Articles #Diet

The circadian cycle is our biological clock. It is the day-night rhythm that regulates all the body functions and processes. It is important for us to eat with the circadian cycle to achieve optimal health and well-being. What does this mean for our eating pattern and when will our body react the best to food within the circadian cycle?

Activated charcoal has been popping up in all sorts of foods and drinks lately. The most common at the moment is the black bread bun. Although the black bun does not look appealing, there is the belief that the activated charcoal found in these foods and drinks can ‘detox’ the body. Is this true?

Our society has become far too focused on being ‘thin’ rather than being healthy. And there will always be those that will rebel against this and say that you can be healthy, beautiful and happy even if you are overweight. Can this be true? The answer is however not as simple as ‘yes’ or ‘no’, but is rather a combination of the two.

One of my main goals when helping clients with their eating is to empower them get out of a fad dieting habit and learn how to eat intuitively. A fad diet is a popular weight-loss plan that promises unrealistic results such as fast weight loss and unfounded health improvements. Usually these diets are not healthy and don’t result in long-term weight loss. I find that they play havoc with people’s health, both physiologically and psychologically, and make people very weight and number focussed.

Are you unhappy with yourself? Are you thinking of going on a diet again to make yourself happier? Diet culture is everywhere. Type the word ‘diet’ into google and you’ll find enough diet options to choose from. So which one will you choose? How do you choose from the hundreds out there? Or should you even be choosing one?

What’s happening with your cravings? Are you managing to keep yourself busy and not needing food to combat the boredom, or is it so bad that you’re stopping by the kitchen every few minutes?

Did you see the headline: ‘Bad diets are responsible for more deaths than smoking’? Say what? Really, are we seriously eating so badly that smoking is seen as the lesser of two evils?

We are doing a very poor job of protecting the environment that we depend on for food and water. We need to start becoming interested in learning where food comes from, how it is grown and produced, and what this is doing to our environment. Food production system and diets play a crucial role in the issue of sustainability. Read this is you want to find out what you can do to help the planet.

The festive season is upon us and with it comes the challenge of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. It’s a time of lots of eating opportunities with delicious meals, desserts and drinks and a time of less exercise. So how can you continue the healthy habits you have established and not let the bad habits creep in? For me, the holidays are no different than any other time of the year! It can be this easy for you too.

As we all know, good nutrition is an important component of a balanced healthy life, but we sometimes get lost as to what good nutrition is! The basics are easy, eat lots of fruit and vegetables, choose mostly low fat dairy and lean meat, don’t eat junk food excessively, but is that getting you where you want to go with your weight goals?

We are all aware that our modern Western diets and lifestyles are contributing to many diseases. The Western diet is typically high in animal fats and preservatives (specifically salt) and low fruit and vegetables and it is this food combination that has been shown to be responsible (in part) for the cause of chronic diseases and cancers.

‘Weight loss’ New Year’s resolutions are all too common, and unfortunately are often also broken by the first week of January! I think that it is great that people are trying to be healthier but I believe how many try to do it is what is causing the high ‘failure’ rate. When people go ‘on’ a (quick fix) diet they have often not made effective goals for their journey. Goals are the groundwork for the journey to health and often I find that when it is just based on a number it is easy for life to take over and old habits to creep back.