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Pop Quiz

What medical treatment can do all of the following?

  • Decrease knee pain and disability due to arthritis
  • Help control sugar in diabetes
  • Decrease hip fractures in post menopausal women
  • Control high blood pressure
  • Reduce anxiety and depression
  • And improve overall quality of life

 

If you guys exercise, you are right!

Check out this great video by Dr. Mike Evans called 23 1/2 Hours about the benefits of 30 minutes of daily activity:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUaInS6HIGo

The current Canadian Activity Guidelines suggest adults get 150 minutes/week of moderate to vigorous activity and children should get 60 minutes of physical activity a day.  For the full guidelines see the link below:

http://www.csep.ca/english/view.asp?x=949

 

 

Sante Kildare Green Thumb

715b1ce1a4bf0ff01966952d374ec726Seems simple enough.  We have lots of talented, educated, successful professionals at Sante Kildare.  Surely, one of the doctors or nurses can nurture and sustain an office plant – after all, we treat acute and chronic illnesses all day.
Our challenge – to maintain an office plant for a month (or beyond)
The subject – The African Violet
According to Canadian Gardening, “the African violet may just be the perfect houseplant.  It blooms readily and has no specific flowering season, so it can be in bloom year-round. And it’s easy to multiply and share with others. As a result, it’s found worldwide, from the Far North to the Antarctic, anywhere there’s a cozy windowsill for it to grow on.”

To help us succeed, we have selected a plant that “can also cope with less light than most other flowering plants.”  Apparently, we should look for a spot that gets bright light most of the day with little full sun in the afternoon.
Here comes to tricky part: According to the Canadian Gardening website, we need to “ let the plant tell [us] what it needs: long, stretching petioles and leaves that bend toward the sun, or lack of bloom

indicate insufficient light, while dense, compact, hard growth with bleached-out leaves tells you the plant is getting too much light.”  Yikes – medicine already seems simpler.
We should “keep the growing mix (peat-based houseplant mix is fine) slightly moist; wait until it feels dry, then water abundantly, drenching it. Wet leaves can result in leaf spot, so it’s best to water from below by pouring tepid water into the plant’s saucer and letting it soak up what it needs. After 20 to 30 minutes, drain any surplus.”
Finally, we should “fertilize” the young plant with a foliage-plant fertilizer rich in nitrogen.”
I wonder if pharmaceuticals will help!  Maybe a little Cialis or testosterone?

violet

Is Sugar Addictive?

Lately you hear a lot about how sugar is addictive just like some drugs.  But is there any scientific evidence to prove this?

 

It turns out that there may be some truth to this.  Studies have shown that sugar and other highly palatable foods can induce rewards and cravings the way some drugs do.  And, although more research is needed in humans, there is clear evidence in non humans that sugar and sweet foods can be even more rewarding than addictive drugs!

I have to say that from my personal experience I can see how sugary foods are addictive!  Staying away takes a lot of willpower.  So what can you do to get over your sugar addiction?

  • Try cutting down your sugar intake slowly, your taste buds will adjust to lower levels of sugar over time and you will crave it less
  • Choose healthy sweet treats.  Try eating fruit instead of the cookie, put some fruit puree on your oatmeal instead of sugar.  Although fruit has sugar it also has fiber that helps slow the digestion so your sugar level doesn’t rise too quickly
  • Try adding protein to each meal.  Healthy protein like lean chicken, nuts, eggs, low fat yogourt, and beans are great.  they help you feel full longer so you won’t be hungry and crave carbs

 

WebMD has a great slide show with information and tips on sugar addiction.  Check it out:

http://www.webmd.com/diet/ss/slideshow-sugar-addiction

 

Reference: Ahmed, S.H., Guillem, K., & Vandaele, Y. (2013). Sugar addiction: pushing the drug-sugar analogy to the limit. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, 16 (4), 434–439.