Woodford Files: Favourite Vegetarian Recipes; Top 10 Remedies for Insomnia; Add Your Comments to Articles

Now that 2017 has come and gone, we at Vitality are looking back proudly at the 10 great magazines we published last year that were enjoyed and shared by so many. (People can’t seem to get enough of the latest news about healthy living.) What a pleasure it was to create each issue and then send thousands of copies off with our trusty drivers to over 500 outlets across Ontario. Considering that we first started on this publishing venture in 1989, it’s amazing that we are still as passionate as ever about the world of natural health and alternative medicine.

The exploding popularity of natural health was also on display at the 31st annual Whole Life Expo, a lively gathering that we hosted in November at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. From start to finish, it was our most successful event ever. So we wanted to say thank you to all who came out to visit the show and socialize with likeminded souls.

In this issue, we serve up a wonderful food feature called “Favourite Vegetarian Holiday Recipes” that will give you some great ideas for your winter gatherings and get togethers. These days we are more interested than ever in showingcasing how nourishing and eco-friendly veggie meals can be. The more we cultivate an enlightened plant-based way of eating, the better off our planet will be. (In climate change news, animal agriculture has been identified as one of the top contributors to greenhouse gases by the “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity” report recently published in the journal BioScience.)

Another great feature in this issue is “The Magic of Vitamin C” by senior Vitality writer Helke Ferrie. In it, she provides an impressive summary of research showing the many therapeutic uses of this humble vitamin, from preventing and treating influenza to lowering blood pressure to alleviating arthritis pain. She also tells an interesting story about using intravenous vitamin C to save the life of a boy who had been doused with the herbicide Roundup in a farm accident. Fascinating stuff.

We’re also fortunate this month to have a big feature by Dr. Zoltan Rona entitled “Sweet Dreams: My Top 10 Remedies for Insomnia.” I’ve tried pretty much all of his recommended remedies at various times, and can vouch for their efficacy. These days, getting a good night’s sleep is becoming ever more challenging as the noise and stress continues to increase in our urban environments. One sector of the population that’s suffering greatly is the elderly, those who tend to have trouble sleeping even at the best of times. What I find most despicable is that these sleepless seniors are being prescribed powerful antipsychotic medications that not only fail to improve their symptoms of insomnia but add severe side effects to their problems. (One letter we received recently was from a woman whose neighbour had called in a panic after her husband turned into a raving lunatic while taking Seroquel, an anti-psychotic medication prescribed for his insomnia. And a relative of hers was hauled off in an ambulance after taking the same drug prescribed for the same problem. Apparently these adverse reactions are becoming common.) Needless to say, Dr. Rona’s sleep remedies will come as welcome news to a whole lot of people who are sleepless in Canada.

Looking forward to 2018, there are changes afoot here in Vitality’s world as we adjust our business model to adapt to the evolving media landscape where more readers and advertisers are turning their attention to the internet. To stay in synch with these shifting trends, we have decided to change our magazine printing schedule from 10X per year to 6X per year (every two months), while starting up some more frequent offerings on our website, as well as a monthly digital newsletter coming in the spring. Although you may miss our 10 issues per year, we know you will enjoy all the things going on in our new site, including the ability to comment on articles, watch videos, submit your own videos, and use our search tool to find any topic, writer, recipe or issue that we’ve published since 2000.

We’re also looking at a new Membership model that would allow readers to buy a membership to support the magazine and receive extra member benefits such as free tickets to events, prize draws, and more. And some readers may also choose to become Vitality benefactors to support independent health journalism by sending in larger contributions. It’s all good! To keep up to date on new developments, order a free subscription to our digital magazine (subscribe@vitality magazine.com), and we’ll keep you posted. To respond to this post, email: letters@vitalitymagazine.com or hit the “comments” button below. Happy Winter Solstice, Julia Woodford