Archive for the ‘Health & Beauty’ Category


RFT Iron in Heels – Don’t Fear Trading in Breasts for Pectorals

By Editor - February 12th, 2016

RFT Iron in Heels - Don’t Fear Trading in Breasts for Pectorals

Bottom line – your pectorals are one of your major muscle groups, which are activated by push movements. It is important to evenly strengthen them to counter the development of your back muscles. So, remove any association behind chest exercises and losing breast tissue because, the reason behind any possible loss of breast tissue is due to OVERALL loss of fat mass brought on due to physical activity as a whole.



Don’t Forget Your Food!

By Editor - December 28th, 2015

Don’t Forget Your Food!

As I’ve preached before, strength training is a great way to tone your body, help rev up your metabolism and in turn, burn a vast amount of calories. However, a detrimental part to the weight-loss process is one’s nutrition. Without a basic understanding of nutrition, figuring out what is going to help you achieve your goals and what to exactly eat when working out becomes frustrating rather quickly.



All Kinds of Squats!

By Editor - November 13th, 2015

All Kinds of Squats!

“Time and time again, I can’t help but notice members at the gym performing exercises with improper form. I don’t mean to be the form police, but I can’t even begin to stress how important form is! By using the correct form, you can prevent unnecessary strain on muscles that are not meant to be the focus of that specific exercise as well as added pressure on joints.”



RFT: Iron in Heels – How to Achieve That Booty! Part 2

By Editor - August 20th, 2015

RFT: Iron in Heels - How to Achieve That Booty! Part 2

Bottom line – When we are asked how to build a booty, we all think of SQUATS! Although squats are a great exercise that help target your entire body and engage each and every one of these muscles, we must not forget to focus on strengthening these muscles individually to not only improve our performance but, to ensure that we can gain strength and growth evenly. Now, go make those gains!



Manathil Uruthi Vendum – Let’s Talk Healthy Minds

By Editor - May 8th, 2015

Manathil Uruthi Vendum - Let's Talk Healthy Minds

Our aim is to promote action that changes attitudes and behaviours toward mental health. This journey began in 2014 and with the support of individuals, community groups and organizations, we are entering our second year hosting the “Manathil Uruthi Vendum” workshop and with everyone’s continuous support, we hope to work towards fostering knowledge and improving collaboration both within the Tamil community and mainstream. This is a free event and we welcome everyone from the community to come out to our workshop. If you are interested, please register at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/manathil-uruthi-vendum-tickets-16546747768.



Thangachi’s Corner: Body Image

By Editor - April 27th, 2015

Thangachi's Corner: Body Image

That’s what left me flabbergasted in the middle of a Phys-Ed class, staring at a wide-eyed six-year old as basketballs bounced around us. It took me about three seconds to recover—I felt my response would momentarily shape this child’s perception of body image, and I wasn’t going to let an opportunity like that pass by without making a change worthwhile:

“Skinny?” I responded. “Forget about being skinny! What’s really important is being strong and healthy and happy. That’s what we should care more about, don’t you think? That’s why we do exercise and play games in Phys-Ed—to make our hearts strong and healthy. You’re beautiful just the way you are!”



First Formal? Do’s and Don’ts some young women use in preparing for a formal

By Editor - February 19th, 2015

First Formal? Do’s and Don’ts some young women use in preparing for a formal

So, it’s your first formal? Here are some do’s and don’ts that some young women use in preparing for a formal.

Lights, camera, ACTION! Before you start taking pictures in the bathroom because of the AMAZING lighting, you need to first look over this . We all spend hours prior to the day of the formal looking over what to wear, and looking at who’s on the attending Facebook list. But we never take into consideration that going to a formal is like going to a wedding, you can never be too prepared.



But…you don’t look Tamil!

By Editor - January 30th, 2015

But...you don't look Tamil!

When you tell me “you’re pretty for a dark skin girl,” you’re telling me that you are saddened by the bronze pigmentation that automatically depreciates my features. You’re telling me the forms of structural violence embedded within Eurocentric standards of beauty are justified every time my reflection hits a mirror. You’re telling me that I am an exception to your view of darker skinned girls to be despicably unattractive. You’re telling me that the already existing inferiority complex that I’ve developed from such a young age is completely valid. You’re telling me that this statement shouldn’t make me feel uncomfortable and that in fact, you’re complimenting me regardless of the mistake in the colour of my skin.



Spice Garden: Milagu (Black Peppercorns)

By Admin - June 10th, 2014

Spice Garden: Milagu (Black Peppercorns)

Written By: Kayalvizhi J.

Welcome to Spice Garden! Love Tamil food? Me too. I’ve always been attracted to the aromas, fragrance and textures of spices, the way the flavours just blend and intertwine and the way we serve our food and by the repertoire of herbs and spices we use for healing. Our cooking is not only tasty, but beneficial for the body. The levels of obesity and disease in all communities is increasing, but we can prevent this by adopting more of our ancient healing into our cooking. Your grandma and mom have a good knowledge of home remedies and recipes made with a variety of herbs and spices to promote healing and maintain good health. And we, the younger Tamil youth should also become knowledgeable about these things, and this blog is an attempt to impart some knowledge about Tamil spices, herbs and recipes.

While I may be biased saying Tamil cuisine is the tastiest in the world, the world has also noticed. Tamil cooking has been praised all around the world, and Tamil cooking influences can be seen in other cuisines, and in the English language. For example, the English word ‘Curry’ is derived from the Tamil word, Kari, ‘Mango’ from Maangai, ‘Conjee’ from Kanji, Ginger from Inchiver. Tamil Sangam literature and epigraphs chiseled in walls of ancient Tamil temples have also recorded information about the benefits and preparations of Tamil herbs and spices.

Today we will be looking at the spice, milagu also known as yavanappiriyam (black peppercorns).

Quick Benefits:

– Digestion
– Aroma
– Appetite Stimulant
– Cough and Cold Fighter
– Constipation Fighter

If you’ve had Tamil food, it is likely it would have had some black pepper corns in it. Peppercorns are added to many savoury dishes, especially to meat and chicken. Black pepper helps in digestion and its aromatic flavour helps flavour in meat and poulty dishes while helping masking ‘meaty’ smells (especially when mixed with garlic). Pepper is ground when used in dishes. Pepper is also used in home medicine to treat coughs, colds, fevers, asthma and constipation. A mixture of salt and pepper with caraway leaves used as a gargle can help fight cough.

In many cultures, you may have notices certain soups are eaten as appetizers before means to increase appetite. In Tamil cuisine, rasam acts as the appetite stimulant and includes black peppercorns. Rasam can be consumed at different periods in a meal; eating rasam before meals is to induce appetite, while eating it after is to promote digestion. It is the pepper in the rasam that contributes to both these benefits.

So next time you are making a meat dish, try to sprinkle some peppercorns into it.



Prescription to Health?

By Admin - December 14th, 2013

Prescription to Health?

By: Abera Chelvaratnam

When the term “healthy” is seen or heard, automatically associations like “eating only greens”, “nasty taste”, “a trend” comes to mind. It is not obscure for these connections to exist because even as young children growing up in North America, many of the popular television shows that were watched had characters who were disgusted when their parents would serve fruits and vegetables. Common scenes such as feeding nutritious food to the dog, or being treated with only ice cream and many sugary foods as a reward is very influential in a developing child. Surely, after watching so many of these shows children want to indulge themselves with foods that have no nutritional value other than high calorie and fat content. Not only are there social influences, but as a matter of fact the cravings for high fat and high calorie foods are also genetic. Historically, human ancestors were largely herbivores, thus they needed large number of foods to sustain adequate energy for their daily needs. These plant eating ancestors acquired a taste for sweet tasting things because generally speaking sweeter tasting foods is linked to being more calorie dense. Lastly, prescription drugs are clearly prevalent in both technologically and medically advanced society, where they offer fast “solutions” to majority of problems. So obviously why would humans want to be “healthy” if they can pop a pill to stop their illnesses?

Are prescription drugs and over the counter drugs really solutions? Maybe in some cases. Prescription pain killers and is taken widely from once a day to many through a span of sometimes a lifetime. Clearly, it’s a misconception that medicine is a solution, rather many times it’s a treatment that must be taken continuously in order for the body to heal itself temporarily. Being a treatment rather than a solution doesn’t propose any problems to many people since it’s simple to take one pill whenever pain is felt and just carry on with the day. It’s definitely not bothersome to anyone’s lifestyle whatsoever that is until the side effects come into play or even when the drug becomes ineffective. Morphine is usually an effective painkiller that is given to patients post surgery such as after having abdominal surgeries. After surgery, glial cells in the patient’s body get excited and send out pain signals to surrounding nerves causing pain in the patient. Morphine binds to receptors on neurons to dull the pain. However, according to University of Colorado at Boulder, morphine may actually prolong the pain. Normally, morphine should dull the pain, but it can in fact also bind to TLR4 receptors on glial cells to further intensify the pain. In cases such as these, patients are able to assess the effectiveness of the drugs and stop using them if side effects outweigh the treatment. However, sometimes the downsides of drugs are not easily detected. According to Kaiser Permanente, regularly taking prescription painkillers is associated with a higher risk of erectile dysfunction. In the study, 11, 000 men with back pain were studied and more than 19 percent of these men who took high doses of painkillers also took ED prescriptions, while only less than 7 percent of men who didn’t take painkillers received ED prescriptions. Something as simple as taking painkillers for back pain can cause addiction, overdoses that lead to death and is now even associated with erectile dysfunction. A simple “solution” to a problem is capable of producing even more problems in the body, where more treatments might have to be taken.