Dissolving the fears that hold you back
Fear is one of our most primal emotions, and it serves a very useful purpose: it prevents us from needlessly doing stupid and dangerous things! It’s safe to assume that fearless cave-people who didn’t heed their extremely sensible fear of leaving the cave after dark, or approaching very large animals with very sharp teeth, got…
Top 10 tips for healthy eating – Part 2
Recently I was asked by food blogger, home cook and photographer extraordinaire, Megan Young of Veggies and Me, for my top 10 tips on healthy eating. (Read the whole post here.) In the previous post and this one, I elaborate on these tips, so you can fully grasp the profound impact that implementing them will…
Are you sabotaging your success with the wrong kind of praise?
What could possibly be wrong with praise? It makes us feel good, improves our self-esteem and motivates us to achieve more, right? Well, not exactly… It all depends on what kind of praise. Research on children in the US (1) has shown that the right kind of praise helps kids develop attitudes and skills that…
Feed the (wo)man diabetes
As I wrote in another article, Eating meat: the fast track to diabesity, epidemiological (population-study) evidence strongly points to meat consumption as a major contributing factor to obesity and diabetes. Epidemiological studies, however, can only suggest, not prove, a cause-and-effect relationship; until a ‘smoking gun’ that shows a mechanism of action is found, the ideas…
The Highly Sensitive Temperament and your health
It seems my article on the Highly Sensitive Temperament (HST) struck a chord with many readers! One of the responses I got was from a young woman whom I’ll call Lana. She wrote: “Hi Robyn I would just like to say how helpful this email was. I took the ‘highly sensitive’ quiz [on Elaine Aron’s…
Are you a Highly Sensitive Person?
Many years ago, I came across the concept of the Highly Sensitive Temperament (now also called sensory-processing sensitivity), as initially described by psychologist, Dr Elaine Aron. As I read through the description of this temperament, and ticked just about every box on the diagnostic checklist, I felt a huge sense of relief: lots of other…
Food pyramid fallacies: What’s wrong with the Food Pyramid Guidelines?
You’ve seen the ‘official’ Food Pyramid on the back of cereal boxes, in brochures at the doctor’s office, and even on posters in your children’s classrooms. But do you know how it was developed? And more importantly, are you aware how deficient your diet will be in key nutrients if you follow these guidelines, and…
Why it’s so damn hard to live healthfully – and how to make it MUCH easier Part 2
In the previous post I gave you my top 5 reasons why living healthfully is so damn hard, and they’re pretty compelling ones. I hope no one has slashed their wrists in despair while waiting for me to share my antidotes for neutralising each of these health-poisoners, and making it MUCH easier to stay on…
Why it’s so damn hard to live healthfully – and how to make it MUCH easier Part 1
Looking back on over 20 years of clinical practice as a naturopath and 17 as a counsellor, there’s one fact that really jumps out at me: CHANGE IS HARD!!!!!! Even when my clients and program participants know they need to change – they understand how their habits of eating, exercising (or not), thinking, feeling and…
Fish: The untold story
When I counsel clients seeking weight loss, disease prevention or reversal, improved mood – and anything else they want to fix – to cut down on or entirely eliminate their animal product consumption, most can accept pretty easily that the great weight of scientific evidence supports this advice. But then the question always comes up:…