Liz' Promise

When Liz Manley-Theobold’s mother died from ovarian cancer last July, the Olympic silver medalist made a vow to take better care of herself. On Thursday, the perennially bubbly 44-year-old is going to do just that. A little more than a year after her mother passed away, she is getting her first ovarian ultrasound, to check for the disease. “I’m a little scared, but I need to know,” says Manley-Theobold, who is nevertheless upbeat and says she’d like to have a child this year with husband Brent. “I have no other symptoms, but because Mum had ovarian cancer, I am at risk. I’m the perfect demographic for it. Like a lot of women, I’m scared to know, but if there’s a possibility I could detect it, I’d want to.” It’s a message Manley-Theobold is taking to the streets as well, as Ovarian Cancer Canada’s spokesperson for the seventh annual Winners Walk of Hope, which will take place in 14 cities across the country on September 13 as part of Ovarian Cancer Month. “This is our single largest fundraising even for us,” says Karen CinqMars, Ovarian Canada Canada’s national director of marketing and communications. “This fundraising drive is critical for us.” But for Manley-Theobold’s, who will appear at Winners Merivale this Thursday and in Orleans on Saturday, August 22, it’s much more personal than that.

Posted in Wellness on 08/21/2009 - 0 Comments

Keeping them young at heart

For her 20th birthday last year, Larissa Taylor knew exactly what she wanted. You could say she had her heart set on it.

After four months of lying in a hospital bed at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute after a virus caused congestive heart failure, the Ottawa woman had convinced herself that by her next birthday, she would have a new heart.

Sometimes dreams do come true. On the eve of her birthday - ``just after the Simpsons started on TV,'' she recalls - doctors announced they'd found a donor. Just after midnight, she was rolled into surgery.

``I kept insisting that I would get a heart before I was 20. It depressed me to know that this was my new reality - that I couldn't go to school, go to parties and spend time with my family. When the surgeon said he had a heart for me, I looked at everyone who'd doubted me and thought, 'Told you so!' ''

Posted in Health on 02/17/2009 - 0 Comments

Heeding Deadly Whispers (Ovarian Cancer)

For three years, Carol Sprott's cancer hid itself behind the kinds of symptoms ladies don't mention in polite company. Plagued since 2001 by a virtual Pepto-Bismol commercial of problems such as gas, indigestion, constipation and bloating, the Ottawa woman did what thousands of Canadian women do every day: she ignored them. It was a decision that has nearly proven fatal.

Posted in Cancer on 02/06/2009 - 0 Comments

Ingestibles don't stop at skincare

It's January, and in the perverse way that only Canadians truly understand, that means one thing: bikini weather.

For many preparing their so-white-they-glow bodies for southern beaches, it also means a desperate post-Christmas diet and a few hurried sessions on a tanning bed to stave off the worst excesses of sun worship.

But if you're not into dieting or gently toasting yourself before you leave, supplement manufacturers like Genuine Health and Imedeen say there may be another way to get beach-ready.

Posted in Skin health on 01/28/2009 - 0 Comments

Skingestibles

You've heard about skingestibles, right? You haven't?

If not, don't bother reaching for the dictionary -- and no spell-checker has heard of them either.

That's because not since the advent of Al Goreisms urging us to reduce our "water footprint" and live "carbon neutral" as "locavores" (before we collapse in a fit of "green fatigue") has a buzzword promised so much.

But even if the etymology is confusing, the concept of skingestibles is not. Call them what you will, they sound like what they are: pills designed to firm your jaw line, fade your wrinkles and deliver, within three short months, radiant beauty and renewed vitality from within.

Leading the pack is...You've heard about skingestibles, right? You haven't?

If not, don't bother reaching for the dictionary -- and no spell-checker has heard of them either.

That's because not since the advent of Al Goreisms urging us to reduce our "water footprint" and live "carbon neutral" as "locavores" (before we collapse in a fit of "green fatigue") has a buzzword promised so much.

But even if the etymology is confusing, the concept of skingestibles is not. Call them what you will, they sound like what they are: pills designed to firm your jaw line, fade your wrinkles and deliver, within three short months, radiant beauty and renewed vitality from within.

Leading the pack is...

Posted in Skin health on 01/28/2009 - 0 Comments

The Three Ds of Fatness

It’s a Tuesday night, and there’s nothing on telly. Lee Anne Bean heaves herself out of her armchair and heads for the kitchen. She’s not hungry, but she pulls out an entire pound cake from the freezer. She defrosts it, slices it and smothers it in butter. Eating it standing at the counter, she doesn’t stop to ask herself why. Nor did she wonder why, earlier that day, she bought three chocolate bars, ate one in the car and the others at home. It’s so long since she’s had hunger pangs, she’s forgotten the sensation.

Posted in Behaviour on 12/04/2008 - 0 Comments

"Now I've frozen my ovaries"

Womens health on 11/30/2008 - 0 Comments

Sedentary life style puts teen girls at risk of bone density issue

She's your textbook standard teenage girl from Anytown, Canada: Slim, healthy and full of beans, she also constantly diets, spends hours on her laptop instant-messaging her friends and disdains the sports she loved as an adolescent. And, for safety's sake, she takes birth control pills. She's also part of an epidemic of young Canadian women developing

Posted in Womens health on 11/30/2008 - 0 Comments

My 21 day detox

As I read out the list of forbidden food for my new diet to my friend Lauren, her eyes widen, and then she giggles. No red meat. No dairy. No wheat, yeast, sugar, condiments, alcohol, nuts, coffee, diet soda, deep-fried anything and definitely no fruit. They're all too acid-forming and the effect stresses the digestive system and makes

Posted in Diets on 11/30/2008 - 0 Comments

Martial arts: The woman's workout

It may be the perfect fitness program: ideal for toning up and honing balance, flexibility and strength, as well as boosting confidence and serenity. Best of all, there's a martial art that's ideal for every woman -- including you.

The art: Tai chi

Often described as moving meditation, the ancient practice of tai chi, commonly thought of as Chinese, actually originated in northern India and later travelled overland to China. It's a martial art without ...

Posted in Sports on 11/30/2008 - 0 Comments