Well-being
Healthy mind, healthy body, healthy soul... One needs to find the balance in everything.
I am always exploring ways to be holistically more healthy.
There are so many different methods available for healing. The principle "first, do no harm" (Latin: primum non nocere) is a cornerstone of medical ethics which I think is very important.
People often want "quick fixes." I have also wished that there was a magic pill that solved my problems instantly and permanently! But true healing requires work, or doing things which are difficult and tough. Through community and support this becomes easier. A "quick fix" may not be the solution.
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Food for Thought Summary
My journey into nutrition this month has been a bit like the story in The Alchemist—I went looking far and wide for answers, only to circle back to what I always knew:
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How to: Not Eat That Cookie🍪 (If you have a better answer, please tell me how)
We all do it. (Or, DON’T do it) We know what we should eat and we know that we should exercise… but we don’t. Why is that?
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Why Did I Eat That Cookie?
For 21 days, I was really “good.” No processed food. No cheating. Lent was going well. Then... the cookie happened.
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#21 To Fast or not to fast?
I was chatting to someone about intermittent fasting when my son, Leo — who was six years old at the time — asked, "What does fasting mean?" I explained that fasting is when…
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#20 What is an Alkaline Diet (Part 2)
"Scientists say your thoughts can change your biochemistry. So technically, being grumpy is a chemical hazard." I'm a hazard to myself! Yesterday I explored the basics of what an alkaline diet is —…
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#19 What is an Alkaline Diet? (Part 1)
Yes, yes, I know, I am really looking into this food and eating topic! But it's an important part of life! It's no use you have a really cool car but it can't…
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#18 What about Vitamins and Supplements?
Vitamins and Supplements… if only there was a cheap, magic pill that will make us all look good and feel great. These are the top 5 supplements worth considering, in my opinion, —…
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#17 Should You Take Probiotic Supplements?
In recent years, the importance of gut health has exploded into the wellness spotlight—with probiotics often taking center stage. But should we actually take them? Do they even work?
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#16 Poop Pills
Poop to the Rescue? Yes, Really. Okay, let’s talk about a weirdt medical breakthrough: using other people’s poop to heal yourself. Yes, actual poop. Not metaphorically. Not “life gave me lemons” poop. I…
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#15 Meet Your Gut Microbes – The Hidden Bosses of Your Health
Did you know your gut has more microbes than you have human cells? It sounds crazy, but it's true! And they have a lot more control on us than we realize. That's why…
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#14 What’s the Healthiest Diet?
“In the age of information, ignorance is a choice.” – Donny Miller So what’s actually true? No matter which eating style you choose—low-fat, low-carb, Mediterranean, or balanced—there are a few unshakable truths that…
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#13 Balanced, Real Food
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving. Albert Einstein Also, to keep your glucose balanced, you need to keep moving! Before 2011, the food pyramid was…
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# 12 What would chatGPT eat?
I asked ChatGPT, if he was human, taking all the information into account and having no strict food allergies, what would he eat to stay happy, healthy and still enjoy life. I was…
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#11 Whole Food, Plant Based
For 40 days, my friend Robert and I tried the Mastering Diabetes program to see if it could be recommended to patients with diabetes. We also wore a CGM for 2 weeks while…
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#10 Keto vs Banting
Tim Noakes walks into a bakery…Just kidding. That would never happen. I know many people who have been on the keto or banting eating plan. The food can be delicious. Shops also cater…
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Food for Thought #9 Are you a Carnivore?
The only fat I want in my life is the one on a steak. The carnivore diet is an eating plan that involves consuming exclusively animal-based foods while eliminating all plant-based foods, including…
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#8 What is the Best Eating Plan for Me?
I followed a diet, but it didn’t follow me back, so I unfollowed it. When it comes to food, there’s no one-size-fits-all. I do believe that it’s easier to stick to a healthy…
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#7 My Obsession with Nutrition (Explained with mini-me toys)
If we are what we eat, then I’m pretty sweet! You’ve probably all seen the new “ask ChatGPT to make an action figure of me” craze. It’s quite funny! It is a bit…
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#6 Is Popcorn a Healthy Snack?
Popcorn always makes me feel like I’m on top of the world. It makes me feel pop-timistic about life. If you’re looking for a healthy snack to mindlessly snack on, then popcorn is…
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#5 My Body Battery and Food
“Wearable tech and real-time health data give us the opportunity to shift from reactive care to proactive wellness.”— Dr. Daniel Kraft I’ve mentioned that using a continuous glucose monitor is really informative and…
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#4 Why Our Snack Cravings Aren’t Just a Lack of Willpower
“Never trust a skinny mouse in a snack cupboard.” – Ancient Cheese Proverb (possibly) Have you ever opened a packet of chips just to have a few—and suddenly found yourself licking your fingers…
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Food for Thought #3 Real Food, Real Life
“You don’t neccessarily have to eat less. You just have to eat real.” – Unknown One patient told me she followed a diabetic diet and was told to eat lots of fruit. Another…
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#2 – I wore a Continuous Glucose Monitor while eating a Low Fat, High Good Carb Diet
We couldn’t find any vegetable jokes, so if you do peas lettuce know. For two weeks, Robert and I wore a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and experimented with a low-fat, high good-carb way…
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Food for Thought #1 – Low Fat Eating for Glucose Control?
What did the one slice of bread say to the other slice of bread before a fight? -you’re toast! I have been trying to get my thoughts about eating and diet in order,…
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February heART Challenge
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” – Thomas Merton This was the last week of our February heART challenge! Martha Beck, a sociologist, famous author, and…
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Week 4 – February heART Challenge
“Look up: there’s always a sky full of possibility waiting for you to notice it.” Our them for week 3 was Look Up. What beauty and wonder we found while looking up! Here…
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Week 3 – February heART Challenge
You use a glass mirror to see your face. You use works of art to see your soul. – George Bernard Shaw We had fun with chocolate this week! Some of us (like…
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Week 2 – February heART Challenge
Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get. – Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump Our creative topic for week 1 was Hearts and Hands. I so enjoyed…
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February 💛heART Challenge – Week 1
Welcome to Our February heART Creativity Challenge!💛 I’m so excited to be adding some extra creativity to my life! I hope you’ll find time to do the same! Let’s shake off the Janu-worries…
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Light a Candle
“Be the light that helps others see.” I have always liked candles – a glimmer of light in the darkness. Lately I’ve been thinking more often about candles. I like that they are…
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What’s Really in the Sweets Your Kid Buys at the School Tuck-Shop!?
Let Food by Thy Medicine and Medicine be Thy Food – Hippocrates It’s difficult enough to get kids to eat healthy foods these days. It’s not very helpful when the school and other…
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The Cold Is Your Teacher: The Power of Cold Plunges
Ask any special forces guy: Doing physically hard things is an enormous life hack. Do hard things and the rest of life gets easier and you appreciate it all the more. -Michael Easter…
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Dopamine, ADD and ADHD: Why We All Feel Like Headless Chickens
“I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific.” – Lily Tomlin Lately, I’ve found myself unable to concentrate on anything. Maybe having kids also contributes,…
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July is Self-Care Month. 8 Steps to Incorporate Self-Care
Did you know that keeping tropical fish at home can have a calming effect on the brain... This is due to all the indoor fins… The 24th of June marks the start of…
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What’s My Glucose
Last year I wore a continous glucose monitor for the first time… Just for interests sake. It was so eye opening for me! Here’s the post I wrote last year about it. Since…
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How to make Kombucha
“The road to health is paved with good intestines.” SA Rodgers Kombucha is a fermented, slightly fizzy drink made when SCOBY is left in a mixture made from tea, sugar and water. SCOBY…
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What I learnt from wearing a continous glucose monitor
Marcus and I wore a continous glucose monitor for 2 weeks… A few people I have spoken to were curious as to why we did this and were interested in the results, so…
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Week 8 – Gratitude Mandala and the last week of this Creatively Grateful Challenge
“Reflect upon your present blessings—of which every man has many—not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”—Charles Dickens This week’s challenge was to doodle a gratitude mandala. I like the…
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How to Treat Your Child’s Fever
This is my preferred way of treating a fever and by no means replaces taking your child to your own doctor. I’m not a fan of using medications with multiple ingredients in them…
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Week 7 – Thankful for Play
“A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men.” This week we appreciated the opportunities we had and still have to play. Play comes naturally to children and is actually…
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Week 6 – Thankful for Clouds
“We mostly see what we have learned to expect to see.“ “Clouds in the sky very much resemble the thoughts in our minds! Both changes perpetually from one second to another!” – Mehmet…
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Week 5 – Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
“if Pooh Bear can wear a crop top, so can I!” “I finally realized that being grateful to my body was key to giving more love to myself.” Oprah Winfrey We have all…
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Week 4 – Someone I am Thankful For
When I count my blessings I count you twice! This week’s challenge was about taking time to think about and appreciate the people in our lives. It was a meaningful week for me…
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Week 3 – Gratitude Scavenger Hunt
“The more grateful I am, the more beauty I see.” Week 3’s Challenge was to keep our eyes open for things we see around us. (And to stop and smell the roses and…
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Week 2 – My Favourite Things
“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens Brown paper packages tied up with strings These are a few of my favorite things.“ -Words of My Favourite…
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Joy Jar – Week 1 Creatively Grateful
Piglet noticed that even though he had a very small heart, it could hold a rather large amount of gratitude. AA Milne We are one week into our creativity challenge. Well done to…
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Creatively Grateful – A 8 week Creativity Challenge
Creatively Grateful, our 8 week Creativity Challenge starts today. It's just for fun to encourage us all to be more creative. Week 1's task is Joy Jar... read more details in blog post.
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Treating Children’s Coughs and Colds- Home Remedies and Basic Medicines
The cold and flu season has arrived late this year…We’re at the start of our summer but so many kids (and adults) are sick! This has apparently got something to do with less…
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Animal Love – Week 8 (and last week) of Encouraging Creativity Challenge
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Mahatma Gandhi This week we focused on our love for animals. I noticed there…
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Thoughts and Feelings – Week 7 Encouraging Creativity
“The best use of imagination is creativity. The worst use of imagination is anxiety.”Deepak Chopra This week we took time to think about some of our thoughts and listen to some of our…
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Movie Covers, Music and Books – Week 6 Creativity Challenge
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” ~ Maya Angelou This week was quite a challenge! I am really impressed with what people came up with! And some…
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Spring and New Beginnings – Week 5 Creativity Challenge
“Where flowers bloom, so does hope.” It’s Spring! Here in the Free State it was definitely warmer these last few days. New blossoms, flowers and green grass have started appearing. I’m sure the…
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Blank Face – Creativity Challenge Week 4
Wow! I was really impressed with what everyone came up with using this “blank face” as a topic! Well done! A blank face is a bit different than a blank page… Both have…
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Moon – Week 3 Creativity Challenge
Have you seen the beautiful full moon!? They say full moon is the time to slow down and reflect. It’s the time to let go of things that need letting go. The moon…
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Play with Your Food – Creativity Challenge Week 2
Back in the day children were taught not to play with their food. Now research suggests that playing with food is actually good for children because it makes them less fussy eaters. Our…
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Noticing Nature (up close) – Creativity Challenge Week 1
Week 1 of of our creativity challenge was about noticing nature up close and it was so nice to see everyone’s perspective. I particularly loved this picture of a beautiful rose with aphids…
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8 Week Creativity Challenge
Are you ready to get creative? 1 theme/topic every week for 8 weeks. Interpret and depict the topic by drawing, painting, writing, taking a photo or creating something. Share your creation/thoughts on our…
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Covid Isolation with Kids
Take a moment to take a deep breath in and slowly breathe out… That’s my current advice to myself and my fellow South Africans. We’re all dealing with Covid, effects of post Covid,…
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Covid Home Treatment Check List
Covid has exploded in the last 2 weeks in South Africa! I hear of so many newly diagnosed people daily. It’s scary! We have finished our 10 day isolation today. I thought I…
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Encouraging Creativity
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe Creativity is something so uniquely human. Creativity sparks new ideas, new inventions, artwork, literature and feeds the soul… …
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Our CoVid19 Story
“Learn to appreciate what you have before time makes you realise what you had.” By now most people have their own story about how Corona affected their lives or the lives of their…
