Tag Archives: healthy lifestyle

The MV Hondius, an expedition cruise vessel that promised adventure among glaciers, seabirds and remote islands, has become the centre of an international public health investigation after a suspected outbreak of hantavirus left multiple passengers critically ill and at least three dead. A cruise has become a floating epidemiology lecture. …

Something strange has been happening in Trinidad and Tobago. Ask almost anyone how they are sleeping and the answer is rarely enthusiastic. “I not sleeping good these days.” It is said casually, often with a small shrug, as if poor sleep were simply another inconvenience of modern life. Covid exacerbated …

Many women arrive in clinic apologising for their bodies. “Doctor, I know… it’s my weight.” They say it before I check their blood pressure. Before I review their blood tests. Before I ask about sleep, stress, grief, work, hormones or the fact that they have not eaten a quiet meal …

There is a fashionable word for what many people feel right now. Burnout. It sounds modern. Sophisticated. Almost noble. The inevitable tax of ambition. But I am not convinced burnout is the correct diagnosis. I suspect something far less poetic. You are not burned out. You are biochemically overloaded. And …

At first glance, the “wellness industry” looks marvellous. It speaks about prevention. It mentions gut health, cortisol, mitochondria and hormones. But if you watch closely, you’ll notice something peculiar. It never wants you finished. It wants you improved. Optimised. Detoxed. Biohacked. Reset. Rebalanced. Rejuvenated. But never done. A cured patient …

Birthdays are strange things for doctors. For most people, a birthday is cake, candles and messages that arrive in cheerful bursts. For doctors, especially those who have spent years watching bodies fail and time run out, a birthday is also a reckoning. Not dramatic. Not morbid. Just quietly unavoidable. As …

Off the top of my head, I can count 14 North American fast-food franchises thriving in Trinidad and Tobago. There are probably more, but this is the figure I reached without scrubbing my brain too hard. It might not seem a lot, but the number of their outlets comes up …

For as long as I can remember, cow heel soup was a regular on Caribbean tables. As a child, I did not like the texture, the way it made your lips sticky, and the work to get the gelatinous strips off those big hard bones. I was a terribly picky …

Roughly 16 years ago, I interviewed Dr Dan Ramdath, a professor of Biochemistry at The UWI, about the efficacy of olive oil, given its superstar status as a healthy food. He is currently the director of research and a clinical research scientist (Human Nutrition) at the Guelph Research and Development …

I’d wanted to return to the relationship between marketing and the choices we make, a subject I’ve often visited. This column of five years ago contained the points I wanted to make; worth repeating as a reminder. Many of us are trying to adopt a healthier lifestyle. You know, incorporating …