Riviera Reporter
Riviera Reporter
THE FRENCH RIVIERA'S ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWS MAGAZINE
THE FRENCH RIVIERA'S ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWS MAGAZINE

Health and Well-being


Welfare and Beauty. Local health concerns to be aware of - from sunburn to SAD.


Child with watermelon

Don’t sweat it in summer, stay hydrated

Susan Tomassini | Aug 22, 2016
There’s something special about eating in the summertime. Maybe because fruits and vegetables are at their best or perhaps it’s that eating en plein air strengthens our connection to nature and exposes us to sunlight, both of which are…
Meditating on a beach, with a dog

Sonja Lockyer tells us about her Holistic Garden Party

Karen Hockney | Jun 15, 2016
It started out as a simple midsummer gathering among friends and acquaintances in a back garden in Mougins. Now in its fourth year, the Holistic Garden Party has flourished into the perfect escape from the treadmill to enjoy nurturing and indulgent…
Cigarette, smoking

Nice resident Nikki Manwarring on kicking smoking

Riviera Reporter | Jun 05, 2016
I love being a non-smoker. I feel free. I started smoking when I was 18. It wasn’t to be sociable. I was working as an au pair, looking after 4 children and a house, and it was stressful. I bought a packet of 10 cigarettes and, alone in the quiet of…
Market with fruit and veg

Open-air food markets for healthier, seasonal local produce

Susan Tomassini | May 23, 2016
One of the most pleasant aspects about living on the French Riviera is exploring the open-air food markets. From Mandelieu to Menton, almost every town and village along the coast has its own marché offering an ever-changing variety of just-picked…
Woman feelling hot

Menopause: The wonder (where I put that) years

Lydia Porter | Apr 30, 2016
“Crying is good for you,” my mum would sniffle after bursting into tears yet again for no reason. I was in my mid-twenties, ignorant of the uncontrollable changes caused by decreasing levels of oestrogen. Fast-forward thirty years and my own…
Morning sun on beach

Vitamin D deficiency despite the sunny Riviera lifestyle

Susan Tomassini | Mar 19, 2016
We live in a region that gets 320-plus days of sunshine but even so, when daylight, sunlight and temperature levels fall, so do our energy levels. Lethargy and sluggishness are especially common at this time of year when we spend more time indoors,…
Aedes Aegypti mosquito

New mosquito-borne Zika virus could hit the Riviera

Riviera Reporter | Feb 03, 2016
Since the Asian tiger mosquito, carrier of dengue fever, first made a buzz in Menton in 2004, its pesky presence has steadily grown in the Var and parts of the Alpes-Maritimes, while cases of Chikungunya were reported in the Hérault in 2014. Now a…
Christmas sadness

How to master Christmas stress at this most wonderful time of the year

Susan Tomassini | Nov 29, 2015
The holiday season is just around the corner – a time to connect with friends and relatives and emerge feeling refreshed. Or not. Even those of us lucky enough to live in the relative halcyon of the French Riviera can experience the holidays as…
Child with ADHD

Why French Kids Don’t Have ADHD

Marilyn Wedge Ph.D. | Nov 09, 2015
In the United States, at least 9% of school-aged children have been diagnosed with ADHD and are taking pharmaceutical medications. In France, the percentage of kids diagnosed and medicated for ADHD is less than 0.5 percent. How has the epidemic of…
Smoothies selection

Smoothie operator: Local juicers on going green ... or crimson ... or fuchsia

Scott Bell | Oct 27, 2015
There’s been lots of press over recent months touting the nutritional value of fruit and veg smoothies, so it’s no surprise to learn that in 2013 the juice and smoothies market in the US was valued at $23 billion, while in the UK sales rose 2.1% to…
Red Cabbage Salad from Naomi's Kitchen

Resources for healthy eating and well-being, one plate at a time

Scott Bell | Sep 02, 2015
In 400 BC, give or take a year, Hippocrates coined the expression “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”, and ever since we’ve been aware of the link between proper eating and good health. Unfortunately, in our modern Western societies,…
Thirteen Desserts

Is our South of France diet still the healthiest?

Lisa Pepin | Dec 15, 2014
We’ve all heard the claims about the Mediterranean diet. The fresh produce, the fish, olive oil and red wine are all strengthening our arteries, lowering our bad cholesterol and prolonging our lives, making residents of the South of France some of…
Alcoholics Anonymous

Message of Alcoholics Anonymous is carried on the Côte d’Azur

Riviera Reporter | Nov 15, 2014
Experience, Strength and Hope. Life in the South of France, on the Cote d’Azur – the sun and the sea, and thoughts of chilled Provençal rosé wine, lovely but not for me. I am an alcoholic. My drinking career started aged 14 when I discovered the…
Ismail Dlimi and the Chain of Compassion

How Compassion Sans Frontières saved the life of little Ismaïl

Nick Kent | Oct 24, 2014
Philippe Laïk had just flown in from the US when he took the call in the back of a Parisian taxi. His cook was calling from the Laïk mansion above Menton, her voice trembling as she passed on the bad news. Her 11-year-old nephew, Ismaïl Dlimi, lay…
Alan Griffith

Back in the saddle for the Cogs4Cancer charity cycle

Riviera Reporter | Sep 16, 2014
After the success of last year’s inaugural Cogs4Cancer charity cycle, 16 riders from the yachting industry are at it again in aid of Cancer Research UK, Clinique Tzank in Mougins and the children’s cancer unit at the Lenval Hospital in Nice. The C4C…
James Minter

Haemochromatosis and James Minter, the original iron man

Nancy Heslin | Jun 27, 2014
Having a magnetic personality can be a deadly diagnosis, as James Minter learned. All for a good cause: James Minter, with wife Maggie at their home in the Herault, agrees that laughter is the best medicine. James Minter and his Belgian wife Maggie…
Diabetes Pump

Professor Bertrand Canivet at CHU-Nice speaks to the Riviera Reporter about Diabetes

Riviera Reporter | May 19, 2014
What is Diabetes? Definition: chronic dysregulation of the blood sugar (glucose) level, which becomes elevated. Type-1 diabetes (formerly “insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus”) occurs mainly in young people (80-90% before age of 30). It is caused by…
Ben Rolfe

On a Rolfe. Fundraising for Diabetes

Riviera Reporter | May 16, 2014
“Sometimes people cross our path and inspire us to do things differently ...” Meet Ben Rolfe. This is the kind of comment you’ll find on his fundraising website – www.justgiving.com/totallynuts. In November 2003, aged 31, Ben had just moved to the…
Dr Cooper

Super agers save the best to last: Exercise for older people

Colette Kent | Jan 10, 2014
Dr Kenneth Cooper, the man who literally added the “s” to the word aerobic, is adamant: “We don’t stop exercising because we grow old, we grow old because we stop exercising.” He should know. During his years of service with the US Air Force, Dr…
Shirley Harriman

Personal nursing: “Like looking for a needle in a haystack”

Nancy Heslin | Nov 26, 2013
Why understanding your needs and your language is such a rare quality in a personal nurse. For years my friend Joanne looked after a man in his seventies who suffered from Parkinson’s, plus heart and back trouble. He spent much of his time in the…
Steve Woods

Asbestos. Can you claim against this killer from the past?

Riviera Reporter | Nov 21, 2013
Looking to escape the cog in the UK corporate wheel, and the long train commutes and work days that went along with it, Steve Woods set up Woods Solicitors in 2003. He can walk to his Chester office and is able to spend time with his family. There’s…
Shaping up for summer

Shaping up for summer

Colette Kent | Jun 21, 2013
From flab to fab in a few easy steps! This is the time of year when your thoughts turn to cleaning, which usually means organising cluttered cupboards. However, maybe it’s time to do the same with your body. After an unseasonably long winter of…
Child's Fitness Role Model

Be your child’s fitness role model

Colette Kent | May 27, 2013
It always amazes me how much energy children have: they run, jump and skip for hours. We too were once like that, but over the years our "oomph" has subsided and staying active has become a chore. For parents, it’s often hard to find time away from…
Give Up Smoking

So you’ve decided this is the year you’ll really give up smoking?

Patrick Middleton | Apr 22, 2013
Don’t think it’s going to be easy. The French medical magazine Prescrire recently carried details of a cross-national survey which followed nearly 4000 smokers in their attempts to abandon their habit. Their approaches ranged across everything from…
H... comme herbe

Pot smoking in France

Patrick Middleton | Feb 26, 2013
The French are the EU's biggest pot smokers but public and political opinion is divided over what to do about this. Patrick Middleton reports. A few months ago we talked to an exchange student from a US West Coast college who told us "I smelt it as…
Glass of wine

I’ve never been much of a drinker myself but alcohol turned my life upside down

Riviera Reporter | Feb 12, 2013
“Collateral victims” of the bottleA local study in the Alpes-Maritimes has estimated that one in ten inhabitants of the department has a serious problem with alcohol. In other words, they can’t control their input and this has a damaging effect on…
Ironman Yves Cordier

The face behind the franchises, Ironman and Fitlane

Nancy Heslin | Feb 02, 2013
Ironman and Fitlane are well-known brands in the region. The guys in charge don’t just talk the talk but run the race. Walking along the Promenade in Nice last September I was startled to see the Ironman France equipment set up across from Jardin…
Hikers

Local steps toward healthy living

Colette Kent | Jan 17, 2013
We know that exercise should be an integral part of our lives. It boosts energy, relieves stress, releases feel-good chemicals in our brain, and builds the immune system. Fortunately, we live in what can only be described as a playground for the…
Alison

Cancer: finding the middle road

Nancy Heslin | Oct 12, 2012
Just after her 50th birthday Alison Prideaux received the unwelcome gift of cancer diagnosis. She talked to Nancy Heslin about Insulin Potentiation Chemotherapy and her road to remission Alison Prideaux (pictured) grew up in Surrey but worked in…
Sun Burn

The sun isn’t a friend

Riviera Reporter | Jul 13, 2012
So says Dr Damien Giacchero, a dermatologist at Archet 2 in Nice, and we’re glad to quote him to reinforce the usual warning about over-exposure to the summer sun (even when, as this year, it arrived late). Sunburn isn’t funny – it’s not just the…
Sun Glasses

There’s more to buying sunglasses than you might think

Riviera Reporter | Jul 09, 2012
Don’t think of your sunglasses as primarily a fashion item: that has to be a secondary consideration. Of course, designer shades can be expensive and usually come from reputable manufacturers but they still need careful selection. On the other hand,…
bedbug

Bedbugs are back...

Patrick Middlerton | Mar 05, 2012
... and difficult to get rid of. Maybe a beagle could help. Normally, no larger than an apple pip, a feeding bedbug can swell up as it ingests a quantity of blood equivalent to seven times its normal body weight, and can then fast for months.In…
Sun bathers

Should you go swimming after eating or drinking?

Walt Ambruster | Jan 07, 2012
“With the old is wisdom,” the Bible tells us but, in fact, some of the everyday lore handed down by oldies is plain wrong. Example (a favourite injunction of my grandmother): Don't go swimming for at least an hour after eating a meal. In fact,…

Health insurance in France

Godfrey Corfield | Jan 07, 2012
Godfrey Corfield outlines the basics According to its official mission statement the French social security system (la Sécu) “gives everybody the possibility to receive health care according to his or her needs, whatever his or her income level”.…

Conjugal Abuse: What to do before it happens

Riviera Reporter | Jan 07, 2012
Every year in France, a number of women and children are killed by their own husbands, fathers or partners. Many more are abused or injured. Once threatening behaviour starts there is recourse before something more serious takes place. Help is…

Suicide, my Friend

Valda Lynen | Jan 07, 2012
Prologue In this article, the word SUICIDE is replaced by the letter ‘S’ because, like other words with a malevolent aura, they can be melodramatic, where no melodrama is intended. So ‘S’ will suffice. It should be clear that the second person is…

Stroke… and how a local businessman was treated in France

Patrick Middleton | Jan 07, 2012
In the first of two accounts of medical emergencies Geoffrey Garnett and his wife Liz recall in conversation with Patrick Middleton the night, just over a year ago, when he had a stroke. “It was around three o’clock in the morning,” begins Liz. “I…

The Big C: “the need to talk”

Riviera Reporter | Jan 07, 2012
According to official figures, some 800,000 people are currently living in France with a diagnosed cancer. Such a medical verdict is hard to take and it’s a relief to share shock and anxiety with sympathetic listeners. Juliet Young (pictured) who’s…

Problem Drinking

Riviera Reporter | Jan 07, 2012
“Have another? Better not …” Dr Walt Ambruster and Cressida van Zyl-Pithey take another look at problem drinking Every year at Christmas we offer some advice on coping with hangovers. This last time we actually recommended a website –

What's yours: a Green Fairy or a Red Bull?

Riviera Reporter | Jan 07, 2012
Over the past three decades the French have been drinking less and less wine but at the same time turning to other tipples - including, surprisingly, absinthe. That drink has an interesting story. Its basic ingredients are wormwood, fennel and anis.…
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