Journal
Harvest Moon
The magnificent Harvest Moon of last Friday hung low in the dark sky and was a reminder of a change in the seasons and the effect of light on our hormones. The following Monday, newspapers reported that men should expose their body to strong light as this increases testosterone – sex always makes the headlines! But there is much more to light than a small increase in libido. In 1973, a book was published that changed forever my knowledge and interest in the relationship between light and wellbeing. Dr John Nash Ott published “Health and Light”. His experiments caused him to believe that only full-spectrum light from infra-red to ultra-violet could promote health. Since Ott’s day, world-wide research has not only confirmed all he taught but has firmly established that natural daylight sets and resets our innate biological clock via the pineal gland and its hormone, melatonin. However, much in our busy lives opposes the circadian rhythm so essential to health and vitality. Friday’s Harvest Moon contrasted the reflected light from the sun and the dark stellar space beyond, but house lights were blazing as they have done since the invention of electric lighting by Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla. In the natural scheme of things, the autumn evenings should prepare us for the darkness of winter and the need dim the lights, eat less and sleep more. But we have turned night into day. Anciently, the red glow from a fire would stimulate the pineal gland to produce melatonin, encourage relaxation and the urge to sleep, but conversely, blue light from computer screens, TV’s and mobile phones opposes melatonin, raises cortisol to further stimulate a weary brain. Knowing this, there is much we can do to allow light to be our natural healer. By all means, allow the early morning light full access to the retina in order to set our biological clock. Then, at the other end of the day we can reset the clock by dimming the lights, and if we use a computer in the evening the free installation of the software f.lux will automatically and progressively take out the blue/green tints from the screen. Low-energy lamps and LED lighting are a disrupting source of blue light whilst filament lamps are a source of relaxing red light, especially when dimmed. An excellent herbal supplement, Ashwaghandha will prepare us for sleep, its botanical name gives a clue: Withania somnifera. Written by B V Lamb, Medical Herbalist
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First do no harm
The most important aspects of health care in my 20 plus years of working in medicine goes like this – PREVENTION LOVING CARE TREATING A PERSON AS A WHOLE BEING AND NOT JUST A SYMPTOM In all health care professions there are caring people and the opposite. I hear about them all, good and bad, from experiences people have in trying to improve their health. Recently I read a report from a specialist to a GP concerning a patient. It was written in a kindly tone with a word choice that portrayed compassion. I was pleasantly surprised. I recently spoke to someone who works for a GP who announced he had no interest at all in food and nutrition’s impact on health. I was left wondering what kind of medicine can they possibly be in. It was hard to understand how they could really believe that nutrition has no impact on health. Is it because medicine has become more like a business, that there is no interest because there are drugs to sell? “There is no doubt that a “more medicine is better” culture lies at the heart of healthcare, exacerbated by financial incentives within the system to prescribe more drugs and carry out more procedures.” Dr Aseem Malhotra “It’s my job to figure out what a physician’s price is. For some it’s dinner at the finest restaurants, for others it’s enough convincing data to let them prescribe confidently and for others it’s my attention and friendship…but at the most basic level, everything is for sale and everything is an exchange.” —Shahram Ahari, drug rep. The Hippocratic Oath is a useful reminder and should be pasted to every clinicians wall. I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant: I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow. I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism. I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug. I will not be ashamed to say “I know not,” nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient’s recovery. I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God. I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person’s family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick. I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure. I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm. If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help. —Written in 1964 by Louis Lasagna, Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University, and used in many medical schools today.
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Industrial air pollution causing a toxic brain
Groundbreaking news from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences links toxic pollutants in the air to Alzheimer’s Disease. They report ‘millions of particles of magnetite per gram of brain matter’ and suggest that these toxins enters the body through the nose and lungs.Magnetite is an oxide of iron and is found in diesel fumes from road and rail vehicles. Air-borne particulates of nanometre size easily pass through tight-junctions in the nose and throat and enter the general circulation and can cause heart attacks and dementia.By all means do all you can to avoid air-borne pollutants by minimising exposure and spending some part of each day in a park or similar environment. Home air filters are valuable if you live in a city. But there is more. As discovered in 2013, during early onset of sleep, the brain shrinks by up to one third and a cleansing wave of cerebrospinal fluid washes through the brain and drains away pollutants. As far as possible heed the call to sleep because brain detoxification will not wait! At another level, the herb Thyme is a powerful stimulant of the fine hairs that line the bronchial tubes. The ‘muccociliary escalator’ wafts particulates upwards in a matrix of mucus. Thyme Syrup can make all the difference. Industrial air pollution leaves magnetic waste on the brain
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Proof that the best things in life really are free
“Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature.” —Thomas à Kempis I often, sometimes 3 times a week, visit my local organic farm shop. There I meet people who like me also find ‘therapy’ in just hanging around this lovely setting. The little wooden type shack where the produce is on display, lovingly nurtured until it is ready to harvest is a feast for the eyes. There is an appreciation for the effort it takes to keep vegetables going without using chemical sprays and I recently watched as the farm hands carefully weeded round the vegetables. Conversations are had with like-minded people who appreciate the surroundings of this lovely place; the fields of green, the plum trees heavy with fruit and the sound at this time of year of the bees and butterflies delighting in the rows of beautiful flowers. Time passes, we leave refreshed and with a feeling of being abundantly blessed. Appreciation and gratefulness comes with the seemingly small treasures in my week and as I wandered around my sister’s allotment where the gardeners have produced such beautiful inspiring lovingly tended plots a sense of calm and peace washes over. The intricate beauty of the sunflower and artichoke is just wonderful and only when you take time to really look do you see things you might never have noticed before. The disk of little flowers crowded together that make up the centre of the sunflower. I had never taken the time to look closely and to be honest have often thought of them as perhaps a bit tall and ungainly, a competition flower of height. I was wrong. We picked blackberries, hazelnuts, plums, apples and rosehips, chatting about how lucky we were to be able to experience the harvesting. We talked of how in times gone by these would have been picked and stored and used wisely. The treasures we took home were more rewarding than any purchases on a shopping trip. All around us blessings abound if we just take time to tune in. On earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it ~ Jules Renard
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Gratitude
“Dear old world’, she murmured, ‘you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.” L.M.Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables Gratitude is a healing, positive emotion. As Charles Dickens said “Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” We all have many things to be grateful for, and most we take for granted. Many people are waking up today unable to see this beautiful morning, and it is not weather dependent. Even when going through difficult times in life there are many things to be grateful for and below are just some – Your sight Your sense of hearing Your sense of taste and smell Your warm bed that you left this morning The roof over your head Your first meal of the day Your family and friends Your employment The nature outside your doorstep Your legs to move you about The sun The rain The air you breath Your heart Life’s challenges, that allow personal growth It is too easy to take things for granted, when blessings abound. Notice simple pleasures, be thankful and acknowledge all that you receive with grace. “I didn’t expect to recover from my second operation but since I did, I consider that I’m living on borrowed time. Every day that dawns is a gift to me and I take it in that way. I accept it gratefully without looking beyond it. I completely forget my physical suffering and all the unpleasantness of my present condition and I think only of the joy of seeing the sun rise once more and of being able to work a little bit, even under difficult conditions.” – Henri Matisse
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Acid Reflux and Antacids
Taking Omeprazole or other PPI’s? You are at more risk of – Having a heart attack Long term kidney damage (thought to be from magnesium depletion from the drug) B12 depletion Depletion in folate, zinc and Vitamin A C-diff brought on by long term acid suppressing drugs Osteoporosis and bone fractures Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth 44% increased dementia risk in older people taking PPI’s – “there is some biological plausibility to the hypothesis that PPIs can cross the blood-brain barrier. They may increase both production and degradation of amyloid, at least in animal models, and bind to tau. There is also evidence of reduced levels of B12 and other nutrients among PPI users that could possibly relate to an increased risk of dementia.” JAMA Neurology Acid reflux is mostly due, NOT TO A DISEASE OF TOO MUCH STOMACH ACID as has been traditionally thought, but when the muscular valve, the lower esophageal sphincter valve which is meant to stop acid coming up, relaxes inappropriately. Consider foods that make your condition worse – caffeine, wheat, acidic foods, alcohol etc.Get tested for Helicobacter pylori – a major factor of acid reflux.Is stress involved? Take magnesium and Holy Basil.Consider taking Hydrochloric Acid and digestive enzymes.Slippery Elm is extremely beneficial and soothes the digestive tract, reducing inflammation. Acid suppressing drugs were never intended to be used long term. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/758268 http://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/…/pr…/20068748.article http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/857060 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2974811/
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Intuitive Eating by Brian Lamb Medical Herbalist
Under ideal circumstances we ought to be able to sense what we need to eat to stay well and feel strong. This sense has almost entirely been crushed by the food industry as it has manipulated taste and desire to suits its ends. Finding a balance between the three main food groups has been lost by almost everyone – but it can be regained by those who are willing to question and seek a better way.How can we begin to eat intuitively? The maxim: ‘breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper’ is a good starting point. But for many whose busy lives prevent this, at least try to eat substantially before the evening meal which should not be the largest meal of the day. There is a good reason for this. The day presents our body with a metabolic tide – in reality a high tide and a low tide, similar to the ocean but different in that it is fixed in time – the high tide of energy starts early in the morning when food is used most efficiently. As the day passes, a low tide seamlessly develops when our body prepares for rest, relaxation and the mystery of restorative sleep. The morning tidal flow is called catabolic and the late afternoon is called anabolic. Catabolism is the breakdown of yesterdays complex molecules in the food we ate whilst anabolism is one of construction and storage which requires rest and sleep. This explains why obesity is powered by cramming food in the evening. A busy working life will require a compromise but not a capitulation. At the weekend an opportunity exists to experience the maxim for maybe two days. The result will encourage you. Eating earlier in the day if possible and taking meals at the same time each day including weekends will sharpen metabolism and increase our sense of nutritional needs. Our body is controlled by cellular clocks causing energy flow between organs. Digestive system energy peaks and wanes on a regular cycle and by eating at a fixed time we avoid overload and increase our sensitivity to the three food groups: protein, starchy and non-starchy fruits and vegetables and fats. The next step to intuitive eating is to eat simple meals of few items: for example steamed green beans and fish for our main meal. Segregating starchy vegetables such as potatoes or rice from protein allows for better digestion. Eating a large portion of green beans or other non-starchy vegetables more than satisfies the need for fast carbs and leaves one feeling comfortably satisfied but not bloated. Bloating is usually caused by digestive conflict between protein and starchy veg. Diluting meals with water or eating fruit close to a main meal will also cause bloating. A good soup when slowly eaten is a healthy choice, but followed too soon by tea or coffee and cake and one is quickly bloated.Intuitive eating asks the question: ‘how much protein makes me feel well and how much starchy food do I need for brain energy and am I eating healthy fats. Also, I have been told I need 5-portions a day of fruit and veg. Is this correct and how can I manage 5’? By eating smarter one eats less and feels better.Not appreciated by most is the fact that we do better if we have a ‘reset’ day once a week when missing a meal or eating less really does do us good. A breakfast of mixed ripe fruit, nuts, dried fruit and seeds is super-charged with digestive enzymes and is very cleansing. Others may do well on a high protein breakfast. The common default breakfast of cereals or toast is not good as it gives a roller-coaster surge of insulin with a soon-to-follow emptiness. Lunch of a good protein and green vegetable or salad (but not lettuce as this is a sedative and it will make one sleepy) will provide a clear head for the afternoon whilst a small evening meal including starches such as rice or potatoes will assist with relaxation and sleep. Once our digestive system is calmer and free from bloating we will soon come to select foods on an intuitive basis to bring better health and weight management.All of this should be joyful and not fastidious. Once you are an established intuitive eater and see and feel the benefits, it is good to break out and have a binge because this is not a ‘ball and chain’ or cult – but you will soon be back on track – out of choice!
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Don’t give up
“I’ve tried everything” is a commonly heard statement in our clinic. We usually find that actually a ‘common path’ has been trod to find well being again and it can be a revelation to find that perhaps you haven’t quite tried it all. Even when ‘top’ specialists have been consulted, because they usually don’t look at a person holistically, something vital might be missed. It is easy to feel discouraged when you feel you have listened to all kinds of advice, followed eating plans, tried various pills and supplements and spent what seems like wasted money and still no relief in sight. Sometimes ‘fresh eyes’ are needed and in our continually revealing study of the body, mind, nutrition and herbs, wonderful new opportunities for healing emerge. I am reminded of countless cases when working for my father, and this was at a time when Herbal Medicine was viewed as a last resort, some 25 years ago, that he treated many patients at their wits end, often with very unusual diseases with amazing results. Modern medicine has a lot to learn when still viewing a patient as a symptom. Nothing comes from nothing and to view a person as a whole is a much more promising start when helping someone back to optimal health. A road less travelled may be the answer when all else seems to have failed. The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. Marcel Proust
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The Anti-Ageing Nutrient – Hyaluronic Acid
You may have wondered what Hyaluronic Acid is as it crops up in skin products and supplements and if it is worth taking. Hyaluronic Acid is a gel-like water holding molecule, a glycosaminoglycan, present in all connective tissue that is responsible for maintaining moisture in the body. Arthritic joints are often very low in Hyaluronic Acid hence it being a useful nutrient to lubricate joints. Known as ‘natures moisturiser’ almost half of the Hyaluronic Acid in the body is located in the collagen of the skin, making it an excellent choice for smoothing, softening, plumping and reducing wrinkles. As we age levels of Hyaluronic Acid decrease, and by our mid 40’s it is estimated that stores deplete by at least half. Unfortunately it is part of the ageing process and along with that comes aching joints and wrinkles! Scientific studies have shown that Hyaluronic Acid Is anti-ageing, ie it improves skin hydration, elasticity, visibly plumps skin and stimulates collagen production Has anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory activity Aids eye health as it maintains the fluid in the eye tissues Cushions and lubricates joints as HA is a major component of cartilage and synovial fluid Helps gums regenerate healthy tissue Is an antioxidant, protecting against damage from free radicals New research is also revealing the effectiveness of HA in a variety of other issues including rosacea and vaginal dryness. Hyaluronic Acid products – Viridian High Potency Hyaluronic Acid 200mg Mad Hippie Face Cream Mad Hippie Exfoliating Serum Mad Hippie Vitamin C Serum Mad Hippie Vitamin A Serum Mad Hippie Cleanser Noah Hydrating and Restorative Shampoo Noah Filling and Plumping Conditioner Noah Anti-breaking Serum for Hair Tips Noah Restorative Treatment Hair Mask Aloederm SPF 20 Face Sun Cream Aloederm After Sun Milk
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