We love passing on tips of things you can do at home to help yourself, particularly using things you already have close at hand. With the temperatures already starting to drop – and farmers busy in the fields – this week we’d like to highlight the medicine chest lurking in your kitchen ready for the season ahead. 

It seems to be a common human failing that we all find it difficult to ask for help at times. 

 

Sometimes it’s because of a terrier like tendency not to let go until we’ve sorted whatever it is out. “I’ll do this if it’s the last thing I do.” 

 

Or, perhaps, it’s down to embarrassment – or pride – that we think we’ll look stupid if we ask for help. “Everyone else can do it, why can’t I?”. “What will people think?” 

 

While it may sound like a bit of a cliché, there’s nothing stupid about asking for help. In fact, exactly the reverse could be said to be true. Knowing that you need help but not asking for it, now that is stupid. 

 

Despite all the press coverage – and scare stories – over the last few years about Dementia and Alzheimer’s there still seems to be a huge amount of confusion about them. And we should quickly say that no pun was intended. 

 

In talking to clients, we’ve noticed that most people seem to use these two words interchangeably. And, even when there’s been a diagnosis of one or the other, they don’t seem to be much the wiser. To know what it actually means. Or what can be done to help. 

 

If you think this sounds far too simplistic – not to mention rather hippy’ish (!) – please bear with us. We’d like to give you another one of our different perspectives on life. 

 

There can be little doubt that we each experience a huge range of different emotions during our day to day lives. And in our own unique way. 

 

We all seem to have our own particular range of emotions. Those we tend to express most often and feel more comfortable with. Positive and less so. 

 

And, as a quick aside, the Mr Men – and Little Miss – books many of us enjoyed as children offer brilliant caricatures of some of them. Mr Happy. Mr Grumpy. Mr Worry. 

Yes, it’s time for another one of those questions people love to ask us. And in the process answer that perennial question of whether deliberately cracking joints, particularly your fingers, damages them longer term. 

 

Before we start, did you know there’s a medical term for joint noises? 

 

It’s crepitus, one of those words you can really enjoy saying – although how often you’ll be able to drop it into the conversation is another matter! 

We’ve all experienced it at times. Situations – or people – we’ve thought AND thought about, but still don’t know how to deal with them. 

 

Sometimes there are just too many options.  

 

Or, perhaps, conflicting pieces of advice (!). 

 

Other times, we’re completely stumped and don’t have any idea what to do. 

 

If you’ve given something lots of thought and are still stuck, then it’s time to give your logical – conscious – mind a rest and hand it over to your subconscious mind. This is your creative mind, where all those flashes of inspiration and radical new insights come from. 

Over the years we’ve noticed a large number of food related mantras – for want of a better word – that people automatically accept as true without ever giving them a second thought. And, more worryingly, long after research has shown them to be untrue. Or, at best, misleading. 

 

Some of these we’ve tackled before in this blog. Such as milk being an essential part of a healthy diet, providing the high levels of calcium needed to build strong teeth and bones. Or, one of our perennial favourites, coffee and tea counting towards your daily water intake (!). 

 

Sadly, both are untrue. And, if we had a pound for every time someone said them to us, we’d be very rich indeed… 

It’s interesting how certain blog posts seem to really hit the spot with people and spark some rather animated – for want of a better word (!) – conversations. The one a couple of weeks ago is a great example of this, where we suggested looking at what was happening in your life to see what you’d been focussing on recently. 

 

Not surprisingly, many of the reactions were defensive. How we didn’t understand what was happening in their lives / what they’d been through / how their life was / fill in the blank. 

 

Sadly, by seeing it as criticism, they completely missed the point. 

If you’ve joined a gym in recent years – or had a medical – chances are you’ll have been given your BMI. Body Mass Index.  

 

It’s used as a general measure of obesity as well as an indicator of risk for many lifestyle diseases such as Diabetes, high blood pressure and Heart Attacks / Strokes. As one of the current buzz words it sounds very objective and scientific but, sadly, its over simplistic approach causes many problems and what has become known as the BMI paradox. 

A few weeks ago we wrote about the mixed messages we unwittingly send out each day. Thinking one thing, saying another and doing yet something else. 

 

It’s little wonder we can find it so challenging to get the results we want. Or, more accurately, say we want. Sometimes. When we’re really aware of we’re saying. Let alone what we’re thinking and doing. And then sending out a consistent message with our thoughts, words and actions all pointing in the same direction.