Issue 31 - Fast Facts

Call in the Substitutes
Adopting a more healthful diet may mean trading in some of your favourite foods and ingredients for lower-fat versions. Once you get started, substituting will become a natural practice.

Instead of...

Try...

Doughnut

Bagel

Bacon or Pork Sausage

Canadian bacon or fresh ham

Fast-food fried fish sandwich

Fast-food regular, single-meat hamburger

Frozen dinners

Reduced-fat frozen entrees without sauces or dessert

Clam chowder

Gazpacho

Cream or half-and-half

Evaporated skim milk

Prime rib of beef

London broil

Potato chips

Baked pita bread chips

Granola bar

Fruit-filled snack bar

Xenical Now Available in Canada New Drugs Offer Hope for Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis sufferers now have four new drugs that promise pain relief for patients with this affliction: Vioxx, Celebrex, Hyalgan and Synvisc. According to the March edition of the Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource, these drugs are appropriate for people with osteoarthritis who don't benefit from traditional treatments or who suffer from side effects.

Volunteer Work
An estimated 23% of Canadian seniors contribute some time each week as unpaid volunteers. Many other seniors look after children. In 1995, just under 20% of seniors looked after children at least once a week.

The economic value of the volunteer work done by seniors is estimated at between $764 million and $2.3 billion annually. As caregivers to spouses, family, friends and neighbours, seniors are also a vital force in reducing health care costs.

Reprinted courtesy of Division of Aging and Seniors, Health Canada

Most Live at Home
The vast majority of seniors live at home. In fact, in 1996, 93% of all people aged 65 and older lived in a private household. Fifty eight per cent of them lived with either their spouse or a common-law partner. Another 7% lived with members of their extended family, such as the family of a daughter or son, while 29% lived alone and 2% lived with non-relatives.

There are, however, substantial differences in the living arrangements of seniors, depending on their age and gender. Senior women, for example, who tend to outlive their spouses, are considerably less likely than senior men to be living with a spouse. This is particularly the case for women in older age ranges. Indeed, only 11% of women aged 85 and older, and 31% of those aged 75-84, lived with their spouse in 1996, compared with more than 50% of both men and women aged 65-74 and senior men in all age ranges. In contrast, 58% of women aged 85 and older lived alone, as did 49% of women aged 75-84.