THE LION WHISPERER An RD ORIGINAL ... 64 12 HOURS OVERBOARD From THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE 96 MANAGING TECH AND TODDLERS From TODAY’S PARENT 82 TRANSPLANT DAISY CHAIN: A SON’S STORY An RD ORIGINAL ... 90 MARGARET ATWOOD’S BRUSH WITH DEATH From ELLE CANADA ... 76 QUOTES FROM FAMOUS CANADIANS ............ 144 14 WAYS TO GREEN YOUR HOME ...................... 29 HOW TO GET BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE ..... 135 JOKES: AS KIDS SEE IT ..................................... 109 APRIL 2014 MOST READ MOST TRUSTED
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
THE LION WHISPERER
An RD ORIGINAL ... 64
12 HOURS OVERBOARD From THE NEW YORK
TIMES MAGAZINE
96
MANAGING TEcH AND TODDlERS
From TODAY’S
PARENT
82
TRaNSPLaNT daISy
cHaIN: a SON’S STORy An RD ORIGINAL ... 90
MaRgaRET aTWOOd’S
bRuSH WITH dEaTH From ELLE CANADA ... 76
QUOTES fROM fAMOUS cANADIANS ............ 144
14 WAyS TO GREEN yOUR HOME ...................... 29
HOW TO GET BETTER cUSTOMER SERVIcE ..... 135
JOkES: AS kIDS SEE IT .....................................109
APRIL 2014
MOST READ MOST TRUSTED
EVEN AFTER
EATING & DRINKING
†Germs that cause plaque & gingivitis when used after brushing.Fights cavities. Always read and follow the label.
Colgate-Palmolive Canada Inc. *TM Reg’d/M.D.
1]dS`�Ab]`g
� $" THE LION WHISPERER
Kevin Richardson uses his bond with Africa’s big
cats to help save them. @716/@2�>=>:/9
:WdW\U
� %$ A CLOSE SHAVE
Margaret Atwood recounts a near-death
childhood experience. 4@=;�3::3�1/</2/
4O[WZg
� & SCREEN CAPTURED
Do tablets inhibit children’s creativity?
/B63</�BA/D:7@7A�4@=;�B=2/G¸A�>/@3<B
6SOZbV
� '� CHAIN REACTIONS
One kidney donation can change many lives—
including your father’s. 8/A=<�/<23@A=<
2`O[O�W\�@SOZ�:WTS
� '$ 12 HOURS OVERBOARD
A lobster fisherman’s fight to survive. >/C:�B=C56�4@=;�B63�<3E�G=@9�B7;3A�;/5/H7<3
<ObW]\OZ�/TTOW`a
� ��� QUITTING TIME?
E-cigarettes’ doubtful effectiveness as a cessation
tool. /:3F/<2@/�97;0/::�4@=;�3::3�1/</2/
B`OdSZ
� ��$ TO PARIS, WITH TOT
A young family’s first trip abroad dredges up
parental insecurities. 6/<</6�AC<5�4@=;�3<@=CB3�
3RWb]`a¸�1V]WQS
� � PAST LIVES
After the death of her mother, a daughter attempts
to make sense of family history. >:C;�8=6<A=<�
4@=;�B63G�:34B�CA�3D3@GB67<5(�/�;3;=7@
/227B7=</:�;327/�7<�=C@�B/0:3B�D3@A7=<A
;/AB3@47:3�7AB=19>6=B=
>6=B=5@/>6�0G�;/<2G�@716/@2A=<
1]dS`�Ab]`g
>��$"
P. | 82
`R�QO���j����" � ��"���j����
Contents/>@7:� ��"
P. | 23
@3/23@�4/D=C@7B3A
� �#� 4W\WaV�BVWa�AS\bS\QS
� �'� :OcUVbS �̀�bVS�0Sab�;SRWQW\S��
� $� >]W\ba�b]�>]\RS`
� &&� .�E]`Y
� ��"� :WTS¸a�:WYS�BVOb��
� ��'� /a�9WRa�ASS�7b
� �!%� BVOb¸a�=cb`OUS]ca�
� �"�� E]`R�>]eS`
� �""� ?c]bSa
D=713A���D73EA
2]�bVS�@WUVb�BVW\U
� �$ Change Agent Ricken Patel has proven online
activism can have real-world
results. Next up, climate
change. 1=C@B<3G�A63/
@2�7\bS`dWSe
� � The Anti–Tiger MomVancouver psychiatrist and
mother of three Shimi K. Kang
on her book The Dolphin Way
and why balanced kids are best. ABp>6/<73�D3@53
2S^O`b[S\b�]T�EWb
� ! The Uncle Michael ShowProxy parenting has its
privileges. ;793�A>@G
� "� 3RWb]`¸a�:SbbS`��
� &� 1]\b`WPcb]`a
� '� :SbbS`a
/@B�=4�:7D7<5
� ' 14 Ways to Green Your HomeTurn your household into an
eco-oasis—and save money—
with simple modifications. <7997�4=B63@7<56/;
;]\Sg
�!# Marrying With ChildrenBlending families involves
careful financial planning. 53=@53�;C@@/G ;
=<79/�;3:<G16C9
���j����" � ��"���j���`R�QO
Vol. 184 | No. 1,104/>@7:� ��"
BVS�C^bWQY
�$ Strange SymptomsCharting the rise of lupus in
Canada. A/;/<B6/�@723=CB
P. | 37
53B�A;/@B�
��!# 13 Things You Should Know About Customer Service >/C:�5/::/<B
�!&� Rd.caApril highlights from our
website, including workout tips
from a celebrity trainer.
4]]R
� !% The Devil’s in the Eggs A fresh look at how to make the
iconic appetizer. B63�327B=@A�
=4�5/@23<���5C< � �4@=;�B63�
A=CB63@<3@¸A�6/<20==9
4]]R
�"� Eating Right for Your GutWhat to enjoy and avoid. 8C:73�2/<7:C9
AT MY GRANDMOTHER’S TABLE there was an unspoken three-serving minimum. If you ate less than that or paused too long mid-meal to converse, you were met by Grandma Ritter’s penetrating look of
worry followed by a “What’s wrong?” The lesson was clear: dodging a serv-ing of dumplings was tantamount to rejecting a hug.
This food-as-love ethos has crossed generations—and species. I was not the only creature subjected to heartfelt feedings. My grandparents lived in Que-bec’s Eastern Townships and took it upon themselves to provide sustenance for the local fauna. There were cardinals, blue jays and woodpeckers. There
were also raccoons, deer, skunks and the occasional fox. Every evening, my grandparents would prepare
platters of food to set outside their picture windows. As a girl, I delighted in watching the nightly banquet. I now know that feeding wild animals can be harm-ful to them, but I understand what motivated my grandparents: a desire to nurture nature.
Grandma Ritter would have loved this month’s profile of Kevin Richardson (“The Lion Whis-perer,” page 64), who is working to protect Afri-ca’s big cats. Richardson’s relationship with these animals is unique—they accept him as part of the pride. He is on a remarkable mission.
Our own Robert Goyette is on a different mis-sion, exploring Australia and its outback. He
returns next month.
Dominique Ritter, Managing Editor
Editor’s Letter
Animal Instincts
@=53@�/H7H
AS\R�O\�S[OWZ�b]��
ZSbbS`a.`R�QO
INTERACTWITH THE PAGES
OF OUR MAGAZINE!Specifi c pages in this issue (see below for all page numbers) have been enriched with Layar and contain additional digital content that you can view using your smartphone or tablet.
LIRE
DOWNLOADTHE FREELAYAR APP
SCAN THEQR CODEBELOW
DISCOVERINTERACTIVECONTENT
Once you tap to scan your fi rst page, the Layar app will stay open as you read through the issue. You do not need to tap and scan each page identifi ed as Layar-enhanced. When you go from one page to the next with the Layar app, the new content will automatically appear!
+
PAGES IN THIS ISSUE THAT ARE ENRICHED WITH LAYAR: 19, 44, 46, 53, 65, 83, 121, 140
Food poisoning can be avoided by handling food safely. Still, many older adults go about their daily food preparation routines, inadvertently putting themselves and others at risk. For adults 60+, food poisoning can go beyond just that. As you age, your body is less able to fight off harmful bacteria. This puts you at greater risk of food poisoning and developing serious health complications. A few easy changes to the way you handle your food at home can go a long way in protecting your health.
Learn more and get your free Safe Food Handling guide at
HealthyCanadians.gc.ca/FoodSafetyGuide or call 1 800 O-Canada
Steve’s home cooked meal came with
a side dish he wasn’t expecting.
Thaw food in the fridge,
especially raw meat,
poultry, fish or seafood.
<7997��
4=B63@7<56/;��
(“14 Ways to Green
Your Home,” page 29)
6][S�POaS( Toronto. >`SdW]caZg�^cPZWaVSR�W\ The Huffington Post. BVS�PWUUSab�[WaQ]\QS^bW]\�OP]cb�U]W\U�
U`SS\�Wa that it requires huge life-style sacrifices. Incremental changes can have an impact. 7�U`Se�c^�W\�/T`WQO� and there’s a proverb there: “If you think one small thing can’t make a difference, you’ve never spent a night with a mosquito.”
;793�A>@G�
(“Te Uncle Michael
Show,” page 23)
6][S�POaS( Montreal. >`SdW]caZg�^cPZWaVSR�W\ Maisonneuve and the Toronto Star. EVS\�7�T]c\R�]cb�[g�aWabS`�eOa�^`SU\O\b��[g�¿`ab�
bV]cUVb�eOa� Finally, a grandkid for my parents. The pressure’s off. Next was: Christmas is going to cost more. EVS\�7�ZObS`�[Sb�[g�\S^VSe��7�
eOa overwhelmed with an emotion I can’t explain—part pride, part joy and part affection for birth control.
;/@1=�170=:/�
(“Past Lives,” page 122)
6][S�POaS( Dundas, Ont. >`SdW�]caZg�^cPZWaVSR�
W\ Time and The New York Times. 4]`�µ>Oab�:WdSa�¶ I combined earth tones and a palette of warm, satur-ated colours on a dark background to represent the parental history be-ing uncovered. EVS\�[g�ROR�¿`ab�QO[S�b]�1O\ORO� my mom stayed in Italy. Maybe I’ll find letters they exchanged one day, but I’m doubtful. They tend to get rid of old things.
@716/@2�>=>:/9��
(“Te Lion Whisperer,”
page 64)
6][S�POaS( Johannesburg, South
Africa. >`SdW]caZg�^cPZWaVSR�W\ Toronto Life and The Walrus. <]bV�W\U�^`S^O`Sa�g]c�T]` the sight of lions tackling Kevin Richardson. Their love for him is astonishing. EWbV�^S]^ZS��VS¸a very socialized and savvy. The pride has taught him a lot about how gregarious creatures interact, and it seems to hold him in good stead across the food chain.
�>=>:/9��:/C@/�8/<3�>3B3:9=
&���j����"��� ��"���j���`R�QO
Contributors�
REDESIGN REACTIONS
The February edition of Reader’s
Digest was a great improvement.
I was impressed by the interesting
articles and appreciated the new pa-
per stock for its lack of glare. Keep
up the good work.
D7=:/�30G��C a rd s t o n , A l t a .
Wow! What a necessary change to
your reputable magazine. Now
there’s some fire to it. Congratula-
tions. D/:�E7::7A��O t t a w a
I enjoyed the February issue for its
good mix of stories and the nicer pa-
per stock, which feels more like book
paper than the glossy magazine pa-
per you were previously using. The
new finish is much easier on the eyes.
9:/CA�/��A16;72A@/CB3@��Ha m i l t o n
I hate the new format. The paper
feels dry, rough and gross to flip
through. Plus, the number of car-
toons, my favourite feature, has
been reduced. 07::�=@@�=<�4/130==9
TRIED-AND-TRUE
<SO`Zg�#��gSO`a�OU]��7�^WQYSR�c^�O\��
WaacS�]T�@SORS`¸a�2WUSab�O\R��Qc`W]ca��
PSUO\�ZSOTW\U�bV`]cUV��7�RWaQ]dS`SR��
O�^ZSOaO\b�eOg�b]�a^S\R�bVS�OTbS`\]]\�
eWbV�X]YSa�O\R�Tc\\g�ab]`WSa�OP]cb�
^S]^ZS¸a�ZWdSa��:ObS`��7�abO`bSR�`SORW\U�
bVS�TSObc`S�O`bWQZSa��7¸dS�PSS\�O�Z]gOZ�
acPaQ`WPS`�SdS`�aW\QS�O\R�O^^`SQWObS�
bVOb�eVWZS�bVS�e]`ZR�O`]c\R�ca�QVO\USa��
bVS�2WUSab�VOa\¸b´Ob�ZSOab�\]b�b]]�
[cQV��BVO\Y�g]c�T]`�`Sbc`\W\U�b]�bVS�
]`WUW\OZ�T]`[Ob��eWbV�X]YSa�a^`SOR�]cb�
O\R�TWZZS`a�Ob�bVS�S\R�]T�ab]`WSa��
� 2/D72�@��</4H753@��Kitchener
>73@@3�;/<<7<5�A6==BABC27=�1/
`R�QO���j����" � ��"���j���'
Letters@3/23@�1=;;3<BA�=<�=C@�@313<B�7AAC3A
A LOVING POSTSCRIPT
After reading about other couples’ romantic stories in “Love, Actually” (Feb. 2014), I wanted to share my own. Originally from Brazil, I was in Italy in 2006 having dinner by myself when a man came over and
asked if he could sit at my table. At first sight, I thought he was Ameri-can and, just to be polite, said yes. He told me that he was Canadian, and I soon found myself happily sharing stories about my life. I was leaving very early the next morning,
: 3 B B 3@ A � �
�����j����" � ��"���j���`R�QO
New Content Every Day
Special Features
Contests
And Much More!
My site\
so we exchanged email addresses, and when we said goodbye, I gave him a kiss. He was a bit surprised, but began writing, then visiting me in Brazil. We dated for three years until we decided it was time to be together forever. I’ve been living in Canada since April 2009, married to my best friend.
8/<3�;/@/�03@</@27�B6323���
P o r t E l g i n , O n t .
VALUABLE INFORMATION
I grew up with Reader’s Digest in my home as a child and feel it’s the best little magazine out there. I’ll be sending “Coming Into Focus” (Feb. 2014) to my daughter, as she has a 22-year-old son with ADHD. He is now engaged and has a great job, but his doctors are still trying to find the right dosage for his medications. The article offered many insights into this troublesome ailment.
:=C7A3�63/@2��P o r t C o l b o r n e , O n t .
A REGRETTABLE CHOICE
February’s Olympic-themed Word Power asked readers to guess the definition of the term “Kreisel.” The provided answer includes a sentence about a luger named Nodar who was well aware of the finesse needed to negotiate the course’s long, circu-lar turn (the Kreisel). During the 2010 Winter Olympics, Nodar Kumaritashvili was the 21-year-old luge athlete from Georgia who was
killed during a training run after los-ing control of his sled. How you could use the name Nodar in this ex-ample is beyond me—it’s completely inappropriate.
>/;3:/�83AA3<��Vi c t o r i a
DIVISIONS OF LABOUR
It would be wonderful to read more articles like “Power Moms and Their Househusbands” (Jan. 2014), about stay-at-home parents, whether moms or dads. The point made by one of the fathers, that “your kid doesn’t want a nanny. Your kid wants you. Your kid needs you,” is one I agree with. I thoroughly en-joyed being a stay-at-home mom and could not imagine raising a family any other way. How refresh-ing to read that some women may be the bigger breadwinners and that some men may have more suitable temperaments for child rearing.
0/@0/@/�>C@2G��Ux b r i d g e , O n t .
ANIMAL RESCUE
“The Adoption Option” (Jan. 2014) mentions the possibility of having to pass on a purebred when choosing a rescue dog. As someone who volun-teers her time helping shelter pets find a home, I can tell you that this isn’t usually the case and could de-ter people from adopting. Purebred rescue dogs are often taken from shelters and brought to private res-cue groups specialized in particular
breeds. Using a site like petfinder.com, you can easily search reputa-ble rescues in your area to find a specific type of dog, or even cat, to adopt. :=@7�1/;>03::��To r o n t o
ANOTHER LIFE SAVED
Thank you for publishing Elechia Barry-Sproule’s letter, “A Life Saved” (Nov. 2013), about how “Minutes From Death” (Aug. 2013) alerted her to the symptoms and dangers of blood clots. I came across her letter while waiting for an appointment with my general practitioner. At the time, I’d been experiencing calf pain for about two weeks, to the point where I couldn’t walk on my leg. I wasn’t planning to discuss the issue with my GP, but after reading the letter, I reconsidered. An ultrasound was scheduled for the following day, during which a blood clot was found. The imaging centre sent me directly to the ER, where they also found a clot in my lungs. I spent over a week in the hospital and will be on blood thinners for the rest of my life, but I’m also grateful be-cause it could have turned out so
much worse. Keep up the great pub-lishing—I love Reader’s Digest from cover to cover.
B/<7/�5��13@;/9��C a l g a r y
YOUTH AT RISK
“The Itch Factor” (Nov. 2013), about the rise of shingles, fails to mention that children can also be infected. My daughter was only nine months old when she caught a bad case of the chicken pox and nine years old when she suffered through an itchy and painful episode of the shingles. Two other young children I know have also had shingles. Your readers should be aware of the possibility. <7B/�4/7@��C h a r l i e L a k e , B . C .
ERRATUM
During the editing of February’s
issue, an error was introduced into
reader Kim Ellsworth’s letter, when
Calgary was incorrectly identified
as Alberta’s provincial capital. We
apologize for the mistake.
B63�32A�
>cPZWaVSR�ZSbbS`a�O`S�SRWbSR�T]`�ZS\UbV�
O\R�QZO`Wbg�
: 3 B B 3@ A � �
�"���j����" � ��"���j���`R�QO
Going green matters to me because…
Visit the Reader’s Digest Canada Facebook page for your chance to finish the next sentence.
¬Wb�R]Sa\¸b�Xcab�VSZ^��
Tcbc`S�US\S`ObW]\a��
It also benefits us right now.
GD=<<3�>@3AB=<��B=@=<B=
…I can help keep my city, ^`]dW\QS��Q]c\b`g�
O\R�̂ ZO\Sb�bVS�
PSOcbWTcZ�e]\RS`a�
bVOb�bVSg�O`S��
AB3>6/<73�A;=:�
23@A�@=07<A=<��
0@/<B4=@2��=<B�
…my children deserve a lifetime of happiness eWbV]cb�VOdW\U�b]�e]``g�OP]cb�eVSbVS`�
]c`�̂ ZO\Sb�eWZZ�PS�VOPWbOPZS��
3;;/�:3756��A/@<7/��=<B�
…I want to help slow
global warming O\R�bVS�a^`SOR�]T�ZWTS�
bV`SObS\W\U�RWaSOaSa�Wb�
Q]cZR�QOcaS�
4/B7;/�/A74��1/:5/@G
…I’m tired of seeing corporations leave devastation in their wake. Ab]^�\Obc`OZ�UOa�T`OQYW\U�O\R�RSdSZ]^[S\b�]T�bVS�bO`�
Lightly beat eggs; stir in carrots, yogurt, applesauce, vegetable oil and vanilla.
In a large bowl, combine remaining ingredients, except icing sugar. Stir in carrot mixture, mixing until well blended. Spread evenly in greased 9-inch (23 cm) square baking pan.
Bake at 325°F (160°C) for 35 to 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool on rack. Dust with icing sugar if desired.
for more recipes, join the
SPLENDA® recipe club at splenda.ca
a classicwith less added sugarENJOY
Nutritional Information: Serving Size 1 piece (1/12th of cake). Calories 153, Protein 4 g, Fat 6 g, Carbohydrates 22 g
know, stuff a single 30-something writer with commitment issues and insurmountable debt is an expert in.
They, on occasion, teach me (which is humbling). Piper espe-cially. Her intuition is beyond her years, and at times frightening. One day, she asked me why I didn’t have any children, and I launched into a diatribe about love; about error; about a girl who was there and then wasn’t. Piper took a moment to con-sider this and replied, “Uncle Mi-chael, you have no children because you are alone.”
That kind of honesty is refreshing, born of innocence and limited vo-cabulary. It reduces life to its es-sence. When once asked what Uncle
Michael’s job was, Piper responded, “Hmm. Watching baseball?” Close enough. After I made Finn a soup he really liked, he asked, “Uncle Mi-chael, have you ever considered working in a restaurant?” Unbe-knownst to him, I did, for 15 years, before leaving for the riches of Can-adian literature. For a second, he made me wistful for that time.
But my favourite responses are triggered when I warn them that Uncle Michael’s remarkable run of less-than-moderate success means I’m going to live with them when we’re all older. I share these visions of dependency, of asking them for money, of having these children—who have yet to discover the won-ders of caffeine, unexpected victory or happy hour—bail me out. To these playful notions rooted in adult truths, they laugh, “Uncle Michael, you’re silly,” as if the reality of my fears is humour itself.
My parents think I’ll eventually have kids—when I get older, when I find success, when I meet the woman who makes me. But I remain steadfast in my uncledom. This is the closest to having progeny I’ll ever get, and I worry about them growing up, listening to One Direction, morphing into Yankees fans, becoming experi-mental poets. But for the time being, I will treat them to banana smooth-ies, scatological humour and too much TV. What’s not to love?
23>/@B;3<B �= 4 �E 7 B � �
"���j����" � ��"���j���`R�QO
Clara’sBig Ride
Going the distance for mental health.
As the spokesperson for Bell
Let’s Talk, Clara Hughes will kick
off her Big Ride across Canada on
March 14 in an effort to help end the
stigma around mental illness. She’ll
be pedalling through every province
and territory in the country, stopping
in 95 communities and covering
more than 12,000 km over 110 days.
Help Clara keep the conversation
rolling. Share the ride. Join the
conversation. Raise funds.
bell.ca/clarasbigride
#ClarasBigRide
>6=B=A(��@/3���
�6=CA3�=
4�1
=;;=<A)��G=C<5���
� ��"
�@3>@7A3�@
31=@2A��?C=B3A(��;==97<
5��8C:G��"�� ��!)��@/3��2
31��!��� ��!)�
�6CB167<
5A��;
/G�!�� ��!)��G=C<5��B63�5:=03�/<2�;/7:��A3>B����
�� ��!�)��AB@=C;0=C:=>=C:=A��8/<�� �� ��"
�
Food and music, for me, they’re all the creative process. It’s artistic ex-pression. They start with a seed of an idea, development of an idea, re-finement of that developed idea and then presenting it for the public to consume, whether orally or aurally.
� � 1VST�O\R�[caWQWO\�@=53@�;==97<5���
]\�101�<Sea
I suppose I could say that I am look-ing for a different kind of inner quiet, and I have a few ways to get there. Own less stuff, try to meditate and maybe even find a non-nurtur-ing yoga class. But really, I just want to say yes more often than I say no and be open to whatever comes with love and gratitude (and listen to more Slayer).
� � 53=@53�AB@=C;0=C:=>=C:=A���
]\�VWa� ��"�`Sa]ZcbW]\a��W\�BVS�5`WR�
Mental health is the weakest link in our health-care system, but more important, it is still the issue that hides away from much conversa-tion. There are still too few places outside a health-care setting where the issue is addressed, as if mental health and addiction are still taboos not to be mentioned in polite company.
� � 0=0�@/3��W\�bVS��
5Z]PS�O\R�;OWZ�
All the government scientists I know tell me that it’s never been worse. It’s like an Iron Curtain has been drawn across the communication of science in this country. And I think there’s reason for all of us to be worried about that.
Change #1: Toss those chemical cleaners (responsibly—take them to your local hazardous-waste drop-off centre) and make your own general-purpose cleaner. Mix ½ cup white vinegar, ¼ cup baking soda and 2 litres water. Pour into a spray bottle and tackle household grime.
Change #2: Animal agriculture accounts for up to 18 per cent of global warming. Adding a single meatless meal to your weekly plan-ner will help you save money—and the planet.
Change #3: Grow your own sprouts in a Mason jar. Pop a few holes
14 Ways to Green Your Home0G�<7997�4=B63@7<56/;
7::CAB@/B7=<A�0G�1=C@B<3G�E=B63@A>==<
Bc`\�g]c`�V]caSV]ZR�W\b]�O\�SQ]�]OaWa´O\R�aOdS�
[]\Sg´eWbV�aW[^ZS�[]RWTWQObW]\a
Ã
`R�QO���j����"��� ��"���j��� '
of LIVINGART
in the lid, rinse ¼ cup organic lentil sprouts and soak them overnight. Drain the water through the holes and rinse twice a day. Leave the jar in a warm, sunny spot, and you’ll have healthy salad fixings in a couple of days.
Add Life to the Living RoomChange #1: Did you know your ap-pliances consume electricity even when shut down? Five to 10 per cent of the energy used in your home is siphoned for standby power. Unplug TVs, chargers, com-puters, coffee makers and stereos, or use power bars with built-in tim-ers to turn off electronics you don’t mind being reset.
Change #2: That “new carpet smell” is actually an airborne cock-tail of nasty chemicals. Talk to your installer about how to properly vent your home in the first 72 hours af-ter installation and give the carpet a good vacuuming. To be seriously green, consider fire-resistant, bio-degradable and non-toxic natural-fibre carpets like wool, sisal, coir and seagrass.
Green Your Garage Change #1: Your daily car com-mute contributes to climate change, so get the family walking
or biking at least once a week. If self-powered travel isn’t possible, use public transit (it can save a Canadian family a monthly average of $586, according to the David Su-zuki Foundation) or consider ride sharing. High-occupancy vehicle lanes help speed up your commute; check online to find carpooling sites that offer rides to your local transit station.
Change #2: Create word art with-out having to inhale noxious paint fumes. Combine a handful of moss, 2 cups yogourt, 2 cups water and ½ teaspoon sugar in a blender, and mix until smooth. Dip a paintbrush in the mixture and paint words onto any rough surface (a garage’s outdoor wall is ideal). Spray with water regularly, and you’ll soon have inspirational moss graffiti.
Garden SmartChange #1: Every year your old gas mower produces as many
� " �E/GA � B= � 5@33< � G=C@ � 6=;3 � �
!����j����"��� ��"���j���`R�QO
greenhouse gas emissions as a car driven 3,300 kilometres. Unless you’re the proud owner of a family of sheep, there’s no need for all that grass. For a complete revamp, con-sider lawn alternatives like micro-clover, verbena, sweet woodruff, cotoneaster, thyme and camomile; perennial ground covers take work to install but don’t require much water, and you won’t have to spend weekends cutting the grass.
Change #2: To keep pesky pests at bay, use natural pesticides such as marigold flowers, coffee grounds or an easy-to-make all-purpose spray consisting of 1½ tablespoons liquid soap, 1 litre water and 5 drops lemon essential oil.
Change #3: Reduce water usage by installing downspout extensions from your eavestroughs to direct rain to your flower beds.
Love Your LookChange #1: Ditch your mercury-, formaldehyde- and lead-laden cosmetics for homemade mascara and eyeliner. Mix 1 teaspoon coco-nut oil, 1 teaspoon shea butter, 1½ teaspoons beeswax, 4 teaspoons aloe vera gel and 2 capsules acti-vated charcoal (available at health-food stores). Use a brush to apply as eyeliner or a comb for mascara.
Change #2: Concerned about harmful substances in your tooth-paste? Pop 2 tablespoons dried lemon rind, ¼ cup baking soda and 2 teaspoons sea salt in your blender, and mix until it forms a fine powder. Dip your wet tooth-brush in and brush as usual.
Beautify the BedroomChange #1: Textiles and clothing account for four per cent of materi-als in Canadian landfills. Repair old clothes, organize a clothing swap with friends or donate to a local charity.
Change #2: Make a calming laven-der air freshener to encourage relax-ation and restfulness. Mix 8 drops lavender oil, 4 drops clove oil, ½ cup vodka (a natural deodorizer) and ½ cup water, and place in a spray bottle. The vodka will kill germs, while the soothing lavender sends you to sleep soundly.
The Devil’s in the Eggs0G�B63�327B=@A�=4�5/@23<���5C<�
4@=;�B63�A=CB63@<3@¸A�6/<20==9
9/<5�97;
`R�QO���j����"��� ��"���j���!%
4==2
But not to worry if you’re short a yellowed recipe card with handwrit-ten instructions for the absolute best proportion of mustard to mayon-naise. Just combine a dozen yolks with a cup of mayo (250 mL) and a quarter cup (50 mL) of your favou-rite mustard, then add salt, pepper and paprika to taste—you’ll have a preparation worth handing down.
For creamier eggs, stir in a bit of butter. For spicier eggs, a few dashes of Tabasco or grated horseradish will do the trick. And there are those who won’t declare a devilled-egg filling ready until they’ve added a teaspoon (5 mL) of lemon juice and a tablespoon (15 mL) of pickle rel-ish. But by then, you’re just tinker-ing with perfection.
�! IF THERE’S ONE DISH you’ll fnd doubled or tripled up on in a Southern-style party spread, it’s devilled eggs. And even then, the folks who brought them aren’t likely to go home with leftovers. Te “devil” part? It’s not because they’re a source of temptation (though they are); it refers to the spices that add a piquant kick.
Southern cooks have lately taken to dressing up their eggs with vari-ous accoutrements—country ham, chilled shrimp, poached tomatoes. But connoisseurs will rightly tell you that what matters most is the spring-iness of the white and the tang of the yolk. To please the fussiest of guests, start with eggs a few days removed from the nest, since fresher eggs are frustratingly difficult come peeling time. Put the eggs into a pot, cover with a few centimetres or so of cool water, and bring to a boil. Once the water is sputtering, reduce the heat to a low simmer, and cook for eight minutes. To avoid overcooking the yolk, shock the eggs in an ice-water bath for 30 seconds be-fore peeling. Slice the eggs lengthwise, and remove the yolks.
If the boil-ing process is a science, doctoring the yolks is an art.
4==2 � �
!&���j����"��� ��"���j���`R�QO
Gay Lea Butter is made by farmers who bring every-thing to their craft. Because they don’t just own the farm, they own the dairy. GAY LEA. BORN ON THE FARM.
Shakira is a force of nature. How else to explain that the Colombian superstar’s song “Hips Don’t Lie” surpassed all 21st-century smashes (sorry, Psy) to become the in-ternational top-selling single of the millennium? Currently one of the most powerful women in the world according to Forbes magazine, the singer took a break from her judging duties on The
Voice to focus on fine-tuning her self-titled 10th album, which features contributions from reli-able hitmakers like R&B singer Akon. March 25.
=cb�/[]\U�bVS�AbO`a
8]V\\g�1OaV
The Man in Black may have died in 2003, but he was so prolific that
music from his golden years, long buried in the vaults, is just now seeing the light
of day. These early-’80s tracks are es-sential listen-ing for Cash completists. March 25.
Ac^S`[]RSZ
4]abS`�bVS�>S]^ZS
In the spring of 2011, “Pumped Up Kicks,” a deceptively mellow pop jam about fancy sneak-ers and school vio-lence, was everywhere. Three years later, Los Angeles trio Foster the People returns with a guitar-heavy collection inspired by a deep-seated disillusionment with consumer culture. March 18.
6]b�2`SO[a
BW[PS`�BW[P`S
Toronto’s Taylor Kirk has a creepy, cobwebby voice, which he uses to fantastic effect in his haunting tunes. On his fifth full-length album as Timber Timbre, he adds a technicolour jolt to his atmospheric soundscapes, which feature murky string ar-rangements and hyp-notic baritone sax riffs. April 1. �
A6/97@
/��@
3F�43/BC@3A�1>)��1/A6���
� ��"
�001
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR
FOSTER THE PEOPLE’S
“COMING OF AGE” WITH LAYAR
""���j����"��� ��"���j���`R�QO
;CA71
I WANT
MY ROUTINECrest® Pro-Health™ Multi Protection rinse helps prevent and reduce plaque and gingivitis. Crest® Pro-Health™ toothpaste fi ghts
Like all good sci-fi, Orphan Black grapples with serious stuff like bioethics and the na-ture of human identity, but the heart of this Toronto-shot series is Tatiana Maslany. The Saskatchewan actor has been rightly lauded for her turn as British con artist Sarah Manning and a half-dozen other clones (including soccer mom Alison and Ukrainian assassin Helena) caught up in an experiment gone pear-shaped. The taut first season landed the show at the top of critics’ lists; Season 2 promises even more twists, wigs and accents. Premieres April 19 on Space.
BVS�5OZO^OU]a�/TTOW`(��
AObO\�1O[S�b]�3RS\
Footage of early explorers, stories by present-day settlers and voice -overs from the likes of Cate Blanchett are intertwined in this inventive true-crime doc about a 1930s Galapagos murder mystery. In theatres April 4.
@W]b�W\�1SZZ�0Z]QY���
This early effort by Hollywood legend Don Siegel (Dirty Harry) explores the inner workings of a prison overtaken by inmates protesting brutal living conditions. On DVD and Blu-ray
April 22.
B`O\aQS\RS\QS
Johnny Depp stars as an artificial-intelligence researcher who be-comes obsessed with his program to develop sentient computers. This thriller is a nightmare come true for
anyone who be-lieves in the
technological singularity and its cor-responding doomsday
scenarios. In theatres
April 17.
7!4#(�4(%��
42!),%23��
7)4(�,!9!2
��23>>��E
/@<3@�0
@=A��>71
BC@3A)��;/A:/<G���
� ��"
�001�/
;3@71
/
"$���j����"��� ��"���j���`R�QO
;=D73A���BD
SPECIAL FEATURE SECTION IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
HEALTHYSMILES
A healthy smile can make you feel confident about yourself and your appearance. But did you know that oral health is also linked to overall health?
The Link Between Oral Health & Overall Health
DENTAL CARE FOR CHILDRENA lifetime of good oral health begins by preventing cavities in childhood. Children need their parents' help to keep their teeth healthy and clean
and to establish good eating habits.
Before Teeth
You should clean your child's mouth even
before they have teeth. Use a soft baby
brush or wrap your finger in a clean,
damp washcloth. Brush or wipe all parts
of the gums and teeth. Don't use tooth-
paste until your child has teeth.
Under 3 Years
For children under 3 years old, an
adult should brush and floss their
teeth. Talk to your dentist about whether
to use fluoridated toothpaste. If your
child is at risk of tooth decay and you
decide to use fluoridated toothpaste,
use only a grain of rice-sized amount
(making sure your child spits out the
toothpaste). Otherwise use a toothbrush
moistened only with water.
From 3 to 6 Years
For children between 3 and 6 years
old, an adult should help them brush
and floss. Use a pea-sized amount
of fluoridated toothpaste.
Baby's 1stDentist Visit
The Canadian Dental Association recommends
infants see a dentist within 6 months of the
eruption of the first tooth or by 1 year old.
SPECIAL FEATURE
The Dental Exam First, the dentist will review your medical history to find out about any health conditions that may affect dental treatments or procedures or that may be associated with oral health problems. Tell your dentist if anything has changed since your last visit.
Your dentist will inspect your mouth for:
Q�Damaged, missing or decayed teeth
Q�Signs of cavities or gum disease
Q�The condition of previous dental work
Q�Signs of mouth or throat cancer, and suspicious growths or cysts
Q�Teeth positioning
Q�Signs of clenching or grinding
Q�Signs of bleeding or inflammation
Your exam may also include dental X-rays
and an examination of the neck.
What do dental X-rays show?
X-rays show cavities under existing fillings,
decay under the gum line and between the
teeth, fractures, impacted wisdom teeth,
and bone loss caused by gum disease.
They also show if children’s teeth are
erupting properly.
SPECIAL FEATURE
Dental Care for Seniors Your oral health and dental needs change as you age. You may have dentures or dental implants. You may take a medication that causes dry mouth or makes gums grow. A dentist will assess your unique situation and help you maintain healthy teeth and gums.
Dentures
Dentures (artificial or false teeth) should
be tended to as carefully as natural teeth
to keep germs and infections away.
Dental Implants
Dental implants act as tooth root substitutes,
providing a foundation for artificial teeth.
A metal anchor is surgically inserted into
the jawbone and gradually bonds with the
bone. An artificial tooth is then attached
to the implant. To support implants, you
must have healthy gums and bone under
the teeth.
Natural Teeth
Great news: older adults are keeping their
teeth longer than ever before. Not-so-good
news: seniors are more likely to have cavi-
ties develop around the root of the tooth.
It’s important to take good care of your
natural teeth and gums with daily brushing
and flossing and regular dentist visits.
Taking proper care of your teeth and gums is a lifelong commitment. Follow these simple steps to keep your oral health good for life.
SPECIAL FEATURE
ORALHEALTH
Goodfor Life™
4. Visit your dentist regularly.48% of Canadians who haven’t seen a dentist in the past year have
gum disease. Regular dental exams and professional cleanings are
the best way to prevent and detect problems before they get worse.
1. Keep your mouth clean • Brush your teeth and tongue twice a day.
• Use a soft-bristle toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste.
• Wait at least 20–30 minutes after eating before brushing your teeth.
• Floss every day.
• Look for oral care products with the
Canadian Dental Association (CDA) Seal.
• Eat a well-balanced diet.
• Limit foods and beverages containing sugar or carbohydrates.
• Ideal snack foods: cheese, nuts, vegetables, and non-acidic fruits.
3. Don’t smoke or chew tobacco.Besides ruining your smile, smoking and chewing smokeless tobacco
can cause oral cancer, heart disease, and a variety of other cancers.
Look for signs of gum disease:
• Red, shiny, puffy, sore
or sensitive gums
• Bleeding when you brush
or floss
• Bad breath that won’t go away
Look for signs of oral cancer:
• Bleeding or open sores that don’t heal
• White or red patches
• Numbness or tingling
• Small lumps and thickening on the
sides or bottom of your tongue, the
floor or roof of your mouth, the inside
of your cheeks, or on your gums
2. Check your mouth regularly
EVg�bVS�eVSOb�T`SS�
TOR�RWSb�[Og�\]b�PS��
O�Qc`S�OZZ
Gluten Be Gone0G�E3<2G�5:/CA3@
7::CAB@/B7=<�0G�B@/1G�E/:93@
�! JUST A DECADE ago, the word
“gluten” was foreign to many Canad-
ians. Now it’s become nearly as
ubiquitous as “low fat” on food la-
bels, and eliminating the sub-
stance—a mix of two proteins,
gliadin and glutenin, found in
wheat, barley and rye—from daily
diets is a runaway trend. But is going
gluten-free really the healthiest
course for everyone?
Before gluten-free diets became
the rage, it was mostly people diag-
nosed with celiac disease, a dietary
sensitivity first linked to gluten in
the 1950s, who were advised to stay
away from wheat. Celiac disease af-
fects only one in every 100 to 200
Canadians and is diagnosed
through a combination of a blood
test that detects antibodies and an
intestinal biopsy that looks for Ã
`R�QO���j����" � ��"���j���#�
AC;�=4�/::�>/@BA
damage to the small in-testine. In the 1980s, doctors began to notice that some of their pa-tients who didn’t meet the criteria for celiac disease nonetheless thrived without wheat. In 2011, doctors with expertise in celiac disease from seven countries met in Oslo, Nor-way, to define standards for diag-nosing and treating gluten-related disorders, and formalized the term “non-celiac gluten sensitivity.” That same year, a small, randomized study by Monash University in Aus-tralia of 34 patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) found those who ate bread that contained gluten were more likely to report
digestive pain, bloating, constipation, diarrhea and fatigue. And the trend began to grow.
With so few studies investigating how gluten affects us, we still don’t have enough informa-tion to determine
whether it’s truly a digestive irritant in people who don’t have celiac dis-ease. However, last August, the same Monash University researchers pub-lished a study in Gastroenterology in which they amended their original methodology and discovered gluten may be the wrong target. In the study, 37 participants with IBS who thought they had a gluten sensitivity thrived on a low-FODMAP diet. FODMAP stands for “fermentable
DON’T LET LIFE SLOW YOU DOWN! The good news about getting older is that you know your body better than you ever did before. Taking care of your own health might feel like a change of pace af er years of looking af er everyone else,
but it is never too late to take charge!
PAIN CARE
Relieve your pain with TYLENOL®
We of en think of aches and pains as a
normal part of aging. However, the pain
of arthritis can persist for years before
being diagnosed. In fact, 60 per cent
of those with arthritis suff ered for fi ve
or more years before being formally
diagnosed1. Take control of your pain with
the number one doctor-recommended
medication for osteoarthritis pain relief
with TYLENOL® Arthritis.
NUTRITION
Have your cake and eat it, too.
They say that age is only a number, but
when it comes to calories, those numbers
count! Think sugar, say SPLENDA®, and
enjoy all the flavour with none of the
calories. With zero calories per 1 tsp
serving, SPLENDA® is the perfect way to
satisfy your sweet tooth without adding
the empty calories found in sugar.
WOUND CARE
Heal quickly with BAND-AID®
Brand & POLYSPORIN®
You likely notice that pesky cuts and
scrapes just don’t heal as quickly as
they used to. Take action right away.
POLYSPORIN® Ointment helps prevent
infection to speed healing of minor
wounds. BAND-AID® Brand bandages with
QUILTVENTTM Technology create air
channels for superior breathability. It is
important to have products on hand to
clean, cover, and protect you and your
family’s minor injuries, no matter what
life throws at you.
s There is no cost to join and you’ll get up
to $60 in exclusive coupons for products
from the brands you know and love, like
TYLENOL®, SPLENDA®, and BAND-AID® Brand.
s Earn Essential Rewards™ points, redeemable
towards great gif bundles of Johnson &
Johnson Inc. products, when you save with
Healthy Essentials™ coupons as well as
participate in other activities.
s Access special content, including helpful
tips and expert advice, to help you live
an active, healthy lifestyle.
Sign up today at healthyessentials.ca.
JOIN HEALTHY ESSENTIALSTM TODAY
LIVE YOUR BEST DAY,
EVERY DAYTM
SIGN UP TODAY AT
www.healthyessentials.ca
Scan this page with Layar to save!
ADVERTISING
1 The Pulse Group Inc., 2013The HEALTHY ESSENTIALS™ program provides
oligo-, di- and mono-saccharides and poly-ols,” all of which are short-chain sugars that are poorly absorbed by the body, including fructose, lactose, fruc-tans, galactans (found in beans) and polyols (found in artificial sweeteners and pitted fruits). And when the researchers secretly added gluten (but not wheat) to the low-FODMAP diet, participants didn’t have a problem. The study hypothe-sized that fructan, a short-chain sugar found in wheat, could be the culprit, not gluten. And it’s possible those who do well without wheat might need to eliminate other foods, such as ones that contain polyols, or artificial sweeteners, for example.
Regardless of what science sug-gests, books like Wheat Belly have captured the public’s imagination and encouraged an overwhelming perception that gluten consump-tion leads to a slew of health prob-lems. With society’s fascination with food fads, especially quick fixes, the gluten-free industry is booming. A 2013 report by market research firm Packaged Facts esti-mates the gluten-free market in Canada exceeds $450 million; and the Gluten-Free Expo, where around 100 vendors hawk their cookies and crackers, will hit five
major Canadian cities this year. But there’s a danger to seeing glu-ten as the culprit for all of one’s health woes. “I think people far too quickly ascribe their medical prob-lems to gluten,” says Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, an
obesity expert and medical director of the Bariatric Medical Institute in Ottawa. Symptoms could be related to stress, a problem with the digest-ive tract like IBS or another food trigger, such as lactose. Before making the switch to a gluten-free life, keep a food diary and record the timing of your symptoms. Then make an appointment with a doc-tor or nutritionist.
B63�:743�16/<53
@SUWabS`SR�RWSbWbWO\�2SaW`SS�
<WSZaS\�`SQ][[S\Ra�bVWa�`cZS�
b]�S\ac`S�g]c¸`S�USbbW\U�bVS�TW�
P`S��dWbO[W\a�O\R�\cb`WS\ba�g]c�
\SSR(�µ;OYS�VOZT�]T�g]c`�^ZObS�
T`cWb�O\R�dSUSbOPZSa�SdS`g�bW[S�
g]c�SOb�¶�aVS�aOga��G]c`�ab][�
OQV�eWZZ�TWZZ�c^�eWbV�^`]RcQS��
bSZZW\U�bVS�P`OW\�b]�ab]^�SObW\U�
PST]`S�ZSORW\U�b]�eSWUVb�UOW\��
<]�QOZ]`WS�Q]c\bW\U�`S_cW`SR�
5:CB3< � 0 3 � 5=<3 � �
#"���j����" � ��"���j���`R�QO
BLOATI
NGGAS
ABDOMINAL
DDISCOMFORT
ARE IBS SYMPTOMS MAKING YOU FEEL A LITTLE OFF?
AlignTM can help. Backed by 10 years of research, only Align hasB. infantis 35624, a patented probiotic strain that
relieves and manages Irritable Bowel Syndrome symptoms.Try Align today.
www.AlignGI.ca
†Among gastroenterologists who recommended a brand of probiotic in Source Healthcare Analytics, LLC 2012 survey.
To ensure this product is right for you, always read and follow the label.
2014
HURRY!
Nomination
Deadline
June 13,
2014
NOMINATEA NURSE TODAY!Now’s your chance to make your nomination for the Best Health 2014 Nurse Excellence Awards!
Johnson is proud to once again present these important awards that recognize the dedication of Canada’s great nurses.
Three nurses from across Canada will be chosen to receive an award in the form of
a $1500 cheque donated, in their name, to a healthcare charity of their choice. We’ll
announce the award recipients in the September 2014 issue of Best Health magazine.
Visit besthealthnursingexcellence.ca to make your nomination today!
I’ve been training for my first half-marathon, and my right knee is killing me. Turns out I have runner’s knee. What can I do to ensure a safe and speedy recovery?
Runner’s knee can occur for a num-ber of reasons, but one culprit might be this double whammy: tight, weak quadriceps (the group of muscles in the front of your thighs) and tight hamstrings (the opposing muscle group to the quads, found in the back of your thighs). This injury can occur when your kneecap tracks out of its normal alignment, causing irri-tation on its underside. Avoid ramp-ing up your running mileage or frequency too quickly, and scale back if you feel pain. Make sure your shoes are the best fit for your foot
type—staff at a running store can help. Do strengthening exercises for your quads on both legs, like ball squats—place a stability ball between your lower back and a wall as you squat—or step-ups on a low, sturdy bench. Loosen up leg muscles with stretching and a foam roller.
/[O\RO�D]USZ��;/�Vc[O\�YW\SbWQa��Wa�
O�DO\Q]cdS`�POaSR�QS`bW¿SR�¿b\Saa�W\�
ab`cQb]`�O\R�OcbV]`�]T�\c[S`]ca�P]]Ya��
W\QZcRW\U�0OPg�0]]b�1O[^(�BVS�<Se�
;][¸a�'�;W\cbS�4Wb\Saa�A]ZcbW]\�
2]�g]c�VOdS�O�_cSabW]\�T]`�]c`�^O\SZ-�
=c`�bV`SS�Sf^S`ba�O`S�VO^^g�b]�eSWUV�
W\´Xcab�aS\R�ca�g]c`�_cS`WSa�Ob�
VSOZbVSRWb]`.`R�QO
7 < � B @ 3/B;3<B � �
�! One of the most mysterious
diseases around has television to
thank for upping its visibility.
House, the popular medical drama
that ran from 2004 to 2012, featured
the long-running joke “It’s not lu-
pus.” A go-to response for the
cranky Dr. House, it was trotted out
every time another diagnostician
posited that the chronic autoim-
mune disease was behind a pa-
tient’s bafing symptoms. Tere was
good reason for constantly suggest-
ing lupus, though: known as “the
1VO`bW\U�bVS�̀ WaS�]T�Zc^ca�W\�1O\ORO
Strange Symptoms0G�A/;/<B6/�@723=CB
B63�;=AB�1=;;=<�AG;>B=;A�=4�:C>CA
!��Ac\�]`�ZWUVb��
aS\aWbWdWbg
%� 6OW`�Z]aa
&��>`]Z]\USR�]`��
Sfb`S[S�TObWUcS
�#� ASWhc`Sa
"#�>OW\�W\�QVSab�]\��
RSS^�P`SObVW\U
'#�/QVg�X]W\ba��
�O`bV`OZUWO�
#��7\TZO[[ObW]\��
W\�bVS�YWR\Sga
%"� AYW\�`OaVSa
%�� /\S[WO
>3@13<B/53�=4�
AC443@3@A�E6=�
3F>3@73<13(
$ ���j����" � ��"���j���`R�QO
B63�C>B719
great imitator,” it can masquerade as a variety of other conditions. Because lupus occurs when the body attacks its own cells and tissues, the swath of possible symptoms ranges from hair loss to fatigue, from chest pain to arthritis. It all depends on which parts the overzealous im-mune system targets.
Making a lupus diagnosis even trickier is the fact that there’s no sin-gle test for it. Doctors must look at a battery of lab results, plus a patient’s current symptoms and medical hist-ory, before coming to a conclusion. Those eventually diagnosed with lu-pus are statistically more likely to be female (a staggering 90 per cent), between the ages of 15 and 45, and of African, Asian, Hispanic or First Nations descent.
An estimated 15,000 Canadians are affected by lupus, and the number of cases is increasing. Whether this means there are actu-ally more sufferers or that we’re just getting better at identifying them is unclear. Lupus can be trig-gered by certain medications used to treat seizures, high blood pres-sure or rheumatoid arthritis, so one might think that increased pre-scriptions are contributing to its rise. However, the ratio of lupus cases induced by drugs is around five per cent—too low to have a noticeable impact on the condition’s overall incidence.
One of the other unsolved issues of lupus is how to make it go away. We currently know only how to slow the damage and control the symptoms. But devising a cure is not out of the question, according to Dr. Robert La-hita, Lupus International’s chairman. “The progress made in treatment and diagnosis during the last decade has been greater than that made over the past 100 years,” he says on the founda-tion’s website. “It’s therefore a sensible idea to maintain control of a disease that tomorrow may be curable.”
B63�274471C:BG��
=4�27/5<=A7A
BVS�O\bW�\cQZSO`�O\bWP]RWSa��/</��
PZ]]R�bSab�Wa�Q][[]\Zg�caSR�b]�VSZ^�
RSbSQb�]`�`cZS�]cb�Zc^ca��Pcb�g]c`�
R]Qb]`�aV]cZR\¸b�`SZg�]\�Wb�OZ]\S(�
eVWZS�'%�^S`�QS\b�]T�Zc^ca�acTTS`S`a�
eWZZ�bSab�^]aWbWdS��]\Zg����b]��!�^S`�
QS\b�]T�^]aWbWdS�bSaba�W\RWQObS�Zc^ca��
:c^ca��acTTS`S`a
���b]��!�
>S]^ZS��eWbV�O��^]aWbWdS��/</�BSab
6SOZbVg�^S]^ZS
!�b]���#�
!��]T�Zc^ca�acTTS`S`a��R]�\]b�bSab�^]aWbWdS
`R�QO���j����" � ��"���j���$!
1=D3@�AB=@G
EWbV�bVS�/T`WQO\�ZW]\�S\RO\US`SR��h]]Z]UWab�
9SdW\�@WQVO`Ra]\�Wa�caW\U�VWa�W\bW[ObS�
c\RS`abO\RW\U�]T�bVS�PWU�QOba�b]�aOdS�bVS[
0G�@716/@2�>=>:/9
THE
LION WHISPERER
WATCH THE
LION WHISPERER IN
ACTION WITH LAYAR
`R�QO���j����" � ��"���j���$#
WHEN KEVIN RICHARDSON
steps through the gate
onto a stretch of pristine
South African grassland, time ap-
pears to ripple. The disturbance
causes a momentary abatement
in the roar of the cicadas; the only
sound is the crunch of dry grass un-
der his boots. Then the air shivers,
and half a metric ton of flesh and
muscle bursts from the veld: an adult
lion and lioness, their movements
so fluid they seem poured from the
bush. Before Richardson can prepare
himself, the cats paw his head and
bring him down.
“Bobcat! Gabby!” he coos. “Come
here, my babies!”
The lions flop on top of him like
kittens at play. Over the past 17
years, millions have watched similar
encounters on news segments and
nature channel shows: Richardson,
wearing shorts and a T-shirt, attacked
by several of the planet’s most fear-
some predators. Just as viewers brace
themselves for a bloodbath, a love-in
ensues. No number of YouTube clips,
however, can rival a live perform-
ance. The animals smell like dust
and death. They are not tame; they
are untameable. Somehow, because
of a skill or intuition he cannot name,
Richardson appeals to the softer ele-
ments of their nature.
We have seen the likes of this be-
fore, and we know how it ends. Croc-
odile Hunter, Grizzly Man, Siegfried
and Roy—all killed or injured by ani-
mals they claimed kinship with. Rich-
ardson, who has known these lions
since they were babies, insists he’s
different, but is aware of the risks.
“If I told you there are no issues as-
sociated with what I do, I’d either be
a liar or mentally unstable,” he says,
as Bobcat nuzzles his neck.
No animal behaviourist has ever
endorsed Richardson’s activities—
the prevailing theory is that lions
are too unpredictable to be trusted,
no matter how docile they may ap-
pear. The more persistent criticisms
come from park rangers who often
face considerable danger from large
carnivores while on patrol. Two years
ago, a ranger at Kgalagadi Trans-
frontier Park, a preserve bordering
Botswana, barely survived an attack
where he was dragged off an open
truck by a lion that grabbed his leg
between its teeth. It’s the kind of
threat 27-year-old Mosa Masupe
faces every day. Masupe is a ranger in
Botswana’s Mashatu Game Reserve,
home to several prides. He has fol-
lowed Richardson’s career ever since
he first surfaced in the media in 2000
as the “Lion Whisperer,” and like
many rangers who hear about Rich-
ardson, Masupe believes a gruesome
mauling is inevitable. “Those lions
will kill him,” he says.
In 2001, a lion called Tsavo busted
Richardson’s nose with a blow from
its massive paw. His arms and legs are >6=B=A�0G�B63�/AA=17/B32�>@3AA�23<7A�4/@@3::�1>
B63 � : 7 =< �E6 7 A > 3@3@ � �
$$���j����" � ��"���j���`R�QO
mapped with scars. Even a gentle love
bite could nick a jugular, leaving Rich-
ardson to bleed out in the grass, alone.
“I’m not really worried, because it’s all I
know,” says Richardson’s wife, Mandy,
who has been with him for over 13
years and helps raise their two young
kids. “It’s what he’s done since I met
him. He’s so passionate about his work
that it’s contagious.” So contagious that
for years Mandy also worked as Rich-
ardson’s public relations point guard,
helping build his rough-and-tumble
reputation. “Have you seen any unto-
ward movements from these lions?” he
asks. “There’s no reason for me to hit
them or subdue them. They’re lovable,
social cats, man.”
Perhaps. But does a word like “lov-
able” apply to wild creatures whose
consciousnesses we cannot fathom?
Or is it a case, as the South African
writer J.M. Coetzee once put it, of
there being “no limit to the extent to
which we can think ourselves into
the being of another”? Clearly, Rich-
ardson believes that such empathy,
at least when it comes to lions, knows
no bounds.
RICHARDSON HAS DESCRIBED
himself as a self-taught zo-
ologist, but he is something
deeper—a medium between the
world of wild predators and those
who present a terminal threat to
their survival. In the wild, lions are
menaced from three main sectors:
the relentless spread of agricultural
land, in which 75 per cent of the
Richardson sprawls with adult brothers Tau and Napoleon in their enclosure.
`R�QO���j����" � ��"���j���$%
animals’ natural habitat has been converted into grazing fields for cat-tle; wildlife clashes, where farmers kill hundreds of lions a year in re-taliation for attacks on livestock; and endemic poaching by locals, who can make the equivalent of their annual incomes—about $6,000—by shoot-ing a single lion and selling the meat and bones on the black market. (Lion bones are an acceptable substitute in Asian tiger bone wine, said to boost virility. A status symbol for an ex-ploding Chinese middle class, a case of the potion can fetch as much as US$25,000 at auction.)
As a result, lion populations are be-ing decimated. In 1950, over 200,000 roamed Africa’s vast savannahs. The most recent estimates put the figure at 35,000. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature currently classifies the species as “vulnerable.” Stuart Pimm, a conservation biologist at Duke University in North Carolina who has spent his career studying present-day extinctions, calls it “a full-fledged crisis.” In addition to the ecological costs of knocking off an
apex predator, Pimm describes the loss of lions as an ethical defeat. “It’s a measure of the fact that we aren’t being good stewards. What sort of planet do we want to hand to our children and grandchildren?”
But as bad as things are for wild lions, notes Richardson, life is just as tenuous for the 5,000-plus in captivity in South Africa, raised to be slaughtered like chickens. (With the country’s wild lion popula-tion averaging 3,000, that means the majority of South Africa’s lions are in cages.) Most captive lions begin their careers as cubs on
breeding farms, enjoying the atten-tion of countless visitors. The cats will keep generating money until they’re six months old, at which point tourists will pay as much as $800 for an experience called “walking with,” in which a handler and his guests stroll through a patch of veld with a lion. Twelve months later, no longer adorable, they be-come fodder for tourists in a prac-tice known as “canned hunting.” In 2007 alone, 16,394 foreign hunters
of environmentalists around the world—rest with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s recent decision to look into whether the African lion requires protection under its Endan-gered Species Act, which would pre-vent hunters without permits from bringing lion trophies into the coun-try. The one-year review of the clas-sification would also likely influence whether the Convention on Interna-tional Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) de-cides to lift African lions to a CITES 1 categor ization—also under review.
“Lions are currently CITES 2,” ex-plains Richardson, “which means it’s totally legal with permits to hunt them and export the trophies.” CITES 1 categorization would ban
the exportation of heads, pelts, meat and bones to the United States, as well as the other 178 countries that implement CITES. Considering that the U.S. is by far the canned hunt’s largest customer base, “it would stop the industry in an in-stant,” says Richardson.
The last thing Richardson wants, however, is to end up with more li-ons in his sanctuary, a big reason his females are on contraception. His aim is for the captive population to plummet, and that means placing a nationwide moratorium on lion breeding—something advocated by many conservation groups, including Four Paws, an international animal-welfare organization that runs a lion sanctuary in South Africa.
Richardson poses with Thor days before the premiere of the 2010 movie White Lion.
My family was in the car on a return trip from Nova Scotia, where we had gone to visit our many rela-tives. Because of gasoline rationing, it had been very difficult to visit these relatives during the war, so they now had to be visited on a yearly basis, especially since one of them—an important one, my maternal grand-father—had undergone something called a coronary. I had no clear picture of what this was, but it had something to do with his heart and meant he might die at any minute. I had no clear picture of dying either, except that it happened to tadpoles not properly tended to and caterpil-lars if you didn’t put enough holes in their jar lids. Death was sad, and also smelly, but it wasn’t anything that could conceivably happen to me. (The cousins who were shortly to die of diphtheria were still alive. Was this the last visit on which I saw them? There were more fatal child-hood diseases at that time.)
I t w a s t h e s u m m e r o f — I think—1948, so I was eight years old. Or it might have been 1947, and I was seven. It was soon after the war, in any case, and therefore the highways were empty.
By “highway,” I don’t mean what everyone now pictures: an eight-lane throughway, with few exits and no crossroads, along which trucks and cars hurtle at 110 kilometres an
hour. I mean two lanes, an intersec-tion at every county line and many level crossings for trains. Eighty kilo-metres an hour was considered fast.
Cars were different then. They were bigger, they were heavier, and they were not digitized. Our car was, I believe, a Studebaker. The seats were upholstered in a scratchy grey fabric with an odd smell that was worse in the heat, and this mattered because there was no air condition-ing. The front seat extended all the way across—no bucket seats—and there were no seat belts. There were none in the back seat, either, and there were no car seats for children. No one thought anything of this.
My father was driving. Fathers drove then: it was not usual for moth-ers to drive if fathers were in the car. My father was a man of many pro-jects and was usually in a hurry. His idea was to reach Nova Scotia, get the relative-visiting over with and drive back again as fast as possible, so he
My father’s idea was to reach Nova Scotia, get the relative-visiting over with and drive back again as
fast as possible.
/ � 1 :=A3 � A 6/D3 � �
%&���j����" � ��"���j���`R�QO
drove quickly and for long hours. My mother would aid this scheme by packing sandwiches, doling out Life Savers and massaging the back of my father’s neck while he drove.
When it got dark, we might stop at a motel. (Motels were clumps of tiny cottages with Christmas-tree lights strung along their fronts.) But there were not many of these, so we would simply pull over to the side of the road. My father would cut some tent poles with his axe, and we would set up our heavy canvas tent in a likely spot—which meant any place flat and not in a swamp. We cooked on a campfire or a pump stove, and we peed in the bushes. Needless to say, you would not be allowed to do any of this now. Nor would you wish to, as you would likely get run over or arrested.
A note on my mother. My father was not untypical for that time: there were still a lot of men around who, having migrated from remote locations to towns or cities, had that combination of backwoods and urban skills. But women along the lines of my mother were less usual. She was a self-declared tomboy: scorner of ladies’ hats and tea par-ties, rider of horses, speed skater and, in her youth, daredevil walker of barn ridgepoles. A year or so ear-lier, I had witnessed her chasing a bear away from our outdoor cooking
area with a broom. She did not read-ily lose her cool. Point being: if she later said we almost died, then we almost did die. She was not prone to exaggeration.
Back to the day in question. We were driving west. It was late after-noon. Insects were squishing on the windshield. My brother and I were bouncing around in the back seat, unbelted, on the loose. There was no Internet, there were no iPads or Game Boys or other forms of in-car entertainment, and there was no car radio. So, after cows had been counted in passing fields, games of “I Spy” had ground to a halt and we’d run out of steam on the serial story we took turns narrating, we would fall back on the mischievous. We might even do something delib-erately annoying, such as imitating bagpipes or singing songs we knew my father despised. Or—a new thing, since bananas had just reappeared, having been unobtainable during the war—causing chewed-up banana to extrude from our mouths while say-ing “toothpaste.” Then there would be giggling and snorting, and when our father had had too much of this, he would say “Pipe down, kids.”
In the midst of silliness, we are in death.
We were almost at the “Pipe down, kids” stage. The sunlight was golden.
Three years on, we’ve had a sec-ond child, purchased two iPads, gone through five iPhones (children love lobbing things) and accumulated enough battery-operated junk to fill a toy shop. It’s not that I’ve abandoned fresh air for free apps, or that my chil-dren, now two and four, get Netflix over paintbrushes, but reality some-times calls for the iNanny. It’s how a lot of parents use the iPad. Just in from the daycare dash, Dad is cooking din-ner while Mom is sorting socks and
unpacking lunches, and so the sprogs get 20 minutes of show time. Every-thing in moderation, right?
“Any time there is a massive shift in the tools of life, we don’t know what impact it will have,” says Michaela Wooldridge, a psychology PhD can-didate at the University of British Columbia who is researching how technology affects infant and toddler development. “Because these devices are so new and technology is chang-ing so fast, we haven’t had time to evaluate long-term outcomes.”
A3BB7<5�A1@33<�B7;3 limits, whether it’s on a TV or tablet, is something al-most every parent of a school-age child
grapples with, but the debate is begin-ning at younger and younger ages. Many toddlers are what’s called “digit al natives”—they have never known a world without gadgets. The Canad-ian Paediatric Society’s most recent guidelines, updated in 2013, essentially discourage all “screen-based activi-ties” (including playing on tablets and smartphones) for children younger than two, and recommend two hours or less of “recreational” screen time a day for school-age kids.
Prying an iPad away from a child is familiar territory for many of us. Toronto mom Hayley Chiaramonte sees the creative value of a cult game like “Minecraft” but is concerned by her eight-year-old daughter’s fixation on it. “She’s totally unresponsive when she’s on the iPad. It’s as if she leaves us for another planet,” Chiaramonte says.
According to Wooldridge, experts don’t yet know whether children born three years ago, let’s say, are destined to be more tech-obsessed than an eight-year-old whose early years did not include multiple port-able devices. “Infants and toddlers have been completely unrepresented in the research because it wasn’t
A child’s character and interests play a part in how drawn they are to media, as do parental habits.
A1@33< � 1/>BC@32 � �
&"���j����"��� ��"���j���`R�QO
until recently that they were even considered to be consumers,” she says. A child’s character and interests will play a part in how drawn they are to media, as will parental habits.
A 2013 study from Common Sense Media, an American non-profit that examines the effects of media and technology on young users, found that 38 per cent of U.S. kids younger than two are using tablets or smart-phones—possibly even before they can string a sentence together. (This is up from 10 per cent in 2011.) By the age of eight, 72 per cent of children have used a smartphone, tablet or similar mobile device.
Based on reports from families, Wooldridge hypothesizes that parents and caregiv-ers are citing “education” as the primary objective when granting screen time to babies and toddlers. “The reality is that when you ask parents how the devices are being used, it is mostly to occupy or distract the child,” she says.
Some families may limit tablet use to 20 minutes while stuck in the super-market cart or during a car trip, while others employ them as in-house babysit-ters for hours at a time. But plonking an iPad in a three-year-old’s lap—without a
person there to give the experience instructional value—probably won’t offer much that’s positive, she says. We can praise the latest and greatest apps, but kids still need to be guided.
“The way infants and toddlers de-velop and learn is through social in-teraction, and the device itself can’t provide that,” Wooldridge says.
:7A/�5C3@<A3G�AB@C55:32 with the topic of technology and what was appropriate for her two daugh-ters, now 11 and 10, so much that she wrote a book about it, titled Screen
Time. Guernsey, who works as a jour-nalist and directs an early-education policy program in Washington, D.C.,
7AB=19>6=B=�A6CBB3@AB=19
� � @ 3/23@ ¸ A � 2 7 5 3 AB
`R�QO���j����"��� ��"���j���&#
tells parents to look at the three Cs—content, context and child—when making choices. “Instead of simply saying, ‘Is screen media bad or good for our kids?’ we have to consider the content on the screen, the context in which media is used and your child’s own personal needs,” she says.
With the three Cs in mind, media can be a springboard for conversation, dis-covery and open-ended play. Guernsey
explains that some positive experiences come when you open up a device with your child, learn how it works and en-gage with it together. This could simply mean asking your child questions about the animals in the virtual zoo he’s creat-ing while you unload the dishwasher.
Then come the moments when you want (or need) to pour yourself a cup of tea or glass of wine and read the newspaper. Giving your child the iPad makes that possible. But there’s no reason a tablet cannot be an oc-cupier at one point in the day and a conversation starter at another, says Guernsey. “As long as we’re maintain-ing a healthy ratio between moments of non-interaction and interaction, then I think we’re doing just fine.”
But, as with any other tool, there is a time and place for it to be in-troduced, based on a child’s devel-opmental capacity. “These devices are not benign,” says Wooldridge. What niggles is the idea that the iPad is replacing a richer experience for our children, like playing chess or climbing a tree. Is children’s creativity being sapped by video games and vir-tual worlds?
7B¸A�<=B�/<�either-or situation, says Jason Krogh, CEO of Sago Sago, a Canadian company that designs apps for kids. “It’s as if the point of com-parison is that you’re going to have a conversation with your child as the alternative to them playing with the iPad,” he says. “But we live in a world where that’s not always possible.”
Krogh curates apps for his daugh-ter in the same way he might vet the shows she watches and the books she reads. “A children’s book can be good or bad, a children’s toy can be good or bad, and the same applies for any technology-based experience.” He ad-vises parents to be wary of apps with grand educational claims, and to focus more on what’s fun and imaginative.
“We need to model to our kids that it’s okay to do nothing sometimes,” says Judy Arnall.
A1@33< � 1/>BC@32 � �
&$���j����"��� ��"���j���`R�QO
“I’m very much of the belief that what kids need more of is play.” Krogh cites one of his daughter’s favourite games, “Toca Tea Party” (from Swedish app de-veloper Toca Boca), as a good example of the app as a toy. “It’s not trying to control the whole experience, but in-stead acts as a prop for creative play.”
Guernsey agrees with Krogh’s take but would also like to see different types of games and innovative ways of using our devices. “We need to demand media that promotes social interaction and promotes looking up, and not being so zoomed in,” she says.
That zone of concentration is what makes the iPad a perfect device on long-haul flights, daunting car trips and rainy days at home. But relying on it, says Judy Arnall, a Calgary par-enting expert, deprives kids of any chance of boredom, and boredom is what inspires and enables creativity. “We need to model to our kids that it’s okay to do nothing sometimes.”
7B�2=3A�A33; to be a double-edged sword. When children are getting antsy in a long lineup or at a restau-rant, handing over the iPad is a quick way to pacify them before other pa-trons start judging us for their whin-
ing. Then again, parents also feel like slackers for using technology to solve an age-old parenting dilemma instead of turning it into a teachable moment about practising patience. Without the iPad, says Arnall, your kid might have invented a game for himself or engaged in conversation with grown-ups at the table.
I can’t be the only mother who of-ten falls into the “do as I say, not as I do” school of parenting, as I secretly send a text from the breakfast table. We need to teach our sons and daugh-ters to use the tools of our culture mindfully, and that begins with know-ing when to switch them off ourselves. How can I expect my kids to focus on one thing at a time if I rarely do? Tech-nology is part of children’s daily lives, but the way that it’s embedded in their lives is something that we, as parents, have some control over.
“Set some ground rules with your kids,” advises Arnall. “Block off per-iods in the day when there is no technology.” This applies as much to parents as it does to children. “Setting your own boundaries is what teaches kids to set their boundaries.”
“The tools only have the power we give them,” says Wooldridge.
:=<5�E=@92/GA�can lead to thoughts both embarrassing and in-sightful. Chatter captured on Twitter’s #OverheardInTheOffice includes:
What was yesterday, the 17th? (Pause) What’s today, the 19th?
>75�>3<��.>75M>3<�
Out of curiosity, is this Halloween candy? It’s January, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll still eat it.
3;7:G�B���.>3<B/>=2�
I just need a bucket of coffee to dip my mug into once in a while.
/;<3@GA��./;<3@GA�
I like health. Not so keen on fitness. 8=6<�63<@G��.8=6<63<@GM<3B�
AS\R�O�\Se�e]`Y�X]YS�]`�O\SQR]bS�b]��
`R�QO�X]YS´g]c�Q]cZR�`SQSWdS�O�T`SS�]\S�
gSO`�acPaQ`W^bW]\��ASS�^OUS��"�T]`�RSbOWZa�
B63@3�E/A�a period when our company was constantly being sold, resulting in a new business name each time. After the latest regime change, I said, “We’re going to need a new sign out front.”
A colleague responded, “At this point, I think we’re going to need a blackboard.” 5/@G�A16<3723@
“I like work; it fascinates me. I can
sit and look at it for hours.”
Hu m o r i s t �83@=;3�9��83@=;3
“Saunders, I’ll thank you to take that attitude elsewhere.”
ACA/<�1/;7::3@7�9=</@
&&���j����"��� ��"���j���`R�QO
@ Work
The best of both bowls.
Introducing NEW Quaker® Harvest Warm & Crunchy Granola.
All the satisfying warmth of oatmeal, with the delicious crunch
of granola. Simply add milk, heat, and amazingly, it stays crunchy
WHATEVER I WAS ABOUT to go through, on this fall morning in 2013,
at least I wasn’t in it alone. From the clammy-palm moments before
the anaesthetic takes hold to the agonizing wake-up in the recovery
room, from choking down watery hospital soup to marvelling at my
new scar, I had an ally.
=\S�YWR\Sg�R]\ObW]\�QO\�QVO\US�[O\g�ZWdSa´
W\QZcRW\U�g]c`�TObVS`¸a��/�a]\¸a�ab]`g�
0G�8/A=<�/<23@A=<
7::CAB@/B7=<A�0G�A/0@7</�A;3:9=
CHAINREACTIONS
63/:B6
`R�QO���j����" � ��"���j���'�
Recovering from
a radical
nephrectomy
would be like
recovering from
a stab wound.
AS I PREPPED for surgery at an Ontario hospital, my father—thousands of kilo-metres away in western Canada—was awaiting his turn in the operating suite the next day. Over the next 24 hours or so, many more operations would take place, all part of a synchronized chain of transplants across Canada. For con-fidentiality reasons, I couldn’t be told how many people were involved in the chain or where they lived, but once it was all done, my father would have the kidney he desperately needed, and I would be one shy of a pair. As for the fate of my organ, it would be flown to a hospital out west and given to some-one I didn’t know and may never meet. I’m not used to this kind of intimacy with strangers.
THE DECISION I’D MADE three years earlier to volunteer as a donor didn’t impact just my life and my father’s; it connected us to other people queued for operations. When I wasn’t worry-ing about my own predicament (rare), I spent time imagining families a lot like ours: concerned, fearful, hope-ful. We’d all seen the effects of kidney disease. For my brothers, mother and me, it was a potential end to decades of uncertainty, of watching my dad deal with dropping energy levels and an array of medical problems.
I wanted to give my dad a healthier life, without harming my own. My parents also had a complex set of emotions about what I’d set out to do. “I love my children and wouldn’t want to see any of you go through the pro-cess,” my father told me. “But I know that’s my best chance of getting a kid-ney.” My mother was thankful, too, though she would have gladly taken my place if she’d been a viable donor.
Unlike Mom, I had made the cut—and was waiting to be cut open. I’d mostly quelled the worries that clouded the merry-go-round of blood workups, ultra-sounds, chest X-rays, urine analyses and re-nal scans. In 2012, we’d been part of a chain that collapsed, as some do because of tissue
incompatibilities, unrelated medical issues, life changes and other factors. My dad felt disappointed. I felt guilty. Small though it was, there was an un-mistakable sensation: relief. While I was committed to seeing the opera-tion through, I wasn’t necessarily in a hurry to go under the knife. I still had so many questions—then and now.
Was becoming a living donor the right decision, or would I need that spare kidney down the road? Would my dad get back to the kind of life he wanted? How long before I could lift
16/ 7 < � @ 3/1B 7=<A � �
' ���j����" � ��"���j���`R�QO
my toddler? Why would I volunteer for pain by climbing onto an operat-ing table, like the blue one a nurse was now ushering me onto?
Pain. I’d shattered an elbow in a bike accident in 2006, and it was ex-cruciating. A doctor friend said that recovering from a radical nephrec-tomy—a kidney removal—wouldn’t be as bad. The only sensitive zone would be the incision site on my ab-domen. As he casually informed me, it would be like recovering from a stab wound. Oddly, I was reassured.
Thinking of it in stabbing terms made me feel like a tough guy—even if I did find it a bit chilly in the oper-ating suite. I soothed my nerves with thoughts of a day spent with my dad, doing what he liked best: golfing. So what if I hated golf? A minor detail in a much bigger picture.
I NEVER WOULD have been able to help my father if not for the growing popularity of “daisy chain” donations, more often known as living-donor paired exchanges. A kind of organ-ized swap meet, these chains feature donors who are incompatible with their loved ones (as I was with my dad due to our different blood types) and are instead matched with people in the same situation.
Though the idea of paired ex-changes has been around since the 1980s, it was only in the late 2000s that health-care systems and hospital
networks worldwide began widely in-stituting programs to come to the aid of hard-to-match patients. Canadian Blood Services has been facilitating exchanges with its partners in the provincial health-care systems since 2009. Paired exchanges accounted for 10 per cent of the 456 living-donor kid-ney transplants performed in Canada in 2011. Though some chains in the United States have included dozens of participants, examples here typically consist of eight to 10 people to keep matters manageable. More often than not, they also include an “altruistic donor,” someone who doesn’t have a specific recipient in mind but whose participation can greatly improve the odds of making a viable chain.
The Kidney Foundation of Canada estimates that 2.6 million Canadians either have kidney disease or are at risk due to conditions such as dia-betes and high blood pressure. Now
� � @ 3/23@ ¸ A � 2 7 5 3 AB
`R�QO���j����" � ��"���j���'!
66, my father had been coping with kidney problems since he was diag-nosed in his early 20s with glomer-ulonephritis, a disease that affects the kidneys’ ability to filter blood of waste and excess fluid and salt. He’d contracted it as a result of streptococ-cal infections that hadn’t been prop-erly treated while he was growing up on a farm in southern Saskatchewan.
As a kid, I didn’t really notice my dad’s health, but I do remember how his energy flagged through my teens: there were fewer family trips, more long naps. By the time he was 44—only two years older than I am now—his kidney function had declined to the point he needed dialysis. As it does for 1.5 million people world-wide (and more than 23,000 in Can-ada), that meant being hooked up, multiple times a week, to a machine that filters the blood—though not as efficiently as a kidney can, and with a host of side effects like hypotension
and anemia. My dad was on dialysis for less than a year before undergo-ing a first transplant with a kidney from a deceased donor. Equal parts optimist and pragmatist, he believes he’s lucky to have been ill at a time when dialysis and transplants were becoming widespread. “Had I been of a previous generation, I wouldn’t have lived past 45,” he says. “When they had kidney failure, they died.”
His replacement kidney lasted 15 years, very good for borrowed parts. In 2007, it was back to dialysis and the waiting list for a kidney. He was stable on dialysis, but years of medi-cation regimes and other physical strains were causing problems (his heart being just one area of concern). Could the solution be as simple as me supplying him with a fresh one?
Most of us have more renal func-tion than we will ever need: serious health problems occur only once function falls below 25 per cent, and you require only 10 per cent to stay off dialysis. According to Dr. Peter Nickerson—a transplant nephrolo-gist at the University of Manitoba who serves as the medical director of organ transplantation for Canad-ian Blood Services—just because a patient has only one kidney doesn’t mean they’ll max out at 50 per cent. “We’ve had patients who’ve had 70 or 80 per cent on one kidney,” he says.
It would seem life with one kidney isn’t necessarily different from life
with two. So when all the tests con-firmed I was a prime candidate, my father and I entered the database of possible matches. My journey to the operating table had begun.
I THOUGHT I MIGHT be sad about my parting with Left Kidney—newly edu-cated, I’d only begun to appreciate its value. Instead, when I woke up in the recovery room, my first thought was, I want more drugs. Sensing I was not the stoic sort, a nurse offered me an epidural. I’d seen its euphoric effect on my wife after 23 hours of labour; I now understand the appeal.
The recuperation process wouldn’t always feel so fantastic. The incision took time to heal, as did the abdom-inal wall underneath, but by the six-week mark, I was moving without discomfort. As for my dad, his doctors were thrilled: unlike his first trans-plant, there were no rejection epi-sodes. I could hear the excitement in his voice every time we talked on the phone to trade post-op health de-tails and plan get-togethers. It would just be visits to each other’s homes at first, but now that he wasn’t tethered to a dialysis machine, maybe the trips could be more ambitious, like the
European holidays from my childhood. It would be somewhere with nice golf courses, but good beaches, too, so my daughter could impress her grandpa with her sandcastle-smashing skills.
ODD AS IT may seem, I don’t often wonder who’s walking around with my kidney. When Nickerson asks me about my experience, I tell him I’m surprised by my lack of curiosity. To me, it’s as if there’s no stranger be-tween me and my dad—he’s the one who received my kidney. This isn’t uncommon, apparently. Nickerson says many donors feel that way be-cause they can see the direct impact the chain had for their loved ones. In our case, it’s not just the health bene-fits. There’s a new closeness between my father and me, born out of shared experiences (distance be damned).
I’m only beginning to understand the importance of my role in my dad’s story and in the stories of those nameless recipients. On my end, I’m happy it didn’t take me long to fulfill a major post-surgery desire: being able to wrestle my daughter into her snowsuit. I can’t wait until she’s old enough to hear the story about how Dad got his cool scar.
Raised in the suburbs, John Aldridge (left) chose fishing in his mid-20s. In 2006, he
bought the Anna Mary with his best friend since grade school, Anthony Sosinski.
`R�QO���j����" � ��"���j���''
stander, who was working the Coast Guard’s search-and-rescue computer program, known as Sarops.
By 6:28, the command centre had notified the search mission coordina-tor in New Haven and the search co-ordinator at the district headquarters in Boston, who approved the use of two helicopters and a search plane. At 6:30, Davis issued a universal dis-tress call on Channel 16, asking mar-iners to keep a sharp lookout.
Davis kept working the radio. He contacted the Coast Guard station in Montauk with instructions to launch
all available boats and ra-dioed Air Station Cape Cod to tell them to get airborne as soon as possible.
Winters was busy man-ning Sarops. At its heart is a simulator that can gen-erate, in minutes, as many as 10,000 points to repre-sent how far and in what direction a “search ob-ject” might have drifted.
The challenge in Al-dridge’s case was that the search team had no clear idea when (and there-fore where) he had fallen overboard. That created a potential search area larger than Rhode Island, a sweep of ocean 48 kilo-metres wide and extend-ing 97 kilometres south—a
search area almost impossible to cover. The team in New Haven based
their initial calculations on Sosin-ski’s report that Aldridge was sup-posed to wake him up at 11:30 p.m. That suggested to them that Al-dridge had fallen overboard between 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m., which would put him somewhere between eight and 32 kilometres south of the Long Island coast. Winters input those assumptions, and Sarops came back with an “Alpha Drift,” with the highest-probability locations clustered about 24 kilometres offshore.
A few weeks after his son’s rescue, John Aldridge Sr.
got a tattoo on his arm of big green fishing boots.
You know all about silver linings – those hopeful or positive aspects of otherwise diffi cult situations that inspire
us to persevere. But do you know about green linings? When we take on a new lifestyle challenge for our health, the “green lining” is the
bonus benefi t for the environment. Thinking about it can help you stay motivated
and optimistic, rather than overwhelmed, while pursuing a healthier lifestyle.
Following these seven easy tips will make you healthier, while creating a greener planet!
GREENLININGSSeven healthy lifestyle changes
with “green linings” for the environment
BY BREANNE ARMSTRONG,
EARTH DAY CANADA
SPECIAL FEATURE
GET ACTIVEHealth Canada recommends that adults
should accumulate at least two and a
half hours of physical activity each week,
while children and youth need at least
60 minutes per day. Getting more exercise
has countless benefits for our physical and
emotional health! Walking or biking to work
instead of driving reduces harmful pollution
and fossil fuel use in our professional lives
while allowing us to enjoy nature.
GO MEATLESSConsider eating meat less often, and
increasing your vegetable intake! By
going meatless one or two days per
week, you can reduce water and air
pollution from animal waste, stop
rainforests from being cut down (for
grazing or feed crops), and save
thousands of litres of water and
hundreds of kilograms of grain.
QUIT SMOKINGIt’s obvious that giving up cigarettes is
good for your health – but did you know
that it is also very beneficial for the
environment? According to the City of
Ottawa’s website, Canadians toss away
nearly 8,000 tonnes of cigarette butts
each year! Littered butts take 15 years to
decompose, contain toxic chemicals that
leach into the soil, and have even been
found in the stomachs of birds and animals.
CHOOSE NATURAL ALTERNATIVESCosmetics, personal care, and cleaning
products can be dangerous. By simply
using them, and without even knowing
it, many of us put toxins onto our skin,
our bodies, or throughout our homes
every day. Many products can even be
replaced by homemade recipes made
from a few basic ingredients, such
as baking soda, coconut oil, vinegar,
or lemon juice. Not only are these
inexpensive options toxin-free, they also
need less pollution-producing packaging
and transportation.
EAT LOCALAnother healthy step is increasing the
amount of local food you consume. Fresh
produce has none of the preservatives
and additives found in canned or
processed versions, and is richer in
vitamins. The green lining? By eating
locally, you reduce the pollution created,
and energy used, from shipping and
storing food from across the globe.
A NIGHTOUTWant to support a
healthier environment
while treating yourself
to a night out? Join Mill
Street Brewery for Earth
Hour on Saturday, March
29, 2014. Candlelit parties
will bring the community
together in a symbolic
environmental effort, and
50 cents from every pint
sold that day and evening
will be donated to Earth
Day Canada! The Lights Out
campaign will continue
during Earth Month: for
every six-pack of beer sold
in stores from March 30
to April 26, Mill Street will
make a 50 cent donation
to Earth Day Canada.
For more information
about the event, visit
www.earthday.ca.
SPECIAL FEATURE
EARTH DAY CANADA’S MOBILE APP TRAVELS WITH YOU
There is so much we can do to create a healthier environment. At Earth Day
Canada, we wanted to help you make this a part of your daily routine. That’s
why we created a brand new mobile app to make it easy and fun! Starting in
April, be one of the first to install the app. Complete eco-friendly challenges
to accumulate points, then share your achievements with friends. You can also
redeem the points for discounts and prizes at participating green-minded
Canadian retailers. Join the fun at www.earthday.ca.
DRINK WATERGetting enough water
maintains vital balance
in our bodies; it also
helps us concentrate,
supports the immune
system, removes toxins,
improves the appearance
of our skin, and can even
assist with weight loss
when you substitute it for
higher-calorie beverages.
Other good reasons to
choose water over soda or juice? Producing, storing,
and shipping drinks uses up resources and energy,
and creates packaging waste, much of which ends
up in the landfill.
SPEND MORE TIME OUTSIDEAccording to a report by the David Suzuki
Foundation based on the results of its 30x30
Nature Challenge, those who spent even as little as
30 minutes outside each day “reported significant
increases in their sense of well-being, feeling
more vitality and energy, while feelings of stress,
negativity, and sleep disturbances were all reduced.”
SPECIAL FEATURE
TOP 10 ACTIONSTO REDUCE YOUR IMPACT
ON THE ENVIRONMENTWe are all busy these days, but there are quick, easy, and affordable
ways to reduce your carbon footprint and lessen our impact on the earth. Let’s embrace our environmental responsibility!
1 SIMPLESAVERS
Replace incandescent light bulbs with LEDs, and use aerators on faucets and shower heads.
2 DON’TDISCARD
Donate, reuse, and recycle items before throwing them in the trash.
5 WASHING & DRYING
Wash full loads of clothes in cold water and hang to air dry.
6CAREFULCLEANING
Choose natural, non-toxic cleaning products and make simple, natural cleaners using vinegar, baking soda, and water.
9 HEATING & COOLING
For summer air conditioning, set your thermostat to 24°C or 25°C and for winter heating, 19°C or 20°C. Install ceiling fans and programmable thermostats.
IIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIIII
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
25°C
4 FOOD CHOICES
Choose local and organic foods that are in season, and when possible try to eat less meat.
7SMARTSHOPPING
Buy what you need, not what you want. Also, consider renting and borrowing things you don’t often use.
10 CLOSETO HOME
Vacation, travel, and work as close to home as possible.
3 TRANSPORTATIONALTERNATIVES
Walk, cycle, car pool, and use public transportation, or consider car sharing programs or renting.
MAIN STREET
8 BATHROOMBASICS
Take short showers instead of baths and close water taps while brushing your teeth.
e a r t h d a y. c a
=>3<7<5�/�>@3A3<B from Santa
this past Christmas, my four-year-
old granddaughter, Savannah,
was having trouble getting past
the tied ribbon. Finally succeeding,
she flipped over a second gift and
eyed the ribbon tied around it,
which is when she asked, exasper-
ated, “Why did Santa put all these
traps on my presents?”
A/<273�0@=E<��C a l g a r y
BE=�>=:713�=44713@A recently
visited my four-year-old grand-
daughter Marrin’s daycare to give a
talk about the importance of telling
the truth. After, when the presenter
asked if there were any questions,
Marrin raised her hand. “I peed the
bed last night,” she confessed.
D/:/@73�/:23@A=<��S p r i n g h i l l , N. S .
AS\R�g]c`�Tc\\WSab�YWR�ab]`WSa�b]�`R�QO�
X]YS´g]c�Q]cZR�`SQSWdS�O�T`SS�]\S�gSO`�
acPaQ`W^bW]\��ASS�^OUS��"�T]`�RSbOWZa�
“It’s worse than a sugar highÑI let them play with
The same scene today would look a little different. Instead of a Player’s Light, a teenage girl might be “vap-ing” on a Blu, an NJOY or any of the other e-cigarette brands currently flooding the market. According to the National Youth Tobacco Survey from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the percent-age of American middle and high school students who have tried e-cigarettes doubled from 3.3 per cent in 2011 to 6.8 per cent in 2012. While research shows the majority of vapers are either former or current smokers, the survey found that 160,000 stu-dents who had tried e-cigarettes had never smoked traditional cigarettes.
Today it’s also a lot easier to pur-chase e-cigarettes than analogs, a term used for old-school cigarettes. While Health Canada hasn’t author-ized the sale or advertising of any e-cigarettes, minors can buy them from suppliers online, where no proof of age is required. (Nicotine-free brands, such as eRoll and Dune Cigs, are sold over the counter in Canada at convenience stores and are exempt from age restrictions.) There’s no real data yet, but medical authorities such as the CDC are concerned young non-smokers exposed to nicotine in e-cigarettes may be enticed to take up traditional smoking.
As more tobacco companies en-ter the e-cig market, the “gateway” risk rises, says David Hammond, an
associate professor at the School of Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.
“If I’m a CEO, there’s an incen-tive to grow the nicotine market, not shrink it by having people transition from cigarettes to e-cigarettes to ab-stinence,” Hammond says. “They want people to use both. Even the marketing of e-cigarettes is similar. They use superattractive models—images that say it’s fashionable. It doesn’t look like a health message, as in ‘Here’s a way to quit smoking.’ What it does look like is, ‘Wouldn’t you like to try these?’”
/11=@27<5�B=�B63 first consumer data by research group GfK, of Amer-ican smokers who are also e-cigarette users, 56 per cent are male and 44 per cent female. (The majority are millennials.) However, brands such as Vapor Couture and Vaping Vamps clearly target women, with their pink-and-purple packaging and curlicue fonts. “Women’s only” e-cigarettes are sleeker and more elegant, says Ma-ria Verven, CEO of Vaping Ventures, the company behind Vaping Vamps. “Vaping is a hip, healthy alternative to smoking,” she tells me. “I don’t see any problem with marketing to women.”
Last year, Blu, which holds 40 per cent of the e-cigarette market, signed Jenny McCarthy and Stephen Dorff as spokespeople and rolled out unprecedented web, TV and print
?C 7 B B 7 <5 � B 7 ; 3 - � �
�� ���j����" � ��"���j���`R�QO
campaigns. NJOY premiered a web ad starring Courtney Love, and tab-loids ran stories showing Kate Moss, Sienna Miller and Robert Pattinson holding e-cigarettes.
According to a report by Citibank, from 2011 to 2012, print-ad spending on e-cigarette marketing in the United States rose 71.9 per cent, while spending on TV ads rose 17.9 per cent—a sig-nificant new revenue source for media. But the fi-nancial windfall may be short-lived because the at-torneys gen-eral from 40 states are urg-ing the Food a n d D r u g Administra-tion (FDA) to restrict the ad-vertising and sale of e-cigarettes so that it doesn’t directly target youth (for example, by playing up e-cigs’ fruit and candy flavours).
In Canada, almost all advertising of tobacco products is banned, al-though there are exceptions—it’s per-mitted in publications with an adult readership of 85 per cent or more. In addition to advertising, “seeding” in-fluential cultural events has become a popular strategy in both the U.S. and Canada. At the spring/summer
2014 New York Fashion Week, NJOY distributed e-cigarettes after shows; samples of the nicotine-free brand Luli were handed out during the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.
Sharon Anne Cook, a professor in the faculty of education at the Uni-versity of Ottawa and author of the 2012 book Sex, Lies and Cigarettes,
says the marketing strategy behind e-cigarettes may appeal to
women for the same reasons we flocked
to slimmer ciga-rettes in the
mid-20th cen-tury. “The so-called ‘light’ cigarettes in the women’s market were
d r i v e n b y the belief that
they were far safer than regular
cigarettes, and this belief was promoted by
tobacco manufacturers.”
/@3� 3�175/@3BB3A� A/43@- “If I look at the ingredient list of e-ciga-rettes, then, yes,” explains Peter Selby, chief of the Addictions Program at the Centre for Addiction and Men-tal Health in Toronto. The solution inhaled during vaping is typically a mix of vegetable glycerine, propyl-ene glycol and polyethylene glycol—
Lesson 1: Nobody Puts Baby in the CornerTokki is not used to being on a ter-
race at the decidedly adult hour of
9 p.m. From his perch, he cranes his
neck to make saucer eyes at a nearby
foursome: chic adults sipping wine,
oblivious to the Parisian rive gauche.
Laying out baby spoons in triplicate,
I feel a twinge of self-consciousness.
Never mind looking like tourists—
looking like nervous
parents is worse.
W h e n o u r p l a t e s
arrive, I crack open
Tokki’s purée tube, but
he shakes his head. He
only has eyes for the
steak. Since there’s no
way I’m feeding him
my husband’s medium-
rare meat, I break my
burger open to ex-
amine it for pinkness.
As I rack my brain for
the rules about babies
and blue cheese, Tokki’s fingers are
already in my food. I fashion a mor-
sel of hamburger meat running with
jus and offer it up. Still saucer-eyed,
he chomps furiously as I cool off a
small pile of fries, which he scarfs as
quickly as 10-month-old coordina-
tion allows.
At the end of the meal, the rice
cakes and purée sit untouched.
Across the pond, we tend to con-
centrate on nutrition, whereas the
French focus on pleasure. Watching
Tokki fill his chubby fists with my
meal, I have to admit I’ve never seen
him devour purée with such passion.
Lesson 2: Oh, Behave!The sun shines on the heads of chil-
dren riding ponies along the Jardin
du Luxembourg’s gravel paths. We
park Tokki’s stroller and step into
the Théâtre des Marionnettes to wait
for the puppet show to
begin. There’s a rus-
tling behind us, and
my son turns to stare
as a grandmother un-
wraps cookies for her
granddaughter’s snack.
Offering one to me, I
politely shake my head
no, but the little girl
protests. “Non. II n’a
pas le droit,” the grand-
mother says brusquely
to her charge. French
children either have le
droit—the right—to do something or
they don’t.
Evidence of this strictness is ev-
erywhere, including Annecy, in the
country’s southeast. One rainy after-
noon, Tokki and I take shelter in the
town library as a kindergarten class
files past us. I watch as they neatly
hang their purple pinafores on hooks.
Two guardians mix among the class,
neither shushing nor raising a voice.
No one fights over a book.
When I was
growing up, my
parents let me
know who was
in charge, and
it definitely
wasn’t me.
B= � >/@ 7 A � �E 7 B6 � B=B � �
��&���j����"��� ��"���j���`R�QO
freedomtouring
enjoy the
of
Save up to $200 per couple* on tours to Europe with offer code ERL0-AA9-980.
Contact your travel professional or call 800.432.5270 for details.www.gocollette.com
True adventures go beyond
incredible destinations or inclu-
sive packages. Collette delivers
an essential sense of possibility
across all seven continents. Wake
each morning on tour with a new
experience in front of you and let
us seamlessly handle the details.
With Collette, the world is within
your reach.
guided by travel
Reader’s Digest is a registered trademark of The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc. Used under license. *Offer is valid on new retail bookings only made between 3/10/14 - 4/30/14 for travel between 3/10/14 - 4/30/15 on any Collette tour. Space is on a first come, first served basis. Offer is not valid on group or existing bookings or combinable with any other offer. Call for details on Alaska Discovery. Offer savings are $200 per couple or $100 per person. Other restrictions may apply; call for details. Travel Industry Council of Ontario Reg. # 3206405 BC Reg. # 23337
Special offer to readers:
We spend the next day sprawled on a lawn overlooking Lac d’Annecy. Families cluster around peacocks in the open-air aviary, while girls in Sunday dresses play badminton. When a toddler starts to scream, I observe the unflappable French mother in action. Marching the girl into a field in full view of everyone, the mother takes several paces before turning her back while her daughter wails. After what feels like an eternity, the child is tenderly collected and they walk away hand in hand. I’m in awe. Had the mother been too harsh? Or did I want to be more like her?
French parents do not panic in the face of meltdowns, but I am not French. On our last night in Annecy, in my desperation to feed the baby on schedule, we sit down at a café with no wait. As Tokki’s fussing turns to shrieking, I become so stressed that I tersely part ways with my husband and return to our hotel—forgetting he was about to find out whether he had won a festival prize. (He does.)
That night I’m filled with pride and then remorse. Why couldn’t I have finished eating and given my husband a kiss for good luck? Look-ing back on my own childhood in Toronto, I wonder if my Korean im-migrant parents were secretly French. When I was growing up, they let me know who was in charge, and it def-initely wasn’t me.
Lesson 3: Two’s Company, Three’s LoudThe French don’t understand the way North American children can eclipse the very thing that brought them into existence: the couple. The night I for-got to wish my husband good luck, I learned of his big prize alone. As Tokki slept spread-eagled on our ho-tel bed, my husband was partying in a ballroom at L’Impérial Palace.
In the crowd of filmmakers was a European duo who had decided their children weren’t going to keep them from enjoying the festivities. The French father pushed a snor-ing toddler in his stroller, while the Dutch mother had their sleeping nine-month-old strapped to her back. When my husband told me about them the next morning, I was full of admiration and bewilderment. Where did they get the nerve to keep their babies out past midnight?
Now that we’re home, I still priori-tize Tokki ahead of ourselves. Does this mean he will become a “child king,” as the French say with dis-dain? Is the idea of a well-mannered toddler a fantasy I should file along-side my dream French wardrobe and flawless accent? At the end of the day, my child is perfect to me just the way he is. He doesn’t need to be French, and I don’t think he minds that I’m not, either. Although I may keep trying.
NOW, PICTURE YOURSELF THERE... Send us a photo and description that
showcases your travel destination...
at home in Canada or abroad for a chance
to win a $10,000 vacation for two
to central Italy courtesy of Collette!
YOUR WORLD IN
PICTURES!
guided by travel
SCAN THIS PAGE
WITH LAYAR
TO ENTER!
ENTER NOW AT RD.CA/COLLETTE OR FACEBOOK.COM/READERSDIGESTCANADA
ITALY
ENTER
FOR YOUR
CHANCE
TO WIN A
$10,000
VACATION
TO ITALY!
For complete rules, go to www.rd.ca/collette or www.facebook.com/readers digestcanada or write to: Your World in Pictures Contest at The Reader’s Digest Association (Canada) ULC, c/o Prize Award Office, 1125 Stanley Street, Montreal, Quebec H3B 5H5. The final close date for this contest is April 30th, 2014 at 23:59:59 EDT. Prizes may not be exactly as shown. Approximate prize value.
Rooted in traditional medicine and natural ingredients, Lakota is medicine
that workst to relieve joint pain.t Try Lakotay and write your own story abouty
pain relief. Visit lakotaherbs.com/facebookt
A concentrated herbal
pain reliever that
works to relieve your
arthritis and joint pain.
Try it, it works!
the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, pick-ing up cargo. It’s all in Dutch, each page signed by a port master and of-ficially stamped. But 10 or so pages in, I recognize Dad’s handwriting.
On March 5, 1942, Dad—an officer in the Malayan Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve—commandeers the boat and begins to meticulously record their escape voyage, day by day. He lists the names of the men on board and records each one’s duties and what his intentions are (“to avoid capture by Japanese; to proceed up coast us-ing land breezes until latitude of N.E. Monsoon, with which we could cross Indian Ocean to Ceylon”). When Dad wrote these words, he was only 26 years old and had no way of know-ing what a harrowing 37 days at sea
he was about to endure—surviving Japanese strafing, high seas, limited rations and little water—nor that fate was guiding him across the Atlantic Ocean to New York City, where he would meet Mum.
Even more miraculously, there are photos of Dad and other officers on board the Sederhana. Dad has a beard and looks half-starved, more Errol Flynn than Cary Grant—but who thought to bring a camera, plus film, in the rush to escape?
D71B=@�/<2�7�dig further into the old tin trunk while Chris contin-ues to excavate the trunk room. At one point, he approaches us, his arms full of white plastic bags. As he dumps them on the wicker chair,
From Unravelling.Almost half of all Canadians afected by dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, are waiting too long to be diagnosed. Yet, early diagnosis can improve the journey for the person with dementia and prepare their family and friends for what lies ahead. Find out more at www.earlydiagnosis.ca and see your doctor.
There’s So Much To Hold On To.
DOWNLOAD the FREE Reader’s Digest App for iPad
and subscribe today for instant access to the latest issues—
right at your fi ngertips at rd.ca/app
We’re here for you.Wherever you are.
6
MONTHS
FREE
for current
print
subscribers!
LIKE. PIN. TWEET.
CAPTURE. LET’S CONNECT.
USE YOUR iPAD AND
DOWNLOAD OUR APP
NOW BY SCANNING THIS
PAGE WITH LAYAR.
Apple and iPad are trademarks of Apple Inc.,
registered in the U.S. and other countries.
App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.
���POePSS—A: raucous laughter.
B: ornate costume jewellery. C: cop-
per coin of little value.
��VgbS—A: completely unhinged.
B: neat and well-organized. C: fes-
tive outing.
!��YS\—A: herd sheep using a dog.
B: catch in the act. C: have know-
ledge of.
"��POW`\—A: unit of measurement
for weight. B: infant. C: state of
drunkenness.
#��P`Oe—A: impressive. B: lopsided
football victory. C: working-class
residential area.
$��\c[^bg—A: cold-storage room.
B: absent-minded person. C: hare-
brained scheme.
%��abOaVWS—A: commotion. B: sleep-
ing berth on a train. C: velvet-
trimmed dinner jacket.
&��aZSSYWb—A: mountainous land-
scape. B: penny-pinching business-
man. C: cunning.
'��eORaSb—A: term of endearment
for a clumsy friend. B: person who
binds sheaves in the harvest field.
C: mortgage.
����PSddg—A: alcoholic beverage.
B: flock of geese flying in a V-forma-
tion. C: root vegetable.
����YW`Y—A: elder statesman of the
community. B: church. C: large
meadow left unattended.
� ��aQc\\S`—A: irrational dislike.
B: aggressive fishmonger. C: unwel-
come surprise.
�!��U`OWbV—A: grazing plot for
calves. B: raging summertime thun-
derstorm. C: implements for work,
travel or war.
�"��TOW\—A: single-edged knife worn
with a kilt. B: eager. C: caretaker’s
cottage.
�#��P]UUW\¸—A: filthy. B: bump or
swelling after a blow. C: flat-bot-
tomed fishing vessel.
April 6 is when the clans converge and the Scottish diaspora dons its kilts. Marked by pipe-band parades
and highland dancers, Tartan Day celebrates the signing of Scotland’s declaration of independence in 1320.
Ready to fire up the bagpipes?
0G�8=/<�>/53�;193<</
`R�QO���j����" � ��"���j����"�
Word Power
���POePSS—[C] copper coin of little value; as, After the wedding, Gillian stopped to toss the screaming chil-dren a few bawbees for chocolates and candy.
��VgbS—[A] completely unhinged; as, Fiona was a little unsteady leav-ing the bar. “Don’t drive in this fog, missy! That’s a downright hyte idea,” the old bartender admonished.
!��YS\—[C] have knowledge of; as, Ainsley was having second thoughts. “Do you ken the highland terrain well enough to go hiking at night?” she asked her husband.
"��POW`\—[B] infant; as, Kirsteen couldn’t take her eyes off the bairn
in her sister’s arms. “He really looks like Dad,” she said.
#��P`Oe—[A] impressive; as, “Alistair, that’s a braw house you’ve got there, with so many rooms and outbuildings,” Abigail said.
$��\c[^bg—[B] absent-minded person; as, The villagers considered Craig a real numpty for constantly driving on the wrong side of the road.
%��abOaVWS—[A] commotion; as, The disputed last-minute goal at the football match caused a stashie on the field.
&��aZSSYWb—[C] cunning; as, Getting
Moynagh’s endorsement was a sleekit move to sway public opinion and influence the vote.
'��eORaSb—[C] mortgage; as, After the stock market crashed, we put a wadset on the old manor house.
����PSddg—[A] alcoholic beverage; as, “Let’s go round to the pub and grab ourselves a few bevvies after work,” James suggested.
����YW`Y—[B] church; as, The vicar took great pride in maintaining the kirk grounds and polished pews.
� ��aQc\\S`—[A] irrational dislike; as, The new boss bought doughnuts for us on her first day, but Edna took a scunner to her from the get-go.
�!��U`OWbV—[C] implements for work, travel or war; as, The soldiers readied their graith for the long march to battle.
�"��TOW\—[B] eager; as, The newly-weds were fain to stroll the beach hand in hand after dinner.
�#��P]UUW\¸—[A] filthy; as, Hugh complained the rug in his flatmate’s room was absolutely boggin’ and stank.
/\aeS`a
D=1/0C:/@G�@/B7<5A
%³��(�TOW`��³� (�U]]R�!³�#(�SfQSZZS\b
E=@2 � >=E3@ � �
�" ���j����" � ��"���j���`R�QO
Every one of these Sugar Savvy sisters lost weight in just 6 weeks! Crush the food
cravings and fi ght back with Sugar Savvy. It’s an
ef ective solution for kicking your sugar addiction,
beating your bad eating habits, and taking control