Nutritional therapy should be more than information regurgitated from a piece of software in beautiful graphs and colour charts that tell you exactly what to eat, how to calculate your calorie intake and the nutritional content of your meals. So many people fall for the artificial quantification of food thinking a 'diet plan' will tell them exactly what to do, when and how. The problem is, diet plans will give you a set of instructions to follow and you will follow that in a superficial manner for a while until eventually you leave it to one side because being told… Read More

Psycho-Neuro-Immunology What's in a name? And why such a long word? The clues are there. Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) is the science that studies how psychological (thoughts and emotions) and neuro-endocrine influences (hormones and other chemical substances) affect the immune system (inflammation and protection against infection). So PNI considers how your emotions and thoughts impact your brain, your hormones and ultimately your ability to protect yourself against disease. But why focus on the immune system? In fact PNI encompasses more as it considers all the systems of the body as interconnected in a logical and integrated unity. The reason why the immune… Read More

I have been fascinated by cellular biology ever since I first saw it in school. The superiority of the biological machinery is something that evokes deep humbleness in me. Nothing is ever simple in human biology but every single aspect of it shares the same quality of alluring beauty. However wonderful cell biology is though, one thing is for sure: it is not well adapted to modern life and this simple fact is at the core of the epidemic of chronic degenerative diseases that currently take over our healthcare systems imposing ever-increasing challenges. Our bodies are used to working with… Read More

So smoking and drinking never killed your granny? She enjoyed herself and lived to be 100? Well maybe her genes allowed her to get away with that and a lot more... What about you? Are your genes going to do the same for you? It's time you find out. Modern living comes at a cost It is true that leading a healthy life takes effort and investment and that's because Modern life has steered us away from natural ways of living. It is not quite so possible to give up Modern life completely, after all, no matter what you do… Read More

I consider the process of energy generation inside cells one of an almost 'mystic' dimension. Inside our cells, there are tiny structures known as 'mitochondria' and they are responsible for generating energy for living. These little 'power-houses' literally fuel life. Although I realise not everyone might be so interested in cellular biology, the story about mitochondria is definitely worth telling. Mitochondria are very special indeed and I bet I can impress you with some of their features. The fact that these tiny clever structures sitting in the cytosol of cells are able to generate energy for living is, in my… Read More

Gene expression Genes are inherited and we can’t change what we’ve got. However, what you need to understand is: you are NOT a sole product of your genes. You are a product of epigenetics. And the good news is: you CAN change epigenetics. Epigenetics Epigenetics can be translated as “outer-genetics” in the sense that it encompasses all elements that influence the result of your genetic code in contact with your environment. It refers to the study of gene expression and the possible alterations that can be caused by factors others than DNA modification. In other words, your DNA may predispose… Read More

I guess you agree that understanding nutritional information and what works for you can be quite tricky these days. We currently live in a world of fast communications where information is luxuriously available literally at the end of our fingertips (considering you have a computer or any device to access the Internet). However, paradoxically enough, it is more than ever difficult to figure out what is what and contradictory information can easily lead to an overwhelming feeling of confusion, especially so in the field of nutrition. The problem is everyone thinks they know at least something about diet and the… Read More

What I define as a “sweet tooth” in here is the typical craving for carbohydrate that so many of us have experienced before (and some experience on a daily basis!). What is behind this desire for something sweet or starchy? (it doesn’t have to be a sweet per se, it can be translated into a desire for starchy foods such as pies – sweet or savoury, potatoes or even pizza). Well, all starchy foods (flour based foods such as bread, pizza and pie) or sweets are rich in carbohydrates. By carbohydrates, we can understand sugar in a form or another. Our… Read More