8 Tips for Mindful Eating
It’s not only what you eat, but also how you eat that counts. We all know that giving up our favourite, if unhealthy, foods is hard, and maintaining a healthy weight is a big challenge for many people. One way to control what you eat is to focus initially on how you eat...
RED MEAT - FRIEND OR FOE
“While there remain many unanswered questions about nutrition, the question of whether animal foods belong in the human diet is not one of them. Meat provides all of the macronutrients and micronutrients we need, in their proper forms – including some that are difficult or impossible to obtain from plant foods.”
Interval Walking Training
IWT works on a 3x3 principle. You do 3 minutes of low-intensity walking (40% of your peak aerobic capacity) followed by 3 minutes of high-intensity walking (70% of your peak aerobic capacity). You repeat these sets 5 times thus giving you 30 minutes of Interval Walking Training. The recommendation is to do that 4 times a week. Pure magic.
Anti-Acid Medication
inhibiting stomach acid production creates far more problems than solutions and is detrimental to our health. Paradoxically, acid reflux is usually caused by too little acid and not too much of it.
Life Lessons through Conversations
Stories are at the root of human communication. Our conversations are the stories we tell each other. Coaching is about having those conversations. As coaches we listen, observe, and reflect the essence of the stories our co-conversationalists are telling us. We ask questions and make observations about what is helping them move forward.
The Sun - Friend or Foe?
For years we have been told by the medical establishment, the cosmetic industry and now by the climate change aficionados that the sun is dangerous, that exposure to it causes skin cancer and we should wear sunscreen all day every day, no matter what.
How Our Beliefs Shape Our Behaviour
It will come as no surprise that a good health span depends on our developing healthy habits throughout our lives. When it comes to changing our habits, an area of focus for coaches in general and health coaches in particular, we come up against the conflict between knowledge and beliefs. Dr. Chestnut uses the example of the doughnut and the apple. People know the doughnut is bad and they know the apple is better, but in their subconscious belief systems, they believe it’s better to have the doughnut, often for reasons of pleasure, reward and early life conditioning.
What Can A Cancer Cell Teach Us?
Despite many years of research, medicine is no closer to a solution to cancer than in the 70s for the reason that we continue to see cancer as the problem and not the symptom of a body that has lost its inherent ability to heal.
The Fats We Eat
There is almost no topic that has caused more controversy over the last 50 odd years than the topic of dietary fat. There are the low-fat proponents, the high-fat proponents and those in between.
Breathe for Resilience
IHT uses breathing techniques made famous by Wim Hof to induce alternate high and then low oxygen levels in the blood and the cells. When we do the deep breathing part of the training, we are increasing the oxygen in our blood, thereby elevating its pH levels. A more alkaline blood pH means we become more resistant to disease, suffer less inflammation and become more vital.
Inflammatory Food
Some of the biggest health problems the developed world faces today are obesity, coronary heart disease and auto-immune diseases. We may be living longer lives, but we appear to be getting sicker. There are many reasons for this, one of the obvious ones is the food we consume. Never before in human history have we eaten so much nutrient-poor, calorie-dense, highly inflammatory food as we ingest today. Two of the biggest culprits are industrial seed oils the so-called “vegetable oils” and refined carbohydrates in the form of various types of flour, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juices, soda drinks, etc. These two offenders are often packaged together in the plethora of processed and convenience foods available to the average consumer.
Nitric Oxide - Why Is It Important?
In a time when we are living in the shadow of a virulent viral illness, we all need as much help as we can get to strengthen our immunity and fortify our bodies. In comes Nitric Oxide (NO) - a molecule that is produced in the endothelial lining of our blood vessels including the paranasal sinuses, and radically reduces cardio-vascular disease. It tells the cardio-vascular system how to operate and communicates with other organ tissue.
Is Juicing Good for Weight Loss?
Go to any trendy hub these days and you will find plenty of cold-pressed juices to tempt you. The question is what role, if any, does a glass of fruit and vegetable juice have in a weight loss or weight maintenance diet?
Walking for Weight Loss and Wellbeing
Walking is the most natural and universal form of exercise. In fact, one could claim that it is not an exercise but a way of being human.
My Coffee Ritual
What I wanted to focus on today is the wonderful ritual of coffee making. Like the elaborate tea ceremonies of Japan, my morning coffee involves certain steps that enhance the coffee-drinking experience.
Eating Healthily for One
Psychologically, we become more invested in food preparation when we are catering for others as well as ourselves. Why bother making something elaborate, we think to ourselves, when it is only for me?
Sleeplessness
Consider the following scenarios: You feel tired, you’ve had a busy day. You turn off the light, you lie down and boom, the fatigue is gone, your mind is racing, and you cannot get to sleep. Alternatively, you fall asleep easily at 10pm only to find yourself wide awake at 2am, counting sheep and trying desperately to get back to sleep. You look at the clock, it is 3am, 4am… finally an hour before your alarm goes off, you fall asleep again. These problems afflict may of us as we experience an epidemic of poor sleep.
Salt of the Earth
Many languages have words and expressions that indicate how much we treasure salt. Good people are called “salt of the earth”, a person who works hard is “worth his salt”, even the word salad (salata = salted) comes from “herba salata” indicating that raw vegetables were traditionally served with a salty dressing.
Nourishment in Pregnancy
However, it is not only excessive weight gain that should concern us, because eating in pregnancy is no different from eating at other times in our lives, it should always be about good nutrition for you and your baby. If you are planning a pregnancy or find out that you are pregnant already, here are a few guidelines to ensure that by the end of your pregnancy both you and your child are well-nourished and thriving.
The Importance of Ritual
For years I baulked at the idea of routine, I wanted to be free, to do as I wish, I was excited by retirement from a very demanding job, and I dreamt of getting up whenever I felt like it and taking it easy. Soon enough I realised that I would achieve very little that way. Whether one is working an 8-5 job, studying or working part-time and managing a home and children, a structured day helps us fit in the aspects of the personal time, professional time and family time.