Happy songs to brighten your day!

Music releases endorphins - the body's feel good drug - and lifts the spirits! Turn up the volume!


(Unfortunately can't be viewed on iphone or ipad - can't figure out why?)

The Beauty Breakfast!

This breakfast has been traditionally used by those wanting to have a steady supply of energy in the morning, good digestion, regular elimination and beautiful skin.  It requires minimum preparation, which can be done before you go to bed at night so that it is ready to be eaten in the morning.

Before you go to bed, put some live natural yoghurt (contains friendly bacteria, lactobaccilus and bifobacterium which aid digestion), use goats or sheeps yoghurt if you are avoiding dairy, and mix with some orange or other fruit juice (freshly juiced by yourself, even better!) or even water to form a shake.  Throw in a handful of porridge oats, a couple of chopped prunes,  goji berries, (much nicer soaked anyway!) dates or apricots and sprinkle over Linwoods powdered seed mix.

This is great stuff and costs £4.99 from Sainsburys or Holland and Barrett. (costs £8.00 on their website!) The seeds have already been ground so they are much easier for the body to absorb. It is really delicious mixed in with yoghurt or sprinkled into soups or over porridge.  Babies and toddlers love it too mixed in with some natural yoghurt as the goji berries give it a delicious sweet taste. Even fresher and better would be to buy organic seeds of your choice and grind them as and when you need, using this great coffee and herb grinder from Argos.  It is always best to have ground seeds because whole seeds are not digested by the intestine and they just pass through. Therefore, it gives your body no nutritional benefits.

Leave oat mixture in fridge to ferment overnight, and eat in the morning on its own or with some fresh fruit or berries.  You could also take to work for a mid morning snack.  Great to get those bowels moving!  Also try a cereal called 'grapenuts', low in fat, high in fibre with no added sugar. It's in a much smaller box than normal cereals so I found it a job to find the first time I looked for it.  I know sainsburys sell it.  Not that exciting but tastier if you add it to the concoction above in the morning just before you eat it - it gives it a nice crunch!

The importance of colon health

Why we should be taking probiotics and/or digestive enzymes

Boost your immune system with good bacteria
There are countless supplements out there that claim they can help boost your immune system, but did you know that 80% of your immune system is actually found in your gastrointestinal (GI) tract?  This means that your gut is actually a major focal point when it comes to maintaining optimal health and strong immunity.

The major benefits of adding probiotic organisms to the diet: boosts immune system, inhibits disease causing organisms, improved digestion, vitamin synthesis, detoxification and protection from toxins, prevents diarrhea from various causes, reduced risk of irritable bowel syndromes, cancer-protective effects, increased nutrient absorption, improves resistance to allergies, reduces yeast and other infections.

If you have ever heard of probiotics but still don't really quite understand the importance of taking a good probiotic supplement during times of illness then Dr Lewis will explain everything you need to know.  I always find it easier to absorb information if I actually listen to someone alongside a visual description.  Personally, this seems to sink in much better than reading endless lists of information.  I hope after watching the video that you will have a better understanding of probiotics and the importance of maintaining the right balance between "friendly/good bacteria" and "bad bacteria" that reside in our intestinal tract and assist in the prevention of disease.

 A really good probiotic to buy that must be kept in the fridge, £17.95 with free postage and packaging (cheapest supplier that I have found!)

Also another great product to try if you find you are full of wind, gas, cramping and bloatedness are digestive enzymes.  These are all symptoms of food not being broken down properly in the digestive system.  One of the best products is Udos Choice Ultimate Digestive Enzyme Blend.  Enzymes and probiotics can be important aids to help you avoid the chaos of intestinal imbalance.  

Don't use the yogurt drinks like yakult as they are full of sugar and therefore counter productive!

Juice your way to better health!

Jason Vale got me interested in juicing about 3 years ago.  I think he is very inspirational and cannot fail to motivate you into the world of juicing.  The benefits are endless!  He is so passionate about juicing and this comes across in leaps and bounds in all his videos and books.  My family and I juice everyday now, including my 2 year old and it is such a great way to ensure that children get at least 5 a day!  There is no way my children would eat a plate full of spinach, broccoli and celery but juice it - and they love it!!  If you are wanting to try and get more healthy but keep failing I recommend getting a juicer for Christmas!  It is the only gadget that I have ever bought which hasn't ended up in the cupboard in the kitchen with all the other 5 minute wonder appliances! Every morning now, I make up 2 litre bottles, (saves washing up the juicer twice!) put it in a  Sigg flask which apparently keeps it fresher for longer, (bought mine really cheaply second hand on ebay) then I drink over the course of the day.

Jason Vale recommends the Phillips juicer.  I have this one and have also invested in a top of the range masticating juicer which is a lot more fuss but the quality of juice is much better.  It really depends how far you want to go with your new health regime.  I suggest that if you are a beginner and are just trying to get more healthy, to see if you are even going to like juicing and actually stick to it,  then this is definately the juicer to buy.  It is so easy to use, you can literally stuff whole apples, unpeeled pineapple, spinach, whole cucumbers in the top and in 2 seconds you have a juice!

You can buy this juicer that Jason recommends on Amazon for £66.00 or second hand for £49.99  This juicer sells on Jason's website for £79.99.   Read reviews before you buy!

See below for some inspirational videos from Jason advising you which juicer to buy and a couple of other ones just to get you in the mood for juicing!

Pass The Butter....Please!

Definately converted me to butter! 
        
Margarine  was originally manufactured to fatten  turkeys.  When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put  all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their  heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get  their money back.   
It was a white substance with no food appeal  so they added the yellow colouring and sold it to people to use in place of butter.  How do you like it?   They have come out  with some clever new flavourings....     

DO  YOU KNOW.. The difference between margarine and butter?    

Read on to the end...gets very interesting!     

Both  have the same amount of calories.  

Butter  is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8  grams; compared   to 5 grams for margarine.  

Eating margarine can increase  heart disease in women by  53%  over  eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent  Harvard  Medical Study.  

Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in  other foods.  

Butter  has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few and   only  because  they are added!  

Butter  tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavours of  other foods.  

Butter  has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years .  

And now, for Margarine..  

Very High in Trans fatty acids.  

Triples risk of coronary heart disease ...  

Increases  total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and  lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)  

Increases  the risk of cancers up to five times..  

Lowers  quality of breast milk.  

Decreases immune response.  

Decreases  insulin response.  

And  here's the most disturbing fact.... HERE IS THE PART THAT  IS  VERY INTERESTING!  

Margarine  is but ONE MOLECULE away  from being PLASTIC... and shares 27 ingredients withPAINT  

These facts alone were enough to have me avoiding margarine for life  and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is  added,  changing the molecular structure of the  substance).     

You  can try this yourself:  

Purchase  a tub of margarine and leave it open in your garage or shaded  area.  Within a couple of days you will notice a couple of things:  

*  no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it  (that should tell you something)  

*  it does not rot or smell differently because it has  no nutritional value ; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny  microorganisms will not a find a home to grow.  Why?   Because it is nearly plastic...  Would you melt your Tupperware and  spread that  on your toast?    

Chinese Proverb:  

When someone shares something of value with you and you benefit from it,  you have a  moral obligation to share it with  others.    

  

Article about Colonic Hydrotherapy from The Argus

Pain free way to clear out the system!

Good Sense Food Pyramid

Be Flattered is an extremely useful website with heaps of articles and advice about our health.  Have a look at the food pyramid to give you an idea of what is good and what is best kept for a treat!

Colonic Irrigation Experience!

Interpreted by a guy - Rest assured the sound effects displayed on the video after a colonic are not a normal occurrence!

Words By James Kendall from Source Magazine – January 2008

The concept You might recall last year’s Godfather-themed pilot episode of our new regular feature, SOURCE Virgins. But the inspiration for the series originally came from my musings on the subject of colonic irrigation. Since then, the anticipation (among other things) has been building solidly. The reasons Why haven’t I had a stranger stick a tube up my arse? I don’t think we really need to spend much time going through this one. It’s not the first thing you think of doing when you wake up in the morning: I know, I’ll get a colonic today. That said, straight men don’t half spend a lot of time talking about how disgusting something going the wrong direction up that one way street is – almost as much as they spend trying to persuade their girlfriends to try the ‘forbidden love’. The idea of getting a good pipe cleaning did appeal due to my farmer’s diet of meat and bread (topped with as many takeaways as I can sneak past my girlfriend). God only knows what’s festering in there. I guess I’m about to find out. Shudder. The experience Right up until the night before the treatment I was completely at ease with the whole idea. Then it suddenly hit me that I was going to share an intimate room and an even more intimate position with someone looking at my poo. What on earth was I thinking? Luckily, Lucy approached the whole thing with a medical air, talking through the science of the whole digestive system and how the colonic irrigation was going to help make the big ol’ tube work better. It was so interesting that when the moment came to “just take off your trousers, pants and shoes and pop onto the bench” I was actually pretty relaxed. As she left the room to protect my dignity, Lucy suggested I keep my socks on, which seemed strange considering how intimate she was about to get. When she returned, I lay on my side and she lifted the towel to expose my arse, before proceeding to push a finger into it. Admittedly she warned me, lubricated it well and didn’t go deep, but it’s quite an unusual thing to sign up for with someone you don’t know. But any woman who has had a smear test – or any man who has popped into the sexual health clinic and had an old doctor push a cotton bud down the hole in his penis – shouldn’t find it too upsetting. Lucy certainly wasn’t fazed by it in the slightest. Anyway, that was just foreplay for the main event: the tube. The first thing to note is that the pipe only goes in about an inch, so anyone scared of walking like John Wayne for the rest of the day has an overactive imagination. I must confess, I didn’t look at it first so I don’t know how wide it was. It wasn’t uncomfortable in itself, but there were 15 – 15! – litres of water to contend with before I could shuffle out of there. There were a couple of thermostats on the tank to make sure the water was the right temperature but I was hugely relieved when I felt a slightly cold sensation at my back passage – no one wants their arsehole burning on the inside. So, what did it feel like? It wasn’t easy to tell what was coming and going, but I think my bottom was filled with water, which was then filtered out. In the main it wasn’t in the least bit unpleasant. In base terms it felt like going for a poo in really slow motion – so slow that it lasted for an hour. As any man who likes to settle onto the loo with a good book will tell you, that’s no bad thing. It is a bit odd having to relax and just let things flow out but I tried to keep Lucy talking so I didn’t have to think about it too much. As a world-class music snob, the new age soundtrack kept my mind off the oddness. While part of me wanted to see what treasure was being dredged up from the deep, I’m not sure I could have coped with the shared experience. Luckily I had my back to the examination pipe. Occasionally I would get some feedback from Lucy. “Oh, it looks like we’ve hit some fermented gas that’s got stuck,” she said at one point. “It looks like the head of a pint of Guinness. Do you drink a lot of lager?” I hadn’t thought about gas getting trapped in my colon for weeks, months or years and gave thanks that it wouldn’t get dislodged naturally in a social situation. As interesting as the gas was, the most unusual items to escape my body were hard pellets that looked like green Maltesers. Now that I’d have like to have seen. And then it was over, bar a slightly undignified dash for the loo, clutching a towel. Lucy told me we’d made good progress and emptied out about two-fifths or five-and-a-half feet of colon, more than most. I was pathetically proud. Was it worth the wait? I’m not sure I could have handled the embarrassment a few years ago, so yes, I’m pleased I did it now, not when I was a shy 18-year-old. In the days following, I’m not sure exactly how different I feel. Most people feel lighter and a bit thinner on the tummy and I guess I can attest to that. Another session would have me properly emptied out, so perhaps that will feel different then – if I ever do wake up thinking, I know, I’ll get a colonic today.

Diverticulitis - Give your digestive system a helping hand, natural nutrients that can reduce the symptoms

Give your digestion a helping hand with a digestive enzyme complex. It is recommended that a digestive enzyme complex should be taken. The reason for this is that many of us, particularly those of us over 50, may not be producing enzymes at sufficient levels to break down our foods and absorb nutrients as efficiently as we would like. Also, enzyme activity is now sadly lacking in much of our fresh food. So helping to correct these deficiencies can be a very important first step in overcoming constipation. Traditional plant remedies can be helpful too. The papaya leaf is known to help protein digestion and soothe dyspepsia and gastritis. Ginger has also been found to ease pain, reduce inflammation and stimulate gastric secretions, and fenugreek seed has been traditionally used to ease stomach pains. Incidentally, the seeds of fenugreek have also been shown to stimulate enzyme secretion. But if all this is too much hassle, a good digestive enzyme complex will do the job for you. Probiotics – our ‘pro-life’ friendly guys  Probiotics, our friendly probiotic bacteria are recommended which I suspect that you know all about. In fact there are over 500 different types but there are five that are known to have significant importance. These are: Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium bifidum. The weight of bacteria in your colon is estimated to be around 2 lbs, which is pretty significant. Most of life is a balance and your bowels are no different. The crucial thing about any balance is to try and make sure that the good things exceed the bad. So it’s your job to try and make sure that the largest percentage of your bacteria is made up of the good guys. In a healthy gut the good bacteria will outnumber the bad bacteria and keep them in check. Good bacteria helps peristalsis which means if they are in short supply, the digestive process slows down creating an environment which favours putrefaction, mucus production and constipation. Low levels of good bacteria can in fact be the starting point of a toxic colon and diverticular disease. Topping up with a probiotic supplement is something recommended for anyone over 50. According to recent research, our levels of good bacteria start to deplete after this age. Keeping the good bacteria high must therefore be a priority for everyone who suffers from constipation. Even if you don’t want to take them every day, then certainly load up on them if you are going to anywhere that is a bit ‘dodgy’ as far as the water is concerned. Probiotics are not new. The discovery that certain types of bacteria could contribute to the health of the intestines and help ward off disease was first made way back in 1908 by the Russian scientist, Elis Metchnikoff. He was the first to use the term dysbiosis, to indicate an imbalance of gut bacteria. Since then more than ten thousand papers have been published demonstrating the benefits of friendly flora. What causes us to be depleted of this wonderful bacteria? Antibiotics - it is now well reported that antibiotics can be harmful to the health of your bowels. This is because they knock out the good guys as well as the bad. If you are prescribed antibiotics then remember to top up with good bacteria to prevent too much of a depletion. Remember also to not take the probiotics and antibiotics together. Leave a gap of around six hours. In normal circumstances, healthy bacteria can be easily replenished with a good diet but if you have to have to have regular prescriptions then you must seriously consider a proper supplementation programme. Otherwise the short and long term health of your bowels could be compromised. Constipation and diverticulitis are far more likely when bad bacteria exceeds the good. Many other medicines affect bowel function and so probiotic supplementation is often the first thing to consider when transit time grinds to a halt. As in all health issues, a good, healthy diet with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables can go a long long way in keeping bacterial levels at a positive level. However, a course of anti-biotics, alongside a bad diet and stress could be a recipe for disaster for your bowels. One of the most simple things you can do is to take probiotic supplements.  A good probiotic supplement programme can play a significant role in overcoming toxic constipation. So, probiotics are vital in the fight in overcoming constipation but there are several studies that now show that probiotics work better alongside other natural ingredients. Fibre is particularly important for creating the right type of moist environment for healthy bacteria to proliferate and there is one type of fibre in particular that is better than all others in achieving this. Fibre We are all told to eat more fibre but I read recently that we, in the UK, tend to eat on average less that 15g per day.  Generally speaking, the lower the fibre content of your diet, the higher the fat, carbohydrate and protein. Most types of fats, by the very nature, are going to be mucus forming. By comparison, the right type of fibre (not wheat) is cleansing! Psyllium – the Rolls Royce of fibre The reason for this is that it is an extremely gentle fibre. It absorbs more water than any other fibre. In fact it absorbs a staggering 25 times its own weight in water. Remember that the emphasis these days is on soluble fibre because of the extra health benefits this brings. Well, psyllium is the most soluble fibre you can get. It is so gentle. The ‘chamois’ leather rather than the brillo effect you can get with bran fibre. The great thing about psyllium is that it is good for both constipation and diarrhoea. It can help prevent you getting diverticular problems in the first place but it can also be good for consolidating stools if you get diarrhoea when the diverticular pockets get inflamed. In the case of constipation waste matter hangs around far too long in the large bowel. This means it gets too dry and becomes hard and difficult to pass and this causes pressure on your bowel wall, increasing the chance of small pockets developing. However, just by taking psyllium husk, waste that arrives in the large colon maintains its moisture because of the soft gel the psyllium fibre forms. As a result, the waste remains moist and soft and this means less pressure on the bowel wall. A moist stool is far easier to pass than a dry, hard one. A soft stool therefore means less chance of diverticular disease and haemorrhoids. The friendly bacteria just love the moist environment that the psyllium creates. It literally thrives on it. Taking psyllium and probiotics together form a good partnership. Magnesium – a simple mineral - works to rid you of constipation. Last but not least, is the mineral, magnesium. If you are one of these who have been unable to find relief from long term constipation no matter what you try, then this simple mineral could make the difference. I suspect that if you have been to see your doctor about constipation, then you will have been prescribed some sort of laxative which helps to ‘kick start’ the peristalsis action. This is fine in the short term, but if you continue down this road, then your bowels will simply get used to the laxative and eventually you will find yourself back to square one – and possibly worse. Also, if laxatives weaken the bowel wall, then this could make you more vulnerable to diverticulitis. Magnesium is a much more natural alternative that will not weaken your bowel wall. In fact it helps to strengthen it by feeding the muscles within your colon that are responsible for your peristalsis action. Some cases of constipation might be a sign that your body is deficient in this crucial mineral. The great thing about magnesium is that it works so well with the nutrients that I have already mentioned to get a synergistic effect. How Magnesium works If you have adequate amounts of magnesium in your body, this encourages water to be drawn into the colon, where it softens stools in the large colon making for a smooth, natural passage. Magnesium is a mineral – an essential nutrient necessary for a wide range of body functions. But research studies have shown that if you are eating normally, you are most likely to be deficient in this vital mineral because you are not getting anywhere near the RDA (recommended daily allowance) from your diet. There is no doubt that many cases of constipation may be due to a deficiency of this important mineral. By correcting your biochemistry and maintaining adequate levels of magnesium in your body, your bowel movements will become much easier.  Why is Magnesium deficiency so widespread? The answer is that the food that you eat today just isn’t what it used to be. It is nutritionally weaker and lacks many essential vitamins and minerals. That’s because modern farming methods have ‘burned out’ our top soils by planting the same crop year after year and by growing foods with artificial chemicals, pesticides and herbicides. So the agricultural products are not as rich in nutrients (vitamins minerals and amino acids etc) as they should be. Commercial food processing destroys even more of your food’s nutrients. And on top of this, the stress we all face in our day to day lives means that our use of magnesium is accelerated and this can result in ‘burn out.’ A stressed-out person requires greater requirements of nutrients than a person who is not under a lot of stress. By correcting your biochemistry and maintaining adequate levels of magnesium in your body, your bowel movements will become much easier. Taking Magnesium is not like taking a laxative A laxative is something that would not normally be ingested by the body through your normal diet. It works by ‘kick starting’ the peristalsis action of the bowels, acting as a purgative. This type of laxative is commonly known to weaken your bowel wall and become habit forming. On the other hand, magnesium is a natural substance normally supplied in your diet. It works by correcting the true underlying the cause of constipation. When you add magnesium to your daily supplement program (in the dosage you require to get your bowels moving) you are correcting the problem on a nutritional level, preventing constipation from happening. If you do consider taking a magnesium supplement for a while, then you will probably need to take around 600mg each day for a few days to get an effect. You can then taper things down as your diet improves. So, there you have it. Different types of ingredients which you can dip into if you feel you need some help to get things moving.