Autumn 2006

What exactly can colonics do for you?!

There are few of us who don’t feel the need to ‘detox’ at some point in our lives, particularly before or after Christmas and holiday periods!! We commit to a new exercise regime, reduce alcohol and cigarette consumption and watch what we eat. This is especially true if we experience ‘tummy’ problems like bloating, IBS, constipation/wind or cramps.

But problems in the function of the colon do not arise in isolation – the entire digestive tract and our ability to absorb nutrients in our diet are equally important. Colon Hydrotherapy can be a wonderful place to start healing both colon problems and digestion generally! The benefits of colonic treatment include:
* The removal and cleansing of old, hard waste products and harmful toxins caused by stress, convenience food, lack of exercise and pollution

* Detoxification of the liver and immune system support
* Providing a favourable environment for ‘friendly’ bacteria and controlling harmful pathogens and parasites
* Re-education of the colon encouraging healthy peristalsis and a return to regular, normal bowel movements
* Encourages the absorption of nutrients into the blood-stream

Don’t forget colon hydrotherapy can help with a number of other physical and mental ailments including: arthritis, backache, allergies, bad breath, skin problems, asthma, chronic fatigue, difficult weight loss, frequent colds, depression, insomnia, prostate trouble and menstrual problems.

Winter 2007

Post-Christmas Blues?

After the excitement of the Festive Season, most of us wake up to a New Year feeling decidedly under the weather! Here are a few tips to help you recover and enjoy the start of 2007:
* Drink plenty of fluids to rehydrate your system
* Avoid salty, fatty or spicy foods that might irritate your stomach
* Avoid alcohol
* Take some exercise
* Sleep!

Detox recipe!
Try the following which is gentle on the digestion yet yummy to eat. It comes courtesy of Gillian McKeith!
Hearty Lentil Stew (serves 4)
I cup lentils, soaked for 20 minutes and rinsed thoroughly; 2 bay leaves; 2 onions; 4 carrots; 2 cups diced squash; 1 sweet potato; 1 stalk celery; 1 vegetable bouillon cube; 1 handful watercress; 1 tsp tamari sauce.
Place the onions and bay leaves in a pot with the water and stock cube, cover and bring to the boil. Simmer for 30-35 minutes. Half-way through add the squash and sweet potato. After a further 10 minutes add the carrots and celery. Towards the end, add the watercress and stir in the tamari sauce. Enjoy!

Spring 2007

Seven Million Brits are making themselves ill with worry!

According to a report from BUPA Insurance Britons worry so much that we are making ourselves ill! 700,000 of us have even considered asking our G.P. for medication to help cope. Issues that worry us include our health and financial concerns, relationships with family members and work colleagues. Crime rates and terrorist activity also play on our minds. Dr. Paula Franklin, speaking for BUPA was quoted as saying “This survey indicates that stress levels across the country are increasing. Almost everyone feels worried sometimes but if you are experiencing frequent sleepless nights and anxiety one’s worrying could be spiralling out of control. Stress-related medical problems are becoming increasingly common”. (www.bupa.co.uk)

What is less well known is that worrying and anxiety directly interfere with digestion and bowel activity. Anxiety causes the digestive tract to become tense making it less easy for digestive enzymes to be produced which means that it is more likely that partially digested food will pass down the bowel and feed all sorts of bacteria (‘good’ and ‘bad’) rather than you! Bloating and abdominal cramps are the common result and over time this could lead to regular IBS symptoms and general depletion of the bowel and nutrition generally. What can we do to help ourselves if this picture sounds familiar?

1. Believe it or not a colon hydrotherapy session would be a good first stop as it can reveal any digestive problems associated with poor assimilation of the food you are eating. It is also the case that poor digestion will mean poor elimination and increased bodily toxins.

2. Learn to breathe deeply and slowly and practice this every day! Deep breathing relaxes tense muscles generally and the digestive tract specifically. (please see the ‘Health Tips’ article on breathing on my web-site.
3. Try to assess what is making you anxious and find ways of alleviating your worry. This might simply mean taking more time for yourself or you may find you need the services of professionals like a counsellor or life coach.

Why not speak to Sue in the first instance? A colonic is always appropriate for helping to deal with anxiety and in addition, Sue has a number of other good professional contacts which she can recommend and which might be just what you need.

Summer 2007

Recipe for summer

For me, summer always means fresh, soft fruit. So often though, recipes rely on cream, sugar and pastry to bring these fruits alive – not great for fragile diets and digestions!. However, the following recipe is easy to make, is simply delicious and supplies that ‘forbidden’ factor as well. Have a great summer!

Hazelnut and Strawberry Tortes

Ingredients:
Hazelnut Tortes: 3oz dried dates; 3fl oz water; 4oz hazelnuts; 3 egg whites; 4 teaspoons rice flour (available from health food stores)
Filling: 10oz packet silken tofu; 1⁄2 tsp vanilla essence; 10oz strawberries + 8 for decoration; 2-3oz hazelnuts; mint leaves to decorate
Method:
Prepare the tortes. Finely dice the dates and stew in the water until soft – this should produce a thick puree.
Toast the hazelnuts in a medium oven or grill until golden brown (toast those for the filling at the same time), then rub between finger and thumb to remove the skins. Finely grind all the hazelnuts in a food processor or use a mortar and pestle.
Beat the egg whites until very stiff. Gradually mix the egg whites into the date puree, being careful not to beat out the air.

Add all but 3oz of the ground hazelnuts and fold in along with the rice flour using a metal spoon in a figure of eight movement.
Place the mixture in 8 mounds on 2 greased baking trays. Spread each mound into a 3inch circle, approximately 1⁄2 inch thick.
Bake in a preheated (170 C/ 325 F/gas mark 3) oven for 10-15 minutes or until well browned, and set. Allow the tortes to cool.

Meanwhile, make the filling. Beat or process the silken tofu with the vanilla extract until smooth.
Finely dice the strawberries and add to the tofu, mixing to combine.
Add sufficient toasted ground hazelnuts to stiffen the mixture so that it holds its shape.
Place a hazelnut torte on each of the serving plates. Divide two-thirds of the strawberry mixture between the tortes and spread out to cover the surface of each torte. Place another torte on top, then spoon the remaining strawberry mixture on the top of each torte in the centre.
Decorate the top of each torte with a strawberry cut in half and mint leaves. Press quartered strawberries into the filling where it oozes out between the tortes. Serve at once.

Autumn 2007

Post-holiday bulge and bloat

Oh dear! I suspect many of you will know this feeling all too well! You return from a wonderful time sampling the delights of holiday cuisine and cellar only to wish that maybe you had not indulged quite so readily after all! It is so easy with the change of routine holidays inevitably bring to find yourself a few pounds heavier, skirts and trousers tighter around the waist and feeling distinctly uncomfortable! Other post-holiday horrors can include excess bloating and wind, constipation and/or diarrhoea, sluggishness, tummy cramps….. need I go on? Regrets are all very well but what can be done about it and how can further discomfort be prevented in the future? Here are some ideas:  

* Try to isolate any particular foods that always seem to upset you. Common foods to cause constipation and bloating for example are bread and pasta, but other, less well-known foods that cause upset digestion include onions, lettuce and even fruit! Just because it is good for you doesn’t always make it good for YOU! Avoid the foods that upset you for at least a month. Do you feel different? If so, keep these foods to a minimum for health and comfort.

* Ask yourself if you have a tendency to over indulge in sweet food: chocolate, cakes etc. Also do you drink alcohol on a daily basis or tend to binge drink at weekends? You may have an over-growth of yeast in your digestive tract. Yeasts love sugar and will make you crave it as a consequence. Try to really cut down on sugar consumption if this is your problem. Take a supplement of the mineral chromium for a while to help; chromium is very important in maintaining blood sugar at optimum levels. Few of us get enough in our diet.

* A fragile and depleted colon/small intestine will not be able to deal with difficult things to digest like wheat and dairy. Generally speaking difficulties with digesting dairy result in diarrhoea and nasty smelling wind whereas difficulties with wheat result in constipation and bloating. Leaving off foods containing these irritants can provide considerable relief. If in doubt you could book to have some allergy testing which will confirm any entrenched problems with food intolerances. Call Sue for recommendations of local therapists.

* Anyone who suffers any digestive complaints will undoubtedly have an imbalance in their digestive flora: this is the ‘friendly bacteria’ we all here so much about in the media these days. It is exceptionally important BUT please don’t think consuming Actimel or Yakult drinks will do anything for you at all! These products are over-priced and full of preservatives, sugar and artificial sweetener that will kill off any good flora you might have. Much better are the probiotic capsules you can buy in a reputable health food shop (again, not in the supermarkets – poor quality!). If in doubt, give Sue a call for recommended brands.

* Finally, you could have a colonic! Ah, that feels much better!


Winter 2007
To supplement or not to supplement?
I’m often asked why I occasionally encourage clients to take certain supplements to their diet, often in the form of vitamins or minerals. Shouldn’t we be getting all we need from our diet instead? Well, of course we should – where that is possible. There are several reasons why it may be difficult to ensure we obtain all our nutrients from the food we eat:

* The typical western diet (pizza, pasta, bread!!) tends to include convenience and processed foods which are low in micro-nutrients like vitamins and minerals.
* Times of stress require higher levels of these nutrients than the Recommended Daily Amount (RDA) allows for. Western life is very stressful!!
* Our food is generally grown with the use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides which take many essential minerals from the soil. This means that our fruit and vegetables do not contain them. Even organic produce might still have been grown in poor quality soil meaning minimal mineral uptake!
* The Recommended Daily Amount of vitamins and minerals assumes everyone has a healthy body which just needs ‘topping up’ each day. After times of illness, long term stress/anxiety or if we consume alcohol or smoke cigarettes the body needs and uses many times the RDA to put things right.

The truth is that the RDA of micro-nutrients like vitamins and minerals is a bare minimum of what is required. Vitamin C for example has an RDA in the UK of 60mg daily (equivalent to 2 oranges). Humans do not make Vitamin C in their bodies but most other mammals do and our nearest evolutionary neighbours, for example gorillas and chimpanzees, make thousands of milligrams of Vitamin C in their bodies every day. If that is so, how come we only need 60mg? Vitamin C is one micronutrient I always suggest people supplement for this reason. IBS sufferers will also be short of Vitamin B complex because the production of this vitamin complex will be reduced in a digestive tract that is under par!
Generally speaking it is wise for everyone to supplement their daily diet with a multi-vitamin/mineral. Even the World Health Organisation and the prestigious Harvard Medical School are now saying this is a sensible precaution. If you want some advice about which products to buy (some are definitely better than others!) do give me a call!!

Spring 2008

The importance of micro-flora in maintaining good health

With so many adverts on our TVs for probiotic drinks and yoghurt with added ‘friendly bacteria’ it is difficult to know the truth about the importance of ‘gut flora’ to our health and well-being. I am often asked questions around this topic and so I include below a short article I recently wrote on the subject.
In the average bowel there exist huge colonies of micro-organisms (at least 400 strains) which in total weigh between 3 and 5 lb and in numbers are greater than the total number of cells in the body! Oxygen-intolerant (anaerobic) bacteria account for the great majority of gut flora.
Whilst there are considerable quantities of pathogenic (illness-creating) bacteria passing through the gut, in the healthy individual the vast majority of this gut flora is symbiotic, i.e. whilst the microbes derive their livelihood by living off humans, they in turn, provide a vital service to us. Colonies of bacteria vary in composition and role throughout the length of the gastro-intestinal tract. Whilst there is a mixture of ‘helpful’ and pathogenic organisms (including the yeast Candida) in the mouth, much of the pathogenic bacteria are destroyed in the intensively acid environment of the stomach. Individuals who have a low stomach acid are vulnerable to pathogens passing inappropriately further along the digestive tract. It is in the small intestine that the absorption of nutrients occurs. Here symbiotic bacteria maintain the optimum environment for that absorption, adhering to the walls of the tract where the majority are Lactobacillus strains. In the large intestine, mainly populated by Bifidobacteria, microbes assist in the peristaltic movement of waste, and as they die off to be evacuated as faeces, they release vital minerals which become bio-available to their host. Additionally they assist the synthesis of B vitamin complex.

Another particularly important function of gut micro-flora is to assist the maintenance of the immune function of the body. Antibodies in the blood find and recognise foreign antigens: bacteria, viruses or fungi which, in a healthy individual, are then neutralised. This process relies in part on the integrity of the gut wall. When the immune system is weakened the normal flora of the gut becomes imbalanced allowing bacteria, yeasts and other microbes to multiply. Factors that can encourage a weakened immune system include: use of the Pill or steroid medication; long-term or frequent anti-biotic use; mercury amalgam dental fillings; chemical pollutants and stress. In addition some individuals are born with weakened immunity or acquire it early in life. The disturbances in natural gut flora allow the digestive tract wall to become more permeable, i.e. molecules of protein and sugar normally kept within the gut pass through the epithelial lining into the blood stream where they are detected as foreign invaders by the immune system. This ‘leaky gut syndrome’ also describes the way that yeast can penetrate the gut wall encouraging symptoms such as vaginal thrush, food intolerances, constipation, bloatedness and flatulence. Additionally, yeast (Candida albicans) can disrupt the endocrine system causing symptoms such as depression, poor concentration, chronic tiredness etc.

Solutions to the problem of weakened immunity and leaky gut syndrome include:
* the restoration of healthy gut flora by introducing probiotic bacteria (as capsule or powder supplements);
* actively killing Candida infestation;
* removing sugar and refined carbohydrates from the diet;
* replacement of deficient vitamins and minerals particularly the B complex;
* treating ‘leaky gut’ and supporting liver and immune function with specific supplements for the purpose.

The trouble is that whilst the above can help a great deal it does all sound rather complicated. Which probiotics are the right ones? How do you know if you have ‘leaky gut’? What supplements best support liver function? What is there to eat if I have to give up carbohydrates – and what counts as these anyway? These are very good questions and in truth it is important to get professional advice when trying to change digestive habits or deal with debilitating symptoms. Seek help from a nutritionist, an allergy therapist or colon therapist. It really is surprising how quickly most bowel conditions can be helped – if you know what is going on and what to do about it!

Sue Webster