Jan 26, 2011

NUTRISPEAK by Vesanto Melina Have you ever drank a 20-ounce soda? That’s the size many adults and teens are drinking today. Or would you ever sit down and eat 16 teaspoons of sugar from a sugar bowl, one spoonful after another? When you drink a 20-ounce soda, you’re consuming 16 teaspoons of sugar, the equivalent of a third of a cup. In the 1950s,...

Jan 26, 2011

ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot To understand just how disconnected we are from food today, consider that in the 1930s, 30 percent of Canada’s population was actively involved in farming, while today it’s only 1.6 percent. Also consider that while gardening is a major leisure activity in North America, only 10 percent of gardeners grow food....

Jan 26, 2011

UNIVERSE WITHIN by Gwen Randall-Young You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.  – Kahlil Gibran More than ever before, there now seems to be greater awareness about the ways in which an unchecked ego can create havoc in our lives. When we...

  Dear sirs: In view of what seems to be happening internationally with banks at the moment, I was wondering if you could advise me correctly. If one of my cheques is returned marked “insufficient funds,” how do I know whether that refers to me or to you? Thank you. A customer

    INDEPENDENT MEDIA by Steve Anderson   In my January 2009 column, I encouraged readers to make opening up the media in Canada their 2010 resolution. I asserted that 2010 would be a pivotal year for communities working to open communication in Canada and beyond. And so here we are at the end of the year and it appears that, indeed, there is...

Jan 5, 2011

  NUTRISPEAK by Vesanto Melina         Over a 15-year period, studies show a dramatic increase in the number of overweight (tripled) and obese (quadrupled) Canadian children. (1) In the US, which has similar statistics, the Centers for Disease Control states that one child in three born since the year 2000 will develop...

Jan 5, 2011

  ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot   It is evident that globalization is not working well when it comes to feeding people. Last year, the number of hungry people in the world topped one billion, which means that, under the current system of industrialized agribusiness, one in six people are going without food. Not to mention that the safety and...

Jan 5, 2011

UNIVERSE WITHIN by Gwen Randall-Young A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer; it sings because it has a song. – Maya Angelou Often, my clients who are on a path of conscious growth struggle around the idea of their purpose. They are living their lives reasonably successfully, but they still feel there is something more – something...

Jan 5, 2011

FILMS WORTH WATCHING by Robert Alstead   Alice in The Illusionist. Screenwriter-director Sylvain Chomet chose to go the old-school route when he adapted French comedy legend Jacques Tati's previously unmade script into an animated feature. The creator of the wonderful The Triplets of Belleville harnessed a small army of...

  SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki with Faisal Moola As I approach my 75th birthday, I find myself often thinking about mortality. I’m in the last part of my life and that’s reality. This is the time when we must fulfill our most important duty: to reflect on a lifetime and then sift through the detritus of experience, observation and thought in...

  Rosemary is good for your health Rosemary is used for both culinary and medicinal purposes. The rosemary plant is native to the Mediterranean area, but it is found in other regions such as France and even as far south as South Africa. The plant itself is an evergreen and has leaves that resemble the needles of an evergreen tree. The rosemary plant has...

  A victory for the salmon Paddlers: We did it! Your paddle, your voice, your footsteps across the Burrard Street Bridge, your smiling face in the rain and your work behind the scenes to make sure we spoke as one powerful voice demanding disease data be released was worth it. On December 9, it was announced that Justice Cohen ordered 10 years of disease...

Jan 5, 2011