•  

Home Page 5410

Your health on the Web

Brand logo of Now to Love
Profile picture of Now to Love
Getty Images

Getty Images

Next to checking e-mail and chatting to friends, the third main reason Australians use the Internet is to find information on health-related topics like diseases, treatments, nutrition, stress management, and drugs.

However, health websites can contain information that is, at best, biased towards the sponsoring manufacturer’s products and, at worst, downright dangerous. Here are 10 of the best to add to your favourites list.

  1. Find out the facts

  2. on the causes, symptoms, diagnoses, prevention strategies, and treatments for hundreds of conditions, from asthma to urinary-tract infections, at www.merckhomeedition.com. The Merck Manual is considered a “bible” for GPs.

  3. Women’s wellness.

  4. Whether you want information on menopause, pregnancy, ageing, health insurance or services in your state, www.healthinsite.gov.au is a smart first destination, with dozens of useful links to information papers and support groups.

  5. Children’s health issues

  6. are well covered at www.cyh.com, a South Australian Government initiative which has info on all sorts of important and timely topics, including immunisation, car seats, buying bunk beds, discrimination, and swine flu, to name just a few.

  7. Nutrition Australia’s

  8. comprehensive site — www.nutritionaustralia.org — is a great place to find credible data on everything from the healthy eating pyramid to the nutrient content of just about every food, plus enticing recipes and updates on food labelling and production methods.

  9. Check your meds.

  10. Enter the name of a prescription or over-the-counter drug at the My Doctor site (www.mydr.com.au) and find out about its applications, and whether it can interfere with other substances.

  11. What’s the alternative?

  12. By clicking on the different natural health modalities at www.naturaltherapypages.com.au, you can learn what each is, how it works, and what it costs, making you better informed and more likely to find a therapist that suits you.

  13. Beat the Big Three.

  14. The Australian Heart Foundation (www.heartfoundation.org.au), Cancer Council (www.cancer.org.au) and Diabetes Australia (www.diabetesaustralia.com.au) sites show you how to reduce your risk and provide informative quizzes and interactive forums.

  15. Get fit.

  16. Studies show that listening to music while exercising motivates you, so visit www.fitmusic.com and download (via iTunes) the playlists. Even the names of the workout-specific sections are fun: Systolic Frolic, Bunwarmer and Shock’n’Awe, anyone?

  17. Need a counsellor?

  18. www.goodtherapy.com.au is a not-for-profit site that explores what therapy means for you — whether it’s awakening creativity or dealing with a problem — then matches your needs with an accredited psychotherapist, psychologist or psychiatrist in your area.

  19. Spritz up your spirit

  20. at www.meditation.org.au, where the Australian Meditation Society offers a wide range of free podcasts providing mental and spiritual nourishment, free learn-to-meditate downloads, and inspiration from visionary artists, therapists, and healers.

Your say: Do you use the internet to find out about health and wellbeing? Which sites do you use? Share them with us below…

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Home Page 5410

Michael Bublé thanks his fans

Brand logo of Woman's Day
Profile picture of Now to Love
Getty

Michael Bublé’s latest Australian tour may have been short, but it didn’t stop him managing to excite some very happy fans as he promoted his new album Crazy Love.

While in NSW, the sexy singer put on a special performance for Nine Network’s Today show, and said he was happy to be back in Australia.

“I want to thank my friends at the Today show and all the wonderful people who showed up at Peakhurst [in south-west Sydney] to share what was a hugely enjoyable experience for me and my band,” he said.

“It was an honour to have the community come out and support us the way they did,” he added.

“I had too much fun! What a blast meeting all the kids and getting to perform for all the good folks. It’s one of the best times I’ve had as a performer.”

Michael sang a number of songs from his new album, including The Eagle’s classic Heartache Tonight.

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Home Page 5410

Can Sudoku keep you slim?

Brand logo of Woman's Day
Profile picture of Now to Love
Can Sudoku keep you slim?

Forget hours in the gym or trying to find the time to squeeze in an hour-long yoga session, the new Sudoku diet promises to keep you slim and trim without having to leave your chair. But is it all it’s cracked up to be?

Research has now found that the time spent doing a difficult puzzle, quiz or crossword can burn off the amount of kilojoules found in most biscuits.

Keep in mind that this barely believable claim that puzzles can help you to lose kilojoules has come from mental-agility expert and researcher Tim Forrester, of cannyminds.com, a website full of brain-training games and exercises.

But is there any truth to Forrester’s claims of a puzzle-playing weight-loss regime?

Forrester explains that the brain is made up of millions of nerve cells called neurons which transmit messages to the body.

He told the Daily Mail that the neurons produce chemicals called neurotransmitters to relay their signals.

These neurons extract three-quarters of sugar glucose, available kilojoules and a fifth of oxygen from the blood to create neurotransmitters.

So doing difficult crosswords or a challenging Sudoku means your brain will crave more glucose and more kilojoules too, he said.

According to the research, doing a puzzle or quiz can burn an average of 90 kilojoules every hour. This is more kilojoules than you would find in an average chocolate-chip cookie, which contains 56 kilojoules.

But Australian medical experts have warned that although the process explained by Forrester may have some merit, simply doing puzzles won’t help you to lose weight.

Spokeswoman for the Dietitians Association of Australia Julie Gilbert said that when a diet sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

“This is absolutely true as a lot of diets promise to do a lot, but don’t deliver long-term success,” she said.

“People need to know that when they take on a diet they are mastering that diet,” she said.

“To be successful in weight loss you need to maintain your eating.

“This also includes implementing lifestyle changes, like learning portions sizes, learning to read food labels and learning to apply healthy eating to not just your home life, but in a social setting as well, like when you’re out to dinner or go on holidays.”

Julie said maintaining a healthy weight means having a good combination of diet and exercise.

“When trying to lose weight, 70 percent of weight loss will come from the food you eat while 30 percent will come from the exercise, so food does have quite a big impact,” she said.

Although it may not make you lose a lot of weight, puzzles can still be fun and get your brain working!

For some real weight loss solutions, check out these tips.

Your say: Do you enjoy puzzles like Sudoku?

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Home Page 5410

Tai chi helps stroke patients

Brand logo of Now to Love
Profile picture of Now to Love
Getty Images

Getty Images

In a study published in Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, Hong Kong researchers have discovered that tai chi can significantly improve quality of life in survivors of stroke.

Stroke victims are often left with balancing problems which may not be addressed by conventional physiotherapy.

However, the particular skills taught in tai chi — especially the ability to maintain balance while shifting weight and leaning in different directions — was shown to be of special benefit in helping these people face real-life challenges, such as standing in a bus or coordinating head, torso and limb movements while reaching for an item in the supermarket.

As a bonus, tai chi classes cost less than conventional physiotherapy and provide an opportunity for social interaction.

Your say: What do you think of these findings? Have you tried tai chi? Share with us below…

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Home Page 5410

Michael Buble Live!

Brand logo of Woman's Day
Profile picture of Now to Love

When Michael Buble stopped off in Australia recently to promote his new album Crazy Love he was greeted by a crowd of adoring fans. We captured all of the fun, fans and fighting to catch a glimpse of the sexy singer when he performed on channel Nine’s Today Show.

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Home Page 5410

Exclusive extract: *Complicit*

Brand logo of Now to Love
Profile picture of Now to Love

Half Broke Horses

Download your exclusive extract from Complicit by Nicci French here.

A story of friendship, desire and murder that moves backwards and forewords in time, drawing you in deeper and deeper. It’s a long, hot summer and carefree Bonnie falls madly in love with a gorgeous but dangerous man, only to plunge into a sticky web of lies and deceit. This is an absorbing and enthralling holiday read.

Read more about the best-seklling husband-and-wife Nicci French team of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French in the December issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly on page 346.

Receive $5 off the marked price of this month’s Great Read when you present the coupon in page 346 of the Decemberissue of the magazine at any Dymocks store.

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Home Page 5410

Jerusalem: City of Faith

A city that has survived millennia of conflict to be the complex and fascinating place it is today, Jerusalem is like no other place on earth.
Brand logo of Now to Love
Profile picture of Now to Love

Jerusalem is 45 minutes drive and 3000 years from Tel Aviv. In Tel Aviv, thousands of carefree Israelis dance till dawn in nightclubs overlooking the Mediterranean, arms in the air, the words to the songs falling easily from their pretty young lips: Sex, sex, sex on the beach …

In Jerusalem, there is no sex on any beach, only prayers, lamentations and messianic yearnings stretching back over the centuries, behind the medieval limestone walls and towers of this desert city.

To say that there is no place on earth like Jerusalem is to indulge in massive understatement. No place has been more revered and ravaged, more conquered and re-conquered, more subject to the competing claims of hostile faiths and creeds than this small city at the end of a corridor of pale, broken hills.

Jerusalem is where history piles in on geography, squeezing it for space and air to breathe. You name the army, you name the civilisation or empire, you name the religious or national grouping and they have all been here. They have all come to conquer and lay waste, and to lay claim to its holy treasures – Canaanites, Israelites, Moabites, Hittites, Nabatites, Byzantines, Greeks, Romans, Persians, Crusaders, Saracens, Turks, Ottomans, Egyptians, British, Jordanians, Israelis again …

Jerusalem is as much a sacred site as a place where people live and work and pray, a “psychic empire”, according to the Israeli writer, Amos Elon, that has seized – and kept hold of – the imagination of Jews, Christians and Muslims for two millennia.

This is Abraham’s city. This is King David and King Solomon’s city. This is the place of Christ’s passion, crucifixion and resurrection. This is the city of the Via Dolorosa and Mary’s Tomb and David’s citadel.

This is where Mohammed stopped on his night voyage to heaven because, as one Jerusalem professor quipped – obviously he was a Jew! – “there are no direct flights from Mecca to heaven. You have to make a stopover in Jerusalem”. This is the city that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed and that mad King Herod rebuilt. This is where Pontius Pilate condemned Jesus and where the Last Supper was held, and where a crown of thorns was placed on this all-loving Jewish sectarian’s head. This is where the Crusaders arrived, waist-deep in the blood of their enemies, Muslims and Jews alike, and from where Saladin eventually sent them packing in 1187 AD.

This is where Israel’s legendary one-eyed general, Moshe Dayan, arrived nearly 800 years later, through the same gate that Jesus first entered on a donkey – to reclaim the city for the Jewish people after nearly 2000 years of exile. What irony. What perverse symmetry. The Nazarene peacemaker and the Jewish general. The Christian saint and the Israeli soldier.

To understand the power that Jerusalem holds over the collective imagination you only need to visit and contemplate one small patch of this ancient, blood-soaked town. Then you will begin to appreciate why it is said that even the jackals cry their biblical injunctions at night.

The place is known as the Temple Mount and you can reach it from various directions, through the narrow, cobbled, spice-filled alleyways of the Old City. (On this visit, I came at it via the Via Dolorosa, from the Stations of the Cross, where Jesus was once flagellated and scourged, and sent mockingly on his way to Golgotha.)

The Temple Mount is where you feel history, religion, nationalism, politics, fanaticism and biblical prophecy all colliding as one, and where you fear that if ever there were to be another Middle Eastern conflagration, it would be over this hallowed, contested spot. In the flat-earth cosmology of the Middle Ages, this was the centre of the universe. It still might be.

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Home Page 5410

Chickpeas

Brand logo of Now to Love
Profile picture of Now to Love
Getty Images

Getty Images

Chickpeas are a creamy, golden, mildly flavoured member of the legume family. High in protein and fibre, chickpeas are low in fat and have a low glycaemic index (GI) value.

If you don’t think you have ever eaten chickpeas, chances are you have and just didn’t know it. They are the basis of hummus dips and falafels — both popular foods in Australia. But don’t stop there. Chickpeas are a delicious and versatile addition to your regular diet — try some of our recipes.

Did you know?

The chickpea got its unusual name because it was thought it resembled a chicken’s beak.

Chickpea choices

Dried

If you buy dried chickpeas, it’s best to soak them overnight before use so they soften and take less time to cook. Be generous with the amount of water you soak them in and remember to use a large pot when cooking as they will expand to double their size.

If you don’t have time to pre-soak your chickpeas, you can use them dried but you will need to add about an hour to the cooking time. Dried chickpeas can be stored for up to a year in an airtight container in a cool dark place.

Canned

Great to have on-hand for instant use, canned chickpeas don’t need any soaking before use. Make sure you drain and rinse them well and discard any discoloured or cracked peas. Once opened, canned chickpeas can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Chickpea tips

  • Enhance one of your regular salad recipes by tossing some chickpeas through it.

  • When making soups try to use a variety of legumes including chickpeas. The nuttiness provides a unique flavour and is a great way to add some extra vegetables into your diet.

  • Make a batch of hummus at the beginning of the week and use it as a sandwich spread or a dip for vegetable sticks.

Your say: Do you enjoy chickpeas? What are your favourite chickpea recipes? Share with us below…

This information is provided by the Sanitarium Nutrition Service.

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Home Page 5410

Magic Moments

Brand logo of Now to Love
Profile picture of Now to Love
Photography by James Cant. Styling by Stav Hortis

Photography by James Cant. Styling by Stav Hortis

Julia Gillard, 48, Deputy Prime Minister

“When I finished high school at 17, my family went back [to the UK] for Christmas in South Wales, from where we’d migrated when I was four. We went back to my dad’s small mining village of Cwmgrach. He was one of seven brothers and sisters, and his mother was our last surviving grandparent.

See more celebrities and their Christmas memories

“I remember, vividly, being in a room of 30 or 40 people and the amazement of realising how all these people were related to me. They were my aunts and uncles and cousins. It was overwhelming, but in a good way.

“It was the Christmas of 1978 and it was the first time I’d ever seen snow. There was something so magical about a white Christmas, but it was a shock to find out how much a snowball can hurt – they’re not like cotton wool at all! Also, it was bitterly, bitterly cold and my grandmother had an outside toilet!

Your say: What is your favourite Christmas memory? Share with us below…

Read more from this interview in the December issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly out now with Julie Goodwin on the cover.

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use

Home Page 5410

Penélope

Brand logo of Now to Love
Profile picture of Now to Love
Getty Images

Getty Images

She sizzles on screen, a pint-sized goddess with a penchant for her co-stars, but as Penélope Cruz tells us in this exclusive interview, film success is simply not enough.

It was supposed to be one of the most fiery and passionate love scenes of Penélope Cruz’s career and the actress admits that she was terrified. As she stripped down to her bra and pants, and slipped on a robe, she was asked to wait while the director finished rewriting the scene. So she waited. And waited.

“We all knew it was going to be a very, very important scene, but we didn’t know what was going to happen during it,” Penélope says, cupping her face in her hands. “We were just waiting, waiting to see what was going to happen, what I’d have to do. I was feeling very nervous. I thought I was going to pass out.”

It’s a stunning revelation for an unabashedly sensual star, one who first bared her nipples on screen at the age of 18 in the ridiculously named Jamón, Jamón (Ham, Ham), then played a pregnant nun given HIV by her transvestite lover (All About My Mother) and also bedded both Javier Bardem and Scarlett Johansson last year in Woody Allen’s hit, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, for which she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in February.

Even so, she was relieved when she was handed the celebrated Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar’s revised script for the sex scene of her latest movie, Broken Embraces. The torrid and acrobatic screen sex that she had anticipated taking place between her character and the obsessive, lust-filled husband she had grown to hate was all to take place beneath a crisp, white sheet, the two actors writhing together as the sheet twisted and tangled above them.

“It was such a creative way to make a scene like that,” says Penélope, laughing. “I’ve never seen that done before. And for me … it worked so well. There was nothing gratuitous about it. It managed to be sexy and funny, both at once.”

Exactly the same, of course, could be said of Penélope Cruz herself. There are few actresses to rival her sizzling, dark-eyed sensuality on screen. Pedro Almodóvar says she has “one of the most spectacular cleavages in world cinema”. And Woody Allen says she is so beautiful that he can’t look at her directly because “it’s too overwhelming”.

Also, co-stars appear to fall in love with her, most notably Tom Cruise in the widely panned Vanilla Sky, and Javier Bardem, whom she met in 1992 and is now rumoured to be engaged to.

In an exclusive interview with The Weekly, Penélope talks about her new films, her brilliant career and her life outside movies. In the flesh, she has the poise of a goddess or, perhaps, a tiny, perfect, china doll.

Since she first won fame as an 18-year-old in the Spanish cult movie Jamón, Jamón and then went on to break into Hollywood with films such as All The Pretty Horses with Matt Damon, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin with Nicolas Cage, Blow with Johnny Depp, Vanilla Sky opposite Tom Cruise and Sahara with Matthew McConaughey, she hasn’t stopped working. Finally, she’s ready to take some time out, cutting back on her workload to give herself time for a personal life.

On her relationships…

Her relationship with fellow countryman Javier Bardem, 40, who himself won an Oscar last year for No Country For Old Men, probably has a lot to do with her decision. It continues to go from strength to strength and there have even been rumours of a pregnancy. “Now I really want to take some time for myself,” says Penélope. “For a long time, I’ve been making three or four movies a year. Now I want to make one movie a year. I want to have more time to live life.

“I sacrifice a lot for movies. Sometimes, I’m exhausted the whole time and don’t even know where I am from day to day. I have to travel a lot and it’s very tiring.

“I’m not complaining – I love what I do. But you do feel a lot of pressure and insecurity all the time, and sometimes I feel I just need more time for myself.”

While Penélope has always been notoriously reticent about her private life, she doesn’t hide her hopes that, some time in the future, she would like to start a family. At 35, she knows she can’t afford to wait much longer.

“Yes, I would like a family of my own one day,” she says. “I love children and I do tend to mother everyone on set around me. I don’t know if I believe in marriage, but I do believe in love and children and family. But I don’t know when …”

Your say: What do you think of the Penélope Cruz? Which film of hers is your favourite? Share your thoughts below…

Read more of this exclusive interview in the December issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly out now with Julie Goodwin on the cover.

Profile picture of Now to Love
Now to Love

Related stories

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter conversion description. Get the latest in your inbox.

Disclaimer: By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use