‘Health and wellness’ is a passionate concern of mine - one of several, actually. And, at long last, more people are starting to appreciate their health BEFORE they lose it. They are also realising that it’s preferable to have, for example, a healthy 55 or 60 years of life than a mediocre or even miserable 75 to 80 years.

Too often we take our health for granted and realise, only too late, that it needs to be maintained, not just repaired when it breaks down after years of neglect or abuse. If we looked after our bodies - internally as well as externally - the way some of us maintain our cars, boats and other valued possessions, we’d be healthier, happier, less stressed and probably financially better off as well.

If we’re serious about living longer or just being able to enjoy the life we have now without strain, discomfort or unnecessary medication, then we need to pay attention to our INNER health, not just our external appearance.

I live by two mottos:

1. QUALITY is better than quantity
2. PREVENTION is better than cure

There is no shortage of quantity in the many weekly magazines, daily newspapers, television, radio and, of course, the Internet. Few of us have the time these days to trawl through the virtual avalanche of information, speculation, titbits, snippets and just plain gossip to get to the real stuff that we both want and need to help us be better informed and/or to make better choices.

While I am certainly no expert in any particular field, I do have the benefit of having a lot of time on my hands. This has allowed me to research and investigate widely on a range of topics that are of special interest to me.

Conversations with family, friends and strangers alike, have convinced me that people often want to know more about certain topics, but:

• they can’t always afford the time out of their hectic work or domestic schedules to do the necessary research
• they get confused or frustrated by the mountain of apparently conflicting information

We’re bombarded with a continual stream of medical breakthroughs and scares. One week, reports claim something is good for you, only to be contradicted the next. Consequently, many people say ‘it’s all to hard to understand’ and so don’t change ANY of their dangerously unhealthy lifestyle habits and choices. This will affect their own and their family’s health (quality) or even their ultimate life expectancy (quantity) as well!