THINKING OF DOING A DETOX?

Last Tursday was my 32nd birthday. I have been toying with the idea of doing a detox for months and finally, something clicked and I decided now is the right time. This is my new year, so for me the timing is perfect. There are a few signs that may tell you a detox is worth doing. Sluggishness, tiredness, headaches, difficulty sleeping, joint pain, skin problems, bloating...the symtoms of living for many people!

There are lots of different ways to detox and if you are not in good health, I would strongly advise you seek professional advice. Sometimes a detox is not the best choice, so if you're not sure, talk to a doctor, nutritional therapist or other trusted health practitioner. Please remember that the advice I give here is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. You should consult a physician particularly in respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention.

Check out my blog over the next 2 weeks or so, where I will share my experiences with you! For recipe ideas, check out the recipes page!

Achieve Fertility Website Goes Live!

I am excited to tell you all that I have been quietly working away with a group of practitioners all of whom are passionate about health and have a particular interest in fertility. We have been meeting for the last year and our website is live, at last! We're all based in south Dublin, and we bring together a wealth of knowledge and experience in medical and holistic approaches to fertility. Our goal is to ensure that anyone who wants to get pregnant has the best possible chance of conceiving and delivering a healthy happy baby.

If you are struggling to conceive or are simply interested in your reproductive health, consider talking to us. We bring together a number of disciplines and consider both the mental and spiritual wellbeing of our clients, in addition to their physical well-being when assessing infertility problems. Check out the new site here

Jamie Oliver wins TedPrize 2010

Jamie Oliver is one of my heroes. Sure, he uses full fat cream and white pasta, but to be honest, this is less important than the message he spreads to eat real food, cook at home & sit down to share food with friends and family. His wish is for everyone to help create a strong sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity. Big words, but he's got the passion to drive it. Watch his talk here, it blew me away...

TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Program, the new TEDx community program, this year's TEDIndia Conference and the annual TED Prize.

YOUR NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS!

Did you know that legislation affecting your ability to choose natural health products or therapeutic foods is now in force? Numerous nutritional supplements are no longer available and more will be removed from the shelves of health food shops soon! In addition to this, the claims made about the effects of certain supplements are soon to be controlled by legislation, which includes what health practitioners & health shop staff can tell you. Support the Alliance for Natural Health campaign and click here for more information.

Concerned about water fluoridation? You should be...

Dr. Vyvyan Howard, President of the International Society of Doctors for the Environment, explains his concerns about water fluoridation. Dr. Howard is a medical toxico-pathologist who specializes in the impact of toxins on fetal and infant health. In this video, Dr. Howard discusses his concerns about fluoride's impact on infant health. To learn more, see: www.fluoridealert.org

Vitamin D Pandemic? Are we getting enough sun?

Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, is important for childhood bone health and also plays an important role in reducing risk of many chronic diseases including type I diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, deadly cancers, heart disease and infectious diseases. In Ireland and other northern European countries, we are seriously deficient in Vitamin D, mostly because we don't get very much exposure to sunshine. Watch this keynote speech by Michael Holick PhD, MD, Professor of medicine, physiology and biophysics
and director of the General Clinical Research Center at Boston University Medical Center on The Vitamin D Pandemic and its Health Consequences

Selling Indonesia's coast for cheap prawns and profit- where do your cheap prawns come from?

In an exclusive investigation, the Ecologist Film Unit reveals the impact of Indonesia's plans to privatise its entire 90,000 km coastline

Set against the looming construction cranes and gleaming plastic roofs of the newly built factories, the last remaining fishing village in Jakarta Bay looks increasingly out of place. For countless generations the community here at Marunda Kepu village have eeked out a living from the sea; farming fish, collecting mussels and setting nets in the estuaries and shallow coastal waters of this region of Northern Java.
But today they live in squalour, penned in by industrial developments all around them. Puddles of stagnant water surround the crumbling brick homes and disease is rife.

'My livelihood is the sea. If there is no more access to the coast or the sea then where should i go? How can I live?' asked Habiba, as she nursed her sick child.

She is referring to the impact of the ‘coastal areas and small island management law’, or HP-3 as it is more commonly known. If passed, HP-3 will allow all of the commonly-held land on and around the Marunda Kepu community, as well as the coastal waters and the seabed up to 12 km offshore, to be offered to the highest bidder, on leases lasting up to 60 years.

To farm or to fish - does aquaculture have the answer?

Photo: Chris Johnson - earthOCEAN

The fishing industry has changed a lot in recent years, questions like 'where does this fish come from, how is it caught, what impact does it have on the environment?' are our responsibility to ask. Read this article from The Ecologist and check out the short 'Whale Trackers' movies here