Ultraprocessed foods make you overeat – even when you don’t want to – and cause weight gain
If you’ve been reading my articles for a while, you’ll have gathered by now that I’m a total nerd when it comes to nutrition research. I’m one of those strange people who get very excited by an elegant study design that takes an intelligent approach to an important research question and yields insights that are…
Raspberry Couscous Breakfast Bowl
Couscous is a type of pasta made from small steamed balls of crushed durum wheat semolina. It’s ridiculously easy to prepare – just pour boiling water over it and leave for 10-15 minutes – which makes it ideal for the time-poor or kitchen-challenged. It’s also versatile – its mild flavour renders it suitable for both…
Fat chance of having a healthy gut
‘Gut health’ has become the darling of the wellness movement. A Google search for the phrase threw up the following: On the one hand, I’m pleased that so many people are becoming interested in learning more about the vital role that their gastrointestinal tract, and its teeming community of microscopic inhabitants, has on their health…
Screens plus teens: a formula for sleep deprivation
If you are, or have been, the parent of an adolescent, you’ve almost certainly experienced first-hand the phenomenon of circadian phase delay, even if you’ve never heard the term. The child who was fast asleep by 8.30 pm, and charging into your room to bounce on your bed as soon as the sun rose, is…
Australia is falling behind in the life expectancy race… and it’s mostly because we’re too fat
Australia is falling behind other high-income countries when it comes to gains in life expectancy, and it’s largely attributable to poorer health and higher levels of overweight and obesity in people of my generation and younger – those born after 1970 – according to a study published in April 2019 in the Medical Journal of…
Larger body, shorter life
A couple of months ago, I wrote a post called Is the ‘Health At Every Size’ movement helping or hurting?, in which I dissected the arguments of Health At Every Size (HAES) proponents. I won’t rehash those arguments and my responses to them – just read the original post, if you’re interested. However, during a…
Sleep yourself slim and healthy
Readers of a certain age may remember the Bon Jovi song ‘I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead’, which featured the immortal lyrics “This ain’t no slumber party/Got no time for catching z’s/If they say that that ain’t healthy/Well then living’s a disease… Gonna live while I’m alive/I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” Hopefully Jon Bon Jovi and…
Reprogramming your stone age brain for health and happiness
Lurking beneath your consciousness is a stone age brain that can cause you to make choices that erode your health and happiness.
How to set food rules that work for you
In last week’s post, The two faces of ‘giving something up’, I discussed the key reason why we humans struggle to adopt healthy eating habits and other behaviours that support our well-being: deep in our brains, we have a set of structures known collectively as the basal ganglia, which make the lion’s share of our…
The two faces of ‘giving something up’
No matter what health issues drive clients to seek out my help, at some stage we’re going to end up discussing something that they need to give up. Whether it’s smoking, alcohol, ultraprocessed food or sleep-stealing late-night television, there’s always something (usually, multiple ‘somethings’) that’s standing between the client and the health, vitality and optimal…