Tabla de contenidos para Issue 184 en WellBeing

Oh, my goodness! I found the article “When Should’s Not Good” in an older edition of WellBeing and read it once then re-read it again. It really hit home. I am the Queen of the “What I deserve” mantra and I’m struggling in my life lately; I question everything and want to change everything. I am wandering around and feeling lost. When I read the article for the second time, I could not stop crying. It’s not about getting what I deserve; it’s about getting what I want! The word “should” has made me blind to the role I want to pursue in life! I use it as an excuse to be lazy and avoid what I really want and can potentially achieve. No one has ever explained this to…

Green space and metabolism Two hundred years ago the poet John Keats was going on about nature and how it was a remedy for the stresses and strains of city life. OK, so Keats died at age 25 of tuberculosis so he may not have fully followed his own prescription, but it shows that the idea of the healthiness of nature is not new. What is new, however, is a study showing that having access nature reduces the chances of developing metabolic syndrome (high blood pressure, obesity, high blood sugar, and abnormal fat levels). These factors together boost your chances of developing type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The new study of 6000 adults over 14 years showed that access to green areas and being surrounded by trees reduces your chance…

Have you joined the sleep-tracking, steps-counting wearable tech craze yet? I’ve never been fond of numbers. My brain is more creative than logical; I dropped out of maths in Year 10 and the AutoSum is my only Excel trick. So naturally, when fitness trackers first appeared on the scene a few years ago, I didn’t get involved. I couldn’t understand why people wanted to track their every move, breath, step, stress spike or heart rate rise — until I met the following three data trackers. Now, I’m tech-ed out with bling on my fingers, wrist and forehead and I love it. I love trying to reach the red zone when I’m exercising and then afterwards learning how many minutes I was working at a high intensity. I love checking my…

Is your skin scaly, dry, red, rough, lined, pigmented or blotchy? Your complexion is an ever-evolving reflection of your inner state. Along with healthy eating, exercise and rest, external products can make a massive impact on your most visible organ — your skin. In Sanskrit, the word for oleation and love is the same thing. “Snehanam (oil) therapies such as massage soak cells in liquid love so they smile again,” says Ayurvedic doctor Rama Prasad. Ayurveda, along with other systems of medicine from traditional cultures, has an ocean of therapeutic oils to assist skin conditions. Ancient texts and archaeological sites are sprinkled with evidence of oils in all facets of life. Oils naturally nourish, repair and resurface your skin. Organic oils rich in vitamins, essential fatty acids and polyphenols combine…

You’ve likely experienced the relaxing yet invigorating feeling that comes from a swim in the sea, for example, or a stroll by the ocean inhaling the salty air. And you don’t need to visit the ocean to get the benefits. Many salt-based therapies are available in spas and healing centres, and you can also design your own to do at home. What is salt? The most common form of salt is the chemical compound sodium chloride (NaCl). In its natural form as a crystalline mineral, it is called rock salt or halite. Seawater has huge quantities of salt, with the ocean containing about 35 grams per litre, a salinity of 3.5 per cent. Salt is processed from salt mines and by the evaporation of seawater. Evidence of salt processing dates…

Do you ever hear voices? Whispers in your mind rehashing old issues or cyclic comments like, “I’ll never be a good enough parent”? Mental chatter is to blame for the repetitive thoughts that buzz inside the human brain and cause anxiety and stress. But, take heart. If mental chatter is causing you stress, there are some positive ways to calm the chaos. With the demands of parenthood, it often kicks troublesome thoughts into high gear. I wish I could stop thinking about how my birth plan didn’t go as I’d hoped. Why can’t I breastfeed? My child can’t roll over yet but others his/her age can, why? Parenthood is a wild ride filled with heart-warming moments, challenge, stress and uncertainty. There’s angst over doing things the “right” way, a baby…

Long before the term “superfood” was coined, South Americans in places like Peru were growing foods renowned for their health and life-giving benefits. The Incas, for example, combined their knowledge of food production with their country’s wonderful environment for agriculture, producing foods that were nutrient-dense. This helped them have long and healthy lives. Now, contemporary science is meeting ancient wisdom, with foods that have been grown for millennia being recognised for their health-promoting benefits. What is a “superfood”? The term superfood has been used to describe foods ranging from the everyday, like oats, to exotic fruits, vegetables and spices. According to Ricardo Riskalla, a master personal trainer and nutrition coach, a superfood is any food that is rich in antioxidants or provides unique healing properties. “They are indigenous foods used…

In September 2018, Jacinda Ardern, the young and dynamic Prime Minister of New Zealand, stood before an almostempty United Nations General Assembly hall and called for a new kind of leadership. Specifically, one centred on kindness. Months later, in the wake of the tragic Christchurch mosque shootings, Ardern made headlines around the world for personifying the kind and empathetic leadership she had publicly touted. A few weeks later, a viral social media post highlighted the depths to which this compassionate leader embraced her ethos — revealing that she had quietly paid for the groceries of a beleaguered mother who, on a trip to the supermarket with two screaming toddlers, had forgotten to bring her wallet. In a modern world that applauds aggressiveness and enables ruthlessness, it has become common to…

The early 1990s were heady days in the world of computers. Early adopters were communicating with one another through networks whose role was soon taken over in 1993 by arrival of the Internet. A sense of novelty and techno-optimism was in the air. One such tech-head was Douglas Rushkoff. Active in the cyberpunk movement, he maintained friendships with a range of counterculture figures including Timothy Leary, Robert Anton Wilson and Terence McKenna. Being a fan of the “open source” approach, by the end of the decade Rushkoff had become disillusioned as a result of seeing corporate greed take over, and shifted his perspective. Today he has reinvented himself as a media theorist unafraid to share some pointed criticism. Technology is inevitably a double-edged sword, a reality that he was formerly…

At age 40, Roxanne was caught up in a stressful cycle of playing Mum and Dad to her two kids, ages six and nine, as her husband frequently travelled for work, all while carrying around an excess weight of 20 kilos. “I had gone up and down with my weight since I had kids and, at that point in my life, I was overweight. I wasn’t feeling good about myself,” says Roxanne. “I didn’t find myself attractive, I avoided looking at myself in the mirror and I even stopped working and going to social events,” she shares. It’s an all-too-common feeling among women. Based on The Dove Global Beauty and Confidence Report, the 2016 data revealed that 89 per cent of Australian women are opting to cancel plans, job interviews…

Many people think the word gut refers only to their stomach. But the gastrointestinal tract stretches from your mouth all the way to your derriere. Contrary to popular belief, your gut does so much more than just process the food you eat. Your gut is a complex ecosystem and home to trillions of microorganisms that work hard to support your health and wellbeing. Emerging research into the gut microbiome is revealing how it influences overall health and immunity in ways never suspected. Research has already shown your gut influences your mood, metabolism, immunity and the quality of your sleep. And, while it may seem hard to believe, your gut health also has an impact on your hormones, skin and weight. The gut and stress hormones Gut health can be compromised…

A garden can be many things. It can have “exterior decoration” — the kind you buy from a chain store or a cheap “we made three million of these” online store. It can include a neat house set in a mown lawn with trimmed shrubs and possibly a row of roses out the front. A garden can also be a suburban food forest — a jungle of tangled apple trees and grape vines, carpets of strawberries and kids with mulberry-stained faces who don’t come inside until dark. The richness of your life depends on your surroundings and what you fill it with. If you want a rich garden, forget about the traditional layout of the garden. Work out what you want from it and not what others expect. Looking for…

It turns out the age of constant self-examination given everything we do is reflected on our Fitbits and iPhones where our daily performance is perpetually evaluated might indeed have some survival value. Social media might simply be reflecting our genetic need to perpetuate the species and our specific imprint. If we have a need to show our best selves to the universe, could this drive be linked to the age-old quest for immortality and actually be doing us more good than harm? If we do want to take our measured self-reflection to the next level, which investigations would we need in order to find out how well we are ageing? How could we unveil our biological age and, once we have this information, would it help us to fashion more…

December 2019/January 2020/February 2020 DEC 1 St Kilda, AU Carman’s Women’s Fun Run carmanswomensfunrun.com.au DEC 1 Global World AIDS Day worldaidsday.org.au DEC 1–31 AU DineSmart streetsmartaustralia.org/dinesmart DEC 27–JAN 1 Woodfordia, AU Woodford Folk Festival woodfordfolkfestival.com DEC 28–JAN 3 Hobart, AU The Taste of Tasmania thetasteoftasmania.com.au JAN 8–26 Sydney, AU Sydney Festival sydneyfestival.org.au JAN 8–FEB 5 Melbourne, AU South Melbourne Night Market southmelbournenightmarket.com.au JAN 16–19 Bulli, AU 35th Illawarra Folk Festival illawarrafolkfestival.com.au JAN 24–FEB 2 Sydney, AU Sydney Lunar Festival whatson.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/major-events/sydney-lunar-festival JAN 25 Chinese New Year JAN 31–FEB 2 Tasmania, AU Festivale festivale.com.au FEB 1–29 Victoria, AU Sustainable Living Festival slf.org.au FEB 1–29 AU Heart Research Month heartresearch.com.au FEB 2 Global World Wetlands Day worldwetlandsday.org FEB 4 Global World Cancer Day worldcancerday.org our #inspo…

Did something resonate with you in this issue of WellBeing? Tell us! Write to WellBeing, Locked Bag 154, North Ryde, NSW 1670, email wbletters@umco.com.au, comment on our Facebook page or Instagram account: @WellBeing_Magazine. We reserve the right to edit all letters. Feeling nurtured I would just like to say how much I have enjoyed this year’s “Nurture Me” edition of WellBeing. There was so much great content on the mind, which I believe is so important and neglected in this busy world we live in. “The Drama Triangle” article helped me better understand some relationships. In “Free to be Me”, I loved the reference to the Brené Brown TED talk, which I went and watched and also found very insightful. The article “Dealing with Guilt” gave me some clarity over…

Go nuts Despite the colloquial association with human lunacy, nuts are a very healthy food. Nuts vary from tree to tree (or bush), but generally speaking a good nut gives you healthy unsaturated fats, a bit of protein and a smattering of vitamins and minerals. On top of all that they are tasty and make an easy snack. To top it all off, eating more nuts has been shown to help you lose weight. For a new study researchers looked at almost 290,000 people and followed them for 20 years. They found that increasing nut intake by half a serve a day (around 14 grams) over a four-year period was linked to a 15 per cent reduction in obesity and a loss of 0.7 kilograms. It’s partly to do with…

There’s been a lot of talk about the concept of nose-to-tail cooking when it comes to cooking meat, but what about our forgotten plants? Although it’s not a new concept, root-to-stem cooking is gaining traction, not only in Australian restaurants but also in households by people keen to cook more consciously and reduce their food waste. Most modern recipe books encourage cooks to cut, deseed and peel vegetables and fruits, so it’s no surprise that a staggering amount of edible and nutritious produce ends up in the trash. According to OzHarvest, 35 per cent of the average household bin is attributed to food waste, with more than 5 million tonnes of food ending up as landfill in Australia (enough to fill 9000 Olympic-sized swimming pools!). So, what exactly does it…

We stare across its horizons endlessly, exercise by its shores and flock there for holidays. With 50 per cent of the world’s population living by the ocean, what is it about the sea that relaxes and entrances us? People haven’t always flocked to the ocean, though. Dr Robert Ritchie, a senior research associate at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, describes how, during the 17th century and before, the sea was generally perceived as a frightening place filled with monsters and had the potential to flood the land. The only people who went into the sea were peasants when they were desperate to escape the heat. This changed during the 18th century. At this time, the British upper classes were searching for remedies to a wide variety of illnesses…

Getting out of your comfort zone, delayed flights, jet lag and communication barriers can leave you feeling a bit worse for wear. One of the joys of travelling is that it is unpredictable, with things often occurring that are out of your control. But, at the same time, this provides you with an opportunity to find calm among the chaos, tap into your inner strength and, eventually, relish the moment. Yoga, thankfully, has lots of tools you can draw upon when you’re in situations like these abroad. When travelling, you can learn to integrate a “yogic” perspective into your plans. Although this might be the last thing you’re thinking about while you’re on vacation, this mindset is not as it seems. Being a yogic traveller doesn’t mean you have to…

For minor ailments and injuries, it’s handy to have a portable first-aid kit for your pets. You can make use of things around the house, which saves money and waste. Keep it in a box and make sure everything is organised and labelled. First-aid doesn’t replace appropriate veterinary care. It’s important to remember that serious accidents, poisonings, snake bites, tick paralysis or illness will require the care of your regular veterinarian. Although a natural first-aid kit is generally safe and non-toxic, not all natural treatments are safe. One example is tea tree oil, which is a handy antimicrobial, but may be toxic to small dogs and especially to cats. I have indicated in this article where there may be any risk to your pet. Teas I love teas, and I…

Martin Luther King Jr famously said, “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” Why is it then in romantic relationships that once the blossom of new love fades, it can sometimes feel like you’re sleeping with the enemy? Think back to how you and your partner first met. Perhaps your eyes met across a crowded room. After a few dates, you’re finishing each other’s sentences. You get each other and just know you’ve found the one. Fast-forward a few years and with a mortgage, children, work stressors and bills to pay, the magic has turned into monotony and those blissful carefree days may seem like a distant memory. You might now be a divorce daydreamer, or you may even imagine what life would be…

Gingerly I inch towards the abyss: a yawning chasm that disappears deep into the earth. There’s no guardrail holding me back, no warning signs, just the forested ridgelines of a thousand flattop peaks beckoning me to the edge. Giddy, I lean out just far enough to glimpse the Clyde River carving its crooked path to the sea, and though there might be solace here, my quickening heartbeat pulses loudly. I’ve ventured inland, against the summertime flow of beach-bound holiday traffic, to gain some much-needed isolation in some of New South Wales’ loftiest havens. High on the Great Dividing Range, I wander beneath wild waterfalls and rocky crags, and discover — teetering atop plunging escarpment cliffs — that big sky views are only the beginning. Far from the sea there are…

Individual JESSICA BELLEF, MURDOCH BOOKS Author Jessica Bellef invites you to explore 15 truly unique Australian homes in her new book, Individual. From an artistic city terrace to a quirky seaside shack, each space is an individual reflection of the people living within its walls. Bellef is no stranger to good design and has peppered the book with her own practical tips and tricks on matters like choosing a colour palette and balancing form with function. Throughout Individual, she reminds you that developing a unique sense of style is not about buying more “stuff”. Rather, Bellef encourages imbuing your space with mementos that are dripping in nostalgia and stories so you can feel secure and nurtured in your home. The book is illustrated with stunning photographs and is brimming with…

Manuka honey Manuka honey is a famed antibacterial and renowned as one of nature’s unique superfoods, promoting good health and immunity. HoneyLife uses only “raw” unrefined honey without applying any heat or chemical process. It is Australian sourced, made and owned. Each batch has been university laboratory tested for MGO active value. W: honeylife.com.au Dr Cabot LivaTone Cabot Health’s bestselling high-potency, multi-action liver formula is designed to completely support and protect the liver. It may assist in the removal of toxins, increase fat burning, reduce inflammation and improve digestive function. It’s seven times stronger than other leading brands! W: cabothealth.com.au Herbie’s Spices Herbie’s Spices understands you expect top quality, unadulterated spices to enhance your healthy lifestyle. With spice kits that include vegan, vegetarian and many more, Herbie’s makes gift giving…

The festive season has arrived yet again, and boy do I have some ridiculously good recipe and eco-friendly gift ideas to grace your table and lap this Christmas. This celebratory season is all about love, connection and gratitude, as well as the best food you’ll cook all year! Here, I share my favourite festive recipes to share with family and friends over the Christmas break. My latest book, Supercharge Your Life, uses food as the catalyst for pleasure, enjoyment, love and connection. To ramp up the love even further, I’ve put a huge focus on how our food and entertaining choices can be a gift to heal our planet. Give thoughtful gifts: Common Christmas gifts like phones, clothing and fashion accessories are encased in layers of styrofoam and plastic packaging.…

One topic that always comes up when discussing home prepared diets for dogs is: What can’t I feed my dog? As I list the forbidden foods, I have to confess that my Labrador has tried all of these, to no ill effect … so far. So I thought I’d look into this, in no particular order, to find out how bad they really are. Onions and garlic (and all the allium species, including chives and leeks) Garlic is used traditionally to treat cancer, infections, and vascular problems. The main active ingredient is allicin, produced when crushing the clove. The resulting sulphur compounds are responsible for toxic effects seen in dogs. Oxidative damage to red blood cells leads to anaemia, which can be fatal, and I’ve seen a small dog require…

The most common cause of injuries to the extremities, particularly in older people, is tripping over the much-loved family pet. In younger people, sports injuries are more common. A previously fit older woman (75 years old) came to see me who had tripped over the family dog and badly injured her ankle. This had occurred about a week earlier and was exceedingly painful. She had had a history of sprained ankles (inversion sprains) when she was younger and knew the basics of treatment, but this time she had damaged the ligaments on the inside of her ankle (eversion sprain) and a week later she was still in great pain. She was reluctant to go to a doctor as she thought she would end up in a plaster cast and not…

The morning after You live a healthy life. You exercise and you eat wholesome, nourishing food. So why is that after a night without sleep all you want is a muffin or a kebab? By depriving people of sleep researchers have found that the junk-food-after-sleeplessness phenomenon is driven by chemicals known as endocannabinoids (ECs). These ECs cause a disconnect between two parts of the brain that normally chat quite efficiently: the piriform cortex and the insula. The result is that your sense of smell is sharpened and dominates the process of choosing food for your brain. What you go for is more energydense foods, like the chocolate chip muffin with caramel icing that you just happened to have in the pantry. The obvious solution is to get more sleep but…

Tina Spice T: +61 428 780 790 E: spice.tina@googlemail.com W: instagram.com/artra.spice I’ve been doodling since I was able to hold a pencil, thanks to my dad who used to sit and draw with me. Trying to explain shading and perspective to me at such a young age might have been tricky, but something stuck and I’ve been filling sketchbooks ever since. Last year I began playing with fonts and lettering as well as creating images using negative space, which was a new technique for me. Sometimes I turn this process into inspirational quotes. I go through plenty of fine-line pens! Like a photographer has to “get their eye in”, regarding their camera settings and their subject matter, I have to warm up my hand and get comfortable at the right…

Creepy, crawly, tiny and mostly unobtrusive, insects have mostly taken a back seat in the public eye when it comes to threatened species. While the focus of conservation efforts has been on glamorous mammals like snow leopards and polar bears, insects are going extinct eight times faster than their vertebrate cousins. More than 40 per cent of insect species are at risk of annihilation in the coming decades, according to a review of 73 reports on declining insect populations in the journal Biological Conservation. Those most in decline are butterflies, moths, dung beetles and Hymenoptera (the order which includes bees, wasps and ants). Critically endangered aquatic insects include mayflies and dragonflies. The researchers blame intensive agriculture, habitat loss, synthetic pesticides and fertilisers, and to a lesser extent, climate change, pathogens…

Fresh from surfing New South Wales’ Manly beach with former pro surfer Layne Beachley, lunch with former surfing world champion Tom Carroll and talking to 5500 students for a Stand Tall event, Derek Rabelo expressed his affection for Australia, his home for two years. “I miss Australia, the culture, the surfing, the people.” Australia has embraced Rabelo for his unbreakable ambition. You may recall seeing him on a Nutri-Grain box. The world became captivated by the brave blind boy when surfing footage of him went viral in his twenties. “How does he do it?” was the question on everyone’s lips. Surfing is hard enough but blind surfing seems suicidal and impossible. But “impossible” isn’t in Rabelo’s dictionary. “If you can dream it, you can do it,” is Rabelo’s motto as…

Making time for self-care can often feel a little … selfish. As if you don’t deserve that extra hour in bed or you haven’t earned the time to be completely alone for a few hours on the weekend. There are commitments you will always have in life, but when did the commitment to yourself become second to everything else? Finding time for you in this mad modern world and feeling good about it should be a high priority. “Everyone needs to make sure they take care of themselves,” say psychologist, researcher and author Dr Terri Orbuch. “They need to make their own wellbeing and happiness a priority in their life. If you don’t, who will?” The way you feel about yourself will almost always affect the version of you that…

Aries Aries, you are the wild child of the zodiac; the fiery ram leaping to fulfil desires and to address wrongs. Ruled by the warrior energy of Mars, lover Venus is your natural complement. Fortunately, planet Venus brings a gentle nurturing balance to March, boosting appreciation of simple pleasures at your Aries New Moon of March 24. This helps you balance the obsessiveness that a Mars/Pluto meeting could evoke in late March. Venus then facilitates ease and success in all forms of communication, supported by harmonious links with Mars in April, May and July. This special time builds new alliances and renews social connections. Mighty Mars moves through Aries from June 28 until January 2021, due to a rare retro cycle. This means restrain your impatience and hold faith in…

When we hear the word courage, we most commonly visualise scenarios around defending ourselves or others from attack — physical, verbal, emotional or psychological. Yet our personal courage ranges deeper than just fight or flight and, when triggered, can have significant positive benefits for our health and wellbeing, opportunities for success and our ability to move forward from crisis. The concept of courage has been a subject of much discussion for philosophers across millennia and is a source of interest and investigation within a range of research interests, including psychology, sociology, leadership and education. While there is some debate around the mechanisms that make up courage, there is a general agreement that courage involves persistence in the face of danger or hardship and that we draw on courage to affect…

After decades of conflict between farmers and wandering elephants along the Thai-Myanmar border, Thailand’s most beloved former leader — King Bhumibol the Great — conjured up a daring new plan. Throwing a border around the wild lands of the country’s last big herd, he turned those once angry farmers into tour guides and the elephant’s greatest champions. Now they lead Thailand’s single-best wildlife safari, and the beasts that once trampled their farmlands have become their livelihood. Today, Kui Buri National Park protects a rare patch of green — one of the largest sweeps of intact forest in all of southeast Asia — and is home to an elephant population of 320 and rising. This is easily the most reliable place in Thailand to encounter wild elephants, and despite the park’s…

Did you know that not every natural medicine practitioner is accredited? This means you could be paying for a practitioner that doesn’t maintain professional and ongoing training or adhere to an association’s code of conduct. Australia has a flourishing and growing natural medicine industry, with 8.1 million people regularly using complementary medicines. Natural medicine practitioners work with their client’s health from a holistic (whole body) approach and can help manage and provide support for a wide range of issues. Many clients with chronic illnesses find natural medicines invaluable in supporting and maintaining their health. As demand increases for the industry, so does the amount of choice for your health and wellbeing; and there is an abundance of professional practitioners qualified in nutrition, herbal medicine, naturopathy, remedial massage, acupuncture, homeopathy and…

I coined the phrase “low-tox” rather than “no-/free-/quit-/non-tox” to create a blueprint for those wanting to make better choices but not enter into a militant, purist world of non-existent perfection. Low-tox offers space to grow and improve, along with acceptance, nonjudgement and support. These qualities are what I believe help us create lasting change. So, given this is the final issue of WellBeing for the year and a whole bunch of us are well into the festive season, I thought I’d share a few of my top tips for a smooth sailing low-tox and, by default, low-waste festive season. It’s important to keep this in mind throughout the season: if you’ve done your best then for goodness sake, let go of what you can’t control. Don’t go resenting great auntie…

It is increasingly possible to invest your money in line with your ethics and values. There are ethical superannuation funds, ethical or green/sustainable options within many superannuation funds, there are products that you can invest in that have ethical or environmental alignments, and there are ethical fund managers that can help you develop bespoke investment strategies. You’re not alone if you’re curious about ethical superannuation. Consumers are putting their money into investments that align with their personal values, but they also have questions. The Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) recently put out its annual benchmark report looking at the state of responsible investment in Australia (they use the blanket term of responsible investment to cover a range of activities relating to managing environmental, social and corporate governance issues and their…

Capricorn This month doors open courtesy of Jupiter, now part of the Capricorn gang of five planets. Meanwhile, fateful extras come as the eclipses of your Dec 26 New Moon and Jan 11 Full Moon. These promise to reveal secrets. Jan 11 to 15 hosts the once-in-36-years alignment of Saturn and Pluto, which is energised by Sun and Mercury aligning as well. A Waxing Moon from Feb 2 to 9 is the perfect follow up, adding emotional sustenance that prepares you for another breakthrough in late Feb. Pisces Jan is a busy month for you. High spots are Jan 7 to 11’s Full Moon, also a Lunar Eclipse. When Lover Venus enters Pisces on Jan 14, there is a lucky star guiding you through to the 25th. On Jan 27…