There's no lack of online workout options right now, but everyone knows music is everything when it comes to genuinely enjoying your workout and staying motivated.  While we're all stuck in our house, Fit Radio is a must-have exercise music app! It's an unparalleled workout experience created by real DJs from Vegas, Miami, and around the globe. It's a real human creating the mix, so sometimes they'll throw in a movie quote or something else fun and interesting. These DJ's create an experience that'll have you hooked in no time - it really is like magic!  Through audio-guided workouts coaches will push you further and cheer you on, while DJs continuously surprise you with kick-ass playlists (there's even a brand new "Quarantine Mix"). Scroll through more than 40 music genres and workouts (like Cycling, Cross-Train, Zumba, Running), or search by track or artist. When it comes to running, Fit Radio features pace matching technology so that each song matches your stride.  The quality of the audio-guided workouts of Fit Radio far surpasses what's currently on the market. Coaches are put through vocal coaching for a month before recording any workout. Every word has a purpose and every word is pre-planned. Coaches only talk when necessary - not just to fill dead air. Perhaps the best part: the music is separate from the audio coach. This means, if you like country music you can listen to that genre with the coach you want. This is the #1 thing that makes Fit Radio different than anything else out there. Plus, Fit Radio lowers the music to just the right level whenever the coach speaks so you can hear what they're saying. Fit Radio works on Android, iPhone and Apple Watch.  Anyone can test it out with a free trial at www.fitradio.com, in the App store or Google Play store. 

A Mother’s Touch: How An Experienced Health Professional Makes Exercise Easy for New and Expecting Moms

Yoga, Barre, and Pilates instructor Emma Jory aims to empower women by making exercise classes accessible and affordable 

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (March 2020) – Emma Jory lives by the motto “move it or lose it!” In other words, staying in motion is the key to feeling good, preventing injury, and maintaining a healthy body and lifestyle. However, as every busy mother knows, it’s tough to work exercise into a packed schedule. Jory’s longtime commitment to health and healing, and her insight into clients’ unique needs, led her to create ePilates Online.

Jory draws on a wealth of experience to educate and care for her clients. She was notably the first instructor in Australia to offer barre classes. In her 16+ years of teaching, Jory has worked with a wide array of health professionals, including physiotherapists, osteopaths, and chiropractors, giving her a unique insight into the healing process.

Her extensive experience as an instructor naturally taught her the ins and outs of health and fitness, but what it also demonstrated to her were the hurdles many women face in attending a class or maintaining a daily exercise routine. The belief that every woman deserves to feel healthy and confident in their bodies is the driving force behind her work.

ePilates Online aims to dismantle the many barriers that new mothers face in looking to heal and get fit. Time and money are prohibitive to many, who may feel that trendy and expensive exercise classes are out of their reach. Others may be new to these classes or feel self-conscious at the prospect of exercising in a group setting, but Jory makes her classes accessible by offering affordable prices and personalized lessons at every possible level.

Jory offers a solution that provides the best of both worlds to any woman interested in yoga, barre, or pilates. The convenience of exercising in the privacy of home is combined with Jory’s signature personal touch. Clients say they feel as if she is in the room with them.

This caring approach sets ePilates Online apart from other online videos, and even in-person instructors. Jory’s vision encompasses everything from the details of the client’s individual needs, to the bigger picture of long term health, including prenatal yoga, a core restore and pelvic floor program aimed at postpartum recovery, and reduction of pain during labor. She is even responding to the current coronavirus crisis by offering a free month-long trial to anyone who may be quarantined at home and looking to start a new exercise routine.

Above all, it is Jory’s mission to help women make a holistic recovery from childbirth and stay healthy through the rest of their lives. With a personalized guided pre- and postnatal journey, she looks to empower women and make a better life possible. No matter your lifestyle or budget, Jory has a plan to help you feel your best.

Elections in the Era of COVID-19

How we can vote without killing ourselves — and ensure every vote counts!

April 2, 2020 

by Greg Palast and Nicole Powers for Igniting Change

COVID-19 has caused eleven states to reschedule their elections. Several more are still scheduled to be held this month. As states attempt to figure out how to safely run elections in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic, many see voting by mail as the solution, but there are pitfalls.

In this interview with civil rights leader and Igniting Change host Barbara Arnwine, first broadcast on NewsTalk 1450 FM on March 31, investigative journalist Greg Palast says that rather than creating a precedent for cancelling elections, we should embrace mail-in ballots so we can vote without the risk of dying. However, he also explains that we need to make urgent changes to our voting system to make sure every mail-in ballot counts — and breaks down what those essential changes are.

Barbara Arnwine: Let’s talk about what’s going on with vote by mail.

Greg Palast: Look, we may have to vote by mail or we die. The real issue now is how do we protect our vote? When we talk about vote suppression, if you want to suppress the black vote, the minority vote, the young vote, the best way to do it is to go vote by mail. All the go-postal people do not tell you that.

According to the Elections Assistance Commission, 512,000 ballots were mailed in and rejected — a half a million ballots. The chance your ballot will be rejected if you are mailing in your vote is about 284% higher if you’re African American, about 300% higher if you’re Hispanic, and a similar number if you are Asian-American. If you’re young, forget about it, your chance of having your mail in ballot rejected is far higher than for someone over 65.

Senator Amy Klobuchar has put in a bill to expand and make it easier to do mail-in voting. They’re all going crazy about mail-in voting. But in their world it’s as simple as pick and lick. You know, you pick your candidate, you lick the envelope, you send it in. Well, in Amy’s own state of Minnesota and in Wisconsin, which is the key swing state, in order to vote you have to have a registered voter or a citizen witness your ballot. Six states required ballot witnessing. Now, how do you do this during a lockdown? Members of your family can’t witness your ballot. So you have to have someone break the embargo, come into your home, or otherwise meet them and touch the ballot that you and who knows who else have been handling. It’s very difficult and people aren’t going to do it. And for younger people and others such as the disabled this is going to be murder, getting someone to witness your ballot in Wisconsin or in Amy’s own state of Minnesota.

She has points in her bill to protect the mail-in vote from Russian interference, as if Putin is going to start mailing in his ballot. But they don’t say anything about the requirements in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and four other states for a witness, which is just madness. And in some states, like Alabama, you have to have your ballot notarized. NOTARIZED!!! How do you get to a notary? In most states they’re closed. How do you get your mail-in ballot notarized? There has been no attempt to overcome these impediments. 

And finally, the most important thing, now here’s the big number; according to an MIT / Caltech study called “Losing Votes by Mail”, 22% of all mail-in votes are lost. TWENTY-TWO PERCENT!!! One out of five ballots. If it were random, we can live with that. But it’s not. According to MIT and all the other studies that I’ve seen, including the Congressional Research Service, it’s about three to 10 times more likely that minority and young voters will lose their vote by mail. One of the biggest single reasons is that if you don’t get your ballot, if it’s not mailed to you, you can’t mail it back. That’s pretty simple.

The state of Ohio refused to send out 1,039,000 requests for mail-in ballots. Because first you have to get a card, you have to fill in the card, return the card, then get the ballot in time, and return the ballot in time, and they simply refused to send out 1 million requests for absentee ballots for people who are on their so-called inactive lists. If you didn’t vote in a couple of elections, according to them, you were put on the inactive list — and that list is at least 20% wrong in most states.

We’ve also had mass purges. 17 million people — SEVENTEEN MILLION — according to the Elections Assistance Commission, which is often quoted by the Brennan Center. 17 million people have been purged from the voter rolls in the past two years. Most of those have no idea that that’s happened and they will not get their ballot. If they request it, they won’t get it. So this is a massive, massive problem. I’m not saying don’t vote by mail, because we may have no choice. But I’m telling you right now, you better figure out how to protect your vote. And it’s really aimed at the minority vote. 

In Wisconsin, the new Democratic Governor has taken the reluctant position that they should take the April 7 primary that’s just in a week. The Republicans won’t delay it. They would rather have people stand in line and die so they can go ahead with their election on April 7 — that’s the Republican party. Why is the Republican party so concerned about going ahead with the Democratic primary? The answer is, in Wisconsin there’s a Democratic presidential primary, but that’s kind of closed out because there’s no students left in Wisconsin. They were all sent home so Bernie’s out of the race. But what the Republicans care about is that while it’s a primary for the Democrats, it’s also the general election for the Wisconsin state Supreme Court, which is right now controlled by a bunch of Republican hacks… 

In Wisconsin, the issue is who controls the Supreme Court of Wisconsin. That will be on the ballot. The Republicans in the rural areas are still able to go to polling stations and do early voting and have plenty of social distancing. But in Milwaukee, people are scared to line up at the polls. They had three early polling stations for the entire city of Milwaukee, so people did not come out because they would have to stand in line for an hour right next to other people. People aren’t crazy, they don’t want to endanger themselves. Plus, they can’t get enough poll workers to open the polls because most poll workers in America, 75% are 60-plus, and they shouldn’t even be poll workers at this time because of the dangers presented to the older population by COVID-19. So they couldn’t even get people to man the polls.

There’s supposed to be 180 polling stations in Milwaukee. They can’t do that. So the governor has reluctantly said, if we have no other choice, let’s switch to all mail, but send every voter a ballot. And this is the big issue, which Amy Klobuchar’s bill does not touch: You have to get a ballot to vote. And students, renters, low income people move around all the time, just down the street, even within their building — how do they get their ballot? So this is a dangerous, dangerous thing to switch to all mail-in votes.

Arnwine: What should people be doing? What should people in the legislators in their states be doing to remove barriers that are created by vote by mail? What are some of the things that we should all be advocating for right now?

Palast: We have to get rid of any requirement by those six or eight states that you have a witness or that you actually have to have the ballot notarized. If 40 states in America can do without witnesses and notarization, why can’t this handful who make it ridiculously difficult to vote and even force people to break the quarantine to be able to vote. Those requirements are simply to stop voter impersonation fraud and there’s literally been four cases in the past decade out of a billion votes cast — and they were not mail-in ballots. So it’s ridiculous, it’s to stop a fraud that doesn’t happen. 

In addition, some states like Wisconsin and others, require voters to mail in a photocopy of their ID. Understand, Kinko’s is closed, so if you don’t have access to a printer, it’s impossible to comply. And you have to right ID. Going back to the key swing state of Wisconsin, they have 182,000 students in the University of Wisconsin system. You have to have a state photo ID to vote in Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin photo ID does not qualify for voting. They said, students can simply go into their Dean’s office to get the voter ID. But, guess what? The schools are closed. So voter ID is obviously a new Jim Crow tactic, because we don’t have people impersonating others. There should be no requirements in any state to mail in an ID or a copy of an ID. If people sign a ballot under penalty of perjury and they lie about it, that’s five years in prison. That’s one of the reasons people don’t do it, 

The third thing is that no one should be denied a ballot because they are on the so-called inactive list. According to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, you can’t lose your vote for not voting. It’s called the failure to vote clause. They are deliberately violating this law in Ohio and a lot of other states — Georgia’s announced they’re going to do the same thing — by saying that if you’re on the inactive list, you don’t get a ballot even if you requested it. 

No one should be denied a ballot because they’re on an active list. No one who’s been supposedly purged in the last two years should be denied a ballot. Those are the things that we should put in the law to begin with.

The other thing is eliminate things like exact signature match. We have this crazy business in about half the states were when you send in your mail-in ballot, they check your signature against your registration signature, and some partisan official says, oh, that matches or that doesn’t match.

Arnwine: It’s not even that they’re partisan, they’re not trained to know how to match signatures. These are not professionally trained people. It’s like anybody who comes off the street, literally, matching signatures. 

Palast: And there’s something else to it. Again, I go back to why do we have this signature match? The idea is to prevent someone from stealing your ballot, filling it out, and signing your name on it to steal a vote. Well, this has been tested so many times by Professor Lorraine Minnite of Rutgers and others, we don’t have people doing that. It is so rare and the people that do that do get caught — it’s like a couple in the last decade, that’s it! And believe me, with the signature match game, the people that are doing this type of stealing, the very rare cases, they know how to forge a signature. 

Arnwine: What are some other things that we want to make sure policy-wise is changed? 

Palast: Postage.In half the states you have to put a stamp on your ballot, though I will say, Amy’s bill does say that it has to be postage paid.

Arnwine: But that’s just a proposal. It’s not law yet. Let’s talk about what the law is currently. We have states currently that require you to put postage on and they don’t provide free postage. 

Palast: Well, first of all, you have to go out and get the stamps — without breaking quarantine? But the biggest problem is that most states don’t tell you that your typical ballot requires two stamps. So for example, in the state of Ohio, tens of thousands of people lost their vote because there’s a little square that says put in postage showing a place to put a stamp. But you have to put on two stamps cause it costs more than announced for most of these ballots.

You have over 100,000 Americans losing their votes because of postage due. It’s insane. So we have to have postage prepaid envelopes for returning the ballot. Half the states do that. So money from the CARERS Act package that was passed by Congress should be used first and foremost for postage paid return envelopes for all your mail in ballots. 

HOW TO SAVE YOUR OWN MAIL-IN BALLOT

There’s things we personally can do to save our ballots. And we can save our families and friends’ ballots by letting them know what to do so that they don’t lose their vote. The very first thing is, please check your registration. Almost every state, except for Oklahoma I think at this point, has online voter registration. If you say, well, I’m already registered. I’m sorry, 17 million people lost their vote through purges in the past two years. You may be one of them.

When I was in Atlanta, Martin Luther King’s cousin Christine Jordan, 92-years old, voting at the same vote polling station for 50 years, I was there and filmed her when she was being bounced out because they said she wasn’t on the voter rolls. She’d been purged.

Please check your registration online at either vote.org or your secretary of state’s office or your county clerk’s office. All those places have your registration. Make sure you’re still registered with your proper address, proper name. That’s the number one thing, cause you can’t get a ballot if you aren’t registered.

Check your own ballot. Don’t make mistakes. When you’re in a polling station, a lot of states have scanners where you stick your ballot in. If you make a mistake, it rejects it. But if you make a mistake and you’ve mailed in your ballot, you’ve lost your ballot.

For example, two voters, my parents, lost their vote because they put X’s next to the candidate’s name instead of filling in that little bubble, cause most scanners require you to fill in that little bubble.

Don’t use red pen. Don’t use a pencil. Use a black pen or blue pen. I know these sound like small things, but I’m talking about hundreds of thousands of people losing their vote because of things like this.

We also need to make sure that ballots can be forwarded so that if a ballot’s mailed to you and you’ve moved down the street you can still get it and vote. Remember who moves: students, low income people, renters, urban people — in other words Democrats.

I want everyone to vote, Republican, Democrat, green, blue, purple, but we we have to understand that voter suppression is racial. When you switch to vote by mail, you are going to suppress the African American vote and the youth vote, and this is what we have to stop.

7 STEPS LAWMAKERS NEED TO TAKE TO ENSURE EVERYONE’S VOTE BY MAIL COUNTS

• 1. Eliminate witness and notarization requirements.
• 2. Eliminate requirements to mail in an ID or a copy of an ID.
• 3. No one should be denied a ballot because they’re on an inactive list.
• 4. No one who’s been purged in the last two years should be denied a ballot.
• 5. Eliminate exact signature match.
• 6. Make all mail-in ballot envelopes postage paid.
• 7. Allow ballots to be forwarded so those that have had to move due to the COVID-19 lockdown can still vote.

7 STEPS YOU SHOULD TO TAKE TO MAKE SURE YOUR VOTE BY MAIL COUNTS

• 1. Check your registration at vote.org or your secretary of state or your county clerk’s office.
• 2. Check your ballot for mistakes and have someone double-check it for you if possible.
• 3. Don’t use red pen. Don’t use a pencil. Use a black or blue pen. 
• 4. Make sure your name and signature match the ones you used on your registration. (Eg. Don’t use your middle name or initial if you didn’t include it on your registration.)
• 5. Don’t use an X instead of filling in a bubble.
• 6. Use the correct envelope,
• 7. Use the correct postage.

4 Essential Elements for Better At-Home Workouts

At-home workouts can be challenging to get right. Unless you have a significant amount of money to invest in gym equipment, it can be difficult to get the same results that you would get if you went to a gym.

Fortunately, there are certain essential elements you can add to your home workouts to help make them more effective. To help you stay in shape, here are four essential elements for better at-home workouts.

Progress Tracker

One of the harder parts of working out at home is that you don't have anyone to keep you accountable. Whereas at a gym where you may have a trainer to help track your progress, during an at-home workout, the only person who knows how well you did is you.

That's why it's a good idea to hang some type of progress tracker in your workout space to provide both accountability and motivation to help you improve your workouts. You can make this tracker as simple or as elaborate as you want as long as it shows what you're accomplishing on a daily basis.

Specific Space

Though you may not have a dedicated room for a home gym, it's still important to have a space that's specifically set aside for your workouts. This will help teach good habits that when you're in that space, you need to be exercising.

If you settle for doing your workouts in a multipurpose space, then you're far more likely to see your workouts as optional instead of essential. Set yourself up for success, then, and find somewhere in your home where you can work out regularly.

Surrounded By Success

Of course, a workout isn't an end in itself, but a means to the end of getting in shape or maintaining your fitness level. Therefore, to increase the effectiveness of your at-home workouts, it's important to set yourself up for success throughout your home.

In the kitchen, for example, it's a good idea to have your nutrition plans  carefully outlined, with plenty of food for those plans in your pantry and refrigerator. If you can't escape your workout plan, you're far more likely to succeed.

Reward Yourself

When you do your workouts at a gym, there is motivation everywhere. Whether it's a friendly competition with a fellow gym-goer, pictures of fit and healthy people on the walls, or the encouraging words of a trainer, it's hard not to be motivated to do your best.

When you're at home, though, the only motivation you may have is the progress tracker that was mentioned earlier. That's why it's important to reward yourself on a regular basis when you succeed at your fitness goals. As long as these rewards are healthy, you can use them as often as you want to motivate yourself toward continued success.

One of the perks of doing your workouts at home is that there are other people you can recruit to do the workouts with you. If you have a family or live with a roommate, encouraging them to get fit with you can help everyone be more successful. By using the tips listed above with everyone involved, working out together will be enjoyable and worthwhile.

How to Exercise When You Have an Eating Disorder

Trying to overcome an eating disorder can be one of the toughest things that you’ve ever done in your life. While you may be shying away from physical activity, it’s definitely something that you should be investing in during your recovery. Let’s take a look at some of the basics of why exercise is an essential part of your recovery and how you can perform it successfully.

Realize Exercise Effects All Realms of Health

When it comes to your health, there are many areas to focus on. Some of these include mental, emotional, and physical health. Exercise works to enhance all these realms of health during your recovery period. The trick is finding a proper balance between using exercise as a healing aid and overutilizing it and hindering your recovery.

Eliminate Old Beliefs

Many people who have dealt with an eating disorder have created some false beliefs between exercise and weight control. The truth is that while exercise can be utilized to help control weight, it provides so much more. It’s essential to create mental peace. Don’t attribute burning calories to exercise. Rather, consider exercise one of many treatment options for eating disorders.

Look into inpatient programs as well to help you overcome these old beliefs and habits.

Listen to Your Body

Your body is very adept at alerting you of when there’s an issue. The tricky part is actually listening to what your body is telling you. If your body is telling you that it’s tired after 20 minutes of yoga, then stop. Don’t push your body beyond its limit for the sake of getting exercise in. You may find that you need to start your exercise intensity with a slow walk. Then, increase the duration over time. At the beginning, you may not be able to tell when you need to push yourself or rest, so take it slow.

Bring Curiosity to Your Exercise

If you used to spend hours running on the treadmill so you could burn the exact amount of calories you ate, then tracking your exercise is not a great idea. Instead, bring some curiosity to your exercise. Try starting a different type of exercise routine. Yoga is a great form of exercise that can allow you to focus on mastering poses instead of constantly tracking the calories that you burn.

Having an eating disorder can change the way you live your entire life. Overcoming that eating disorder all starts with utilizing exercise as a necessary recovery tool. The above are four great tips that you can implement to turn exercise into a healthy way to overcome your disorder instead of looking at it as a necessity for weight control.

Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most of her time hiking, biking, and gardening. For more information, contact Brooke via Facebook at facebook.com/brooke.chaplan or Twitter @BrookeChaplan

A message for all Canadians

Organizations from across Canada join with Morneau Shepell to create WellCan, a hub of sustainable, free resources for Canadians seeking help

TORONTO, April 6, 2020 /CNW/ - Dear fellow Canadians,

Recognizing that in this time of a significant and society altering crisis, it is the responsibility of Canadian companies and organizations to pool and dedicate their resources to support their fellow citizens. We, the undersigned companies and organizations have come together in this moment of national mobilization and in the spirit of public service.

We have established a unique, and evolving partnership that combines the strengths of the organizations involved, to develop a mobile app and website that offers all Canadians easy access to an extensive range of free resources to support their mental health.

Called WellCan, this collection of digital resources will be accessible, free and available to everyone in Canada online and in app stores this week. As an online hub of free mental health services offered to Canadians, WellCan will continuously be refreshed with the latest information and resources.

While the COVID-19 virus is feared for its potential to overwhelm the Canadian health-care system with those suffering from the physical symptoms of COVID-19, the toll on the mental health of Canadians is also expected to be severe, both now and in the coming months, and potentially years.

In Morneau Shepell's monthly Mental Health Index that surveys Canadian workers, there has already been a significantly negative change in the mental health of Canadians because of COVID-19. The largest negative change was seen in the measure of anxiety, followed by helplessness, lack of optimism and isolation.   

As Canadians, we're proud of how our governments, health-care workers, and community organizations are putting the health and safety of Canadians first in grappling with COVID-19. By launching this mental-health initiative through WellCan, our hope is to make an ongoing contribution to a critical yet under-served dimension of this crisis that affects all Canadians.

Together, and only together, will we get through this.

Corporate partners: 

• Morneau Shepell 
• Canada Life 
• Sun Life 
• Bell Canada/Bell Let's Talk

Community and public sector partners: 

• WE 
• jack.org
• Strongest Families 
• EHN Canada 
• Mental Health Commission of Canada

SOURCE Morneau Shepell Inc.

Cannabis Industry Expert Shares Top 2020 Market Trends to Watch 

 MyGN fuels innovation by offering entrepreneurs valuable expertise and guidance to transform “green" ideas into reality with less time, money, and headache  

SANTA ANA, Calif. (March 6th, 2020): Cannabis attorney and industry expert Ken Hwang - also the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of My Green Network (MyGN) - shares the top 2020 market trends to watch. Following 6 years of development and millions spent on CA and Colorado cannabis licensing, MyGN levels the playing field for creative business-builders looking to transform ideas into reality, free from unfair legal and cost barriers. MyGN will have the nation’s first membership-based, entrepreneur-focused collaborative cannabis facility (set to open July 2020 in Orange County, CA),  and provides a unique, shared space designed to foster the green community, empowering entrepreneurs to create products in the space. Now, company Co-Founder/ CEO Ken Hwang offers an inside look at “what’s next” in one of the country’s fastest-growing industries.

“There is still so much to learn about the applications of cannabis to the global market and an immense amount of untapped potential for entrepreneurs” explains Hwang. “If we want to foster innovation, the traditional business approach simply isn’t going to work. You need a collaborative community and the expert guidance that My Green Network offers.”

Looking ahead through the end of 2020, Hwang expects to see innovation in the following:

● Creative Cultivation Practices: Rather than a broad, commercial approach, growers are trending toward smaller-scale farming designed to achieve a specific outcome. This allows for more operational control, including the fast adoption of new techniques for preserving the plant, resulting in a higher quality, specialty product. For example, one cultivator in Northern California harvests only on the full moon, believing this helps with the curing phase.  There are cultivators that are also specifically cultivating “extraction gardens,” meaning the specific strain/type of cannabis is specifically grown for extraction machines. Certain flower types are great flower, but after extraction the flavor profile is too intense and can be too pungent or spicy. This is due to the extraction process because during extraction you are concentrating the terpenes and cannabinoids, for example flower has 30% potency, while extracts have 65-75% potency.

● A Greater Focus on Collaboration: Consumer education and knowledge about the applications of cannabis products is essential to the growth of the industry. Platforms like MyGN, which foster collaboration and the sharing of ideas within the cannabis community, will be key to success.  Prime example is the evolution of flowers and extracts.  Flower used to be around 20% potency, now the potency is around 30%. Extracts started with shatter (BHO process), then CO2, then distillate, now the craze is live resin.  All these evolutions are the byproduct of collaboration and sharing ideas.

● A Growing Catalog of Cannabinoids: In addition to CBD and THC, we will begin to see products featuring other cannabinoids (the essential chemical compounds within the cannabis plant) such as THCV, THCP, CBN, CBG, and CBC, along with more information about how they affect the body’s endocannabinoid system.  Platforms like MyGN, help to support this trend by providing a legal and compliant pathway for entrepreneurs to get their products onto the dispensary shelf.  This is where the real cannabis market lives. Consumers are also becoming more aware of the rigorous testing that the State requires for products to be on dispensary shelves, which is measured in parts per billion (ppb), and trust that products found in a dispensary are safe and legal. 

● Nano-Technology: Nano-emulsion - the transformation of cannabinoids such as CBD and THC into water-soluble molecules - holds great potential for the food and beverage industries. CBD beverages are already hitting the market, offering desired physical effects without the “high.” As the year progresses, we will likely see more of these options coming to market in nearly every possible form, from nano-infused coffee and sodas, to snacks and desserts.   The value with nano-emulsion is absorption rate (much higher), which results in more efficacy. The boon for producers is less amount of THC is required, yet the consumer gets a more potent product, a win-win. 

For entrepreneurs seeking to harness these market trends, MyGN offers a fully compliant cannabis facility that serves as a workspace, an extensive network of cultivators and manufacturing partners, and the essential elements of guidance from industry experts. The first shared space opens in July 2020 in Orange County - an epicenter of cannabis innovation - providing both direct access to the most profitable cannabis markets and exciting lifestyle options. Due to state regulations, spaces are currently limited to 30 businesses, so now is the time to join MyGN and “go green the way you want.” Simply choose from four customizable membership types, complete an onboarding call, and start creating your very own CBD or cannabis line. Visit www.MyGreenNetwork.com to learn about early bird specials and to get in on the “green rush” the right way! 

# # #

About My Green Network:

Founded by internationally recognized attorneys Ken Hwang and James Shih, along with visionary branding and marketing expert Maria Cordeiro, My Green Network (MyGN) is California’s premier membership-based space intuitively designed for cannabis entrepreneurs. Leveraging the power of community-based collaboration to revolutionize an infamously complex industry, this “cloud-kitchen meets cannabis incubator” accelerates the journey from idea to entrepreneurship. At MyGN, membership provides exclusive access to essential elements of a successful venture: a compliant cannabis facility, an extensive network of cultivators and manufacturing partners, guidance and supervision from industry experts, licenses, legal advice and much more. Begin transforming your dream into a very real future at  www.MyGreenNetwork.com. Follow @OfficialGreenNetwork on Instagram to connect with leaders that are empowering our community.

MEDIA INQUIRIES:

Advance copies or PDF versions of "Water Wellness" are available upon request. Author, Kriss Smolka is also available for interviews, articles, or to provide commentary. Please contact:

Levitt-Safety Remains Open to Source Critical PPE and Perform Respiratory Fit Testing

MONTREAL, April 6, 2020 /CNW/ - Levitt-Safety announced this week that they remain open for Quebec safety product and servicing needs. Provincial governments across Canada have deemed Levitt-Safety an essential service.  Levitt-Safety is taking precautions to ensure the safety of its staff and its customers' staff. The company remains dedicated to providing safety supplies, equipment servicing and respiratory fit testing. 

Levitt-Safety has established a full pandemic response and business continuity plan across their organization, which includes: 

• Maintaining a significant inventory of parts to service vital equipment. 
• Continuing to provide mobile services which brings Levitt-Safety service technicians to customer locations for respirator and fall protection equipment servicing. 
• Respirator fit testing that prioritizes healthcare and emergency response personnel. 
• Emergency after hours support via 1-800-361-5775. 
• Posting instructions at branches for servicing pick-up and drop-off and local service contact information. 
• Practicing and encouraging 2 meter physical distancing recommendations while on-site.

As access to PPE becomes increasingly difficult, Levitt-Safety created an Emergency Supply Sourcing page which shows the items they are sourcing and the anticipated lead times. If there are products you do not see on this list but require, Levitt-Safety will work with you to source it. If the combined buying power allows for sourcing at better prices, Levitt-Safety will flow that savings directly back to those placing orders.

View available products

To place an order call 1-800-361-5775 or submit a web inquiry through the form on that page.

To take advantage of the next large national order, place orders with Levitt-Safety no later than 5pm local time on Thursday, April 9. 

About Levitt-Safety:

Levitt-Safety is a national provider of life, fire and environmental safety products, services, and training. With branches located across Quebec including Val d'Or and Montreal, Levitt-Safety is ideally equipped to serve companies of any size or industry who want to create a culture of safety in their organization.

SOURCE Levitt-Safety Ltd.

Discovery shows men and women develop heart disease differently

SASKATOON – Scientists from McGill University used the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan to uncover that different minerals block heart valves in men versus women. This discovery could impact how heart disease is diagnosed and treated for the different sexes. 

Heart disease is the leading cause of death throughout the world. Marta Cerruti, an Associate Professor with McGill University, and her team used the CMCF beamline at the CLS to analyze damaged heart valves from patients who needed transplants. 

“What we showed, which was a surprise to us, is that the type of minerals in the heart valves is different between the sexes,” said Cerruti.  

The beamline allowed them to see that the buildup of minerals in the heart, and its progression to a more bone-like state, is slower in women than in men. There was also a type of mineral found almost exclusively in the female samples. “That finding was completely new, we did not expect it at all. There is no other technique that could have showed us this difference in mineral phase.”

The team hopes this finding could help to develop better diagnostics and therapies. 

“Now that we know the composition is different, that could help in developing new diagnostic tests that are specific for women versus men,” said Cerruti. “Understanding what the minerals are could definitely help to develop a cure. It’s possible that there could be easier ways to target these minerals and dissolve them for women.” 

“The fact that current diagnoses are skewed towards the male presentation of this disease definitely disadvantages women,” she added. 

Historically, scientific and medical studies have not featured diversity and inclusion. For example, using only male mice in experiments used to be standard practice. “It’s a relatively new concept that people have to ensure that they analyze diverse samples and patients. I’ve seen it develop in my own career.” 

Cerruti supports diversity and that translates into her views as a scientist too. “Basically, by only looking at a specific population, you will skew your data. Having a more diverse data set improves your science,” she said. “That is the way science should be done.”

This isn’t her first time trying to see the world from a broad perspective. When she was in school, she couldn’t decide if she wanted to be a philosopher or a chemist. 

“I wanted to help people from a big picture point of view and to understand the world around me. Working on a biology-related project kind of puts the two things together. We’re trying to understand something that relates to the world but also has a direct effect on the wellbeing of people.”

She was able to combine her passions by studying minerals. “Understanding how these minerals are formed has all these clinical applications. Once you understand what the minerals are and how they are formed in places where you don’t want them, like in heart valves, then you can help to get rid of them.”

Their group is also trying to develop an improved delivery system for currently recommended drugs or a new drug. “We want make a system that helps to deliver the drug to the exact correct location so that they help remove mineral buildup in your heart arteries and valves without harming your bones or your teeth.” 

While her team does not yet know why different minerals form in the hearts of men and women, they plan to come back to the CLS to find out. “We want to find out why this is happening and there could be many different causes.” Down the road, these answers could help to save millions of lives around the world.  

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More CLS news releases

The Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan is a national research facility, producing the brightest light in Canada—millions of times brighter than even the sun. One of the largest science projects in our country’s history, the CLS hosts annually more than 1,000 scientists from around the world who use our light to conduct ground-breaking health, agricultural, environmental and advanced materials research.

The Canada Foundation for Innovation, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, National Research Council of Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Government of Saskatchewan and the University of Saskatchewan fund our operations. 

Interview availability:

Marta Cerruti will be available for phone and video chat interviews (in English or French) from Montreal, Quebec.