Archive for the 'Health' Category
“… “Suckers” reveals how alternative medicine can jeopardise the health of those it claims to treat, leaches resources from treatments of proven efficacy and is largely unaccountable and unregulated. In short, it is an industry that preys on human vulnerability and makes fools of us all. “Suckers” is a calling to account of a social and intellectual fraud; a bracing, funny and popular take on a global delusion.”
So says the write-up on Amazon.co.uk for Rose Shapiro’s “expose” on CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) and as soon as I spied this in my local library, it was a foregone conclusion I would have to read it.
Not for me the willing “blindness” which takes hold of some, keen to try out the latest therapies on the say-so of some fantastic marketing; as a natural beauty therapist, having trained originally as a holistic massage therapist, for me it is really important that I can experience the benefits of treatments that I offer, so that I can truly – hands on heart – give a brutally honest opinion.
The consumer’s sense of responsibility of Self seems to have dwindled over the past few years and yes, I too have trotted along to an “alternative” practitioner and hoped they would offer a magic prescription of some kind to banish my aches and pains, achieving miracles that my doctor has not been able to produce. So I celebrate what some would consider as a ‘character assassination’ of a broad spectrum of CAM treatments and therapies, as to my mind anything that gets us – as individuals – thinking and making rational decisions on all the knowledge we can find, has to be a good thing.
It has to be said that a fair proportion of Rose’s points left me reading with eyebrows raised … yet it also highlighted just how dangerous some therapies are. On page 148, I cried while reading how vulnerable patients had DIED from ‘chiropractic strokes’ after visiting chiropractors for what seems, in the scheme of things, relatively minor complaints.
Relatively few CAM treatments escape unscathed: acupuncture, TCM (traditional Chinese medicine), Chinese herbal medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, homeopathy, colour therapy, Vega testing, kinesiology and chiropractors are of notable mention. I really have no desire to give away the secrets of this book but do get hold of a copy and enjoy the read; it will either confirm to you that CAM is a load of rubbish or have you spitting feathers over how facts have been portrayed in relation to your preferred CAM treatment or health issue!
If you are really into expanding your mind and feel on shaky ground while considering how effective CAM treatments are in practice, then we highly recommend Dr Candace Pert’s “Molecules of Emotion”:
For more comments on Rose Shapiro’s “Suckers” book then you may be interested in this article from The Times: Suckers
Happy reading and do let us know what you thought of Suckers, too!
read comments (0)Eating for your chakra health
Author: Callie
Every Chakra colour – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet and indigo – relates to specific emotions, sounds, crystals and food.
As we all know, light is needed to give life to plants, so taking the energy of colourful foods into our bodies is a simple way to support and nourish your body and soul.
Here are some foods that relates to each chakra:
Root Chakra – beets, cherries, red peppers
Sacral Chakra – apricots, carrots, oranges.
Solar Plexus Chakra – bananas, lemons, yellow peppers.
Heart Chakra – avocado, cucumber, olives.
Throat Chakra – blueberries, plums, potato.
Brow Chakra – asparagus, eggplant, bilberries.
Crown Chakra – blackberries, purple broccoli, purple grapes
Meditation and deep guided relaxation techniques – such as the Art of Being Still – can help you to rebalance your chakras.
Vitamin D in the UK – are you getting enough?
Author: Callie
So much has been in the news over recent months about the lack of Vitamin D in our diet in the UK (and other geographical locations, of course!). This is one of the best articles we have read so far on the Vitamin D debate and would love to share this with you from The Fresh Network Blog …
Are YOU getting enough vitamin D?
In response to our two recent articles regarding vegan diets, several of you wrote to ask us whether you need to be concerned about vitamin D. The short answer on this is very simple if you live in the UK or anywhere with a similar climate: you need to have a plan in place for getting enough vitamin D, and that plan will need to involve supplementation.
Why? Because you won’t be getting enough from sun exposure year round, and if you are vegan and don’t consume foods fortified with D (read: processed foods) your dietary intake will be either zero or close to zero, meaning you are at even higher risk of deficiency than your non-vegan friends and family members.
Plant foods generally do not contain any vitamin D. The only exceptions are nettles and special mushrooms grown under ultraviolet light – other than that there is no vitamin D whatsoever in plant foods. The only other vegan foods that contain vitamin D are the fortified (i.e. cooked, processed) ones which list it on the ingredient label.
Ejaz wrote in to ask us whether three raw eggs a day would provide enough vitamin D. Although eggs do contain vitamin D, and they are often listed as a good source, one egg contains a mere 20 IU, so you would need to eat 20 eggs a day to reach even the widely-considered-to-be-inadequate RDA.
Milk isn’t a great source of vitamin D either, providing just 40 IU per 100ml. Fish is much better – for example, a 100g serving of salmon packs 360 IU. So it is possible to meet the basic RDA if you are eating fish, but unless you’re consuming vast quantities of it you won’t be getting close to the higher intake levels many scientists consider necessary for optimal health.
So why is it so hard to get enough vitamin D from food – even if you’re not vegan or vegetarian?
Because sunlight is the way nature intended us to get most if not all of our vitamin D.
As this article will show, that’s great if you live in Miami but not so great if you live in Manchester.
In the UK we don’t get enough of the kind of sunlight that causes our bodies to manufacture vitamin D under the skin. Only one kind of solar radiation does this: UV-B sunlight. While UV-A is present throughout the day, the amount of UV-B present has to do with the angle of the sun’s rays and at higher latitudes it’s present only (a) on the hottest, brightest summer days and (b) during the middle of the day.
Latitude is a measure of distance from the equator, either north or south. Humans evolved in the low latitudes of the tropics, an area of year-round UV-B sunlight. Latitudes higher than 30 degrees (both north and south) do not have sufficient UV-B sunlight, according to leading vitamin D experts (more on this shortly).
So what latitude is the UK at? Well, here’s the really bad news. It ranges from 50 to 58 with London at 51 and Manchester at 53. The US mainland is located between 25 and 47, so health seekers (and especially vegans) living in many parts of the US should consider supplementation, too.
Here’s a quick primer on latitudes and UV-B sunlight:
Latitudes with plentiful UV-B sunlight year round
Bali – 8
San Jose, Costa Rica – 9
Honolulu, Hawaii – 21
Miami – 25
Latitudes with insufficient UV-B sunlight 2+ months of the year
Cape Town – 33
Sydney – 33
Los Angeles – 34
Latitudes with insufficient UV-B sunlight 6+ months of the year
Madrid – 40
Rome – 41
New York City – 41
Paris – 48
London – 51
Manchester – 53
The effect of latitude on the skin’s ability to synthesize vitamin D is rarely mentioned in raw vegan circles. Many raw vegans in the UK believe it’s no problemo to get enough vitamin D from the sun regardless of the season; it’s simply a question of spending time every day outside in it, wearing not very much.
First of all, this is tricky to do if you have a 9 to 5 job or if you prefer not to be near-naked in sub-zero temperatures – two conditions which leave few of us standing. But even if you are one of the few who can and does get outside (a) for a prolonged period (b) wearing very little (c) during the middle of the day (d) most days, evidence suggests this will have little if any effect on your vitamin D levels during the colder, darker months.
Remember: where UV-B sunlight is not present, your skin cannot synthesize vitamin D. So let’s look at what the scientists say. It is the opinion of Harvard Medical School that, “Except during the summer months, the skin makes little if any vitamin D from the sun at latitudes above 37 degrees north or below 37 degrees south of the equator. People who live in these areas are at relatively greater risk for vitamin D deficiency.”
37! Remember, in the UK we’re at 50 to 58! Sultry Ibiza is at 38, sun-soaked Naples in southern Italy is at 40, and Cannes on France’s balmy Riviera is at 43. Yet Harvard Medical School is not the only credible authority saying that even these Mediterranean locations -much nearer the equator than us - don’t have the right kind of sunlight year round.
According to Krispin Sullivan, a certified nutritionist and vitamin D researcher: “In much of the US [...] six months or more during each year have insufficient UV-B sunlight to produce optimal D levels. In far northern or southern locations, latitudes 45 degrees and higher, even summer sun is too weak to provide optimum levels of vitamin D.”
Sullivan is among the vitamin D experts who say that 30 is the magic number when it comes to latitude and vitamin D production: if we are further from the equator than this, we won’t be meeting our D needs year round from sunlight alone.
Only a very small percentage of the world’s population lives further than 50 degrees from the equator, so it really is no exaggeration to call the UK a “far northern location” when it comes to sunlight and vitamin D synthesis.
To assume that the scientists are wrong and that we can meet our D needs from sunlight all year round is a high-risk approach considering how essential this nutrient is to our health. Supplementing for at least six months of the year is a good deal more conservative. If we don’t do this and we are vegan, we risk a period of six months or more each year when our intake of vitamin D is zero or very close to zero.
But hold on… If we get out enough during the summer, including a stint of sun worship on the beach in Benidorm, Barbados or Bali, can we make and store enough vitamin D to get us through a London winter – or, for that matter, a Los Angeles one?
Again, opinions in the scientific community differ, but within a fairly tight range, with some experts saying we can rely on tissue stores of vitamin D for only two weeks while others say that as long as we have adequate stores at the start of the “zero UV-B period”, our tissue stores will stand us in good stead for two months. So if you live in a location like Los Angeles, which has adequate UV-B sunlight for around 10 months of the year, it’s not essential to supplement during the coldest, darkest 2 months as long as you got enough sun exposure during the other months of the year.
What constitutes “enough”? This varies greatly from person to person. If you have very fair skin, as little as 10 minutes a day could do it, assuming you are exposing most of your skin to the midday sun (i.e. wearing a bathing suit). You’ll need substantially longer if you’re only exposing hands, arms and face, or if you’re in the sun outside of the 10am to 2pm period. If you have very dark skin it may take up to two hours (and, as above, longer if you’re in the sun outside of these hours, or fully clothed). Your body is quite limited in how much D it can produce each day so once you have reached this threshold (at which point you’ll see a pinkish tinge on your skin) more exposure won’t lead to more D production.
The most important facts to bear in mind are these: If you are vegan and you live in the UK or anywhere with a similar climate, unless you are supplementing during the October to March period, you will be running your vitamin D levels down lower and lower as that period progresses.
You may not show any obvious signs of D deficiency, but come December your levels are more likely than not to be lower than needed for optimal health, and come March the situation will be worse still.
So we agree with the advice of John Jacob Cannell, M.D., executive director of the US-based Vitamin D Council: “It appears to us that the best thing to do is be conservative and maintain natural vitamin D blood levels year-round by receiving sunlight in the summer and supplementation in the winter.” He adds, ”In this case, ‘natural’ means levels similar to humans living in a natural relationship with the sun, such as farmers in Puerto Rico or lifeguards in the United States.”
How much vitamin D do you need to take to achieve this? According to the Vitamin D Council’s Cannell, there is no easy answer, as it varies with “age, body weight, percent of body fat, latitude, skin colouration, season of the year, use of sunblock, individual variation in sun exposure, and – probably – how ill you are. As a general rule, old people need more than young people, big people need more that little people, heavier people need more than skinny people, northern people need more than southern people, dark-skinned people need more than fair-skinned people, winter people need more than summer people, sunblock lovers need more than sunblock haters, sun-phobes need more than sun worshipers, and ill people may need more than well people.”
Cannell adds: “Vitamin D is used by the body – metabolically cleared – both to maintain wellness and to treat disease. If you get an infection, how much vitamin D does your body use up fighting the infection? If you have cancer, how much vitamin D does your body use up fighting the cancer? Nobody knows the answer to these questions.”
Cannell gives the following supplementation guidelines for those who have little UV-B exposure: “Healthy children under the age of 1 should take 1,000 IU per day – over the age of 1, 1,000 IU per every 25 pounds of body weight per day. Well adults and adolescents should take 5,000 IU per day. Around 2–3 months later have a blood test.”
While a dose of 5,000 IU a day is regarded by many to be safe, many practitioners recommend having your blood tested every few months if you are taking high doses like this as we all metabolize it differently and in rare cases an excess of it can build up and cause problems.
It is equally important to get your (and your children’s) vitamin D levels tested if you choose not to supplement. Especially your children’s, as their bodies - including their very D-dependent bones and teeth - are still growing.
Be sure to request the25 (OH)D test specifically (a much more reliable test than the 1.25-dihydroxy-vitamin D test some doctors will order).
And ask to see the test result as well as your practitioner’s interpretation of it, as opinion differs as to what constitutes deficiency. “Most doctors who see a [level] of 30 ng/ml will tell you that level is fine when it is not,” says The Vitamin D Council’s Cannell, adding that:
“Levels should be above 50 ng/ml year-round, in both children and adults,” – this is the “minimum acceptable level.” Cannell quotes research (Heaney et al) which found that the body does not reliably begin storing vitamin D in fat and muscle tissue until 25(OH)D levels get above 50 ng/ml. “That is, at levels below 50 ng/ml, the body uses up vitamin D as fast as you can make it, or take it, indicating chronic substrate starvation—not a good thing. 25(OH)D levels should be between 50–80 ng/ml, year-round.”
Disturbingly, certified Nutritionist and vitamin D researcher Krispin Sullivan observes that, “In northern California 80% of clients tested during winter months have serum vitamin D deficiency (less than 20 ng/ml) or insufficiency (20-32 ng/ml).”
Note that these levels are substantially lower than the Vitamin D Council’s recommended 50 ng/ml – and that Northern California is located between 37 and 42 degrees north, compared to the UK’s – forgive us for hammering this point home – 50 to 58.
Sullivan adds: “This problem increases dramatically in persons living at latitudes more distant from the equator and in persons living in all US latitudes with darker skins. In Texas there has been an increase in the number of children with African or Hispanic heritage suffering from rickets. Even in sunny southern California vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency is prevalent in part due to avoidance of midday sunlight and/or the use of sunscreens which block vitamin D production.”
Numerous studies around the world have identified high levels of vitamin D deficiency in the general population. In fact Vitamin D expert Michael Holick says that vitamin D deficiency is “the most common medical condition in the world”. Not spending enough time outside and use of sunscreen (which all but blocks vitamin D production in the skin) are the reasons for this in some parts of the planet.
But (a) the majority of the world’s population lives a lot nearer the equator than those of us in the UK do and (b) these populations are not vegan, so are at least consuming some vitamin D containing foods on a daily basis.
Throughout history, humans living as far north as the UK always included large amounts of fish and/or red meat as part of their evolutionary diet, and they met their vitamin D needs that way. In fact, evidence suggests that for most of history, humans living at 50+ degrees north, or anything close, got over 50% of their calories from meat and/or fish. With such high intake of animal flesh it would have been possible to obtain ample vitamin D, but eating that quantity of meat and/or fish is not a wise way to get our vitamin D today. Quite apart from any other consideration, we live on a polluted planet and pollution concentrates up the food chain.
Let us say it again: the best way to meet our vitamin D needs is through sun exposure!
This article was written for those who can’t meet their vitamin D needs through sun exposure alone due to the latitude they live at, so who need to go to the next best solution. We’ll end with a round-up of our advice for ensuring you get optimal levels of this nutrient that is - let us remember - absolutely essential for optimal health.
This advice is aimed specifically at people who live in the UK and similar climates, but worth considering for all living further than 30 degrees from the equator – and especially for those living further than 40 degrees. (If you live in the southern hemisphere, substitute any instance of “October to March” below with “April to September”, and vice versa.)
- Holiday in locations 30 degrees or less from the equator at every opportunity, especially during the six-month period from October to March.
- Get as much midday sun on your skin as you can between April and September. If you are able to consistently do this for the timeframes outlined earlier in the article, taking a D supplement between October and March may be sufficient.
- If being near naked in the midday sun is not something you manage on the majority of days from April to September, consider supplementing year round.
- We recommend this brand, which enables you to choose how much you take, and we invite you to do your own research as to daily amount.
- If you decide to follow the vitamin D Council’s advice and take a daily dose of 5,000 IU of vitamin D, we recommend consulting a suitably qualified practitioner about how soon you need to get your vitamin D levels tested.
- If you live in the UK or anywhere with a similar climate, are vegan or vegetarian, and choose not to supplement vitamin D, make it a must to get your (and your children’s) vitamin D levels tested as soon as possible.
- Insist on the 25(OH) D test and on seeing your results. Your doctor may not be looking for levels of 50 ng/ml or above, but you are!
(c) The Fresh Network Blog – do pop by and sign up for their updates or grab your copy of their Get Fresh! magazine
Are you a “dear, dozy customer” of homeopathy?
Author: Callie
I almost choked on my breakfast this morning while reading a copy of the Independent newspaper – apparently if, like me, you are a consumer who occasionally elects to purchase homeopathic remedies from their local chemist, rather than the usual fare of toxic-chemicals-in-a-capsule-form, you are a “dear, dozy customer”, according to Dominic Lawson!
Do I feel patronised? For sure … so I will gladly share his article with you for you to make your own minds up, as well as share details of the Mass Lobby of Parliament by H:MC21 on 24th February 2010 at 2.30pm.
H:MC21 will lobby Parliament and hand in the 25,000 signatures to the declaration: ‘Homeopathy Worked for Me’.
For this to lobby to be successful, we need people to take the following action:
1. Download this letter, add your name and address, and send it to your MP today. You can get details of where to end the letter from: http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/
2. Download this local press release and send it to your local papers.
Add in quotations from a named local homeopath and a named local patient, especially if they are willing to discuss how homeopathy has worked for them. If you want advice about dealing with any follow-up by the press, please contact us.
3. Download this flyer and publicise the lobby – By telling people about it and by putting the flyer up in health centres, clinics, hospitals, libraries, playgroups, staffrooms, health food stores and anywhere else you can think of.
4. If you want to organise a local meeting, we are happy to provide a speaker.
5. Come to the lobby yourself and bring as many people with you as you can.
If you want help with transport, or can offer help, please contact us.
We urge all our supporters to try and be there, to meet their MP, and to put the case for homeopathy.
Meeting at St Stephen’s Entrance, Houses of Parliament, London, England
* * * * *
Now, back to Dominic Lawson’s comment today …
How can the state justify supporting homeopathy?
As a group of Labour MPs brings Parliament into yet more disrepute by claiming immunity from prosecution for fiddling their expenses, we are at risk of forgetting altogether the good work which many backbench MPs do, work which is buried in obscurity even at the best of times.
Yesterday, for example, the Science and Technology committee of the House of Commons met to conclude its inquiry into Alternative Medicine. Its members were courteous, polite even to a fault, a far cry from the aggressive made-for-TV grandstanding of the equivalent Congressional bodies in the US; but by the end of a few brief sessions, they had reduced to intellectual rubble the multi-million pound pseudo-medical lobby known as homeopathy – and left equally ragged the regulators and ministers who connive in its skilful mystifications of the public.
In the 18th-century, when Samuel Hahnemann developed the principles of homeopathy, it had one outstanding merit. At a time when doctors readily prescribed mercury as a cure-all, and leeching was standard practice – the days before penicillin, before antibiotics, before streptomycin – a form of medicine which consisted of nothing more than the ingestion of small amounts of water (ceremonially “treated”) was much better for the patient than most of the alternatives.
For this to be true it was not necessary to believe Hahnemann’s theory: that most illnesses were the manifestations of a suppressed “itch” (a kind of miasma or evil spirit) and that one cured this by somehow finding the substance which caused the “itch” and then diluting it in water. Nor was it necessary to believe, as homeopaths claim to do, that the more you dilute this substance in the water, the more effective the treatment (”the law of infinitesimals”) – that, in fact, the appropriate dose is water which has not one molecule of active ingredient in it, but simply “the memory” of it.
Sorry, did I forget to mention the shaking? Yes, the key to this remedy, according to its practitioners, is to shake the water in such a way as to make it better remember the active ingredient that might once have been contained in it. There was a wonderful exchange about this between the Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris and Dr Peter Fisher, clinical director of the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital and Homeopath to Her Majesty the Queen, no less:
Dr Harris: The shaking is important?
Dr Fisher: The shaking is important.
Dr Harris: I would have thought (the water) would have less memory if you shook it. I can understand that if you left it alone it might form a memory.
Dr Fisher: This has been looked at and the answer is that it does not induce the same structural effects. You are inducing structural effects which may involve silica and which may involve dissolved oxygen molecules – it is not quite certain that you can show this water is different from water that is shaken without the stuff being in it.
Dr Harris: How much do you have to shake it?
Dr Fisher: That has not been fully investigated.
Dr Harris: A random amount of shaking?
Dr Fisher: You have to shake it vigorously but exactly how much you have to shake it, no. If you just gently stir it, it does not work.
Dr Harris: Does the Medicine and Healthcare Products Agency check how much it has been shaken before it approves it for treatment?
Dr Fisher: You would have to ask the MHRA, I do not know.”
Evan Harris’s reference to the MHRA is the sting in the tail of his satirical questioning. Why does this organisation, which is meant to guarantee the efficacy of the medicines it licenses, give its imprimatur to products which no double-blind test has ever validated? This is particularly relevant because about £10m a year is spent by the Government on such so-called medicines, via four NHS homeopathic hospitals. Normally, when there is some controversy about the efficacy of a form of medicine using public money, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence would investigate – but, strangely, it hasn’t.
Still stranger was the reaction of the Health Minister, Mike O’Brien, when questioned by the Committee. He seemed to accept that the only provable benefit from homeopathic “remedies” was the placebo effect; but when asked if he personally approved of the idea of people being prescribed medicines which were known only to have that effect, he said “No”. Invited then to reject outright the idea of NHS funds being diverted into such “remedies” the Minister replied, “There is a level of public interest and controversy, and there is a strong medical lobby in favour of homeopathy and there is also government funding.” Which, as an argument, is at best circular and at worst an admission that this is nothing to do with best medical practice and everything to do with lobbying power and politics.
Perhaps the Health Minister was especially thinking of The Prince of Wales, homeopathy’s fervent supporter, who would undoubtedly be sending one of his handwritten letters with multiple underlinings to Mr O’Brien, should the minister have given the slightest sign that the Government was prepared to reconsider its support for this practice within the NHS.
It’s true that even were such a decision to be made, and the public funds saved to be reallocated to – hip replacements? Herceptin for breast cancer sufferers? you choose – Boots would still be merrily selling the stuff to the worried well with money to waste. The man with the impressive title of “Professional Standards Director and Superintendent” at Boots was questioned by this assiduous band of MPs. He delivered himself of a Ratner moment, when asked if there was any known benefit to homeopathic remedies, beyond the placebo effect (otherwise known as gullibility). Mr Paul Bennett replied: “I have no evidence to suggest they are efficacious. It is about consumer choice for us and a large number of our customers actually do believe they are efficacious”. I love that “actually”. They actually do! The dear, dozy customers actually do!
There is a perfectly sound commercial argument here, and also one based on freedom of choice. Why shouldn’t Boots make large profits selling high-priced, impressively-labelled, water tablets to hypochondriacs? The counter to this is powerfully put by David Colquhoun, Professor of Pharmacology at University College, London. He has frequently carried out this experiment: he goes into chemists – not just Boots – and asks the pharmacist what “natural remedy” they would recommend for his sickly grandchild, who has suffered from “terrible diarrhoea for days”. Just one in 10 chemists advises him to choose a conventional rehydration treatment, or to take the child to a doctor straightaway.
Colquhoun says it’s terrifying that “any sensible parent would be searching out for Dioralyte, but nine out of 10 pharmacists will start rummaging through their homeopathic shelves.” Terrifying, yes; but not surprising, given that a BBC Newsnight investigation three years ago revealed that high-street homeopaths routinely recommended their water-with-a-memory as a prophylactic against malaria.
I expect that when the Science and Technology committee releases its report in the next few weeks, it will recommend that the NHS ceases its funding of homeopathic “remedies”. I equally expect the Government to carry on regardless: homeopathy has friends in very high places.
(c) Dominic Lawson – The Independent
Recipe: Raw Chocolate Cake
Author: Callie
Yummie … we have tracked down a chocolate cake recipe for those who need to follow a dairy-free, soya-free, egg-free, gluten-free, wheat-free or sugar-free diet.
A few slight changes were made to accommodate what I had in the kitchen cupboard and the mixture made enough to bake 18 cupcakes and 6 small muffins! What a result!
You will need:
400g spelt flour (or a mix of 2/3 spelt flour with 1/3 rice flour)
240g zylitol or
6 tbsp dark agave syrup
100g raw cacao powder
1 1/2 tsp baking-soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
6 tblsp olive oil or coconut butter (melte)
500ml filtered water
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, preferable with ‘mother’ (Higher Nature sells this)
1 tsp real vanilla extract
Natural, wholesome foods like this deserve to be treated with love … and as you are no doubt baking for yourself and for your loved ones (family and/or friends), why not inject a double dose of love while you prepare the mixtures, as they do in Buddhist practice? You can really taste the difference!
To make:
Preheat your oven to 350°. Grease your cake tins or set out your cupcake cases.
Sieve the flour and cocoa powder together with the baking powder and cinnamon. Now gently and lovingly add the remaining ingredients until smooth and then give it a little whisk to make it light and fluffy.
The mixture will start to “puff” up and become more dense – pour/drop the mixture into your tins or cases and cook for approximately 25 minutes (cupcakes) or 35 minutes (cake tin).
Allow to cool and then enjoy with a gorgeous cup of cardamom and cinnamon tea!
NB Original recipe originally discovered here – with extreme gratitude for enlightening me to this gorgeous recipe.
Difficult medicine to swallow
Author: Callie
One week on from radical attempts to recalibrate my tastes-buds, I am glad to share that I am not only surviving but also really enjoying the experimentation that goes with an overhaul of my almost-four decades old daily diet.
Never before have I appreciated every mouthful of food that I have taken – admittedly breakfast always leaves me with hunger pangs because my limited imagination can only come up with “natural goats yoghurt” or “omelette” when I need to avoid fruit, sugar and all carbohydrates (so no organic rice puffs, spelt puffs or Dove’s wheat biscuits for the first few weeks). I am yearning to return to the warmer climes of India, where I can wolf down bowls of fresh vegetable curry for breakfast, alongside a gorgeous crispy dosa, without anyone taking a second glance!
There is one thing, however, on this new way-of-living that I really do dislike to the point of shivering … and that is liquorice tea. I sincerely hope it will become an acquired taste but it is so sweet to my jaded palate that I dread each morning’s cup.
I steel myself by remembering exactly why I am taking this dreaded liquid each morning – and remember how long it took me track down a liquorice tea that was even remotely palatable. (Surprisingly, Yogi Tea’s Licorice Egyptian Spice blend is easily available from most branches of Sainsbury’s and at a great price of £1.89 for a pack of 15).
Liquorice tea is an age-old herbal remedy, well-known to ancient Asian medicine. Glycyrrhiza Glabra is a perennial herb which penetrates deeply into the ground – the root gives up a substance known as glycyrrhizic acid which is far sweeter than sugar cane (50 x sweeter. Yuk!).
I am taking liquorice tea as part of a remedy to reduce inflammation and candidiasis, but it is naturally beneficial to help:
:: fight viruses
:: soothe viral liver inflammations
:: reduce complications arising from auto-immune diseases
:: treat headaches
:: soothe digestive issues, such as constipation and diarrhoea
:: soothe sore throats
:: speed healing of stomach ulcers
So if you find yourself with similar issues, perhaps its worth a try (although if you are pregnant or have high blood pressures, do seek advice).
Do you think I could achieve the same effects with a morsel of salt liquorice instead?!
For a great article on the healing properties of liquorice in relation to auto-immune diseases and disorders, please read the article on Regenerative Nutrition.
Recommendation: Thyroid Patient Advocacy (TPA-UK)
Author: Callie
If you are looking for information on thyroid-related illnesses, candida and magnesium deficiency, etc I highly recommend you join up to the TPA-UK (Thyroid Patient Advocacy) Yahoo! group … there is a treasure-trove of information freely available for you, so you really do not need to fight your illness alone and unsupported.
Thyroid Patient Advocacy
“NHS doctors are unacceptably forcing patients to self-diagnose, self-treat, and self-monitor due to a lack of understanding of thyroid related disorders. Our aims are to persuade the endocrinology and thyroidology specialty to rethink their diagnostic and treatment protocol for thyroid related disorders, to raise awareness of treatment options, and provide educational and emotional support to sufferers. Every patient has the right to optimal treatment, using synthetic hormone replacement or natural desiccated thyroid extract. TPA-UK is working hard to get you better healthcare.
TPA-UK knows that patients are desperately seeking an understanding and partnership with their NHS doctors to get the best treatment possible. So TPA-UK is also a support group set up to increase awareness of the prevalence of thyroid and thyroid related problems and the difficulties facing patients in getting a proper diagnosis and appropriate treatment. The information in our files and links is available free of charge.”
13th January 2010
Proposed dose limits on vitamin supplements in Europe found to be scientifically flawed
New study reveals extensive scientific weaknesses in methods being proposed to limit supplement dosages across Europe
A critical study published in the scientific journal Toxicology casts serious doubts over the methods being considered by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Commission to limit dosages of vitamin and mineral food supplements across the European Union (EU).
Lead author of the Toxicology article, Robert Verkerk PhD, scientific and executive director of Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) International, considers the proposed methods for determining ‘maximum permitted levels’ as “fatally flawed”. Dr Verkerk and colleagues have made extensive representations concerning nutrient risk analysis to European and international authorities in the past, however, the Toxicology paper represents the most thorough scientific critique undertaken to-date.
Dr Verkerk claims that outputs from the models most favoured by European authorities have never been subject to proper scientific validation. The paper reveals that proposed maximum amounts for some vitamins and minerals are so low they may even be exceeded in a single junk meal. “The risk analysis methods being used for nutrients”, stated Dr Verkerk, “have been only slightly adapted from those used to limit our exposure to environmental chemicals like mercury, pesticides or dioxins. Nutrients cannot be treated in the same way because without them, unlike with environmental toxins, we suffer serious adverse health effects or die.”
A recent impact assessment undertaken by two UK health trade associations, the Health Food Manufacturers Association and the National Association of Health Stores, found that the proposed restrictions in the UK alone could potentially lead to the loss of well over £100 million worth of sales, the closure of more than 700 independent retail stores and around 4,000 job losses. Concerns over the impact of the restrictions were put forward on 2 December 2009 in the UK Parliament through an Early Day Motion (EDM 336).
ANH International claims that the findings revealed in the Toxicology article are of such profound significance that the European Commission’s plans to limit dosages of vitamin and mineral food supplements EU-wide should be delayed until such time that new, scientifically validated methods are developed.
The article has also exposed the fact that important principles for nutrient risk analysis put forward by a World Health Organization expert group in 2006 have so far been ignored. The authors of the critique suggest that entirely new methods, derived from the field of decision science, may be the most valid approach for nutrients.
Verkerk said, “It is now incumbent on the European Food Safety Authority, as the risk assessor, and the European Commission and EU Member States, as the risk managers, to fully justify their approach as well as the ways in which they intend to overcome the problems revealed in our analysis of their methods.”
The Irish Association of Health Stores and the ANH had both previously filed complaints with the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee over the European Commission’s proposed approach to the limitation of supplement dosages. It is likely that Members of the European Parliament who have supported the petitions will now require that the Commission respond also to the many scientific issues raised by the Toxicology critique.
(c) Alliance for Natural Health
Alliance for Natural Health Europe
Finding time for yourself
Author: Callie
I couldn’t resist sharing this Daily Om article with you all today … so hard to do, I know, but we really must find time for ourselves each day, even if it is only for 5 minutes …
Within each of there is a well of energy that must be regularly replenished. When we act as if this well is bottomless, scheduling a long list of activities that fit like puzzle pieces into every minute of every day, it becomes depleted and we feel exhausted, disconnected, and weak. Refilling this well is a matter of finding time to focus on, nurture, and care for ourselves, or “you time.” Most of us are, at different times throughout the day, a spouse, a friend, a relative, an employee, a parent, or a volunteer, which means that down time, however relaxing in nature, is not necessarily “you time.” Though some people will inevitably look upon “you time” as being selfish, it is actually the polar opposite of selfishness. We can only excel where our outer world affairs are concerned when our own spiritual, physical, and intellectual needs are fulfilled.
Recognizing the importance of “you time” is far easier than finding a place for it in an active, multifaceted lifestyle, however. Even if you find a spot for it in your agenda, you may be dismayed to discover that your thoughts continuously stray into worldly territory. To make the most of “you time,” give yourself enough time on either side of the block of time you plan to spend on yourself to ensure that you do not feel rushed. Consider how you would like to pass the time, forgetting for the moment your obligations and embracing the notion of renewal. You may discover that you are energized by creative pursuits, guided meditation, relaxing activities during which your mind can wander, or modes of expression such as writing.
Even if you have achieved a functioning work-life balance, you may still be neglecting the most important part of that equation: you. “You time” prepares you for the next round of daily life, whether you are poised to immerse yourself in a professional project or chores around the home. It also affords you a unique opportunity to learn about yourself, your needs, and your tolerances in a concrete way. As unimportant as “you time” can sometimes seem, it truly is crucial to your wellbeing because it ensures that you are never left without the energy to give of yourself.
(c) Daily Om
Callie says …
Well, as if there were ever synchronicity, it was running at full pelt with me today! As always, I draw an InnerSight card each day (no specific time, just whenever I feel like it) and today’s card was … Balance!!! I had to laugh at the Divine timing of this card. I share with you (below) what the Balance card said:
Balance
InnerSight: You have chosen to bring balance into your life. Maybe you are working too hard without sufficient time for play. Maybe you are not allowing enough time for what makes your heart sing, for the joys of life. Are you giving endlessly to otehrs and not allowing enough time for yourself? Are there imbalances showing in your life through fatigue, emotional exhaustion, or lack of laughter? Disharmonies – mental, spiritual, emotional and physical are caused by a lack of balance. Give yourself the space you need to come back into harmony.
Visualisation: Sit quietly and hold out your hands. The left hand is receiving and the right hand is giving. See coming into your left hand all the things that are lacking in your life; visualise all the things that you would like to do if you were to allow yourself time: pampering, holidays, walks in the country, more time with family, listening to your favourite music and so on. Hold the intention of coming into total balance now.
Guidance: Every day take time out for yourself – a quiet moment to bring yourself back into balance; a moment for you. Make sure that you are receiving as well as giving.
Your Ripple Energy Therapy is Nurture
New study: omega-3s may treat nervous system diseases
Author: Callie
(NaturalNews) Research just published in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience provides evidence that adequate omega-3 fatty acids are needed for healthy nervous systems. That could explain why low levels of omega-3s are associated with the information processing difficulties experienced by people with bipolar, obsessive-compulsive, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders; schizophrenia; Huntington’s disease and other illnesses affecting the nervous system. What’s more, this research suggests that increasing dietary omega-3s may be a natural way to prevent and treat those conditions.
Scientists at the Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism studied two forms of omega-3 essential fatty acids found in certain foods including fatty fish and some algae: docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). The human body can only acquire these key nutrients by metabolizing their precursor, linolenic acid (LNA), or from foods or dietary supplements with DHA and EPA in a readily usable form.
EPA has been shown in numerous previous studies to have anti-inflammatory and cardiovascular protective effects (http://www.naturalnews.com/027036_o…). DHA, although less studied, is also crucial to the body. In fact, it makes up more than 90 percent of the omega-3s in the brain, retina and the nervous system.
For their study, the research team fed four groups of pregnant mice and their offspring four different diets with no or varying types and amounts of omega-3s. Then, after the newborn mice grew into mature animals, the scientists recorded how they responded when exposed to a sudden loud noise.
This classic test of nervous-system function normally makes healthy animals flinch. However, if animals with a normal nervous system are exposed first to a softer tone before the loud one, they flinch much less. Scientists believe that’s due to an adaptive process known as sensorimotor gating which causes an initial stimulus to prepare the body for future stimuli.
The results of the tests showed that only the mice raised on DHA and EPA, but not their precursor of LNA, demonstrated normal, adaptive sensorimotor gating. These healthy animals responded in a significantly calmer way to loud noises if they had first heard softer tones. The mice in all other groups, however, were startled almost as much by the initial soft sound as by the loud noise that followed.
The reason? The scientists concluded that when DHA was deficient the nervous system was in an abnormal state that left the animals almost constantly startled and easily overwhelmed by sensory stimuli. “It only takes a small decrement in brain DHA to produce losses in brain function,” lead researcher Norman Salem Jr., PhD. said in a statement to the media.
The researchers think this important information may be very significant for humans — because weak sensorimotor gating is a hallmark of many nervous-system problems including Huntington’s disease, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. And they’ve suggested that omega-3s could have therapeutic potential for these and other diseases marked by nervous system problems.
Moreover, the research underlines the dangers of the typical American diet of processed foods and lots of meat — making it far higher in omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3s. That imbalance reduces the body’s ability to incorporate omega-3s and, as a result, “we have the double whammy of low omega-3 intake and high omega-6 intake,” stated Dr. Salem. “It is an uphill battle now to reverse the message that ‘fats are bad’ and to increase omega-3 fats in our diet.”
Editor’s note: NaturalNews is opposed to the use of animals in medical experiments that expose them to harm. We present these findings in protest of the way in which they were acquired.
(c) Natural News – S.L. Baker, Features Writer