Taking a Walk: The Cheapest Health Craze Since Breathing.      Dedicated Font of Noelage readers will recall my poor opinion of Jogging which I blogged about in avery early story posted  in  Octoberr 2012. (  Confessions of a Jogger ). Today, however, I want to take a much more positive view of wa                                                                                                                   Just what is Wellness? Well, according to the Global Wellness Institute in Miami, Florida, whose objective is to promote wellness worldwide, it includes regular exercise, good sleep habits, healthy eating, stress management, mental health, emotional stability and acquiring good habits that help avoid illness instead of seeking remedies after illness has struck.                                                                          However, if you believe the profitable wellness industries that flourish in our western society, wellness requires a fridge full of suspicious green liquids, an expensive watch that torments you, very costly exercise machines, a pricy mountain bike, a huge subscription to a local health and gymnasium centre plus an exotic mat made from something described as “naturally karmic healing organic bamboo."                                                                                                                                                                           Despite all of these manufactured necessities there is good old walking. Hiding in plain sight, like a modest genius at a committee meeting, walking is free, portable, and will not ask for your credit card details. Walking has everything: many health benefits, fresh air, mild self-improvement. It welcomes everyone, the fitness enthusiast, the reluctant office worker, the person who owns activewear mainly for emergencies, and the adventurous, who say, “I’m just going for a ten minute walk around the block,” then return forty minutes later with rosy cheeks and a relaxed frame of mind.                                            Walking, mercifully, is kinder than a personal trainer at 5.30am on a wintry morning. Regular brisk walking can help support heart health, improve fitness, manage weight, reduce blood sugar levels, strengthen bones and muscles, lift energy levels and reduce the risk of several long-term harmful health conditions.                                                                                                                                                      Then there is the mental side, which is where walking becomes better than a Valium tablet. A decent stroll eases stress, brightens mood, sharpens thinking, and helps sleep arrive without needing to roll over and over and over through a very long night.                                                                                        For older adults, regular walking may also support balance, mobility and confidence, turning ordinary errands into small acts of independence. The stairs become less arduous. The supermarket car park becomes less like an overland expedition. Even the trip to the letterbox can regain its dignity.                  Best of all, walking has no grand entrance requirements or nomination fees. Start small. Wander further when you can. Take a friend, a dog, a podcast, or simply your own thoughts, provided they promise not  to hold an angsty staff meeting.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            In a world forever selling us complicated ways to feel better, the humble walk remains a lifestyle dream. It is inexpensive, effective, endlessly available, and best taken daily with a side serving of fresh air and boundless curiosity about the wonderful neighbourhood we are living in. You can smell  your neighbour's  roses without having to prune them.                                                                                        A word of warning. I started walking many years ago. I would wear headphones and listen to talkback radio as I walked. Talk back radio is often populated  with very deranged, angry and dissatisfied people who  speak aggressively. As I walked, I found many talk back comments totally diabolical and disagreeable. I would return from my walk full of anger, anxiety and rising blood pressure.                                                                                                                                                        Thankfully, I now stream the Spotify music app  straight from my iPhone to my hearing aids. I no longer listen to angry people complaining  about everything. Now, I walk happily along with Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Tony Bennett, Beethoven, Mozart and Brahms. I arrive home filled with harmony, happiness  and joy to the World.                                                                                                                    Well, that is until I read the West Coast Eagles’ footy results!                      

The egg, once shunned is now in the health food spotlight

 Not so very long ago the humble egg was the very much on the dietary outer.                                      The other day on Facebook a women  explained how she had killed her husband. She had fed him eggs for breakfast for thirty years. That is the trouble with Facebook these days. Too many fake stories and IA generated rubbish. No wonder some people now call it Fakebook. Unfortunately, that woman was sprouting the diabolical warnings of the medical profession of the 1970s and 80s.                                      Medical research now informs us that eggs are almost the perfect food.                                                                                                                                       Eggs contain about 40% of the recommended daily dose of Cholesterol.Severral years ago doctors were busily warning patients to eat eggs very sparingly. Eggs, once the cheerful stars of kitchen pans everywhere, found themselves relegated to cautious, rare appearances.. “Too much cholesterol,” people said, poking at their toast. “Best stick to egg whites,” declared others, banishing the ultra-nutritionally filled yolk as though it was a hazard in shell form.                                                                                      However, as it often does, good old scientific research has presented eggs is a much better light. Somewhere in the labyrinth of laboratories and nutrition journals, clever humans with clipboards and curious minds began to ask a simple question: “What if the egg isn’t the villain after all?”                       The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition says that eggs do not increase “bad” cholesterol levels in a diet that is low in saturated fats. The British Medical Journal says one egg a day is not associated with cardio vascular disease. The American Heart Association states that for older adults, even two eggs a day is compatible with good vascular health. Their scientific  findings were, in a word                  egg-ceptional.                                                                                                                                                It turns out that the cholesterol inside eggs, the feature that once caused so much medical anxiety, does not behave like a fat filled ogre after all. Researchers found that it turned out to  be “good cholesterol.”  They discovered that the natural cholesterol we eat in our food is quickly utilised by the liver to do very good things for us. The really bad rascals lurking in the pantry were revealed to be saturated fats, those buttery, bacony, greasy companions often loitering with evil intent alongside the eggs on our plate.    The saturated fats that we consume turn into very bad cholesterol which clogs our arteries, causing  severe health problems relating to our hearts, our circulation and our brains.                                            Based on this evidence, doctors quickly changed their tune. There is no evidence, they said, that eating an egg or two with a well-balanced, healthy diet is detrimental to health. It certainly  does not build up our cholesterol levels. The egg yolk was singled out for articular praise. That the good news!                  But wait, there’s more. Eggs are not merely harmless, they are positively therapeutic. They are brimming with goodness. They are nutritional  treasures, containing  protein, vitamins, minerals, and something called choline, which is excellent for your brain. Eggs contain a little bit of nearly everything the body needs, as though they were nature’s own carefully gift wrapped  health capsule.                           Then there is the matter of versatility. A potatro will always be a potato (solid, reliable and filling), but an egg? An egg is a culinary shapeshifter. It poaches, it scrambles, it fries, it boils and it bakes itself into cakes and pavlovas as if auditioning for the starring role. It binds things together in all sorts of recipes. Rissoles, anyone?                                                                                                                                           Of course, being sensible eaters, we must remember the egg’s one polite request: context matters.          Eat eggs with fresh vegetables, whole grains, and a dash of restraint, and it thrives. Surround it with lumps of butter and processed, fatty meats and you will face some  health issues…eventually.                   The eggs’s journey from breakfast pariah to dietary hero reminds us that science evolves and that understandings deepen. Yes, thanks you, Science                                                                                          The egg was always on our side! Even when it was sunnyside up!