This is a transcription from Mark's Ancient Wisdom from Modern Health Podcast. Please excuse any typos. Original PODCAST Available Here (Scroll down to Episode #28) Ding, ding, ding. Welcome to the Battle Royale of the Year 2020! In fact, maybe the battle of the decade, possibly even the century!
Read More1 MINUTE OVERVIEW The Paleo Diet (and other similar ones) and the general Paleo philosophy is great in terms of focusing us back on ‘real’ food (eliminating processed/junk food), minimising or avoiding alcohol, caffeine and sugar, as well as for promoting good exercise. However, according to ancient, time-tested health sciences such as Ayurveda, the heavy emphasis on meat, and completely avoiding grains, dairy, and legumes is not ideal.
Read MoreYou probably think this tip is so plainly obvious it is ridiculous to even mention it. Basically, as we move into the colder months, the tip is that you should eat ‘warmer’ foods. While we often try to make staying healthy complicated and confusing, staying in balance is often easier than we think. Nature works on opposites. When the weather is colder…eat warmer foods, to balance your body. Sounds simple but you would be amazed how often people don’t follow this ‘intuitively’ common sense practice. Because we can get ‘brainwashed’ into thinking certain foods are healthier because of less fat, more vitamins etc, we can forget that the ‘quality’ of the food we eat (whether it warms, cools, dries etc) is also highly important.
Read MoreSugar. . . raw sugar, brown sugar, white sugar, natural sugar, sugar substitutes, fructose, sucrose, glucose, artificial sweeteners, Stevia, agave nectar, coconut sugar, palm sugar!!! Yikes! Everywhere you turn these days, there is some article, debate or new type of sugar. Why? Because we are starting to realise just how dangerous regular sugar is, and more importantly, how we are consuming far too much (often unknowingly) and putting our health. . . and in some cases our lives in danger.
Read MoreEating out at restaurants and even the occasional fast food take-away is pretty much part and parcel of our modern day life, so here’s some quick tip.s to help keep things as healthy as possible.
Read MoreAre you contributing some of your hard earned dollars to the billion-dollar cosmetics industry trying to keep your skin healthy and younger looking but are overlooking one or more of the real keys to healthy, youthful skin? Now I am all for using (chemically free) external skin products where needed, but realise there are at least 5 far more important things (that will hardly cost you a cent) you should be focusing on before you worry about cosmetics.
Read MoreNot long ago I read that the average mother these days gets about 20 minutes to herself a day. (Seeing my sister with her 3 girls, I can hear her shouting, like I’m guessing you might be, “20 minutes, oh I wish!”) As a mum these days (you not me!), it is an unbelievably difficult challenge to do what you desire for your kids, your family, your work, before you even get a moment to think about yourself. Equally, as they say, “Our greatest wealth is our health”. While nearly every mum will say that healthy kids is their number one priority, it’s also logical, though not necessarily easy, that looking after your own health is the absolute first step in looking after your family’s health.
Read MoreI am writing in response to a scientific study that you may have read about. Media outlets everywhere have been trumpeting the finding that fruits and vegetables give no protective effect or in any way reduce cancer!!! Interesting, to say the least. I hear that many nutritionists and dietitians are still trying to pick themselves up from the floor! My intention here, is not to discount or lightly dismiss such a study. In fact, the finding does not surprise me in the least…
Read MoreWith the warmer weather coming bad body odour can be a bit of a problem. This week I thought we’d have a look at some simple ways to reduce this problem. The cause: If you squeeze an orange, orange juice comes out, if you squeeze a lemon, lemon juice comes out. Simply put, any smell (pleasant or otherwise) that comes out of your body, is based on what’s inside.
Read MoreAre you confused/overwhelmed with the multitude of advertisements for supplements these days??? Vitamins, minerals, amino acids, shark cartilage, glucosamine, ancient traditional native american hair of a pygmie crossed with goats intestinal flora super aphrodisiac for 25 day erections etc etc? I think you get the drift!!! What to do? Are they for real? Should you take them? Do you really need them?
Read MoreBig 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’.!!!
Read MoreIf 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.
Read MoreWe 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. When you can give yourself a minimum of 30 minutes, but preferably a 45 minute break from work, observe each of the following;
Read MoreAfter 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.
Read MoreLike 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.
Read MoreLike 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.
Read MoreIs water good for weight loss?Do you know someone (yourself even) that eats ‘moderately’ sized meals, exercises, is always drinking lots of water etc, but still can’t shift those excess kilo’s? Frustrating huh? There may be a reason – here’s something to think about (even if you aren’t trying to lose weight).
Read MoreI had a pizza while out with some friends some time ago …yes, I said a pizza!!! “oh my God, the health guy eats pizza”!!! It’s true, but don’t tell me you too have been brainwashed into thinking pizza’s are necessarily ‘bad’ or too heavy for dinner. If you get a gourmet vegetarian pizza and take off the excess cheese (easier if you get cheese cubes not melted), what do you have??…toasted bread & vegetables.
Read MoreWhy on earth could consuming the same amount of foods like fish, bananas, tomatoes, cashews etc over the next few months as you did during winter, have a significantly different effect on your health? Well, because summer is just around the corner and just as the seasons change, the clothes we wear change, the foods we eat should change also. Naturally we do this to some extent (more salads less casseroles, more seasonal fruit, cooler drinks etc) but often due to our focus/pre-occupation with calories, fat levels etc, we tend to overlook the different ‘qualities’ in food (how heating/cooling they are, if they are sweet or sour etc). In Maharishi Ayurveda, the overall effect of these qualities has a tremendous bearing on your level of balance, health & happiness. Eating too much of certain foods at certain times of the year can directly lead to health imbalances & conversely eating certain foods can eliminate problems & create perfect balance.
Read MoreIn the classic Western way of making things black and white—salad is good, fat is bad—salt has been put in the ‘bad’ camp. However, the ancients treasured salt and knew it was one of the most critical ingredients for a healthy body. Almost 5000 years ago, the Chinese pharmacological text, the Peng-Tzao-Kan-Mu, listed the medicinal effects of 40 varieties of natural salt. In the ancient world, before money or gold, salt was used to represent trust and value. You might have been ‘worth your salt’ or considered the ‘salt of the earth’. We are now paid a ‘salary’which comes from the same word as salt. Roman soldiers used to be paid in salt because it was universally ‘trusted’ or relied upon. This was when people ate real salt. Real or ‘good’ salt contains 80 or more naturally occurring minerals and healing ingredients, other than sodium chloride, that are synergistically put together by Mother Nature. Way back before the time of ancient Rome and Greece, this type of salt was known to strengthen, balance and heal the body.
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