There was a very good response to this by the Australian government. They ran a huge education campaign about the dangers of skin cancer. (One of the skin cancers, melanoma, is one of the most virulent cancers. If you have a mole that may have changed colour or shape, please get it checked. My partner checked, three years ago now – if she hadn’t then she would very likely be dead by now.)

The government campaign was: slip, slop, slap. (Slip on a shirt, slap on some sunscreen, slap on a hat.)

My partner and I practised this faithfully. We also avoided going out during high the high UV time of day. (This is published online in Australia, for each region, by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology).

In fact it seems that we practised it too well. It seems that my partner may now have a low Vitamin D count (or a very mild deficiency).

The research on Vitamin D and its role in physical and mental health is relatively new. However it does seem that somes things are clear enough to take notice of.

A lack of Vitamin D may be linked to depression and other psychiatric disorders. This is a small study – and I don’t think it proves causation; but it is worth noting.

Vitamin D deficiency has also been linked to some forms of cancer, heart disease and diabetes. A good overview is given in this video from Australia’s ABC TV.

In general the conclusion seems to be that we need about 15 minutes of sun falling on at least 15% of our skin (arms as well as face) each day. To avoid the dangers of skin cancer do this outside the peak times for UV (between 9-3 in most parts of Australia most of the year). This will vary depending on the season and where you live.

You can find information on the symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency and non-medical options for treatment on this page.

Enjoy the summer, if you’re in the northern hemisphere (but look after your skin), enjoy the winter if you’re in the southern hemisphere (and get some sunlight on your skin everyday if you can).

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Between work, family, and life in general, it’s no wonder that a majority of people suffer from high levels of stress. While experts agree that a healthy lifestyle with exercise and plenty of sleep at night can help lower stress levels, many don’t realize that a healthy diet can ease the amount of stress we feel on a daily basis. A healthy diet should consist of three balanced meals and two mid-meal snacks.

For breakfast try a whole grain cereal with blueberries. Many cereals are fortified with vitamin B and folic acid which are known stress reducers. Skim milk offers vitamins and nutrients such as B2, B12, protein and calcium. These not only fight stress, but add to bone health as well. High in vitamin C and rich in antioxidants blueberries are also high in fiber. These components make this fruit a valuable stress reducing ingredient to any breakfast.

Try snacking on a handful of almonds mid-morning. These nuts are power packed with vitamins B2, and E, magnesium and zinc. They aid in the secretion of serotonin which is the hormone that induces a feeling of well-being. In addition to fighting stress, vitamin E aids in the prevention of stress related diseases such as cardiovascular disease.

For lunch try a healthy and light tuna salad. Instead of heavy mayonnaise use a light mayonnaise or one of the newer ones made using olive or canola oil to save on calories. Tuna is high in vitamins B6 and B12 which are great for stress relief. Tuna is also an excellent choice for low-fat protein.

A great afternoon pick-me-up is bananas. This fruit is high in potassium and stress fighting vitamin C, the natural boost received from eating bananas can’t be beat.

Wrap up your day with a healthy dinner of lean beef and steamed or grilled asparagus. Both of these nutrient rich foods are great stress busters. Beef contains iron, zinc, and B vitamins, perfect for the stressed out family. Asparagus contains mood stabilizing folic acid.

Food is such an essential part of living. Why not eat so that we can lower our stress and live a better, longer, happier life.

Provided by Victoria of Ratelines sources for money market rates and insurance rates.

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One of the questions was whether beer or fruit juice had the same number of calories. What do you think?

The article about the research is called Big Fat Lies.

The answer is living authentically. Buy the book or sign up for the course now from my Living Authentically website.

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This is a blog about cooking that is sugar and gluten free. It is called Simply Sugar and Gluten Free. The recipes look very yummy too!

I have added the site as a link in my blogroll.

The answer is living authentically. Buy the book or sign up for the course now from my Living Authentically website.

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There is an on-going project to research these long-lived and healthy people. The results of studying these people – giving us insight into how to live a long and healthy life – are now starting to be presented.

The most accessible presentation of this data is a kind of ‘long and healthy life pyramid’. There are nine factors, organised in a pyramid of four layers, that are shared by all the societies characterised by long and healthy lives. You can find the graphic on the Blue Zones About page.

The foundation is a sense of belonging to a group. This has three components:

• putting loved ones first
• connecting with a faith tradition, and
• surrounding yourself with the ‘right people’.

The next tier in the pyramid is eating wisely. This also has three components:

• eat 20% less at meals (eat ‘til 70% full or until ‘lightly satisfied’),
• eat whole foods, mostly plants (to paraphrase Michael Pollan), avoid processed foods, and,
• the fun one: a couple of glasses of wine daily.

The next tier is concerned with outlook, which they call “Right Outlook”. This only has two components:

• a sense of purpose, and
• periods of calm each day.

Finally, at the top of the period there is movement. This is concerned with,

• moving naturally. That is, having our living spaces organised to encourage movement and moving in ways we love – doing things with our loved ones but also doing activities we love (walking, dancing, gardening, playing and so on)

These nine factors are shared by all those societies characterised by living to a healthy old age. Most encouragingly they are things that are often within our control and can involve small adjustments.  Our health in our old age (with a little luck) is largely within our control – and there are small things we can do that can make a real difference.

These findings I think are remarkably important and quite encouraging.

If you like this post, you might also like:
Ageing Well: can we do anything about it?
Can We Have A Healthy Old Age?
Change the World (one bite at a time)

The answer is living authentically. Buy the book or sign up for the course now from my Living Authentically website.

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One of these researchers was Weston Price, and there is now a Weston A. Price Foundation in his honour that is based on his work. Its mission is,

to disseminate the research of nutrition pioneer Dr. Weston Price, whose studies of isolated non-industrialized peoples established the parameters of human health and determined the optimum characteristics of human diets. Dr. Price’s research demonstrated that humans achieve perfect physical form and perfect health generation after generation only when they consume nutrient-dense whole foods and the vital fat-soluble activators found exclusively in animal fats.

(I have problems with the word ‘perfect’ but like the approach to diet.)

The question was: What is it about the Western lifestyle that is so bad for our health? Roughly speaking there was a poor diet and (lack of) exercise. Lack of exercise is being addressed (more of us are getting that 30 minutes a day) but diet is still contentious.

One of the disagreements in the diet wars is whether it is fat or sugar that is to blame. My guess is that it is more about sugar than fat.

However, this distinction is a little false. The junk food we eat is generally loaded with fat and sugar. Get rid of junk food, eat whole foods (the approach of the Weston A. Price foundation and many others) and you deal with both.

The book that has inclined me to think that it is sugar that is the main culprit in the Western diet is David Gillespie’s Sweet Poison Why Sugar Is Making Us Fat.

The title is a little misleading; it should really be called Why Fructose Is Making Us Fat. Table sugar, what we normally think of as sugar, is about 50% fructose. (Fructose is the sugar that occurs in fruit.) This is important because fructose has become the sugar of choice to add flavour by food manufacturers (this is especially the case in the US and Canada where high fructose corn syrup is overwhelming the sugar added by food manufacturers).

Why is fructose such a problem? Because it bypasses our appetite regulating mechanism and so we can eat it too excess without feeling full. If we eat the whole fruit this is not a problem – we feel full due to the fibre. If you’ve been amazed that you can eat through a whole bag of lollies without feeling full (as I have) you will most likely find that they are high in fructose – or even that this is the only sugar in them.

David also details the research that links sugar intake to cholesterol. This was news to me and a whole part of the story that I hadn’t seen anywhere else.

All of this amounts to basically eliminating sugar from your diet. When David did this he began to lose weight and steadily kept doing so until he reached his healthy weight range. He has maintained this weight consistently since then.

David is by training a lawyer and it shows. Lawyers are trained to collect the evidence and present a case on this basis. This book does that brilliantly. The evidence used is all from ‘respectable’ scientific journals (nothing ‘fringe’) and it is clearly presented. This is a well written and readable book, thoroughly grounded in the evidence. I recommend it highly.

If you like this post you might also like:
Obesity, Fat and Sugar
Change the World (one bite at a time)
A Return to Nourishment

The answer is living authentically. Buy the book or sign up for the course now from my Living Authentically website.

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First is a story of neighbourhood re-generation – about communal ownership of land and food growing in Brixton (where the riots took place) in England. This is part of a growing trend in the UK and US (though sadly not in Australia – where I’m from).

Next are a couple of posts from Organic Jar. The first is about how to eat in a more healthy and ecological way. It is ten tips on eating green. This includes diet (advocating a raw diet – about which I have significant reservations), social justice (buying Fair Trade) and ecology (organic, less packaged). It is a great post which manages to balance the personal, social and planetary. A great list to stick up on the fridge and keep as a reminder.

Finally to the very domestic level. Five plants you can easily grow organically at home. They are: aloe vera, pole beans, carrots, herbs (companion planted), and lettuces. These don’t take much time or looking after, and can form a good part of our diet.

If we change how we produce our food and what we eat our society will change: from the roots up!

If you know of any inspiring stories about new ways to produce food or good information about eating organically and locally, please let me know in the comments. Looking forward to hearing from you.

If you liked this post you might like the others in this series:
Making Utopia Real
Governments, Laws and Our Happiness
Great Blogs About Social Change

The answer is living authentically. Buy the book or sign up for the course now from my Living Authentically website.

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These days, the idea that food is simply nourishment and fuel seems lost on most people. Food is fat, food is carbohydrates, food is the Atkins diet, food is the South Beach diet, food is your friend, food is your enemy. Food is both self-destruction and a form of personal medication.

What happened to food just being food?

Since I was a little girl, I’ve struggled with what food really is and the role it plays in my life. At my home growing up, cookies and candies were given as signs of affection and rewards for good behavior. As a teenager, food helped identify who you were; if you were thin, the amount and type of food you consumed was a badge of honor, if you were heavy it was a mark of shame. And now as a 20-something struggling with a chronic lack of thyroid hormones (due to a thyroid removal procedure when I was 17), food is just a major puzzle.

Just a few months ago I thought I had food all figured out. I joined Weight Watchers last September and by February had lost the 30 Ibs I had put on as I dealt with some personal challenges and the stress of a job I hated. I felt trim, I felt slim, and I felt like myself again. The only issue? My old relationships to food began to slowly resurface as I felt more confident, and I ended up gaining 6 Ibs back.

What I’ve come to understand is counting points – or following any restrictive, limiting, or super-rule based program – for every meal, every day for the rest of my life isn’t the answer. Weight Watchers was a means to an end, but not an end in and of itself.

I now find myself on a journey to craft a new, healthy, and natural relationship to food and recenter my perspective on the simple fact that above all food is nourishment. It is fuel for body, fuel for the mind, and sometimes (only sometimes) can be food for the soul. I’ve found Paul McKenna’s “I can Make You Thin” Hypnotic Download to be a very effective tool for working on this mantra, and can honestly say I feel a difference in my thought process surrounding food.

We as a global culture need to get away from these warped perceptions of food as anything other than what it is: a wonderful source of energy. Through the diet industry, we’ve been taught that our bodies are wrong the way they are and food is to blame. We’ve been brainwashed to see food as something we can manipulate to our own ends without a thought to what it is really doing to us. Have you read the ingredients label for some of these diet products lately – how can all those chemicals be good for you?!

Forging a personal and healthy relationship with food is one of the most important things any of us can do – almost as important as identifying our authentic selves. And just like our authentic selves, that relationship is going to be unique for every person.

My plan is to keep listening to the Hypnotic Download, read ingredient labels, and keep doing my homework on nutrients, vitamins, and what they do to food before I eat it. I am also starting a one month organic diet trial to see how it feels to me and my bank account. These feel like good steps and I’m comfortable with them.

The question now is: What’s your plan?

Nacie Carson is the founder of The Life Uncommon, a personal development community that provides support and information for individuals seeking to identify, transition, and flourish in a career and lifestyle that is meaningful to them. You can contact Nacie through email at Nacie (at) The Life Uncommon.net.

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