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Christmas is the time for reunions, catching up with families, old friends, etc. It’s good because it shows why a few ‘drinks with the boys’ or ‘gossip (er I mean meaningful discussion’) with the girls’ is actually a great boon for your health & well-being.

Check out these fascinating facts.

If you haven’t made the switch already, I want to remind you, that’s it’s the ideal time to switch from drinking cold/room temperature water, to our good old warm/hot water.

While we always hear that 20-30 minutes of ‘continuous’ exercise, is needed for exercise (aerobic) benefits, don’t think shorter portions are a waste of time. They are still highly beneficial.

As it’s not always possible to get an hour or two to get to the gym/play a team sport etc, we look at a few tips to get more activity into your everyday life. Like the old chestnut of taking the stairs instead of the lift, there are plenty of ways to be a little more active. Pick 1-2 and make it part of your daily/weekly routine.

About three months ago I bought myself a standing desk. What’s a standing desk you might ask? It’s an electronically controlled desk, that is height adjustable. You can put it down low to work sitting down, or you can raise it up so that you can stand upright while working.

Why would you want to do this? Because it’s been shown to be one of the best things you can do for your health (and productivity). Research suggests that office workers who spend most of their day sitting down have significantly poorer health, including problems with weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, and musculoskeletal injuries due to poor posture/ergonomics.

 Did you hear about the study showing a low-fat diet in later life and following such a regimen for nearly a decade DOES NOT have a significant impact on reducing the overall risk of breast cancer, colorectal cancer or heart disease?

This is according to a Women’s Health Initiative study that involved nearly 50,000 postmenopausal women across the U.S.A.

Note: This study doesn’t mean a lower fat diet is not helpful, just that it wasn’t shown to be ‘significantly’ helpful.

Now high or low fat diets is not my point here. For interest sake, a low to moderate fat intake is generally best for most people. In reality though, different people (body types if you like), should have different intakes of fat.

* It’s actually very healthy for certain people (like me!), to have relatively high fat intakes (yes, send expletives and profanities my way now…I’m off for an ice-cream, hmmmm!.

 Solariums / Sun Beds: Rather than a danger could they actually ‘improve’ your health or even ‘save’ your life?

How the UV & Vitamin D benefits of sun beds can outweigh the dangers & why they should ‘NOT’ be banned

Based on both common sense, ancient wisdom and the latest modern science, the ‘intelligent’ use of ‘properly designed’ solariums or sunbeds may NOT only be entirely safe, but could potentially avoid many thousands of cases of serious illness and even deaths throughout the world each year. This might even apply to you or someone close to you. It applies most particularly during the winter months, where vitamin D producing sunshine is rare, or where individuals cannot access sufficient natural UVB radiation.

Big in the media at present (being ‘cold & sore throat’ season), is the virtues of adding honey to hot drinks. I think Boost Juice, even have a lemon; honey ‘hottie’…which I assume is a hot tea.

Do you ever do that?

Honey is certainly in many respects an extremely powerful medicine – antibacterial, anti-oxidant, anti-viral etc. It can be great for colds*, clearing sinuses/congestion etc etc. However, you should ‘NEVER ADD HONEY TO ‘BOILING WATER’.!!!

What does Oprah Winfrey drink every afternoon instead of the coffee?

No, it’s not red wine, a milkshake or a crown lager. It’s…….Green tea.

So what’s the go with this whole green tea thing lately?

Let’s have a look.

Beating the ‘Busyness’ of Business

How to do 20% more, in 20% less time, with 20% less stress …

Transform your business success and enjoy better work-life balance - based on the time management and productivity strategies of the world’s most successful, high performance business people who have enjoyed both incredible work and life success as well as good health.

Just saw a current affairs TV commercial the other night about new research showing the hazardous effects of commercial mouthwashes. It mentioned how these mouthwashes kill good bacteria in the mouth thus preventing blood vessels there from relaxing and thus increasing the risk of things like heart attack.

Below are some jokes, funny stories and little bits of humour that Mark has compiled over the years that he has found quite humorous, and hopes you find the same. As they say, life should never be too serious not to be able to stop and enjoy a good laugh. Please enjoy.

* Note; some of the jokes may push the boundaries of political correctness, being sexist or possibly even slightly offensive. We hope you enjoy them in the spirit of a good laugh, and don’t mean to offend anyone.

If you are a beer drinker, but are conscious of your weight, you might have been sold on the marketing of low carb beers recently. Apparently, since their inception, sales have gone through the roof. Unfortunately, we are the bearer of bad news.

Though carbohydrates are getting a bad rap of late, it’s not them alone that are important for your weight. It’s the total number of kilojoules, that is most important. And unfortunately, most of these low carb beers have similar (usually slightly less) total kilojoules as their more conventional counterparts. This is not to mention the fact that they have the same amount of ‘alcohol’, which of course, seems to be overlooked in the whole debate. If you are thinking about your ‘health’ and not just your weight, then that alcohol factor is even more of a consideration. They are low carb (sort of), not low alcohol.

We often emphasise the importance of eating in a settled way to ensure proper digestion and avoiding many of the problems associated with food.

So today, I want you to make a special focus on eating a ‘proper’ lunch(or dinner if suits)…and see if you notice the difference.

Ghee is clarified butter. Although it is prepared completely from butter, its properties, according to Ayurveda, are very different from butter itself.

In many cases, ghee is recommended to be used in the diet. Even though ghee is understood not to raise cholesterol levels, if you have a cholesterol problem, check with your doctor / consultant before using ghee. If this has been recommended for you, you may either purchase ghee – consult whoever prescribed it for you as most commercial ghee is not very good. Home made ghee is always much better.

There are two ways to prepare the ghee yourself:

1. Brighten Things Up – Make a ‘Cheerier’ Workplace

In the pursuit of looking sleek, modern & professional, many workplaces can tend towards darker interiors, cold furnishings and a generally ‘smart’ yet not so healthy work environments.

Too much heavy/dark colours etc can tend to dull the mind and even contribute to lack of vitality and even depression.

With people spending 8 hours plus ‘in the office’, one of the most profound ways to increase morale, positivity and general health is to brighten up your workplace environment.

After giving you the bad news about chocolate a while back, I wanted to be nicer for a while, but I recently received an email asking if I could explain about ‘microwave ovens’, eating ‘microwave food’ etc (thanks Helen). So here it is.

The news is not good, if you prefer ‘ignorance is bliss’, now might be a good time to ‘accidentally’ have something better to do! When we think of ‘natural’ health & wellbeing, it would make sense that we would want to ‘cook’ our food in a ‘natural’ way.

You may not realise but most commercial sunscreens are toxic. Seriously. If you think that because they have been sold in chemists and the like for decades they are safe, you are horribly wrong. What you put on your skin gets absorbed into your body and most sunscreens are full of toxic chemicals.

If you are arenít aware of all this, check out a recent article by Dr. Peter Dingle he is not some faceless internet site scaremonger, he is the Associate Professor in Health and the Environment at Murdoch University, Western Australia

Like to reduce your chances of suffering from any allergies, hay fever etc this spring or just want to re-energise & trim up after a heavy winter?

Spring will soon be sprung so now is the time to eliminate the causes of these imbalances.

Like to add massive anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, digestion/metabolism boosting activity to your body each day?

Sometimes we can get so consumed analysing calories, fat ratios, vitamin, etc, we forget about the unbelievable power of traditional herbs/spices – not the KFC variety!!!

As a rule, we westerners don’t use spices nearly enough, so if you are not already, add some or all of the following into your cooking to start reaping some amazing benefits.

Did you scrape your tongue this morning?

Good news. Another ancient health practice has recently been accepted and promoted by modern experts

Have you been to buy a toothbrush lately, and noticed many companies marketing a tongue cleaner on the back of their brushes? Promoted as a way to rid yourself of bacteria that accumulates on the surface of your tongue, they actually have a lot of merit.