SUGAR: Are You a Slave to Sweetness?

Every modern convenience that makes your life easier from electricity to cars; every treat from the global marketplace that you might buy as pantry basics from South American chocolate to South East Asian rice: all are courtesy of a cascade of events picking up speed some 250 years ago.

The Industrial Revolution forever transformed our lives and expectations. It particularly gathered force with the development of the steam engine which powered ships across oceans with unprecedented speed and efficiency. This opened up new markets as more perishable cargo could at last be traded to numerous and further destinations.

Unfortunately this fresh cargo included slaves. The British – master of the seas and many adjacent continents – and other Europeans brutally abducted black Africans and transported them across the world under merciless conditions. They were forced to work until death on the sugar cane plantations of the West Indies and later the United States. The product was so profitable it was called ‘white gold’ and became the world’s largest and most lucrative industry. It enabled nice, Christian ladies to offer hospitality in the form of a dainty sweetener to accompany another exotic import, tea from China (where the British introduced and profited from opium – but that, boys and girls, is another story).

THINK ZINC for Clear Skin and Eyes; Strong Nails and Immunity; Prostate, Reproductive and Hormonal Health

Zinc is very busy in your brain. It is needed by the hippocampus, which is the central train station for relaying messages to and from the ceaselessly busy nervous system, endocrine system and the rest of your body. Without zinc, people do poorly in both memory and cognitive tests and are more likely to suffer mood disorders. Zinc activates brain centres that process data from taste and smell sensors and thus influences appetite. People with anorexia and bulimia usually suffer from low levels, which distort their appetites further. Athletes and those who perspire profusely lose this mineral through fluid loss; as do those with diarrhea, vomiting or after gastrointestinal surgery.

CAFFEINE: What the Herd Does Is Not Necessarily the Enlightened Choice

Here’s a package deal for you. With one new habit you can look better and feel better while you save a pleasing sum for that home, holiday or car.

Consumer magazine estimates that by cutting out five lattes per week (or other questionable habit) and making the sum an additional mortgage payment instead, you could pay off your house more than seven years earlier. This could save you close to $40,000. Or your savings can make other debts disappear, or go into a nice Something Special for Me Fund.

YOUR THYROID: Not too Cold or Hot, Thin or Fat; Energetic but Calm?

…then thank your thyroid.

No matter how you dress, there is a small bowtie at your throat that is critical to your appearance and joie de vivre. Your thyroid gland lies wrapped around the windpipe in a butterfly shape, just behind and below the Adam’s apple or larynx. It weighs less than a tablespoon of butter yet is responsible for enabling energy and activity throughout the brain and body.

Which Food Culture Are You From?

“Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are”. Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1775-1826; French gastronomy writer)

What are your favourite foods and associated memories? Let’s say you enjoy eating and preparing Italian dishes. This is far different though to thinking and identifying as an Italian. If you are unsure as to the true nature of your food culture, then examine your behaviour when under pressure. Psychologists state that under stress we revert to the familiar. Out may go noble aspirations and in come the takeaways, packet biscuits, or microwaved frozen slab.

Allergies: Why You May Be Allergic To the 21st Century

Among the industrialised nations, health statisticians predict that those who are children now will be the first generation that has poorer health, more obesity and a shorter lifespan than their parents. With the many benefits of affluence and education in such countries, how has this tragic state developed?

SLEEP: Your Day Depends On Your Night

…while your night depends on your day.

“An uninterpreted dream is like an unopened letter from God”. The Talmud.

Sleep is a pleasure and a necessity. Enjoy seven to eight hours of regularly timed, sustained sleep. If you want dependable function from your body, you must in turn provide it with consistent, supportive rituals. Wake at a similar time, go to bed at a similar time and precede sleep with a period of quiet, calm and dimmed lights.

YOUR LIVER: Many Relationships Come and Go but Always Love Your Liver

If you want glowing skin, good digestion, sustained vitality, and a long and healthy life, then remember to love your liver.

Every time you breathe, eat or drink, a variety of toxic substances enter your body. No one anywhere on the planet can completely avoid the presence of industrial and agrochemicals, exhaust fumes, out-gassing plastics, paints, dyes, building materials, and other health-challenging residues. These are evident globally in air, soil, waterways, and wildlife from Arctic polar bears to Amazonian fish. Intake can be minimised, but not prevented. The big question is how well can you detoxify and eliminate the inevitable tally?

YOUR BRAIN: Free Medicine for Depression, Anxiety, Addictions, ADHD, Dyslexia and More

Sister Bernadette had a fine mind which she enjoyed putting to work with puzzles, debating social issues, and teaching the young. She kept lively until her death at 85. As part of an ongoing study by American epidemiologists, she was one of 600 nuns who donated their brains to science. Soon before her death she continued to score in the ninetieth percentile on cognitive tests. Yet when she was examined post mortem, massive destruction from Alzheimer’s was evident. Her brain was filled with the disease’s characteristic rigid plaques and messy tangles. From the inner hippocampus (the central train station for learning, stress and mood management pathways) to the outer cortex, there was the most extensive degree of damage. So why did she remain so sharp?

The Dark Side of Science: Contagious Blindness and How This Infects Your Life

Imagine if you could travel through time.

Quantum physics tell us that ‘space-time’ is one stretchy, unified substance that makes this possibility completely achievable – as soon as we develop the required technology.

Say you travelled back less than 200 years ago to the 1800s. This was a time when rapid industrialisation, new invention and the power of science enthralled with its possibilities. Perhaps you met with scientific leaders and tried to explain the modern world. You could tell them how most people have in their living rooms a box where – at the flick of a switch – small people emerge on screen and offer entertainment and world news. Many have another type of box in their study or workplace which – by moving their fingers over it – can instantly communicate with others through words, moving pictures and sound, accessing information live from anywhere in the world.