While the reasons for young girls and women being locked out of education are varied and complex, many of us don't consider the obvious links between health and education.

Ticks and Stars are perceived as "rewards" and people interpret them as being "healthy". Why not just get rid of this system altogether? It detracts from the real message, which is that people should be eating whole, fresh, unprocessed foods.

Suddenly, everyone is asking the question: "Should I become a vegetarian?" In my view, the answer is 'no' -- unless of course you choose to do so for personal reasons, but not from a health perspective.

When someone said to me recently that he wouldn't ever become an organ donor because he was afraid that "the doctors would turn off my life support just to get my organs", I realised that not everyone had experiences that gave them my trust in modern medicine.

I now use flash sonar every day. I do it the same way I breathe, all the time and without too much conscious thought. While I still experience a small amount of anxiety at times, I can travel anywhere I need to or want to without assistance.

So, you want to lose weight. A gluten-free diet might be one that you haven't tried before, but does it result in true, long term weight loss, or will it just be another quick fix?

Hundreds of thousands of Australian children and teenagers are experiencing serious mental health issues, but many parents have no idea what is going on. But how many parents know the difference between normal adolescent behaviour and signs of serious distress?

Every time we accept the status quo of poor behavior, we are endorsing it. A strong leader should not only advise of behavior that is appropriate, they should embody it. They should be the person telling us that we don't tolerate bullying or harassment.

Our internal environment needs to be healthy to create new life. The human body is a delicate ecosystem performing millions of chemical reactions to make new cells, hormones and enzymes every minute.

We would be probably happy to hear our doctor had wielded power to get us into a much needed experimental trial, or an urgent theatre booking. However, were our doctor abusive to colleagues, we would have less reason to trust him or her.

Mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences give the community and its leaders a sense of getting tough on drugs. But put bluntly, there is no evidence that they have any impact on the availability of drugs in our streets.

With the recent media attention to crystal methamphetamine or "ice" and the increasing concerns about the most problematic substance -- alcohol, it may be that young people are drawn to think that some of the other party drugs are attractive due to the perception of them being less risky.

Scientific research is showing us that we have great cause for concern as to the heart health of women. Here's what we all need to know about women's heart disease.

There is a debate going on in Victoria about when it is acceptable to override the wishes of someone who has explicitly refused their consent for their identity and information to be shared. Or in other words -- when it is OK to break a privacy promise.

We're pretty good at talking about sport, work, the latest gadget, or the latest film but as men we need to get better at talking about the significant stuff going on in our lives -- things like losing a job, the breakdown of a relationship, a significant set back, or becoming a father for the first time.

I had a million thoughts running through my mind as I kissed Charlie goodbye on the evening of the 25th. Will I ever see him again? Will my liver come in time? Does he know how much I love him?