“I’m sorry. There is no hope,” the doctor ended his words with an emphatic sigh. I was only nineteen when I heard the four words that, looking back, have shaped my entire life afterward. The words reverberated in what felt like my hollow being. In that moment, my life force deserted my body. Shocked at first, then sunken into a depressive abyss, and then finally motivated by a profound desire to disprove him, I began my quest to restore my faltering health and overcome medical injury.

I had spent the previous year alternating between classes at Carleton University’s Journalism School and asleep, barely able to move from my bed. The conflict between the two had been increasingly …

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‘Tis the season to be jolly, and to enjoy holiday parties, give gifts, and share celebratory meals with loved ones. The flip side is that it is also a time of seemingly endless rich foods and overeating. From egg nog to turkey dinners, holiday cookies and pastries, let’s face it: most of us eat too much and load up on the calories this time of year.

Fortunately, one of the season’s cookie ingredients offers some protection against the bad eating habits of the holidays: ginger.

New research published in the medical journal Nutrition Research and Practice found that  ginger's naturally-occurring polyphenols and antioxidant compounds protect the body against some of the damaging eff…

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Whenever someone tells me that they looked up their health problem on the internet, I cringe. That’s because I know from experience that the internet is full of more junk and ridiculous claims than actual fact. Instead, I prefer to showcase the research to dispel the myths from facts. The reality is that most plant-based foods are even more powerful than the claims made about them.

You wouldn’t trust your plumber to build the bridge in your community so don’t trust people with absolutely no background in nutrition to advise you on healthy eating. Sadly, that includes most medical doctors, the bulk of whom have absolutely no training in nutrition. Those who do usually have taken only a s…

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The vast jungles of the Amazon rainforest house some of the greatest diversity on the planet including: the 3000 species of fish, 1300 species of birds, 430 species of amphibians, 380 species of reptiles, and the astonishing 40,000 species of plants. Because of the incredibly abundant life it is no wonder that some of the best plant-based remedies originate in this mysterious part of the world. Among the canopy of the forest, the copaiba (pronounced co-pie-EE-ba) tree, is one of the most exciting plants to rear its towering head, growing to around 100 feet tall.

Used for generations by the indigenous tribes, it has only recently caught the attention of western medical scientists; ho…

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