Celebrities may not seem like real people in a lot of respects but apparently they are - and some of them even have trouble sleeping from time to time. Or so says Gwyneth Paltrow in her latest GOOP mail any road.

Good job then that the hugely knowledgeable and talented Dr Frank Lipman is on hand with some tips for how to nip insomnia in the bud. For some people, says Dr Frank, the causes of sleeplessness can require specific clinical treatment. However, for a great many, following a few simple rules could have dramatically positive effects on our sleeping. I know this for a fact because I’m a case in point. Having been a sometime insomniac for more than 10 years, I read Frank’s book Spent (now called Revive: Stop Feeling Spent and Start Living Again ) and I tried the pre-bed yoga relaxation, eye patch and ’switching-off’ suggestions as well as following his recommendations for sorting out a struggling digestive system (a common cause of sleeplessness apparently) and pretty soon I was feeling the benefit. Not only was I getting to sleep more easily but the sleep I get now feels much more restful.

Anyway, don’t just take my word for it. Check out Dr Frank’s top tips in the latest GOOP letter. Gwynnie’s included some tips for how to make your boudoir super sleep-friendly and all… Nighty night.

While several generations in any one family may all suffer from the same illnesses and conditions, the  assumption that future generations will automatically suffer similarly is a misnoma, according to recent research.

It is (unfortunately) true that certain ‘fixed’ genes cannot be re-written, such as eye colour, hair colour and leg length. But the vast majority of genes are not fixed and can therefore be switched on or off according to how you live your lives. That is to say, even if your family history reveals a high incidence of diabetes, heart disease, or even cancer, you have the power to overcome that ‘destiny’ by making healthy choices, in terms of your environment, lifestyle, and - most importantly - your diet.

Gosia Desmond, Research Director in Nutrition at London’s College of Naturopathic Medicine has been speaking to Ireland’s RTE Radio 1 station on this very topic. She says: “The idea that you can blame a weight problem or lifestyle-related health problem on your genes is nonsense. The human genome changes only one half of one percent every million years, whereas the epidemics of obesity, heart disease and diabetes are very recent.”

SOPHYTO Organics’ revered friend and mentor Dr Frank Lipman has also written at length on the matter. What we eat, he says, is so very important, not just because of the nutrients in food, but because of the way food ‘communicates with our genes - a new area of research, known as Nutrigenomics.

Frank says: “[This] is telling us that food is information, that it contains “instructions” which are communicated directly to our genes. Armed with this information, your genes commandeer various metabolic actions and affect millions of critical biological processes, including cholesterol levels, aging, hormone regulation, weight gain and loss, and much more. Eat the right foods and they will send instructions to your genes for good health. Eating the wrong foods however, sends messages for disease.”

So, to stop our propensity for disease, says Frank, it’s time to ‘change the conversation’:

1. Eat real food ie fresh, whole, unrefined and unprocessed food…vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, grass fed meats, wild fish, organic chicken and eggs etc.
2. try eat as close to nature as possible because the further removed food is from its source the less good data it will contain,
3. Select fruits and vegetables in a wide variety of colors. For a list of fruits and vegetables with the most and least pesticides, check out www.foodnews.org.
4. Buy fresh foods whenever you can, preferably organic and locally grown if possible. Fresh foods are better than frozen foods, which are better than canned foods.
5. Stop eating when you are 80% full.
6. Be skeptical of foods that come individually labeled with a health claim. Most healthy foods don’t need a health claim. Have you ever seen a health claim on a bunch of broccoli or on a box of blueberries?
7. Be wary of foods you’ve seen advertised as the vast majority of these are processed foods.
8. Be careful of obsessive calorie counting. Figuring your diet simply in terms of calories or even percentages of protein, fat and carbohydrate, can inadvertently deprive your body of the “complete” messages that real, whole foods provide .
9. Enjoy your food, preferably in the company of people you love.
10. Don’t waste your time feeling guilty if you ate the “wrong” thing.

For more info, check out the following:

ww.drfranklipman.com

www.rte.ie/radio1/podcast/podcast_patkenny.xml

In short, don’t let a history of illness get in your way. Fight back (with good food) and live the life you want.

We know SOPHYTO organic skin care works every time, but we still want y’all to have absolute faith in its clinical ability to improve your skin, so we are collecting a group of esteemed doctors who have seen the SOPHYTO light and go as far as to recommend it to their patients.

We’ve already introduced you to the wonderful Dr Frank Lipman - the father of SPENT among other things - and neurologist and nutritionist Dr David Perlmutter has also been a friend of SOPHYTO for ages. But now we’ve added a new doc to our stable - the revered Scott Hernberg.

Founder of New Jersey’s eminent Tomorrow’s Wellness Center, Scott is a veritable jack of all medical trades, but one of his key fields of interest is the non-surgical enhancement of the skin - which includes, diminishing wrinkles, softening sun spots, melasma and acne scaring, improving skin tone, and tightening lax, sagging skin. He is also keenly concerned with optimising natural health practices. As such, SOPHYTO Organics skin care is right up his street…

Scott says: “As a physician founder of a holistic oriented Wellness Center with a strong focus on aesthetic medicine I am very pleased to offer my patients professional grade, certified organic skincare products from Sophyto. My patients use these effective skincare solutions for acne, anti-aging, fine lines, and wrinkles. The products are reasonably priced, and environmentally friendly. Nothing in the marketplace competes with the patient’s satisfaction from using Sophyto. The company is fantastic to work with and provide excellent customer service.”

For more info about Dr Hernberg and are other medic friends, check out our endorsement page.

Whatever you happen to believe about its origins (ie. whether it was a random, but ‘natural’ occurrence or a deliberate act of bio-terrorism), if, like me, you’ve been getting a bit fed up of the constant hype surrounding this imminent swine flu ‘pandemic’, check out what the ever-rational Dr Frank Lipman has to say on matter for The Huffington Post.

In short, there’s no need to panic - far more people die every year from recognised strains of flu, than are likely to die from this new hybrid strain of human, pig and bird flu. But, there are natural ways to boost your chances of resistance, even in the unlikely event that you do come in to contact with this virulent illness, says Dr Lipman - which essentially boils down to following the SPENT programme we at SOPHYTO HQ (along with Organic Gwyneth Paltrow) have been raving about:

• Get enough sleep
• If you are not getting at least 20 minutes of sun without sunblock daily, take a Vitamin D supplement. Get your Vitamin D level checked. You want your level to be between 50 and 80.
• Take regular exercise
• Eat phytonutrient-rich meals (lots of colorful salads and dark greens)
• Make sure you are getting enough protein and healthy fats – avocados, nuts, olive oil, fish oil.
• Take actions to lower your stress levels – meditate, practice restorative yoga, spend time doing something that makes you happy.
• Take a probiotic (like UltrafloraIB)
• Take 2g of Vitamin C daily (like Ultrapotent C) or Immunocore, which has Vitamin C, Zinc and mushroom extracts, all which enhance macrophages, natural killer cells, and T cell subsets.
• Eat lots of garlic. Or, if you have an aversion to garlic, take Andrographis Plus, which is an antiviral supplement.
• Wash your hands frequently.

So, if you remember to do all this AND eat/live organically where possible, we reckon you’ll not only survive this little hiccup, but live happily and healthily through the next round of ‘pandemics’ as well…

Pssst, if you’re a UK dweller, the wait for Dr. Frank Lipman’s amazing new tome, Spent: End Exhaustion and Feel Great Again - the book that will in fact change your life and potentially make you very popular with any friends, family and total strangers you choose to bestow it upon - is almost over.

And, lest you forget/have no time to trundle down to a book shop, why not register to reserve a copy now on Cult Beauty. That way, you’ll get it before everyone else and, more importantly, they’ll do the leg work!

Check out the fancy pea-green cover that’s just for special British people. Nice, huh?

Falling asleep on the job is at best frowned upon and at worst grounds for sacking. But, it looks like, as with most other aspects of our lives, we have become too far removed from natural, organic life cycles, for our own good. We always mock the Mediterraneans for their lax attitudes to afternoon work but according to new sleep research, they have it spot on.

Just look at animals. They don’t sleep for 8 hours and then stay up for 16 hours straight. They prowl around a bit, eat a bit, sleep a bit, and onto the next prowl. So, why do we think our bodies want to do something completely different? It’s just like restorative exercise (as pointed out by Dr. Frank Lipman in Spent): like other animals, we are designed to expend energy and then rest before we expend any more. And, real rest - ie. sleep - actually recharges our brains making us more productive than if we power on through until nighttime.

Contrary to popular belief, sleepiness in the early afternoon is not related to eating a big lunch, but rather our natural circadian rhythms kicking in. We are programmed to feel most sleep between 2am and 4am and between 1pm and 3pm and we lose reaction time, memory, coordination, mood and alertness during those periods.

However, there is more to napping than just putting your head down, apparently. Sleep too much - and at the worng time for your physiology - and you could wake feeling worse than before, like you’ve been drugged. But get it right and you’ll improve your concentration and memory skills, as well as your mood and you are less likely to pile on the pounds - not getting enough sleep is a sure fire way to weight gain because it triggers the release of Grehlin, an appetite-stimulating hormone, released mostly by the stomach.

Check out the Guardian article to find out what kind of nap you should be having.

Log onto www.sophytoorganics.com (or www.sophytoorganics.co.uk if you are in the UK) NOW to see the newly revamped site. It’s awesome, if we do say so ourselves. You can see what respectable doctor folk - such as the acclaimed Dr. Frank Lipman - think about our Brit organic skin care, learn more about why you should use SOPHYTO (or at least an organic skin care range of some sort over the usual paraben-laden stuff most of us grew up on) and kick off with a FREE tailored skin care prescription from a professional Bio Medical Esthetician. And lots, lots more…

Dr. Lipman with Lauren Bush and Ellen Gustafson, and with his daughter Alison and friend, Karen Sinclair Drake, Paul Drake and wife Janice, while Donna Karan meets Angelique Kidjo

Having Donna Karan as a friend must come in super handy when you’ve got a book launch (not that she’s not lovely all the rest of the time too, I’m sure!). So, when she offered to host the launch of Dr. Frank Lipman’s new book Spent at her Urban Zen centre in New York this week, he jumped at the chance, naturally. Guests included model Lauren Bush, not to mention Grammy Award winning Beninese singer/songwriter Angelique Kidjo, as well as Burcu Bimantes, Ludwig Kuttner, Nina Thurman, Peter Som, Andres Levin, Heidi Krupp, Ellen Gustafson, Oswald Mendez, Mark Gompertz… and, of course, SOPHYTO Organics founders Paul Drake and Karen Sinclair Drake, two of Frank’s biggest fans.

As well as getting copies of the miraculous red book, guests were also treated to little healthy chocolate cupcakes, which went down very well with an avo smoothie or two, I’m told…

Click here and here to see more pics and thoughts about the event.

Spentmd.com - the website that accompanies Dr. Frank Lipman’s brand new “life bible” - has just gone live. It’s packed with bite-sized chunks of info on what ‘Spent Syndrome’ is, why we get it and what we need to overcome it.

For example, you may be suffering from up to 11 different imbalances in your body - acid/alkali, hormonal, mitochondrial, digestive… each one of them contributing to making you feel unwell. The simple solution to these and other ills is to rid your body of such burdens, but radical dietary changes could leave you feeling even worse. So, Dr. Lipman’s step-by-step approach is designed to help you detox, while ensuring your body still gets all the nutrients and support it needs to function optimally.

If you’re in a particularly bad way the 7-day Detox (and accompanying kit) might be a good way to kick start a year of better health. You can also buy all the supplements Dr. Lipman recommends in Spent - the book version - to aid your recovery. I’ve been taking the Metagenics Glutagenics formula for some time now and it really is the best way to strengthen a weak gut (I’ve also had positive responses from friends on its hangover-curing powers!). These formulas aren’t cheap but buying the kits from spentmd.com does at least guarantee you 20% off the individual RRPs.

My favourite aspect of the site is the exercise demonstrations. As someone in constant pain pretty much all over, I’m always interested in possible (non-medicative) solutions, and there’s a whole section on Release Exercises designed to help achy breaky people like me overcome these limiting pains. Yes, they do hurt… a lot, in my case - especially the ones involving tennis balls! But, no pain no gain and all that. I just spent an hour going through all of them and so far I’ve just become more aware of what a bad way my back is in! But, I figure if I do a few every morning, and then the Restorative Exercises in the evening, I could make considerable improvements. What’s so great is that each stretch is explained with easy-to-follow instructions and photos so you can keep the computer near while you do them and keep checking to make sure you’re on the right track.

Plus, unlike most yoga classes you may come across, these poses and stretches (based on Iyengar yoga) are designed for people of a weaker constitution so they don’t expend too much energy while still doing you good!

The recipe section is another treasure trove of useful info. Having told you what not to keep in your cupboards, Dr. Lipman has called upon his culinary-minded cohorts to whip up some nutritious and delicious menu options - breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, sides… he’s got everything covered. And, we’ve been promised regular recipe updates going forward, too.

So, spentmd.com - check it out. It might just make your day. Don’t believe me? Well maybe the testimonials page, will convince you… Donna Karen, Kevin Bacon, Gwyneth Paltrow… Frank has helped them all, with these same simple solutions.

Although, if you’re are thinking of having a look, be prepared, as you may be scrolling around for a while so probably not something to get into if you’re meant to be on your way out…

If you’ve already given up on the New Year’s pledge to exercise more because it’s so damn cold and all you want to do at the end of the day is head home and get warm, fret not - there is another way! A little bird just told me that last week she joined an online yoga centre and it’s totally changed her life.

Myyogaonline.com is an assortment of yoga, pilates and meditation classes taken by different instructors, for all manner of ages and abilities. You join up for a small monthly fee - $9.95 (or 33 cents a day!) - and then you can log on as much as you want and join in all the classes, as and when you wish.

Unlike regular exercise videos, with myyogaonline.com there are so many classes to choose from, you can literally do a different one every day and not repeat any of them for months! So you’re less likely to get bored and slack off. Clever, huh?

As Dr. Frank Lipman says in his new book Spent, simple yoga poses and meditations are the perfect kinds of ‘restorative exercise’ that can not only reduce pain and stiffness, but also help maintain constant levels of energy, without wearing us out and draining our resources like slogging away on a treadmill every day might do.

Myyogaonline.com - check it out. It’s much cheaper than gym membership and you can do it in the comfort of your own home without anyone showing you up! Plus, there are loads of instructional videos to make sure you are doing the postures correctly. You can ask experts for their advice on all manner of health/exercise-related topics and if you’re not yet convinced, why not sign up for the free newsletter and get a taster class to see if it might be your bag…?