Author: Michael Kinnaird

Author of Happy Guide, the result of a 20 year exploration into what works for health and happiness.

Protein powder alternatives

~ Michael Kinnaird ~ 4 Comments

Jeanie asks…

“I like the Happy Guide eating plan but I’m not a big fan of protein powder. What’s a good alternative for the fruit smoothie?”

You could have poached/boiled egg, cold cuts/leftover meat or kippers/smoked mackerel and so-on, in addition to the smoothie as quick protein choices.

Cottage cheese goes well, but always be suspicious of dairy, especially if you have any health issues…

Silken tofu is awesome in a smoothie but not for every day, as soy is controversial. Yogurt is also good and makes a delicious creamy smoothie.

The protein content is not as high as other options though and the dairy issues apply. Goat’s milk yogurt is likely to be less problematic.  Continue reading “Protein powder alternatives” →

How to balance omega-6 and omega-3

~ Michael Kinnaird ~ Leave a comment
Salmon is high in omega-3
Salmon is high in omega-3

Here’s some tips to balance your omega-6 and omega-3…

  • Avoid the “industrial vegetable oils” high in omega-6 like the plague — sunflower, safflower, corn, soy, cottonseed, peanut, canola. Good oils/fats low in omega-6 are butter/ghee, coconut oil, olive, avocado, macadamia, beef tallow, duck fat. Please click here if you’re worried about saturated fat.
  • Don’t overdose on nuts, a handful a day is fine, macadamia nuts are lowest in omega 6 at 0.5 g per ¼ cup so it’s best to have macadamia nuts mostly, next are hazelnuts and cashews at around 2.5 g per ¼ cup, but I also like almonds for their good vitamin E content (4.36 g) and pistachios are okay at 4.1 g. I usually soak a handful of nuts overnight to get rid of enzyme inhibitors, give them a good rinse in the morning and have with breakfast.
  • Eat about 5-6 oz fish high in omega-3 three times a week. e.g. salmon, sardines, mackerel.
  • Don’t overdose on chicken, but balance with ruminant meats — beef, lamb and seafood.

Optimizing your omegas is incredibly important so as to prevent chronic inflammation, which is at the roots of so many modern lifestyle diseases.

The ideal ratio is thought to be 2.3:1 omega-6 to -3, and these tips will get you in that ballpark.

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Michael Kinnaird is the author of Happy Guide, the result of a 20 year exploration into what works for health and happiness.

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How to stop thinking so much

~ Michael Kinnaird ~ 1 Comment

Elaine asks…

“I’m an over-thinker, especially at the moment. Can you tell me how to stop thinking so much? Wish I could switch off! Not as well as I was. Worrying.”

Thinking too much
© Luis Sarabia

When I spent most of my time lying down because of CFS, I would practice meditation and relaxation techniques. So I did A LOT of practice :-)

You can learn to switch off… I recommend “listening…”

Try it for 10 seconds… become very alert, enough to catch the next thought that pops into your head.

Hey presto, no thoughts! Then it’s just a matter of keeping on doing it over and over until you’re really good at it. You can make it into a meditation too which is easier because you’ll have less distraction… Continue reading “How to stop thinking so much” →

Anxiety at night

~ Michael Kinnaird ~ 16 Comments

Chaeedy asks…

“I’ve been practicing the meditation 5 days a week (weekends are tough) in the morning, and it seems to be making a difference. Was feeling better, living in the ‘Now’, and to be honest, much fewer thoughts (in fact, very few).

But over the last 2-3 weeks I’m fine during the day, but when I turn off my light at night, I get this overwhelming anxiety/dread/terror feeling. It’s nothing specific, just the feeling. I don’t let my mind dwell/race on some concerning thought (staying in the now) so it’s not that. But it’s brutal! It just doesn’t seem to make sense… Any ideas/suggestions?”

© Remara

I assume your soul is tidy?

i.e. you aren’t viewing your life in any way as unacceptable or stressful, and you see that a thing only matters inasmuch as it moves you towards or away from health and peace of mind…

So, assuming you aren’t fueling the fire with insane thoughts about success, and that your good health habits are in place, then we’re left with old conditioning.

You’ve been giving your mind fight, danger and stress thoughts for a long time, and even when we make a different choice, the old pattern continues for a while.

You need to simply not care that it’s there and see it for what it is… old stuff playing out. Then focus on Happy Guide’s relaxation method when you get into bed and do it every night… Continue reading “Anxiety at night” →

It’s all about feeling good!

~ Michael Kinnaird ~ 2 Comments

Everything you do, you do for ONE reason only — to have a good feeling. Good feelings come in lots of “flavors” — security, contentment, happiness, love, joy, fulfillment…

For simplicity’s sake, we’ll just call them all “good” :-)

If you ponder it deeply, you’ll see that everything, without fail, is done to so that you can feel good. Feeling good is everyone’s ultimate aim — the problem is that we can get confused about where to find these good feelings we’re after.

Most of us focus all our energy into our house, money, job, car, partner that we think will make us happy — the externals, the material. There’s nothing wrong with all these goals but if you want to be truly happy, you need to focus on health first.

Continue reading “It’s all about feeling good!” →

How to feel good

~ Michael Kinnaird ~ 2 Comments

© Yan

I know what you want, because all humans want the same thing: to feel good.

A lot of folks have “ideas” about what they want. “I want this, I want that.” What’s not always obvious is the reason.

What’s always behind the wanting is the desire for a GOOD FEELING.

That might be love, peace, contentment, joy, security, respect, acceptance or fulfillment. It’s a whole rainbow of good feelings we’re after…

In my experience, a lot of people go wrong because they haven’t identified that it’s really the feeling they’re after and not the actual object — the thing or condition that they think will get them the feeling… Continue reading “How to feel good” →

How to get motivated to be healthy

~ Michael Kinnaird ~ Leave a comment

Motivated for health
© Anirudh Koul

One of the most common things people say to me when they’ve read Happy Guide is that they feel…

MOTIVATED

Every time I re-read Happy Guide, I get a very strong sense of motivation at the end. Now that is something really worth having…

Happy Guide leaves you feeling “I can DO this!”

That feeling is one of the keys. That feeling combined with the clarity and simplicity of “what to do” will start moving you towards a happier, healthier way of life…

If you’re anything like me, you’ve had times where you felt just plain LOST in a fog of confusion. “Why do I feel so bad? What can I do? Why me? What went wrong? Why am I self-destructing!?” Continue reading “How to get motivated to be healthy” →

Meditation habit

~ Michael Kinnaird ~ 26 Comments

© Vitali Maniakin

Wayne Dyer was talking about his friendship with Deepak Chopra in a talk he gave.

“Whenever I had a problem and would talk to Deepak about it, his answer was always the same — meditate…”

I’m paraphrasing but that’s very interesting I think. Whatever your problem, meditate.

If you’ve got a problem, really, the last thing you want to do is keep focusing on the problem. The solutions don’t come from focusing on the problem, they come from focusing on the solutions…

Anyway, this resonated with me because that’s similar to something I’ve been saying to myself for a long time — “the worse I feel, the more I meditate.” Whenever life starts to go bad… meditate MORE. If it’s GONE bad, do lots and lots of meditation. Continue reading “Meditation habit” →

Dietary confusion

~ Michael Kinnaird ~ Leave a comment

© Photo Jonny

There’s so much dietary confusion around these days. And a lot of people just give up…

“You can’t eat anything these days. Everything is bad for you apparently. One day potatoes are good, the next day bad. One day butter is good, the next, eat margarine…”

Two facts

  1. Nutritional science is comparatively young (i.e. they don’t know it all)
  2. The press loves a good story and controversy because it SELLS

The combination of the above facts is a recipe for confusion. Experts can see people are confused and so every expert decides to solve the problem by writing a book. This leads to more confusion because the nutrition experts don’t even agree on the fundamentals… Continue reading “Dietary confusion” →