Is baby spinach or iceberg lettuce your favourite, and often only green in a salad? Or do you go for variety and diversity? Limiting food choices can lead to missing out on a variety of plant chemicals, many of which have numerous health benefits including the potential to reduce oxidative stress.

Working with mindfulness practices both for clients, and myself, I have become increasingly aware of its 'sister' gratitude practice. Over April I participated in 'a month of gratitude', a concept run by a Positive Psychology program I follow. The reason I took up this month long practice was that while I conceptually understood gratitude, I didn’t find myself feeling it as often as I could.

I am regularly regaled with the benefits of Coconut oil (predominantly a saturated fat) but personally I am not a fan. By all means moisturise with it, use it as a mouth cleanser, rub it through hair etc, but don’t eat too much of it. The purported health benefits just don’t stack up in the research. On the other hand Olive oil (a mono-unsaturated fat) has a bucket of research showing positive health benefits including this recent report indicating that extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) protects memory and learning ability and further, decreases the risk of brain changes commonly associated with Alzheimer's.

Stress impacts our gut bugs

A new study from Nature Scientific Reports indicates that stress may be as unhealthy to our gut microbiota as a bad diet. The study was carried out on animals but may have implications for humans. The researchers set out to evaluate the factors that impact on the gut microbiota and found that female mice exposed to stress showed significant changes to their microbiota: the changes in the composition of gut bugs looked like they had been eating a high fat diet.

While we often think that stress has a mostly psychological effect, this study highlights the physical impacts.

Throwing the baby spinach out with the bath water

Recently I went into a well known supermarket looking for some leafy greens to go with the dinner I was cooking. I scanned the shelves and all I could see was packets of baby spinach, rocket or mixed greens, neither on their own, both mixed with baby spinach. I felt like I was in a monoculture world of greens and wanted to run screaming from the veggie aisle (not really, it was more of a sigh and start to think of alternative dinner plans). Dramatics aside, I did on the spot decide to boycott baby spinach for life...well for a little while anyway. I probably need to admit at this point that I am not a fan of baby spinach, I think it is overrated, over consumed and I would love to see more alternatives. While this opinion goes against the advice found in the popular media, which is 'eat spinach, its a super green', it isn't isn't an uninformed opinion so I have outlined my reasons for boycotting baby spinach below…

Overcoming sleepless nights

For about 5 years insomnia was a regular and generally unwelcome companion of mine. Over this time I managed to function well, most of the time but there was this nagging belief that I ‘should’ be able to heal myself if I just found the right solution. Well that thought wasn’t overly helpful because there wasn’t ‘one’ solution. What did come out of the experience however was a gradual acceptance that some nights I just wouldn’t sleep well and the understanding that there are many, many useful tools to assist with a calm night regardless. I also looked into and tried many different approaches to help improve my sleep, some of which were quite useful, others not so much. However, like most chronic issues, an individual whole body, whole life approach is what was successful for me in the end.

Healing Stewed Apple

Diarrhoea or constipation, abdominal pain and bloating are symptoms commonly associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). This conditions affects up to 15% of individuals at some time in their life and is frequently associated with anxiety, stress and poor emotional well-being. The gut symptoms, emotional impact and inflammation associated with IBS can lead to chronic pain and a poorer quality of life in general. What is surprising is that even the fear of gut symptoms has adverse consequences and can have a significant impact on an individual’s day-to-day life.