Many of us live in a state of fear: fear of putting on weight; fear of failure; fear of not providing for our families; fear of becoming injured; and of course, fear of getting ill. The big problem with the ‘F’ word, ironically, is that the more fear you harbour in your heart (not deliberately of course), the more likely it is that you will succumb to what you fear.
We know that it is important to think ahead about the foods we plan to consume for that day so we can eat well, healthily and wholesomely. If we don’t have the right foods ready, we end up eating whatever is readily or easily available. This selection is generally never very good and could leave us with feelings of guilt because we strayed from our health goals, or else we struggle with gut discomfort due to eating the wrong foods or gobbling them up too quickly.
With the dramatic emergence and rapid spread of Covid-19 currently causing global fear and widespread disruption, it seems that we all need some urgent relief and effective solutions to rebalance our-selves and counteract the psychic waves of fear and negativity. The Covid-19 counter measures taken by governments worldwide have forced us all into a condition of isolation, which we may well feel as an infringement upon our ability to express warmth and feelings with family, friends and colleagues.
I’m sitting here in my Johannesburg clinic, watching hordes of people walk past my window wearing masks, as they head for the pathology lab around the corner. The sci-fi sensation that I am feeling simply reflects the current world mayhem, a week after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic, and a few days after our president, Cyril Ramaphosa, outlined our country’s aggressive steps to suppress its spread.
The HPA axis used to be a bit of a well kept secret to nutrition and functional practitioners - it helped them to understand what was happening to the endocrine (hormonal) system of a stressed out client who was devoid of energy and was potentially struggling with their weight. Now the term ‘HPA axis’ has come into more common use in health language, but I’ll bet that the majority of you don’t actually know what it means, or at least what is significant about it!
