I’ve read some inspiring running books lately so I thought I’d share my favourite 3.

• ‘Born to Run’ by Christoper McDougall.  A little obvious this one but it is truly inspiring whether you subscribe to the barefoot running school of thought or not.  It’s a lovely mix of travel, adventure and running.  Well written and the only book I’ve finished and then read again immediately from cover to cover.
• ‘Ultra Marathon Man’ by Dean Karnazes.  Regardless of what you think of Dean you’ve got to applaud the man’s achievements.  This book covers his humble beginnings right through to the Badwater and Western States races.  An easy to read and quickly devoured book.
• ‘How to Run’ by Paula Radcliffe.  I’m cheating here a little as I only got this book yesterday and haven’t finished it.  It’s a coffee table book with loads of illustrations and beautiful looking rather than the word heavy paperbacks of the other 2 books in my list.  It covers everything from goal setting, choosing the right shoes to how to become a successful marathoner.

So, if you’ve lost your running mojo, pop along to your local bookstore and get inspired!

Palm oil is an ingredient in many of our packaged/processed foods. It is not healthy and it is responsible for the habitat destruction of the Sumatran Orangutan, Sumatran tiger & Asian rhinoceros and could ultimately be responsible for their extinction.

Palm oil is high in saturated fat and is used in everything from biscuits, soap, diesel and biofuels – it’s even a component of napalm!

The palm oil plantations in South East Asia are responsible for widespread destruction of the environment as they rip out the natural rainforests and peat bogs and replace them with mile after mile of palm oil plantations.  Research has shown that palm oil can cause heart disease and increase cholesterol levels.  There really is no good news in palm oil.

There is a campaign known as RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) which was launched in 2001 to look at sustainable ways to produce palm oil and some big names such as Tesco have signed up to it.  The RSPO is a weak initiative with little influence on the main issues just giving lip service to the green issues – companies that have signed up to it are still buying their palm oil from suppliers directly responsible for deforestation.

Yet palm oil is everywhere.  You cannot even be sure if you are eating it as some companies just list it as ‘vegetable oil’ on their labels.  There are 2 things you can do to help stop this right now;

1. Read the packaging of food items (and personal hygiene items) and stop buying anything with palm oil as an ingredient.  Let any the supermarket customer services department know that you’ve stopped buying any own brand products which contain palm oil.
2. Join Greenpeace’s campaign against the palm oil industry

Together we can make a difference but only if we care enough to act.  Fingers crossed we can help the animals and forests of South East Asia and improve our health at the same time!