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Halloween Candy and Your Health
If you’re wondering what the healthiest Halloween candy is, the answer is, essentially, none. While October 31st may be a time for “tricks”, it’s the treats like chocolate and other sugar-filled products that Dr. Ali Ghahary says people should be concerned about. While it’s technically okay to have the odd candy here and there, they aren’t things that we should let our children indulge in too much of, and the same even goes for adults. Candy can not only have a negative impact on our oral health, increasing the risk of things like cavities, but it can also wreck just as much havoc on one’s physical health, leading to weight…
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Regular Eye Exams Crucial for Visual Health
Your vision is one of the most important aspects of your health. Unfortunately, not everyone takes care of their eyes like they should. The best way to make sure your eyes are healthy is by seeing your optometrist for regular examinations. However, the frequency in which you should have your eyes examined depends on age. Per the Canadian Association of Optometrists, infants and toddlers should have their first eye exam between 6 and 9 months; while children between the ages of 2 and 5 should undergo at least one eye exam, while children and teenagers aged 6 to 19 should have their eyes examined every year. By the age of…
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What Makes Eggs Healthy?
If you’re looking to make a quick, easy and healthy breakfast, eggs are all of the above. Not to mention cost-effective if you’re not wanting to spend too much money on meals, and they can be easily incorporated into other foods such as baked goods and breakfast omelettes. They can also be made in a variety of ways: Hard boiled or soft boiled, scrambled, sunny side up, over easy. It’s all about personal preference. Eggs are considered one of the healthiest foods due to their high nutritional value. They contain Vitamin A, Vitamin B12 (cobalamin), Vitamin B2 (riboflavin), Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), as well as selenium. Vitamin A helps promote…
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Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) – sometimes referred to as Polycystic Ovarian Disease and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome – is a hormonal condition that affects anywhere from 6 to 10 percent of Canadian women, and is due to an imbalance of reproductive hormones. This condition can also lead to the development of cysts in the ovaries, in addition to infertility. While PCOS can occur in women between the ages of 15 and 44, most do not find out they have it until they are in their early 20s or 30s; particularly if they are having trouble getting pregnant. While experts aren’t entirely sure what causes PCOS, the risk of having it increases…
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The Link Between Smoking and Dementia
According to a new study that was conducted in South Korea, you have a higher risk of developing dementia if you are a smoker. The study, which began in 2002, focused on 46,000 men over the age of 60. By the end of the study, 1,644 of those men were diagnosed with dementia. Compared to individuals who continued their smoking habits, the study found that those who quit smoking or had never picked up the habit of smoking had a 14 to 19 percent decreased risk of dementia. Interestingly, the study also found that the risk of dementia related to smoking was actually reversible in those who quit early enough.…
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World Heart Day
The heart is considered to be one of the strongest, hardest working muscles in the body. On average, it beats approximately 115,000 times per day and pumps approximately 200 gallons of blood into the veins and arteries, travelling a staggering 12,000 miles throughout the body in order to provide every other muscle, organ, nerve and tissue with the nutrients they need. In an average lifetime, the heart will beat as many as 3 billion times and pump more than 1 gallons of blood throughout the body. The heart allows us to breathe, it ensures that the cells in our body have enough oxygen, it eliminates waste products, and it maintains…
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Food and the Flavours of Fall
Fall has arrived, and so have the abundance of pumpkin flavoured beverages and baked goods. While pumpkin alone has many great health benefits, such as being high in the Vitamin A-converting antioxidant known as beta-carotene (which promotes things like healthy skin, improves eyesight, and boosts the immune system), many of the fall focused items you’ll find in bakeries and coffee shops are loaded with sugar, carbohydrates, and are all around bad for your health. The most popular fall menu item would have to be the pumpkin spice latte. It’s available at most, if not all major coffee chains, and has more or less become the official-unofficial drink of the season.…
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Mixing Medications with Workouts: What You Should Know
As a family physician, regular physical activity is something that Dr. Ali Ghahary recommends for all of his patients, young and old. It has been proven to help individuals looking to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, in addition to many other health benefits such as reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, reducing the risk of diabetes, as well as having a positive effect on mental health by reducing stress, anxiety, and combating depression. If you’re on certain medications, however, it’s important to be mindful of the fact that some of those drugs could interfere with your workouts. Medications known to interfere with physical activity include: • SSRIs (Selective…
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Dr. Ghahary’s Healthy Aging Tips
Getting older is something we have no control over; aging, unfortunately, is just a natural part of life. Of course, there are many aspects that can progress the aging process, such as underlying health conditions you might have or medical problems that run in the family (genetics), and even the environment we live in. However, what we do have control over is the way in which we treat our bodies – from the unhealthy foods that we eat, the physical activity we get (or lack thereof), the bad habits that we make and can break (smoking, for example), and even reducing our levels of stress; because when it comes to…
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Causes of Foot Pain and Ways to Find Relief
There are many reasons why foot pain can occur. Most commonly, it is due to prolonged periods of standing or going for long walks – particularly if walking isn’t something you’re used to doing. Most of the time this type of foot pain is only an acute flare-up. However, if you have chronic foot pain then the culprit can be anything from the shoes you’re wearing, bunions (a bony deformity found at the base of the toe), to certain health conditions such as diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. The cause of your foot pain also depends on where the pain itself is located. If the pain is in the heel area,…