Where’s the vinegar? I’m in the poultry demo at the Natural Gourmet Institute, and I’m looking for the vinegar. The instructor is just patting the chicken dry and then nothing, no washing. What is this? Reports say that washing your chicken can cause bacteria to spread to kitchen surfaces and utensils. That will never stop Black folks from doing what feels right. In my childhood kitchen in Plantation, my mum would douse the chicken in vinegar for each and every dish. Roast chicken. Chicken in a bag. Curry chicken.

My mum used store-bought curry spice for her curry chicken. I wanted to create my own spice blend and put my own stamp on this dish. It seemed to work! This is the dish that my angel investor fell in love with, and with his gift, Johnnie and I were able to open Saturday Dinette.

100K Curry Chicken

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Curry Spice Mix

• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) coriander seeds
• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoons (10 mL) whole allspice
• 2 teaspoons (10 mL) yellow mustard seeds
• 2 teaspoons (10 mL) fenugreek seeds
• 1½ teaspoons (7 mL) black peppercorns
• 1 whole dried clove
• 2½ tablespoons (37 mL) turmeric
• 2 teaspoons (10 mL) ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon (2 mL) cayenne pepper

Curry Chicken

• 3 pounds (1.35 kg) chicken quarters
• ½ cup (125 mL) curry spice mix 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 2 teaspoons (10 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) canola oil
• 3 cups (750 mL) chicken stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 whole Scotch bonnet pepper, any colour
• 4 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 cups (500 mL) canned coconut milk
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cups (500 mL) steamed white basmati rice, to serve

For Garnish (optional)

• 1 cup (250 mL) toasted cashews
• ½ cup (125 mL) toasted unsweetened coconut flakes Fresh cilantro leaves and stems
• Mango chutney

Directions

1. Make the Curry Spice: Mix In a medium dry skillet over high heat, toast the coriander, cumin, allspice, mustard, fenugreek, peppercorns, and clove for 2 to 4 minutes, until fragrant. Remove from the heat and let cool for 2 minutes. Transfer the spice mix to a spice grinder, mortar and pestle, or to a high-speed blender. Grind to a powder. Transfer the powder to a small bowl. Add the turmeric, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cayenne. Stir to combine. Set aside.
2. Make the Curry Chicken: Trim off any excess fat from the chicken. Cut each chicken quarter into 3 equal pieces and place them in a large bowl. (Using a serrated knife can be helpful for this, particularly on the skin.) Add the curry spice mix, garlic, onion, olive oil, and salt. Use your hands to massage the mixture into the chicken pieces until they are evenly coated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place the chicken in the fridge to marinate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
3. Remove the chicken from the fridge. Place the canola oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add enough of the chicken (and the onions and garlic) to cover the bottom of the pot. Cook until the chicken is browned on all sides, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a clean bowl. Repeat until all of the chicken has been browned.
4. In the same saucepan you used to brown the chicken, add the chicken stock, bay leaves, Scotch bonnet, and chicken pieces. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and let simmer, uncovered, for at least 35 minutes, or until the chicken is completely cooked and beginning to fall off the bone.
5. While the curry is simmering, place the potatoes in a medium stock pot. Fill the pot with water to cover the potatoes by at least 2 inches. Place the pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 15 minutes, until tender. Drain.
6. Add the coconut milk to the saucepan with the chicken and stir to combine. Let simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Add the potatoes. Stir to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Toast the Cashews: Preheat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cashews and give the skillet a shake to ensure they’re arranged in a single layer. Toast for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the nuts are golden brown and fragrant. Immediately transfer the nuts to a medium bowl to cool.
8. Just before serving, remove the bay leaves and the Scotch bonnet from the curry chicken and discard. To serve, place ½ cup (125 mL) steamed rice in each bowl. Ladle the curry overtop. Garnish each serving with some toasted cashews, toasted coconut, fresh cilantro, and mango chutney, if desired.

Excerpted from My Ackee Tree by Suzanne Barr and Suzanne Hancock. Copyright © 2022 Suzanne Barr and Suzanne Hancock. Published by Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

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Janu Yasotharan was 13 when she learned her body wasn’t “right.” After a particularly upsetting shopping trip with her aunt during which only the largest clothing sizes fit, she came home and was told to step on the bathroom scale. “That’s when my downward spiral started,” she says. “I felt so guilty, so self-conscious. Like I was a bad kid.”

Growing up in Montreal and Toronto, Yasotharan was an avid athlete, playing soccer and running track and field competitively. Over the course of a few years, her body went through changes and she “filled out,” she says—but puberty was a turning point. Her changing body became a growing concern for her family, who weighed her, served her food in pre-planned portions and continually measured her. “My mom wasn’t a seamstress; that’s not why we had a collection of measuring tapes,” she says with a laugh. Instead of eating rice or potatoes with her family’s Tamil meals—the carbs that would have provided energy for her games and meets—she was served mountains of vegetables.

But no matter what she did or didn’t do, ate or didn’t eat, her weight stayed the same. It didn’t matter that she was a healthy, active young woman. What mattered, she says, was that the number on the scale didn’t reflect what her family wanted from her and ultimately what society expected of her: to be slim and petite and to play into Eurocentric ideals of beauty.

By 14, she was given a scale to keep in her bedroom. Scales were all over her family’s home—in the bathroom, the kitchen, the hallway, the family room. They were presented, not hidden, with the intent to inspire her family to be healthier, smaller, better. For Yasotharan, these machines were like monsters lurking around every corner.

—

The bathroom scale is a common and unremarkable piece of home decor, like a bed frame or an armchair. And it continues to grow in popularity, aided by a ballooning weight-loss industry—the bathroom scale market is projected to be worth $3.7 billion by 2027.

Tracking body weight can be traced as far back as the 1500s, but it was initially driven by curiosity: During the Scientific Revolution, Italian physician Santorio Santorio studied his weight fluctuations to better understand bodily functions. Scales didn’t appear in North American health care settings until the 1870s, though they were not a part of standard health measurements. Weight was still largely considered subjective, rather than an indicator of health, all the way up to the 1940s, when it was suddenly understood to be profitable. In 1943, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company collected data from five million policies in the United States and Canada to build a “desirable” height and weight chart based on mortality rates. From the 1950s on, North American doctors were using this chart, revised slightly in 1983, to set goals for their patients.

The body mass index (BMI), a measurement based solely on height and weight, further connected the idea of health and body shape and size. In his now-famous 1972 paper published in the Journal of Chronic Diseases, American physiologist Ancel Keys and his colleagues re-popularized BMI as a way to measure body fat—despite acknowledging that the measurement was not initially intended to be used this way.

Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist Adolphe Quetelet developed the BMI—then known as the Quetelet index—in the mid-1800s to quantify the average man’s weight. Quetelet’s goal was to prove that the mathematical mean of a population was its ideal. Not just normal: ideal. In simple terms, the BMI wasn’t intended to measure individuals but populations, and it is most accurate when determining weight cut-offs for white populations. The measurement doesn’t take into account age, sex, bone structure or fat distribution. It doesn’t consider nuances like internal health, genetics or socio-political determinants of health. It is a simple math formula: your weight divided by height, squared. Yet BMI, an inaccurate scale with many flaws, has become a standard indicator for overall health in many a doctor’s office.

(Related: Introducing the Brand New and Not Improved Post-Pandemic Me)

—

Since body weight and health became conflated, not much has changed in the Canadian health care system. In August 2020, the Canadian Medical Association Journal released guidelines on how to approach the treatment of obese patients, moving from a weight-loss method to a focus on societal and systemic determinants of health—and how to do more to validate patients’ lived experiences and move past simplistic “eat less, move more” approaches. Still, this assumes that higher-weight folks need to be treated, and treated differently, than their thin counterparts—even with evidence showing that, for certain conditions, higher BMI values are associated with lower risk of death.

“The Canadian system is still very stigmatizing around weight, from the size of the chairs in physician clinics to the campaigns used to advertise for health policies and programs,” says Catherine Sabiston, director of the Mental Health and Physical Activity Research Centre at the University of Toronto. “It continues to value thinner, muscular bodies and demonstrate exclusionary practices that perpetuate weight stigma,” she says, adding that it creates a socially acceptable form of bias against fat people.

Plenty of research shows that this stigma, not the weight itself, causes psychological and physical health problems. Similar findings have been observed in studies linking racial discrimination with health issues such as heart disease and respiratory illnesses. Additionally, it’s been shown that years of chronic dieting actually leads to weight gain for many people. “This speaks to the narrative that isn’t observed by the Canadian health care system,” Sabiston says. “Imagine that: It is the stress and anxiety about weight that sets off a cascade of health effects.”

Yasotharan can relate. She fondly remembers being a kid whose weight and body didn’t preoccupy her day-to-day thoughts. She enjoyed movement, marvelling at the ways she could kick a soccer ball with her friends. She worries that she will never again be so carefree.

With her team, Sabiston is currently working on a pilot study that followed 51 Canadian women over the course of a week. These women were prompted to share how they felt after weighing themselves daily. Unsurprisingly, they reported higher guilt and shame, and a sense of failure and loss of control, after weighing themselves. “These are the very types of feelings that we want to avoid rather than foster,” Sabiston says. The bottom line? “Weight is measurable, so people like it, but we need to move away from measuring body weight at all. Overall health is so much more than that,” she says. “Flourishing, resilience, recovery, well-being and life satisfaction are much more powerful indicators of health than any number.”

Turning away from pressures of weight loss can be extremely challenging, especially for those struggling with stress, anxiety, poor body image and even body dysmorphic disorder, says Jamie Feusner, clinical scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Someone who obsessively weighs themselves can be temporarily egged on if they see their weight go down, but also destroyed by the number going up or staying the same—it’s an addictive habit. “The behaviour itself is time consuming … and can lead someone to think about their appearance too much, causing emotional ups and downs based on a number,” Feusner says. Weight fluctuates naturally from day to day, and even within the same day, so frequent weighing, encouraged by at-home scales, just isn’t healthy.

—-

Dismantling the connection between body size and health is central to fat activism, which has a long history in this country. Just ask Jenny Ellison, the sport and leisure curator at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec. In her book, Being Fat: Women, Weight, and Feminist Activism in Canada, Ellison studied Canada’s earliest strands of fat activism (which she notes were white, majority heteronormative and able-bodied) and how it grew from a shared sense of unbelonging—in gyms, in clothing stores, in doctor’s offices and in society at large.

“This feeling was such a common experience that it became the basis for organizing,” Ellison says. “It grew out of the experience of going to the doctor and being told to lose weight, even if they were there for another issue.”

Many of the 52 women Ellison spoke to for her book lamented getting weighed in school and the sense of shame that came with their peers witnessing it. “Even if the messaging wasn’t explicitly about being a particular weight, there was still this objectification and this sense of monitoring the body that became the norm,” she says. Ellison notes that a search of the Canadian Museum of History’s online collection catalogue only turned up one bathroom scale, despite being such a common household staple today (though in-person collections are more robust, so there may be some artifacts there). Maybe scales are taken for granted, she muses—their impact on our collective history not yet fully understood.

Yasotharan received a new scale for her Toronto apartment, which she shares with her husband and younger sister. The device from Walmart sat unopened in her hallway for some time. Her mom gave it to her when they moved in, as something of a housewarming gift. That scale was a reminder of an old home, a bygone set of beliefs that Yasotharan fought against since the first time she was weighed. But unlike the scales of her childhood, Yasotharan didn’t put this one out on display. It sat there underneath jackets and a shoe rack. She knew weighing herself harmed her self-worth and esteem, but she was used to having scales around. She debated whether she should keep it. “It’s like, why would I throw it out? What if I need it? But my immediate response to that now is, what would I need it for?” She laughs before answering her own question: “To weigh my luggage, maybe.”

Eventually, Yasotharan did get rid of the scale. Even though the device was unused, she opted not to donate it. “I put it in the bin,” she says. “I didn’t want to start something for someone else.”

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Eating pasta truly al dente makes it more filling and less of a carb hit. It shouldn’t be chewy but rather the texture of a fresh stick of gum. Plus, spiralized zucchini adds bulk, vegetables and nutrition.

For people having difficulty trying to conceive, one of their first steps is to see a fertility specialist. The female partner is typically given a blood test and a physical examination, then referred to get an ultrasound and X-ray, and maybe prescribed medication, too. The male partner? Chances are, nothing.

“Men’s fertility has often not been recognized as a contributing factor [to infertility],” says Dr. Jesse Ory, assistant professor in the Department of Urology at Dalhousie University. Traditionally, when a couple has infertility issues, the referrals and tests start with the female partner. “If everything’s okay, then the male partner may be given a sperm test,” says Ory.

But up to half of infertility cases are caused by male factor infertility, so “both partners should really receive tests at the same time,” he says. The reason they haven’t been? The responsibilities of reproductive health have fallen more heavily on women. “This is compounded by the fact that there is often more medical pressure on women to get evaluated since as women get older, their ability to reproduce goes down,” says Ory. “This age-related decline in fertility is not as present in men.”

If you’re interested in accelerating the fertility process or gaining more personal information, you could take matters (quite literally) into your own hands with an at-home sperm test.

Male Fertility Tests

In March 2022, Canadian company Bird&Be launched an at-home test kit that screens for low sperm count and motility (the ability to move efficiently to the egg)—something that hasn’t been readily accessible in Canada before. Founders Samantha Diamond and Breanna Hughes developed the test with YoSperm and Medical Electronic Systems, the largest provider of automated sperm quality analyzers used in hospitals, universities and IVF centres around the world, to help people gain insight into their fertility in the most convenient (and private) way possible.

A typical sperm test at a doctor’s office examines a semen sample for sperm concentration, health and movement. But the test isn’t exactly easy—it requires men and people with sperm to masturbate in a collection cup and drop it off at a lab to test within an hour of ejaculating. “It’s especially difficult for those in rural areas,” says Ory, not to mention time-consuming and expensive.

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How does an at-home sperm test work?

Similar to an in-office test, Bird&Be’s kit measures sperm count against the healthy level indicated by the World Health Organization, which is 15 million sperm per millilitre, says Diamond. It can also detect low motile sperm, which is sperm that swim too slowly or twitch in place (healthy sperm swim quickly and towards the egg). That’s why it’s important to know both sperm count and mobility: having over 15 million sperm per millilitre doesn’t necessarily mean a person is fertile if his sperm moves slowly, says Ory.

Bird&Be’s sperm test calls for a bit of a science experiment, says Diamond. It involves collecting the semen sample in a provided cup, adding a liquefaction powder, waiting a few minutes, mixing the solution and then extracting some of the sample and dropping it onto a slide, which goes into a device that records a video of the sperm. The results, which have a 97 percent accuracy rate, will then be sent to an app on your phone within two minutes. “The test also provides a score that puts your result in the context of other people with sperm who have had children,” says Diamond.

Who can benefit from sperm tests?

At-home tests are best for people who are simply curious about their sperm count, so they can get a better idea if it’s low or abnormal. “It’s a great thing to know so you can expedite a referral to a specialist,” says Ory. But if the score is low, there’s no reason to panic—sperm regenerate every two to three months and can respond to new healthy habits.

There are limitations with at-home tests, Ory warns, and sometimes an in-office test is still necessary. “Sperm tests in a clinic can test sperm morphology, which is essentially how it looks under the microscope,” says Ory. Meaning, does it look normal? Is the tail of the sperm crooked? Does the head of the sperm look abnormal? “An at-home test kit won’t be able to tell you that because the results need to be interpreted by a trained lab technician and andrologist or embryologist.”

What impacts male fertility?

Low sperm count and motile sperm can be caused by lifestyle choices or a random genetic abnormality, says Ory. Signs of infertility for men and people with sperm include having unprotected sex for a long time and not getting a partner pregnant, a history of a bad testicular infection, low testosterone, having small testicles and having a varicocele, which is enlarged veins in the scrotum, he says. Unlike egg count for women, sperm count isn’t significantly impacted by age—but age can affect sperm quality.

What can men and people with sperm do to boost their fertility?

Anyone who’s having trouble conceiving should get a referral to a fertility specialist. According to Ory, the initial appointment will include a discussion about their health history, reviewing factors that may influence fertility, bloodwork, a look at the hormones in their brain that trigger testicles to make sperm (like testosterone), a physical examination and, of course, a sperm test.

“There is an incorrect assumption that if a guy has low testosterone, he should be given testosterone to boost his sperm count,” says Ory. “But if you give a guy a testosterone injection, it will act as a contraceptive and his sperm count will go down to zero.” Instead, the right medications (such as HCG and clomiphene or tamoxifen) and healthy lifestyle changes can boost the body’s testosterone production naturally, and thereby boost sperm count. According to Ory, exercising, eating healthy, quitting smoking and stopping cannabis use can all improve sperm quality.

Of course, the first thing people can do to boost their fertility is to learn what they’re working with–and taking an at-home test is a good place to start.

Bird&Be’s At-Home Sperm Test is available now for $42 at birdandbe.com.

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When Michiko Caringal was in her late 20s, she experienced chronic pelvic pain so bad that, at its worst, she couldn’t even bear to be hugged—much less have sex. Over the course of two years, Caringal visited a number of doctors to address her pain. They all brushed her off. “I also have bipolar disorder, so people thought I was having a depressive episode or that it was just in my head,” says Caringal, who recalls one doctor actually suggesting she have a baby to stretch things out down there. But while doctors dismissed her symptoms, Caringal continued to experience burning and irritation in her vulva and needed to urinate frequently—on top of languishing in constant pain.

Finally, she found a doctor who diagnosed her with vulvodynia, a chronic vulvar pain disorder without any identifiable cause. The doctor recommended she try physiotherapy for her pelvic floor muscles. At the time, Caringal was a registered physiotherapist working in hospital settings, but she wasn’t familiar with pelvic health physiotherapy. “Even in physio school, you don’t learn much about it,” she says.

Caringal found a clinic in Toronto, where she was living at the time, and visited the specialist consistently for about two years. “I was very depressed and anxious, so I needed to be treated as a whole person in order to treat my vulvodynia properly,” she says. She’s been symptom-free for about seven years, and the experience inspired Caringal to become a registered pelvic health physiotherapist herself: In 2019, she founded Happy Down There Physiotherapy, a private clinic, first in Toronto and later in Vancouver.

What is the pelvic floor?

Your pelvic floor is a group of muscles located at the base of your pelvis, right at the bottom of your core. It forms a bowl-like structure that hangs from your pubic bones in the front to your tailbone in the back. This group of muscles is a multi-tasking marvel. It provides posture support and holds up your pelvic organs (which include the bladder, uterus, large intestine and rectum). It maintains continence: Contracting the pelvic muscles lifts the internal organs and tightens the openings to the vagina, anus and urethra, while relaxing allows for the passage of urine and feces (and, during a vaginal birth, a baby). The pelvic floor is also crucial in sexual function and satisfaction. For people with penises, the muscles help with erectile function and ejaculation; for those with vaginas, the pelvic floor muscles contract and squeeze during sex, erect the clitoris and are integral to arousal and pleasure.

Despite how industrious our pelvic floor is, you still might not have heard of it. Maybe it’s the societal hesitation to mention vaginas and gynecology, or the still-lingering stigma of talking about sexual health openly, but a lot of people don’t know what’s “normal” for the pelvic floor—let alone what treating pelvic pain might look like. “It goes back to what girls are taught in schools about their bodies and what women are taught about childbirth … which is, a little bit, but not enough,” says Gillian McCormick, a Vancouver-based physiotherapist specializing in pelvic health and host of the podcast Small Conversations for a Better World. And, as Caringal discovered, the lack of knowledge surrounding pelvic health can extend to medical professionals. When women start to experience issues like mild incontinence, McCormick says, they’re often just told, “Well, you’re an aging woman and you’ve had a baby—what do you expect?”

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Does pregnancy cause pelvic floor pain?

Yes, pregnancy and vaginal birth can cause physical trauma to the pelvic region (though it doesn’t mean that pregnancy is the only culprit and it’s definitely no reason to dismiss pain). During pregnancy, the pelvic floor creates space for the growing baby, which puts pressure on the muscles and can make them weaker over time if you don’t train them to maintain strength. Many people experience incontinence or feel the need to go more often when they’re pregnant because of the added weight. Delivering a baby vaginally, especially if you’re pushing for a long time, can stretch the pudendal nerve (which sends information about movement and sensation from your genitals to your brain) and put pressure on your anal sphincter. Plus, as many as 30 percent of vaginal deliveries damage the pelvic muscles, potentially causing them to collapse into the vaginal canal and leading to incontinence, pain (both in the pelvic region and the lower back), constipation and painful sex. Luckily, issues are usually short-term and your midwife or OB/GYN can teach you exercises to both strengthen and relax the muscles both before birth and postpartum.

What else causes pelvic floor pain?

Pelvic pain can also be traced to a myriad of non-pregnancy causes. Changes in hormone levels, for example, can affect the health of your pelvic floor—especially during perimenopause, when your body produces far less estrogen. “Progesterone and estrogen have a large role to play in how our bodies make and use the tissues of our pelvic floor,” McCormick says. “There are a ton of estrogen receptors in that area, so the tissue gets fed by estrogen. When your estrogen levels are all over the map, we can start to see changes in tissue elasticity.” Tissue elasticity drops as estrogen levels do, causing the lining of the vulva and vagina to become thinner, drier and less flexible. As a result, you might experience dryness or burning in your genitals, an increase in urinary urgency or frequency, or changes in libido or sexual comfort.

Mental health and stress can also have a large impact on pelvic health. “Pain is a complex phenomenon,” Caringal says. “It’s not just physical pain—there are emotional and psychosocial factors too.” As a first step in her treatment, Caringal’s pelvic floor physio taught her how to, as she describes it, “tone down the chattering” in her brain. They practised breathing exercises as a way to calm her nervous system in clinic, and she later applied it to scenarios like going to the washroom or having sex. When you’re stressed or anxious, your brain thinks there’s more danger than there might actually be, which makes your body clench, causing even more pain. “If you think there’s more pain, you experience more pain,” Caringal says. “It’s a bad cycle.”

The influence of mental health on pelvic pain is especially pressing now, with the pandemic continuing to wreak havoc on Canadians’ mental health and well-being. A 2021 Stats Canada study found that 46 percent of Canadians indicated their perceived stress levels to be worse than they were before COVID.

How do you treat pelvic floor pain?

Everyone’s pelvic floor is different, so while Caringal cautions against one-exercise-fits-all examples, certain stretches can help. Glute bridges, for example, can strengthen your core, including the pelvic floor muscles. Learning how to do Kegels properly can also help with pelvic floor control and strength. However, strengthening the pelvic floor isn’t the only goal—some people have muscles that are too grippy, leading to burning sensations and trouble going to the bathroom—both for a bowel movement or just to urinate. If you fall into that camp, avoid Kegels and try to practise relaxing the pelvic floor through breathing and restful stretches, like the happy baby stretch. Start by lying on your back, then bring your knees toward your armpits and reach to grab the outside of your calves, ankles or feet—whichever is the most comfortable. Keep your arms outside your knees. Then, gently draw the knees toward the armpits, keeping soles of the feet toward the ceiling. Keep your tailbone on the ground to keep the spine long.

Caringal emphasizes breathing exercises with her clients, helping them work on getting their breath to a steady rhythm. She also teaches her clients about the diaphragm, how it helps us breathe and how it’s connected to our pelvic floor. She’s a fan of providing strategies for integrating movement into daily routines, like yoga or a walk around the neighbourhood—something enjoyable and easy to do every day. And she believes in pain neurophysiology, which means teaching her clients about what exactly they’re experiencing. Caringal says that 90 percent of patients then see improvement in pelvic pain, since understanding what’s going on can help them feel more empowered and regulate the nervous system, which causes us to relax and our bodies to stop sending pain signals, improving overall quality of life.

Caringal’s own practice is informed by what she went through—and she has a lot of compassion for people experiencing something similar. Treating her pain required her doctors to think about her entire body and mind, to see more than just a collection of symptoms—and to validate that her symptoms were real and not just in her head. She also needed to tend to her mental health, not just her physical health, in order to help her pelvic health. “In my practice, I look at the whole person. I’m not just going to treat them. I’m going to listen.”

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There’s a great line—one of many—in Nora Ephron’s 1983 novel Heartburn: “I couldn’t believe that anyone would be so sexually driven that he might actually skip lunch.… I think of myself as a healthy person with a strong sex drive, but it’s never occurred to me to forgo meals.”

She kids. But even setting lunch aside, the difference between male and female libido is complicated, says Dr. Krisztina Bajzak, a gynecologist and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Newfoundland’s Memorial University. While women generally remain sexually interested throughout their lives, even well into old age—what a shock!—their interest is more easily disrupted by other factors. Women have a lower biologic drive: They produce about 10 to 20 times less testosterone than men. That matters because testosterone is a hormone responsible for sex drive in both men and women.

When desire hits, testosterone enables men to sideline their worries, thoughts and stressors. “It’s as if a freight train is bursting through—there is no background noise,” says Bajzak. But for women, that “noise” tends to be much louder and in the forefront, thwarting desire. Many things can affect a woman’s libido, including ruminating thoughts, hormone changes (for example, during pregnancy and menopause), contraceptives that contain estrogen, and other medical conditions that can cause pain or fatigue.

While age can play a role in a woman’s libido—testosterone levels in women peak in their 20s and drop slowly from there—it isn’t entirely an obstacle. One survey found women feel their most sexually confident in their mid-30s to mid-40s, allowing for more fulfilling sexual experiences. While the overall prevalence of sexual concerns is highest around menopause, everyone’s libido has peaks and valleys no matter their age, says Bajzak. Need proof? Betty White, at the spry age of 88, told AARP The Magazine, “Does desire melt away with age? I’m waiting for that day to come,” she said. “Sexual desire is like aging, a lot of it is up here,” she continued, pointing at her head.

“There are probably hundreds of life experiences that [cause] low desire, which also brings up the notion that low desire is a lot more common than we think it is and is actually quite a normal experience,” says Diana Sadat, a Vancouver-based sex therapist. “You don’t expect to be happy every day for the rest of your life—the same is true for desire.”

Typically, she says, negative experiences can trigger a shift in libido, especially the kind that can affect our nervous system or sense of self. That might include life-changing circumstances, such as giving birth, starting a new job or experiencing a traumatic event. And, of course, changes in our romantic or sexual relationships can affect the libido.

Frustratingly, much of the blame for a low sex drive has been put on women for doing things “wrong,” including—and this is a very partial list—having a poor diet, not drinking enough water, drinking too much caffeine or being too stressed. But stress does deserve some blame. Just look at how the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted bedrooms all over the world: Multiple studies found a dip in partnered sexual activity and libido in 2020. Similarly, a 2021 survey of university students by the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada found that sex with casual and primary partners had dropped for the majority of respondents, though they were masturbating more.

The students may be on to something. According to Vancouver-based clinical counsellor Daniel Oomen, one solution to a low libido is spending time on your own and exploring how your sexual desires have evolved. “So much of what sustains low desire is the judgment we hold towards it and the pressure to get rid of it,” they say. Instead, “create space for low desire, to tune in and see what it says about your current circumstances.” Then try to rediscover pleasure through solo sex. Enjoy the act and don’t just aim for orgasms.

Masturbation can, after all, help clear our minds and has been associated with a higher sex drive. That also means, if you’re in a relationship, masturbating (either alone or with your partner) and exploring your desires together can be helpful to open up about what you’re feeling. Plus, it can foster intimacy in new ways that don’t always lead to sex.

Of course, at-home options are just one approach—there are medications that can also help. Vyleesi (bremelanotide), for one, is self-injected under the skin 45 minutes before engaging in sexual activity and works by stimulating the brain hormone involved with sexual behaviour. The catch? There have been few studies showing just how effective this drug is, and where the drug is successful, it only raises sexual desire minimally. Also, it shouldn’t be used more than once in 24 hours or more than eight times in one month.

But better interventions may be on the horizon. In 2021, the Vancouver life sciences company MindCure launched the Desire Project to study whether low female libido can be treated with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. Studies have found the drug can enhance sensory pleasure thanks to its ability to release dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin. A more approachable and available drug option is cannabis, which countless studies have found can lead to a higher sex drive by helping you relax while increasing blood flow all over the body, stimulating erogenous zones.

In the meantime, sex toys might be a welcome addition to your bedroom. The Womanizer Deluxe, in particular, has been found to help women who struggle to reach orgasm. You place it over your clitoris and it moulds to the contours of your body, mimicing the feeling of (the best) oral sex. It stimulates using air pressure instead of vibration, minimizing desensitization and making it easier to use it again (and again, and again).

It’s also helpful to remember that there is such a thing as “responsive desire,” says Bajzak, which is when arousal occurs and rises due to stimulation, like touch. It doesn’t occur spontaneously, so don’t despair if your body isn’t ready to go right away—a libido isn’t a light switch.

Whether you’re skipping lunch in favour of a quickie or treating sex as an occasional side dish, Bajzak emphasizes that, “everybody’s normal is their normal.” Comparison in the bedroom is a total mood-killer.

Next: Sex Expert Shan Boody on Why People Aren’t Having Sex Anymore

I hide my compost bin in my freezer. I banish it to that frozen tundra—crowded with pizzas, microwave dinners and freezer-burned chicken—to keep food scraps out of my garbage and avoid the nasty smells and fruit flies that can accompany organic waste. I thought this was next-level at-home composting, but then I tried Tero.

Designed by Canadian entrepreneurs Elizabeth Coulombe and Valérie Laliberté, Tero is an award-winning countertop food recycler. The device is similar to a composter but instead of facilitating decomposition, it dehydrates and grinds vegetable peels and dinner leftovers into ready-to-use fertilizer overnight.

In 2019, Canadians sent more than 4.8 million tonnes of organic waste for processing, slightly more than 37 times the weight of the CN Tower. In fact, Canadian households produce more food waste per capita (79 kilograms) than our American neighbours (59). And with everyone spending more time at home during the pandemic, levels have increased.

Composting is an essential way to reduce the amount of waste going into landfills, which generate nearly a quarter of Canada’s methane emissions, a greenhouse gas driving the climate crisis. I’m one of the 90 percent of Canadians who has access to curbside or drop-off organics management programs. Composting, however, does not appear to be a popular option among all Canadians. A Tero survey found that only 45 percent of respondents compost at all, citing concerns like bugs, odours and a general lack of knowledge about the process.

(Related: How to Freeze Fresh Foods to Prevent Waste)

Beyond making food waste useful again, at-home composters can offer home gardeners and plant parents a natural alternative to chemical fertilizers, which pollute lakes and rivers. For me, at-home composting is great because it feels like an active way to reduce my ecological footprint amid a climate catastrophe that often feels overwhelming. With British Columbia experiencing wildfires, atmospheric rivers, landslides and more, Julia Payson, executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association in Vernon, B.C., has seen a rise in the stress people experience around climate change, a phenomenon known as “eco-anxiety.” And while individual actions aren’t enough to curb eco-anxiety—as Payson notes, climate change is not an individual problem—engaging in at-home composting or going plastic-free “are things that people have within the realm of their control,” she says. “They will often use them as first steps.”

Like many home-based hobbies, gardening and composting saw a boost in popularity during the pandemic. After their 2019 Kickstarter campaign raised more than $1.75 million and their prototype won, Coulombe and Laliberté capitalized off this rising interest and launched Tero in September 2021.

“You don’t have to live with all the bad things with the normal compost,” Coulombe told me, explaining why it was important for them to develop a product that eliminates smells and is attractive and easy to use.

After using Tero for a few months, I can confirm that this device makes composting as simple as pressing a button. In a matter of hours (typically three to eight), Tero efficiently, albeit somewhat noisily, turned banana peels, coffee grounds and discarded vegetables into about a cup of dry, odour-free, soil-like grounds full of organic nutrients. I then added the mixture to my many, many houseplants. And they seemed to like it.

At-home composters that turn waste into garden-ready fertilizer, such as outdoor composters or work compost bins, vary in design and cost. But starting at $595, Tero’s price is steep. While it worked well and made me more conscious about the harmful impact of chemical fertilizers and what I put into my green bin, I plan to stick with my freezer bin and municipal program and purchasing organic fertilizer. This way, I can still keep my food waste out of the trash, and though it may not be homemade, my plants will continue to eat organic.

Next: 10 Easy Ways to Cut Down on Food Waste in the Kitchen

When we love something, we do everything we can to protect it—and that’s exactly what we should do with our sex toys.

Perhaps you, like me, have given your favourite sex toy–whether it be a vibrator, dildo, butt plug, fleshlight, or cock ring– its very own name and keep it in its very own drawer. Or maybe you’re entirely new to the world of sex toys and want to protect your newfound love. Whatever your reason, here’s what experts recommend for keeping your sex toys in tip-top shape.

(Related: What to Know About Sex Toys and 6 Inexpensive Options Worth Trying)

Should all sex toys be cleaned? Are there any exceptions?

Not everything can be sanitized—like elastomer-based material (e.g. CyberSkin, which has a texture similar to skin, and is what fleshlights and stroker sleeves are made of), or thermoplastic elastomers (TPR or TPE) and rubberized material, says Rachele Manett (whose pronouns are they/their), education coordinator at Halifax-based sex shop Venus Envy.

“Not only can elastomer-based material not be sanitized, but it harbours bacteria over time,” they say. “It is meant to be thrown out eventually.” A good way of detecting if your toy has met its expiry date is, much like rotten food, give it a quick sniff. If it smells a bit funky, it’s time to replace it.

Manett suggests when possible, choose a 100 percent silicone toy, which can have a long life if taken care of properly.

(Related: Can Cannabis Help Kick-Start My Sex Drive?)

What’s the best way to wash your sex toys?

There are a few different ways.

Soap and water

A good rule of thumb is to wash your sex toys the way you wash your face—with soap and water.

“We recommend using a soap you know you’re not allergic to,” says Jack Lamon, owner of Toronto-based sex shop Come As You Are. Among his favourites is Dr. Bronner’s unscented soap because “few people react to it.” After washing, Lamon recommends letting your toy air dry. “The combination of soap, water and air-drying will take care of all of the potential STIs that people might be worried about.”

Boil

Cleaning your toys can also help prevent yeast infections and bacterial vaginosis. Manett sterilizes their silicone dildos by adding them to a pot of boiling water for five to 10 minutes. Note: Boiling is an effective sterilizing option for only non-vibrating silicone or stainless steel toys.

UV Sterilizer

“If you are someone who shares sex toys widely, or if you are a bit neurotic about hygiene and cleaning, a UV sterilizer can bring some psychological relief,” says Lamon, though he also adds that it isn’t essential. A UV sterilizer is essentially a pouch that coats your toy in UV light to sterilize it.

Expert tip: If you’re sharing a toy that can’t be sterilized (like a vibrator) with multiple partners, Manett recommends using a condom.

Can’t I just throw my sex toys in the dishwasher?

It’s often been considered the tried and true sex toy tip but, actually, dishwashing your toys isn’t recommended by the experts.

Lamon says you wouldn’t wash your body with dishwasher detergent—which isn’t designed to be body-safe—so you shouldn’t wash your sex toys with it either.

If you’re adamant about using a dishwasher to clean your toys, Manett warns against putting motorized toys and those that are not 100 percent silicone in the dishwasher. The heat can kill the motor or even melt the toy—plus, who wants to know their dishes were washed next to a butt plug?

What about those sex toy cleaners?

Sex toy cleaners can be a quick and easy way to sanitize your gadgets, but Lamon says these products aren’t as good as just soap and water. They often contain antibacterial agents that shouldn’t be in or around your body, he says.

(Related: What Exactly Is Tantric Sex, and Should I Try It with My Partner?)

What’s the best way to store sex toys?

Toys are often sold with a pouch or case, which you should continue to use and clean, as they can also protect your toys from getting nicked, which is important because cracks can be quite hospitable to germs. Don’t have the pouch anymore? Manett recommends cutting up an old cotton t-shirt and wrapping the sex toy in it.

Have more than one sex toy? Keep them separate—whether that’s in their respective pouches or Ziploc bags. Why? “People aren’t always aware of what their sex toys are made of, and different materials can react to each other,” says Lamon. “So if you have, let’s say, a high-end silicone rechargeable vibrator and you store it with a fleshlight, that material can interact with your silicone toy and ruin the finish, making it less non-porous.”

Anything else I should know?

Don’t forget to give your sex toys a wash not only after but also before you use them, as they’re likely to catch dust or debris. After all, unlike a book you’ve left on a shelf, a gentle blow rarely does the trick. Well, you know, in this case.

Looking for an easy-to-clean sex toy? Try We-Vibe X Lovehoney Remote Control Clitoral and G-Spot Vibrator ($112, lovehoney.ca).

Next: Samantha Bitty Knows Good Sex (and Wants You to Know It, Too)

I’ve always enjoyed zucchini, but I know it can seem a bit boring— especially during the summer when you have sooo much on hand. But there’s a ton of fun stuff you can do with it. Enter this zucchini involtini.

Basically, it’s cheesy zucchini baked in tomato sauce, and it is DELICIOUS. Think stuffed pasta minus the pasta and plus lots of great vegetables. It’s perfection—and sure to become a new favorite.

You can prepare this dish twelve hours in advance, completing all the steps up until the final bake. Let it cool, then store it in the fridge until you’re ready to cook and serve. If any excess water collects on the surface of the sauce, drain it off or blot with a paper towel before baking.

Spicy Tomato Basil Zucchini Involtini

Prep: 45 minutes
Cook: 35 minutes
Total: 1 hour and 20 minutes
Serves: 6

Ingredients

• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, plus more for serving, or 2 teaspoons dried
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 to 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
• fine pink Himalayan salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 (14-ounce) can crushed tomatoes or 2 cups tomato sauce
• 2 large zucchini or yellow summer squash
• 1 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
• ½ cup shredded fontina cheese
• ½ cup fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped, plus more for serving
• 8 ounces low-moisture whole-milk mozzarella, torn

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease a 9 × 13-inch baking dish.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When the oil shimmers, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme, basil, oregano, fennel, paprika, and a pinch each of red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Cook until very fragrant, another 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste to combine. Reduce the heat to low, then add the bell pepper and tomatoes. Simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, about 10 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
3. Meanwhile, using a mandoline or vegetable peeler, cut the zucchini into ¼-inch-thick strips and lay them flat on clean kitchen towels. You should have around 30 strips. Sprinkle the zucchini with salt.
4. In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, fontina, and basil.
5. Spoon about ¾ cup of the tomato sauce into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Working with 1 zucchini strip at a time, spoon about 1 tablespoon of the ricotta mixture onto the center of one of the ends. Roll the strip into a coil and place seam-side down in the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining zucchini. Spoon the remaining tomato sauce over the zucchini. Scatter the mozzarella over the top.
6. Bake until the mozzarella is melted and lightly browned on top, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the baking dish from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
7. Serve hot, topped with fresh basil and thyme.

Note: If your zucchini are on the smaller side, your strips might be a bit narrow. Lay two side by side lengthwise, overlapping slightly. Fill and roll them as one piece.

Reprinted from Half Baked Harvest: Every Day. Copyright © 2022 by Teighan Gerard.Photographs copyright © 2022 by Teighan Gerard and Kristen Kilpatrick. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Random House.

Next: These Loaded Sweet Potato Nachos Make a Satisfying, Healthy-ish Snack

Brain Games

Jigsaw puzzles require concentration, problem-solving skills and creativity, which mean they’re good for your cognition as well as your stress levels. Plus, you can have your pick of pretty, immersive designs.

To improve your focus, try balancing and stacking these faceted oak blocks—and be rewarded with a modern tabletop sculpture.
Areaware Balancing Blocks, $72, Bergo Design, bergodesigns.ca

Tackling a jigsaw puzzle can improve your memory and visual-spatial reasoning as it requires concentration, creativity and problem-solving. And there are endless inspiring designs to choose from.

Areaware Dusen Dusen Pattern Puzzle, 500 pieces, $36. 313 Design Market, 313designmarket.com

Areaware Gradient Puzzle, 1,000 pieces, Bergo Design, $52, bergodesigns.ca

Voyage 01 by Reena Mistry, 500 pieces, The Great Indoors Puzzle Co, $40, greatindoorspuzzleco.ca

Foliage Puzzle, 1,000 pieces, Winners, $15, winners.ca

Game Night

The best way to boost cognitive function is to incorporate a range of activities into your life. These beautiful puzzles and games will help you get a bit more playful—and liven up a Saturday night at home with family or friends.

For the design-minded minimalist, this vibrant chess-and-checkers set is made from sustainably grown rubberwood.
Moma 2-in-1 chess and checkers set, 313 Design Market, $75, 313designmarket.com

Interior designer Jonathan Adler’s eye-catching acrylic backgammon set doubles as a checkers board and comes in a velvet-lined glossy lacquer box.
Jonathan Adler Checkerboard and Backgammon set, Bergo Design, $560, bergodesigns.ca

Spice up your group chats with this deck of cards that encourages you and your crew to debate current events, history and scandals.
Agree to Disagree Card Game, Marshalls, $6, marshalls.ca

Grab your bean bag chair, fire up a Pink Floyd LP and chill out with this ’70s-inspired backgammon set.
Hitchcock Yellow Tabletop Backgammon Set, Hopson Grace, $395, hopsongrace.com

Studies show that some video games can be beneficial to brain function—especially when there’s a memory test involved. The Big Brain Academy game for Nintendo Switch features tricky, fast and fun challenges that test your recall, visualization and analytical skills.
Nintendo Switch, $380, nintendo.com; and Big Brain Academy: Brain vs Brain, $40, nintendo.com

Crokinole, a game thought to have been invented in Canada in the 19th century, puts your dexterity and hand-eye coordination to the test. Flip over the board for a game of chess or checkers.
Deluxe Crokinole, Chess and Checkers Board, Lee Valley, $179, leevalley.com

This wooden puzzle comprises 22 pieces and has multiple solutions—build a rectangle, a robot, a tea kettle, or a shape of your own creation.
Wooden Puzzle, Etsy, $69, etsy.com

Smart art

Art therapy is the practice of engaging in activities such as painting and dancing for mental health benefits—studies show it can help alleviate feelings of anxiety and depression and even prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. It’s easy to get started.

This pottery kit contains the tools you need to sculpt, carve and paint plant pots, trinket dishes and more, no kiln required.
Sculpd Pottery Kit, $79, sculpd.ca

Create a dreamy landscape masterpiece with this paint-by-numbers set, which comes with acrylic paint pots, a cotton canvas, a mini easel and two paint brushes.
Paint by Numbers kit, Etsy $30, etsy.com

Practice mindfulness with this artful colouring book that’s full of abstract, geometric patterns.
Poketo Modernist Colouring Book, 313 Design Market, $25, 313designmarket.com

Grow for it

The benefits of being a plant mom go beyond pretty interiors. Studies show gardening, and even just observing nature (including your houseplants), can elevate your mood and reduce feelings of stress, sadness, anger and fear.

Barebones Gardening tool set, Goodee, $118, goodeeworld.com

Medium Rhonda Pot, Foli, $25, foli.ca

Medium Potted Monstera, Foli, $65, foli.ca

Medium Pothos Plant, Foli, $35, foli.ca

Small Potted Jade Plant, Foli, $55, foli.ca

Orange watering can, $8, homesense.ca

What a treat

Experts agree baking inspires happiness and reduces stress—it encourages people to express themselves creatively and can tame a ruminating mind. Plus, baking for others sparks feelings of wholeness, fulfillment and togetherness.

Add rainbow-bright hues to your bakeware lineup with these colourful measuring cups.
8 Piece Measuring Cup Set, $20, bedbathandbeyond.ca

No matter your cookie preference—be it sugar, ginger or shortbread—these cutters will give your treats a professional edge.
Our Table 30 Piece Tin Cookie Cutter Set, Bed Bath and Beyond, $25, bedbathbeyond.ca

Next: These Activities Help Prevent Dementia, According to a New Study