May 23rd, 2006

Subject: Endings Time: 10:58 am Current Mood: sad

Well, it' s been a wonderful six years. Most of you reading this will have also read the post on my personal lj, and you'll know that for health reasons, SeaChange Natural Medicine is closing as a naturopathic clinic as of the 29th of May. I've truly enjoyed all the time I've spent with you all, and been more honoured than I can say by the trust you've placed in me over the years. I've also been very proud of how well you've all done for yourselves - I've been very blessed in my patients. Taking over for me is Eliza Ball, who is a very talented therapist, also based here at Life Source. I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending her, and for anyone who still needs guidance being as healthy as they want, I strongly suggest having a chat to her. Good luck, everyone!

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May 13th, 2006

Time: 07:44 pm Current Mood: relaxed

Gah! You know something that irritates me? Adds that say 'It's proven!' without saying what it's proven to do or be. Great. My cat is proven to have a smelly bum when I feed him the wrong cat food; that doesn't make him a miracle health pill! And then there's KFC adds. I just watched one where a woman lovingly watched the froth pouring out her dishwasher, then proclaims that she feeds her family KFC because she values the best. Hah! I'd say more, but I try not to be libelous. This not-directly-health related post is brought to you by Saturday night.

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April 18th, 2006

Subject: Bringing you the blindly obvious Time: 08:04 pm Current Mood: Amused

So I caught a piece on the news last night warning parents against believing ads that suggested that high sugar, high salt, and low fibre foods were somehow good for their children. Duh!

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December 12th, 2005

Current Music: SBS news Subject: Cronulla Time: 07:02 pm Current Mood: sad

I’d like to say something about yesterday’s riots. Those of you in Sydney, and many of you who aren’t, will probably have heard about them by now. For those of you who haven’t, yesterday, about 5,000 people ended up in Cronulla, supposedly after an SMS was circulated inciting violence. Twenty-eight people have been arrested, and thirty are in hospital, and revenge attacks are still happening in various places in Sydney. If you want to see more about what happened, you can read about it at http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17536989-2,00.html?from=rss. I really don’t have the heart to summarise. All I’d like to say is: It’s a terrible thing this happened. It’s terrible that anyone felt so threatened by the world around them that they’d do such a thing, and even more terrible that there were so many people there participating in it. The repercussions from this will be felt for a while to come, I think. One of the things I love about Australian society is our ability to forgive and move on, but I have a feeling it will be some time before this is allowed to drop – we are all under too much pressure and fear for this to die easily. So I’d like to ask everyone, please, to remember to think about other people. Not just in the ‘consider the feelings of others’ sense of the phrase, but to really think about the different world views we embrace as a society. This diversity is what makes us what we are – and I love my country very deeply. I’d be truly hurt if I thought we would throw that tolerance and appreciation for others away, just because we were too threatened by events going on in the rest of the world. The surest way to bring the violence home is to create it ourselves. Please, let’s not let that happen. Were any of you there? How has this affected you? Comment, please, and tell me about it – one of the things this brings home to me is how important it is to have a community. And since you are all part of my community, I’d really like to know how you feel.

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November 23rd, 2005

Current Music: Water trickling from the desktop fishtank Time: 10:34 am Current Mood: cheerful

So! thank you for everyone who came to last night's talk on Irritable Bowel Sydnrome (IBS). i had a great time, and I hope you all did too! One thing that I noticed from discussions last night, is that while many people have been told they have IBS, very few people know what IBS is. ( IBS signs - and some interesting bits about treatment ) So, were you one of the people at last night's discussion? What did you think? Are you one of the 1-in-5 people with IBS, or do you know someone with it? What questions do you have?

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November 14th, 2005

Current Music: Ravi Shankar - the Rough Guide to Ravi Shankar Subject: Free Talk - 'Are you irritated by IBS?' Time: 07:43 am Current Mood: productive

Some advanced notice - my next free talk with be at 6pm on Tuesday, November 22nd at the clinic. This one will be on Irritable Bowel Sydnrome, which I was shocked to discover 20% of Australians will suffer from at some stage in their lives. That's one in five! And given that the medical treatment is mainly symptomatic (or antidepressants), it's well worth coming along to find the natural things that you can do to bring it under control! Everyone is welcome- if you want to come along, drop me an email (seachange at snail-mail dot net), or call clinic to book. See you all there! And as usual, you're welcome to book in to see me privately if you want to talk more about IBS or any other health issues.

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November 6th, 2005

Subject: Ranting at the TV Time: 11:23 pm Current Mood: thoughtful

LCM bars make me yell at the television. You know, those empty sugar and carbohydrate bars that are supposed to make parents feel good about overfeeding their kids on crap? I’ve just seen an ad for them on TV, and I figured that while I was still simmering with rage, I’d share it all with you. Don’t get me wrong – some advertising agency deserves every dollar it wrung out of their client for those ads – they’re brilliant. The subtle way they manage to suggest that LCM bars are somehow good for children without actually contravening any advertising laws is amazing. It’s no wonder this society has a problem with obesity. Take Nutella ads, as well. The tagline ‘energy for learning’ gets me furiously angry. Yes, Nutella is a reasonably low Glycaemic index food. Do you know why that is? It’s because, in addition to all the sugar in there, is chocked full of FAT. That’s right – despite supposedly being ‘packed full of hazelnuts’, the two main ingredients in Nutella are peanut oil and sugar. Don’t mention that in the ads, do they? No, it’s all hazelnuts and skim milk, when what you’re basically getting is sugar, two different types of peanut oil (one of which has been linked to an increased risk of cancer), and some hazelnuts and chocolate for flavouring. Now, I actually like eating Nutella, occasionally – it’s tasty, in a fatty, hazelnut and chocolate way. I’ve never eaten an LCM bar, but they’re also probably quite tasty. What I object to is the shameless promotion of foods as unequivocally healthy, when they’re fairly obviously not. And, naturally, it’s not as simple as ‘the media is responsible for our obesity’. They’re playing on our gullibility, yes. But that situation won’t change, until we take responsibility for our health and our diets. It’s a vicious circle, and the only way to begin to break it starts with us – whether it’s our diet, or our cigarettes, or the exercise we know we should do. We all have something we’d like to be different in ourselves – what is it for you? And what would you like to do instead?

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October 31st, 2005

Subject: Hello! Time: 12:49 pm Current Mood: cheerful

There are a lot of things that come up in random conversation, and a lot of questions I am frequently asked, that I say 'I should write this down'. Finally, I'm doing something about it - hence this journal! I'm anticipating a few rants (mostly from me), a lot of informative goodness, and the occasional post to let people know about upcoming events or promotions for the clinic. If you have any questions, please comment, or email! Arwen

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