Wholefoods and macrobiotic chef Holly Davis, was busy preserving and fermenting long before kimchi made its way onto restaurant menus, and kombucha became the drink of choice for health nuts. The co-founder of one of Sydney’s most successful wholefoods outlets Iku, Holly has just published her second book Ferment – a homage to her ethos that one of the most primary relationships in our lives is what we nourish our bodies with. And if you’re not enjoying it, then you’re simply ripping yourself off.

Meditation, mindfulness, yoga – the chatter around all this curated relaxation can often leave one feeling, frankly, stressed. And up until recently admitting to being a meditator branded you as being one of those ‘spiritual’ types. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but for others seeking a low-tech, now scientifically backed way to help manage the stresses of life and improve their emotional health, meditation could be just the thing.

I’ve just eaten a litre of vanilla ice cream, a packet of chocolate biscuits, a frozen cheesecake and seven dried figs in less than 40 minutes. But what’s triggered this lack of control, this most recent escape into such short lived anaesthesia? Well, my laptop suddenly gobbled up the two thousand words I’d just written for this article and emotional eating has been a big part of my life for the past 35 years.

She seemed trim, together and still beautiful. But then she hit me with the clanger – ‘I’m actually in my mid-70s. How did I get so old? It just happened. I lost six years of my life.’

‘It was my mother,’ she said. ‘She went into high care and lived until she was 96. I lost the years, visiting daily, spoon-feeding her meals, and staying on top of her myriad medical issues. Then before I knew it I too was getting on in years.’

Women are often viewed as ‘incomplete’ if they are single. Or lonely. And some women are. Our friends panic and scramble desperately to set us up with the first single person that comes to mind. But for others, a divorce or separation leaves us uninspired to jump on the dating after fifty merry-go-round. Tamera Grieshaber discovered that contrary to popular belief, she didn’t need a ‘special someone’ to be happy — and wants other women over fifty to realise we are each ourselves at the core of our own happiness.