Lloyd Webber’s Latest Creation: Breathing Space

LONDON -- Andrew Lloyd Webber has earned seven Tony Awards, a knighthood and hundreds of millions of dollars for writing some of the most popular musicals of all time, from his 1968 breakthrough, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” to “The Phantom of the Opera,” the longest-running show ever on Broadway. Nearly as legendary is his ego, a self-confidence worthy of an impresario whose success has long emboldened him to think on grand scales.

Which is why it was hard to believe Mr. Lloyd Webber when he said, during a recent interview, that he may stop involving himself in future productions of his work.

But he sounded perfectly sincere expounding on that comment as he sat high above the stage of his London Palladium Theater, like a lord in the heavens of the upper balcony. Stagehands below were setting up the yellow brick road for the evening performance of “The Wizard of Oz,” a largely faithful musical adaptation of the cherished film that he produced and for which he and Tim Rice wrote a few new songs. He said he may bring “Oz” to Broadway. Or he may not.

Mr. Lloyd Webber, 63, chalked up his ambivalence of late to the otherwise happy occasions of recently seeing “the two best productions of my shows that I had nothing to do with”: the revival of “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, which he hopes will come to Broadway, and a production of “Love Never Dies,” a sequel to “Phantom,” in Melbourne, Australia.

“Love Never Dies” has been a particularly bittersweet experience for Mr. Lloyd Webber, to hear him describe it during a rare and candid discussion. One of the highest-stakes sequels in history, given the popularity of “Phantom,” “Love Never Dies” coincided with Mr. Lloyd Webber’s treatment for prostate cancer. He said he struggled to write the musical, and his usual role as a hands-on producer was scrambled somewhat by his illness. The show opened in London in 2010 to mostly harsh reviews. A subsequent retooling drew some better notices, but overall negative buzz doomed the production, which will close next month.

While the Melbourne version looks more successful, Mr. Lloyd Webber said he was mindful that he did not have a hand in mounting it. “I just said, ‘That’s the score, do what you can,’ ” he recalled telling the director in Melbourne, Simon Phillips.

“So I’ve now decided what I might do is to have nothing to do with my shows for the foreseeable future, which is probably a very sound idea,” said Mr. Lloyd Webber, who was tanned and relaxed in an open-collared shirt and slacks, and whose tone only now and then turned solemn.

Pressed on this notion of self-exile, he pointed out that he also played no role in Des McAnuff’s mounting of “Superstar” in Stratford, which opened last month to laurels from critics. While Mr. Lloyd Webber holds the rights for a Broadway transfer of the McAnuff production, he said he was inclined to assign them to other producers.

“I don’t think I should be involved in bringing it into New York, really, on the grounds that anything I get involved with seems to go wrong,” he said. “I’ve come to this new conclusion. I’ll just smile and turn up at opening nights.”

Well, not quite. To assume that Mr. Lloyd Webber might be pulling back from the theatrical scene underestimates both his self-professed workaholism and his creative interests, which have only widened thanks to his near-giddy infatuation with casting stage shows through television contests. He is also, obviously, a man with strong opinions and a history of acting upon them. (His view that the original “Oz” score was underwritten, for instance, led him to compose new songs like “Nobody Understands Me” for Dorothy and “Red Shoes Blues” for the Wicked Witch.) But some of his recent collaborators said that Mr. Lloyd Webber seemed content to give way.

“Andrew has been very gracious, making it clear that he was happy to let us build our own ‘Superstar,’ ” Mr. McAnuff said by telephone last month.

Mr. Lloyd Webber has also had a largely hands-off role in the first Broadway revival of one of his best-known works, “Evita,” which originally ran in New York from 1979 to 1983 and won seven Tonys, including best musical. The revival, which is expected to open next year, is the brainchild of the Tony-winning director Michael Grandage (“Red”), who said in an interview that he wanted to reflect “all that has been learned about Argentina and, in particular, the life of the Perons since the original production.” He said he had briefed Mr. Lloyd Webber on new ideas for the musical, and added that he felt no pressure to be slavish to the original work.

“While we are keen to pay homage to the original iconic production in certain places, Andrew has also been very supportive of our wish to bring a new version to Broadway,” Mr. Grandage said.

Mr. Lloyd Webber, in tracing the recent career path that had led him to “Oz” at the Palladium, was neither defensive about creative failures nor prone to excuses, like the perfectly reasonable one of prostate cancer. Yet he did show a survivor’s capacity to assess life — and his own faults — without flinching.

I’ve learned, to my cost in some ways, I have a compulsive desire to write and work, and sometimes I’ve let myself into just doing something because I really just needed to do it,” he said. “So I got myself involved with a couple of musicals that probably I should not have done.”

He cited “The Woman in White,” his adaptation of the 1860 mystery novel by Wilkie Collins, which ran for only three and a half months on Broadway during the 2005-6 season (though he did receive a Tony nomination, for best score, his latest). His most recent success on Broadway was back in 1995, when “Sunset Boulevard” won seven Tonys, including for best musical, and ended up running for two and a half years — though it did not recoup its entire $13 million capitalization, a spokesman for Mr. Lloyd Webber said.

“Love Never Dies,” meanwhile, “had so many layers of problems,” Mr. Lloyd Webber said.

“One, I had cancer, and I therefore was not as involved with the production as I might have been,” he said. “And the production itself frankly didn’t deliver, and I was not on the case, and there was nobody around helping me to produce it who was also on the case. What I can’t tell is, I don’t know if there’s a subliminal resistance to the idea of a sequel to ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ anyway.”

While a Broadway production of “Love Never Dies” was postponed after the London problems, Mr. Lloyd Webber revealed that, even with the positive reviews in Melbourne, he was not sure that version would come to New York.

“I think there are a lot of people who would love to see it go there, but I think that we’re all realistic, and I think with the baggage that it’s got, it might be better to just let it be discovered,” he said of the musical, which will be filmed and sold on DVD.

The director of the London production of “Love Never Dies,” Jack O’Brien, a Tony winner for “Hairspray” and other shows, declined to comment when told of Mr. Lloyd Webber’s remarks. (In turn Mr. Lloyd Webber said that he had great respect for Mr. O’Brien.)

These last experiences were so distressing to Mr. Lloyd Webber that he said he was being “very careful” with developing original musicals — so much so that he does not have one in the works. He is talking to the producer Cameron Mackintosh about reviving another hit, “Cats,” in London in 2013 or 2014 (he had no idea if it would come to Broadway), and he is fielding interest in a film version of “Joseph.” His theatrical empire, the Really Useful Group, manages several theaters in the West End and oversees other projects.

For all that, he added, he would love to work on another new musical.

“I just can’t find a subject at the moment,” Mr. Lloyd Webber said. Asked about his sources of inspiration for musical ideas, his voice turned to a whisper. “You never know,” he replied, and then added: “It can just be as simple someone saying something, and out of the blue saying, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that.’ But so far I haven’t found anything at all.”

By comparison, he has found great comfort in his television casting shows, which Really Useful Group has produced with the BBC since the first installment, in 2006, which sought to find an actress to play the lead role of Maria in a “Sound of Music” revival. Mr. Lloyd Webber ended up serving as a judge, offering performers advice and deploying a sexual double entendre or two (unprintable here).

“It was the most dangerous decision that I ever took, because I didn’t know that I would work on television, and, second thing, it could have been a complete, complete disaster if we didn’t find the right girl to play Maria,” he said. Viewers ended up selecting a young actress named Connie Fisher, and, as hoped, many of them ended up buying tickets to see her. The revival ran in London for more than two years, and Mr. Lloyd Webber followed it up with reality casting shows for productions of “Joseph,” “Oliver!” and “Oz.”

While he credited the television series with expanding the audience for musical theater, he also described them as simply a pleasure to do during a time when he needed more laughter in his life.

“There’s no getting around it: Writing is hard, while working with young performers is nearly always a joy,” said Mr. Lloyd Webber, who is now cancer free but whose health still wavers. “I do want to write again. I hope to. But it’s also important for me to realize, as I get older, that I don’t have to be doing everything all at once.”

Stolen Canadian passports a hot commodity

OTTAWA — One of Canada's most respected assets — our passport — is under siege, with more than 1,000 stolen across the country every month on average, Passport Canada has revealed.

The surprising disclosure was made in the agency's latest annual report, which says 13,077 passports were stolen in fiscal 2009-10. By comparison, only 631 were swiped overseas. Another 47,704 passports were reported lost in Canada.

Before 2006, about 25,000 passports were reportedly lost or stolen annually. That number jumped to almost 43,000 in 2006-07, coinciding with a surge in demand because of new U.S. passport requirements for Canadian and other western travellers. By 2008-09, it was 53,000. Now, it's hit 60,781.

But only in the latest annual report has Passport Canada broken down the combined "lost and stolen" total and publicly revealed the extent of the theft problem.

Passport Canada officials, operating under the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, say the number of passports lost or stolen is quite low in proportion to the total number of valid passports in circulation.

"While it may appear to be rising, the number of lost/stolen passports has remained quite static in proportion to the total number of valid passports in circulation over the last three years," Beatrice Fenlon, spokeswoman for Passport Canada, said in an email response provided to Postmedia News.

In 2009-10, the total number of passports reported lost or stolen was 60,781, which represents 0.3205 per cent of the 18,962,745 passports in circulation as of April 2010, Fenlon wrote.

In 2008-09, the number of passports reported lost or stolen was 53,515, which represents 0.3145 per cent of the 17,015,462 passports in circulation as of April 2009.

And the year before that, 51,915 of the 15,515,042 passports in circulation were reported lost/stolen, representing 0.3346 per cent of the total.

"Over the last three years, the number of passports reported lost/stolen has remained consistent at about 0.3 per cent (of the total number of valid passports)," Fenlon said.

However, the RCMP believes those missing passports are a national security concern because of their potential use by terrorists or other criminals.

A 2006 RCMP memo to then-public safety minister Stockwell Day said about 50,000 Canadian passports lost or stolen in the four previous years were suspected of falling into the hands of criminals or terrorists.

A primary concern is identity theft, one of the fastest-growing crimes in the world. In Canada, identity theft is estimated to cost the economy $2 billion annually.

In late 2009, an RCMP-led Integrated National Security Enforcement Team raided dozens of locations around Montreal and Toronto — including three daycare centres — and smashed what police said was a vast criminal network specializing in forging passports and other official documents. Police said bona fide passports "obtained through various means" were forged to create new identities.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) says terrorist groups rely, to some degree, on crimes including passport forgery to raise money.

CSIS director Richard Fadden told a parliamentary committee last summer that foreign spies value the Canadian passport, too.

"I think one of the reasons that Canada's so attractive is that we're so well-viewed around the world, and our passports are accepted virtually anywhere, so there is a level of concern," he said.

What's more, federal officials say confidence in Canadian passports — that the bearer is who he says he is — is critical to trade, the economy and international travel.

Passport Canada, at the urging of former federal auditor general Sheila Fraser, has implemented a number of security measures in recent years, including quick notification about lost and stolen passports to the national police information database, Canada Border Services Agency, Citizenship and Immigration and, through the RCMP, Interpol.

Fenlon said when informed that a passport has been stolen or lost, Passport Canada immediately invalidates the passport within its system and the Canadian Police Information Centre, and communicates the information to other agencies with which it has information-sharing agreements, including Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and the Canada Border Services Agency.

"In many cases the passports do 'turn up' — whether the bearer finds it or someone else who then turns it in to the authorities. For example, someone who finds a purse (and the passport is inside) may return it to their nearest police station," she said.

All passports reported lost or stolen that are returned to Passport Canada are sent to its security bureau for inspection and destruction. Once a passport has been reported lost or stolen it is no longer valid and cannot be used for travel. This is to ensure that it is not used for fraudulent purposes, Fenlon said.

"Before a lost or stolen document can be replaced, Passport Canada conducts an investigation into the circumstances. This may lead to delays in processing the replacement passport," she said.

A replacement passport, which may only be valid for a limited period, may be authorized if strict requirements are met. These include the submission of a statutory declaration concerning the lost or stolen passport.

More than 4.8 million Canadian passports were issued in 2009, a 137-per-cent increase since 2000-01. Late next year, Passport Canada is to be begin distributing electronic passports to the general public. The ePassports feature biometric and holographic security measures to combat tampering and fraud.

Ottawa Citizen, with files from Postmedia News.

Home, sweet-smelling home. Fragrances add personality, luxury to living spaces

Dressing up your home is not just about furniture and lighting. Scent also plays a big role — like the perfect cologne or eau de toilette to complement a great outfit.

An increasing number of companies are realizing this trend and have concocted a wide variety of fabulous home fragrances, ranging from floral to fruity scents, to invigorate your living environment.

The oldest and most famous home fragrances are by Lampe Berger Paris (en.lampe berger.ca). Created by pharmacist Maurice Berger in 1898 to purify the air in hospitals, these high-end oil-burning lamps are as beautiful as they are effective. Housed in lamps that look more like fancy perfume bottles or shapely pieces of sculpture, aromatherapy oils come in a myriad of exotic scents to deodorize your home.

While some home fragrances are more expensive than their cheaper drug-store counterparts, many do have natural ingredients, including botanical extracts and essential oils, that enable the scent to linger longer.

Carole Teitelbaum, executive vice-president of Bath and Body Works, says there is a growing interest in home fragrances because they're an affordable luxury that changes the atmosphere of any home, much like background music.

"Dinner parties have become very popular and having a (fragrant) home has become very important for a lot of people." She says the key is to not overpower a room with the scent, and gauge the amount used by the size of the space.

"Two quick sprays add an extra burst of fragrance — perfect just before guests start to arrive — that can last for up to four hours," says Teitelbaum.

Used not only to refresh the air and neutralize odours, sprays can also revitalize scented drawer liners or shoes, or you can lightly spritz used dryer sheets for additional use. Here are just a few examples:

- Tropical Rhythm Ambiance Room Spray from Fruits & Passion It comes in six other scents, including Bali bliss and tulip.

Price: $18 for 75 mL fruits-passion.com

- Room sprays from Bath and Body Works in tropical fragrances include island colada, pink sangria and sparkling mojito.

Price: $6.50 for 24 mL bathandbodyworks.com

- Body, Room and Linen Spritz from The Body Shop The variety of scents include pomegranate and raspberry, green tea and lemon, aloe and soft linen, mandarin and tangelo, vanilla and lime blossom, and sandalwood and ginger.

- Price: $10 for 100 mL thebodyshop.ca

- Rosewater Room Spray by Crabtree & Evelyn Other scents include lily of the valley and lavender.

Price: $16 for 100 mL crabtree-evelyn.com

- THANN's paraben-free home scent collection. Scents include oriental essence, Mediterranean floral, aromatic wood, sea foam, sunflower, and rose flower.

Price: $55 for 250 mL thann.ca
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

The heat is on! Be careful out there.

MONTREAL - The summer heat is set to reach its pinnacle Thursday with the mercury climbing to 35 degrees Celsius and the humidex factor making it feel like 42C to 44C.

“It might even get hotter in really urbanized sectors of the city where’s there’s a lot of concrete and asphalt and few trees,” said Environment Canada meteorologist André Cantin.

While this just may be the kind of sultry weather Montrealers yearn for in the dead of winter, experts warn sunny skies must be taken in moderation. From dehydration to exhaustion, it can take a mere hour for heat stroke to escalate to death.

“The window for intervention can be very short from the time of the increase in body temperature,” said Dr. Louis Jacques of Montreal’s Public Health Department. “It’s an emergency situation and there’s a really high lethal rate when you reach the point of heat stroke.”

Last summer, dozens of deaths were suspected to be related to heat waves hitting Montreal, with the city’s average daily death rate doubling during the temperature peak.

To beat the heat, Jacques urges people to spend at least a few hours a day in an air-conditioned place, avoid strenuous activity, especially outside during the hottest parts of the day, and drink more water than usual without waiting to be thirsty.

Signs to watch for include muscle cramps, headache, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, general discomfort and difficulties breathing.

Jacques instructs individuals suffering from any of these symptoms to call Quebec’s Info-Santé hotline at 811 and to make an immediate trip to the emergency room if they experience confusion, loss of consciousness or a body temperature of 40C or more.

Children under 5 and people older than 65 are especially vulnerable to the heat, as are those suffering from cardiovascular diseases, respiratory ailments or obesity.

“Whenever the temperature increases, our cardiovascular system must work harder to control our body temperature,” Jacques said. “You have to have a system that works really well to do that.”

While Environment Canada has issued a high heat and humidity warning for Montreal, the city does not intend to put its heat emergency plan into effect just yet.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/heat+careful+there/5134001/story.html#ixzz1ShiLd8iX


Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/heat+careful+there/5134001/story.html#ixzz1Shi09MBn

U.S. Housing and Economic Forecast Points to Rising Activity

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2011


Home sales are expected to stay on an uptrend through 2012, although the performance will be uneven with mortgage constraints weighing on the market, according to experts at a residential real estate forum today at the Realtors® Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo here.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said existing-home sales have been underperforming by historical standards and will rise gradually but unevenly. “If we just hold at the first-quarter sales pace of 5.1 million, sales this year would rise 4 percent, but the remainder of the year looks better,” Yun said. “We expect 5.3 million existing-home sales this year, up from 4.9 million in 2010, with additional gains in 2012 to about 5.6 million – that’s a sustainable level given the size of our population.”

Mortgage interest rates should rise gradually to 5.5 percent by the end of the year and average 6.0 percent in 2012 – still relatively affordable by historic standards.

“A huge volume of cash sales, supported by the recovery in the stock market, show that smart money is chasing real estate. This implies that there could be a sizeable pent-up demand if mortgages become more readily accessible for qualified buyers,” Yun said. “The problem isn’t with interest rates, but with the continuation of unnecessarily tight credit standards that are keeping many creditworthy buyers from getting a loan despite extraordinarily low default rates over the past two years.”

Yun said that if credit requirements returned to normal, safe standards, home sales would be 15 to 20 percent higher. He added that some parents are buying homes with cash for their children, and offering them loans which provide better returns than bank accounts or CDs.

Yun projects the Gross Domestic Product to grow 2.5 percent this year and 2.7 percent in 2012, adding 1.5 million to 2 million jobs yearly over the next two years. The unemployment rate should decline to 8.8 percent by the end of 2011 and average 8.6 percent next year, returning to a normal level of 6 percent around 2015.

Housing starts are forecast to rise but remain below long-term trends, reaching 603,000 in 2011, up from 595,000 last year, and continue growing to 908,000 in 2012. New-home sales are seen at a record low 320,000 this year, rising to 487,000 in 2012. “A recovery in new homes will be slow because of the extra price discount in the existing home market,” Yun noted. In March, the typical new single-family home cost $53,300 more than an existing home.
Inflation appears to be relatively modest for now, with the Consumer Price Index rising 2.9 percent this year. “We’ll be closely watching the impact of fuel costs on consumer spending and inflation – that would slow economic growth, job creation and home sales,” Yun said.

Apartment rents are trending up, and are likely to rise at faster rates as vacancies decline. Following the correction in home prices, it has now become more affordable to buy in most of the country. “Twice as many renters had enough income to buy a home in 2010 in comparison with 2005, so we have a much larger pool of financially qualified renters,” Yun said. “Rising rents and excellent housing affordability conditions will encourage potential buyers who’ve been on the sidelines.”

Yun expects the median existing-home price to remain near $170,000 over the next two years, which would mark four consecutive years of essentially no meaningful price change.

Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac, holds similar views on the outlook. “Economic activity will accelerate this year – there will be no double dip in the economy,” he said. Nothaft is more optimistic on job growth, expecting 2.0 million to 2.5 million jobs created in 2011 with unemployment dropping to 8.4 percent by the end of the year.

Nothaft expects the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to trend up to 5.25 percent by the end of the year, and for home sales to rise 5 percent. “National home price indices are close to a bottom and prices are likely to bottom sometime this year,” he said.

Refinancing activity in 2011 will be only half of what it was last year. “As a result, banks may become more willing to lend to home buyers,” Nothaft said.

The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

Montreal traffic

Los Angeles avoided Carmageddon, the mother of all traffic jams expected when a 16-kilometre stretch of Interstate 405 (one of the busiest highways in the U.S.) was closed on the weekend.

Will Montreal survive the “Detour de l’Île,” the name suggested by one responder to The Gazette’s Metropolitan News poll of what Montreal’s summer of traffic turmoil should be dubbed.

Unlike L.A., where traffic anguish never materialized and the bridge demolition behind the closure was actually completed ahead of schedule, there’s no end in sight for Montreal’s traffic headaches.

The Met News unscientific poll asked readers: What should the slogan be for Montreal’s summer of roadwork hell?

Here are the poll results as of 3:15 p.m. Monday:
- Carmageddon
- Mission Impassable
- Carpocolypse
- Ay Caramba
- Others...


Some of the suggestions from readers:

- Detour de l’ Île

- Coney Island

- CarRuption

- One city, one bridge

- Cartastrophe

- Carcophany

Quick, Healthy Snacks and Lunches-to-Go

When life gets busy, eating right can be hard to do. Our increasingly chaotic lifestyles are jam-packed with so many long hours working, taking care of families, trying to maintain healthy relationships, and many other responsibilities that it's often difficult to find the time to take care of ourselves. One of the first things that gets put on the back-burner is eating healthy and getting enough physical activity. However, health should be a priority in all of our lives. With a little planning and self-discipline, making quick but healthy lunches and snacks can be as easy as pie (but I'm not suggesting you choose pie). Consider the easy options below the next time you pack a lunch to take to work or know you have a long busy day ahead of you.

Wraps and sandwiches are great because they take little time to prepare and are travel-friendly. They also allow you to incorporate some of your favorite vegetables and can contain a mixture of fuels (carbohydrates, protein, and fat). Use whole-wheat bread or a whole-grain tortilla or wrap (Flat-Out wraps work wonderfully) and add a lean meat or protein such a sliced turkey or chicken (or beans or tofu if you're a vegetarian). Throw in a slice of reduced-free cheese, an abundance of veggies, and some mustard or light mayonnaise.

Tuna, salmon, chicken, and crab salads make for quick, simple, tasty lunches. Prepare with low-fat mayonnaise (try the kind made with olive oil) or nonfat Greek yogurt, your favorite chopped vegetables (green onions, pickles, radishes, bell peppers, celery and carrots work well and provide some crunch). Adding chopped nuts to these salads will provide a dose of heart-healthy fats, fiber, protein and minerals. Eat the salad between two slices of whole-wheat bread, in a whole-grain wrap or pita pocket, or with some whole-grain crackers. Add a piece of fruit and a glass of skim milk or non-fat yogurt and you've got a complete, well-balanced, healthy meal.

Another quick, easy lunch option that requires no refrigeration is a microwavable pouch of whole-grain brown rice. Uncle Ben's "Ready Rice" pouches, which you microwave in the pouch for just 90 seconds, are a great start to a fast, healthy, delicious meal. You can add your own seasonings, or if you are really strapped for time, pick one that is already flavored. Just be sure to choose a whole-grain variety over the white rice varieties (which usually come in more flavors). Some of the whole-grain varieties come in chicken-flavored or Santa-Fe-flavored packs. There are similar microwavable pouches sold by other brands, so check what's available wherever you buy groceries. A 1-cup serving of these types of microwavable rice pouches has about 190-220 calories and serves as a healthy vehicle for a well-balanced meal. Add plenty of chopped veggies, cooked chicken breast, tofu, tuna or other lean protein source, and top with reduced-fat shredded cheese for a complete meal.

Additionally, be sure to always plan ahead for a sneak snack-attack. Hunger pangs tend to strike mid- to late-afternoon as our blood sugar and serotonin levels drop, causing us to crave carbohydrates to refuel. If you're not prepared, you may find yourself reaching for whatever fat- and calorie-laden leftovers are sitting in the office break-room. Ideally, your meals and snacks should contain a mixture of complex carbohydrates, lean protein, and a little healthy fat.

When life gets busy, eating right can be hard to do. Our increasingly chaotic lifestyles are jam-packed with so many long hours working, taking care of families, trying to maintain healthy relationships, and many other responsibilities that it's often difficult to find the time to take care of ourselves. One of the first things that gets put on the back-burner is eating healthy and getting enough physical activity. However, health should be a priority in all of our lives. With a little planning and self-discipline, making quick but healthy lunches and snacks can be as easy as pie (but I'm not suggesting you choose pie). Consider the easy options below the next time you pack a lunch to take to work or know you have a long busy day ahead of you.

Wraps and sandwiches are great because they take little time to prepare and are travel-friendly. They also allow you to incorporate some of your favorite vegetables and can contain a mixture of fuels (carbohydrates, protein, and fat). Use whole-wheat bread or a whole-grain tortilla or wrap (Flat-Out wraps work wonderfully) and add a lean meat or protein such a sliced turkey or chicken (or beans or tofu if you're a vegetarian). Throw in a slice of reduced-free cheese, an abundance of veggies, and some mustard or light mayonnaise.

iStock_000014162714XSmall.jpg Tuna, salmon, chicken, and crab salads make for quick, simple, tasty lunches. Prepare with low-fat mayonnaise (try the kind made with olive oil) or nonfat Greek yogurt, your favorite chopped vegetables (green onions, pickles, radishes, bell peppers, celery and carrots work well and provide some crunch). Adding chopped nuts to these salads will provide a dose of heart-healthy fats, fiber, protein and minerals. Eat the salad between two slices of whole-wheat bread, in a whole-grain wrap or pita pocket, or with some whole-grain crackers. Add a piece of fruit and a glass of skim milk or non-fat yogurt and you've got a complete, well-balanced, healthy meal.

Another quick, easy lunch option that requires no refrigeration is a microwavable pouch of whole-grain brown rice. Uncle Ben's "Ready Rice" pouches, which you microwave in the pouch for just 90 seconds, are a great start to a fast, healthy, delicious meal. You can add your own seasonings, or if you are really strapped for time, pick one that is already flavored. Just be sure to choose a whole-grain variety over the white rice varieties (which usually come in more flavors). Some of the whole-grain varieties come in chicken-flavored or Santa-Fe-flavored packs. There are similar microwavable pouches sold by other brands, so check what's available wherever you buy groceries. A 1-cup serving of these types of microwavable rice pouches has about 190-220 calories and serves as a healthy vehicle for a well-balanced meal. Add plenty of chopped veggies, cooked chicken breast, tofu, tuna or other lean protein source, and top with reduced-fat shredded cheese for a complete meal.

Additionally, be sure to always plan ahead for a sneak snack-attack. Hunger pangs tend to strike mid- to late-afternoon as our blood sugar and serotonin levels drop, causing us to crave carbohydrates to refuel. If you're not prepared, you may find yourself reaching for whatever fat- and calorie-laden leftovers are sitting in the office break-room. Ideally, your meals and snacks should contain a mixture of complex carbohydrates, lean protein, and a little healthy fat.

Here are few quick, easy, healthy snack items to have on hand. You may need to store some in your office's break-room fridge,but you can stash other shelf-stable options in your purse, car, desk, or locker at work. Reach for these when a snack-attack sneaks up on you:

Light string cheese and a piece of fruit
Peanut butter paired with whole-grain crackers or an apple
Beef jerky and whole-grain cereal
Sliced turkey with reduced-fat cheese and mustard and a handful of baby carrots
Trail mix made w/whole-grain cereal or crackers, dried fruit, and nuts
Instant packs of plain oatmeal, topped with nuts and a dash of cinnamon
Canned soups (look for light versions and those with lower sodium)
Nonfat yogurt topped w/ granola or pretzels
Granola bars (choose those that are high in fiber and have less sugar)
Hummus with whole-grain crackers or pita bread, or cut-up vegetables
Pouches of tuna or salmon with whole-grain crackers or rice cakes
A couple of hard-boiled eggs and a whole-wheat toast
Low-fat or fat-free cottage cheese topped with sliced pineapple or cucumber

A snack in the mid- to late-afternoon can help stave off hunger and provide you with a much-needed energy boost. Healthy snacking has also been proven to prevent overeating later in the day, which tends to happen when you eat too few calories throughout the day and overcompensate by binging in the evening.

Kari Hartel, RD, LD is a Registered Dietitian and freelance writer based out of St. Louis, MO. Kari is passionate about nutrition education and the prevention of chronic disease through a healthy diet and active lifestyle.

Can too little sleep make you gain weight?

People who got very little sleep ate more but didn't burn any extra calories in a new study that adds to evidence supporting a link between sleep deprivation and weight gain.

Although the findings don't prove that sleeplessness causes people to pack on extra pounds, or exactly how the relationship between sleep and body weight might work, they do show that "sleep should be a priority," said Michael Grandner, who studies sleep and sleep disorders at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

"If you're making your diet a priority and trying to be healthy, don't forget that getting healthy sleep is probably an extremely important part of being healthy," Grandner, who was not involved in the new work, told Reuters Health.

Previous studies have tested the link between sleep and diet and weight in multiple ways, Grandner explained. Some surveyed large populations of people with questions about their sleeping and eating habits and tracked their future health conditions. Others, including the new report, looked at a smaller group of people very closely, manipulating their sleep schedule and observing how their food cravings and appetite responded.

Both kinds of research have generally supported the idea that less sleep is associated with more extra weight.

One recent study in Sweden found, for example, that young men who were sleep-deprived ate about the same amount of food as usual, but burned between 5 and 20 per cent fewer calories than when they were well-rested.

Approximately 50 to 70 million Americans -- including a significant number of shift workers -- suffer from chronic sleep loss and sleep disorders, according to the National Institutes of Health.

For the current study, Marie-Pierre St-Onge of the New York Obesity Research Center at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital and colleagues recruited thirty men and women in their 30's and 40's, all of roughly normal weight. The participants lived and slept in a research center during two different five-night periods.

During one of those visits, they were allowed to sleep for nine hours each night. During the other, participants were only permitted four hours of shut-eye. Both times, they were fed a strict diet for the first four days of their stay and then were allowed to eat whatever they wanted on the fifth and final full day.

Researchers tracked how much energy they burned on a daily basis, and also asked participants how energetic they felt.

The tests showed that regardless of which sleep schedule they were on, people burned a similar amount of calories -- about 2,600 per day.

But when they were sleep-deprived, they fed themselves about 300 more calories on average on the final day of the study compared to when they had been sleeping normally. Well-rested participants ate an average of 2,800 calories that day, compared to 2,500 when they were running on less sleep.

If that kept up in a person's normal daily life, it would put the sleep-deprived at higher risk of obesity, the authors write in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Participants also said they felt more sluggish and less energetic after a few days on the short sleep schedule.

People with eating disorders likely to die earlier, study shows

Photograph by: Thinkstock, canada.com

Anorexia increases a patient's risk of death fivefold, and people with bulimia or another nonspecified eating disorder also face an increased risk of death -- about twice as likely to die as people without those disorders, a study said.

The cause of deaths wasn't always clear, but among anorexics who died, one in five was a suicide. The other deaths were attributed to the eating disorders' brutal effects on the body over time, researchers wrote in Archives of General Psychiatry.

"Of course, eating disorders have serious physical consequences," said lead author Jon Arcelus, of Loughborough University in the UK.

"The study could not identify how people died, but there is no doubt that the reasons behind this are related to the physical problems of the illness," he told Reuters Health in an email.

His group carried out a meta-analysis of 36 studies published between 1966 and 2010, which included 17,000 people with an eating disorder, of whom 755 died.

Their analysis showed that five of every 1,000 people with anorexia died each year, which was five times greater than would be expected for comparable people in the general population without an eating disorder.

Among those with bulimia or other eating disorders, the death rate was twice as high as expected compared to those without an eating disorder.

One reason for the results is that people with anorexia nervosa have both psychiatric and medical problems, but most facilities that treat anorexia focus only on the psychiatric problems, said Laird Birmingham, medical director of the Woodstone Residence, a residential facility for people with eating disorders on Galliano Island in British Columbia.

He noted that most people with anorexia also suffer from depression, anxiety or obsessive compulsive disorder.

"Almost all centers only treat (the) anorexia, not the other disorder. Unless both are treated, they won't get better," he told Reuters Health.

The higher risk of death among those with anorexia reflected the more serious consequences of the disease, he added.

"They are very malnourished. That isn't the case with the other disorders," he said.

Arcelus and his colleagues wrote that the results highlighted the seriousness of eating disorders, noting that people who are diagnosed with anorexia later in life, those who are already severely underweight when diagnoses and those who also abuse alcohol seem to be at the greatest risk of dying.

"This sort of study reminds people that a significant percentage of people die of this disorder," Birmingham said.





SOURCE: Archives of General Psychiatry

'Carmageddon' officially on in Los Angeles

By Michael White and Andy Fixmer - Jul 15, 2011

Closing the busiest stretch of freeway in Los Angeles this weekend may hurt businesses in the area, except for companies like Waze and JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU) that help travelers find a way around the mess.

The shutdown of part of Interstate 405 -- an event known as Carmageddon to local media -- may back up traffic by as much as 30 miles, according to Nancy Castles, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles International Airport. Residents have been warned to stay home or map out alternate routes during the closure of a 10-mile stretch that links L.A.’s Westside with the San Fernando Valley. Plans are for ramps to begin to be blocked at 7 p.m. tonight and for traffic to flow again by 6 a.m. Monday.

Waze, a mobile application that helps drivers navigate around traffic jams, has added more than 80,000 active users, an increase of about two-thirds in a market that is its biggest, said Di-Ann Eisnor, a vice president at the Palo Alto, California-based startup.

“When we heard about this, we thought we had to find a way to respond,” Eisnor said in an interview. “This really becomes an important showcase.”

Other companies see opportunities too. Briles Wing & Helicopter Inc. is offering to whisk passengers over the gridlock for $1,100 per person, and put a “countdown to the closure” clock on its website. JetBlue marketed $4 Carmageddon Fly-Over flights between Long Beach, south of the closure, and Burbank, in the valley. The four flights sold out.
Luring Customers

City officials are advising residents to stay out of their cars, as they did during the 1984 Olympics, when there were concerns that smog and traffic would interfere with the Games. Local bars and restaurants, worried the strategy will work again, started the website car-mageddon.com to lure customers with discounts and so-called CarmaCoupons.

The shutdown could blunt sales at Toyota of Santa Monica, said Billy Rinker, general sales manager at the dealership, which claims to be the top U.S. seller of Prius hybrids.

“July should be a good month because there’s five weekends this year,” Rinker said. “But on the Westside, Carpocalypse or Carmaggedon or whatever it’s called probably means we’ll lose that weekend.”

The freeway is closing to allow workers to demolish the 80- foot-high Mulholland Bridge that spans the 405. It’s part of a five-year, $1 billion project to add a carpool lane on the freeway between U.S. 101 in the San Fernando Valley and Interstate 10 on the Westside.
‘Massive Impact’

The stretch, which handles 500,000 vehicles on a typical weekend, is the third busiest in the U.S., according to Inrix Inc.’s Nation Traffic Report Card. The California Department of Transportation, which is overseeing the project, expects construction to be finished in 2013.

“In places like Los Angeles, where the transportation system is operating at or near capacity, even minor disruptions can have a massive impact,” said Brian Taylor, a transportation professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Motorists who typically drive the 405 will be directed 38 miles east through downtown Los Angeles. Sepulveda Boulevard, a main thoroughfare that parallels the closed section of freeway, will be marked for residents only, said Lt. Andy Neiman, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department.

“If you’re not currently planning ahead to make alternate travel arrangements, your choices will limit you to staying home to avoid the congestion that is expected,” Neiman said.
Helicopters Booked

Police and fire units will be positioned in the area to ensure quick responses to emergencies. The Los Angeles Fire Department will add 15 fire engines and six ambulances, said Cecco Secci, the department’s public information officer.

Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC), the area’s largest cable TV television provider, will put repair crews up in Westside hotels so they can respond to calls, according to spokesman Jim Gordon. Airlines are advising employees and travelers to allow extra time to reach airports. Prime Time Shuttle, an airport transportation service, will have its entire fleet of 150 vans on the road to handle expected heavier-than-usual business at LAX as travelers avoid driving.

As for the $4 JetBlue flights -- $5 for extra legroom -- they’ll last 35 to 45 minutes, about what it would take to drive between Long Beach and Burbank under normal conditions, according to the Forest Hills, New York-based carrier.

Waze, which has backing from Blue Run Ventures, Magma Venture Partners, Vertex Venture Capital and Qualcomm Ventures, will provide real-time traffic data to local television station KABC-TV, and has put its links on the station’s website.

$4.05 Combo

The Arclight Cinemas 16-screen multiplex in Sherman Oaks, at the interchange of the 405 and 101 freeways, has recorded “brisk” sales of tickets for films showing over the weekend despite its location, said Gretchen McCourt, an executive vice president at Arclight and Pacific Theaters. Movie-goers will be able to see the closed freeway from the lobby windows, and buy a $4.05 food-and-drink combination in honor of the shutdown.

At Los Angeles-based Briles Wing, Lance Strumpf, chief pilot and general manager, said three of the company’s four helicopters are booked for the weekend. With the volume of inquiries, he expects the fourth to be busy as well.

“It’s definitely a viable alternative that people are taking advantage of,” Strumf said. “Everything from airline travelers to wealthy people up in Bel-Air who are landlocked and trying to get to their weekend retreats.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Michael White in Los Angeles at mwhite8@bloomberg.net; Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at afixmer@bloomberg.net

Montreal's traffic nightmare gets worse. Turcot repairs close Ville Marie, Décarie

MONTREAL - Just when Montrealers thought their construction nightmare couldn't get any worse, Transport Quebec has announced that yet more traffic cones are set to dot local streets this weekend.

Repairs on the decaying Turcot Interchange will shut down parts of the Ville Marie and Décarie expressways and the Trans-Canada Highway starting Friday night, including a stretch expected to be closed for the next three weeks.

The ramp connecting westbound Highway 720 to southbound Highway 15 will probably be out of service until Aug. 8, Transport Quebec says.

These latest closings arrive on the heels of Tuesday's surprise announcement of roadwork on the Ville Marie Tunnel. The snap announcement surprised even the city's executive committee and the provincial government's new road construction task force.

"The list of works was given to the committee but there were no dates," explained Martine Painchaud, a press aide for members of Montreal's executive committee.

"The Quebec Transport Deparement recognized that improvements were necessary and has vowed to better communicate."

This time, though, Transport Quebec says all parties were properly briefed.

"Wednesday, the committee had a meeting and the project was presented and approved," said Réal Grégoire, a spokesperson for Transport Quebec.

"What we want from now on is better communication between all the organizations."

Caroline Larose, another Transport Quebec spokesperson, said Tuesday that better notice couldn't be given for the Ville Marie Tunnel repairs because the agency finds out only at the last minute when contractors are ready to begin construction. But her colleague, Grégoire, says that's not true.

"While last-minute hitches can sometimes occur, contractors don't decide when they'll start work. We do," Grégoire said. "With 53 work sites on the island, including the Turcot Interchange, if the contractors were the ones deciding when they start working, it would be impossible to manage."

As gridlock continues to clog the city and orange signs have motorists seeing red, why close off yet another major road? Grégoire insists this is the perfect time.

"In summer, there's less traffic and during the construction holiday, there's even less," he said, noting that road workers are not on vacation during this period. Aside from the ramp linking westbound Ville Marie to southbound Highway 15, Transport Quebec plans to shut down three more arteries this weekend to perform maintenance work on the Turcot Interchange.

The ramp connecting northbound Décarie to westbound Highway 20 will be closed at night on Friday and Saturday. The ramp bridging eastbound Highway 20 and southbound Décarie will be shut to motorists Friday night, and the ramp connecting northbound Décarie to eastbound Ville Marie will be closed off Saturday night.

For detailed information on detours and roadworks, Transport Quebec asks motorists to visit quebec511.gouv.qc.ca

klalancette@montrealgazette.com

Montreal home sales grow by five percent. First rise in 14 months.

MONTREAL - Sales of homes in the Greater Montreal Area grew by five per cent last month, the first rise in 14 months, the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board said Wednesday.

The June rise, compared with the same month in 2010, was driven by a 17-per-cent increase in Montreal Island condo sales, Multiple Listing Service data show. Sales continued to drop in Laval and on the South Shore.

But the rise in sales is not necessary indicative of a new trend. Rather, these latest results appear stronger because of especially weak sales in June 2010, the board said.

“The increase in sales in June is encouraging news but it must be interpreted with caution as we are comparing June 2011 results with those of June 2010, when sales had decreased by 20 per cent,” said Diane Ménard, vice-president of the GMREB’s board of directors. “With this increase, sales in the Montreal area are approaching the levels that were seen in June 2007 and 2008, two prosperous years for the real estate market.”

Indeed, the drop in housing resales for the last 14 months suggests a correction has already begun taking place in Montreal’s heated housing market, a report published Wednesday by TD Economics says. While median prices were still up in the Montreal area last month – rising six per cent for single-family homes and plexes and five per cent for condos – home values should soften next year.

“Prices are typically lagged to sales and thus, we anticipate that 2012 will bear much of the brunt of the decrease,” the TD report by deputy chief economist Derek Burleton and economist Sonya Gulati said. “Still, the early move on the sales correction should give Montreal a slight edge when compared to the national forecast.”

Nationally, the report said the Canadian housing market is set to undergo a “modest” correction, with resale activity poised to drop 15.2 per cent and average prices likely to fall 10.2 per cent over the next two calendar years.

“A combination of more subdued job and household income growth, rising interest rates, the recent tightening in borrowing rules for insured mortgages and fewer first-time home buyers are expected to be the chief culprits behind the slowdown,” the economists said.

In Montreal, Gulati and Burleton raised a question – but not alarm – over the record-breaking amount of condo building in the city. “The condo supply and the degree, if any, of overbuilding is something to keep an eye on for this region,” they wrote.

In the Montreal area, the median price for a single-family resale home rose to $275,000 last month, while plexes rose to $409,000. The median price of a condominium grew by five per cent to $223,750.

Postmedia News contributed to this report

alampert@montrealgazette.com

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Montreal+home+sales+grow+five+cent/5098840/story.html#ixzz1S5mT1Qk0