The Good Health Shop Blog
Read through our many wonderful articles about being healthy inside & out. We’re here for you every step of the way.
‘Out of Stock’
This Blog is to address the current (ridiculous) out-of-stock situation you’re experiencing in our shop. It’s causing so much frustration… SAHPRA - South African Health Products Regulatory - is tasked with regulating (monitoring, evaluating, investigating,...
Am I Intermittent Fasting or Just Starving?
The difference between Intermittent Fasting and Starving is a VERY FINE LINE 👣 There is no one-size-fits-all way to properly do Intermittent Fasting. Some people can do it and some people should do it and some people SHOULD NOT and some people CANNOT...
Which ingredients to add to my healthy smoothie?
A journey to improved wellbeing often involves the courage to try new things a smoothie is a great way to Eat a Rainbow and packing in the antioxidant and minerals that plants provide. While there are no 'rules' for smoothies, there are a few pitfalls to avoid, and...
The Truth About Detox
When we detox our bodies, we think about fried food and too much wine, but we don’t think about other ways we can be making our bodies toxic… our homes are often crowded with unnecessary toxins 👀 Toxins are classified as products that are poisonous to humans,...
Is deodorant actually toxic, or is it just a myth?
With so much conflicting and inconclusive ‘research’ out there, weeding out the harmful from the harmless isn't an easy undertaking. To make better choices we should explore a few if the facts behind the toxins in antiperspirant and deodorant. Toxins are classified as...
Are you ready to ‘Open up’ about lesser-discussed health topics for Men
O: Obviously, every man was once a boy and every boy will become a man – the earlier boys start learning about man stuff, the better. Our brothers, sons & nephews all benefit from knowing this ‘stuff’ all their lives, not stumbling across it or learning by...
Did You Know Your appendix has a purpose? 👀
As usual, when it comes to real health promotion, you have to dig deep to find the truth that has been obscured ‘modern’ medicine. Back in the day, the parathyroids used to be removed at the drop of a hat, and it took a long time for the consequences of that to...
7 Ways That Sleep Affects Your Wellness
We’ve all experienced it: that heaviness of trying to drag yourself through a day when you haven’t had enough sleep the night before. Being tired makes everything more difficult, physically, emotionally and especially mentally – your concentration, creativity and...
What is tempeh and why should we eat it?
Q: What is tempeh and why should we eat it? A: you’ve probably heard of Tofu, but you may not have heard of Tempeh - Tofu is made from soya milk & pressed into solid white blocks. On the other hand, tempeh is made from soya beans that have been fermented...
4 Easy Tips to Feeling more at ease with life:
You’re definitely not alone if you feel the need hit the ‘seat eject’ button. The secret sauce is learning to rest, not to quit, and here’s how you might think about adjusting your mindset… Hit the pause button. If you keep a diary or weekly planner, schedule in a...
Procrastination
August month-end paperwork is due at the accountant this afternoon – the paperwork is looking at me askew and I am still avoiding the task at hand… do you also procrastinate? Procrastination is much more than a voluntary delaying of a task, though. I’ll offer you 2...
Rhythm of Life
Here on the South Coast, in our amazing subtropical environment, almost everything stays green all year round. In my garden though, I have a deciduous tree; it's been turning brown and losing it's leaves gradually over the last few weeks. As I watch the changes in the...
When Dieting Doesn’t Work For You
At any given time 1 in 3 people are on a specific eating regime, with weight loss as a leading reason. Most people are going to be disappointed, because even when successful, lost weight is frequently regained within a few months. If you want more information on new...
Change-of-Season-Preparedness Checklist
The mornings are starting to feel nippy, the days start later and night falls fast and early. Winter is approaching. We are caught in a lockdown time-warp but mother nature is oblivious to our plight. Are you sure that you are prepared for winter under pandemic...
Am I Spreading The Virus Around?
Image by Prostooleh *disclaimer - this blog is purely my opinion based on the science I follow on PubMed and other similar platforms. Our immune systems are front and centre! Not since HIV Aids has immunity been the focus for so many people. Now though, because of...
One Small Step
Surviving to Thriving – Part 3 You made a list yesterday, even if it’s only in your head. You’re thinking and that puts you ahead of the pack. Now, Pick 1 thing. Choose 1 habit, or 1 symptom, from this list that you would choose to not have if you 'waved a magic...
Lockdown Time Zone ‘every day is Chooseday’’
Surviving to Thriving – Part 2 Lets do a quick health assessment… Are you really 100% healthy? Full of energy?Getting 8 hours of restful sleep?Got a great libido?Anxious and stressed?At your ideal weight?Hair, skin and nails in peak condition? If you really look...
Are You An “I’ll Start on Monday” Kind of Person?
Surviving to Thriving - Part 1 We humans like auspicious beginnings. Whenever we think about changing a habit or starting a new project, we wait for a Monday, a birthday, an anniversary, a new year, a new job, a new week, and we make this the start of The New Thing....
Physical Thriving is perhaps an underestimated topic, purely because we take it so much for granted.
In this series of blogs we are exploring the 5 areas in which all humans should thrive, at age-appropriate levels - Physiological, Cognitive, Emotional, Physical, and Social. Physical Thriving is the 5th and final of the 5, and perhaps an underestimated...
We’re More Fulfilled When We’re Social
In this series of blogs we are exploring the 5 areas in which all humans should thrive, at age-appropriate levels. The first three blogs in this series dealt with Physiological, Cognitive & Emotional thriving. Two are left - Physical, and Social. ...
Emotional Well-Being
In this series of blogs we are exploring the 5 areas in which all humans should thrive, at age-appropriate levels. The 1st 2 blogs in this series dealt with Physiological & Cognitive thriving. 3 are left - Emotional, Physical, and Social. Altered...
Cognitive Health
In Blog 1/5 we took a look at the 1st of the 5 areas in which all humans should thrive, at age-appropriate levels: Physiological. This blog will focus on Cognitive thriving. What do we even mean by thriving on a cognitive level? Well, I suppose remembering is the...
8 hours, preconception through to toddler.
Yesterday (Sunday) I attended an all-day Functional Practitioner’s workshop held by Dr Leslie Stone and Dr Michael Stone, who run a clinic in Oregon and an online site http://growbabyhealth.com/ 8 hours, preconception through to toddler. There was a lot about...
Competition Time!
Some background info I follow a business blog called Storybrand. This week the questions were ‘what is your mission?’ and ‘what is at stake?’. It was thought provoking for two big reasons: It’s not a way we as small business owners are trained to think.There is...
Lifestyle medicine is The Medicine of The Future
‘Health Care’ is becoming a very specific phrase. Health is no longer simply an absence of symptoms. You want to sleep well and wake up feeling as well as possible every day. Some days, when you feel less than good, you might think of yourself as...
Who isn’t tired, right?
This blog is for you if you are prepared to consider that the culprit is probably your eating habits. There’s a compelling wealth of research that closely links the food we eat with our energy levels. Simply, a few relatively easy tweaks will change the picture –...
Are You Ready to Change & Grow?
Facing challenges is inevitable. It might be a rare event, it might be daily struggle. The analogy of a baby’s birth, a difficult process for both mother and infant, is a necessary tussle; perhaps you are not able to reconcile the challenges in your life with...
Was your baby natural born or a Caesar baby?
The most important thing to ever happen to your microbiome, the bacterial environment of the gut, happens when you’re being born. Is your baby restless and colicky? Is your toddler irritable and not sleeping well? Is your small child already exhibiting symptoms...
We are disconnected from the facts that how we live can be harmful to our health.
[Spoiler Alert: tough stuff to hear included] Health Coaching is emerging in response to the rise in chronic illness and the inability of western medicine to address issues in any way significant way, if this term is new for you and you would like to learn more about...
Is there really a difference between organically grown veg and regular grown veg?
Do you seek out Organic on a label or prefer Organic when buying fruit and veg? Organic is a fashionable word right now. Strictly speaking anything that grows in the ground or can rot and return to the ground is Organic Material. The way we use it, it means “(of food...
The School insists my child be on Ritalin. I don’t want him drugged. What are my options?
This is not the format to slam into the education system but the truth is that children are not designed to sit still and be ‘taught’ for 6 hours in a row. A U.K Teacher’s page shows this info: Typical attention span: When trying to estimate realistically how much...
Are you Fatigued?
Fatigue seems to be trending. Are you one of the many struggling under the weight of all you are obliged to take on? I think we have lost our way a little bit when we consider all we do and how we support the processes. Many people have physically demanding...
Why do I need fibre in my food?
According to a dietary supplement product formulation consultant, dietary fibre is important for our digestive health and regular bowel movements. Fibre helps you feel fuller for longer, can improve cholesterol and blood sugar levels and can assist in preventing some...
The Bach Flower Remedies
In our quest for radiant, vibrant, energetic good health, it’s the most natural thing to be thinking of physical health. We coach for changes in the Modifiable Lifestyle factors – eating, drinking, moving, sleeping, and coping. We might acknowledge mental health and...
Fat Soluble vitamins and how to make the best of them.
Fat-soluble vitamins are dissolved in fats, so one should take supplements of A,D,E & K, the fat soluble vitamins, with a meal containing healthy fats, like grass-fed butter, avo, nuts, banana, olive oil etc. The next step...
Vitamins are divided into 2 categories – Water soluble and Fat soluble.
Water soluble are all the commoners you know and probably already take – all the B’s and C. Water-soluble vitamins are carried to the body's tissues but are not stored. They are found in plant and animal foods or dietary supplements and must be taken in...
Kombucha & Kefir
11 years ago when I started The Good Health Shop, kefir was a swear word and kobucha wasn’t even a word! Thanks, in part to The Banting Diet proponents, and in part to the resurgence of Ancient Wisdom, these fermented drinks are making a comeback! In this blog I’ll...
Living In Harmony With the Natural World
Despite being in the heat of summer, change of season is just around the corner. Already it’s getting light late in the morning, have you noticed? If we still lived in harmony with the natural world, we’d wake up to the sun and go to sleep in the dark so we’d...
What Makes Rawbiotics A More Effective Probiotic – Understanding CFU Count?
Borrowed words from SAEM A quick look at the range of probiotic products available immediately reveals two segments: liquid (fermented drinks) and dry (capsules, tablets and powders). Dry products come in many shapes and sizes, however the technology behind them is...
What’s All This About Health Promotion?
While you are, or were, a working person with a fixed income, did you save and/or invest for your future? Did you plan your retirement with meticulous precision? If you have already retired, was it worth the effort? All over our website, in our blogs...
Why Should I Manage My Stress?
My adult son works a really stressful job. He’s under pressure all the working hours and is also ‘on-call’ for emergencies 24-7. He eats carefully and gyms as often as his schedule allows; he has a happy home-life and rests on weekends; yet whenever he has a proper...
5 Tips on Choosing Healthier Food
We are so worried about what we eat, and when we eat, we don’t stop to think about HOW we eat… put a good kid in a bad neighbourhood and he’ll probably end up joining a gang; but if you go into a bad neighbourhood in a crowd you have a good chance of leaving...
Too Often We Don’t Realise Our Choices Have Consequences.
The consumption of alcohol, like cigarettes, sugar, wheat, dairy and soya, is a very personal choice. Too often we don’t realise our choices have consequences, and we have little or no control over these biological reactions. When we drink, even a little, the process...
What is a Thermogram and Why Should You Consider it Over a Mammogram?
The Breast Cancer Treatment Services have both tests that can produce images of the breasts, and offer the possibility of early breast cancer detection. They have nothing in common. They’re different tests, produced in different ways, showing completely different...
How will I know if I am deficient in something?
A common question in the health shop is ‘how will I know if I am deficient in something’. It’s a great question, based on our processed foods being devoid of nutrients and modern farming methods depleting our produce – the answer is that if you’re not experiencing...
Health Challenge
I saw the term ‘health challenge’ on the internet, and it really got me thinking… perfectly healthy people can have a health challenge, or even a health crisis, and because we are generally healthy, these speed-wobbles can feel so so serious – we hate being...
Would you define health as ‘the absence of symptoms’?
Do you consider ADD as a medicatable illness? Or a symptom? And if it’s a symptom, can you say of what? Is aging medicatable? Or a symptom? And if so, of what? We have been trained and programmed to believe that aches and pains,...
The Risk of Being Healthy
How many people do you know who are sick? So many people are suffering to varying degrees. You might consider yourself lucky – you’re more well than most. Niggling aches, occasional constipation and the odd bad night can be unsettling; daily stresses like angry...
Why do you supplement?
The most common reason we hear is that ‘I don’t think I eat enough’. It’s not a bad reason. Eat enough organically grown nutritious veg is a better answer. Here’s a question – if you eat broccoli, have you noticed that the broccoli stem is hollow? The hollow stem...
Organic Veg vs Regular Grown Veg
Q: Is there really a difference between organic veg and regular grown veg? A: The main difference between organic veg and regular grown veg is the pesticides. Besides the fact that these are toxic, they do some interesting things to the veggies as they grow. I’ll use...