They're cheap, convenient, practically imperishable, and engineered to be irresistible. They’re called "ultra processed foods" and in the midst of epidemics of diet-related chronic diseases, some nutrition scientists believe they are the smoking gun. In this week's podcast, Shannon Harvey talks with former New York Times, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, Michael Moss about his new best-selling book Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions. In this episode you'll hear; Why we're naturally drawn to foods high in salt, sugar and fat and how food companies exploit this. Why our willpower lets us down, even when... Read full article »

Usually I share interviews with scientists doing research that can shed light on how we can live better, healthier lives. But this week you'll hear from a different kind of expert – a mindfulness teacher who has made a big impact on my life. Timothea Goddard led the eight week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course that I participated in during the production of my film My Year of Living Mindfully. Tim (as she’s affectionately known to us Aussies) is a psychotherapist who has taught more than 2000 students and trained more than 200 new mindfulness teachers. But you might... Read full article »

Imagine if as a college student in 1939 you had agreed to be part of a study dedicated to unlocking the secrets of a life well-lived. Imagine if from that moment on, for as long as you lived, you were poked and prodded with virtually every medical test and psychological tool at the researchers’ disposal. Imagine if 267 of your classmates agreed to do the same thing. Then imagine, over the course of seven decades, as your whole group was studied throughout college, World War II, careers, marriages, and divorces, through parenthood and grandparenthood and into old age, what kind... Read full article »

I know this sounds crazy but over the course of my latest project – My Year of Living Mindfully – I spent more than $30,000 on scientific tests. I'm often asked why I went to such lengths to get objective measures to see what, if anything, changed as a result of my daily mindfulness training. And my answer is simple. Because I believe that science matters. You can read a piece called Why I Stopped Looking for Miracles and Started Reading Science to get the full story on this, but in essence, it wasn’t until I was in my late... Read full article »

One of the first things many of us become aware of when we first start mindfulness training is the presence of an incessant inner mean voice, which criticises and judges everything we do. But what is the purpose of this constant bombardment of self-criticism? Although having an inner critic can be helpful (I know mine forces me to be a better mother, a better friend, and a better journalist) the problem is, left to its own devices, self-criticism can cause measurably destructive effects, including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and eating disorders. This week's episode is an interview with the self-compassion... Read full article »

If you're interested in learning how your brain works and how to use that knowledge to make healthy changes in your life, then this week's podcast is for you. This episode is my extended interview with Dr. Judson Brewer, who is an Associate Professor and the Director of Research and Innovation at the Mindfulness Center at Brown University. As an addiction psychiatrist and neuroscientist who studies how we form unhealthy habits and routines, he's researching mindfulness-based techniques to help us change for good.     ALSO AVAILABLE ON:   SOMETHING YOU WANT TO KNOW? If you have a question for my... Read full article »