Food combining to relieve your digestive issues

Food combining has been around for a long time. It is the art of putting the right foods together to help digestion and toxin elimination. There are certain foods that when eaten together can cause problems with digestion. The reason for this is because some foods are digested faster than others so if a food that is quickly digested gets eaten with a slow digesting food, it will stay in the stomach longer that it should. This can lead to food fermentation and this causes bloating and gas. Having these gases can cause tiredness as your organs have to work harder to remove them from the body. Toxic gases often cause irritability, headaches, and bad breath and sometimes inflammation, constipation, high blood pressure and arthritis. If food sits in the stomach or intestine too long and rots it can also mean that we are not absorbing all the nutrients that it has to offer.

Drinking liquids with meals dilutes the enzymes that your body uses to digest protein, fat and carbs. If you drink at least 10 minutes before a meal or at least an hour after a meal can help stop this happening.

Eating protein with other proteins can cause a loss of energy as it is hard for the body to break them down and having them together causes the body to have to work overtime to digest the food properly. Examples of this is bacon and eggs, meat and fish and yoghurt with nuts. If you are eating these together it will help if you also add foods that have a high-water content such as broccoli, lettuce and onions.

Starch eaten with animal protein, such as eating meat or chicken with potatoes and pasta can also lead to gas as the different digestive juices can ferment the carbohydrates and putrefy the protein.

If you combine fruit with a meal, such as salad with berries or apple pie for dessert, the fruit will sit in your stomach for too long and ferment. Fruit is a fast digesting food while meat, grains and even low water fruit like banana and avocados are a slow digesting food. The differences in digestion time causes issues. Fruits should be eaten by themselves at least 30 minutes before a meal.

Some foods eaten with the wrong type of fat such as meat fried in vegetable oil or tuna mixed with mayonnaise can cause problems with digestion because fats need bile salts from the liver and gall bladder to break down. If they are mixed with other digestive chemicals they can cause slow digestion.

If you are having problems with your digestion try cutting out some of these combinations and it will help relieve the symptoms. If symptoms still persist see your naturopath or nutritionist for better advice on what digestive enzymes and probiotics/prebiotics you need. Don’t just pick one off the shelf. These supplements need to be specifically suited to your needs and only a trained natural expert can advise on that not a shop sales assistant in the health food store or even a doctor. It is not their area of expertise. Seek out a good naturopath or a nutritionist.

Advertisements

Funny head – headache – spinning? It’s not funny

Have you had headache issues, sinus issues, a spinning, and foggy head lately? You may describe it as a ‘funny’ head but it’s definitely not funny. It’s debilitating and slows you down. You can’t think. You can’t work properly and it can even affect your sleep. So what can one do to alleviate all this?

First you need to discover where your headache and other head issues are coming from. Is it a migraine? Is it a hangover? Is it stress? Let’s see if we can find some of your trigger points. Could it be your diet? Are you having some emotional issues? How often do you exercise? Even the smallest of habits might be causing you an issue.

 Sensitivity testing

You know who upsets you and whose company you enjoy, what foods bloat you and what you do before a headache or stuffy nose. What are your trigger foods for headaches? It could be dairy, chocolate, MSG, caffeine, onions, citrus fruits, nuts, pickled foods or even meat with preservatives. It could be cheese, fish, red wine – everyone is different— that’s why we do sensitivity testing to find out what you are sensitive to and then we teach you how to be more in tune with your body and develop new tools to handle this. It’s a simple test that we even do on kids and just takes a couple of weeks to come back from the lab with a full report.

Sinus

Often there are unseen triggers for sinus. Is there mould at work that you are sensitive to in the stairwell as you go up and down to other offices? Is there rising damp somewhere in your house? Are you sensitive to dust? All these can make you feel unwell and give you a head spin which is another reason we test for sensitivities when you come to see us. Once you know what you are sensitive to you can go searching for it in your place of work or at home and eliminate it or take some natural supplements to assist your immunity increasing and healing.

Emotional triggers

Pay attention to how you feel after spending time with certain people around you. Are they sapping your energy and making you feel bad? Do some people make you feel drained, dizzy, sick or give you a headache? Obviously if this is a relative in need you just can’t turn you back on them but you can put some boundaries in place to limit your time with them and protect your energy from being zapped. If it’s a situation you can handle which has been ongoing then maybe you need to pull the plug on it and take some action.

Our emotions can be powerful triggers to physical illnesses. If you’re stressed out on a day-to-day basis, it’s time to explore some stress management, meditation, mindfulness, breathing exercises, aromatherapy oils and once again good old exercise. Do you take on too much? Do you spend your time running round for others and not nurturing yourself? Emotions running high such as anxiety, stress, anger, depression are all causes for a ‘funny’ head which often leads to headaches. Being upset sometimes is normal but if it’s happening a lot and you are feeling negative then there is an ongoing problem that needs attention.

Teeth grinding

Do you grind your teeth when you sleep? This can make your head feel strange in the mornings and give you headaches. Clenching your jaw can give you stiff neck muscles and TMJ. Perhaps you need to investigate wearing a mouth guard to sleep to also save your teeth from grinding down.

Heavy bags

Often in the clinic I can tell which shoulder a woman carries her handbag on. Many people are not aware of it but it affects their posture. How heavy is your bag? Too much pressure on the trapezius muscle can cause back issues and headaches. If you must then swap to a backpack to even out the weight on your shoulders and reduce the strain.

Constipation

Constipation, caused by stress or wrong foods can mess up your blood sugar, cause nausea and trigger headaches. Do you skip meals when you are busy or perhaps you don’t feel well? I get a number of people who just don’t eat regularly and mess up their total digestion. It is important to clear out your bowels every day – at least once. Think of it as food in, food out I say. If this is not happening you need some good digestive enzymes, probiotics and/or prebiotics.

Water

As well as sensitivities it could be that you are not drinking enough water which is affecting your blood sugar levels, dehydrating you and causing you headaches. Some headaches can be caused by the blood vessels in your head becoming narrow in an attempt to regulate your body’s fluid levels. Remember also to drink more water on these hot days we are having lately.

Exercise

It might be difficult on hot days to want to go for a workout at the gym but you need to keep the blood flowing if you want to prevent headaches and increase your productivity. How active have you been today? How many steps have you walked? Do you stretch? Let’s get that blood moving.

As you can see there are many things you can do for that ‘funny’ head. If it persists go and get some tests done at the doctors – some scans. If still nothing comes up get a diagnosis for Meniere’s disease or the like. There are exercises you can do to control Meniere’s disease. So there is always a remedy for your triggers however you must be willing to change your lifestyle, your emotional stressors and learn how to nurture yourself to have the full, healthy life that you deserve.

Positive thinking for 2019

Everyone says ‘think positively’ but no-one really tells you what that means. It can mean different things to different people. Some people who have a lot of bad things happen to them no longer have a definition of what ‘thinking positively’ means anymore. So no matter how hard they try to think positively they fall back into a negative way of thinking. There is a simple way though to begin to build up your tool kit and the New Year is a good time to start.

Exercise

Exercise is a great way to start your year. It could be gentle like be Yoga or Tai Chi. Exercise increases your circulation, gets your endorphins working and your heart pumping. Even gentle exercise. Go for a walk to the local park or round the block if you don’t want to pay for your exercise. No need to join a gym. There are lots of free ways to exercise if you want to get moving and your body and mind will thank you for them. If you are having crippling negative thoughts it’s a good way to shift your attention and keep your mind busy while your body works on releasing the stress. Start your day with a list of things to accomplish that day to make it more productive and even include some time to learn meditation there. That makes a perfect balance for body and mind.

 

Meditation & Journaling

Meditation is one of the key ways to stop those crippling negative thoughts. Always use a guided meditation so when your mind wanders you have someone’s voice to bring your mind back instead of just falling asleep or daydreaming. Couple with your meditation a journal where you write down some of the good things that you can be grateful for in your life. Even little things on this list will help achieve and keep you in a positive frame of mind. What this does is help you highlight the positives in your life rather than focusing on the negative. These little things could be the fact that you arrived at work on time today or that you got that task done that you have been putting off for a while, anything that lets you focus on the positive.

 

Positive people

It is also a good idea to take a look at the environment you live and work in because surrounding yourself with other positive people is important as it helps keep you elevated and positive. If people around you are critical or demanding it will pull you down so if you are in a negative situation in your environment start planning how to change things so you can move on from that situation.

 

Use your energy creatively

Sometimes helping someone out can alter your state of mind. It could be as simple as helping an elderly person with shopping bags or putting someone else’s shopping carts out of the way of the cars in the car park. It could be reaching up onto a shelf for someone or getting your neighbour’s bin off the road. A series of small things will not only make you feel good but other people as well.

 

Affirmations

Negative thinking attracts negative thinking. This is one of the laws of attraction so remember that to stop those thoughts that drag you down. You can use positive affirmations to change your mood. If you wake up thinking you will have a good day you are more likely to have a good day. It’s important to fight those negative thought patterns that are trying to tell you otherwise. These patterns can be undone by a few good therapy sessions. Affirmations such as, ‘I am a beautiful person, I can do this, things will get better and better’ are only three affirmations that will begin to deprogram and reprogram your negative mind.

Never dwell on your negative thoughts, isolating yourself or sulking. Get up, move, exercise, watch a movie, read, walk the dog, phone a friend – anything you like to do, something that is fun. Surrounding yourself with friends and family that also have a positive mindset who can help you look at the things that frustrate you, let you have your rant, get it off your chest and give you good positive motivational feedback is one of the best ways to enlist help in changing those patterns.

The key is to stop those negative thoughts from taking over your life. Get the ammunition to face them and accept them and then move on from dwelling on them and being stuck. Everyone at some point has negative thoughts and it’s the way we deal with them that makes all the difference, so seek help. There is always help out there.

Your toilet tells you a lot about health

Uncomfortable as it is the topic of toilet smells and colour can often tell us a lot about our health. Your liver, digestive system and bowels handle all the toxins in your body from pollution, chemicals and food and if you are eating food that does not agree with you then it will show up in smelly and discoloured urine or faeces. Our choices, good or bad, in food can determine this so it becomes important to take notice what you are leaving behind in your toilet.

Foods affecting urine and faeces smell

Some of the foods that can alter the smell of our urine can be asparagus, which has asparagusic acid in it that our body coverts to chemicals that can vaporise at room temperature, meaning that when we go to the toilet, we are releasing the urine which in turn releases gases that cause a smell. Coffee is another food that causes a bad smell this is because it tends to make us want to go more frequently which means the uric acid, chemicals and vitamins may be more concentrated in the urine, leading to a more pungent odour. Also, insoluble oil released by coffee beans when they’re roasted may have an effect on the odour. Alcohol has a similar affect as it is dehydrating. Other foods affecting urine smell are garlic, brussel sprouts, bananas and salmon. Bananas and salmon particularly are high in vitamin B6 which make that pungent smell.

Infections and bacteria

Another reason could be due to a urinary tract infection and it is believed that sweet-smelling urine can be a sign of diabetes. Colour changes can be due to not drinking enough water and foods such as beets can alter the colour giving it a scary reddish tinge. Sometimes a change in colour can indicate deeper health issues. If it is constantly dark it could be even a sign of hepatitis but you need to check as it could be as simple as what you have had to eat or drink. Nevertheless if the smell and colour change does not go away you should seek medical advice.

Faecal changes

Urine isn’t the only thing that can change colour in the toilet. Different types of faeces can be an indication of health issues as well. If your faeces floats it can be a sign of poor digestion. When the floating stool sticks to the side of the toilet bowl, or an oily sheen appears on the surface of the water, fats in the diet are likely left undigested. Floating, diarrhoea-like faeces that are accruing over an extended period of time can also be a sign of Coeliac Disease.

What to do

If this is the case you must eliminate gluten from your diet. It is important to making sure you empty your bowels at least once a day and check you have smooth faeces without having to strain too much, medium brown in colour that smell fairly neutral. This is a sign that you are healthy and eliminating your toxins properly. The best way to do this is to drink plenty of water (about 2 litres), eat healthy and organic, take your supplements – especially your digestive enzymes and get some regular exercise.

Forever and ever – small secrets for a lasting marriage

Making a marriage last is not easy. There is heaps of advice out there either on the net, from friends, family and counselors to help but often it can be a few simple things done here and there that could improve your marriage in the long term. Including these as part of your foundation for your relationship is important.

Relationships usually begin with the romance which dissipates after a while and some couples fail to realise that it is important to plan at least one night a month to spend together as a couple. This doesn’t mean you have to go out in public – it could just mean sitting at home watching a movie together away from your phones or computers so there are no distractions. Write a love letter to each other once in a while, a cheeky email or have that romantic dinner – whatever you and your partner enjoy doing to keep not only the romance alive but also to enjoy a better physical relationship.

Trying to have a work/life balance often leads to us taking relationships for granted and to forget the little things count. Such things as making sure you take the time to kiss each other goodbye and hello when you come home at night. Holding hands is another good way to keep that connection of physical touch. Sometimes it just takes a smile and a hug from someone you love to blow away the issues of those long meetings all afternoon. The important factor here is the attention of the couple towards each other. This means putting down that computer or phone, muting the television and actually spending time to look and listen to what your partner is saying whilst responding with interest. Just nodding while doing emails and watching television is not attention or communication. Some people forget that. It’s nice to be acknowledged and feel loved whether it be showing up for that soccer match they play or for an event which is important for them. Your presence is what’s important.

Whilst every couple has their arguments as a normal part of life you can make them less intense and fewer. Learning to let things go instead of bringing up the same old aggravating information every time that annoys your partner is a skill that is useful. Learn to let go and live in the moment.  Cut down on complaining, instead find something positive to say to your partner who is just as tired as you at the end of the day. They have been listening to complaints at work perhaps and you adding to their stress levels is not going to be endearing. Forgiveness is a major factor in any relationship and bringing up their mistakes from long ago does not let either one of you move forward.

Learn to fight fair and make an effort not only in day to day life to relieve boredom but also in the bedroom. Your work/life balance is important for your health. Remember you do not define yourself by your job. You existed long before the job and one day will retire without the job. Your life as a human being is too important to just mistake yourself for the tag of the role you happen to be playing at any particular time. Don’t let the mundane and boring creep into your bedroom and relationship. If life is taking its toll on your energy levels then maybe you need to consult a therapist or life coach who can teach you a whole new toolkit to pep things up.

Your partner loves you and if you want your relationship to be forever and ever there are some rules you need to play by. Attention for each other is one of them and couples with loyalty, honesty, respect and understanding while putting healthy boundaries in place to remain as your own person and not lose yourself enmeshed is important. You do not need to be joined at the hip. On the contrary you need to develop as a healthy individual who brings to the relationship yourself as a person. Having your individuality is also one of the important aspects of a lasting marriage. So do things that are fun for you and take time out for yourself also. That way you can bring new, exciting information about your day and life to share with your partner in your quiet moments together. By working on these few simple things together you can achieve a long and happy life with your partner on all levels.

What Your Knees Can Tell You About Your Health

Knees are an important part of our bodies and we often don’t realise this until they begin to hurt. When they are aching it interferes with our everyday lives and often we need to go through a process to stop the pain. Some of the reasons they hurt could be injury, overweight, overuse or arthritis.

If you are overweight then your knees are also struggling with excess body weight. They feel the pressure of the weight five times more than the rest of you. One way to counteract this is to do some strengthening exercises to teach them how to cope with the pressure but an easier and healthier solution is to begin losing some weight. Also as we age muscles mass decreases which makes the knees weaker and in turn causes pain frequently so it is important to do some exercises to counteract your weight and the aging process.

Exercise is good for us however you must exercise within your means for your strength, weight and age otherwise you will overdo it and cause strain on your joints. If you find your knees are aching after exercise then give the workout a miss for the next few days to give the joint time to recover. Studies show that people that exercise regularly are likely to have cartilage degeneration which can be very painful so make sure you do your stretches properly as a warm up and a cool down after your exercise session. As we get older it may be harder to exercise if you have inflammation in your joints. Inflammation can be counteracted by the correct food and lifestyle changes but if it is attended to it can cause many illnesses like gout and arthritis.

Gout a one form of arthritis and a common cause of knee pain found in people who tend to eat a lot of red meat. Diet is very important and influences every area of our health. Another reason for pain could be that you are having digestive tract issues. So make sure you are digesting your food properly and going to the bathroom daily to empty your bowels. If you are not then ask your natural practitioner for help. Also remember that Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s Disease can lead to knee and joint pain. Once the digestive issue is solved usually the pain diminishes considerably.

Studies show that there is likely to be a link between depression and anxiety and knee pain. It is common for people suffering with these illnesses to lack regular exercise in their day to day lives which is another factor causing knee pain.

Depression has a physiological impact on the body similar to chronic pain. This could be why many people suffering with depression and knee pain will find that the pain will ease after taking antidepressants.

So if you are suffering from knee pain there are ways you can find relief however it will involve a change in lifestyle for you to become healthier. Consult your natural practitioner for some guidelines on what to do.

Can Reiki Help With Addiction?

Many of us have either suffered from, or know someone who has suffered from some kind of addition. When we think about addiction we tend to think about cigarettes, drugs, alcohol or gambling addictions, but there are many, many ways we can be addicted. Some of these can include video games, sugar and caffeine. Some can cause more harm than others but they are all addictions and can affect anyone, including children.

Addiction to alcohol, cigarettes and drugs can cause the user to suffer from things such as cirrhosis of the liver and a number of different types of cancers. Drug addictions can also lead to going to jail for crimes related to drug use or even cause some mental illnesses if someone was to consume a “bad batch”. Thankfully for those that seek help before it’s to late there are things to help deal with the addiction naturally.

Reiki can be used to help change the addictive patterns. While the reiki may help with the pattern you do need to be prepared though to change your thought processes and to put in the hard work required beat your addiction. Unfortunately there are no magic wands to flick everything away in an instant and it takes time. When you have been suffering from addiction for some time there tends to be a build up of anger towards others and also yourself. This is connected to the pain you may feel you have caused friends and family while going through the addiction. So your recovery is a process of learning to mend bridges, forgive others, ask for forgiveness and mostly to also forgive yourself and let go. That involves learning a new tool kit and reiki, in combination with therapy, can assist with that.

The reiki precepts can help you focus. These are a set of ‘sayings’ which a reiki student takes on as part of a way of life to enhance their life in some way. The first one is ‘do not anger just for today’. This is simply reminding you to not act out of anger and be mindful of other people’s feelings before you speak. When you have feelings of anger it is best to try and control yourself enough to work out why you are angry and solve the problem in a calm and reasonable way. If you must vent your anger it’s a good idea to have a tool kit where you can vent it in a non-harmful way – such as using a punching bag and boxing gloves to release your frustration. It will take time but reiki and self-reflection will help get you to the point where you will be able to follow through with this.

Growing up in an abusive alcohol or drug related home can often lead to a lot of anger and resentment and also it can lead to the children following the same abusive pattern as their parents. The key is to break the pattern and change the way we behave. To break this cycle of negative behaviour.

The other  ‘sayings’ in reiki are: ‘just for today I will let go of worry, do my work honestly, give thanks for my many blessings and be kind to every living thing’. Now imagine if you practiced just a few of these. How would your life be better if you gave thanks for your many blessings for example? If you were truly grateful for the roof over your head, the friends and family that nag you to change your destructive habits, the food on the table. How would your life be different if you decided to be kinder to the people that loved you? To make an effort for them at first, and later for yourself.

By choosing to be honest and mindful with yourself you can change your behaviour. Your reiki practitioner or therapist can help you with this, however remember that only you can change the path you’re on and beat the addiction. Thankfully there is a lot of help out there.