Helena Popovic - Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery

Sally Obermeder and Ryan Phelan from Channel 7’s The Daily Edition asked Dr Helena to provide some answers. Here is a transcript of their conversation.
 
1. Why do we eat in response to stress?
When we’re stressed our adren...

Following my recent Health-e-Byte, many people have asked how they can best help their children and grandchildren avoid comfort eating. Here are some practical suggestions.

Make mealtimes as relaxed and stress-free as possible. I know this can be a cha...

The average person extracts 6 Calories from eating a medium-sized piece of raw celery. If you cook that same piece of celery, you begin to break down the cellulose (indigestible fibre) and end up extracting 5 times more Calories—about 30. And depend...

Whenever I feel disappointed or encounter a painful or difficult situation, I play the Game of Gripes to Gifts. I ask myself: Even though I’m not feeling positive about this, what could be the GIFT in it? In other words:
What does this remind me to...

Even though eating the recommended amount of fibre helps prevent diabetes, if you have long-standing diabetes (usually over 10 years), your stomach can become less effective at emptying due to a condition known as ‘gastroparesis’. This occurs ...

A study published in the Journal of Neuroscience in May 2018 found that differences in size and structure of specific regions of the brain’s prefrontal cortex predicted a person’s ability to resist temptation and to make healthy food choices. ...

Did you experience stress or arguments at the dinner table when you were growing up?
Did your parents offer you your favourite foods when you were hurt or upset?
These are two major factors contributing to comfort eating as an adult. How?
Processe...

If there was a method or system that you could apply quickly and easily to shed excess body fat without dieting, deprivation, denial or discipline, would you be interested in giving it a go?
If you could learn how to attain and maintain your ideal health...

The word protein comes from the Greek ‘proteios’ meaning ‘primary’ or ‘first rank’ because proteins are an indispensable nutrient in the human diet. They are a vital component of every cell in the body and have many dif...

Recall a time when you succeeded at something or overcame a challenge against the odds. A time when you excelled at something or won a victory you didn’t expect to win. It could be mastering a fear of water and learning to swim. It could be passing ...