health

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Review: So You Want to Live Younger Longer? – Dr Norman Swan

So You Want to Live Younger Longer?

Dr Norman Swan

Hachette Australia

ISBN: 9780733648342

RRP $34.99

Description:

The ultimate guide on what you can do at any age to stay young and healthy longer, from Australia’s trusted, straight-talking doctor and broadcaster, Dr Norman Swan, bestselling author of So You Think You Know What’s Good for You?

Many of us dream of staying as young as possible as long as possible whether we’re in our 30s, 40s, 70s or even 80s, and there’s a growing Conga line of products and people offering you just that dream. The dilemma is, which of the pills, mental and physical exercise programs, diets and superfoods actually work? Some of them do help to keep us young, healthy and living longer, others may work when the researchers get the potions right and some are a downright waste of money. So how do you know what and who to trust? That’s the journey that Dr Norman Swan is going to take you on in So You Want to Live Younger Longer?

Deeply researched and written with his trademark wit, common sense and accessibility, Norman brings together what’s known, not known, hopeful but not harmful and harmful and not hopeful, summarised with quick takeaway messages backed up by the science and evidence. No matter what your age, So You Want to Live Younger Longer? gives you the information you need to make your own choices without wasting your time and money or even missing a nice dinner because you might be on a diet that is getting you nowhere.

Norman disentangles our ‘Book of Life’ – the genes we’re born with and what we subject them to later on – and shows that in the search for youth, genes matter much less than you’d think for most of us. In other words, we can overwrite our personal Book of Life and Norman’s book will help you do it.

We can live younger, longer – at any age – we’ve just got to know what to do.

My View:

An excellent, informative, well written, engaging read. So much science based, researched information presented with wit and humour. This is an author I would love to hear speak in person…his ability to connect with the reader/the room is amazing.

A great read.

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Review: Our Members Be Unlimited – Sam Wallman

Our Members be Unlimited

A Comic About Workers and Their Unions

Sam Wallman

Scribe Publications

ISBN: 9781925713053

Description:

An original and visually powerful exploration of unionism.

In our current political climate, people are looking for answers — and alternatives. The promise of unions is that their ‘members be unlimited’: that they don’t belong to the rich, the powerful, or special interests, but to all workers.

How did the idea of unionism arise? Where has it flourished? And what are its challenges in the 21st century? From Britain to Bangladesh, from the first union of the 18th century to today, from solidarity in Walmart China to his own experiences in an Amazon warehouse in Melbourne, comics journalist Sam Wallman explores the urge to come together and cooperate that arises again and again in workers and workplaces everywhere.

With a dynamic and distinctive art style, and writing that’s both thoughtful and down to earth, Our Members Be Unlimited serves as an entry point for young people or those new to these notions of collective action, but also as an invigorating read to those already engaged in the struggle for better working conditions — and a better world.

My View:
This book is so relevant! I hope you get a chance to read this; it is well written, the illustrations are excellent and really help to get the messages across. There is so much detail here…I can appreciate all the work that went into creating this epic, illustrated, narrative.

This book reminds us (workers worldwide) of the progress made in ensuring better pay and conditions over the years and yet illuminates that there are still much more we can aspire to change if we unite. The Amazon case cited here has surprised and disappointed me, I thought “we” were better than this, better than the practices here.

This narrative is honest – unions are made up of people and people are not always perfect, but the majority are working towards a common goal – of making work conditions fair, safe and beneficial to all involved, making “work” equitable and “seen” and hopefully at some point “work need not necessarily be awful.” Collective action rules the world.

This is a great read!

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Review: Change Your Thinking to Change Your Life – Kate James

Change Your Thinking to Change Your Life

Kate James

Pan Macmillan Australia

ISBN: 9781760787738

RRP $32.99

 

Description:

Many of us experience feelings of being stuck in the wrong life and disconnected from our true selves.

Australian mindfulness expert and bestselling author Kate James has coached thousands of clients in similar situations.

Now, Kate introduces us to a range of techniques, based on her knowledge of mindfulness, positive psychology, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), creativity and neuropsychology, that will help us clarify our goals, realise our purpose and connect more fully with the wonder of life.

Change Your Thinking to Change Your Life will help you to:

– get to know yourself well

– overcome the thoughts and beliefs that inhibit inner peace and limit you in your life choices

– find your way to your version of a fulfilling life.

This is the perfect companion for negotiating transformation in an unsettled age.

Praise for Change Your Thinking to Change Your Life

‘Kate James is such an honest, warm and generous teacher. Read this book and you’ll be learning from one of the very best.’ Clare Bowditch

‘Kate’s writing is immensely practical. Rich with compassion and insight from her many years as a therapist, her books always offer life-enhancing tools that may be applied right away. Transformational wisdom at its best!’ David Michie, author of Hurry Up and Meditate.

 

My View:

This is a book that you will read piece by piece, or all the way through or just some of it depending on your individual life journey and how well you know yourself already.  And you will read it again and then read it some more.

 

A highlight for me – Chapter Eighteen – Boost Your optimism – is one we can all easily follow.  The exercises (which actually just read as common sense), give everyday easy to actualise, guidance on practicing gratitude to balance the negative bias of the brain. “The remedy is not to supress negative experiences; when they happen, they happen.  Rather, it is to foster positive experiences – and in particular, to take them in so they became a permanent part of you.” (p166 Buddhas’ Brain, Rick Hanson). Well said. Practice makes change.

 

This guide – and yes, it is a guide – is full of helpful exercises, written in accessible, positive language. This is a book that I will keep by my bed and pick up and read, often, over and over. I have highlighted so many paragraphs in this book that I want to return to later.

 

PS I love the cover art.

 

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Review: There’s a Zoo In my Poo – Professor Felice Jacka and Rob Craw

There’s a Zoo In my Poo

Professor Felice Jacka and Rob Craw,  

Macmillan Australia

ISBN: 9781760783044

 

Description:

 

There’s a Zoo in your Poo!

It needs a Zookeeper

And that Keeper is YOU!

 

Did you know that trillions of tiny bugs live in and on all of us? And there’s a Zoo of bugs in our poo. But which are the good bugs and which are the bad? What should we eat to keep our good bugs happy and our body strong?

 

Get to the guts of what you need to know about you and your poo.

 

Professor Felice Jacka is a world expert in the field of Nutritional Psychiatry and gut health. Teacher and musician Rob Craw is a world expert at drawing bugs!

 

They want kids to know all about the amazing stuff going on in their bodies.

 

Get ready for a journey inside the most exciting of places … YOU!

 

 

My View:

Brilliant!

 

This book is the new #1 on my 4-year-old grandson’s reading list.  We have read over and over and over. He even took it in the car with him, to read on a short holiday.  He loves this book and I must say I agree with his view. It is brilliant! It is the perfect book to start a dialogue with your pre-schooler about gut health, healthy food choices, digestion etc.

 

This book is packed with easily transferable knowledge – one page reads “factorially” – with information that a parent/guardian or teacher will find useful, the opposite page is filled with images and fun facts that are attention grabbing and keep your pre schooler entertained. And the best page of all? The poo chart 😊  ( https://continence.org.au/bristol-stool-chart )  What is it with pre-schoolers and poo? Yes my grandson joyfully shares with us the number on the chart that matches his poo. Too much information you may ask? Well, a little gross but not really; he is at a great age to start healthy lifestyle conversations😊 and this book does a fabulous job of starting these conversations.

 

This book is a must have resource for every school and library.

 

 

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Review: Heal – Pete Evans

101 Simple Ways to Improve Your Health in a Modern World

Pete Evans

Pan Macmillan Australia

Plum

ISBN: 9781760782627

 

Description:

So many of us are looking for practical changes we can make to nourish our body, be more active and find meaningful connection – ways to be stronger, happier and healthier, in a fast-paced world.

 

Pete begins with what he knows best – food – and offers suggestions on how to eat and drink in ways that will support your wellbeing. Next, he explores different ways to move and play that are known to positively influence physical and mental health. There are ideas on how to relax your body and mind, including massage and meditation, as well as the best strategies for restorative sleep. Finally, Pete explores activities that promote creativity, self-awareness and connection with other people, which are all essential to emotional wellbeing.

 

With ideas to inspire everyone to make a change in their lives – no matter how big or small – Heal will help you to find the path to your healthiest self.

 

 

My View:

This is Pete Evan being the best person he can be and sharing with you how he does this.

I loved the soft bound cover, the gloriously peaceful images (in fact all the photography here is outstanding) and the joy reading this creates.  This book is full of positive vibes, uplifting.

 

 

Heal – Peter Evan

 Photograph courtesy Ant Ong.

 

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Post Script: Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Fit Food – Mouth Watering Recipes to Fuel You For Life.

Ultimate Fit Food

Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Fit Food:

Mouth-watering recipes to fuel you for life

Gordon Ramsay

Hachette Australia

Hodder and Stoughton

ISBN: 9781473652279

 

Description:

The definitive cookbook for eating well to achieve optimum health and fitness, by one of the world’s finest chefs and fitness fanatic, Gordon Ramsay.

The dream combination – a Michelin-starred super chef who is also a committed athlete. Gordon knows how important it is to eat well, whether you’re training for a triathlon or just leading a busy active life. And just because it’s healthy food you don’t have to compromise on taste and flavour.

The book is divided into three sections, each one offering breakfasts, lunches, suppers, sides and snacks with different health-boosting benefits. The Healthy section consists of nourishing recipes for general wellbeing; the Lean recipes encourage healthy weight loss; and the Fit section features pre- and post-workout dishes to build strength and energise.

This is the ultimate collection of recipes that you’ll enjoy cooking and eating, and will leave you in great shape whatever your fitness goals.

 

My View:

In the words of Gordon Ramsay (p13) …this is not a diet book telling you what (and what not) to eat, nor is it full of faddy ideas about eating cabbage soup or living off grapefruits or eating like a caveman. It works on the very simple premise that what you put into your body makes a difference to how it functions.  It also acknowledges that the body has different requirements depending on what you are expecting it to do.”  Greta advice from an award winning chef turned ultramarathon runner, Gordon Ramsay.

 

Tasty recipes, I particularly like the section on “Nourishing breakfasts” which includes chia puddings, apple spiced porridge, toasted oat soda bread, frittata…and the “Boosting breakfasts” which include breakfasts shakes, frozen berry breakfast bowls, huevos rancheros ( a favourite of mine).  These are easy to make, quick, fresh and delicious.

 

I am sure there is something that will appeal to all tastes and needs in this book.

 

 

 

 

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My Recommendations For Best Cook Books of 2017

My recommendations for cook books to have in your kitchen library provide useful, practical, achievable recipes that the home cook can easily manage . For example, over Christmas I was wanting to make some mini carrot cakes/muffins, who did I turn to? Julie Goodwin’s Essential Cookbook – it really does cover most things that the home cook might want to bake (this would make an excellent house warming gift or engagement gift).

 

Poh Ling Yeow’s Poh Bakes 100 Greats took me on a trip down memory lane (and introduced me to some new exciting recipes) ;  Bienenstich(Bee Sting Cake), Digestive Biscuits, Coconut Ice, Basic Nut Praline, Brioche Buns, Brownies, Nut Bars, Coffee Eclairs, Turkish Delight… recipes that will have you racing to the kitchen to bake.

Poh Bakes_CVR

 

Maggie’s Recipes for Life is a book that has recently been released and will garner a lot of attention. Co written with Professor Ralph Martins this book combines health science and nutrition with Maggie’s palate pleasing recipes. Watch out for this one and add to your shelf when you can.

Maggie's Recipe For Life

And lastly a book that helps you master the elements of cooking; Salt, Fat, Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat (the how to of cooking ingredients that will give you confidence to trust your instincts in the kitchen). This book is a must have.

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Post Script: Spice Health Heroes – Natasha MacAller

spice-health-heroes

Spice Health Heroes

Natasha MacAller

Murdoch Books

Jacqui Small

ISBN: 9781910254776

 

Description:

Spice Health Heroes examines the culinary, nutritional and medical applications of the everyday and more exotic spices found in your pantry

 

Spices are celebrated the world over for the depth of flavour that they bring to the dishes to which they are added. The alchemy of roasting and blending the perfect spice mix is a careful balance of sweet, sour, bitter and spicy that can elevate a dish to something truly special. But beyond their remarkable taste, many spices have huge benefits to health and nutrition that are only now beginning to be recognized in the Western world.

 

This beautiful cook book includes a detailed study of the history, myths and traditional uses of spices. Spice Health Heroes examines the culinary, nutritional and medical applications of the everyday and more exotic spices found in your pantry. Medical and nutritional claims are backed by contributions from an impressive team of international medical professionals and institutions.

 

With more than 80 recipes, including contributions from some 20 internationally renowned chefs from around the world, such as Yotam Ottolenghi, Peter Gordon, Christine Manfield and April Bloomfield, Spice Health Heroes takes you on a journey through the spice cabinet and will inspire you to add a fragrant spice to every meal.

 

 

Author bio:

If cooking is an art and baking is a science, NATASHA MACALLER is a pastry chef who flawlessly dances in both worlds. A former professional ballerina, Natasha, who is known as the ‘Dancing Chef’, brings the same diligence and precision to the kitchen as she did to dancing. Many people think that dancing and cooking are worlds apart, but to Natasha, both are performance arts, creative disciplines that demand dedication and hours of painstaking practice.

 

She challenges herself constantly, and delights in creating new cooking or taste sensations and designing ‘First and Last’ dishes and retro cocktails. Tash divides her time between Los Angeles, London and New Zealand, teaching cookery, restaurant consulting and writing. She teaches her elegant comfort style of starters, desserts and drinks in the U.S. and abroad, including at Haagen-Dazs International, Leiths Cooking School in London and The Culinary Institute of New Zealand in Kerikeri, and is also currently collaborating with Chef Anne Conness’ new restaurant Stausal, serving Nuevo Rancho Cuisine in El Segundo, L.A., which opened in September 2015.

 

Natasha’s first cookbook, Vanilla Table: The Essence of Exquisite Cooking from the World’s Best Chefs (Jacqui Small, UK) was published in 2015, with the help of 33 international chefs who each contributed their own dazzling recipe to this landmark cookbook. Spice Health Heroes is her second book and, like the first, is beautifully photographed by Manja Wachsmuth.

 

Natasha is a member of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs (WCR), Les Dames D’Escoffier (LEDI), International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) and New Zealand Chefs Association.

 

 

My View:

This book is visually stunning with recipes contributed by a selection of extraordinarily talented and  renowned chefs. This collection is both palate and health pleasing and with so much to offer this recipe/health book has secured a place in my kitchen library.

 

The book is divided into sections determined by the properties of the spices:

  • Immune
  • Cleansing
  • Energy spice
  • Warming spice
  • Restorative Spice
  • Calming Spice

 

Check out this very special book – there are many simple and delicious ways to add spice to your life!

 

 

 

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Post Script: The 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet – Dr Michael Mosley

The 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet

The 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet

Dr Michael Mosley

Simon & Schuster Australia

ISBN: 9781925368413

 

Description:

Dr Michael Mosley, author of the bestselling 5:2 Fast Diet, reveals a game-changing approach to one of the greatest silent epidemics of our time – raised blood sugar levels.

 

The food we eat today, high in sugar and easily digestible carbohydrates, is not only making us fat, but is putting us at risk of type 2 diabetes, strokes, dementia, cancer and a lifetime on medication. More than a third of adults in the UK now have raised blood sugar levels and most don’t know it.

 

In this timely book, Dr Mosley explains why we pile on dangerous abdominal fat and shows us how to shed it, fast. He demolishes common myths, such as the claim that steady weight loss is always better than rapid weight loss and that those who lose weight rapidly will inevitably put it back on.

 

This is a book not just for those at highest risk but for anyone who has struggled with their weight and wants to regain control of their health.

 

‘I feel amazing. I have been given another chance at life.’ –Cassie, 28 — lost 20kg

 

Average weight loss: 14kg in 8 weeks.

Includes a detailed 8-week programme with menu plans.

 

 

My View:

It is not secret I am a big fan of Dr Michael Mosley – I love listening to him (he has a great voice) and I am intrigued by the lengths he goes to  test a hypothesis – he uses his own body to conduct scientific experiments on and shares with the reader/viewer the process and the results.  His advice is simple, easy to understand and based on science and medical knowledge (he s a qualified GP come film maker).

 

Before I started reading this book I came across a video “How to Stay Healthy, What the Latest Science Tells Us by Dr Michael Mosley at the All About Women Conference 2016. You can watch it here:  http://ow.ly/Z8BNN   I was inspired to read the book afterwards.

 

In this book Dr Mosley looks at the epidemic of Type 2 Diabetes that has recently engulfed the world. Look around at your own family, friends and colleagues and tally up how many people you know that are at risk of or have already been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I don’t have to look very far to find a few who have already been diagnosed in my immediate family.

 

The book is informative and provides sections on:  The Science – the why this disease is flourishing and ways to solve it. The Diet – talks about the core principles of the Blood Sugar Diet and is followed up with a Recipes and Menu Plan. This is a compact, easy to read, motivating read that will change your life. And if you listen carefully you will hear Dr Michael Mosley narrating the video playing in your head as you read – perfect!

 

 

 

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Post Script – Super Charged Food For Kids – Lee Holmes

SuperchargedFoodForKids_cvrSupercharged Food For Kids
Lee Homes
Murdoch Books
Allen & Unwin Australia
ISBN: 9781743367216

Description:
“Getting kids to eat food that is good for them doesn’t have to be the Mount Everest of parenthood.”
Supercharged Food For Kids will inspire you to create fresh, wholesome and nutrient rich meals that your children will enjoy again and again, giving them the energy and nourishment they need to thrive.
With advice on how to avoid added sugar and processed foods, eating for allergies and intolerances, tips for busy families and even the lowdown on how to sneak super-foods into everyday meals, this book is full of resources to help establish positive eating habits for your kids that they can maintain for the rest of their lives.
**This book is designed to provide general dietary information only for children between the ages of six and twelve. For specific advice on your child’s healthy or die try and nutritional needs, please contact your GP. (p.6)
My View:
This book has lots of good ideas on how to present and make at home, foods that your children will enjoy and that are good for them; there are recipes for school lunch boxes, snacks, breakfasts, and plenty of dinner ideas. Each recipe is noted if it is wheat free (WF), dairy free (DF), gluten free (GF), sugar free (SF), vegetarian (VG) or nut free (NF). For example the recipe for Almond and Apple Pancakes – made with almond meal and sweetened with grated apple is Gluten Free and Wheat Free – the batter can be made in the food processor and the batter will keep, in the fridge, for three days. This recipe is quick and easy to make and a delicious way to start the day.
The recipe for Gluten Free Muesli is also WF, DF and VG – adults will love this one too. Chia and Coconut Pancakes are a great way of adding omega-3s, protein and fibre into your child’s diet. I love recipes that include chia – it is an amazing super-food. There are recipes for muffins, muesli bars, dips, soups and salads, desserts and more. I think I might steal the Chicken Balls with Sweet Potato Mash (WF, SF, GF and, NF) for our dinner one night!
And there is a very useful section on “getting started” which includes a list of common additives on food labels to help you interpret the numbers on labels. Very useful! This is a great resource for families or grandparents or carers.