In the good old days, at 21, not long before I started getting greys.
Going grey? Forget hair dye, just cut down on your stress
Globe and Mail, August 22, 2011
Whoah, here’s an interesting article about going grey. I am going grey.
I foolishly dyed my hair in grade eight without my mother’s knowledge (or any knowledge of hair dye) and it came out the worst orange imaginable. It took about ten years to regain the desire to change the colour of my hair and I had it “expertly” coloured at a salon. It turned out a horrible purple-red.
Fast forward nearly another ten years and I decided to give it another go out of necessity – an ever-growing patch of hair right at my crown, of all places, is grey. Again, I had it coloured at a salon and, again, the colour is much to my dislike.
So I’ve decided (for the time being) to embrace grey. But this article suggests that I actually have some power in the matter. Researchers have shown that stress can lead to decreased levels of a protein called p53 which “protects cells from developing abnormalities and helps humans stay healthy.”
“This could give us a plausible explanation of how chronic stress may lead to a variety of human conditions and disorders, which range from merely cosmetic, like greying hair, to life-threatening disorders like malignancies,” says Robert Lefkowitz, a professor at Duke University Medical Center.
Even just 15 minutes of exercise a day will improve health
Globe and Mail, August 18, 2011
I tweeted about this article last week. Aren’t these findings great? There’s absolutely no excuse now. Anyone can do 15 minutes of exercise a day: turn on your favourite tunes and dance your heart out; go for a jog with your dog; drag a yoga mat to a quiet outdoor space for a few sun salutations. You can do it!
Parents 'need baby food cookery classes’
BBC News, August 18, 2011
Got a picky eater? It’s probably your fault. But don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just relaying information from an article by Dr Helen Coulthard for BBC News.
“By relying too much on ready prepared foods, with their attractive packaging of fruits and vegetables, we may be making it more difficult for our children to eat fruits and vegetables when they are older.
“Packaged foods may seem to parents like a convenient and safe weaning option. But an over-reliance on packets and jars sets a pattern of using ready-made foods. And it denies babies the chance to try the variety of tastes, textures and appearance that fresh foods have to offer.
“Research shows that there is a window of opportunity for introducing tastes and textures to young infants, before the age of 12 months. After 12 months, infants become much more difficult to feed, and often become wary of new foods.”
