Healthy Eating
My line of work inevitably brings me face-to-face with individuals who feel a fair proportion of their weight is surplus to requirements and are thoroughly fed up with living it large. I have known many would-be slimmers who, keen to force themselves into calorie deficit, are tempted to subsist on very slim pickings for breakfast […]
Healthy Eating
New Year’s Eve looms, and many of us will be brewing up for the bout of heavy drinking this night of celebration traditionally entails. Such intoxicating pleasures tend to come with some pain too, however, usually in the form of the hangover from hell the morning after the night before. Alcohol in excess has a […]
Healthy Eating
As a big believer in the concept that food is something to be enjoyed and savoured, I am not one to encourage particular dietary restraint at this time of year (it is Christmas, after all). However, I am also mindful of the fact that the sort of overindulgence typical over the festive season can leave […]
Children's Health
Many parents recognise that one time in the waking day that offers some respite from the demands of child-rearing is when their kids are sat in front of the TV. The television has considerable powers in terms of grabbing and holding a child’s attention, and can even exert an almost-magical calming influence on small children […]
Observer Archive
Amongst those who know me well I have a reputation as a bit of a philistine. In my 37 years on this planet, I have read just two novels (neither one of them a great work of literature) and even managed to fail my English literature ‘O’ level. The truth is, I’ve always struggled taking […]
Healthy Eating
I was very pleased to see that the World Health Organisation has recently taken a dietary tack, and is urging wide-scale reductions in the amount of sugar added to fast and processed foods. A potential consequence of consuming too much sweet stuff is an excess of the sugar-regulating hormone insulin, which in turn may precipitate […]
Children's Health
The BBC is under attack, and not just over claims relating to the sexing up of dossiers either. The Food Commission – an independent watchdog body campaigning for healthier food for all – has recently complained to the Beeb about its licensing of the Tweenies good name and image to companies marketing foodstuffs directly to […]
Healthy Eating
In a former life I was once a lowly junior doctor working in a hospital in St Albans. During one weekend while on-call, a good friend asked me if I would see her dad who was complaining of a painful toe. My unofficial patient, a charming gentleman from the Emerald Isle, turned out to be […]
Brain and Behaviour
Statistics show that our thirst for mineral water is ever growing and has swelled the bottled- water industry to a billion-pound-a-year business in the UK. Recently, however, the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) has gone on the offensive in an effort to persuade us that tap water is every drop as good as bottled varieties. The […]
Healthy Eating
Many of us may find that there’s nothing quite like a stiff G and T or ice-cold beer to soothe our frazzled nerves at the end of a hard day and ease us into the evening’s festivities. However, the hunger that bites after a long-ago lunch, combined with alcohol’s ability to sharpen the appetite, mean […]