Thursday, 29 January 2015

What a "healthy" plate of food should look like

Alliance for Natural Health launch a new Food4Health plate, taking into account some of the latest science and many years of input from clinical experience.




I wanted to share this new information from the Alliance for Natural Health regarding what a "healthy" plate of food should look like.

Their original article can be found here and is well worth a read as it discusses potential problems with the UK (and US) government's Eatwell Plate.

In my opinion (and as the ANH also state) there is no single healthy eating plate that will be exactly right for all people, simply because everyone is different and therefore, has different nutritional requirements.

There are, however, some good rules of thumb and some not so good rules of thumb. In my opinion, I think that this is one of the better ones.

My top highlights and why I like the ANH Food4 Health Plate:-
 Emphasis on a rainbow coloured selection of foods
 Fermented vegetables included
 Grass fed meat (anything that tips the balance towards omega 3 is good)
 Minimise processed foods
References for the article provided

If you feel that your current diet is not optimal and you want to make some improvements this could be a good place to start and you can modify it to suit your own requirements (e.g., grain free or paleo). You can download a PDF of the ANH Food4Health Plate here and their references if you like your nutrition evidence based.

By Penny Priestley, Naturopathic Nutritional therapist

Penny Priestley is a registered Naturopathic Nutritional therapist with an absolute passion for helping others on their own journey toward whole, lifelong, optimal health. She believes that nutritional therapy must be precisely tailored to not only the individual’s physical concerns, but also be mindful of their time and financial resources.

Tuesday, 6 January 2015

Learn the Science of Happiness

This free online course offered by the University of California, Berkeley, explores the roots of a happy, meaningful life. It is self-paced and you have until May 2015 to work your way through it. Continuing education credits are available for those who want them. 

The details:
“The Science of Happiness is a free online course that explores the roots of a happy and meaningful life. Students will engage with some of the most provocative and practical lessons from this science, discovering how cutting-edge research can be applied to their own lives. The course is divided into eight one-week segments, but students can take at their own pace."
For more information, check out the website at: http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/news_events/event/the_science_of_happiness