Community News
Health Spotlight: Comfort Keepers

Are you or a loved one looking for help maintaining an independent lifestyle?

Comfort Keepers provides non-medical, in-home services for seniors and other adults in need of a helping hand with day to day activities, promoting a safe and enriched life for those under our care. The cornerstone of Comfort Keepers philosophy is a method we call Interactive Caregiving that promotes active engagement in daily activities. We know that physical and mental stimulation leads to a healthier, better quality of life.

We assist with a variety of daily tasks including meal preparation, light housekeeping, incidental transportation, personal care, errands and many others, while ensuring safety and independence.

If you would like to enrich the life of a loved one, call Comfort Keepers to discuss how we can help, and receive a free in-home assessment.

 

Financial Well-Being

Have you ever looked at your investment statements and immediately felt stressed? Maybe your portfolio has dipped in value more than you’re comfortable with or everyone around you seems to be growing his or her money while you stay stagnant.

If this is the case, you and your portfolio need a financial checkup. Just like your fitness plan, your investment plan should be tailored to you and your unique lifestyle. This means selecting a strategy that not only helps achieve your goals, but also fits your tolerance for risk and volatility. There’s no need to dread opening your next statement when you and your investments are in sync.

 

Ask The Coach

Stressed and Confused asks: “I am so busy with life that I sometimes can’t remember things. It feels that if I have more stress in my life, I can’t seem to remember anything! Does this make any sense?”

Coach Gina Responds: “If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Stress is a result of toxic thinking. Your thoughts turn to memories, which are physically built into the nerve networks in your mind. Stress causes the wrong quantities of chemicals to be released into the body and can distort the DNA of the immune cells. With an increased amount of cortisol, your thoughts and memories in the brain shrink. When this stress chemical returns to a normal amount, your memories return. Entertaining negative or toxic thoughts, causes stress and memory loss. Conversely, entertaining positive or creative thoughts causes the proper amount of cortisol to release and calm remains, maintaining memory and encouraging a content state of mind. Guard your thoughts …and keep them! Be Well and ABOUND.

 

Wellness Tip of the Day: Vitamin A

Vitamin A – helps maintain good eyesight – good for growth and skin properties – promotes normal development of teeth and skeletal tissue. Women need 700 milligrams per day and men need 900 milligrams per day.

Foods: dark green and bright coloured vegetables, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, winter squash, spinach, lettuce.

Bonus Nutrients: most vegetables are loaded with fiber and other vitamins, including C.

Simple Tips: have a salad with mixed greens along with dinner, snack on carrot sticks or red peppers.

 

Healthy Buddies

When older kids teach younger children about nutrition and benefits of exercise, the little ones seem to lose weight and gain knowledge about healthy living. This program – called Healthy Buddies – was tested in Manitoba elementary schools. It helped heavy kids lose an average of half an inch off their waist and increased their knowledge of diet and exercise.

Younger children pay more attention to messages from older peers says Dr. David Katz, director of Yale University Prevention Research Center. Parents feel powerless to overcome the negative influence of peers eating badly. We teach healthy living skills to older kids and they benefit. They can help pass these skills along to younger kids, both groups benefit. Healthy Buddies has lessons that focus on physical activity, healthy eating, self-esteem and body image.

 

Book Club: The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. “The days are long, but the years are short,” she realized. “Time is passing, and I’m not focusing enough on the things that really matter.” In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project. In this lively and compelling account of that year, Rubin carves out her place alongside the authors of bestselling memoirs such as Julie and Julia and Eat, Pray, Love.

With humour and insight, she chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. Written with charm and wit, The Happiness Project is illuminating yet entertaining, thought-provoking yet compulsively readable.

Gretchen Rubin’s passion for her subject jumps off the page, and reading just a few chapters of this book will inspire you to start your own happiness project.

Clean Eating: Winter Warmer Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

1 tbsp Olive oil

1 tsp garlic, minced

pinch of Hing (if you have it)

2 tsp fresh ginger, minced

½ cup celery, finely chopped

½ cup carrots, finely chopped

1 cup spinach or any leafy greens

2/3 cup red lentils

6 cups water or vegetable broth (if using water add 2tsp vegetable Bouillon powder)

2 cloves

3 whole peppercorns

1 cinnamon stick

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 tbsp fresh cilantro leaves, chopped (for garnish)

Squeeze of Lemon or lime

Directions:

In a large pot on medium-high, heat oil. Add garlic, and ginger and sauté for 1 minute. Add celery and carrots and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add lentils, water, and all other ingredients except salt, pepper and cilantro and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover with lid, and cook for 20-25 minutes, until lentils are soft. In the last 5 mins add the leafy greens. Removed cinnamon stick and peppercorns. Add salt and pepper to taste, garnish with cilantro and lemon if you wish, and serve.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Submitted By: Kalee Mund, Ayurvedic Practitioner

Getting Well Today and Staying Well in the 21st Century

Ask a dozen people or more what “wellness” means to them and you will get as many different answers related to alternative therapies, natural medicines, fitness, nutrition, and even spirituality. For Rick Thiessen, ‘wellness’ means all of these in addition to no small amount of pride in being behind one of the most successful health and wellness expos in Canada for the last twenty years. This annual consumer show features approximately 100 companies with thousands of products and services that are designed to promote a healthier and more fulfilling lifestyle as well as enhance or improve a person’s quality of life.

The Wellness Expo is all about choice: treatments, products and more. People should have a choice but they don’t even know what’s out there. Unfortunately when consumers are looking for answers, it’s usually under duress. As a visitor to this event, the Wellness Expo offers people to try products and services in a safe and less costly environment.

The 21 annual Winnipeg Wellness Expo comes to the RBC Convention Centre, February 20 – 22, 2015. Admission is $10 for an all-day pass that includes access to the trade show, displays and demonstrations as well as all of our seminars.

For full program details, see wellnessexpo.com

Smile…It’s Toothday!

Actually, it is Tooth month here at the Animal Hospital of Manitoba and we are having a pet dental special. If your cat or dog has bad breath, it could be time for a professional dental cleaning. Bad breath can be a sign of anything from gum disease to organ damage.

The same bacteria that can destroy your pet’s teeth can also enter the blood stream and damage internal organs. Bleeding gums and broken or rotten teeth can affect your pet’s appetite and behaviour. Keep your furry friend happy and healthy have a dental check done today!

Financial Well-Being

Happy New Year!

Have you committed yourself to any resolutions for 2015? For most of us, the top goals for the New Year revolve around getting healthier or improving our finances; specifically, to save more and reduce debt. A good financial plan will outline when, how and how much you should put towards savings and debt reduction. For example, some people benefit more from saving with an RRSP and using the additional tax refund to pay down debts. Some may have debts that generate tax savings and should be prioritized differently. Whether it’s allocating money or living healthier, having a well-documented plan of attack is the key to making this year’s resolution work!

Thomas Johnson – Cascade Financial Group

ThomasJohnsonMB@outlook.com