The Nutritional Institute

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!

On the 8th of January 2019, two months ago by the date of writing, my Dad (Jim Craig) tragically passed away while cycling along the Braamfontein Spruit near my home in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was riding with me and his 3-year old grandson Alex, who travels with me on his child seat. My Dad fell as he rode through a storm water drain and according to the autopsy report, incurred a ‘blunt force trauma to his neck’, dying more-or-less instantaneously.

Fungus is a biological kingdom unto itself. For example, the largest living organism on earth is actually a fungus known as the Honey mushroom. Another mushroom, Cordyceps sinensis, which is known for producing insect zombies, increases our aerobic capacity when regularly consumed.

Not a day goes by that you don’t see someone with a coffee cup in their hands, sipping away. More than 1.6 billion cups of coffee are consumed worldwide on a daily basis, and South Africa is one of the coffee hotspots in the world with its growing trend of specialty coffee consumption.