An alternative way to do simple mindfulness (Part 1)
Most mindfulness techniques have at their heart a simple instruction.
Focus on your breath…
This is supposed to be simple, but what if it isn’t simple for you? What then? For people struggling with anxiety it may increase the feelings of panic.
Mindfulness involves placing our attention on a chosen anchor, noticing when our mind is distracted or wandering and choosing to return it back, with a king and friendly curiosity towards the experience. You should start simple by focusing 1 – 5 minutes or even do short 30 second bursts a couple of times during the day. So, I want to introduce you to a few alternatives to using breathing as the anchor focused around our senses.
1. Look & Focus
Choose an everyday object in the room to look at and become aware of the colour, shape or light reflections. I personally like looking at a light candle as its often flickers so there is movement too.
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There is an old wives saying, feed a cold and starve a fever, but what does the latest science say? Although eating less when we are ill can sometimes help us to recover faster. The loss of appetite when we have an infection is a biological "trick" that simply allows bacteria to spread. Eating nutritious food when we have an infection can reduce its severity and recover time say researchers. Researchers have tracked the health of laboratory mice infected with the Salmonella bacteria and found that natural loss of appetite helped the bacteria spread from the intestines to other tissues. By comparison, mice fed extra calories lived longer. This discovery could lead to new ways to tackle bacterial infections that don't rely on antibiotics. Reference Rao, Shelia et al, 2017, Pathogen-Mediated Inhibition of Anorexia Promotes Host Survival and Transmission, Cell, Volume 168, Issue 3, 503 - 516

Bowel health checklist
The basis of our health and wellbeing is our guts ability to digest what we eat and absorb all the nutrients. However it is common for people to have digestive issues such as gas, bloating, food intolerances and IBS. Given the guts importance to wellbeing, I would like to focus on digestion and guts in the next few articles which will include tips for healthy stomachs, large intestine and small intestine. Lets start with talking about bowels. Your bowel movements reflect both your lifestyle and gut health. So how should you judge your bowel movements:
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- Stools should come out easily, smoothly and all in one piece.
- Stools should be 10 - 15 cm long, medium brown in colur and shouldn't be smelly, stick to the lavoratory bowl or float.
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- Any changes to your normal pattern should be reported to your doctor.

How do you look after your bones if you are dairy free?
We all know our bones need calcium and normally we get this from diary. But more and more people are going dairy free for a variety of reasons including following specific diets. The UK's National Osteoporosis Society surveyed 2,000 adults found that one in five of those aged between 18 - 25 had cut diary from their diets. As a result they could be putting their bone health at risk and could end up with osteoporosis in older age, the society has warned. But diary isn't necessary for achieving bone health, says Viva the animal rights group. Instead,
- weight bearing exercise such as walking
- climbing stairs
- dancing
- dark green leafy vegatables
- broccoli
- kale
- spring greens
- cabbage
- pak choi
- dried fruits
- nuts
- seeds
- pulses

