HealthX

Bok choy is popular in many Asian dishes and has made a noticeable entrance into Australian cooking, but did you know it can be a great substitute or addition to many of your other favourite dishes, too? We’ve put together a list of our favourite uses of bok choy.

Add them to any of your favourite dishes.

Bok choy is a delicious leafy green packed with nutrients that doesn’t demand a lot of attention. For that reason it’s a great addition to soups, purees, pies and rice dishes such as this mouth-watering thunder chicken recipe. Rinse, chop, drop. It’ll add colour, flavour, nutrients and crunch, easy as that. HelloFresh have some amazing recipes featuring Bok Choy if you’re ever looking for some inspiration.

As a celery substitute

While they love the idea of a low-calorie dip snack such as celery, many don’t like the taste nor the stringy quality of celery. It’s a love or hate vegetable, but that shouldn’t stand in the way of people enjoying dipping vegetables into hummus, tzatziki, or peanut butter. Simply swap the celery for bok choy stalks. Not only is bok choy less stringy and milder tasting, but it is also packed full of nutrients such as iron and calcium that your body will thank you for.

Make it your new favourite weekend snack

Like kale, and many other leafy greens, bok choy makes for great chips that are significantly healthier than their potato cousins. If you’ve already pulled the leafy green bits off to dip the stalk in hummus, why not toss them in some oil and chuck them in the oven with your favourite spices? If you treat them well, watch them so they don’t burn, and carefully shake them into a bowl, they’ll come out crispy, light and will crumble in your mouth.

Chuck it on the barbeque

If you’re having friends over and would like to impress with a nice spread that’s both meat-eater and vegetarian friendly alike, consider throwing some well-seasoned bok choy cleaved in half on the barbeque. In addition, you could consider some pumpkin, zucchini, and mushrooms on next to the sizzling meats for a quick and delicious spread that everyone will love. The bok choy will go tender in the middle, and crunchy-delicious along the leaves for a treat that’ll have everyone come back for seconds. 

We hope you’ve been inspired to pick up the old trusty bok choy the next time you head to the supermarket. With this nutritional leafy green, the sky is the limit.

In an attempt to overcome the rising numbers of people affected by eating disorders perpetuated by the media, the body acceptance movement evolved into one that glamorized being overweight.  From a healthy standpoint of encouraging girls to be proud of their bodies (even if it looks nothing like the models on the runway or the doll that they got for Christmas one year) and boys to stop comparing themselves to what they see in the movies or magazines, it has sparked a world wide web debate over its implications, especially now that it has gone on to promoting that fat is better.

Everybody knows that obesity is detrimental to physical health. It increases the risk of developing high blood sugar, high cholesterol and high blood pressure amongst other things. One of the many causes for sciatica surgery is being overweight to the point of affecting one’s sciatic nerve which may cause anything from mild annoyance to debilitating pain.

There is also the study that obesity is responsible for 112,000 deaths in 2015. However, oftentimes complications that arise from being overweight or obese are heart related and are therefore reported as such. Furthermore, the study is skewed by researchers not taking into account that heavier patients that passed from other illnesses might have been obese, instead of in a normal or healthy weight range at their time of passing.

In a more controlled study, it was discovered that being slightly overweight reduces life expectancy by one year and those who are moderately obese might lose more than three. From the University of Oxford, Professor Sir Richard Peto was quoted saying, “overweight and obesity now cause about one in seven of all premature deaths in Europe and one in five of all premature deaths in North America”, meaning that these deaths could be easily prevented if one were more wary about one’s health and not one’s appearance.

Many articles published in regards to loving your size regardless of what size, sends the wrong message that it is perfectly okay to be unhealthy as long as you love yourself. There might be those who try to defend it by saying that it is better than bullying, but is it really? Both are damaging to the intended party, in spite of the differing intentions.

For some reason, the fat movement has opened a whole new platform for people to criticize their slimmer counterparts or tease them for their lack of mass. While it is not as rampant as the jokes made at the expense of the overweight, it is a slippery slope that might graduate to a society of people who are unable to feel comfortable in their own skin or flesh without putting another person down.

Another downside to this movement has made “fat” become synonymous with the n-word – a derogatory term that many dare not speak for fear of being viewed as politically incorrect. What many fail to comprehend is that without the implications, a word is just a word. Meanwhile, the fact remains that being overweight will bring ill-effects to one’s health and that should be addressed rather than empowering a generation to be overweight and proud of it.  

Any fragrance enthusiast will tell you that the key to smelling wonderful for long hours does not depend on how expensive your perfume is, but on how well you have applied it. So, instead of blowing up hundreds of bucks on high-end perfumes, you need to make sure that you are using your fragrances properly. You may know where to put on the perfume, but do you know how to wear them, test them and store them? The following are some lesser-known tricks that will help your favorite fragrance stay on you for long.

1. Prep your skin before putting on the perfume

A lot of people do not know this but perfumes last longer on oily skins. If you have a non-oily skin, moisturize it properly before applying the scent. Even better, dab on some petroleum jelly on your key pulse points (behind ears, collar bone, inner wrists, belly button, ankles and behind the knees). The ointment will hold on to the spray for longer. If you prefer a moisturizing lotion instead of petroleum jelly, try to get an unscented one that doesn’t alter the scent.

2. Test it correctly

When testing a new fragrance at the store, many people tend to smell the skin/blotter strip right when it has been sprayed. That first scent is only the top note of the fragrance and it will disappear quickly. The wise thing to do is to wait till the spray settles, evaporates and dries on the skin before you smell it.

Also, it is important to know if this fragrance can stand the test of sun, outdoor pollution and humidity. Step out of the store for a quick stroll before you decide if that bottle is worth your money. Remember, only the base note is the one that is going to stay on you.

3. Understand the concentration

Based on the decreasing level of concentration, perfumery products are broadly categorized as parfum, eau de parfum, eau de toilette, eau de cologne and eau fraiche. The more concentrated a perfume is, the longer it will last. However, diluted perfumes are quite affordable and are a good option if you don’t mind carrying the bottle with you for scent touchups.

4. Invest in quality

An important thing to remember before buying a perfume is to check what goes into it. Many perfumes are made using alcohol but the more alcohol content that a perfume bottle has, the faster it will lose its scent. Therefore, if you are looking for a perfume for important events, it would be good idea to put your money on high quality perfume brands like Parfum Lanvin. Some cheap brands don’t even bother to develop a base note. As a result, their perfume doesn’t stay on the wearer at all.

5. Store your perfume properly

Perfumes need to be stored in a cool and dry place to preserve their fragrance. When exposed to direct sunlight, heat, humidity and light, their compounds tend to break down faster. Even if the bottle is closed, keep it away from bathroom, wash basins, window sills and such areas.

The Cure for Wellness is a recently released movie that focused on reinvigorating those who find life tedious and uninspired. While I personally did not watch this film, the idea easily resonates with the masses. There is a reason why travel is so sought after, it is an escape from humdrum lives and is an exciting alternative.

Depression has been eating away at civilization since the turn of the 20th century. Agne Narustyte called it “the disease of our time” in the book Aesthetics of Boredom which, was published in the late 90s. During that period, the two conditions were newly distinguished to be different. Before that, they was seen as one and the same.

Boredom is the lacking the ability to engage with one’s environment, and lacking the necessary skills to entertain oneself. Chronic boredom exhibits the same symptoms as depression, such as sleeping constantly, but Danckert insists that “they’re not the same emotional experience” and has surveyed over 800 people in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. The findings suggested that while the two were intertwined, they are separate entities. Boredom has also been linked to attention disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The fine line between boredom and depression is that when someone who is bored is given something to do, boredom might be alleviated. But when someone suffers from depression, even getting out of bed is a daunting task, much less to say anything else. However, if someone is bored with a certain activity, it will most likely result in error and poor performance due to disinterest. This could be dangerous, especially when they are in charge of system or heavy machinery with the potential to take a life.

Depression might cause a person to take their own life. Living becomes a chore and the end to their own existence sounds like a reprieve. A mental illness commonly tied to depression is anxiety. It is the most prevalent of all, affecting 40 million adults in the States. It has become a “modern epidemic, greater than depression”.

The Telegraph has an interesting theory about why those born after 1980 seem more affected by the disorder and it has to do with the digitalization of our era. Being so connected by social media and the internet but at the same time, completely disengaged. While there are forums where one may find like-minded people and be accepted, there is a need for physical interaction and a tangible community rather than one through a screen.

Furthermore, the FOMO (fear of missing out) trend is a big indicator, not about how millennials want to be at a certain party or event but that they are afraid by not being there, they are being left out. The proper term being athazagoraphobia.

Before social media took over our daily lives and encroached itself into every single activity, it did not seem like such a big deal when one could not make it to a gathering. But now that one is able to see for themselves in real time how much fun everyone is having at the outing, a sort of primal fear arises: would they be as happy if I were there? Or perhaps one was excluded from said gathering, and those questions would morph into an uglier version of events, with the uninvited feeling ashamed at being the only one excluded.

This play on insecurities intensifies feelings of being unwanted while the human psyche craves acceptance above all. Furthermore, studies suggest that those most at risk from developing this new and disturbing condition are those whose basic psychological needs were not met and have low self esteem or preconceptions of being incompetent.

With all these disorders running rampant though our society, propelled by the very foundation of our internet and technology driven age, it is a no wonder that drug addiction is also on the rise. It is not a rare occurrence to hear of someone self-medicating through illegal substances. Ketamine might become the leading treatment for depression, with Johnson and Johnson already looking to invest.

How does this new treatment work? First of all, it is not the high from the drug that makes the depression disappear, Professor Loo told The Independent. Most of the patients hated the drug induced haze, going on to say that “the antidepressant effect kicks in a few hours later and are maximised about 20 hours later, when you’re fully alert and in your usual state of mind”.

However, this does not mean that the use of recreational drugs should be encouraged. Without the proper guidance and knowledge, recreational drug use could prove fatal or become disrupt everyday life. Furthermore, not everyone is capable of affording a detox center or has the ability to come clean on their own.

Perhaps before we try to solve the problems that present itself, we should try first to get to the root of all problems. It seems that everything stems from not having a meaningful life. Without having to fight for physiological or safety needs as outlined in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, many millennials are focused on love, esteem and self-actualization. The dangers of this is that our world has not evolved quickly enough to accommodate that turn of events. However, this does not mean it is not changing.

Many new age millennials have adopted the mentality of living simply and not needing riches to be happy. There are those that live as volunteers, living a basic life that meets their basic needs. Then there are the ones we see the most, those that frequently our social media. Travel bloggers or entrepreneurs, living the life for all to see and also one of the driving forces behind our existential crisis. While it is not a suggestion to sell everything one owns to live a frugal life, but if people were more self aware about the kind of life they wanted to lead, they would have more purpose and less disorders.