A minor scare about eye health this summer: my optician thought she’d spotted a micro-aneurysm in my right eye. I have eye scans using optomap wide-angle camera imaging every four years because decades of staring at small screens in my TV career, plus long hours on the computer to coach and write now, have not…
WALKING, APPETITE, PURPOSE AND A WEBINAR
It’s a week to the publication of my new book on walking in nature. To celebrate, my next few posts will be on some of the astonishing (and often little-known) benefits of walking. We hope you’ll also join our free book launch webinar – details below. May and June are our favourite months for moving…
MYSTERIOUS REASONS FOR WORKING OUR MUSCLES
A doctor friend recently messaged me to check I was still doing the odd plank or lifting the occasional weight. I confessed that I’d missed a few days in the aftermath of my father’s death. But explained that I’d also felt a strange compulsion to do bicep curls as I grieved. Lifting weights, I added,…
WHY WRITING BY HAND IS GOOD FOR YOUR BRAIN, A PRIZE DRAW TO SPUR YOU ON, AND SIMPLE STUFFED PEPPERS
Has anyone else noticed the surging number of people writing in public? In London, where I walk beside the River Thames every day, I’ve become increasingly aware of people sitting on benches, writing. Not playing with their phones or ipads, but writing by hand in note books and on paper. I began lamenting the loss…
WHY WE NEED MORE LUTEIN: GREEN BUTTERBEAN SOUP
To lose one’s sight as one gets older seems terribly cruel. Can you imagine not being able to enjoy a painting? Or missing the splendour of February’s first crocuses? Or not being able to see your first grandchild? But there’s good news: researchers now think many cases of age-related macular degeneration (AMD, better known as…
WHY STRESS MATTERS – FREEKEH WITH ARTICHOKES
It’s been a stressful time in British politics. Our political elite appear to have disintegrated in the space of a week. As I’ve watched Tony Blair, David Cameron, Barack Obama and a host of other politicians on screen, I‘ve distracted myself with close scrutiny of their appearance. And I’ve been struck by how quickly they’ve…
ROSEMARY FOR REMEMBRANCE: WHITE BEANS WITH MUSHROOMS
My short-term memory has been appalling during the last few weeks. I like to think it’s because I’ve run out of green tea and been too busy to replace it. But I suspect it’s the busy-ness that’s caused the problem. At a recent party I was barely able to have a fully-functioning conversation and spent…
IMPROVE YOUR EYESIGHT – EAT MORE FREEKEH!
Have you noticed your eyesight isn’t what it used to be? Irritating isn’t it? Frightening even. Following the horrific crash of the Germanwings plane in the Alps two weeks ago, it turned out the 27-year old co-pilot responsible was suffering serious sight problems and had already lost 30 percent of his vision – possibly a…
WHY COFFEE IS YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND – COFFEE & CHOCOLATE BRAINIES
Coffee. To drink or not to drink? That is the question. 2015 kicked off with another spate of headlines on the benefits of coffee. Once demonised, coffee is increasingly proving to be the good guy when it comes to healthy ageing. Yes, one more of those irritating u-turns that makes us want to give up…
THE POWER OF VITAMIN D – HEALTHY CHRISTMAS CANAPES
With the darkest day almost upon us, it seems fitting to end the year with a few words on the sunshine vitamin – Vitamin D. A slew of new research has linked Vitamin D deficiency to obesity, dementia, prostate and colorectal cancers, fertility, multiple sclerosis, asthma, heart disease, high blood pressure, poor immunity, SAD, schizophrenia…
