The Big Life Podcast

Douglas Kruger is the author of eight books on business and wealth creation, including the highly acclaimed 'Virus Proof Your Small Business'. He is a business coach and multiple award-winning speaker, with clients including senior management at companies like BMW, Liberty and HP.  Douglas's thought-leadership ideas have been featured repeatedly on CNBC Africa and he has been published in Forbes and Entrepreneur magazines. He is also the host of the popular YouTube channel called 'From Amateur to Expert' which has nearly 84,000 subscribers. In this episode, we explore the practical things you can do to help your business survive the COVID-19 crisis as well as some of the principles of wealth creation.

In this episode, we are turning the spotlight on vitamin D and what we need to know about it. Vitamin D is known as the sunshine vitamin because we synthesise this important vitamin from exposure to the sun, and we also derive some from our diet too. Vitamin D deficiency is so widespread these days with an estimated one billion people across the world with low vitamin D levels. There is an increasing amount of research that shows a link between a deficiency of this hormone-like vitamin to numerous diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, and metabolic disorders including diabetes. In this episode, we take a closer look at vitamin D, it's health benefits, measuring your vitamin D levels, supplementation and safety guidelines.

Aligning your goals and values gives you a bigger 'why' for achieving those goals. There are more compelling reasons and you are more 'fired up' to take consistent, daily action in order to move towards your goals. You'll also enjoy the process more which will help you stay motivated and to work around obstacles as they arise, helping you to achieve your goals faster. In this podcast, we are looking at how to align your values and goals to give you the best chance of success.

In this episode, we are talking about diet and nutrition and our guest is Matt Lovell. Matt is a performance nutrition consultant and has worked with clients such as the English Rugby team, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City Football team, as well as the British Olympic team, and Georgia National Rugby Team. Matt also works with individuals from all walks of life with clients, both past and present, including Vic Wild - Olympic Gold Medalist, Jodie Taylor - international footballer. Arnold Oborotov - professional kickboxer. Phoebe Robinson-Galvin - professional actor and stunt performer and also Ed Skrein - Hollywood actor.  In this episode, Matt is talking to us about his journey into the world of nutritional coaching and his experience with some of the World's biggest sporting names. Matt also provides some tips and advice on what is important in terms of nutrition, training performance and physique transformation as well as the common pitfalls to avoid. 

Despite the rapid advances in medical science in the last 100 years, there is no effective vaccine or antiviral drug to prevent or cure the common cold. ​Since ancient times, extracts from various herbal products have been used to reduce symptoms of the common cold. ​In more recent times, we see various vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements being touted as a means to either prevent colds or reduce the symptoms. Can we really prevent and treat the common cold with nutritional supplements such as vitamin C, zinc or Echinacea? In this episode, we take a closer look at the evidence and learn about the most promising nutritional supplements that can help to prevent and treat the common cold.

The Mediterranean diet has long been considered to be one of the world's healthiest dietary patterns for its benefits on cardiovascular and heart health. It is the combination of the traditional cooking styles of the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea from Spain to the Middle East and it is influenced by the cultural, historical, social, and environmental aspects of the Mediterranean region. In this episode, we'll be taking a closer look at the health benefits of the Mediterranean Diet, the research that supports these health benefits, and how we can adopt a Mediterranean style diet into our daily lives.

Claire Dorotik-Nana is the author of the book LEVERAGE: The Science of Turning Setbacks into Springboards and she also writes the popular blog Leveraging Adversity on Psych Central. Claire is a licensed marriage and family therapist with over 16 years experience and she specializes in optimal experiences and positive self-growth. Claire has had to deal with a horrendous ordeal earlier in her life which she talks about in this show. However, she chose to make the best of her life. Since then, Claire has completed over fifty marathons and frequently competes in ultra running events.  Claire has also written over fifteen continuing education courses for the Zur Institute and the International Sports Science Association on the topics of therapy, running and transformation. In this episode, Claire shares her story about how she struggled with her own adversity and how she has helped many individuals and families realise that growth can result from setbacks by leveraging their adversity.

In this episode, we are in conversation with Kev McNamara from "Get Out of Your Comfort Zone". Kev is an author, entrepreneur, natural nutrition advocate, a long-time practitioner of meditation, and a keen swimmer and runner. Kev has had to deal with an incredible amount of adversity in his life, and it's fantastic that he lives every day with such a positive mindset, helping others to live a healthier, more fulfilling life. In this show, you'll hear Kev talk about overcoming prostate cancer naturally with nutrition and meditation. He also talks about the tragedy of losing his daughter and his mindset for managing adversity. Kev's story, while very sad and emotional at times, is also incredibly inspiring and uplifting.

In this show, we are focusing in on environment and health and we're taking a closer look at the health benefits of going to the beach. You may have heard about negative ions and many of the reported health claims about these. There is a higher density of negative ions at the beach caused by the waves crashing onto the shore, and these are claimed to be responsible for many health benefits. We'll be asking the question: "Do negative ions really have health benefits or is it just media hype?" We'll also take a closer look at how the sea air and the sounds of nature can benefit our health and the science behind this.