Health & Medical Advice and Information - UK Medical Health

Detox time! After the excesses of the holiday many men decide to start the new year with a detox program. In a flush of enthusiasm they make outrageous decisions – no alcohol, lose weight, go to the gym, clean up the diet. All of these are great resolutions, but setting out to do them all at once is a recipe for disaster. Make a small decision now that you have a good chance of keeping rather than planning to do everything.

Let’s look at going to the gym. Is this really what you want to do? You are more likely to keep a resolution if you enjoy the activity. Going to the gym doesn’t suit everyone. You could try joining a runners’ group – pick one that has a welcoming attitude to beginners, and that will teach you how to run properly without overstretching yourself. If you do want to join a gym, make sure you get personalised advice or use an online trainer who can tailor a program specifically for you. If this all sounds too energetic, get a pedometer. Many people walk about 3000 to 4000 steps a day, whereas the recommended amount is 10000 steps a day.

Want to clean up your diet? Start simply – drink a lot more water and add more fresh fruit and vegetables to your diet. Concentrate on adding good things rather than depriving yourself of bad things. Don’t put yourself on a diet that you couldn’t (with some small modifications) follow for the rest of your life. Otherwise the time will come when the diet is too difficult ad you break it big time. Many people end up putting on weight as a result of going on a diet!

Feel your insides need a clean out? Traditionally herbs have been associated with detoxifying and cleansing the body. Herbs such as cramp bark, dandelion, milk thistle, fennel and ginger support the liver, soothe and cleanse the digestive tract. Go for a good quality herbal detox formula that consists of several different herbs for maximum benefit.

Make one of these changes in your life. Don’t try to do everything. Then when that activity is just part of your every day routine, add another change. Go gently on yourself, but go forward into a better life.

Sadly more and more people seem to be suffering from allergies, and many people think they might have allergies but are unsure about the trigger.

Common allergens are milk and wheat, but there are no ‘safe’ foods. One of my sons was allergic to carrots, including organic carrots. They made him hyperactive. One asthmatic child I tested (using kinesiology) was allergic to non-biological washing powders, and fine on biological ones; another child with eczema was allergic to cotton but had no problem with synthetic material. These sorts of situations are not common, but they do alert us to be aware that we should not categorise anything as always safe or always harmful.

In general, particular substances are not linked to particular symptoms, so cheese could cause eczema in one person and irritable bowel syndrome or migraines in another. I have treated a mother and daughter who both suffered from migraines, but their allergies were completely different.

Although some products are labelled as hypoallergenic, this does not mean that they cannot produce an allergic reaction in a susceptible person. In practice people can be allergic to anything.

Unfortunately it is impossible to give any real guidance about how soon symptoms appear after contact with an allergen, because the individual variations are so wide. Some people react very quickly – in the extreme and life-threatening form this is anaphylactic shock, but other people find that symptoms don’t appear immediately or are there all the time.

Although foods are often viewed as the main culprits, airborne substances (such as perfumes, smoke, dust, moulds and pollens) and contact substances (such as polyester and nickel) are equally likely to cause problems. A striking example was a young client of mine who wet her bed, but only in the summer – she turned out to have a pollen allergy.

Avoiding substances and seeing what happens doesn’t always work and is impossible often in the case of airborne substances. I particularly recommend finding a kinesiologist with an interest in allergies to help sort out what is causing or aggravating your symptoms. Health kinesiologists, in particular, can often not only tell you what your allergies are but also put them right.

Alternative medicine is becoming increasingly popular, but what exactly is it?

Many therapists don’t like the term ‘alternative medicine’ because they feel it suggests an antagonism to allopathic medicine that they do not feel. So they prefer to call themselves complementary therapists. Alternative medicine is sometimes known as CAM, which stands for complementary and alternative medicine.

There are many different types of complementary and alternative therapists, e.g. kinesiologists, reiki practitioners, Bowen therapists, etc. and the procedures and techniques they use can differ considerably, but they all share some beliefs in common.

One of the fundamental beliefs is that they are working holistically looking at the whole person rather than at a particular symptom. So, for example, homeopaths would ask you about your symptoms, but would also ask you if you like salty food, or are better in the fresh air. This is because there isn’t a homeopathic remedy for a given symptom or illness, but there are several that might apply. The exact one is determined by taking detailed information and knowing more about the client’s personality and characteristics. Health kinesiologists do not have specific procedures for a given illness, but determine what to do based on muscle testing.

Therapists believe that the body can be helped to help itself, so that any intervention should work with the body’s natural desire to heal rather than imposing on it. Bowen therapists make minute gentle movements on the physical body and then wait for the body to process these and move forward.

Therapists also see symptoms as a way of the body (or energy system) highlighting that there is something wrong. Most therapists believe that fixing symptoms without looking deeper is storing up trouble in the long run – it is shooting the messenger rather than listening to the messenger. So, to lower a fever or stop diarrhoea is not necessarily an appropriate thing to do without knowing what is going on underneath. It may appear to solve the immediate problem, but can set up problems long term.

Practitioners see the physical body and the emotions and spirit as being inextricably interlinked. Some practitioners concentrate on the physical body more, whereas others concentrate on the emotional or spiritual aspects of the client, but behind it all is an understanding that we are multi-layered beings.