Health Trip is Moving

After over four years of broadcasting the show on Monday mornings (The Long Grass Sessions/The Grapevine) Health Trip moves to a new time of 9.15 on Wednesday mornings. You’ll find me talking to the lovely Namila Benson about all sorts of healthy things on the first week of the month from the beginning of July.

Tune in next Wednesday morning at 9.15 as I join the team at Wax Lyrical. There will be talkback as usual, so don’t forget to call up.

Winter solstice reflections and updates

As those of us in the Southern hemisphere arrive at the longest night and shortest day of the year, it can be useful to take a moment and reflect on the symbolism of the winter solstice. This is the time of both darkness and revival, culminating in the joyous return of the light.

Winter historically has been a time of death, scarcity of food and the cruelness of the elements. The solstice symbolises an end of the gloom and the triumph of optimism. To me both elements are essential in understanding the meaning of the solstice. By taking the time to sit with our darkness - sadness, grief, disappointments and all those uncomfortable feelings that we try to avoid, only then can we symbolically leave them behind and move forward into a phase of positive plans and celebration.

The news last week, that a 26 yo man has likely become the first Australian to die from swine flu fills me with great sadness and shame. While an opportunistic virus may be his ultimate cause of death, the reality is the disparity between indigenous and Caucasian health in this country must shoulder the blame. The officials who have reported his death euphemistically use the term “pre-existing health conditions” to explain it. Yet in 2009, even without the latest influenza pandemic, this man could only have expected to live to his mid-50’s, two decades shorter than a white man born in the same country.

At the moment many of us feel some degree of uncertainty about our future. From influenza to the economic downturn, through to the reality of climate change – there is not a lot of good news going around. Sometimes just sitting with the enormity of the state of our world can feel immobilizing. But by acknowledging the big stuff (whether it is on a political scale or the macro level of our personal burdens) and giving thanks for what we do have, this simple ritual can help us move through the problems.

When I am overwhelmed I like to take some time to acknowledge the personal elephant in my room and even if I can’t change a problem that feels too large, choose something small to help move on through it. Giving money to my favourite charity if I am worrying about finances, cleaning one small cupboard when the whole house feels like an untidy mess or spending time with friends when the inanity of communicating in 140 characters or less gets too much. The winter solstice encourages us to focus on what we can do, rather than stay bogged down in the mire of “its all too much”.

In my own life right now small but exciting changes are afoot. But you’ll have to tune into RRR tomorrow morning at 10.30 to find out more about!

Happy Winter Solstice.

Latest Health Trip podcast now online

This week's show on whooping cough, and way more thanks to the lovely callers who phone in to pick my brain, is now ready to listen to online at the RRR archives. Excuse the breathy voice this week, just a common cold not swine flu.

You can also subscribe to the podcasts via the iTunes store. Just search for "RRR FM (healthtrip)", click on the button and play the shows on your mp3 player.

How neat is that!

radiothon with a mexican twist

Regular listeners of RRR need no reminder that it is radiothon time. I’ve written some extra posts in the past week as a special thank you to subscribers and clients. I hope you have enjoyed them.

Today I take you for a quick peek behind the scenes. Here is my wonderful host Nicole Findlay from the Long Grass Sessions in action. Each fortnight she asks me questions on an aspect of health, fields the calls for talkback and makes me feel right at home in the RRR studio.



Not only did she put this week's radiothon show together but found the time to make vegan Monte Carlo biscuits. Inspired by “Vegan Indulgence” published by a recent guest to her show Aduki press - these bikkies were an amazing treat.



My treat to keep Nicole and the wonderful volunteers going through the show was a thermos full of Mexican hot chocolate – dairy-free of course. Inspired by a couple of shows in the past year I wanted to marry a superfood with a super herb. At the tail end of winter a boost of lung warming cinnamon never goes astray. While chocolate, the real stuff without the milk and sugar, has rightful claim to some health giving antioxidant properties.


Hot chocolate with cinnamon

1-2 squares of 100% chocolate (I used Mexican chocolate which was a bargain from Casa Iberica in Fitzroy)
1 cup of rice milk
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp palm sugar
a drop of pure vanilla extract

Warm the milk over low heat in a pot. Add the finely chopped chocolate, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla. Stir gently. Don’t let the mixture boil. When the chocolate has melted take off the heat and use a whisk to froth it up.

Drink straight away.

This is a potent brew, stick to a small serve.

Don’t add sugar if you are using regular, sweetened dark chocolate.

For an authentic twist consider adding a bit of chilli.

For this big batch I used 1 litre of rice milk with about 100 gm of chocolate.



Thanks for subscribing to RRR – it keeps shows like Health Trip on air, gives a much needed outlet for new independent and local music and adds to the rich tapestry that is Melbourne. As a result of money raised in recent radiothons the station is now streamed live over the net all over the world and segments like mine are podcast.

it's that time again

Each year around this time, Australia's largest public radio station has its annual subscriber drive. Radiothon 007 is upon us. Sure there are amazing prizes to be won - and if that's all it takes to make you part with a little bit of cash ($33 concession/$66 waged/$110 business) fantastic! Of course there are lots of giveaways and special events throughout the year that only subs can access. For me there was a a magical summer sunset on a Fitzroy rooftop a few years ago when some of us lucky RRR supporters gathered for an intimate encounter with PJ Harvey - that will be one of the most special subscriber experiences of my life.

I feel very privileged to have been listening to RRR for the last 20 years and doing my little segment for over 15. Your support of the station means that shows like mine and the diversity that is RRR can continue to go to air. For all those new, old, lifetime and even tentative subs - I thank you.