. Adam is more involved in the emotional labour of caring for our children and household than any other man I know, and probably takes on more than I do. But this is not the case for most of my friends nor my clients, and it can be a huge source of stress, frustration and resentment for women. The Manager Mom Epidemic , is a book that addresses the inordinate share of emotional labour women shoulder at home. I have to admit, I was q...

I have always loved cooking and baking, but I started out as a baker, making both messes and marvelous things in the kitchen from the time I was about 5-years-old. But many people, even those who love to cook, find baking intimidating. I have never understood why. Sure, there are certain things that can be tricky and require precision (pastry, souffle, etc.) but I have always found baking to be more forgiving than people often claim it is. After all, I rarely ever use recipes and just create them as I go, and for the most part they turn out great (I have had a few major failures, but that's all part of the learning process!). I also love baking because many of the ingredients are non-perishable, so I generally have them in the pantry at all times. If you shy away from baking because it scares you but would love to overcome your fear, The 3-Ingredient Baking Book may be the perfect resource to help you get started. The book is the latest one written by author, blogger, and ...

I am very happy. Very very happy.  I have finally gotten my hands on a fitness device I have been dreaming about for years. Have you heard of EMS training? Here's some info on it: Electronic Muscle Stimulation (EMS), is the elicitation of muscle contraction using electric impulses. The impulses are generated by the device and stimulate every major muscle group through electrodes placed near to the muscles being stimulated. The electrodes are generally pads that adhere to the skin. The impulses mimic the action potential that comes from the central nervous system, causing the muscles to contract. All muscle movement in the human body is activated by electrical nerve impulses originating in the brain and carried along the spinal cord. Each impulse causes muscle fibers to contract creating tension. The tension causes the muscle to flex, which creates movement. EMS uses electrical impulses that mimic the very same impulses from the nervous system, causing the muscle to con...

It seems that CBD oil is the new coconut oil. It can fix or cure anything (or so people claim). Evidence in many areas is scanty, but that has not stopped sellers for making all sorts of claims. That being said, I do know many people swear by it for all sorts of things. Both friends of mine and some clients have said they find CBD very effective for insomnia and anxiety. It did not work for me for my migraines, and I personally noticed no effect when I tried the CBD infused water (I reviewed a few months ago), but I was curious about its topical uses. So when Ignite asked if I wanted to try their Recharge Pain Relief cream and Calm Pain Relief roll-on, I was happy to accept. Recharge is lemon scented and Calm is lavender. Most of the ingredients in Recharge are non-toxic (hemp extract, aloe vera, arnica, essential oils, etc), though there are a few that some people may question such as tetrasodium EDTA. Calm contains just hemp extract, lavender essential oil, arnica flower extra...

Recently Adam gave me a book he had read which he said I might enjoy. Good To Go: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn From the Strange Science of Recovery is science writer, Christie Aschwanden's new book on exercise recovery. Adam was right, I did like this book. Even if you are not a "sciencey" type, you will likely enjoy this book. You also do not have to consider yourself an athlete to get something out of it. Even if you just workout a few times a week recreationally, there is information that is valuable here. As soon as I started reading it, I was reminded of author, Alex Hutchinson's work (I have reviewed both of his books on this blog), and was, therefore, not surprised that he is listed in the acknowledgements and quoted on the back cover giving accolades to the book. Its only recently that 'recovery' has become an obsession. Back when I first started in the fitness industry (1990), the only thing discussed was that you want to wait 4...

Another post about genetics! You are likely aware that direct-to-consumer DNA tests are all the rage right now. There are companies like 23andme, Ancestry.com, Ancestry,ca, etc. These ones focus primarily on ancestry (obviously!). A few years ago I did 23andme for that reason. I was pretty sure I wouldn't find any surprises in my ancestry but was curious anyways. The results were, well, unsurprising. It told me I was 99.6% Ashkenazi Jewish and 0.4 percent 'other' European. But through the database, I connected with cousins through my mom's side of the family that we weren't aware of, living in California and Wisconsin. That was fun! Also, discovered a cousin right here in Toronto and briefly made contact with her. 23andme also sends health info, but it's pretty top line. There was nothing at all alarming in it, basically telling me I am not a carrier of any diseases at all. Some of it was funny too, like it said I probably like cilantro (true!), and my pee s...

I have another book review for you today and I am really excited about this one! You Are What Your Grandparents Ate: What You Need to Know About Nutrition, Experience, Epigenetics & the Origins of Chronic Disease is written by author, and fellow Toronto resident, Judith Finlayson and it is absolutely fascinating. Finlayson has previously written many cookbooks and has a long standing interest in nutrition, but she is not a scientist or researcher, nevertheless, she does a great job of using published data to back up her claims. Perhaps because she is not a scientist, she is able to present the information in a very accessible way to readers. Finlayson provides definitions to many of the scientific terms within chapters and also in a comprehensive glossary at the back. The topic of this book is of great interest to me, not just because I too have a long standing interest in health and nutrition, but because genetics and epigenetics are things that are critical in my profes...