Time to ditch daylight saving

As every parent knows, daylight saving is a bitch. The twice-yearly ritual of shifting the clocks is rife with sleep deprivation and bad moods. I have been rubbing my eyes blearily every morning this past week as my four-year-old adjusts back to standard time (I feel like he only recently got used to daylight savingContinue reading “Time to ditch daylight saving”

Fitbit – friend or foe?

I was recently gifted a smartwatch. And the first thing I did with it was turn off all of the health tracking features. Seems a bit of a strange move, I know. Having something so fancy and expensive on my wrist but only using it to alert me to select calls and messages… Why notContinue reading “Fitbit – friend or foe?”

Stop praising weight loss

Weight loss is a hard thing to achieve. Period. So when you see someone who’s transformed their body I understand there’s a pull there to say, “Wow, you look great, that’s amazing that you’ve lost 10 kilos!” But I think we’re dangerously missing the mark by praising weight loss. I personally know of a coupleContinue reading “Stop praising weight loss”

Why you should stop making New Years resolutions

When I was 19, my older brother bet me that I couldn’t go three months without consuming added sugar. My stubborn adolescent self began the challenge immediately. For the next three months, I watched wistfully as my family ate perfectly ordinary things like spaghetti and cheese toasties (added sugar in the spaghetti), my mum’s homemadeContinue reading “Why you should stop making New Years resolutions”

Overindulging and the holidays

Every year someone asks me how they can avoid overeating during the festive season. I could give them a yarn about only making one or two desserts for Christmas, instead of five, as the more varieties of food on offer, the more you’re likely to eat… But I think giving answers like that, even ifContinue reading “Overindulging and the holidays”

An explosion of eating disorders

I’ve worked in the grey area of disordered eating for a while, often seeing young athletes who reluctantly come to see me with their concerned parent. It’s an area that I love, because seeing these teens get better is so rewarding. It used to be that occasionally a parent would drag their teen along forContinue reading “An explosion of eating disorders”

Growing older doesn’t mean growing old

My preschooler shuffled around on his seat until his face was almost pressed against the glass of the gondola. The whir of the cables serenaded us over rocks, grass and the odd sheep, until a small shudder rocked the gondola and we stopped. “Why have we stopped?” My son asked, clearly slightly worried that hisContinue reading “Growing older doesn’t mean growing old”

You are the expert in you (and your children)

Yesterday I had the privilege of talking to a lovely group of mothers and mothers-to-be. Afterwards, my colleague commented on how the message I kept repeating to these mothers was something she thought they had never heard from a health professional before. “Oh?” One of my eyebrows shot up. What had I said that wasContinue reading “You are the expert in you (and your children)”

Laughter is no joke

It was weekly ritual. The giant bucket of popcorn was balanced precariously between the cinema seats. Even with my brother’s monster appetite there was no way we’d make more than a small dent in it, but that wasn’t the point. It was time to relax. Sweat beads slipped down the shiny glass beer bottles inContinue reading “Laughter is no joke”

Supersized fruit and vege

My thumb flicked the phone screen to scroll the shopping list. Hmm. We already had almost all of the vegetables and fruit that we needed at home so the only produce item we needed today was some more fruit, to ensure we wouldn’t run out before our next shop. The corners of my mouth screwedContinue reading “Supersized fruit and vege”