Health Concerns

I've been at a Toronto area hospital over the past several days as my dad recovers from colon surgery. While resting on his hospital bed on Sunday morning, I asked him to share anything he remembers about living through the Korean War. Read more

Originally published in 2013

You know how it goes - you're pleasantly surprised to have someone take interest in you, thinking that they really would like to just hit some balls on the tennis court or chat over a smoothie or mug of tea. You're thinking that this person who has approached you thinks you're nice or interesting, and that this might be the beginning of a lasting friendship.

Then, you hear it. Words that make you feel like you just got greased.

"Now all I need is your credit card number." Read more

Did you know that one of the reasons why laughing from the belly is good for your health is that doing so promotes a healthy lymphatic system? We're talking about true belly laughter, the kind that can make your stomach muscles cramp up and even cause you to shed tears of jolly good fun.

Not sure how this can be? Then let's take a look at your lymphatic system to understand the important connection between genuine belly laughter and your health.

What is your lymphatic system? Read more

Over the weekend, I reviewed some blood work for a longtime friend, and in sharing feedback with him, I was reminded of a few points that many people don't typically hear about from their primary care provider.

First, one of ways in which our endocrine system regulates cholesterol is by converting it to vitamin D - the first step of this process occurs in the skin, where UV-B rays in sunlight act on cholesterol to create a form of vitamin D that is stored in our fat cells - whenever we need the active form, conversion happens in the liver and kidneys. Read more