Report Warns, Climate Change Already Hurting Our Health and Economy.

Climate change is already killing people, hurting their health, worsening air pollution and helping the spread of infectious diseases, a global team of researchers said Monday.

Environmental disruptions are also affecting economies and costing hundreds of billions of dollars a year, mostly because of extreme weather events, the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change found.

“Between 2000-2016, there has been a 46 percent increase in the number of weather-related disasters, and 125 million adults aged over 65 were exposed to heat waves,” the Lancet, an international medical journal, wrote.

“Increasing temperatures have led to around 5.3 percent loss in labor productivity, and economic losses linked to climate-related extreme weather events were estimated at $129 billion in 2016.

It may already be too late to stop warming trends that are driving the changes, the report warns. “The human symptoms of climate change are unequivocal and potentially irreversible — affecting the health of populations around the world today,” it read.

“The delayed response to climate change over the past 25 years has jeopardized human life and livelihoods,” it added.

But quicker action to address the change could make life better for many people, the team of climate scientists, doctors, ecologists, economists, engineers, experts in energy, food, and transport systems, geographers, mathematicians, social and political scientists found.

“We cannot simply adapt our way out of this, but need to treat both the cause and the symptoms of climate change,” said Hugh Montgomery, director of the Institute for Human Health and Performance at University College London, who helped lead the collaboration.

Some of their recommendations:

Invest in climate change and public health research
Scale up financing for climate-resilient health systems
Phase out coal-fired power
Rapidly expand access to renewable energy
Some of the recommendations directly conflict with the Trump Administration’s energy policy. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has said he will override the Obama administration’s clean power plan and Trump has pledged to bring back coal mining jobs.

Trump also pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, a deal reached among 195 countries in 2015 to gradually reduce emissions that cause climate change.

There’s no doubt among climate scientists that the climate is getting warmer and that this is affecting weather and the oceans. And there is no legitimate debate over whether people are causing this change — we definitely are.

There’s been little doubt that these weather effects are hurting health. Catastrophic weather evens such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts and heat waves kill people directly. But warming trends have also allowed mosquitoes to thrive. For instance, the Aedes aegypti mosquito that spreads dengue, Zika and yellow fever, among other viruses, is finding more places to live.

The same goes for mosquitoes that spread malaria and West Nile virus.

"The number of cases of dengue fever has nearly doubled every decade," the report reads.

Air pollution involving certain fine particles has increased by 11 percent since 1990, the report found. More than 70 percent of cities monitored by the World Health Organization exceed the recommended levels of these pollutants, the report found.

"(The report) also shows that tackling climate change directly, unequivocally and immediately improves global health," said Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

"Most countries did not embrace these opportunities when they developed their climate plans for the Paris Agreement," said Figueres. "We must do better. When a doctor tells us we need to take better care of our health we pay attention, and it's important that governments do the same." 

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Soy Might Be Good For Your Heart but It’s Not Definite, FDA Says

Is soy good for your heart? The Food and Drug Administration says it’s not so clear-cut, and proposed Monday to revoke the claim that soy protein can prevent heart disease.

That doesn’t mean soy is not good for your heart, or that it doesn’t have a range of other benefits, the FDA said.

And food makers could possibly make what’s known as a “qualified” claim — meaning there is some evidence that soy is good for your heart. Soybean oil may still carry a qualified claim.

But there’s just not enough evidence to say straight up that eating soy protein helps your heart, the agency said.

"Let's be clear this claim is about soy protein, not soy products broadly but soy protein and coronary heart disease," the FDA’s Susan Mayne told NBC News.

It's the first time the FDA has revoked a health claim.

Mayne said a review of all the recent studies showed conflicting evidence on whether soy protein directly lowers the risk of heart disease.

"That science is not as conclusive as you would hope for a health claim with regard to soy protein and coronary heart disease," added Mayne, who heads the agency’s food safety and nutrition center.

The American Heart Association regularly reviews the evidence that certain foods fight heart disease and decided in 2006 that there was not enough evidence that soy lowers cholesterol so much that it reduces heart disease risk.

The Heart Association also opposes allowing a "qualified" health claim, saying that just confuses people.

One worry is that people will simply add foods like soy to a standard American diet heavy in meat, processed carbs, sugar and unhealthy fats. “A lot of people have unrealistic expectations about these foods, thinking they’ll be protected from chronic diseases and health problems,” nutrition professor Penny Kris-Etherton of Pennsylvania State University says in a statement posted on the American Heart Association’s website.

“They may eat one or two of these nutrient-dense foods on top of a poor diet.”

The evidence suggests that it’s not so much adding soy to the diet that lowers cholesterol and reduces heart disease risk, but eating it instead of more unhealthy foods.

One study used to allow heart claims about soy looked at nearly 5,000 men and women in Japan, where those who ate the most soy had the lowest cholesterol levels.

A 1995 meta-analysis — a catchall study putting together data from many other studies — found that people who ate 50 grams of soy protein a day instead of meat, milk or cheese reduced levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol by almost 13 percent.

But other studies have not shown such a definitive cause and effect. “Our review of that evidence has led us to conclude that the relationship between soy protein and heart disease does not meet the rigorous standard for an FDA-authorized health claim,” the FDA said.

The FDA just allowed soy oil makers to claim their product is heart-healthy, and Monday’s proposed action doesn’t affect that. As with canola and olive oil, soy oil producers can use a label saying that 1.5 tablespoons of soybean oil a day may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease when it replaces saturated fat.

"No one is saying that soy is bad," said Dr. Steve Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic.

"Can soy be part of a healthy diet? Of course it can. Just don't expect any magical benefits."

There’s much evidence showing soy foods can help people’s health — including prevention of cancer.

Soybeans are high in fiber, as well as compounds called isoflavones, which include daidzein and genistein. Genistein can interfere with cell growth and proliferation and that in turn may slow tumors.

“Even though soy protein has little direct effect on cholesterol, soy foods are good for the heart and blood vessels because they usually replace less healthful choices, like red meat, and because they deliver plenty of polyunsaturated fat, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, and are low in saturated fat,” the Harvard School of Public Health says on its website.

The FDA has been examining the soy food issue for more than a decade. It’s been under pressure to revoke the claim from some groups, including the Weston A. Price Foundation, which advocates for raw milk and butter and opposes vaccinating children.

In 2016, the FDA denied a petition from the Weston A. Price Foundation seeking to revoke the health claim for soy.

“The petition failed to address the significant number of intervention studies that do show a reduced risk of coronary heart disease — a critical deficiency,” the FDA said in its denial.

Just under a third — 31 percent of Americans — eat soyfoods or soy beverages once a week or more, according to the Soyfoods Association of North America.

The group says 45 percent seek out products specifically because they contain soy.

The FDA says it’s still OK to do that.

“For consumers who have questions about eating soy products, we recommend they continue to follow advice from the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines, which state that a healthy eating pattern can include soy beverages and a variety of protein foods, including soy products,” the FDA said. 

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Natural Deodorant – does it really work?

Natural Deodorant – a contentious issue for many. I can see people shaking their heads, squirming in their seats and drawing the line that a natural alternative to smelling fresh and not offending others with body odour could even come close to working.

I hear you but just hear me out a little on this one…

Well, not all products are created equal, natural and chemical laden and we all may have our personal preference with how much scent we like to bathe ourselves in.

We are all very firmly attached to the idea of smelling nice (not a bad thing) and obsessively layer ourselves in fragrance to somehow cover our natural eau de perfume (perhaps questionable). We have come along way since perfume was first invented, when the world was a much smellier place and it was a godsend for the rich who could afford it.

But this natural deodorant I love well it’s a rather cheap alternative that is available to anyone who might think just question for a second that suffocating their pores with aluminium (as in like Al-foil you use on the BBQ), inhibiting the natural sweating that occurs when you get a bit hot and therefore inhibiting the cooling response that sweat provides, and/or having such things close to sensitive breast tissue and lymph glands might not be for them.

So, introducing….

La Vanila All-Natural Deodorant

It’s effective, conquers the BO while allowing you to remain in close proximity to others (in my case in the Ballet, literally sweating over them!), comes in a variety of extra oomph flavours and did I mention it actually works?! I was pretty excited to find this one!

This is the sweet smelling, effective but not too overpowering natural deodorant I have been wanting for years. I found this recently in Sydney at Adora Healthy Living in Potts Point, Sydney and I am in love.

Conventional anti-persiperant deodorants literally inhibit the pores from perspiring or sweating, the natural process the body uses to get rid of things through the pores, allow breathing space into the pores and to cool the body down when our body temperature rises. Unfortunately, conventional deodorants contain aluminium, yes like the Al-foil you use on a BBQ, and other extremely toxic chemicals and heavy metals that can cause severe harm to the human nervous system.

In recent years, questions have been raised about whether the aluminum in antiperspirants can be absorbed into the body and contribute to the development of breast cancer. Aluminium has also been fingered as a potential contributor to Alzheimer’s disease and people with kidney disease have been warned against using Aluminium containing deodorants.

But back to reality, sweat and body odour is never pretty right and no one wants to be ‘that person?’

As a ballerina, I am sweating almost constantly and always in close proximity to others and we all like to be conscious of being ‘not offensive’ to others in terms of body odour. Our rehearsal rooms can get pretty steamy and you can always tell who had a bit too much beer last night or garlic for dinner. As a society, we have been a little removed from the notion that you can’t put dirty fuel into the system and expect to have it come out through the skin smelling like roses.

Our state of health shows very obviously in our sweat, so if you are living a healthy clean lifestyle, your body odour actually shouldn’t be too offensive. Eating lots of leafy greens naturally alkalise and deodorise our system through the green pigment called chlorophyll, nature’s best deodorant. Following a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise, avoiding fried foods and an excessive intake of animal protein can also make a difference to the eau de perfume of your sweat!

For me, I am mindful that if ‘it’s one of those days’ or I really need to stop the sweating, I use small amounts of traditional anti perspirant like Rexona. Only in emergencies, which means not 6 times a day. It’s not necessary in my opinion not healthy. But I practice mindfulness and balance of course.

La Vanila is my absolute pick for an all-natural Healthy Deodorant that I can use daily even when exercising. It’s a roll on which means no nasty aerosol chemicals or fumes, plus it’s better for the environment and also more value for money – I find aerosols ridicuously expensive seeing as we spray most of it into the air!

I can be sensitive to perfumes or even strong smelling essential oils but this one is a winner – it does the job, but lets the pores breathe as they are naturally wanting to do and its gentle yet effective fragrance leaves me feeling fresh. 

I like the simple Vanila fragrance best but head to their website to see a whole host of Vanila-plus flavours that you might like – Grapefruit, Lavender, Lemon, Coconut etc.

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Mental Health in ballet dancers

World Mental Health Day was last before week and there’s been lots of wonderful reminders floating around social media that help to drop the stigma around mental health and encourage us all to get talking, thinking, brainstorming, listening and communicating mental health. I’m pretty passionate about mental health, and I’m certainly not afraid to say it. It’s as everyday a part of my life as waking up in the morning.

The reality is we all have a reason to be aware of mental health – we all have our dark moments and we are surrounded by others who are just likely to be having their dark moments too. Or just coming out of a hard patch or just about to sink into one. To help ourselves and to help others we all can be more aware of mental health challenges and break the stigma around seeking help.

Having the right support and understanding goes a long way towards feeling like you’re not alone. The more we can normalise mental health as ‘the stuff inside our heads that EVERYONE is working through,” the more we can realise we are all in this together.

I’ve had my battles, I’m currently in the midst of some same-old self-worth and ballet battles, and I will continue to have my battles going forwards, ballet or no ballet. But compared to 10 years ago when I felt like I was diving into the big dark ocean of mental health, I don’t feel so strange because of this (it’s not easier though) and I certainly feel more supported in keeping on keeping on with the work that gets me back to the surface.

I’ve come to accept with some kind of grace that mental health is something we all face everyday in some way. My own muddy mess is usually triggered by feeling any kind of not enough – not worthy enough, not good enough let alone great enough, not well rounded enough, not striving enough, not balanced enough, not strong enough, not stable enough. Always the same old thing, that I’m obviously fundamentally lacking in something that makes me this way. That if I wasn’t lacking, it would all be better. That I would be happier or more confident or a better dancer or more patient mother. That until I’m ‘fixed’ I will always be ‘broken.’

I’ve been banging my head against that same old wall for a good while now.

But the truth is, I’m not broken. I’m just a living, breathing and thinking human being. If you’re thinking sentient being then there’s always going to be some kind of mental health issues going on because it goes with having a brain and thoughts really. Let’s drop the stigma, if mental health was a person you could say that they don’t specify, they’re not selective, they’re not choosy, they’re not fussy but they are tenacious and they know how to keep a firm hold.

Part of taking the power out of these anxious, confused, insecure, depressive or destructive thoughts is acknowledging they are there in the first place. In ballet dancers, I believe they come with the territory of striving for unattainable perfection. It takes a lot of effort to stay afloat in all the striving and trying and struggling to constantly improve.

We strive for and can align ourselves with our physical health – we pound ourselves at the gym, we drink green smoothies, we are always looking for the next magic potion or liver cleanse or detox tea to make our skin glow. We invest in the physical as if it will transform your interior landscape.

But often enough, I dare say always, we come to a point that no amount of all that will ever make up for the fact that you’re treating yourself terribly inside your head. That you don’t value your mental health and wellbeing as much as your physical health and wellbeing. Or maybe that you haven’t had to until this point and you don’t quite know how to value your mental health and work on it? The confusion or feeling lost part of things is enough to make you feel like you’re not enough – again.

I know I’ve felt the shame of becoming “one of those people” instead of just being a natural and living on autopilot everyday. Until I realised that more people were living and growing daily with mental health issues than those but without.

My whole career this balance between the physical and mental health side of things as a professional dancer has been a big struggle/eyeopener/learning curve. As dancers we are very physical beings, we need to be physical in a certain way for a certain amount of time every day to feel good. We are a bit addicted to that feeling, the sweat, the being puffed at the end of something, the satisfaction of sore muscles. There’s always another exercise or cardio workout you can do to make you feel good. Putting in more physical work will only improve your no right? And that’s all 100% valid at times.

But so much of our job is in the mind. It’s every day how you talk to yourself, how you accept how others correct you and deal with criticism, it’s how you deal with being really tired but still keeping yourself on game. It’s how to come to understand your own limitations and how you come to face injury or illness and missing out on opportunities.

It’s how you deal with a very competitive and sometime fickle industry, which ultimately is about aesthetic appeal and where no sit on someone’s scale of beautiful.

It’s even how you deal with knowing that this career is fairly short lived and the urgent but kind of panicking voice of ‘Make the most of it, make it count.’ I do believe this sense of urgency contributes a lot to dancers troubles with mental health, the fact that we don’t usually dance until we are 60 and we will be facing a career change fairly soon in our lives and be left to fill in the hole that was dancing.

It’s how capable you are of rehearsing to then let it all go and be in the moment on stage to allow the real magic to come into play. It’s good shows, bad show, mistakes, failures, successes, opportunities and missed opportunities.

It’s the battle of looking at yourself in the mirror like as long as you remember you have, and keep some sense of kindness towards your precious self instead of just thinking about your bent knees. It’s dealing with not getting cast in something and feeling like therefore you don’t count at all.

Some days for me, it’s a struggle just to turn up. Sometimes it’s because I know I don’t have the mental capacity to keep strong, keep on top of things, to stay positive or realistic with my thoughts.  I’m actually just tired and tired of battling. I would prefer to not face the battle that day. First class battle fatigue. Life isn’t meant to be this hard right? But facing your thoughts/demons everyday is hard, is relentless, is time consuming and is a 24/7 job. And we all let our guard down sometimes.

As you progress through the career you can learn your triggers, you can see these more difficult times coming. You can try to run away but most the time you have to buckle up, hold on and wait until the storm passes. Rehearsal periods are always tricky times for me. Even the schedule being very different each day can be unsettling, I feel like I don’t know what’s going on. Really quiet times or when you’re dancing in works that aren’t as satisfying for you, require a different mental health tool kit then the toolkit you need when you’re flying high. Working with different teachers and coaches can mean a whole different toolkit and often a different language to translate both outwardly and inwardly.

I guess I have learned that the more tools you have, the more situations you feel capable of pulling something out of your bag and giving it a go. Some people find it really hard to talk about if they are struggling while others burst into tears in the studio. I’m a pretty good mix of both, I often retreat into my shell and then unleash all the emotion at some one or in a studio. It doesn’t feel particularly pleasant or ideal, but it’s also part of being in a very high functioning job, where being ‘on’ all the time is the expectation. It’s a high pressure environment. I’ve come to realise that while it’s not pleasant to lose it in front of your colleagues, it can help someone else see that being vulnerable is valuable too. If the workplace can value vulnerability and courage in this way, then that’s not a bad thing. Your struggle can help someone else value their own. And show that this is normal. Generations inspire the next generation and I truly hope our generation is owing up for this.

Of course it wasn’t always this way.

Most dancers start dancing because they love moving to music. They are also obviously a young talent so someone invests in them and pushes them further. The dancer may go on to full time training which is intense and can be the beginning of the dancer questioning just what makes them tick and what a mindset is and how they can make it work for them positively and negatively. It might be the beginning of feeling like you’re a bit out of your depth or a bit defeated.

But you’re a teenager, you’re talented, you’re growing up and you would do anything to get that full time contract. Your teachers look after you even in the way of tough love because you are after all still a student. You dance great repertoire and you often graduate quite confident in your abilities. You probably can’t imagine doing anything else in your life and your carerr stretches long ahead of you. With so much at stake, motivation is rarely an issue.

Company life can be a big shock in comparison, you really are on your own. It’s up to you to reach out to the people or invest in the resources to help you. It can be difficult to sort through all the advice you are asking for because you’re not sure just yet, what is the right fit for you. Some of the advice goes against everything you have learned before and that is confronting.

A lot of people get through this time without a worry, but for some this could be the first seeds of feeling a bit lost, alone and a bit unsure. They might begin to question for the first time how much they like dancing despite sacrificing so much along the way to get there. Everyone else seems to be coping just fine, you can feel quite alone in your ‘not coping’ ways.

Some girls are very private about everything and if you are a bit more of an open book but don’t have the right people around you to support you and listen, it can feel very lonely and like you’re a bit strange. You might miss your non ballet friends that you have moved away from and miss having those breaks from the ballet bubble and intensity you now feel.

It can happen slowly over some years or really hit you hard all of a sudden. These feelings can be brought on by injury or they come on when you’re flying high and doing all the best repertoire. Yep, they even come on in the best of times.

It can feel like you are missing a fundamental something, like in my case when there was/is a lingering shadow of not being enough. I’ve learned that this is a bit of a shadow for me, but not just in ballet. It keeps coming back to me because I have not fully learned the lesson just yet. Each time, I don’t think I can overcome it. That this time will be the last straw, that I will never get back to dancing in a way that I can feel confident and naturally just myself.

It can feel disappointing that this feeling of lacking worth or value in what I do, is such a presence in my career and surely it would be easier to just have a fix for this problem. I sometimes think that having these experiences somehow invalidates me from being in this career and that I’m obviously just not cut out for it. Life in a ballet company can feel a bit like survival of the fittest and in this way it’s easy to feel with your anxiety or troubling thoughts that you’re not up to it.

But it’s not going anywhere, it’s something I live with everyday. Sometimes I don’t even know how I got to be a dancer in The Australian Ballet when I feel so lacking. My line isn’t great, I’ve got really stiff feet that don’t make a nice line, slightly bent knees, muscular never quite stretched legs, my shoulders always look like they’re up, my neck is short and stiff, I’m not that flexible, I’ve got short arms and really little hands that don’t help my line and if we really want to get picky, I even don’t like my hairline for ballet when my hair is up. Yep, I just said that out loud. Even as ridiculous as that might sound, some days I feel like only the sum of these broken parts instead of the quote functional and versatile whole that I am too.

It’s easy for this summary to literally sum me up some days. I present myself in that way, I then dance in that way, I see myself in that way and then others are open to seeing me in that way. It’s a vicious cycle and I really do wish I could just get off that roundabout for good.

I get really despondent very quickly and I quickly and all too easily assume everyone from my boss, ballet staff to young ballet students watching at the window, is thinking what a terrible dancer I am. I struggle to see my strengths and even if I can, I don’t value them, I lose touch of what makes me ‘me’ and what unique natural qualities that I can bring to performing.

But really, it’s another reminder (not often a friendly one) that I need to keep doing the work that keeps me somewhat afloat. The more at peace I can be with these mental health battles, the more I can somewhat safely ride the waves. It’s not easy and nor is this everyone’s experience but I think it’s important that people and especially younger ballet dancers understand that us professionals are real people too, with real mental health battles that colour our days and our careers. We face these things in the career, in the studio and on stage. It’s a constant work in progress with an audience.

It seems like we have made it when we are up on stage flying. Seemingly you can have everything or be a really high-functioning person (like all ballet dancers are) and still be struggling. In my experience and in the experience of my colleagues and friends, this is more normal than abnormal. Is it heightened by the profession? Perhaps. Are dancers susceptible to mental health concerns because of often perfectionist natures? I think so. Does the ingrained discipline from a young age not really help? Probably.

The glamorous sheen of this career can be misleading and one dimensional. Likewise, social media is incredibly misleading for dancers and non dancers alike. It’s not real, it’s a curated version of someone or their life. For some of us and I dare say most of us, what’s going on in our heads can feel quite at odds with someone’s Instagram post or a YouTube video. And we need to support and stand up for exactly that, for the battles we all face within ourselves, for the often untruthful but demoralising thoughts we believe in, for the judgment we take on that is unhelpful or overly critical to us. For feeling a little bit or a big bit broken, confused, overwhelmed, anxious, depressed, despondent, helpless. Or even just a bit thoughtful.

There needs to be some weight given to what’s going on behind the curtain. It’s not all pain and suffering, a ballet career is incredible and so special do like nothing else. We dance because we love it and even because we simply must do it. But it’s more than tutus and tiaras.

We can shine a light on mental health everyday in the way we go about our lives and show others by turning up with our battle fatigue that we are being vulnerable and courageous warriors. Which is what I’m aiming to do in this longwinded rambling post that I haven’t really proofread or paragraphed nicely with several of my favourite Brene Brown quotes.

We can have the courage to go up to that person who might be struggling or seems a bit lost or a bit down and listen and perhaps say to them:

“I’m here for you.”

“I see you.”

“You are not alone.”

“You are supported.”

“I’m listening and I want to help.”

“I’m going to help.”

“I see your battles but I also see your everyday triumphs like waking up each day and turning up. That is enough today.”

“I value you, you are valued and you are valuable.”

“You are loved, you are perfectly unique and we are all in this together.”

And this, really it’s all about this Theodore Roosevelt quote below. We are all face down in the arena so let’s help each other back up.

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Start a Healthy Week follow these Tips

It’s tuesday – and what does that mean?

That the “diet starts tomorrow” that you said on the weekend but also yesterday, is now officially invalid.

But lets not make it too hard for you, so here’s a quick ten tips on how to get a healthy jumpstart to this week.

Focus on drinking lots of water
Aim for 1.5-2 litres minimum per day. Try to carry around a water bottle or set reminders on your phone to encourage you to drink water throughout the day. Water will also help to moderate your appetite and help you distinguish whether those hunger pangs are really from you being hungry, or whether you just haven’t had a sip of water for a while.

Try to get your five serves of vegetables most days of the week
Write a chart and give yourself a tick for every day that you achieve 5 serves of vegetables. Remember one serve is equal to one cup of raw salad vegetables or half a cup of cooked. Try including greens with your breaky (add some spinach to a morning smoothie), have carrot/celery/capsicum/cucumber sticks with some dip for a snack  or eat a big salad with your lunch or dinner.

Increase your fibre intake
Fibre is important for keeping a healthy colon and helping you feel full. Go for wholegrain foods such as brown rice/pasta, rolled oats, quinoa, as well as green leafy vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds.

Reduce your intake of processed foods
Your body doesn’t need that packet of chips, biscuit or soft drink that you thought “it’s okay, it’s just one”. These foods are often high in saturated (bad) fats, added sugars and added salts – an evil combination that make these foods so “moreish”. Instead swap that sugary craving for a piece of fruit or that savoury craving for a piece of wholegrain toast with peanut butter.

Read More: How exercise can slow the spread of cancer?

Add variety to your fruits
Go to the markets or even the supermarket and pick out a fruit that you’ve never tried before. Available but often unpopular “weird” fruits you can find include dragon fruit, longans, kiwiberrys, starfruit and persimmons. Talk to your local fruit shop assistant for help on finding a new fruit.

Try some meat alternatives
Never tried tofu or tempeh before? This weeks the week that the kitchen’s calling your name for you to try cooking with some new foods. Begin with a simple recipe of cutting a block of hard tofu into small pieces, fry on a low heat and turn until fully cooked, add a splash of flavouring of your choice – honey soy, hoisin or satay and fry for an extra few minutes. Serve with some stir fried veggies on a bed of brown rice.

Reduce your intake of salt
Look for products with less than 300mg sodium per 100g. The definition of “low salt” is less than 120mg of sodium per 100g

Choose healthy fats
Swap butter and margarine for plant-based oil spreads, peanut butter, avocado and include foods such as nuts and olive oil for a healthy diet. Look for products with the lowest saturated fat content per 100g when comparing products.

Get outdoors and active
Go for a morning walk or afternoon jog, whether it be intense exercise or a casual stroll – get outdoors into the sunshine and aim for your 30minutes of exercise a day. Invite friends to join you to kill two birds with one stone.

Prepare your meals for the week ahead
Dedicate one night per week to do a big cook up of a variety of meals for you to easily heat up and serve on busy days or nights. Transfer the dishes into various takeaway-containers and label to ensure that you’re having variety throughout your week.

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How exercise can slow the spread of cancer?

“Thorough and solid” study suggests why intense training is so effective at preventing cancer.

A new study shows that exercise is an effective way to prevent cancer. Adrenalin released during intensive training prevents the spread and development of metastases elsewhere in the body.

This not only restricts the spread of cancer but also makes it easier to treat.

“Our study indicates that it’s probably optimal for women with breast cancer to perform high intensity exercise two to three times a week. It reduces the risk of spread of the disease,” says Pernille Hojman from the Centre for Active Health at Rigshospitalet, Denmark.

Hojman emphasises that exercise neither removes the risk of developing breast cancer or the risk of the cancer spreading per se. But exercise can reduce the risk of developing breast cancer by 25 per cent and potentially improve the chances of successful cancer treatment.

The study is published in Cancer Research.

More evidence for the benefits of exercising
The new study offers the first insight into how exercise helps cancer patients, says Doctor Henrik Ditzel from the Department of Molecular Medicine at the University of Southern Denmark and the Oncology Department at Odense University Hospital, Denmark.

“The study suggests some mechanisms to explain the beneficial effect of exercise and it can inform cancer patients not only that exercise is good for them, but why,” says Ditzel, who studies breast cancer but did not take part in the new study.

He thinks that seeing the measurable effect of exercise on cancer will be beneficial for cancer patients.

Training halved the risk of cancer spreading in mice
Hojman and colleagues studied the relationship between exercise and cancer among 20 women undergoing chemotherapy treatment at the early stages of breast cancer.

They took blood samples from the women before and after a six-week training program, consisting of two hours of exercise at moderate to hard intensity.

They analysed the blood for adrenalin (epinephrine) and other exercise factors and then used the samples to grow breast cancer cells in culture. After a few days, they transferred the cancer cells to mice and observed a noticeable difference in the development of cancer among the mice.

Ninety per cent of the mice which received blood samples taken before exercise developed breast cancer. Whereas only 45 per cent of mice that received post-exercise cells developed breast cancer.

“We find approximately similar numbers as when we studied the connection between exercise and the spread of cancer in people. This suggests that there is something in the blood that helps to stop the spread of cancer cells,” says Hojman.

Further analyses showed that an “exercise-dependent induction of adrenalin accounts for all the beneficial molecular mechanisms that we observe,” she says.

Helps explain why exercise is so effective
The new study can help to reach a molecular understanding of how exercise can help to stop the spread of cancer and make the disease easier to treat, says Hojman. And it applies to all types of cancer.

Her research suggests that exercise can have such a significant effect on breast cancer that it actually prevents the cancer cells from spreading. This makes it easier to treat and markedly increases the chance of surviving the disease.

“Now the plan is to see whether it also improves the outcome of chemotherapy. The goal is to find out how exercise influences the chances of surviving cancer, and which form of exercise and intensity gives the best odds.

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