It’s not just about weight gain and hangovers. Whilst the festive season can be a lot of fun, it can also place big demands on our energy reserves and our mental and emotional health; not to mention our poor old livers. ‘Health goals’ can be anything that you’ve been working towards this year: fitness, an improvement in a long-standing medical condition, improved well being and mental health and, of course, the old favourite: weight loss or maintenance. Here are some simpl

The complexity of the human immune system knows no bounds; it is a finely-tuned group of cells, organs, tissues, and substances manufactured by the body that act upon them. The main function of the immune system is to protect us from foreign invaders, known as pathogens, such as viral or bacterial infections. How well the body resists illness, or how quickly a person recovers from illness, is a direct reflection of the state in which the immune system is functioning. When th

Cardiovascular disease (also referred to as heart disease) is a major killer of both men and women in Australia, taking approximately 1 life every 12 minutes and responsible for over 45,000 Australian deaths in 2014. The term ‘heart disease’ encompasses diseases that effect the heart and the blood vessels, including stroke. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart attack or heart failure – we could all name people currently dealing with, or affected by, these health iss

Food plays with our emotions… We’ve all been there: lunch is delayed and all of a sudden something that would have been met with mild irritation: a shrug of the shoulders or a shake of the head, becomes cause for a slammed door and a yelling match. Or perhaps you’re more familiar with the disappearing family-sized block of chocolate: promising a dizzying sugar high, only to be matched by the fatigue and low mood associated with a crash in blood sugar mere moments later. The

Imagine you’re at work... It’s about 10am and you’re hungry. You skipped breakfast this morning because you were in a rush or didn’t feel like it, instead grabbing a coffee when you got into the office (and maybe a biscuit out of the jar). You’re struggling to concentrate and feel like you’ve read the same paragraph about 10 times over. Rushing out this morning means you also didn’t bring a healthy snack so you rummage around the biscuit tin once again for that quick hit o