Talk about health

A recent article in my local paper the other day posed the same question to seven different 'experts' on health. The question was, "How do you feel about supplements and which one would you take if you could only have one?"

Predictably the GP reckoned he didn't need any since his mythical 'balanced diet' has all the nutrients you need, while the holistic GP mentioned a list of vitamins and essential fatty acids. However, what struck me was that these seven experts chose completely different supplements as their one essential.

The common thread was this diet business. Eat well, a balanced diet, antioxidants and so on appeared time and time again. If you've been a regular reader of this blog, you'll be aware of my views on this - a balanced diet is an ideal that very few of us manage to achieve no matter how much we try.

I think I eat pretty well. Regular meals using fresh fruit and vegetables, limited alcohol, decent sleep, exercise routine, etc. But in all of this I am sure I don't ever have the ideal balanced diet where all the nutrients I need are in there. Often, meals are rushed, too many sweet things creep in - the cake with coffee, the chocolate snack, the processed cereal or ready-meal.

I just don't think it is easy in this society to eat perfectly. As one of the experts mentioned, "I take a multimineral supplement just to fill in the gaps".

If you get anything from this it is that quote. I take a mulivitamin and mineral supplement to fill in the gaps. The practicalities of life mean that the way we live leaves gaps and minor deficiencies in the nutritional picture however hard you try.

For me, the simplest answer is to take a reasonable quality multivit and mineral supplement to give you a reasonable chance of having all the nutrients you need on a regular basis. You've still got to eat as well as you can. Including some omega-3 fatty acids is another useful supplement especially if you don't like fish or only eat fish occasionally.

Taking supplements such as antioxidants may be useful now and again as a booster or taking zinc for a cold is a good idea, but otherwise only add other supplements if you have a specific need for them.

It is all too easy to spend a fortune on assorted supplements 'just in case'. Rather, think of what you really need and start from there. These seven experts couldn't agree on one thing, but the multivit is the one that sruck me as the most logical and necessary of them all.

If you re interested in this subject, there's more information at my site http://www.healthexplored.co.uk . Subscribe to the FREE newsletter and get a gift of my Tips booklet on food and supplements.

Wishing you the very best of health.

In the space of one break in the TV programme last night, I saw two adverts for so-called 'stress busting' products - Stressless recliner chairs and Antistress shoes. Now, I have no experience of either of these things so cannot comment on their effectiveness. But what it shows is that there is clearly a market for things to fight stress.

It demonstrates just how widespread stress is these days. And I'm sure you can think of quite a few times in your life when you've thought stress is affecting you. Your list will have all the things you could do without - your work, the journey to work, struck in traffic, queueing for the bus or train, trudging through bad weather, the holidays (aren't they supposed to be relaxing?), the kids, the dog or cat, money worries ... the list goes on and on.

True enough, these are all stress producing, and if you don't do something about it this bad stress will start affecting your health, and not in a good way either.

Stress is not necessarily all bad. Just a little stress is what gets you out of your rut. It spurs you on to greater things in your career. it's what gives your free time a kick. Just think of the white-knuckle rides, bungee jumps or parachute jumps and you'll see how some good-stress gives you a lift, a challenge to be overcome and an edge to your life. So, stress is not all bad.

What you have to do is start to work on the bad stress in your life. Your doctor won't have a clue so don't bother to ask him (or her).

There are a whole raft of things you could do to help yourself. And there are a list of alternative thrapies that can help if you need them.

The crux of the matter is being able to find a way to relax, and a way to adjust how you react to stressful events and situations. You'll see that it's you that creates the stress in you - it's all about how you percieve changes in your life and how your mind treates those changes. Change how you treat the changes and your almost there.

You need to work at it just as you would adopting changes in your diet or as you factor in new exercise routines into your day. Adapting to stress is not something you can easily switch on and off. it takes practise and persistence on your part.

After all, your life and everyone else's is full of ongoing changes and hence could be full of stress too. It's up to you to search out the options whether by yourself or with the help of professionals and go to work on your stress.

You might like to get a pair of anti-stress shoes or relax in your Stressless recliner. Who knows if they help - I hope that they do. I would rather try out some stress busting techniques or perhaps visit a hypnotherapist, acupucturist or other health professional.

Before you get started, let me point you to a source of invaluable information on what is available and the king of things that you can do to help your stress. Visit http://www.healthexplored.co.uk/eOrder/shop.php to order a comprehensive guide that tells you what stress is, how it affects your body and how it will ultimately affect your health and whatyou can do to get on top of it.

The book is called, "How to Conquer Your Stress" and you can get it by instant download. The package also includes a useful Stress Busting Tips booklet ablsolutely free, that has many tips you can start today to get some control of your stress.

The bottom line is that stress will get the better of you unless you get the better of it first. So think about it, but not for too long. And get this book right away. You won't regret it.

Wishing you the very best of health.

Just when I was mulling over something to write about today, I heard on the News that some scientist had reviewed the data on HRT research and come to completely the opposite conclusion from the original researchers. Apparently this bloke thinks that HRT protects women from heart attacks after all and women should go back to using it NOW!

Aren't our journalists wonderful? They interviewed some lady who expressed her anger that she had been taken off her HRT five years ago and suffered consequently from the loss of her daily fix of female horse hormones(Pregnant Mares Urine = Premarin).

No word from the alternative medicine camp and no comment from the original researchers either. A little strange, I thought, not to approach them for reasons that they clearly had misinterpreted their own work. Or had they?

Giving two minute cover for years of work and carefully thought out conclusions binned in favour of the drug industry is just a little on the suspicious side. Now, I can't say how the original results are flawed and neither can I say how the new information is so completely different from it. I wonder what is going on here. Is the latest release some jiggery-pokery at the behest of the drug industry? Or is it genuine scientific fact?

Whatever it is, I'm sure the next few weeks will see some clearing of the muddied waters. For what its worth, my view is that HRT will never be the only or necessarily the safest way to control the menopause and its attendant symptoms.

Menopause is a natural process, not a disease. Unfortunately, many women suffer symptoms associated with the changes, and often these symptoms badly affect their lives. But taking HRT, a synthetic drug, is bound to have some side effects. And occasionally these could be harmful in the extreme. It's true of every drug, and HRT is no different.

The original story caused many women to reassess the alternatives and brought these alternative approaches to mainstream thinking. Sure, HRT was an easy thing to use - a pill or a patch. Like many mainstream treatments today all you need is a prescription and away you go.

What women need to consider is the ease of access with the possibility of fatal side effects. Research might eventually agree on a number for this - x deaths per thousand cases. But what is sure is that alternative therapies don't kill very many people as compared to drugs. So think carefully before you jump back on the HRT bandwagon.

This scientist may have started it moving again, but has it only got one wheel?

Wishing you the very best of health.

I'm sometimes asked why I chose to follow complementary and alternative medicine. While I worked in pharmacy I had the same blinkered view that many health professionals have of their own situation. After all, whatever job or profession you happen to be in, I'm sure you have a bias towards it and will readily justify it to any outsider who questions it.

It's the same with medicine. While I was studying pharmacy at university, I shared a flat with a friend who was studying building. After a hard day at the learning interface we would meet up to relax and unwind. the conversation took the form of, "How many pills did you count today?" and "How many bricks did you count?" Hardly side splittingly humorous but it gave an outsider's view of a fellow professional.

In a way this is true today, perhaps even more so. From the outside, any skill or profession can be reduced to some basic truth. From golf to nuclear physics, it's all the same. But when someone questions your particular job, you react immediately by justifying your own position even if you harbour doubts.

So, while I was a pharmacist, I would leap to my own defence quoting the apparent logic of drug research and development, the costs involved, the reasons for supporting drug companies and the wonderful work done on our behalf by medics everywhere.

Age comes with a wider perspective, realism and even cynicism. It's as if the scales drop from your eyes. All of a sudden, you see the cracks, the faults of your situation and the weaknesses of your arguments. No longer is conventional medicine the be-all-and-end-all. No longer does conventional medicine have all the answers. Now you see where it does more harm than good. Now you can look at the vast numbers who gain nothing from drugs and those who suffer and die at their hands.

I don't make excuses for not seeing this before. I worked long and hard to try to make my business prosper. I tried my best to help my patients and customers, even if i didn't sell them anything and simply gave my advice. Many of them became friends.

But, what all those years of effort did do was to make me throw off my blinkers. Conventional medicine is not the only route. There is a plethora of alternative approaches out there. You only have to look.

I've spent quite a few years now learning about just some of these alternatives. And. I've been surprised at just how effective they can be. Just like conventional treatments, alternatives don't always work for everyone, and sometimes they have side effects and sometimes you need to be careful, and sometimes you should use an appropriate professional for help and advice.

So what? It's only what you would do if you were buying a new car or TV. Get some information, preferably independent; review the possibilties that suit your situation; think about the pros and cons; then make up your mind and go for it.

It's just the same with alternaitve therapies. You need information on what's available, the potential problems and benefits, the costs, where you can get it and so on. The important thing here is to accept that its your health, your family , your future. So. it is really the most important thing you can do and you need to be careful.

I'm sure you don't think about a visit to the doctor so carefully. Why not? You could be putting your health at risk.

The basis of this is that you should look at health treatments as a whole and not be blinkered by convention or any single alternative. Look at the bigger picture. Get some information to help you make up your mind, and go for your chosen path. You can only help yourself.

If you want or need any information on any alternative therapy or even an old pharmacist's view of conventional treatment or new drugs, why not visit my site at http://www.healthexplored.com or drop me an e-mail at info@healthexplored.co.uk . I've got a free newsletter and article bank and a series of booklets and special reports to help.

Wishing you the very best of health.