There’s healing in how we choose to deal with personal grief. We all choose our own pathways in order to find our way home — “Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about those who don’t. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. …

Never, ever look your personal gift-horse in the mouth… — February’s First Week Prompt of Lifeline I have a serious question for you. If someone were to offer you an all-expenses-paid trip to Paris, or New York, would your acceptance come with a caveat? For example, would you first ask: Are we flying first-class? It’s a silly question, I know. There’s an assumption you would fly…

Just ask any old person, then decide how to fix it for good. It’s in your hands, always in your hands… — It’s been a while since I shed so many tears. It’s been a while since I was so incredibly impressed by a group of diverse teenagers. It’s been a while since I asked myself, “If not me, who?”. In this story I talked about an experiment that took place between…

Put your energy into positives! Live life on the edge…C’mon! You can do it! Guess what? You’ll have a better chance of living longer. — In the past few days I have read a few stories on Medium about the fear of dying. I can understand some fear of dying, especially for those of us who went to Christian schools and learned about hellfire, and brimstone, and the wrath of God. What kid would not…

And now it’s time to party. Congrats if you birthed a boy all those years ago. — Yes, it’s that time of the year again where madness takes center stage. Students in year twelve if not getting ready to party, have only just partied. Which is great! Finishing high school is a veritable milestone in their lives. It should be celebrated. Facebook is already alive and thriving…

Why are we so blinkered about the issue? — I remember a lovely young girl I once taught. She was covered in psoriasis, her legs and arms a sea of red-scratched, bleeding skin. And with her friends she would hop off to the canteen at recess and lunch time to buy slushies which essentially were semi-frozen sticks of pure…

But let’s get the fat component in place first — One thing to bear in mind when following a ketogenic diet, is that fats are your prime energy resource. In which case, it pays to be informed about fats themselves, their function in your body, and their inclusion, or not, in a keto diet. “Dietary fat is found in both…

Your now- slender body will love you once again — I had a friend to stay recently. It was a last-minute arrangement, I was struggling with a pinched nerve (too much sitting fellow Medium writers!) and so, preparation for her visit was minimal. “What do you eat for breakfast?” I asked just before she went off to bed. …

including calming brain inflammation — Invest in food as you would a trending share. It can only augur well for you. Now let me say from the outset, that not for one minute would I suggest that when people get sick they brought it all on themselves. Though, having said that, it’s also true that…

Especially when your weight refuses to shift no matter what… — Quite recently this story was posted on Medium. The story refutes the benefits of the ketogenic diet , suggesting that it is really complicated so that people don’t know where to start. The writer also says, “The first problem with diets is that they’re a short-term solution.” And yet, a…

A woman once vibrant, full of fun, witty, daring, and super-fit, until… — In the 1960s when nutritionists began to take center stage in the nutrition debate, a whole food section became a narrative of fear, a fear that only grew, and grew exponentially over the years. If you wanted to be really healthy you were advised to give up the staples our…

Yet it’s leaving a trail of sickness in its wake. Nothing tastes as good as health — When I was a child growing up in Scotland, we so looked forward to going berry picking in summer. We’d pick brambles, raspberries, and strawberries, all growing wild, and though we came home with enough left to make jam, much of them had been devoured by us, the juice stains…

It’s time to seriously check on those little white teeth — This story made me laugh, last night. It was so well-written, designed to entertain, and it delivered. But behind the veil of entertainment was a cry for help. …

Few choose to be homeless, in which case, help them fight the odds — It was the title of Bebe Nicholson’s last post that grabbed me. “Why The Homeless Woman in Our Church Will Not Be Coming Back” And I thought, what has she done — surely they won’t be banning her? Clever title, Bebe. A good title is what draws people into a…

So take charge. Elect to be your own physician. Your body, your life, your decision…always… — Some years ago I worked with a woman whose whole family was forever sick and on ever-increasing amounts of medication. She was hugely worried about this. She was even more worried about the increasing amount of money she was forking out for medication. To her way of thinking, her whole…

Except the epilepsy medication wasn’t solving her problem… — Some years ago I worked with a colleague who had developed epilepsy in her teen years. She was a lover of all things sweet. You’d never have known it to look at her as she was porcelain fragile. She was by then on fairly strong medication. I remember asking if…

Perfect for when lunatic Putin unleashes his nuclear attack. Force him to be first in. Then QUICK, lock the door, never to be opened. — In the event of nuclear war, how would you feel if you had access to the safest place on earth? I read this story from Susie Kearley some time ago. It got me thinking. Would I WANT to survive a nuclear war? …

Blame? Social Media groups such as Instagram that invite taking of selfies — Come on in! You’re very welcome. Stay a while, or, if you’re in for something different, why not throw caution to the wind, and opt to catch up with our country cousins? Do they have some visionary and culinary delights in store for you! Right now, on the outskirts of…

How the price of sugar and home-made candy caused inexplicable deaths and sickness way back in time. — “It was all very well to say “Drink me,” but the wise little Alice was not going to do that in a hurry. “No, I’ll look first,” she said, “and see whether it’s marked ‘poison’ or not.” Would you like some added arsenic with your humbugs? How the price of…