Angela Bishara started suffering agonizing joint pain and inflammation in her knee shortly after turning 30. Unable to drive, walk properly or stand up for longer than 10 minutes, she turned to the spice turmeric –and its primary bioactive substance curcumin – to tackle the symptoms of what would later be diagnosed as Hashimoto’s disease and reactive arthritis. “I can’t describe the pain, the heaviness, the frustration, the fear of not knowing if I would...
So many articles and advice in the fitness arena overlook one of the fastest ways to get fit and improve our overall health: a regular, if not daily, walking program. It’s the one obvious solution that will keep you fit, healthy, get you outdoors and provide all the energy and endorphin boost you will ever need. If you are thinking ‘well, walking isn’t really a workout, I’m going to stop you right there. As a...
The bitter gourd looks unappetitising and it isn't the tastiest vegetable but it might be the new superfood.
The UAE summer is upon us, and with temperatures over the 40 degree Celsius mark, the last thing you probably want to do is go outside for your workout. But that extra sweaty exercise session might have more benefits to your training regime and overall health and fitness than you think. “The main benefit we get from heat training is an increase in blood volume,” explains InnerFight Sport science and endurance coach Tom Walker. “This...
On the surface, Florence Gillet, 39, looks like a happy-go-lucky mother of two beautiful kids. Naturally slim and a champion of feminism and body positivity, you’d never guess that she’s lived though more than a decade of disordered eating that stemmed from something as simple as increasing her intake of fruit and vegetables. What she didn’t know back then, as a 25-year-old whose plan was to lose a few pounds to “look better” in her...
Could heading deep into the desert and burying yourself neck-deep in hot sand really be good for those aching muscles and joints? UAE environmentalist and social campaigner Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Nuaimi, better known to his almost 60,000 followers as the Green Sheikh, sure thinks so. A few years ago he introduced American educator and author Stephen Ritz to the experience of being buried up to his neck in sand. The somewhat forgotten tradition of sand...
Dana is a former gymnast who developed an eating disorder at age 13, which she says went hand-in-hand with overexercising. “We would get weighed before competitions, so the older girls taught me how to throw up my dinner the night before a competition,” says the 41-year-old yoga teacher, who lives in Dubai. “But when vomiting became difficult, I figured I could purge the calories by running, climbing stairs or using the step machine instead. I would...
The restrictions of the pandemic prompted a lot of different hobbies, and one that might be around to stay is cultivating a balcony garden. You can do it safely from the comfort of your own home, you can see the progress you’re making and it provides a real sense of achievement. And with looming talk of food shortages, more people than ever are interested in taking empowering first steps to becoming more self-sustainable. New research...
If you’re thinking of trying a fast, Ramadan is a very good time to do it. But what are the rules? How many hours should you be abstaining from food? Are you still allowed tea and coffee? Should you try intermittent fasting or a fasting-mimicking diet or something like the 5:2? Or should you dive straight in with a prolonged fast? Which one best suits your goals? Are you looking for weight loss, better skin, improved...
Metabolic flexibility — a buzz phrase of late — describes the body’s ability to switch between using carbs and fat for energy, depending on availability. Improving this metabolic flexibility is being touted as the key to healthier living, through losing or maintaining weight naturally, promoting a better immune system, increasing your ability to build lean muscle, feeling more energized, feeling fuller for longer, improving performance and avoiding blood sugar spikes. So how can we improve...
Hanaa* has worked at a media agency in Dubai for three years and she’s on a comfortable salary that comes with a premium health insurance package. However despite suffering with stress and anxiety for the last two years (partly related to Covid-19) she refuses to get help through her insurance provider. “I think it’s a bit of a risk,” she worries. “What if my employer finds out through the health insurance company, and then it...