I’m sure that I’m not the only one that feels overwhelmed by the amount of information in traditional and social media news feeds each day. My attention is often grabbed by a headline and I fleetingly think, “that sounds interesting” but when I sit down, hours later, I can no longer find the link or remember the source. Sound familiar?
What follows is my April round-up. These are publications that resonated with me in some way; either by communicating new information, sharing a different perspective on a topic, or were just an entertaining read. The articles are ordered by topic and not by ranking. So make yourself a cup of tea (or beverage of your choice), get comfortable, sit back and read.
Top Ten Reads From My Feed
Nutrition
- The sugar conspiracy Okay this article is a long read, and although well written and interesting, some evidence was omitted and some misinterpreted. You can read a detailed review of Ian Leslie’s article at www.thenutritionwonk.com.
- Should food labels include exercise ‘equivalents’? I am not so sure that this is a good idea, you can read the sensible and thought-provoking response of a former eating disorder sufferer to this proposal here.
- An unfashionable defence of convenience. An entertaining and common sense rebuttal to all the anti-processed food headlines.
Having been involved in nutrition research, I understand the pressures associated with acquiring funding to complete studies. While receiving money from independent sources is preferable, industry sponsorship provides an avenue to complete important studies. But the investigator-industry relationship should only be an exchange of money and the study question, protocol, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of the results needs to be completed independently by the research team, free from any external influence. Of course the caveat is that industry is unlikely to sponsor studies that are not aligned with their own goals!
Parenting
- Three words that transformed outdoor play with my child. I tried this simple suggestion with my two pre-schoolers and we went on quite the adventure.
Lifestyle
- Acts of kindness in a modern world. I read the hard copy of this article in the ‘Real Simple’ magazine. I loved everything about it including the pretty graphics! We recently received a post card from a guest who had stayed with us and I can attest to what a touching gesture it was.
Travel
- Western do-gooders need to resist the allure of ‘exotic problems’. As my husband is co-founder of Waves of Hope, one of the thousands of non-profits mentioned in this article, you may think that I would take offence to this title, but it does contain a lot of truths. We have experienced first hand the complexity of this type of work and continue to learn each day. The closing comment particularly resonated with me “go if you must, but stay long enough, listen hard enough so that “other people” become real people. But, be warned, they may not seem so easy to “save”.
Best Of The Rest
Diluted apple juice as effective as electrolyte drinks for dehydrated kids
My worse nightmare – what if I accidentally raise the bully?
What are your greatest regrets? Survey unearths heartbreaking answers
Recipes Tried and Tested
Inspired By….The Real Women: This story is the stuff of Hollywood ‘feel good’ movies but it’s actually happening right now in my home town of Llanrwst, North Wales. Good luck Craig, Mark and all the incredible ladies with your upcoming London West End debut.
Blog Envy….Inspired RD: I stumbled across Alysa Bajenaru’s blog about a year ago and just as the name suggested it really inspired me. I had been pondering about starting to blog for quite awhile but just couldn’t decide if I wanted to focus on nutrition, health or my life but here I found that Alysa was able to fuse all these things in a beautiful and meaningful way. I recommend checking her out.
On My Wish List….Clean feet! The dry season in Nicaragua means that the ground turns to dust so your feet are constantly brown. See exhibit A! On our recent getaway to Managua and Granada I purchased some new flip flops and made time for a pedicure. Check out my clean feet! (The flip flops are Havianas Freedom Flip Flops in Rose Gold and the nail polish is OPI ‘My Paprika is Hotter than Yours!’
Listening to ….. Prince (of course!)… this iconic musician died on April 21st. Check out the Rolling Stones poll of his best 10 songs.
I think there’s enough reading material here to keep you busy through the month of May, just in time for my next round-up post! In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts on these articles.
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