Bill 20

In the article entitled Doctors Slam Bill 20, written by Joel Ceascu, Dr. Michael Kalin describes how young female doctors will be penalized in Québec for working part-time.  Family medicine is the ideal work environment for a women who want to practice medicine and raise a family at the same time.  However Québec’s Health Minister, Gaétan Barrette doesn’t seem to want part-time doctors.  He also doesn’t want doctors spending “too” much time with patients.

According to Dr. Louis, president of the FQOM, “bill [20] will impose unrealistic patient quota’s on each family doctor “.  GPs need to spend a reasonable amount of time listening to patient concerns and then provide a proper treatment plan.  Quality care cannot be measured in time spent with a patient. All healthcare professionals, like nurses, dietitians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers, speech therapists and not just doctors, need time to get to know a patient, assess their needs and then provide a plan.  Imagine if the patient is vulnerable like an elderly person with many health problems or a patient living with a severe mental health issue. These patients cannot be rushed out the door, they need proper and often lengthy care.

Dr. Kalin is concerned that bill 20 will promote what he is calling ‘assembly line medicine’.  This approach is not just a concern for doctors but for all healthcare professionals.  Imagine taking time off work to go visit a professional who can only spend 5 minutes with you.

Beans beans good for the heart

This blog came up in my Twitter feed and it immediately caught my attention.  The writer, Russ Parsons, reports that we do not have to soak dried beans before we cook them!! What?! Duh? This is new information to me.  In the interest of convenience, I buy canned beans.  I don’t have time to soak beans over night, change the water, soak some more, change the water, boil the beans, change the water….

This blog is telling me that I don’t have to do all of that.  I can simply add dried beans to a pot of water and boil for 1 hour and 15 minutes and voila they are done!  But, with 3 boys, a husband and  working full time I still don’t have time to boil my beans for that long before I add them to my recipe.

My BFF, Robin, is a dietitian living in Salmon Arm BC. She just got a pressure cooker primarily for cooking dried beans.  Robin was visiting her brother in Brazil last year and his girlfriend prepared many bean dishes.  Robin learned that Brazilians use pressure cookers to facilitate the preparation of traditional bean based meals, like black bean soup.  Take a look at the Brazilian healthy eating food guide for some inspiration.

Healthy diets include a lot of plant based foods such as fruits and vegetables; grains like oats, millet, bulgur; and legumes like kidney beans, pinto beans, lentils and split peas.  Plant based foods are sometimes not so convenient and they do need preparation.  However, the benefits are worth the trouble.  Plant based foods are low in calories, high in essential vitamins and minerals and contain fiber which helps to regulate blood sugar.  One unfortunate side effect to eating beans is flatulence.  The good news is, the gut does acclimatize to legume intake and eventually the flatulence will diminish.

I regularly make burritos with pinto beans that I heat with sautéed onions and tomatoes.  I have never cooked this recipe using dried, then cooked beans, but Robin promises the flavor is worth it. She is probably right because I also make a delicious dal recipe with sautéed onions, turmeric, curry, tomatoes, dried red lentils and water.  This recipe cooks very quickly and does not require soaking the lentils.  Red lentils cook fast as opposed to green lentils which take much longer.

If you have any legume recipes to share, please leave them in the comment section.  Do you use a pressure cooker to prepare beans?  Let us know in the comments section too!

Friday Finds: Outdoor Gym Equipment at Johnny Flag!

On Sunday morning, after we unloaded our kids, Richard and I biked to Jean Drapeau Park in Montreal. We are not really bikers.  I know this because we don’t have padded bike shorts and spandex shirts with pockets on the back.   Also, Richard has a hybrid bike and I own a 20
year old Trek mountain bike.   I really love
my bike and I just go it tuned up so it rides fast and furious and handles all the bumps Montreal roads have to offer.  We bike for
recreation whenever we can.

What we discovered on Sunday at Jean Drapeau was pretty cool.  They have an outdoor playground just for adults!  How fun is that?  Right next to the pool and the kiddy playground is brand new outdoor gym equipment provided by Trekfit.  I read about this in the Gazette the week before and so I came prepared to do some training.  The objective is to do a circuit workout.  Pictures were posted with explanations at all the stations. They also have workouts on their websites in PDF. format that you could easily follow.
This equipment is really just a modern twist on old school exercises.  The tried and true chin up, push-up and squat are all just a little bit more fun when done outside on some pretty cool equipment in a gorgeous park.

I think this a trend that needs to catch on in our city.  People are biking for transportation,
recreation and for exercise more than ever before (think Bixi).  So why not install adult equipment in various locations?  I just heard that the City of Cote Saint Luc will be doing just that.  As early as this fall we could start seeing people working out for free outside!  Cote Saint Luc is also building an inter-generational aquatic centre and that could be complete by next spring!  I love staying active but sometimes boredom sets in.  Having a variety of convenient activities to do is very motivating! Thanks Montreal and Cote Saint
Luc!