The Health Guru

I have to take insulin, for that, I have no choice but where I can make a choice is in seeking alternative treatment for stress management, or the latest supplement to boost my immune system.   This, can be for the good of myself but hopefully, will inspire others and therefore, I am doing all the research and courses.  If you want a personal treatment with your current situation taken into account please look me up at www.olivetraining180.co.uk.

It has been a tumultuous year and who can believe it will be 2020 any minute?  My husband of one year, although we have been together ten, fell off scaffolding at the beginning of the year and has been a long slog to get back on his feet, and was only his sheer strength that saved him.  He gave me so much inspiration as he fought to get out of the hospital in under a week where, the Consultant told him how lucky he was at as a man of sixty-two falling, fifteen feet.  I know he keeps himself in good shape and is a vegetarian with no cholesterol or problems at all due to very little alcohol and a healthy lifestyle.

However, those who are close to me or know me will know that truthfully, I gave him healing that worked so well with conventional medicine everyone was amazed. As a healer for many years I have worked with many different people and one lady who stands out and having conventional cancer treatment came to see me and told me about her journey into alternatives, having green tea, juicing vegetables and having healing with me.  Her positive attitude and all the treatments seemed to work very well and she went into remission very quickly.

This month, we know what produce we are going to have over the festive period.  Brussel sprouts make an appearance usually, for the first and last  time of the year in most households.  Parsnips, carrots,  excesses of alcohol and chocolate, well, it is Christmas!  We usually, do not have just one Christmas dinner either but one with friends, the community one or with work colleagues starting in November.  Then, there is the mince pie a day thing.  I would not dream of it any other time but it is ok, I tell myself as it is Christmas and a long lead up until, the big day means a lot of mince pies!

I do not drink but will have some Christmas pudding and chocolate, hopefully not to excess.  It seems reading posts on social media and elsewhere that most of us need help with two things.  The first, is losing weight (I recommend a stomach bug for that), where I lost a stone.  The second, is sleep where I am reading women of all ages either cannot fall asleep or wake up, where falling back off again, eludes them.   Again, I have some good ideas and latest advice for both although, not to replace your GP but as a complimentary effect.

I am the latter, in terms of sleep although sometimes ever grateful for it as testing blood sugars, in the middle of the night as I am usually, shooting downwards and if it had not of been for my son’s cold recently, waking me up with sneezing, I may not be here.  Apparently, I am still a long way off from a pump that can beep when your blood sugars go low however, due to costs only a select few get them and leaves one wondering how many could be saved by avoiding low blood sugar at night.  I feel that when we have lows as Type 1 diabetics, you end up treating it with a sugary drink and more food than usual that leads to weight gain along with the insulin itself.   The brain itself, needs glucose in order to function and anything less than a blood sugar reading of four needs treating immediately.

Sugar levels in our chocolate has increased since the nineties and chocolate is ineffective for treating a low blood sugar episode due to the fat delaying, blood sugar from rising.  Sugar negatively, impacts our immune system as well as junk food.  Although, none of us are immune from the Christmas party season and drinking and eating more than usual, it may be wise to cut down on too much processed food to allow vitamins C and E to work in our systems, especially in the Winter months when bugs are more prevalent and multiply.   It is also, advisable to eat as many foods from the rainbow to boost our immunity and in particular dark, green, leafy veg and anything purple.

Regular exercise is paramount in the winter months and we can all benefit from walking further and pedalling harder.  I usually, take the dog to the beach and my son and husband kick the football, the dog runs and swims whilst, I walk and meditate in between shouting at the dog to ‘come back, now!’  It may be cold and sometimes raining but will really give you a boost and help with controlling weight gain and stress hormones. Apparently, it also, halves your chances of getting a cold, so better get moving.  This, time of year I also, need a hot chocolate when I get in from bracing winds and have soy or coconut milk, mixed with cocoa, truvia and turmeric for a great antioxidant kick.  After, all a little dark cocoa is great for the lungs and gives us an immune boost.

Most of us are in stress mode running up to Christmas that can take its toll and have an impact on our health through the stress hormone corticosteroid, whether financial strain, emotional because of loved ones, relationships that can adversely, affect our adrenal glands, nervous system and blood sugars.  So, it is best to try and keep calm whilst carrying on and take breathers in between our Christmas shopping that really, can cause so much stress in itself, trying to make everything perfect.  I feel the stress building trying to get a Christmas slot for my online fresh shop so I am going to go in to the store myself, this year as it seems the best option.  Although, I shudder when I remember going shopping one Christmas and wandering into a shop asking for help as I felt faint.  All I remember is them saying I was the third one that morning and calling an ambulance but I went home and recovered there.  Dehydration and stress were cited.

Reducing stressors, can include a massage (our local salon is always offering money off for trainees), or try yoga, a facial, a walk, or a night out with friends.  I now take Bio-Strath Elixir, a very strong tasting liquid that seems to do the trick as I made my husband have some when we felt lousy with a bad cold, coupled with a fizzy vitamin C tablet.  The elixir is made from fermented yeast and other ingredients that was a Swiss formula for speeding up recovery time and regaining health and available from health food shops although, I found it at better value on the revital website for £8.99.

I also, use a Vitamin D spray because we are all supposedly, deficient especially in the winter and have found my Olive Leaf Extract at the back of the fridge.  Often considered nature’s perfect antioxidant, hydroxytyrosol is a natural phytochemical with some of the highest antioxidant properties discovered to date, with an ORAC value (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity – its ability to absorb cell-damaging free radicals) of 68,576 – which is considered to be fifteen times higher than green tea and three times higher than CoQ10, yet almost unheard of.  It is also, excellent for conditions like candida or fungus elimination and made from a very high concentrate of olive leaves.

I will be making a vegetarian and meat eater’s Christmas lunch with lots of greens, that contain micronutrients, phytochemicals, and fibre.  I know I want to help those who cannot afford a Christmas and find ways to do that.  I am always delivering toys and clothes to people who may appreciate them and I have provided many items for women having to start again.  I think if we all do our bit, the world will be a better place.  When, I first met my husband of one year, ten years ago I opened the kitchen cupboards and found them full to the brim with pot noodles.  ‘Poor thing,’ I thought.  ‘He can’t cook and lives on them.   He then revealed that he buys them for the homeless as when they get a place to stay it has no oven but they usually, have a kettle and they love them as they fill them up and help keep people warm without the need for cooking.  How altruistic.

I file all my receipts in date order for my business and cannot help but wonder about the BPA’s in receipts and waste all over the world.  Everyone focuses on plastics yet, receipts are one of the worst contributors to global warming and health issues.  Most receipts are printed on “thermal” paper, that changes colour when heated. A thin coating of powder helps develop the dyes. That powder, it turns out, contains an endocrine-disrupting chemical, and we are absorbing it through the skin on our fingers.

A study published in the journal JAMA found that people who continuously handle shop receipts wind up with significantly elevated levels of bisphenol-A, more commonly known as BPA, in their urine.  Should we be wearing gloves when, handling them?  That may be fine in Winter but not practical in summer and BPA has been used since the 1960s to line soup cans, and to make a wide array of plastic bottles and food containers. The chemical mimics human estrogen in the body, and can disrupt the body’s hormone, or endocrine, system, though what doses are considered harmful is a matter of debate. Studies link BPA to breast cancer, diabetes, and obesity, as well as hormone abnormalities in children. One study found that more than 90 percent of us have some level of it in their urine.

So, I try to digitise them but easily fall back into my old-fashioned roots of filing them and with some shops giving you the offer of sending you one by e-mail you then, risk them misspelling it or giving your address in front of a line of people where everyone is waiting. Also, one retailer in particular will only fulfil returns with a paper receipt.

My husband comes home from an ECA (Electrical Contractors Association) designers event and tells me that by 2025 there will be no new gas installations to domestic properties, instead it will only be electric.  Furthermore, we will not be known as consumers but prosumers as with the ‘Internet of Things’ everything from washing machines, lights, entertainment systems can talk to one another and with your smart metre connected to photovoltaic,  underground or air heat pumps and wind turbines combined with the new technology of battery.  I t will allow us to produce energy during sunlight hours and consume hours when needed, saving energy into a battery store and using it later – genius.

So, now we reach the end of the year and forgiveness is in the air and I have a few to forgive this Christmas.  We can only write or talk about the good in our lives, good people, good communities and those who genuinely, help others.  I was so grateful for those in Kidwelly who out of the goodness of their hearts took me back and forth with my son to the hospital to see my then, partner as although, I drive, I was reliant on others to help me get to Morriston twice a day.    Have a good one and see you in the New Year for our new pull-out magazine!

Written by Denise Kingsley-Jones