Fitness & Health

July 27, 2017July 26, 2017

Sugar and Diabetes: What You Should know

Diabetes is a very serious condition which eats up the mind of thousands of sufferers. This article provides some alarming statistics regarding its growing incidence and the risks involved to those who may develop the condition.

Although numerous people have heard of the disease diabetes, it can be a rather abstract concern for many. Diabetes is often put down to genetics, seen as inevitable, or simply viewed as an illness that only affects the elderly and overweight people. But all that is very far from the truth.

We spoke with Dr. Jean-Marie Ekoé, endocrinologist, epidemiologist and President of the Diabetes Québec Professional Council, to better understand how this disease develops and what we can do to avoid or control it.

Type 1. Type 2. Which is which?

The two main types of diabetes are types 1 and 2. “Essentially, type 1 is an autoimmune disease, while type 2 is highly associated with genetics and lifestyle,” Dr. Ekoé explained. “The difference is to do with insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas that takes sugar from the blood and stores it as glucose in the liver, muscles and fat cells.”

July 15, 2017July 20, 2017

Here’s Why You Should Add Tempeh to Your Diet (Plus 15 Recipes to Try)

Nutrients in tempeh are quite balance and can replace some nutrients from animals, make it suitable for those who become vegan. To boost nutrition and slim things down a bit, I have a little trick of cooking nutrient-rich and fiber-rich recipe with tempeh.

Originating from the Indonesian island of Java, tempeh is a nutty, savory fermented soybean cake. It’s made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a very firm cake. Tempeh has a bold, nutty distinct flavor and it’s one of those foods that people seem to love or hate with equal ferociousness, with little room for indecision. What makes it so bold? Fermentation via Rhizopus oligosporus—a mold.

Fermentation of tempeh begins with whole soybeans. The beans are rinsed, drained and then inoculated with a starter culture that contains Rhizopus mold spores. The tempeh is then fermented at temperatures of 85-90 degrees Fahrenheit/29-32 Celsius for several days. As the mycelium (bacteria colony) grows, it binds the soybeans into a dense, white cake. Sometimes there will be grey or black spots also present on the tempeh; this is completely normal. Avoid tempeh with pink, yellow or blue spots as this indicates that it has been overly fermented.

Tempeh is an incredibly versatile, highly nutritious and delightfully delicious addition to any diet. Let’s take a closer look at why you should add tempeh to your diet, plus some recipes to get you inspired.

July 11, 2017July 20, 2017

11 Healthy Ways To Calm Your Anxiety

If you are experiencing persistent and irrational anxiety on everyday situations, you may be suffering from anxiety disorder. It is truly a debilitating and real condition that could take over someones life if they let it. The article below discusses the healthy ways to deal with anxiety.

We all have those days when the to-do list seems too long, many people are demanding our attention at once, everything goes wrong, and it seems nothing is falling into place the way it was meant to. Feelings like this trigger the fight-or-flight response, which was helpful in cave-woman days when we needed a stress response to fuel our retreat from a threat, like a tiger, for example. But in our modern-day lives when the threats are different and constant, we have the same hormones and neurotransmitters coursing through our bodies, which often manifests as chronic anxiety.

Here are the tips I’ve found most helpful personally and with my patients for calming chronic anxiety:

1. Know that you are not alone—anxiety is normal

You are not a freak. We’re all freaking anxious—most of us just don’t admit it. There is always hope and many inroads to understanding and healing the excesses of anxiety and overwhelm.

2. Reframe what the anxiety means.

Rather than thinking about anxiety as something that is wrong with you or some kind of catastrophic event, consider that you are a sensitive, intuitive human being who feels everything (and who may feel everything a LOT). That this is a gift to be cherished. Perhaps the sensory inputs from the world around you are overwhelming, and your work is to create healthy boundaries and to honor your introverted self.