New TV series puts you in control
Locally produced program focuses on living better, navigating the health care minefield
Better health is not a destination. Your health is a journey of small steps, things you can do to improve your mental and physical well- being.
Empowered Health is a new locally produced television series that shows you the path to better health with weekly tips on eating better, improving your fitness and navigating the minefield of the health care system and the dozens of complementary and alternative therapies and practices.
The 26- part series, created by Vancouver’s Oh Boy Productions, is produced in partnership with The Vancouver Sun. It launches tonight on TV and in print, and each week’s episode will be accompanied by a page in The Sun full of stories and tips designed to put you in control of your health.
What exactly is acupuncture and what can it really do? Can I trust a naturopathic doctor? Will yoga help me recover from an injury? How do I get started?
It can be as simple as taking one box out of the shopping cart and replacing it with a vegetable. Or getting down on the floor during a commercial break to try a new stretch.
“We want to give viewers the sense that they are in control of their well- being and to let them know, out of all the information that’s out there, what is credible and what they should treat with caution,” said Oh Boy Productions owner Stu Mcnish, an award- winning TV journalist turned independent producer.
“There really is no single place you can go for this kind of information, so people are going to be learning something useful,” Mcnish said. “We want to help people understand how complementary medicine can work with western medicine — not instead of it — and how to tailor all those practices to their unique needs.”
“Your doctor, your chiropractor, your physiotherapist and your naturopath all bring something different to the table and they can all work together,” he said.
Empowered Health — both on television and in print — will include inspiring stories of recovery, cooking instruction, practical explanations of alternative health care practices and tips to improve your diet and fitness, with easy low- threshold instruction.
Multi- episode segments will run through the series, beginning with a series on the brain featuring Dr. Max Cynader of the Brain Research Centre at the University of B. C. A series on nutritional supplements features Peter Jones of the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals. Miniseries on sleep and stress are also in development.
The Sun’s food and science reporter Randy Shore will deliver a no- nonsense look at health care practices and assess what science and common sense have to say about everything from vitamin supplements to organic produce and packaged foods.
Mcnish is convinced for ways that they can do that.”
So, when Mcnish ran the idea past Jim Pattison, Vancouver’s top businessman was on board right away. Pattison’s Save- On Foods is the project’s first major sponsor and his TV stations will be among the first to carry the show. Empowered Health is the right show at the right time. He first tried to find support for the show in 2005, but couldn’t find a sponsor or a television partner willing to give the project a sniff.
“I really sense that there’s a mind shift going on,” he said. “People are much more receptive to taking control of their well- being and they are looking