I hope some of you managed to catch last night’s BBC1 documentary “Britain’s Really Disgusting Food”. Alex Riley(sounding a lot like Louis Theroux) set out to unearth the horrors in meaty snacks. Although its nothing we havent seen before I think its a worthy subject to keep looking at.
There is still a huge issue over cheap poultry and meat for those on severely restricted budgets – Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fernley Whittingstall have covered this in their excellent campaigns and TV programmes. One side of the argument is to keep producing cheap meat with connective tissue and all the grissle, additives and chemicals because of consumer demand or stop it completely. Stopping it completely means that there would need to be a clear message from the FSA about the minimum amount of meat/poultry in a product. It is still legal to have 10% chicken in a bought chicken kiev. Perhaps that level should be increased to at least 70%. Obviously the best way to steer clear of all this is to make it yourself.
The sad thing about these reconstituted meat products is that they actually dont taste too bad (as seen at the Henley food festival) but thats the additives and flavours added to disguise what is essentially the left over pieces of the carcass. The thought of eating canned meat makes me physically sick but then its served an entire two generations of people who clearly like it and eat it.
Do you buy one free range chicken that hasnt been injected with water and use every bit of it and get as many meals out of it as you can, or buy the plumped up two for one creatures with hock burns and hormones? Its a chicken and egg situation – if the supermarkets stopped selling this stuff, the public wouldnt buy it and if the public stopped buying it the supermarket would stop selling it.
Moving on to another tv programme – Delia Through the Decades, a wonderful nostalgic look at the rise of the Queen of Cooking. Although not a huge fan of her recipes (she’s always been a bit domestic science for me) she has done more for British cooking than anyone in the last 30 years. Do you remember when supermarkets ran out of cranberries!!!!! Wonderful stuff.
I see in the papers today a suggestion to ban butter. I really think its time to leave poor old butter alone. I was bought up to believe a scrape of butter was better for you than hydrogenated margarine. In fact in the 1970’s my father worked for a very large company that made a lot of margarine. On visiting the factories and getting inside no-how he always used to joke to us that it was made of gorilla fat and not to touch it!
My grandmother and great grandmother always had butter in their diet and in their cooking. What they didnt have and what my family dont eat now is REFINED WHITE SUGAR. We need to look at our overall insulin load with heart disease and not just cholesterol, but homocysteine as well.
Heart disease has boomed since the increase in processed food and decrease in exercise. Also with this comes the increase in statin prescriptions. If you don’t want to take statins, do try changing your diet first but do get the right advice because you will be wasting your time otherwise. Many people try and lower their cholesterol by themselves and generally fail as you do need to know what you are doing – so many cut out fat and wonder why their cholesterol has stayed the same. The best cholesterol drop to date I have seen through diet change was in 2008 when a man came to see me terrified after some blood test results showed very high cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL (bad cholesterol). He also had high blood pressure. He knew he was a walking time bomb and had an appointment with a cardiologist about six weeks after he saw me. He was also terrified of taking drugs. After our consultation I had no idea whether he could do what I suggested. It was a tough regime as he had only weeks to get his levels under control. I wasnt convinced of a good enough outcome for the consultant not to put him on several drugs. Six weeks later he called me and said he had been so scared that he had followed what I suggested to the letter and done even more than I asked. His results were astonishing. All his blood tests came back in the normal range, except his LDL although it was lower and his blood pressure was also normal. (His cholesterol dropped from 10 to 4.8 – his triglycerides from 5 to 2, his blood pressure from 170/94 to 130/70, his homocysteine from 15 to 4, he raised his HDL from 1 to 3). Not bad going – its amazing what fear will make someone do!
If you would like to try and reduce your cholesterol naturally, do get in touch.
I got into a heavyweight discussion the other night with a great friend of mine and we got talking about our life’s purpose. Do we need one or do we already think we have one? After much deliberation my friend conceded that he didnt set out to gain a life purpose but as a life coach was thrilled with the direction his life was going. In guiding others towards their goal, he was reaching his without even thinking about it. Which led to my life purpose. Again, I never had one. I never dreamed when I left school I’d be doing the job I do today – but I guess thats where most of us lie in our life journey.
I continually strive towards a position of balance – hopefully a voice of common sense. Two quotes came to mind as we sat and discussed this further:
“Most men would rather die than think. And they do.” Bertram Russell
and
“Be open minded but not so open minded that your brains fall out” Groucho Marx
I aim to lie somewhere between the two! In trying to achieve balance in my life and in my job, I am always leaning towards the personalization of health and not the assembly line medicine approach. The very fact that everyone responds differently shows me what unique individuals we are. The general response with people is reflected in their desire to be thought of as an individual and not as a figure or a number swallowing a pill.
The purpose of me…. I hope is to set people on the path towards full health and listen to what these people have to say and of overall importance is to question…always!
Taken from this month’s newsletter, just out – to subscribe and receive the newsletter, click here.
The outward signs of health problems
As a complete unique individual you will have completely unique individual traits in not only your personality but also how you look. Starting with the eyes (often referred to as the windows of the soul) here are some symptoms that people suffer from and what they could (but not necessarily) mean:
Eyes Glassy-eyed: too much adrenaline, exhaustion, prescription or recreational drug use Bloodshot: lack of vitamin B, tiredness, allergy, infection Itchy/dry: allergy, vitamin B deficiency or lack of tears (sjorgrens syndrome) Dark circles: tiredness, anaemia, parasites (often seen in children) Allergic shiners: usually seen in children – an allergy to a food or inhalant Photophobia: lack of vitamin B, migraine/headache sufferer Sunken eyes: dehydration/exhaustion Pallor under eyes: anaemia
Nails White spots on nail: calcium and/or zinc deficiency (often seen after an illness) Pitted nails: can indicate partial or total hair loss Ridges: vertical can indicate general poor health and horizontal can occur after severe
stress
Pulse Very slow: i.e. if under 50 bpm and little/no exercise done it can be braccycardia – a sign of hypothyroidism Fast/irregular pulse: heart conditions/anxiety
Skin Spots: there are many reasons for spots or acne. Usually where they are on the face can give a clue, e.g. around the chin and hairline is usually hormonal. Rashes: can indicate an allergy or fungal infection Dry and scaly: dehydrated, lack of vitamin A, lack of EFA’s (essential fatty acids)
Skin colour: Lemon Yellow: lack of vitamin B12, pernicious anaemia White: anaemia, lack of zinc Orange: can indicate liver problems, jaundice Dark Pink/Red: high blood pressure/heart problems
Athletes foot: fungal infection Easy bruising: can indicate a lack of vitamin C Dandruff: usually a fungal infection Psoriasis: stress, lack of EFA’s, allergy Eczema: stress, lack of EFA’s, allergy Vitiligo: autoimmune conditions/lack of PABA’s
Lips Cracked: lack of essential fatty acids or vitamin B Sores at the corners: lack of vitamin B3 Dry: lack of EFA’s
Mouth Dry mouth: dehydrated, medication or lack of saliva (sjorgrens syndrome) Ulcers on tongue: run down or allergy White coating round the gums: oral candida Bad breath: tooth decay or bad digestion
Your personality
Although there is no scientific basis whatsoever, I love the idea of the very old practice of humors. Ancient Greek philosophers such as Hippocrates (400 BC) and Galen (140/150 AD) classified four types of “humors” in people. Each type was believed to be due to an excess of one of four bodily fluids, corresponding to their character. The personalities were termed “humors”. All diseases and disabilities resulted from an excess or deficit of one of these four humors. The four humors were identified as black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. Greeks and Romans, and the later Muslim and Western European medical establishments that adopted and adapted classical medical philosophy, believed that each of these humors would wax and wane in the body, depending on diet and activity. When a patient was suffering from a surplus or imbalance of one fluid, then his or her personality and physical health would be affected. This theory was closely related to the theory of the four elements: earth, fire, water and air – earth was predominantly present in the black bile, fire in the yellow bile, water in the phlegm, and all four elements were present in the blood. Theophrastus then developed a set of characters based on the humors. Those with too much blood were sanguine. Those with too much phlegm were phlegmatic. Those with too much yellow bile were choleric, and those with too much black bile were melancholic. Here are the general personality types of those humors:
Sanguine
A person who is sanguine is generally light-hearted, fun loving, a people person, loves to entertain, spontaneous, and confident. However they can be arrogant, cocky, and indulgent. He/She can be day-dreamy and off-task to the point of not accomplishing anything and can be impulsive, possibly acting on whims in an unpredictable fashion. The humour of Sanguine was once commonly treated with leeches.
Choleric
A person who is choleric is a doer. They have a lot of ambition, energy, and passion, and try to instil it in others. They can dominate people of other temperaments, especially phlegmatic types. Many great charismatic military and political figures were cholerics. On the negative side, they are easily angered or bad-tempered.
Melancholic
A person who is a thoughtful ponderer has a melancholic disposition. Often very kind and considerate, melancholics can be highly creative – as in poetry and art – but also can become overly pre-occupied with the tragedy and cruelty in the world, thus becoming depressed. A melancholic is also often a perfectionist, being very particular about what they want and how they want it in some cases. This often results in being dissatisfied with one’s own artistic or creative works and always pointing out to themselves what could and should be improved. They are often loners and most times choose to stay alone and reflect.
Phlegmatic
While phlegmatic are generally self-content and kind, their shy personality can often inhibit enthusiasm in others and make themselves lazy and resistant to change. They are very consistent, relaxed, rational, curious, and observant, making them good administrators and diplomats. Like the sanguine personality, the phlegmatic has many friends. However the phlegmatic is more reliable and compassionate; these characteristics typically make the phlegmatic a more dependable friend.
As I said, the humors have no scientifically proven basis, and are out of favour now. Like an astrology chart though, part of the thought process does have a sense of… something.
Type A and B personalities
If we bring things up to date slightly, our 21st century equivalent is the Type A and Type B personality, first suggested by Meyer Friedman, an American cardiologist, who noticed in the 1940s that the chairs in his waiting room got worn out from the edges. He hypothesized that his patients were driven, impatient people, who sat on the edge of their seats when waiting. They labelled these people “Type A” personalities. Type A personalities are workaholics, always busy, driven, somewhat impatient, and so on. Type B personalities, on the other hand are laid back and easy going. “Type A personality” has found its way into our general vocabulary. Since its inception, the theory has been widely popularized and also widely criticised for its scientific shortcomings. It is thought to be that Type As tend to get more fatigue syndromes (the yuppie burn out so common in the ’80s and ’90s), and also heart disease, than Type Bs.
Type A can be described as impatient, time-conscious, concerned about their status, highly competitive, ambitious, business-like, aggressive, having difficulty relaxing; and are sometimes disliked by individuals with Type B personalities for the way that they’re always rushing. They are often high-achieving workaholics who multi-task, drive themselves with deadlines, and are unhappy about delays. Because of these characteristics, Type A individuals are often described as “stress junkies.”
Type B individuals, in contrast, are described as patient, relaxed, and easy-going, generally lacking any sense of urgency. Because of these characteristics, Type B individuals are often described as apathetic and disengaged.
Whatever your personality, there are certain traits individual to you that make you unique. That is why for me no one is ever treated the same. It’s extraordinary how two people with two similar health problems have completely different symptoms, coping strategies and outlooks and that’s why I love my job so much! Again there is no scientific basis on constitutions but we use them in everyday language, i.e. he has the stomach of an ox. There are also certain types of people that are forever strong – Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill showed the same ‘never show weakness’ mentality. Churchill lived into his nineties and smoked and drank, and I look at people like the actress June Brown (Dot Cotton), 81 years old, who smokes and drinks and gets away with it whilst still working full time. For me these people have strong constitutions and good genes, but maybe its more simple than that – perhaps they have a more healthy way of coping with stress than others (more of that in another newsletter!).
I watched a very moving documentary last night about a young guy called Christopher Sands who could not stop hiccuping. Initially I thought it would be a bit of a joke but it was far from that. A talented musician who had not had a girlfriend for three years, who’s life seemed paralysed and trapped in a constant hiccuping nightmare. Vomiting, sleepless nights, difficulty breathing, no social life had been going on for nearly 3 years. Give him his due he had searched and searched for a cure, seen may consultants and doctors and tried alternative remedies – none of which worked.
Cleverly he was then spotted on youtube by a tokyo news channel and became something of a star. An all expensives trip to Tokyo found him having an MRI scan – something which doctors in the UK didnt think was necessary. The MRI showed what he originally thought might be the problem, a small tumour in his brain stem.
Returning to the UK, he successfully came through a very dangerous operation to remove part of the tumour. A third was left as it was deemed too dangerous to continue and may have killed him or given him a stroke. He recovered enough to attend his sisters wedding and the hiccups eventually disappeared.
Sadly I think the lesson to be learned here is never be afraid to get a second opinion, if he had had an MRI in the UK, it would have been spotted earlier.
Which leads me to something that happened to me about 15 years ago. I was a bright lemon yellow colour, had pins and needles in my feet and was losing my touch sensation, and getting anxiety for no reason. I had no idea what was wrong with me and in those days knew nothing about health and the internet hadnt arrived. I got shunted from one consultant to another and MS was nearly diagnosed. I was even sent for a psychiatric evaluation by the neurologist. It continued for over a year, until a friend told me these were the very symptoms of pernicious anemia. I told the consultant who laughed at me and said it was highly unlikely. I then found a GP who did a Vitamin B12 blood test on me and my levels were 100 (reference range (160-1000)). I had an injection within the hour and in three hours I was feeling back to normal – all symptoms vanished. I still have these injections to date – I dont have pernicious anaemia but I do have problems absorbing the vitamin. I spoke to the consultant who apologised but said it was quite rare. Interestingly enough I see it a lot of the time in my patients with bowel disorders. This condition can often go hand in hand where B12 is not absorbed properly despite there being intrinsic factor.
So if you do have odd symptoms that can’t be explained don’t give up, you will get there in the end!
So it turns out after all that there was a slight overestimation of the severity of the H1N1 virus. We now have £1 billion worth of vaccines to get rid of – isnt that an obscene amount of money? Most of the GP’s/nurses/consultants I spoke to during this panic were far more cautious about giving people this vaccine and it turns out rightly so. Scare tactics like these pushed by drug companies are obviously not swaying the general public – we are not as stupid as they think, and I suspect will be very sceptical next time another “pandemic” draws near.
The British are renowned for their stiff upper lip in times of crisis, this has slightly waned in the last 20 years whereby we now show our emotions more readily. However scaring the british people with fear and terror and over sensationalising news just is not working – thank goodness. Common sense will out all the time!
For those of you still using sweeteners – you may like to watch this you tube clip.
I would be interested in any comments you have to make either for or against it.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n-gA0wvi84
I’ve just finished my january newsletter which will be winging its way to you in a couple of days. For february though the theme will be nutrition myths debunked, so if any of you would like questions on this topic answered I will try and incorporate them into the newsletter e.g Eating after 8pm makes you put on weight.
I try not to be too controversial in my blog and am always leaning towards a sense of balance. However I will not stop asking uncomfortable questions which leads me to the Horizon programme – Diet – A horizon guide. Two thirds of this programme was brilliant and completely spot on with the incoming industrialisation of food after the war which led to quantity over quality food being produced. Nutrients were stripped out, pesticides used as increasingly it looked like we would run out of food unless we produced it in this way. My problem came with the astonishing lack of accountability that this kind of farming has had on not only our food industry but also our waistline. I guess they dont want to put the blame anywhere so its now down to the consumer to help themselves. The huge rise in saturated fat and sugar, and in particularly in the US where cheap corn syrup is used to sweeten so much of their food has a lot to blame for this greedy society – because much of it not only changes our brain chemistry but much of it can also be highly addictive. So who is to blame for the problem? Interesting question? Perhaps a little of both – industrial farming and the individual certainly and yet GlaxosmithKline was then interviewed as the saviour of the future in producing a drug that could help it all go away. I’m glossing over the finer details here but basically arent the groups of people who assisted in the problem in the first place now giving us a solution to the problem they created.
It is crucial to remember that it is not how much you eat but what you eat. We are constantly being brainwashed the other way. The very obese people I see who say I eat nothing and put on a pound…… Well thats true, they hardly eat anything – but what they eat can be horrific. Generally when they eat much more of the right food the weight drops off. Let me give you an example.
Last year I saw last a woman of 5 ft 2″ who weighed 19 stone. She was obese. Her daily diet consisted of 8 black coffees, 2 chocolate bars, a bowl of cornflakes and a sandwich – she never ate supper. Her calorie intake was actually quite low. Taking her off black coffee alone made her shed 2 stone (yes! and I’m not making this up). She was retaining fluid (she drank NO water). Eating five small meals a day – high in omega 3, fibre, and low GI, organic and pesticide free gave her a 7 stone loss in weight in a year. My point is that she had tried every single diet you can think of, every single diet that promised so much and failed to deliver and then…..
she stopped dieting and lost the weight.
Going back to the horizon programme where obese women were being filmed as saying they ate nothing and yet couldnt lose the weight – I’m sorry but I would have loved to have seen a weeks food diary of what these women were eating. People are individuals but still many have no concept of how to lose weight and its different for every single person I see. Many obese people actually are suffering from malnutrition and by this I mean if you test their mineral and vitamin status its poor, so often breaking down food doesnt happen so readily. I’ve even seen scurvy in a 19 yr old boy and he was a normal weight.
To lose weight you need to ditch the additives, the pesticides, the sweeteners, the black coffee, the foods that make you bloat, assess other health problems you have, balance your hormones, remove ALL processed food, stabilize your blood sugar, increase your good fat levels, understand labelling, get rid of intolerances or allergies you have, get your thyroid tested….and so on…
quite a feat to do this by yourself unless you really know what you are doing, which is why so many people fail!
