Seaweed instead
of salt
Seagreens
Table Condiment (salt substitute to you and me) contains lowest-ever sodium content, say
the makers. It is described as ‘dried pieces
of specially prepared wild wrack’ which apparently has a subtle, nutty vegetable
flavour. Could be useful for those prescribed a
very low salt diet.
You can buy Seagreens Table Condiment, and it’s close cousin Seagreens
Culinary Ingredient (seaweed granules for cooking), from health food stores and
delicatessens. See their website: www.seagreens.com
or contact their email: post@seagreens.com
Do doctors take pain
seriously?
Not
when their patients suffer from arthritis, says the UK charity Arthritis Care.
A survey of GPs revealed that that
only 17% believed most of their patients when they said their condition reduced ability to
do day to day activities like gardening, shopping, cleaning the house.
Only 1 in 3 GPs were prescribing the new Cox-2 selective inhibitors to people
over 65. This age group is considered to be at risk
of developing serious stomach problems through use of other, current medications.
Meanwhile, Europe-wide survey showed
that 76% of GPs did not provide patients with leaflets and 82% gave no information on treatment options.
NB If you want to consider an alternative, non-drug pain relief, see previous
article on the PainGone pen by clicking
here.
Chocolate makes you happy. Official..
A survey from Cadbury Dairy Milk found, surely to no
one’s surprise, that when people eat the
stuff, 70% (only 70%?) feel satisfied,
comforted and contented. The psychologist in
charge of this survey, Dr Dylan Evans of University of Bath, was investigating whether the pleasure from eating
chocolate derives from sensory qualities like taste, texture and smell, or some kind of
psychoactive effect of the ingredients of chocolate on the brain.
Brain scans showed that the
sensory qualities do the trick. Chocolate-eaters
activated their ‘pleasure centres’ in the brain, showing a definite
mood-enhancing effect based on sensory perceptions.
SPECIAL REPORT By Helen Franks, on 3
big health issues:
1. HRT - should you
or shouldn’t you?
The
recent news that a trial of women taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in the form of
pills was cancelled because of increased risk of breast cancer and stroke, comes as little
surprise to the medical profession.
It has been known for many years that
there is a very small increased risk of breast cancer after taking the treatment for 5
years, and a slightly more serious risk after 10 years.
Similarly, the risk of stroke and heart disease has long been recognised.
Large-scale, long-term surveys of HRT have been difficult to fulfil over the
years, because many women stop the treatment after experiencing side effects. (About one-third of users give up, many within a
year of starting the treatment.)
The new trial, involving over 16,000
healthy American women, revealed that 8 in 10,000 had increased risk of breast cancer
after 4 years use of HRT, and 8 strokes, blood clots and 7 heart disease events within a
year.
Risk to individual women is very small, but that’s not such great
reassurance when you know that anyone can be the victim of a statistic. However, the general advice has been to stay calm,
consult your doctor and keep on taking the tablets or discuss with your doctor an
alternative method of taking HRT - perhaps a
gel, cream.
HRT is a lifesaver for some women,
especially those suffering severe hot flushes, vaginal dryness, fatigue and headaches. For bone strength, there are other, more effective
drugs. But it is not, repeat not, an elixir for
staying young, and in the past, the strong promotion of HRT has overstated its powers.
If you want to explore natural alternatives to HRT, see Women’s
Nutritional Advisory Health under the item
‘Where to get supplements…on the Internet’ opposite.
Eat yourself slim
 Based on the recipes and menus that will feature in Rosemary
Conley's television series, of the same name, this book has suggestions for those who want
to enjoy fine food and control their weight, or lose some weight at the same time.
The natural beauty
& bath book
This book gives you 70 recipes for beauty and bath
products that you can make yourself, using ingredients you will find at your local grocery
and health food shops. Pamper yourself from head to toe with these natural formulas:
 6 weeks to super health
Whether you are looking to lose weight, get healthy or
get out of a rut, this eminently readable, well-designed, informative and authoritative
guide is guaranteed to have a permanent effect on your lifestyle.
 Tai Chi
This book explains: what Tai Chi is; how to use Tai Chi
for health and healing; the best way to train in Tai Chi. This book is an ideal guide for
anyone who wants to understand the fundamental ideas and practices of this ancient martial
art.
Stop smoking
This new edition of the bestseller aims to help the reader use the "Easy way"
method to eliminate the psychological reasons for smoking, handle withdrawal symptoms,
avoid temptation situations, and stay a non-smoker!
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2.
Diet - is low-fat bad after all?
What
goes around comes around. Way back in the
1960s, I was working for Women magazine on the
low-carb, high-fat and high protein diets devised by the late John Yudkin, well-known
nutritionist. His ideas were very similar to
those voiced by Robert Atkins in the 70s.
The theory was that if you eat starchy, sugary
carbohydrates (flour, bread, cakes, sweets, potatoes, pasta, pizza, rice) your system gets
an insulin high, turning the sugar into energy, so you burn up the calories from these
foods quickly, and store those derived from fat and protein foods as fat cells.
Burning up the carbs quickly leaves
you dissatisfied, so you soon want more. That
mid-morning croissant (he cited the sugary bun in those days) to boost energy isn’t
needed if you start the day on - wait for it - bacon and eggs. The high protein diet was in the 60s a favourite
with models, who, when asked how they kept slim, said they dined on steak and salad and
had a proper cooked breakfast. A sandwich
lunch was considered fattening, and only paved the way for a mid-afternoon slice of cake
or biscuit.
But then came the revelations about animal fats and heart disease. Bacon and steak were off the menu. Weight for weight, carbohydrates contain fewer
calories than fatty foods or proteins. It
seemed to make sense to go for bulk to fill you up. Somehow the Yudkin/Atkins argument got
forgotten, and has had to wait till new research confirmed their theories.
So what do we do now if we want to
lose weight or not get any fatter? Fish, lean meat, olive oil, lots of fresh fruit and veg
are still priorities. A lot less pizza, pasta, even bread. No
sugary drinks for a quick energy fix - a piece of cheese would be better (Yudkin used to
suggest ‘a matchbox sized portion’ in those cholesterol-innocent days. Remember
the softer the cheese usually the lower the cholesterol content).
Maybe the cooked breakfast will come back into fashion, in the form of a
boiled or poached or fried egg to avoid mid-morning hunger. And steak and salad could soon be the food of the
supermodels once more.
3. Vitamin
supplements in danger
A
new EU directive is threatening to make it illegal to buy vitamins and other supplements
in high doses. Vitamin C, for instance, which
can be bought at strengths of 1000 mg, the dosage found to be most effective in curtailing
colds, may be limited to twice the Recommended Daily Allowance, about 80 mg. You’d have to buy and ingest a lot of vit C
tablets to get the high dose.
The directive is not, as you might think, primarily due to fears of safety of
high doses. It’s based on the aim to
standardise amounts, so that suppliers can sell the
same package to member states.
Herbal remedies are also under
threat. The current list includes more than
300 products, and more may be added. Such
celebrities as Sirs Paul McCartney, Elton John, Cliff Richard and many more are lending
their names to protest against the directive. You can add your views by writing to: Dept of Health, 79 Whitehall, London SW1 2NS.
Where to get supplements and special
foods on the internet
Health
products
Revital
Health Shops offer a wide range of vitamins, minerals and health products.
Email:
enquire@revital.com website:
www.revital.com
Special
diet products
Goodness Direct stock over 1500 products
including dairy free and gluten free. website: www.GoodnessDirect.co.uk
For
gluten-free diet:
Coeliac UK is the national charity
supporting people with gluten intolerance. Provides a regularly updated food list of over
10,000 products. Email:
admin@coeliac.co.uk website:
www.coeliac.co.uk
Diet-sensitive
cakes and breads
The Village Bakery offers organic breads
and a variety of cakes for people with special diet needs such as gluten-free, nut-free,
sugar-free, etc. Email:
info@village-bakery.com website:
www.village-bakery.com
Alternative
nutrition for women
The Women’s Nutritional Advisory Centre offers
consultations in London, Lewes and Hove, also a telephone consultation service. Club members get a quarterly newsletter. Emphasis on complementary medicine for menopause
and PMT. Email:
wnas@wnas.org.uk
Organic
supplements
Green People supply all-organic
formulations such as the Omega range - fish oils, sesame oils, flax seeds. Website:
www.greenpeople.co.uk
Soya-based
desserts
Triano Brands supply Tofutti, soya-based
cheese and frozen desserts. Email:
info@trianobrands.co.uk website:
www.tofutti.co.uk
If in any doubt about any of the
information covered in healthwise articles and it's relevance for you, consult your GP.
In edition
28:-
A rival for viagra
The latest drug may give more
lasting results..
Chewing gum
helps drivers
Help is at hand to keep people from falling asleep at the
wheel
Kiss and don`t tell
As July
6th has been designated National Kissing Day, the makers of a remedy for mouth ulcers have
contacted laterlife with timely advice.
Gut reactions -1
Constipation
Chronic constipation sufferers can benefit from a daily
dose of probiotics, foods or supplements derived from bacterial fermentation
Gut reactions -2 Digestion
A new over the counter remedy,
Pepcidtwo, may be worth putting into a suitcase to help holiday digestion.
Breath test for ulcers
An alternative way to detect stomach ulcers is welcome
news.
Osteoporosis update
A new drug called Actonel looks as if it will protect
against bone-thinning in postmenopausal
women.
Index to
all previous Healthwise editions
For books on Health visit the Amazon
Family and Health Section.
Don't forget if you buy books or videos from Amazon by linking from
laterlife, you generate money for Charity.
Maximise your memory
This work provides detailed instructions, illustrations and sample
exercises that show the reader how to build a system of personalized frameworks for
storing and recalling information on demand.
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