Woodford Files

In celebration of the spring equinox coming up on March 20th, you’ll find a new picture here, showing me taking a big bite of green medicine – a big fat organic stalk of celery that’s fresh, bitter, and nourishing – just like spring. (It’s not exactly in season in spring, but it is very photogenic.)

Likewise Vitality is taking a big bite out of spring with new features on supernutrition, disease recovery, and anti-aging in this and coming issues.

The approach of spring notwithstanding, March can still be bitterly cold, and so we bring you a feature on Ancient Grains by Pat Crocker. From spelt to quinoa to chia seeds, these sturdy foods have a long and honourable history of fortifying human health, and so are the perfect food to bolster you against the rigors of changing seasons. Further, ancient grains are by definition free of genetic tinkering and pesticides, and so are almost identical to the grains consumed by our ancestors around the world.

In our Calcium Demystified feature this month, Dr. Zoltan Rona wades through conflicting research on calcium, elucidating the finer points of optimal dosages and forms. In these times of information overload, where it’s hard to tell the truth from the propaganda, I think this kind of unbiased consumer guidance has an important role to play. As usual, all of our articles are open to debate, and so we welcome readers’ feedback and discussion of their own experiences with various vitamins, minerals, and nutritional medicines. With the nurturing of an open forum, we plan to bring you as much discourse as possible on all aspects of these subjects. Send feedback to: letters@vitalitymagazine.com.

And Helke Ferrie’s Drugs Dethroned article in this issue updates us on the shenanigans of the international drug industry – from lawuits to patient deaths to shareholders bailing out. Why does she regularly harp on this subject? Likely so we’ll begin to understand the hazards of passively accepting pharmaceutical medicine as the only course of action when treating our chronic diseases.

Perhaps the most valuable point made in the Ferrie’s article is that: “Symptoms are the urgent demand our bodies make on us for intelligent dialogue.” Indeed, I’d say this is a fundamental truth behind the crisis afflicting conventional healthcare. If, for example, you have high blood pressure and clogged arteries, conventional medicine tells the patient to take a pill and forget about it (the dialogue is turned off), so the disease process continues while its causes remain unaddressed. In wholistic healthcare and alternative medicine, those symptoms are interpreted as the body’s cries for help, which are taken seriously enough that patients are encouraged to explore the lifestyle changes and nutritional medicines that will bring down that blood pressure and clear out those arteries.

For people who don’t particularly want to eat celery for breakfast instead of junk food, the pill popping route may be just what the doctor ordered. But for those who genuinely want to get their health back up and running, wholistic healthcare is where it’s at.

This month I’d like to send a big shout out to the unsung heroes at Vitality – our circulation staff. Throughout this heavy duty winter with its snow and blizzards and icy roads, these folks have toiled to bring the print version of our magazine to every corner of our extensive network of over 500 outlets. They are the critical link between us and you. So thankyou to senior distributors Rory Davies and Margarita Platov, whose trucks have carried heavy loads on our behalf for many years throughout the Greater Toronto Area. And welcome to new driver Daniel Pikelin who is having fun visiting all the great businesses on his new routes in Scarbrough and Ajax / Pickering region. Also kudos to Lorraine Stewart, a hardy soul who has been delivering Vitality to folks in Peterborough and surrounding areas for many years.

This month, we bid a fond farewell to Henk Ketelaars, who has done an excellent job of circulating Vitality throughout London and area for over a decade. He is now retiring from active service, and passing the torch to an organization called the Ishayas of the Bright Path. This is a group of monks who have dedicated their lives to helping humanity by teaching meditation, and they now plan to bring their extensive resources and energy to further developing Vitality’s network in and around London. So we welcome their commitment and enthusiasm.

And last but not least, we send out a big thankyou to Jason Hatt, our circulation manager, whose job it is to keep track of all the above, in addition to carrying Vitality northward through the Orangeville and Barrie areas, and westward through the Guelph/ Kitchener/ Waterloo region. It’s a tall order, but he’s risen to the challenge year after year. And congratulations to Jason and his wife Cheryl on their latest arrival, Hayden James Stonehouse Hatt, born at home on November 7, 2007, with midwives in attendance.

If you know of a business that would enjoy receiving delivery of Vitality, let us know. Email: circulation@vitalitymagazine.com

Julia Woodford