Health

Empowered patient: Lyme disease is hard to diagnose and can result in serious complications — and it’s on the rise in Canada. Here’s what you need to know to protect yourself

Some of what makes Indian cuisine so delicious — rich and creamy sauces, ghee — also makes it heavy on calories. But Indian food also has a lot to offer for good health: fibre-rich lentils and beans, spices full of antioxidants, lots of fresh veggies. Bal Arneson, star of the Food Network show Spice Goddess, balances these two factors in her Indian cooking, and you can do that yourself with her new book, Bal's Quick and Healthy Indian.

The triathlon, my first ever, is in less than a week. Realistically, there isn't much left for me to do, in terms of training. Either I can swim 1500 metres, cycle 40 kilometres, and run 10 more, or I can't. One more week of training will make next to no difference. And yet I'm utterly consumed by this project. I can't seem to turn off the push toward the finish line. I was afraid of this.

I say this with reluctance because I don't want to sound too much like a Cathy comic strip, but bathing suit season can be difficult. All of the careful staging and camouflaging you can do with clothes — a belt here, a slip there, a high-waisted hot short never — is undone the second you strip down to a bikini. The love handles, meaty thighs, stretch marks and cellulite are all on display for the world to see. If you have any body insecurities, this is the pretty much the worst nightmare. After all, during sex, you can always dim the lights — not a possibility while you're ankle-deep in lapping waves or splayed out on a dock.

A new study published in the June 8 online issue of the Neurology tells me something I already knew, but from a different angle. Older people who don’t exercise are at a greater risk for “silent strokes” that create small brain lesions over time and lead to impaired memory, increased risk of falls, and even dementia. If you engage in moderate exercise, however, you can reduce your risk of these silent strokes by about 40 percent.