Articles

Did you know that one Australian is diagnosed with diabetes every 5 minutes? Diabetes is Australia’s fastest growing chronic disease and it’s hard to comprehend how quickly the problem is growing.

A healthy liver regulates fat metabolism and can pump excess fat out of your body via the bile. A healthy liver is the furnace of the body and generates heat and energy, so little wonder you will suffer fatigue if you have a sluggish liver.

We know that people with thick sticky blood have a much higher chance of strokes, heart attacks and high blood pressure. These things often happen when you are still relatively young, say in your forties and fifties. This is a well known fact and has lead to the widespread use of daily aspirin to thin the blood. However, recently this practice has been called into question by the results of a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association JAMA 2012; 307:2286-94.

Turmeric is a plant which is part of the ginger family. This orange coloured spice is considered by many in the know to be one of the best foods (or supplements) that you can consume for good health. Common in Middle Eastern and South Asia, turmeric has been used as a staple in many recipes for thousands of years.

If you have been diagnosed with a fatty liver it is vital that you take a pro-active approach, otherwise the condition will progress and your liver function will deteriorate. Fatty liver is closely associated with Syndrome X (insulin resistance) and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

If we are overweight, our body will produce more inflammation thus speeding up ageing. If our blood stream contains excess toxins and unhealthy cells our body will produce more free radicals, which damage our healthy cells and speed up ageing. Free radicals can attack the skin cells and collagen producing wrinkles and blemishes.

Far better that you eat your broccoli than your beans, healthier to snack on an orange than an apple (yes, despite the old adage “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”) and, even though they are cousins, garlic is far superior than onions or shallots as far as nutritional value. When compared to an apple, an orange has ten times more vitamin C and beta-carotene, a massive 40 times more folate and 4 times more thiamin.

Organic food that is free of insecticides is ideal but for some people it’s just too expensive and not always possible to find. Where possible, buy local produce, as this is the freshest option (and has not had to be transported and stored).

We are all hearing the word 'gluten' more and more these days - ever wondered why? What's so important about gluten and how would you know if it's compromising your health? If you were to eat hamburgers, deep fried food and chips and then wash it down with lashings of soft drink, you would more than likely realise that you are shortening your life. What if you were to eat a sandwich made from fresh sourdough wholemeal bread? You would probably think that you are making a healthier choice, wouldn't you?

When it comes to improving health and living a healthy lifestyle, there are many people in today's world who expend their energy hoping for an effortless shortcut . . . a magic potion, so to speak, or more accurately, a magic pill. For reasons of their own, they'd rather not invest the effort it takes to exercise or diet or pursue any of the other positive lifestyle changes that can prevent a lot of the most common medical conditions - and on one level I can understand why. Exercise is time consuming and sacrifice is definitely no fun!