As we melt our way through the SA's climactic summer, heat exhaustion and heatstroke are two potentially serious conditions that can occur if you get too hot. This overheating can also be caused by very strenuous physical exercise. Heat exhaustion is where you become very hot and start to lose water or salt from your body, which leads to the symptoms listed below and … [Read more...]
Constitutional right to natural health products under jeopardy
Does your health depend on natural supplements, remedies or traditional products? Do you know that a proposed new bill is threatening the availability of the products you rely on? Some are already impossible to get hold of. Then sign a petition by the Traditional and Natural Health Alliance to the National Council of Provinces to stop Bill 6, which may destoy your choice to … [Read more...]
Banting diet for dogs
The true judge as to whether a diet is “perfect” for both dog and human is based on whether they are able to provide the correct pH balances, with a leaning towards alkalinity. Thus, when one looks at popular human diets, this important formula is always fulfilled. The Banting Diet, promoted by our own legendary Professor Tim Noakes, fulfills these requirements. Often his … [Read more...]
The story of Grizz on happy food
When your best friend goes down you can end up with your hands in your hair for natural solutions, or any solutions which actually work. I adopted a rescue puppy some three years ago from a pretty dire situation. Grizzly is very close to a thoroughbred German Shepherd, so I’m not sure how he became a victim of one of the scourges of our society. Grateful to be alive, my … [Read more...]
Autism study shows links to pesticides and other toxic chemicals
The cause of autism is still unknown, but we are definitely closer to figuring it out. A new study published in the journalPLOS Computational Biology, from researchers at the University of Chicago revealed that autism and intellectual disability (ID) rates are linked with exposure to harmful environmental factors during congenital development. “Essentially what happens is … [Read more...]
Real food for health is green and sustainable
Far be it from me to climb onto a bandwagon – as greenies we set rather than follow trends. I do believe in always keeping an open mind, though, and not judging anything until I have first-hand experience. So when I heard about banting earlier this year and the tremendous health benefits reported, I had to find out more. Of course reading the book was not enough for me, I … [Read more...]
People politics and gossip - relationship workshop
If personal and environmental transformation is your thing you might like to join me for a Relationship Building workshop called People Politics and Gossip, offered by Michele Hinds in Cape Town. This day forms part of the Energy and Vitality series hosted by the School of Lifestyle Medicine as a valuable contribution towards the art and science of wellness education. The … [Read more...]
Natural healers speak out against proposed new restrictions
More than 300 traditional healers and many other guests crowded into the Old Assembly Hall of Parliament last week to listen as the Traditional and Natural Health Alliance (TNHA) presented its views on an amendment to the Medicines Act Bill 6 (also known as the SAPHRA Bill) to the Portfolio Committee of Health. It has been almost 50 years since the Medicines Act of 1965 was … [Read more...]
No more barefoot walks in Roundup-riddled Kirstenbosch
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, in Cape Town is a great place, not just for tourists, but also for the locals, as a place where generational memories are shared. The mountain, the streams have been a perennial witness to centuries of change that took place on the slopes of the great Table Mountain. From the days of the San people to where we are now the mountain has … [Read more...]
Transcending fragmentation through holotropic breathwork
Are you interested in healing through altered states? Then you should join us for a Holotropic Breathwork weekend in the countryside, led by 2 Swiss facilitators trained and certified by the creator of this modality, Stanislav Grof himself! In the 1970s the Czech psychiatrist Stanislav Grof and his wife Dr Christina Grof studied ancient wisdom traditions from all over the … [Read more...]
Take special care during the supermoon
Today we throw the environmental net wider, in line with our definition of ‘green’ meaning health – that of the planet and all her creatures, and always honouring the intricate interdependence between all in the web. For once the topic of depression and suicide – the silent killer of our time – is at the top of the agenda with the loss of the gifted and beloved actor Robin … [Read more...]
Natural Medicines Part 2: Storm brewing in the medicine pot
Will the complementary medicines which practitioners currently use for their patients continue to be available after the new government regulations have become law? This is an issue which many are wrestling with – and something which concerns users and dispensers alike, as we are all likely to be affected. Last week the Registrar of The Allied Health Professions Council of … [Read more...]
Natural Building part 2: Understanding & testing different earths
One of the challenges of working with earth is that no two sites are the same. The recipes one learns on one site may not work on another, because the earths found there are composed differently. Most earth building relies on a mix of sand and clay, which may be present in a single earth or need to be blended together. Sand has many faces Sand has a particular particle … [Read more...]
