Recently having written a post about the benefits of açaí, one of the most powerful natural antioxidants we have – I was asked quite a few times what exactly an antioxidant is, and why we should care about them in our diets and lifestyles. Let’s see if I can break it down for you in a short, not-SO-scientific summary to help all of you out there that are wondering the same thing (and are too lazy to google it!)

We hear it on the news every day; high in antioxidants, rich in antioxidants. But, do you really know what antioxidants are, or why they’re so important to our health? Antioxidants literally do what they say, they prevent oxidation reactions in the body. They are anti-oxidizing. And why is this important? Oxidation reactions in the body produce oxygen-free radicals which are serious cell damagers and the cause of many diseases. Oxidative stress has been shown to be pivotal in the onset of many diseases such as cancer, heart disease, alzheimers, arthritis, and cataracts (to name only a few). While it’s proven that free radical damage is responsible for why we age, some would even argue that a lifelong overdose of free radicals (in conjunction with a body that isn’t maintained and looked after properly and healthily) is the reason why humans die. Found in nutrients and enzymes, antioxidants are compounds that protect our body’s cells from free-radical damage, and are the main method and answer for disease-prevention.

Don’t make any mistake – oxidation reactions are natural in the body (they happen when our cells use oxygen) and we cannot and should not try to prevent them. However, we do need to ensure we are consuming enough antioxidants to clean up the by-product of these reactions, the free radicals. Antioxidants are free-radical scavengers, scuttling about through the body, not only removing these free radicals, but also repairing the damage that they have done.

Believe it or not – your inability to lower or control your own stress level (there’s that word again – and no, it’s not a coincidence!) is the main culprit. Stress – or stressing the body (i.e. putting stress directly on the body – such as physically through working out, mentally through over-exhaustion, or emotionally through chronic mood fluctuations) actually creates free radicals in the body that cause this irreparable damage to your system. This further opens the door for environmental and dietary-source free radicals to come in and have an out of control house party in your body, without your internal police being able to regain control of the situation in time to prevent illness and disease from setting in permanently.

There are tons of healthy options and food sources for you to get your daily intake and to combat the free radical party in your own body (for an extensive list, click here.) Here are some of the most important sources, that are primarily alkaline and vegetarian (as these are alive and most easily absorbed, giving you a direct source and not adding to your body’s workload or stress):

• Glutathione: because all other antioxidants depend upon the presence of glutathione to function properly, scientists call it the master antioxidant. To give your body the best chance of manufacturing enough itself, try to eat a from wide variety of plant-based sources, such as asparagus, broccoli, avocados, and spinach.
• Vitamin A & carotenoids: these ones are easy to get, just hit the fresh aisle of the supermarket or grocery store and head for the colour! Carrots, peppers (capsicum), broccoli, sweet potato, greens, tomatoes are all really great sources. (If you’re living alkaline then you’ll be getting plenty of vitamin A from your greens!)
• Vitamin C: people naturally assume oranges and other citrus are main sources, but if you are trying to watch your sugar intake or keep your body more alkaline, you can get your vitamin C from green capsicum (peppers), broccoli, spinach (and other greens), tomatoes, and cauliflower.
• Flavonoids & polyphenols: green tea is great, but don’t go overboard on the caffeine! Vegetables high in flavonoids include onions, kale, green beans, broccoli, celery, tomatoes, peppers (capsicum), cabbage, carrots, and peas (…yes, wine is part of this category – in moderation; alcohol creates free radicals, FYI!)
• Vitamin E: this category is all about the almonds and sunflower seeds. Leafy greens are also good sources, but almonds and sunflower seeds have almost double the Vitamin E of other food sources.
• Lycopene: you probably have already heard to eat tomatoes for your lycopene fix, and they are pretty much (hands-down) the best source. The jury is still out as to whether lycopene is absorbed better from cooked instead of raw tomatoes, but it has been proven that vine ripened tomatoes outscore those tomatoes ripened off the vine (and I’m partial to raw, as again – the enzymes are what we’re after here!) Pink grapefruit is also a good source if you want to mix it up a bit (FYI – grapefruit, as is lemon, is wonderful for the liver!)
• Lutein: greens, greens, greens. That’s all there really is to say on this one.
• Lignan: flax seed/oil is the very best source of this antioxidant, giving another argument for the case to consume plenty of flax oil every day. If you use an oil blend like Spectrum Naturals you’re good to go. Again, sesame seeds and greens are another of the best food sources.

Can you see a theme emerging with some of these antioxidant sources? As a holistic nutritionist, I recommend that people eat a variety of foods daily from all of the basic food groups to ensure a proper daily intake, but to ensure you’re getting the real deal – raw and wholesome, fresh plant-based sources are #1 – always. Moreover, it is better to get the bulk of your nutrients, emzymes, and minerals directly from the foods you choose in your diet, as opposed to supplements. Next time your at your grocery store, you don’t have to go to the supplementation isle to find healthy remedies for stress, illness, and disease-relief – just walk the perimeter where the real vitamins, nutrients, and minerals are!

Consuming mega-doses of antioxidants can be harmful to your health due to their interactions with medications in addition to their potential toxicity with your personal level of health and lifestyle, so please do consult your holistic nutritionist or naturopath for personal dosages, use, and what’s right for you.

Your first and most reliable guide to happiness is your body.

The body is designed to support the mind, and working together they create the state known as happiness. When you’re deciding whether or not to act, ask your body, “How do you feel about this?” If your body sends back a signal of physical or emotional distress, reconsider the action. If your body sends a signal of comfort and eagerness, proceed. Together, mind and body form a single field. It is artificial to separate them as we usually do. Every experience has a physical component. If you’re hungry, the mind and stomach are hungry together. If you have an incredible spiritual experience, your heart and liver cells share in it. You cannot have a single thought, sensation, or feeling without your body responding.

The first key to happiness tells us that by being aware of your body, you are connecting to the underlying field of infinite possibilities. Why do mind, body, and spirit feel separate when they are not? Because of lack of awareness. Awareness has tremendous power. It tunes into every cell. It regulates the body’s countless interactions. Awareness is the invisible, silent agent that lets your body know what your mind is thinking, and at the same time it sends feedback from the body so that the mind feels supported and understood. Ideally, when you experience being loved, your mind will grasp that you are loved, your cells will be nourished by that love, and your soul will rejoice that you have reached deep enough to find the source of love. Every good thing in life saturates your whole being.

When mind, body, and spirit are in harmony, happiness is the natural result. Signs of the absence of harmony, on the other hand, are discomfort, pain, depression, anxiety, and illness in general. Unhappiness is a form of feedback. It signals that disharmony has entered the field somewhere–either in mind, body, or spirit. Awareness has become disconnected. Only when we look at the situation in this holistic way can we link health, wholeness, and holiness, for all three share the same root word, and all three share the same state of harmony or disharmony. You may have heard the saying “The issues are in the tissues.” This refers to the fact that psychological issues such as anger, depression, neurosis, hostility, and free-floating anxiety are not simply psychological. They have a correlate in the brain, and through the central nervous system the brain makes every cell and tissue in your body aware that you have an issue.

The entire field quivers at the slightest twinge of pain or pleasure. In other words, the field is aware. When you consciously pay attention to what your body is telling you, this awareness is tremendously increased. Awareness isn’t the same as having a thought. A mother is aware of how her child feels without having to think “A is bothering him” or “B has gone wrong.” Awareness is intuitive. All you have to do is pay attention, and awareness grants you access to every corner of the infinite field. This is like being plugged into the cosmic computer, because when the field organizes the smallest thing in creation, it organizes the whole.

The opposite is also true. When you withdraw awareness, disruptions occur on many levels at the same time. Feedback loops no longer operate as they should between mind and body. The flow of energy and nourishment needed by every cell begins to diminish. By not paying attention to your body, you are putting it in the same predicament as a neglected child. How can a child be expected to develop normally if the parents pay no attention, if they ignore its cries for help, and remain indifferent to whether their child is happy or unhappy? The same question applies to the body, and it leads to the same answer. The body doesn’t stop developing around age twenty, an arbitrary time we call maturity. Constant change is always taking place, all the way down to the level of genes. Change is never neutral. Either it leads to growth, development, and evolution or it leads in the opposite direction, toward decline, decay, and disorder. The difference depends on how you pay attention, because attention is your connection to the field of infinite possibilities.

The field has certain qualities or attributes that support mind, body, and spirit. There are three qualities that contribute to happiness most significantly. Intelligence is the first. When you listen to your body, you eavesdrop on the mind of the universe. This involves many tasks at once. A human body can think thoughts, play a piano, secrete hormones, regulate skin temperature, kill germs, remove toxins, and make a baby all at the same time. That is a miraculous display of intelligence. This intelligence also allows you to make choices that lead to fulfillment.

Fulfillment seems mysterious to many people, but we can break it down into its simplest parts. Fulfillment is the result of right thought, right feelings, and right action. Each area involves the body. We don’t have to create artificial boundaries between a liver cell that makes a right choice and the mind making a right choice. Intelligence embraces both. If it makes a mistake at the chemical or genetic level, the cell dies or becomes malignant. The mind discriminates right from wrong at a different level, the level of ethics and morals. The emotions have their own level, discriminating between nourishing and toxic feelings, or between loving and harmful relationships. When you are consciously aware of your body and what it is telling you, the quality of intelligence is amplified. Its reach is infinite. While the human body performs countless physical processes, it tracks the movement of stars and planets, because your biological rhythms are actually the symphony of the whole universe. That’s why we call it the universe–”one verse,” “one song.”

The second attribute of the field [of happiness] is creativity.

Creativity keeps the flow of life fresh and new. It prevents inertia; it dispels habit. Much of the time the body seems stuck in routine. One breath is the same as another, one heartbeat repeats the action that came before. Simply to process food and air, your cells must endlessly repeat the same chemical processes with tremendous accuracy; no improvisation is allowed. But miraculously, the body also has complete flexibility to adapt to new situations. When you decide to do something new–have a baby, run a marathon, or climb a mountain–billions of cells adapt to your intention. This flexibility isn’t mechanical. It’s not like your car accelerating because you push down on the gas pedal. Rather, your body adapts creatively.

You can observe this in how creatively you can think and speak. No two thoughts are required to be exactly alike; no two sentences demand exactly the same words. The brain displays a pattern of neural activity to match any thought or sentence, even if that thought or sentence has never before appeared in the history of the universe. The ancient Vedic wisdom tradition in India identified creativity with Ananda, or bliss. Bliss is usually described as intense joy, but cells have their own bliss in the form of vitality, flow, and infinite dynamism.

To be most alive is to be in bliss. When you are in that state, everything feels possible. Your body is no longer a burden; you feel light as air. Nothing is old or stale. Instead, your creative potential is ignited. Creativity depends on the constant ability of life to refresh itself, and that ability is founded on bliss. You don’t have to force yourself to be blissful–you couldn’t if you tried–but only to be aware. Bliss is innate in awareness, which by its nature is lively, alert, effervescent, and joyful. The absence of those things can be corrected simply by accessing deeper awareness.

The third attribute of the field [of happiness] is power.

Although cells operate on a microscopic level, they contain the power to survive, thrive, and evolve in an environment that erodes entire mountain ranges and dries up vast ancient seas. Power doesn’t mean aggression. The power you don’t see or feel is the greatest power of all. It organizes a thousand billion cells into one smoothly operating organism. It defends against every virus and germ that could harm the body, and monitors outbreaks of cancer inside the body itself.

Once again, it is entirely artificial to put boundaries around this quality of the field. Mind, body, and spirit express power in their own ways. The mind expresses power as attention and intention, turning wisps of thought into outward achievement. The body expresses power through physical strength and endurance, but also by organizing infinite processes into a coherent whole. Spirit expresses power by turning pure potential into reality. In the Indian tradition, spiritual power, called Shakti, is the most fundamental. When you possess Shakti, you can turn the invisible into the visible. Whatever you imagine manifests as reality. There are no obstacles between your desire and its fulfillment.

Excerpted from The Ultimate Happiness Prescription by Deepak Chopra Copyright © 2009 by Deepak Chopra. Excerpted by permission of Harmony. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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My job is already feeling stagnant (and I haven’t been here that long), how do you make a job feel fresh again?

The first step is to get crystal clear on what gives you a sense of fulfillment. Think back to the honeymoon period of your job. What was fresh and exciting about it? What made you look forward to coming into work in the morning? If you are drawing a blank, ask yourself these three powerful questions:

1. Which of my strengths do I enjoy using most?
2. What type of work can I do that will peak my interest?
3. What is important to me at this stage in my life?

Answering these questions will help you to re-connect with yourself. Then you can identify ways of getting more of this type of work. Take the initiative to identify projects or opportunities that will keep you engaged and excited.

Research has shown that when you use your strengths and do work that you find interesting, you will be happier and more successful in your career. Knowing what you want will help you to define the action that you need to take.

An easy way to reduce your caffeine intake is to mix your full-strength coffee (tea or cola beverage) half and half with a decaffeinated version for a couple of days. Then mix one part full caf with two parts decaf for a couple of days. Then mix one part caf with three parts decaf for a couple of days. Then mix one part caf with four parts decaf. By the end of the week, you’ll be off caffeine.

Another option is to drink espresso, which contrary to its high-octane reputation has only about half the caffeine per single serving as drip, perked, or pressed coffee. Going from drip to espresso or café Americano (hot water plus espresso) instantly cuts your caffeine load in half. From there you can move to half-caf espresso and then to decaf espresso. If you’re a coffee lover, you’ll be delighted with the full-bodied taste of decaf espresso versus the drip stuff. If you’re unfamiliar with café Americano, visit any Starbucks or your favorite coffee bar, where you’ll find it on the menu. Or visit our website at
www.proteinpower.com to find a YouTube video in the Dr. Michael Eades’s blog archives, demonstrating how to make your own Americano at home.

Excerpted from The 6-Week Cure for the Middle-Aged Middle Copyright © 2009 by Michael R. Eades and Mary Dan Eades, M.D. Excerpted by permission of Crown, a division of Random House of Canada Limited. All rights reserved.

Although I won’t be doing hot yoga everyday for the rest of the month, I’m not giving up entirely. I’ll still try to go every other day until the 30th so I get the satisfaction of completing the month.

Not happy with your cell phone provider? Who is?! Here are eight ways of getting out of a phone contract without paying any extra.

22 million Canadians own cell phones, but how many are perfectly happy with their cell phone plan? That number must be way smaller, so here’s how to get out of your cell phone contract without bleeding money.

Watch for service changes

One of the most tried and true ways to get out of your phone contract is when there are changes to it. Any changes to your service, whether it is service charges, rate changes or coverage area, are just cause to cancel since this is not what you agreed to in the original contract. Most cell phone carriers will allow you to cancel due to changes. Mark Choma, Director of Communications with the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Centre says, “If your carrier makes a change, you can get out and there is no time limit.”

Except changes that are made due to the law, such as Ontario’s new distracted driving law, which bans the use of handheld devices while driving.

Pass it on

Companies like Cellout.ca, allow you to put your phone and contract up for grabs. By doing this, you may be able to pass your phone and contract on to someone else who wants it. If that fails, try to find a friend who might want to take it on.

Find something wrong with your phone

If there seems to be nothing wrong with your phone, you may have to look for something. Keep a record of dropped calls so you have a hard number to use when speaking to your service provider. Dropped calls mean that you are often in an area where there is no service, and no service on your phone is cause for cancellation.

Choma cautions against this method, noting that coverage area is something that should be checked out before the contract is signed. However, if you move to an area where your cell phone service is now spotty, cancellation may be an option.

Shrink your plan

If your plan and phone are just not working for you, shrink your plan down to the bare minimum so that you’re not paying for what you’re not using. You may be able to use this to get out of your contract in the end by pointing out that the phone gets no use, and they are making little money from you.

Cancel quickly

Check to see if the contract you have signed falls under a consumer protection law. If it does, the law usually gives a certain amount of time for the customer to change their mind and cancel service after signing the contract. Choma notes though that this idea may not work as consumer protection laws fall under provincial jurisdiction while wireless services are federal.

Look for false advertising

Look for features that you may have been promised when you signed up that have failed to come through. Whether you were promised free minutes, unlimited texts etc.

Get a problem phone

This may require some research but if you find a lemon phone that gets many complaints consider switching. Make several complaints after using it and then use this as justification to cancel the contract.

Don’t sign a contract

It sounds so simple, could it really work? Choma notes that most people think they have to sign a contract to have a phone, which is simply not true. While it does cut down the cost of the phone itself, if you have the money upfront a contract is not needed.

“People think you have to sign a contract, but most carriers would be happy to have you as a customer even without a contract,” Choma says. Choma adds that a lot of people are going the prepaid phone route in order to avoid nightmare-ish phone contracts.

Whether you’ve got some suspicions about your partner’s fidelity or just a little curious, take this quiz to find out if your partner could be having an affair.

1. When you first started dating your boyfriend’s Blackberry phonebook was full of:
a. A few buddies, a few exes, and lots of random girls.
b. His buddies, his parents, and you.
c. His buddies, his parents, you…and a few random girls.

2. You’ve been talking all week about the really big, really important meeting you have at work on Friday afternoon, when you return home that evening he:
a. Isn’t even home. There is a note on the table saying he went for a few drinks with his buddies.
b. Immediately rushes in to ask how the meeting went.
c. Doesn’t say anything but as soon as you mention it he takes a genuine interest in hearing about how it went.

3. His phone rings during a date and you get a glimpse of an unfamiliar number, he:
a. Doesn’t make eye contact and takes the phone into the other room to take the call.
b. Answers it and starts chatting away right next to you.
c. Ignores it.

4. You’re out at a bar and he sees his best friend’s girl with another guy, he:
a. Ignores it and when you question him he says it is none of his business.
b. Pulls out his phone, takes a pic, sends it to his buddy, and then calls him right away.
c. Sends his friend a text telling him he just saw a girl who looks exactly like his girlfriend at the bar with another dude. From there he leaves the problem up to him.

5. You and your man sit down to have that serious talk about past relationships, his naughty little secret is:
a. That he cheated on his ex…a few times…but that “it was no big deal really”
b. That he has fantasized about other girls while in bed with his exes…but who hasn’t right?
c. That he cheated on his ex once but was so wracked with guilt he came clean and could never see himself doing it again.

6. A few months back you suggested that maybe your boyfriend should take up a new hobby. What did he do?
a. Nothing. But he does seem to be taking a lot more late night meetings at work.
b. Signed himself up for cooking classes so that he could finally make you a romantic dinner once and a while.
c. Bought a membership to the city’s most exclusive gym and all of a sudden has the body of a Greek god.

7. Your sex life…
a. Is virtually non-existent
b. Is just as great as it always was.
c. Has its ups and downs. But that happens to every couple after a while…right?

Mostly A’s: He’s probably cheating

The very fact that you are doing this test is the first clue that you may have some suspicions about your partners fidelity, says Al Duncan, owner of the confidential investigation company Toronto PI. “What I always tell clients seeking help is that no one knows the individual party better then the client themselves – if a client has enough suspicion and worry that it drives them to the point where they call out for help, then usually their gut instinct is right”. Withdrawal of sexual activity, mysterious phone calls, and an increase in work meetings or late night activities are all signs that could mean your suspicions are correct. Your best bet is to sit your man down for a chat and explain all the changes you’ve noticed and give him a chance to explain. He may come clean and he may not. Either way you will have to decide if you will ever be able to trust him enough to live with what he may or may not have done.

Mostly B’s: He’s probably not cheating

He is so into you that he wouldn’t give a second look to a full truckload of Hooters girls. The guy who remembers things that are important to you and who is eager to make an effort to make you as happy as you make him is a guy who has no interest in being with anyone but the lovely lady by his side (that’s you!)

Mostly C’s: He could be cheating

This guy is a tricky one. This is the guy who likes to flirt, the guy who likes to go to the gym as much as he likes to admire his physique in the mirror, the guy who’s cheated before but swears he could never do it again. Basically, this is the guy that you haven’t trusted since day one. It is here that you have to decipher whether or not your man is actually acting suspiciously or whether you are just taking his behaviors and blowing them out of proportion because of your insecurities. Your best bet here is to be straight out and let him know that you are having issues trusting him and his behaviors. Chances are that if he’s not cheating he’ll make the efforts to change his ways. Most important here is to give him the benefit of the doubt. And if you can’t, then it is time to find yourself a new man….with a clean slate.

Al Duncan is a retired Detective Sergeant and was one of the longest serving members of the Toronto Police Service Internal Affairs Unit. His company Toronto PI offers a reliable and completely confidential service to members of the general public and corporate law offices in the areas of surveillance, missing persons, domestic and child custody matters, computer forensics, civil and criminal investigations. For more information visit www.torontopi.com or email info@torontopi.com

Developing awareness of my negative inner monologue (and telling it to shut-up!) is one of the first yoga techniques I can apply to my life outside the yoga studio (I’m sure there’s more, I just haven’t encountered them yet).

Networking is about getting support in our professional lives. Many people tend to shy away from networking because they have a misconception about what networking is. The belief that networking is about schmoozing or being inauthentic makes them uncomfortable.

If you want your career to thrive, start looking at networking from a fresh perspective. Just as in our personal lives, we need the support of our friends and family, we also need professional support in our work lives.

We can expect to change jobs many times in the life of our careers. It is important to take the time to cultivate relationships with people whom we can count on for help and to people who we can lend a helping hand to.

To be more confident, reach out in a way that suits your personal style! Some people may thrive while attending a large networking event such as a conference or social event. Others may prefer meeting a colleague for coffee: both help you to build a strong network. Many people wait until they are out of work and need connections to start building a network. If you are in this situation, you may be surprised how many people are willing to help. Regardless, don’t wait any longer, exchange one business card today!