Below you will find a selection of the most recent entries from bloggers in our Family/Health section. To view the entries from individual bloggers, click on the links below:
- Lee Eldrige
The Athlete Tribe
- Dr. Michelle Wright
Dr Michelle Wright is a British-trained General Practitioner and Director of HealthFirst, providing physical First Aid training and Mental Health First Aid training, as well as Health Education, throughout Switzerland (www.healthfirst.ch). She also has a regular radio show about health on World Radio Switzerland. Believing that prevention is better than cure and that we should be treating the root cause of illness, Dr Michelle is also a Lifestyle Medicine enthusiast. - Birgit Suess is a Swiss-American who grew up between the US and Switzerland and speaks English, German and Swiss-German. Because of a worldwide shortage of Speech Therapists, she uses technology to connect special needs students around the world with English speaking Speech Therapists. With almost 20 years of experience as a Speech Therapist and 10 years experience with Teletherapy, she is a pioneer in the Teletherapy world. Her personal specialty is working on social language with high functioning children on the Autism Spectrum. Her passion is finding new and innovative ways to help children with special needs.
- Dr. Irina Schurov is a Nutritional Neuroscientist with a PhD from Cambridge University (UK) and over 20 years’ experience in science and health-providing services. She created and founded LiveRight, an initiative to help others through nutrition and wellbeing strategies. By building an educational platform around healthy eating habits, by restoring the relationships between people and food, by supporting your individual circumstances and through personalized coaching in nutrition, she wants to help you and your family achieve the optimal balance between help and life.
- Dr. Penny Fraser
Dr Penny is a British-trained Emergency Medicine doctor, who lives in Geneva. She is also the mother of two busy little skiers aged 7 and 8. Along with Dr Michelle Wright and her other colleagues at HealthFirst, she has a passion for delivering health education and First Aid training to the English-speaking community in Switzerland
By Dr. Irina Schurov, LiveRight
BBQ season has started and, for the next 3 months. we are going to be enjoying this glorious method of outdoor cooking in the company of our friends and family. Sounds wonderful!
However, I would like to remind you that BBQ food, while delicious, has its own “dark” side. Luckily, by being conscious of it, we are able to minimise any harmful impacts and really enjoy the otherwise very healthy BBQ!
So, what exactly do we need to know?
Research clearly shows that cooking meat over a flame at high temperatures can cause certain carcinogens to form. For example, AGEs (advanced glycation end-products), PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and HCA (heterocyclic amine) are all products that can cause oxidative stress, inflammation, damage to DNA and can, therefore, potentially lead to cancer. You may think this very insignificant and irrelevant to you. However, one specialised study has demonstrated that people who consume grilled, barbecued and fried meat regularly have 60% more chance to develop pancreatic cancer. The harmful chemicals produced when fat drips onto the hot coals, cause chemical reactions and toxic smoke which then contaminate the food and, through inhalation, affect our lungs.
By Hiba Samawi, Wiser Humans
As a Psychologist working mostly with 35-45 year olds and being myself in this age group, I have noticed a paradox that seems to illustrate this life stage:
There is time and there is also not a lot of time.
We are no longer at the beginning of adulthood nor are we at the end of it. With this comes a particular pressure: Dreams still feel possible but may not be possible forever. There is still so much we can and want to achieve, to do, to experience - and yet possibilities may no longer seem limitless like they did in our 20’s.
And even if we are quite happy with our life as it is right now, some choices suddenly start having a ‘now or never’ feel to them.
Many choices at this time are more choices about a potential future than they are about what we want right now.
We may wonder: Is it too late? Too late to change career, to leave this relationship, to have children, to start anew in some way?
We ask ourselves questions like:
Do I want children?
How can I act responsibly for my future health?
Should I start thinking of saving for retirement?
If I don’t change careers now, will it be too late in a few years?
By Dr. Irina Schurov, LiveRight
It may only be May, but the weather already feels like summer! Recently we have been blessed with beautiful sunshine and all of nature is responding with an abundance of blossom, colour and aroma! Many people are enjoying being outside meaning, of course, that the time has come to start thinking about protecting ourselves, and our loved ones, from the active sun by applying a variety of sunscreens. We think we are shielding ourselves and are doing the best for our children when we cover skin with a thick layer of sun cream. However, in truth, this isn’t quite the case. I am afraid I have to disappoint you and tell you that, actually, sunscreen is absorbed into the blood within the first few seconds of application. This makes it a huge contributor to general toxicity in the body.
First of all, sunblocks contain toxic ingredients that are endocrine disrupters, which cause many health issues including cancer, hormonal imbalances, neurological issues and behavioural problems in children. For example, many sunscreens contain the ingredient Oxybenzone, a commonly known hormone disruptor that is not recommended for use on children. It has been demonstrated that Oxybenzone has an estrogenic effect and can, therefore, promote the growth of cells, thus causing cancer.
Another harmful impact of Oxybenzone is that, by blocking all vitamin D, a vital contributor to hormone formation in the body, it causes even further endocrine disruption.
By Dr. Irina Schurov, LiveRight
The end of March and the beginning of spring have finally arrived! Nature has begun to wake up and every day new flowers, more green grass and blossoming buds on trees appear.
Now is the time for a Spring clean in the house, garden and, of course, in the body. Some people associate this with a strict diet or a liver flush. For others, who follow religious traditions and are currently fasting, this “clean” is already happening, as fasting is a very effective traditional detox programme. However, it is important to realise that detoxification processes can cause huge stress to the body and it is advisable to undergo them gently, applying a very personalised approach. Only people in very good health can go through a robust detoxification protocol, others need to be very careful! Because of the amount of toxicity and stress we experience in our lives, our body’s detoxification system is always working hard. We have a complex elimination system that is responsible for removing waste from the body. This internal system includes the kidneys, liver, lungs, skin and the gastrointestinal tract. If you have issues with any of these organs it means the detoxification process cannot be very effective! For example, if you suffer from constipation, you cannot eliminate toxins effectively, therefore, any detoxification protocol you may introduce will elevate the problems in your body even more, as it will cause the concentrated toxins in your gut to accumulate and will redistribute the toxicity in your body, potentially causing many health issues.
By Hiba Samawi, Wiser Humans
“Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow.” - Carrie Fisher
Does this sound familiar?
I’m going to do it. I’m just waiting to feel confident.
I really want to do it - I just don’t have the confidence.
Confidence.
We love confidence.
We see it as a magical power that shows up and allows us to feel so pumped up about ourselves that we can suddenly do something - do anything, really.
We see confidence as getting rid of self-doubt, as erasing anxiety. As finally, finally allowing us to feel OK about ourselves.
Umm…I don’t know about you, but I have never actually experienced this sort of chest-thumping confidence.
