The equity in your home is like any other investment. It needs to be monitored. All homeowners should have their equity evaluated once a year. Now may be the perfect time.
For a free market evaluation call 514.715.4514 or 450.458.5365.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Your Home Equity is like any other investment.
The equity in your home is like any other investment. It needs to be monitored. All homeowners should have their equity evaluated once a year. Now may be the perfect time.
For a free market evaluation call 514.715.4514 or 450.458.5365.
Canadian dollar hits three-year high
TORONTO - The Canadian dollar rose to its best level in more than three and a half years against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, as debt fears in the United States continued to slam the greenback.
The loonie climbed as high as $1.0625, its strongest level since November 2007, when it hit a modern-day high.
The U.S. dollar fell across the board, plunging to a record low against the Swiss franc, as a speech by U.S. President Barack Obama Monday night gave no sign of a swift breakthrough in deadlocked talks to raise the U.S. debt ceiling.
Commodity prices such as oil also rallied on a weaker U.S. dollar, though investors shrugged off fears that a U.S. default would undermine the appetite for riskier assets, while a run of strong earning reports further boosted market sentiment.
"The political brinksmanship that's being played out south of the border is clearly having an impact on the U.S. dollar," said Jack Spitz, managing director of foreign exchange at National Bank Financial, noting talk of central banks' reserves diversifying out of the U.S. dollar and into other currencies, such as Canada's.
"Pretty well every currency is trading as a safe-haven currency when compared with the U.S. in terms of its current environment but that could change on a dime."
The United States edged closer on Tuesday to a devastating default as Republicans and Democrats were deadlocked over competing plans to raise the debt ceiling, one week before a deadline to act.
At 8:09 a.m., the loonie stood at $1.0620, up from Monday's North American session close of $1.0573.
Spitz said there was no major technical resistance for the Canadian dollar on its way to the November 2007 high, when the currency hit $1.10.
"From a technical perspective, it's air below the calendar low in dollar/Canada until we get to the modern day low," he said.
Psychologically, he noted investors will look at international money market levels, with $1.07 as the next major mark insight.
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Canadian+dollar+hits+three+year+high/5159842/story.html#ixzz1TDiUAC00
Mom, I want to be a vegetarian. What every parent needs to know
By Andrea Holwegner, For Postmedia News
www.canada.com
For Kathleen, who’s mom to three teenage girls, life was a household full of raging adolescent hormones and a revolving door of friendships — so she felt like rolling with change was something she was good at.
But when her youngest daughter Cate announced she was no longer eating meat, Kathleen found this was hard to manage.
For a while, Kathleen hoped that she would grow out of this, but after several months of food wars at supper she realized her daughter’s vegetarian commitment was not just a fad.
The good news is that with a little planning you can ensure your vegetarian teenagers get the nourishment they need to grow and be healthy.
Progress gradually
Choosing to start off as a strict vegan who consumes no animal foods whatsoever is grounds for complete disaster.
Instead, I recommend all vegetarians start off slowly. Remind them that they need to be open to embracing new knowledge, foods and cooking skills. Working with a dietitian and purchasing some books and vegetarian recipe books is a good idea.
Make a deal with your teenager that you will support them with their vegetarian diet if they can prove to you they can do it in a healthy way.
Encourage them to start off with substituting a few traditional meat-based meals per week with vegetarian meals.
Then, if this is going well, they should become a lacto-ovo vegetarian who consumes dairy foods and eggs before ever considering complete elimination of all animal-derived foods.
Replace, don’t eliminate
Many teenage vegetarians dislike a wide range of veggies, so when they begin skipping meat, poultry and seafood, it means they could be subsisting on vegetarian pizza, french fries and sweets.
This, of course, doesn’t supply enough balanced nutrition to grow and develop properly. You may think your teenager is old enough to fend for themselves, but I rarely see teenage vegetarians achieve optimal nourishment without help from parents.
Many vegetarians don’t realize it is about replacing, not eliminating.
If your teen chooses not to eat meat, poultry or seafood that supply protein, iron and vitamin B12, they need to incorporate foods such as legumes (beans, lentils and chickpeas), nuts, seeds and soy foods (such as tofu or veggie burgers) instead.
As a rule of thumb, I would suggest aiming to eat these foods at least twice per day. For example, a day that includes black bean soup for lunch and a tofu-based stir-fry for supper is a good start.
If dairy foods are not consumed, be sure to incorporate enough calcium-and vitamin D-fortified beverages and foods: aim to have three to four cups of fortified soy milk or fortified rice milk per day.
Be mindful of eating disorders
At my nutrition counselling practice, we treat teenage vegetarianism as a red flag for an eating disorder. While there are certainly political, environmental and other valid reasons to embrace a vegetarian lifestyle, sometimes the decision may stem from an attempt to lose weight -- so it’s important to understand the underlying reasons.
Signs of a potential eating disorder may include body image dissatisfaction, restriction of junk foods or past foods typically enjoyed, increased exercise, not wanting to eat in front of others, using the washroom after eating, dieting or weight loss.
Body image issues in a growing adolescent and eating disorders do not go away on their own and instead require comprehensive help from health care specialists
Turning a potential eating disorder around early is far easier than waiting until the problem is deeply ingrained.
You, as a parent, have an intuitive sense to pick up on your teenager’s relationship with body image and food — trust this.
Five great vegetarian meals:
- Baked potato topped with canned beans in tomato sauce, grated cheese or soy cheese and a tossed salad.
- Taco salad with black beans, salsa, avocado, taco chips and salad dressing.
- Vegetarian pizza with peppers, onions, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese or soy cheese.
- Stir-fry with mixed Asian veggies, tofu, sesame seeds or other nuts and teriyaki sauce served over noodles or rice.
- Chick pea or lentil Indian curry with veggies served with naan bread or rice.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
www.canada.com
For Kathleen, who’s mom to three teenage girls, life was a household full of raging adolescent hormones and a revolving door of friendships — so she felt like rolling with change was something she was good at.
But when her youngest daughter Cate announced she was no longer eating meat, Kathleen found this was hard to manage.
For a while, Kathleen hoped that she would grow out of this, but after several months of food wars at supper she realized her daughter’s vegetarian commitment was not just a fad.
The good news is that with a little planning you can ensure your vegetarian teenagers get the nourishment they need to grow and be healthy.
Progress gradually
Choosing to start off as a strict vegan who consumes no animal foods whatsoever is grounds for complete disaster.
Instead, I recommend all vegetarians start off slowly. Remind them that they need to be open to embracing new knowledge, foods and cooking skills. Working with a dietitian and purchasing some books and vegetarian recipe books is a good idea.
Make a deal with your teenager that you will support them with their vegetarian diet if they can prove to you they can do it in a healthy way.
Encourage them to start off with substituting a few traditional meat-based meals per week with vegetarian meals.
Then, if this is going well, they should become a lacto-ovo vegetarian who consumes dairy foods and eggs before ever considering complete elimination of all animal-derived foods.
Replace, don’t eliminate
Many teenage vegetarians dislike a wide range of veggies, so when they begin skipping meat, poultry and seafood, it means they could be subsisting on vegetarian pizza, french fries and sweets.
This, of course, doesn’t supply enough balanced nutrition to grow and develop properly. You may think your teenager is old enough to fend for themselves, but I rarely see teenage vegetarians achieve optimal nourishment without help from parents.
Many vegetarians don’t realize it is about replacing, not eliminating.
If your teen chooses not to eat meat, poultry or seafood that supply protein, iron and vitamin B12, they need to incorporate foods such as legumes (beans, lentils and chickpeas), nuts, seeds and soy foods (such as tofu or veggie burgers) instead.
As a rule of thumb, I would suggest aiming to eat these foods at least twice per day. For example, a day that includes black bean soup for lunch and a tofu-based stir-fry for supper is a good start.
If dairy foods are not consumed, be sure to incorporate enough calcium-and vitamin D-fortified beverages and foods: aim to have three to four cups of fortified soy milk or fortified rice milk per day.
Be mindful of eating disorders
At my nutrition counselling practice, we treat teenage vegetarianism as a red flag for an eating disorder. While there are certainly political, environmental and other valid reasons to embrace a vegetarian lifestyle, sometimes the decision may stem from an attempt to lose weight -- so it’s important to understand the underlying reasons.
Signs of a potential eating disorder may include body image dissatisfaction, restriction of junk foods or past foods typically enjoyed, increased exercise, not wanting to eat in front of others, using the washroom after eating, dieting or weight loss.
Body image issues in a growing adolescent and eating disorders do not go away on their own and instead require comprehensive help from health care specialists
Turning a potential eating disorder around early is far easier than waiting until the problem is deeply ingrained.
You, as a parent, have an intuitive sense to pick up on your teenager’s relationship with body image and food — trust this.
Five great vegetarian meals:
- Baked potato topped with canned beans in tomato sauce, grated cheese or soy cheese and a tossed salad.
- Taco salad with black beans, salsa, avocado, taco chips and salad dressing.
- Vegetarian pizza with peppers, onions, spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese or soy cheese.
- Stir-fry with mixed Asian veggies, tofu, sesame seeds or other nuts and teriyaki sauce served over noodles or rice.
- Chick pea or lentil Indian curry with veggies served with naan bread or rice.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
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