Podcast episode #5

By Guy Lawrence

With Smart DNA testing you can discover your genetic road map that will benefit you for the rest of your life.

In this episode of The Health Sessions I chat with molecular geneticist Margie Smith of Smart DNA (smart being an understatement!).  Sounds technical I know, but Margie simplifies it into an easy to understand way of how we can look at our gene expression for a more personalised approach to better health.

Download or subscribe to us on iTunes here.

I’m getting my Smart DNA testing done through Naturopath Tania Flack.  Continue reading →

By Guy Lawrence

‘For all but the last few hundred years (a heartbeat on the genetic evolution time scale), really sweet foods have been difficult to find.’ – David Gillespie

Sugar… It’s a delicate topic. Unless you’ve been living in a cave lately, you will know that sugar has been copping a lot of flack from the media over recent times (and rightly so I feel). But even with all this media attention, it still washes over many people’s heads and gets thrown into the all too hard basket, with my mate included.

I’ve been guiding my mate now for quite some time with the misconceptions of weight loss and his health kick. He felt that eating fruit salad would help his weight loss plan, counting calories and drinking diet sodas was a healthy choice, following the food pyramid was  beneficial and hours and hours of running a week was going to improve his health. Then I challenged him and his way of thinking and asked him to reconsider his approach, and thankfully he has so far.

We caught up for a cuppa and a chat recently, and as he puts a great big spoonful of honey in his tea, he looks at me and says “this is ok isn’t it? I mean, it’s natural right?”

He then tells me he’s stirring lots of agave syrup into his porridge in the morning too. O’ dear… Continue reading →

By Guy Lawrence

          “Health is a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living.” -
… Health Promotion

My mate was faced with something that he felt was a serious problem, his job demanded lot’s of hours, blood, sweat and tears on a weekly basis. He loved his job but his health was beginning to suffer. He’d been at it for four years and whenever he fitted exercise into his routine it became too much and simply exhausted him.

When we met up one evening, he told me that he had a 6.30am spin class that morning with a jog lined up for the following night. He also looked like he was going to have to crawl home like a lizard as he was that tired! I did feel for him.

After discussing the food pyramid at length and coming to the conclusion it sucked, I really felt we’d need to look at his exercise regime too.

I asked him why he was exercising?

After a bit of a dumbfounded look he said he wanted to be fitter, leaner, toned and healthier. He was feeling like a slug with no backbone when he sat in his office chair and he desperately wanted it to change.

From where I was sitting, his road to greater health wasn’t looking pretty. All I could see for him was fatigue, burnout, frustration, possible injury and an attitude that said ‘screw you’ to exercise with a million justifications on why he can’t do it anymore.

Do you like the idea of exercising less & becoming a lean mean health machine in the process?

He did… Continue reading →

By Guy Lawrence

“…an 8 oz /230g serving of hamburger daily, is technically permitted under the pyramid.” - Harvard nutritionist Dr. Walter Willett

Have you ever had one of those moments… Someone asks you a question which seems to be really simple, yet you know if you answer it, it opens up for a 100 more questions?

After explaining to my friend about my feelings on why counting calories doesn’t work (you can read my thoughts on calorie counting here), I think he was having a little bit of a paradigm shift regarding his health, nutrition and weight loss. I had just created a monster and I knew more questions would come flying at me!

The penny had dropped and all was not as it seemed in the world of weight loss and marketing. He began to understand that nutrient dense food was of the upmost importance when it came to weight loss, not counting calories. He also began to realise that most of his daily diet consisted of food that was not nutrient dense. It was loaded with refined grains, white flour and starch like breads, pastas, rice etc.

So here came the next question… What about the food pyramid? He was actually eating in no greater quantity than what is recommended by the somewhat vague prescription advocated by the food pyramid. Yet he wasn’t losing weight.

This was my answer to why I thought the food pyramid sucked. Here’s why… Continue reading →

By 180 Nutrition

It still amazes me how often I get asked about diet shakes. If only it was that simple. Take a couple of diet shakes daily and wholla! Seriously, stay away from them. If you are concerned about your health as much as your weight, then eating nutrient dense food that keeps your blood sugar levels steady will do the trick. Continue reading →

Ask anybody what is that one thing which they wouldn’t want to be friends with when on a weight loss spree and the first thing that they are certain to say is ‘fats’.

Often given a bad name, the truth of the matter is that there are some fats one can’t live without. While some may pose grave risk of cardiovascular diseases, others may shield your heart too. And today we are going to find out just that… the difference between good and bad fats and why some fats are super essential for a healthy you. You heard us right, all fats don’t spell evil.

Understand the concept of dietary fats
Ask any dietician what are the three things essential for energy in your body and he/she won’t fail to mention dietary fats along with proteins and carbohydrates. Dietary fats support end number of functions in our bodies. They fall into three categories:

Saturated fats - The Not So Bad Fats. Animals are the primary source of these kinds of fats, saturated fats are found in beef and full-fat dairy products. Too much consumption of saturated fats leads to narrowing of the blood vessels, increasing your blood pressure levels and LDL level.

Unsaturated fats - aka The Good Fats. In order to eat a heart-healthy diet, unsaturated fats are a must for you. Basically divided into two categories – monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. Fish, corn oil, olive oil, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, hazelnuts and pecans have high level of unsaturated fats in them. Oily fishes like salmon, trout, mackerel, tuna and sardines are full of omega-3 fatty acids. These are the good varieties of fats unlike the bad saturated fat you find in most meats. These fishes must constitute a part of your heart-healthy diet. Omega-3 fatty acids also lower “bad” LDL levels, decrease blood pressure and lower levels of blood fat called triglycerides by 25%-30%. Omega-3 fatty acids may also slow down the growth of plaques in the arteries and condense inflammation throughout the body.

Read the full article here.

Increase your good fats with 180 Superfood.