Grounding our dreams in 2013

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS

Bach Flower - Clematis  helps us root our dreams and goals in reality

Yes, I know I have written about Clematis relatively recently, but seeing it adorn the fences of the nearby railway the other weekend, it made me think about New Year’s resolutions and how some of them often remain as pipe-dreams only.

So Clematis is making its second appearance in my blog!!  

The airy-fairy dreaminess of Clematis becomes all too apparent in the winter months, when it blankets the otherwise bare and quite dull hedgerows!! With its grey wispy appearance it looks rather ghost-like, reminding us that those in a negative Clematis state are hardly present. They maybe physically present, standing there before us, but their thoughts are usually far away, dreaming of the future, of a better life.

As we approach the end of 2012 and the beginning of a new year ahead, it is common to make resolutions. We may dream of being a gorgeous, slimmer version of ourselves, or of making a great success of our new business venture but these will remain as pipe dreams if all we do is take a Clematis approach to the future.

Dreams ARE important. Visualising ourselves as our future selves can motivate us towards achieving our goals, but we need also to ground ourselves and actually DO something. We need to live in the now, and put in some effort, whilst at the same time holding that dream. 

If we wish to lose unwanted pounds we need to get off our bottoms and exercise, as well as taking a good hard look at what we eat and making changes. If we dream of a successful business, we may need to put in hours of training, networking and advertising.

The bottom line is that we cannot hope to write a masterpiece if we do not put pen to paper!!

The Bach Flower Essence of Clematis helps to root us in reality and gives us a firm foundation on which to grow our dreams into a reality.   

Happy Christmas

Wishing Everyone a very Happy Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year ……… 

4 Bach Flower Essences for Christmas

I consider my set of BACH FLOWER ESSENCES as 39 friends on hand to calm me when I feel out of balance emotionally. Four worth considering at Christmas are:

* Vervain - where we are enthusiastically trying to produce the perfect Christmas and finding ourselves unable to relax. This essence helps us to do just that - relax and enjoy, without doing things to death and striving for perfection! 

* Impatiens - when we feel tense, irritable and impatient, perhaps because the children are playing up or others aren’t doing things as quickly as we’d like. We find it hard to cope with the frustrating Christmas queues and delays!!  This essence helps to bring patience and the realisation that everything happens in its own time.

* Elm - where you have so much on your plate (and I’m not talking too much turkey here), and you feel overwhelmed by it all. This essence helps to put our “list” into perspective and renews our confidence in being able to do what needs to be done.

* Olive for when you are simply exhausted mentally and physically from over doing things in the run up before the big day. This essence brings us a sense of peace and renewed strength but also gives us insight into how we overdid things to begin with to get so exhausted. 

Do any of these speak to you? These are just 4 of my “friends”.  There are many more to choose from.

For a more general helping hand - there is always * Rescue Remedy which can be used for major and minor traumas - anxiety before an event, the after effects of an argument or perhaps an accident in the home. It helps to restore calm, diffuse shock and trigger the body’s self-healing into action. NOTE: if you experience a medical emergency, this can be used whilst waiting for (but not instead of) medical help - a few drops on the tongue or pulse points.    

Good breast health

GOOD BREAST HEALTH 

Last December, I reached my half-century and within weeks was being “invited” to have my first mammogram. I knew well before the letter arrived that I would never put myself through one of these. Tales from my mother having had a painful and worrying experience had made me realise that squashing a boob between two plates in the name of health, was in fact traumatising local cells and very delicate tissue. I happen to believe that my cells like a little respect and bags of TLC so that’s what I intend giving them in bucketfuls!!

My game plan is to reduce my risk with a healthy diet and lifestyle AND IF the need arises to check out any untoward symptoms with a proven safe method of scanning - and yes there is one. See below.  

I do NOT intend in participating in “just in case” invasive procedures. If I were to do that, I might as well also pop a daily statin just in case my cholesterol becomes too high (and the joke there is that cholesterol isn’t the problem it’s made out to be either!)  

I was delighted to buy my first copy of “What Doctors Don’t Tell You” back in September as it featured a bumper article entitled “The Great Mammogram Con”. I don’t intend re-writing it here, but would urge EVERY woman (whatever age) to read it. Instead I’ll just include a few key points.    

First of all, for every true case of breast cancer detected by a mammogram, it also sees 10 false positives!!! A false positive can lead to a full-blown scary rollercoaster of more tests and treatments including biopsies, lumpectomy (where the cancer is removed), full mastectomy, chemo and radiation. And this isn’t taking into account the months of worry and stress!! There are numerous stories in the papers / on the net telling of women who have unnecessarily had breasts removed.

Radiation and compression of the breast tissue carry dangers. It is argued that the X-ray radiation of one mammogram is negligible, but I would argue that any X-ray carries a risk. Also, at a screening, it is common for there to be 4 X-rays per breast so the cumulative effect is not as negligible as doctors would like you to believe (and ladies, if you consider our annual invite, the risk factor keeps building up).  And just to add insult to injury, literally, as well as being ultra-uncomfortable and often painful, a mammogram can spread existing cancerous cells!!

Mammography is a limited technology as it only sees mass and structure, and not activity, so there is no way to know if a lump is cancerous or aggressive. About one third of all aggressive breast tumours are not detected and in dense breast tissue (fairly common in younger women), cancers can be missed.

You’ll be pleased to know that there is a safe alternative. This is thermography - digital infrared thermal imaging. Where a mammogram sees mass, thermography sees activity from the heat emitted by fast, cancerous growth. It can pick cancers up early, when it is easier to tackle. It is safer because there is no radiation and no breast compression either. Win-win. 

The down side is the cost. Not yet available on the NHS, this procedure has to be done privately. A company called Medical Thermal Imaging Ltd runs mobile clinics throughout the UK (0333 800 3003). It is still worth asking your doctor about this because the bigger the noise we can make about this safe option, the more hope there is that someone may take note and introduce this instead of mammograms.

Whichever way you choose to check, the bottom line is not to buy into the fear. The problem is that the word “cancer” puts the heebie-jeebies into the most level-headed of us, and we can get drawn into having procedures which we may not need.

It pays to take a preventative approach and this starts with diet.  If you eat junk, you are not giving your cells (breast and other) the TLC they deserve, toxins build up and then disease can manifest.  If we stress our cells on a daily basis, they will spend all their time defending themselves rather than healing and cleansing.

Diet-wise

J drink plenty of clean water

J minimise/avoid caffeine

J eat organic

J eat a predominantly plant-based diet (and cut out dairy for sure)

J eat lots of veg and fruit, particularly green veg

J minimise/avoid sugar (cancer thrives on this)

J eat wholefoods and avoid processed

J minimise/avoid alcohol

   

Lifestyle-wise

J don’t smoke

J de-stress (do you REALLY HAVE to do this and that?); relax; stop to smell the roses

J get plenty of sleep

J get plenty of exercise. It’s non-optional if you want to stay healthy 

J get savvy about your toiletries, household cleaners etc. Ditch any chemical cocktails asap

J go hippy-style and ditch your bra. In particular under-wired bras can put undue stress on breast tissue

J re-think your deodorant. If it’s a bog-standard smelly stick, it’s likely to contain aluminium as well as other nasties. You are rolling this directly into the lymph glands under your arm, which sit next to your breasts. Not a good idea. My recommendation is to wash well and go au-naturel, but it that’s too scary, choose a more natural product

Here’s to good breast-health. 

DOMESTIC DEMON #1 - the hidden dangers of tinned food!

We think of our home as our sanctuary, somewhere safe to relax and hide from the outside world, but just how safe are some of our favourite things which we use on a regular basis?

For a while I have been including a “Domestic Demon” article in my newsletter so thought that I would post these to my blog.

No need to panic!!!! Just take a deep breath and read on. 

My Domestic Demons are, on the whole, things which may be lurking in your cupboards so it should be easy to change to a product which is safer and healthier for you and your family.  

So here goes.  Let’s take a look at what might be accompanying your favourite baked beans!!

DOMESTIC DEMON #1 - the hidden dangers of tinned food!  

What could possibly be wrong with good old tinned baked beans / fish / tomatoes etc?

The process of preserving foods in cans harks back to the late 18^th century, thanks to Napoleon, who offered a prize to anyone who could suggest a way of preserving food for his men during the Napoleonic Wars. At the time, there were more casualties from malnutrition, starvation and scurvy than actual war wounds! The prize was won by a brewer called Nicolas Appert, and his invention was a well guarded secret until the English got wind of it at the turn of the following century. Interestingly can openers didn’t make their debut in England until the 1850s, so getting to the foods entailed brute force - rocks, bayonets, hammers and chisels, with no doubt an array of accompanying injuries!!

Tinned food is no doubt a lifesaver. Armies have marched on them, arctic explorers have explored on them, not to mention saving lives in emergencies across the world.

And that is the important word - EMERGENCIES!!      

Most of us today aren’t travelling to obscure places, we have access to fresh produce and we also own fridges. So really, the only reason for using tinned food when you are at home is for convenience.

Sadly there is a gremlin lurking in the can.  A chemical called BPA (Bisphenol-A) is used to line cans to stop them rusting and to keep foods fresh. It is also used in some water bottles. The problem with BPA is that it is a synthetic oestrogen (or “xenoestrogen” which means foreign oestrogen) and this encourages your body to go on a gender-bending, hormone-disrupting rollercoaster of a trip. Our bodies are finely balanced creatures and when we feed them foreign oestrogens, this can overload us into “oestrogen dominance” which for a woman can manifest in such conditions as menstrual problems, endometriosis and possibly cancers; and for a man, as man-boobs and prostate problems, including cancer.     

So ask yourself - just how convenient is this convenience food? You might “save” an hour here and there TODAY, but in the long term how convenient is it when your health is under par and you cannot enjoy life as much as you would like or even worse become so ill that you spend more time at the doctors and hospital than at home?

I’m not saying, don’t ever use canned foods (I confess to having a few tins in our cupboard just in case) but don’t make them a daily staple. The problem is that these chemicals (not to mention the added refined salt, sugar and additives) push our bodies to the limit and have a cumulative effect.    

It’s always good to be “food-aware”. What’s in it? Where has it come from? 

Excessive Media!!

EXCESSIVE MEDIA

For as long as I can remember, my mother has ticked me off for not paying more attention to “what’s going on in the world” as she puts it, but I have to confess that until relatively recently  I have always kept a wary distance from news programmes as much as possible. Call it a sort of subconscious self-preservation if you like.

In my current line of work (and passion), however, all too often I get sucked into the politics of  vaccinations, GMO, alternative versus orthodox medicine and can at times find the whole thing depressing and totally frustrating!! 

So when I saw this cartoon on Facebook, I had to laugh as it sums me up perfectly!   I love Marianne Williamson’s words. “Do not be mystified about why you are depressed by noon when you start your day with angst and despair in the world, especially if you add caffeine”. How true is that? Think back to how you felt during the Olympics. My guess is you were happy. It’s not just that we witnessed daily success stories that made us feel personally that anything is possible but the general feeling of positivity – like an invisible magic elixir in the air – seemed to permeate everyone’s subconscious!! More people smiled – I’m sure of it!    And that’s just it, we are part of nature, with animal instincts, and although not fine-tuned like our wild friends, can pick up emotions both consciously and subconsciously. Have you ever walked into a room and sensed something was wrong? “You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife” is a common phrase used when the air is thick with bad emotions.  If happiness is hanging in the air, we somehow pick that up and it takes a lot more to pull us down. If there is doom and gloom hanging around like a bad smell, our antennae pick up on that too, although we might not be able to put a finger on why we feel so down or perhaps agitated.  In the age of crazy communication, we can if we choose be plugged directly into doom and gloom 24/7.  This is generated daily by media and big companies. A lot of people quite understandably feel fearful by what they see and hear, and this contributes to a collective smog of underlying anxiety, in which we can all marinade.     When we are fearful, so too are our cells, including those of our lovely creative brain! Poleaxed by “what ifs” and bathing in a soup of invisible angst, our poor brain cells do not function at their best, so we cannot make mindful decisions or move forward in life, and are more likely to accept without question whatever so-called media “fact” is given to us.  For instance, as we head into the winter months, who knows if there will be another scaremongering about the latest “killer” flu bug. All scares over recent years came to nothing, but they sold lots of vaccinations = ££ for Big Pharma. Tony Benn said that to control people you need to frighten them and demoralise them. Educated, confident and healthy people are hard to control.     So that’s why it’s best to take personal control.  1)        Educate yourself on how to eat and live healthily. If you look after your cells with health-giving sleep, food and exercise and try to ditch the stress, you are less likely to succumb to illness or any bugs doing the rounds. 2)       If our cells are in a calm healthy state, when life DOES throw a wobbly in our faces, we are less likely to be pulled right down by it, because we are stronger physically, mentally and emotionally.   3)       Note that only 5% of illnesses can be put down to faulty genes. Any other genetic “weaknesses” can be trumped by our lifestyle choices, in particular, diet. Eating correctly can help switch genes on and off. (More in a future edition). So by following (1), we no longer have to live in fear of a family trait as if it was a ticking time-bomb.      4)       Try to give yourself a media-holiday for at least a day a week (more if you can). 5)       Be grateful. In David Hamilton’s “How your mind can heal your body” he suggests writing down 50 things you are grateful for every day.  Yes, that does seem a lot, but as you get into the swing it becomes easier. They don’t have to be big things: being grateful that the sun is out, or a stranger smiled at you in the street both count. As you buy in more to life feeling positive, doom and gloom news should affect you less. 6)       If you are finding it hard to release any fear, consider Bach Flower Essences which can help to  balance you emotionally.   7)       As with everything, balance is best. I’m not suggesting you become a hermit and cut yourself off from the rest of the world, but wallowing in despair (and I know someone who does) will only add to the collective despair and not help to repair it.  Tune into positive news, spread positive news and don’t buy into everything you hear on mainstream news. 8)       Ditch the morning caffeine. Coffee in particular causes big stress to our cells. Stress = fear. No thank you very much!! DRINK MORE WATER!!

Introductory Naturopathic Nutrition Workshop

WEEKEND INTRODUCTORY NATUROPATHIC NUTRITION WORKSHOP    10 and 11 November

                                                             10.30 - 16.30 each day

Take 2 days out of your busy schedule to FOCUS ON YOU.  Learn how your food has a direct impact on your health and well being!  Lots of information, tips, tasters, handouts & recipes to inspire you to set out on the path to a healthier you.

Perhaps ..............

ü       you want to eat more healthily and don’t know where to start

ü       you have a health niggle and would like to tackle it naturally

ü       you want more vibrant health and energy

ü       you are concerned how best to support the health of your family

ü       you would like to shed a few unwanted pounds and are fed up of counting calories

ü       you have some knowledge of healthy eating and want to build on it.

During the weekend we cover lots of topics: the importance of drinking water, why not all fats are created equal, cravings and blood sugar, how stress impacts on our health, how to detox safely, mindful eating, super foods and a little about supplements too.

A light vegetarian lunch will be served each day. 

Held at my home in Dorking, spaces are limited so please book early.
A bargain £90. To book a place or for more details contact me on

T:  01306 884235     E: judithreidnutrition@gmail.com 

www.judithreidnutrition.co.uk

Say YES to Organic Food

Say YES to organic!!

A study came out recently with a boo and a hiss against organic produce (again!). As the study was from Stanford University in the USA, one could be forgiven for thinking that as only pearls of wisdom could possibly flow forth from such a prestigious seat of learning that their claims that organic produce was no healthier than conventional (you know – pesticide-ridden and/or genetically modified) was unquestionable.

Looking a little deeper it transpires that one of the co-authors has a history of churning out “anti-science” propaganda (in the past in favour of Big Tobacco - and we all know how healthy that is!), and that Stanford has financial ties to a major corporate with lots of dollars tied up in promoting biotechnology (i.e. Genetically Modified foods). Oooo – does anyone else smell a rat? 

Surely, COMMON SENSE tells us that a food infused with nasty pesticides isn’t going to do our cells any good. The pesticides are sprayed on crops in order to kill off bugs. Bugs, like us, are living organisms, so if they harm the bugs - why not us too? Ok, thy might not kill us outright within a minute of eating them, but they can play havoc slowly and silently until one day we wake up and wonder why we are starring in our own health scare. Believe me - it didn’t happen overnight - it will have been brewing inside you for several years.

And as for GM foods!!  Ditto to the above! Don’t believe for a second that it will “feed the world”.  It will more likely kill it. Already linked to allergies, it is predicted that these unnatural Frankenstein products will trigger amongst other things autoimmune disease and cancer. Trials on animals (don’t even start me on that!) have shown some dire results.   

A journalist for the New York Times had a jolly time writing nonsense to back the study up, entitling it “The Organic Fable” and pretty much saying that anyone wanting to eat organic for their health was part of a cult following! I suppose it makes a change from being called a Luddite!!

I don’t care if the world wants to label me cuckoo; I DO care what I put inside my body.  I want to enjoy a long, healthy, pain-free, vibrant life. I also wish the same for everyone else and for the planet that sadly is being slowly poisoned along with us.

I strongly recommend that anyone wishing to maintain their health or even improve it should go organic as much as possible.  Why? Fewer poisons in; less stress on your cells and tissues; more nutrients to repair and nurture you; a lower risk of serious illness.

When a study / report / silly article comes out – ask yourself what the underlying agenda is and who does it benefit?  Universities need funding for their research and sadly use wealthy corporates to influence the outcomes.

Don’t take your health and your food supply for granted. Vote with your purse; ask questions; sign petitions to say NO to GMO. There is currently a big petition demanding that GM foods are labelled in the USA and it’s making a difference - even the giant Monsanto are taking note.  Remember the wonderful words of Mother Theresa ……

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.”  

Go on ……….. be a proactive drop in the ocean!!    

Going for Gold - Health from the inside out

Cyclists in Dorking, Surrey 

Going for Gold - Health from the inside out

Here I am - in the middle of August and still no blog entry!  Let’s just say that the Olympics made me stray!!  Like a lot of people. I am not usually a sports fan but got sucked in, and having the cycling come directly through Dorking at the very start of the games started the ball rolling so to speak ……. all very exciting! 

Here we saw athletes in their prime, and one would hope that as well as dedicated training, they had used optimum nutrition in order to attain this state.

The other day, a friend, who is a keen runner, told me that there had been a third heart “incident” at his running club within the year. Thankfully the latest was still alive to tell the tale, but sadly the others, although quite young, were not.

It is quite common for us to equate “fitness” and the ability to run, cycle, play squash or whatever with being healthy, but often nothing could be farther from the truth.  

I’ve heard many a time someone say “X can eat anything; he never puts an ounce of weight on”.  X eats cake, chips, steak, you name it and remains stick thin, but being stick thin is NOT a measure of health.  

X may be constipated or get headaches, but never questions these, assuming them to be normal because “everyone” gets them. What X is experiencing is the norm, but it certainly isn’t normal.

It isn’t normal to be constipated, or to have headaches. These are symptoms thrown up by the body to tell us that something is out of balance. Nor is it normal for women to experience painful menstruation or hot flushes at menopause (here’s an interesting snippet: the Japanese do not have a word for “hot flush” because with their traditional healthy diet, they do not experience them!). How many people have been to the doctors with aching joints and been told it’s just a part of growing old. No it’s not!!! And it is certainly not normal to keel over with a heart attack in mid-life or to manifest cancer at any time, whether you are young or in your 90s. 

We need to take special notice of the phrase “YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT”.  I know that our human makeup, complicated creatures that we are, is not just the sum of all the food we eat; we also have to take into consideration the air we breathe, our emotional responses to stress and experiences etc, but thinking about what we put in our mouths is a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE part of the jigsaw which makes up “you”.

Interestingly, people who have manifested cancer have said that they thought they were eating healthily. What were they using as a yardstick? Government guidelines. Oh dear!!! We have only got to look at two of the key sponsors of the Olympics - Coca Cola and MacDonald’s - to see that something is dreadfully wrong. This is simply a reflection of food lobbies, where big food companies use mega £s and a lot of clout to sway politicians’ thinking.  As a result we have the comically low “5-a-day” message about fruit and vegetables and a big push about eating lots of animal protein. We do not need as much protein as we think AND, wait for it, we can get ample from plant-based diets. We don’t need to top up with lots of steak and nor do we need to drink milk.

Did you know that the highest rates of osteoporosis are found in countries where dairy is a staple?  For those of you worried about your bones, and health in general, ditch the milk and start eating greens!!! !

I recently read a superb phrase in a book: “Be an active participant in your own health”.  Amen to that I say!! 

And to use an Olympic metaphor……… we have all cheered on our sporting heroes this past fortnight, and felt elated when they achieved gold. How about trying for a few golds ourselves? We don’t need to break any world records (although regular exercise is a big part of a healthy lifestyle) but we could set ourselves some goals to look after our insides better.

I’m sure a lot of you know the spiel by now ……… more water, less stimulants (coffee, tea, alcohol), a zillion veg and fruit (Ok perhaps not quite that much but please aim for way more than 5-a-day), a lot less animal protein (if at all), ditch the cola and fast foods and other refined junk etc …..     

I’m saying this, not as a killjoy, but as a concerned friend.   

Clematis - The Reality Flower

CLEMATIS -  The Reality Flower; Bringing us back down to earth 

I often hear amusing stories of children, when asked where say bananas come from, answer “supermarkets”, obviously not knowing the natural source!!  We have all become so divorced from nature, that it is easy to lose sight of what our ancestors would have considered common knowledge (although let’s face it - some of them might never have seen an actual banana -  but you get the idea!!)

For years I used Bach Flower remedies and simply thought of them as essences in bottles, without giving a thought to the actual flowers used to make them. This all changed when I started studying the essences in earnest and now I enjoy going on an adventure in the wilds (!!) of Surrey, trying to spot as many as possible.

Seeing the actual flowers, where and how they grow, can often give us clues as to their wonderful qualities. A good example of this is when we look at CLEMATIS.  This weekend, in between all the excitement of Olympic cycling in Dorking, I came across lots of Clematis when out walking with friends.

Clematis is a late bloomer, appearing on the scene in July and August. It is a creeper with no means of supporting itself, so uses trees, hedges and fences to support it as it climbs its way up towards the sky and light. The profusion of its exquisite creamy-white tufted flowers can give its host the appearance of having a cloth of lace draped over it. In Winter, when everything else is bare, Clematis, aptly nicknamed “Old Man’s Beard”, resembles fluffy balls of grey cotton wool, giving hedges an out-of-world appearance.

When in a Clematis-state, a person has no interest whatsoever in the here and now. “In cloud cuckoo land”; “Off with the fairies”; “In La-La land” are all apt descriptions for such people. Ordinary life holds no interest; reality is too mundane and dull and the day to day BBN (boring but necessary) tasks are not for them!  They wish to escape into their fantasy world, perhaps thinking about a place where they would love to live, or a dream job, but in reality they do no ground work to change their current circumstances to achieve these!  Often those in Clematis state are very drowsy, using sleep as an escape.

Clematis Essence can help ground us and bring us back to the present.  It helps us concentrate and have a realistic perspective on life. This doesn’t mean that it stops our dreaming and creativity. Instead it can help to channel it into something concrete. Often with Clematis type people, artistic gifts can go wasted. The essence can help such creative creatures translate their visions into for example a painting or poem.

Clematis is one of the five essences used to make up Rescue Remedy and is included to alleviate the out-of-body feeling which often precedes fainting or loss of consciousness.  

In all situations, whether in a day-to-day dreamy state or in an actual emergency, Clematis Essence can help bring us back to earth.  

Agrimony - The Honesty Flower

AGRIMONY - The Honesty Flower

Where might you see a collection of church steeples in Dorking, Surrey? Answer - at the foot of Box Hill along the River Mole. I’m not talking grand Victorian edifices but instead the delicate stems of the Agrimony flower, given its nickname “church steeple” because of its long pointed stem covered in bright yellow flowers, not too dissimilar to the ornaments on an actual church spire.

Agrimony is another of the flowers used to make Bach essences. The five-petalled flowers also bring to mind mini satellite dishes, poised waiting to receive outside signals.  

By August, the petals have disappeared and all that remains are conical fruits which eagerly stick to passing objects, like Velcro, using them as vehicles for seed dispersal.   

The typical “Agrimony type” person, just like the plant, is externally focused, and will eagerly seek out the company of others. Troubled by mental anguish, he will do anything to avoid his own company, instead preferring to play the “life and soul” of any party. Whether he uses the company of others, or addictive substances such as alcohol, drugs or overeating, the name of the game is escape - escape from his own emotions.  Like the clown at the circus, his public mask hides secret worries. 

Highly sensitive, the Agrimony type also hates any form of conflict and will do anything to keep the peace, often sacrificing his own needs and wishes to do so.   

Taking Bach Essence Agrimony can bring about a genuine inner peace and joyfulness. We can see our problems in the right light and perhaps laugh at our own worries, recognising their relative unimportance. We can also deal with both positive and negative situations and grow from them. And rather than shying away, we can deal with confrontation. Being open and honest means we can now discuss how we feel with others rather than pretending that everything is fine. 

In essence, we can be honest with ourselves and others - thanks to the Honesty Flower, Agrimony. 

Edible Flowers - Nasturtium

Edible Flowers  NASTURTIUM

For a while now, I have grown various herbs each summer, but a couple of years ago I branched out into growing edible flowers too. Reading articles on the subject, it turns out that flowers have been used for centuries in the kitchen, but I like to use mine raw so that I can get the most out of them nutrient-wise.

One of my favourites is Nasturtium.

Also known as Indian Cress or Monks Cress, Nasturtium gets its name from the Latin “nasus tortus” which means “twisted nose”, referring to its pungent flavour. Unlike most other edible flowers with their ever so delicate flavour, Nasturtium carries quite a peppery punch.

Both the leaves and flowers (beautiful reds, yellows and oranges) can be eaten and make a wonderful addition to salads. I confess one of my faves is a simple Nasturtium sandwich: granary bread and butter with a generous helping of leaves and a couple of flowers.

A great advantage to Nasturtium is that it is incredible easy to grow. I grow mine in three terracotta pots on the lounge window sill. Its jewel-like colours brighten up a rainy day (like today!). All it asks for is regular water, and it just keeps giving and giving throughout the summer months. In fact, it is sometimes hard to keep up with it!!

Needless to say, I grow it organically, without any nasties, and it’s a great way to top up your quota of daily greens. 

Just a word of warning, however, to anyone who suffers with any sensitivities: they have been known to cause a slight tingling in the mouth in some people, so go slowly when you first try them!! 

Enjoy! :) 

Panda Regularity

Panda Regularity

Last summer, there was an article in the papers which caught my eye, mainly because it was accompanied by a cute picture of pandas, but also, with my naturopathic hat on, it was talking about bowels! In particular it was reporting on how panda poo contains potent bacteria capable of breaking down tough plant material, essential for extracting ethanol, which can be used as a biofuel. What struck me most was that the average adult panda chomps its way through about 11 kg of bamboo shoots a day (not a very balanced diet) and wait for it ………….. can poo up to 40 times!!! At the time of reading I was suffering with a temporary (though it didn’t feel it at the time) bout of traveller’s constipation – so my immediate thought was “LUCKY PANDAS”!! 

As I was feeling sluggish, headachy and generally out of sorts with my lack of panda-regularity, this got me thinking about just how incredibly important our bowels are for health, so now, having exhausted my somewhat limited knowledge of the bowel habits of pandas, I shall share with you some thoughts on human digestion ………… in particular, bowels ….. so don’t be shy ……. and read on!!     

Naturopathically speaking, we are constipated if we don’t have 3 good well-formed bowel motions a day. Yes, you read that correctly – THREE!! Just count your blessings you aren’t a panda!!  A* for anyone who achieves that; B++ for the once-a-dayers and a “come to my office” for everyone else!!

When our cells cleanse, the toxins discarded take a circuitous route, ending up in the colon, before being escorted via the stools off our premises for good. The colon is therefore a temporary holding dock, with the emphasis on temporary. If the stools are allowed to linger a little too long, toxins can literally recycle via the bloodstream. Not only does this rather defeat the object but you can auto-toxicate, leading to all sorts of symptoms, such as headaches, joint aches, skin rashes, feeling under the weather, even depression. It can also irritate the colon itself, setting the scene for more digestive problems.

So what do we need to make things work a little more smoothly?

Four things: hydration; bulk; good muscle tone; and a healthy environment in your digestive tract.

·    Hydration is a fairly easy one. Bottom line (sorry – no pun intended)  – we need to drink water regularly (4 pints spread throughout the day), and try to avoid drinks such as coffee and tea which are diuretics and serve only to take water away from us. Eating water-rich foods also helps. Fruit, vegetables and soups all belong to this category. Dry foods however, draw on our water reserves. So if you are starting your day with toast (very dry) and coffee (strong diuretic), you are not doing your colon any favours!!

·    Bulk = fibre, found in whole foods, fruit and vegetables. This helps to sweep the colon clean (it draws up toxins as it goes) as well as gives the colon muscles something to work against …… which leads onto ………….

·    Good muscle tone.  The old adage “use it or lose it” applies just as much to the colon as to anywhere else in the body. We need to exercise it every day to keep it in tip-top condition. Fibre is of great importance; also exercise. A good brisk walk can help tone the colon. I often find that if I am sedentary for a couple of days say, my bowels can become sluggish. Never rely on laxatives, as these just make the colon lazy.

·    Healthy Environment – we provide this through drinking water and eating healthily. Good bacteria (probiotics) also give us a helping hand ……… these little fellows support our whole digestive tract, aiding digestion as well as keeping bad bacteria at bay. Adding in some good bacteria as well as cleaning up your diet can really help with regularity. Note that when buying supplements, it is better to buy a combined pre- and pro-biotic. The Pre- provides the food for the pro. Also, there is no point in throwing supplements in if you don’t change your diet!! We need a nice healthy environment in our digestive tract for the good bacteria to THRIVE in! J   

Hopefully this has given you a few helpful hints to achieving an A* colon. If digestion is a problem for you, I would recommend you seeking the advice of a practitioner, who can help tailor your diet to improve your bowel health as well as digestion in general. 

Tom and Jerry and Life's Pause Button

I was recently driving down to the south coast and was horrified to find huge swathes of woodland chopped down at the side of the road, no doubt in preparation for widening the road to accommodate yet more traffic. To my simple way of thinking, this is just a temporary “plaster” for an ever increasing problem. What happens when the new third lane becomes congested too? Do we extend again and then again?  Wouldn’t it be better to research ways of taking cars off  the road? 

Obviously I’m not writing an article about the UK transport system …….. but seeing this rather depressing sight made me think about how we approach our health in a similar fashion.

For starters I think we sometimes forget to hit the pause button on our life. Most of us live a fast-paced life, “stressed-bunny syndrome” as I like to think of it, and even exercise and hobbies become just another entry or two on the list of things to fit in each week, and instead of creating relaxation, add to our already hefty stress load.   

We can find ourselves running on “full”, with no room to manoeuvre and so when something unexpected turns up, especially something unwanted, like an illness, it’s natural to want to give it the least amount of time and energy. Colds and headaches are perfect examples. We don’t want the cold or headache so we down painkillers and decongestants in order to carry on regardless. These are our “plasters”, things which allow us to continue doing the same with as little inconvenience as possible.

These symptoms, however, are there for a reason. They are telling us to hit the pause button, step away from that hectic life of ours, even if it’s only for a day or two, and give our physical, mental and emotional self a rest.

This is a good time to reflect. Why am I getting these headaches? Am I eating healthily enough? Am I drinking enough water? Can I reduce my alcohol intake? Can I get more sleep or fresh air? Instead of reaching for another plaster, it is good instead to look at the possible cause, and consider making small changes, doing things differently in future so we don’t have a repeat performance the next month and the month after that. 

I’m not suggesting we get paranoid and fearful about every twinge and sniffle, but instead try to listen to our bodies and review how well we are looking after ourselves.  Sometimes a simple change can reap great benefits.

If we ignore the small things - those niggling symptoms - then sometimes the body comes along with a whopping big mallet and hits us over the head, which makes us reach not so much for the pause as the stop button.  

It reminds me of the old Tom and Jerry cartoons I used to watch as a child.  Jerry (mouse) hits Tom (cat) over the head with something, and a lump pops up; Tom pushes the lump down and another pops up elsewhere; he pushes that down and - yes you have guessed it - it pops up in yet another place!! In the same way, by ignoring our symptoms, we are simply moving the problem elsewhere. 

So what am I suggesting? Instead of being swept along with what we think we ought to be doing, and what we think other people expect of us, filling up every minute of every day, holding it all together whether “well”  or ill, we need to get in tune with what is truly good for us.  

      

I am currently sitting here with a suspected torn cartilage two months after the first symptoms appeared, waiting (in limbo) for a scan. At the time, I just assumed I had strained something so carried on regardless. I had commitments; I didn’t want to let people down - you get the picture. My knee has now told me in no uncertain terms that it has had enough!! With it, my energy and mojo decided to go walkabout too - thankfully only temporarily.  

So what have I done? I have hit my pause button and am exploring ways to support myself through this without using “plasters”.  I have taken up meditation again, and instead of it being a task on my to-do list each day as it was many years ago (which equated to yet more stress!; I was doing it because it was “good for me”), I now set aside half an hour each day just to sit and enjoy time to just be, and the meditation just comes naturally.  Meditation isn’t for everybody, but just allowing yourself to sit quietly, with no distractions and perhaps using the time to let your mind wander can help to recharge your batteries.  Perhaps too, if you feel stressed or under par, instead of reaching for a quick fix “plaster”, you could consider in a very relaxed way how you could look after yourself better? Remember it is far better to ponder the smaller symptoms and fine tune your life now rather than have to make much bigger changes later when that mallet hits hard.  

Hornbeam - Nature's "Pick-me-up"

Hornbeam - Nature's "Pick-me-up" 

Each of the 39 Bach Flower Essences is what I call a “healing helper” and I regularly use them to help rebalance me emotionally. My focus today is on Hornbeam, mainly because it spoke to me directly at the beginning of last week, but also because its qualities relate to how a lot of people around me seem to be feeling right now. So, let’s take a look at what Hornbeam essence can offer us.     

I shall start off by telling you a little about why I felt the need for it, to illustrate its use.

For the past few weeks, I was having trouble with my right knee. I had cut out my regular and much loved dancing to be “sensible”, and over a busy fortnight, in preparation for various events I was running and participating in, I had been doing a lot of sitting on bottom, in front of the PC. I had intended going for a gentle walk each day, but inertia seemed to set in, encouraged by the soggy weather. So, in summary, I channelled most of my energy into mental activities, with little physical activity to balance it out. As a result I was left feeling mentally and a little physically weary, and although I had lots of projects that I wanted to get on with, I found that I just couldn’t be bothered!!  Enter Hornbeam ………….   

Hornbeam is indicated where we have that “Monday morning feeling”; where we feel weary at just the thought of the day ahead and fear we may not have the energy to meet its demands; where we feel the need for a stimulant such as coffee to kick start us; life perhaps is too routine and lacks variety so we feel jaded; fatigue is more mental than physical. It can be useful, as in the example above, where a student has been glued to his books in preparation for an exam but has failed to balance the mental exertion with physical activity and fresh air. It can also be useful when our heads are buzzing from too much TV. Our spiritual vitality has faded, we are in a mental rut, but amazingly this weariness disappears instantly when something out of the ordinary happens, or something challenging enough is presented!!   

A few drops in water, sipped throughout the day, can really help. The negative Hornbeam state can be temporary or more long lasting. If the latter, take at least 4 times a day for a week or two or until you feel more refreshed. It is also a good idea to support this with a break in routine, doing something out of the ordinary or a change of scenery, perhaps weaving in some daily physical activity.