Many of us resolve to avoid alcohol – at least for the month of January. More of us are concerned that our alcohol consumption has crept up over the years and want to cut down or cut it out altogether. As a health coach, I’m seeing that for more of...
“You can’t have one, you can’t have one, you can’t have one without the other….” Holistic wellbeing and homeostasis To keep us healthy, our body constantly strives to maintain a state of internal, physiological balance – homeostasis. Holistic wellbeing is about paying attention to how key elements of our external...
Are we becoming more intolerant to the foods we’re eating? Few of us can have escaped the tragic story of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, a teenager who died after she suffered a fatal allergic reaction to sesame seeds which were present (but unlabelled) in a sandwich she bought at a well-known chain. ...
Type 2 diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions. There are 3.9 million people living with diabetes – 90% of those of being affected by Type 2 diabetes and one in THREE UK adults has prediabetes, the condition that precedes diabetes. World Diabetes Day – November 14 Every year, on 14th November...
How often do we sit at our work desks feeling our energy evaporate, our productivity tumble and our sense of well-being vanish as the day goes on? I know I do… all too frequently! And whether we’re in an office environment, or work from home, a desk-based job doesn’t lend...
We used to think that stress was a ‘brain-state’… but we now know that stress messes with the state of our ‘gut’ too. What is stress? STRESS is our body’s physiological response to a perceived threat. Any physical, emotional or environmental stressor can provoke our sympathetic nervous system’s ‘fight and...
“Stress is not a state of mind… it’s measurable and dangerous, and humans can’t seem to find their off-switch” – Neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky in the documentary Stress: Portrait of a Killer. The International Stress Awareness Week (5 – 9 November) highlights the impact that chronic stress has on...
As we head into autumn and the nights draw in and the days become shorter, we intuitively begin to follow our natural craving for warming, grounding foods like thick soups, heavier stews and root vegetables. There is nothing healthier and more restorative (or more delicious) than sourcing truly organic (preferably...
The UK Government has decided that flour in the UK is to be fortified with folic acid after ministers were convinced by their health advisers that it would reduce the risk of babies developing spina bifida and other conditions that involve severe disability or death. Well, sadly this is NOT...
When health advocates encourage us ‘eat a rainbow’ and ‘ditch the beige’, they mean us to eat as wide a variety of colourful foods every day and avoid beige processed and engineered foods like bread, toast, pizza, sandwiches and cereals. Why? Well, apart from the fact that processed foods are...
