Top ten tips

1. Stay Positive

Positive thinking

Positive thought and emotions boost the immune system whilst negative ones do the reverse and it is well documented that the chances of survival and speed of recovery are greatly enhanced if assisted by a sense of purpose and a positive approach

Various tests have been done which show that chemotherapy and radiation treatment has better success rates if the patient has a positive frame of mind

I am an optimist and positive thinking comes naturally for me but I know how difficult it is to remain positive if you are in pain or feeling depressed.

I also find the repetitiveness and the dullness of some of the routines demoralising so I make them easier by turning them into a game or a challenge. i.e. improving the speed in which I complete them and reward myself if I beat the existing time.

Laughter

Laughter is known to aid recovery and it is very fast acting and fun to do

It has the following benefits

• Lowers blood pressure
• Increases vascular blood flow and oxygenation of the blood
• Gives a workout to the diaphragm and abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg, and back muscles
• Reduces certain stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline
• Increases the response of tumour (and disease) killing cells such as gamma-interferon and T-cells
• Defends against respiratory infections–even reducing the frequency of colds
• Increases memory and learning
• Improves alertness, creativity, and memory

Boredom

Boredom manifests negative thoughts so you will need to think of ways of breaking the monotony and making days more interesting and fun. Do some of the things you like doing or have wanted to do. To find out to develop new skills, I search for them in You tube.

Personally, I formed a to-do list of tasks I wanted to complete

improvement to our home

Sorting out our financial matters

Compile family mementos – listing and updating photographs and working on the family tree

Creating a list of friends to make contact with or visit

Putting my music collection in order

I also have several hobbies, which keep me occupied. Music, reading, films, walking

Get more ideas for hobbies use a search engine like google and type in’ list of hobbies’

Spiritualisation

Although it is a basic human instinct to want to live, an individual’s approach to death is influenced by the amount of meaning and purpose they have found throughout their lifetime.

People who feel they understand their purpose in life or find a special meaning, face less fear and despair in the final weeks of their lives than those who had not.

There is evidence that people with a higher level of spiritualisation; meditation or praying to a deity, live longer and enjoy a healthier life.

Many people faced with this situation have attempted to record their emotions and thoughts when pronounced terminally ill. Philip Gould died of cancer in 2011 and found comfort in selecting his final resting place and took time planning and visiting it beforehand. It became a special place and gave him a lot of comfort knowing where he would spend eternity. In his book ‘When I die: lessons from the Dead Zone’ he looks at death in a very pragmatic way and you may find it helpful. All proceeds going to Cancer charities

2. Water

Until I started on my health regime, I ignored the importance of drinking adequate quantities of water.  These days, when I ask people how much water they drink, most state that they do drink enough, however, to drink even the minimum amount requires a concerted effort and some planning and when I point this out most of them realise that they don’t drink enough …..and usually fall woefully short

Water is our body’s principal chemical component and makes up about 60 percent of our body weight. Every system in the body depends on water.

The functions of water in human body are vital.

• Transports nutrients and oxygen into cells
• Moisturises the air in lungs
• Helps with metabolism
• Protects our vital organs
• Helps our organs to absorb nutrients better
• Regulates body temperature
• Detoxifies
• Protects and moisturises our joints

How much should water should we drink ?

Everybody is different as there are many variable factors like your condition of health, activity levels, climatic conditions, physical size, your weight and your environment etc.

• Experts say that the ideal daily amount is 2.5 litre of water per day

We constantly lose water through sweating, exhaling and urinating. In hot weather, we lose more water through sweating, whilst in cold conditions we tend to urinate more. In the case of sickness such as flu or diarrhoea, we lose fluid also, if you weigh more, your body will need more fluid for the muscle, organ, bone etc. so remember to increase the amount of water you drink accordingly.

• Coffee, tea, alcohol, juices, soft drinks – ALL cause MORE dehydration

How can I tell if I’m dehydrated?

Look at the colour your urine. It should be light yellow coloured or clear. If it is dark or strong smelling, you need to drink more water. Other signs are fatigue, headaches, and difficulty concentrating. If you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated.     

3. Reduce stress

Stress is a natural physiological process to help humans when faced with an immediate threat, by increasing our ‘fight or flight’ ability.

In our lives today, short-term stress is still useful (like going for a job interview, sitting an exam or running a race etc.) although prolonged periods of stress (like work or family conflicts etc.) can make us sick.

Stress isn’t just in our minds; it’s also a physical response. When stressed, our body responds by constricting blood vessels, raising blood pressure and pulse rate and making us breathe faster by flooding our bloodstream with hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline

Causes of long-term (chronic) stress include

• Health problems, especially chronic illness
• Emotional problems; suppressed anger, depression, grief, guilt, or low self-esteem.
  • Relationship problems or feeling a lack of friendships or support in your life.
  • Major life changes; bereavement, losing a job, marriage, divorce, moving house.
  • Caring for family members who are under stress, such as a child, teen-agers, an elderly relative or member who has health problems.
  • Conflicts with your beliefs and values like being unable to spend as much time with your family as you want.
  • Social and job issues including your living surroundings, money problems, discrimination or being unhappy at work ……or unemployment
  • Post-traumatic stress if you have faced a life-threatening or traumatic event such as rape, a natural disaster, or war.

Managing stress

Stress management might seem like a nice idea but completely impossible with our busy lives and tight finances but it has proven results.

Although you might not be able to remove all the stressful things from your life, you can change how you respond to them

• Regular exercise (30 minutes per day) is key to long-term stress management.
• Start relaxation techniques such as meditation or yoga
• When you get stressed try the following stress management techniques:
  • Breathe deeply:       Just a few minutes of deep breathing can calm you and relax the physiologic stress response. With each breath out, you relax a specific muscle group starting with your jaw muscles. On the next breath out, relax your shoulders and on each subsequent breath you move through the different areas of your body until you’re feeling calm.
  • Focus on the moment:       When stressed, we often worry about what to do next or regretful about something we’ve already done. You can calm yourself by bringing yourself back to the present moment and focus on what you are doing now. If you’re walking, feel the sensation of your legs moving. If you’re eating, focus on the taste and the sensation of the food.
  • Reframe the situation:       So you’re already running late and then find yourself stuck in terrible traffic. Getting worked up is a natural reaction, but it won’t help you at all, so try a different perspective and look at that time as an opportunity — a few minutes to yourself where you don’t have any other obligations.
  • Keep your problems in perspective:        The next time you’re feeling stressed out, force your focus away from a specific problem to matters for which you have cause to be grateful such as having family and friends, or that you can see, or walk.

10 Health Problems Related to Stress

• Heart disease – We know that sudden emotional stress can trigger serious cardiac problems, including heart attacks. People who have chronic heart problems need to avoid acute stress as much as they can.
• Asthma –  Studies have shown that stress can worsen asthma with some evidence suggesting that kids with stressed out parents had a substantially higher risk of developing asthma
• Obesity –  Excess fat in the belly seems to pose greater health risks than fat on the legs or hips — and unfortunately, that’s just where people with high stress seem to store it.
• Diabetes –  Stress seems to directly raise the glucose levels of people with type 2 diabetes and it can also increase the likelihood of bad behaviors, such as unhealthy eating and excessive drinking.
• Headaches –  Stress is considered one of the most common triggers for headaches and migraines.
• Depression and anxiety –  It’s probably no surprise that chronic stress is connected with higher rates of depression and anxiety.
• Gastrointestinal problems –  Although stress doesn’t cause ulcers, it can make them worse and is also a common factor in many other GI conditions, such as chronic heartburn and IBS.
• Alzheimer’s disease –  Researchers speculate that reducing stress has the potential to slow down the progression of the disease.
• Accelerated ageing –  Stress seems to accelerate aging over a lifetime by about 9 to 17 additional years.
• Premature death –  One study found that caregivers who are under a great deal of stress had a 63% higher rate of death than people their age who were not.

4. Reduce sugar

http://rheumatic.org/sugar.htm

5. More greeen veg

In the West, we eat too much meat and cutting back makes sense on many fronts: environmental & climate change, health and financial.

Humans are more suited towards a Mediterranean style diet, which limits red meat and emphasises fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and healthy fats. It has many health benefits and has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease and other chronic conditions.

A study of 500,000 people by a US National Cancer Institute found that those who daily ate 4 ounces (113 grams) of red meat or more, were 30% more likely to have died of any cause during a 10-year period than were those who consumed less. Sausage, luncheon meats and other processed meats also increased the risk. Those who ate mostly poultry or fish had a lower risk of death.

So eating less meat will lower your family’s risk of cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, stomach ulcers and a host of other medical complaints and if you are still not convinced, there are also financial savings by switching over to a more vegetable protein based diet

How to start eating less meat

• Start with a couple of meatless dinners each week
• Consider going meatless one day a week
• Use meat substitutes where possible – i.e. spaghetti Bolognese, chilli con carne made with soya or tofu
• When your meals include meat choose lean cuts and avoid oversized portions
• A serving of meat should be no more than 3 ounces (about the size of a deck of cards) and should take up no more than a quarter of your plate. Vegetables and fruits should cover half your plate. Whole grains make up the rest.
• Choosing a variety of protein foods, including eggs, beans and peas, soya products, and unsalted nuts and seeds

A plant-based diet, which emphasises fruits and vegetables, grains, beans and legumes, and nuts, is rich in fibre, vitamins and other nutrients.

I used to be a meat-head although since Paul McCarthy advocated ‘meatless Mondays’ a few years back, we did try to have meat-free dinners twice a week. However, on learning on my illness and deciding to reverse the acidity in my body, I dived straight into the deep-end and became Vegan overnight having no meat, no dairy, no eggs and no fish.

To get the necessary protein I turned to lentils and especially quinoa which is a grain and a super food which has protein qualities.

6. Chew!

Most people are guilty of eating food too fast and until I started reading the facts, I was certainly one of them.

Recommended amounts of chewing range from 25 – 40 times per mouthful.  But rather than counting, a general rule is to chew until you cannot feel the texture of the food in your mouth.

There are important reasons to chew your food properly

• The teeth break down food and saliva secretes enzymes that start the digestion process, so the longer you chew your foods, the more the food will be exposed to these enzymes resulting in more nutrients being absorbed.  Excess saliva helps to neutralize acid in the stomach, which will help prevent heartburn
• The saliva that is produced by the extra chewing helps to kill harmful bacteria, washes away food particles from around your teeth and helps to neutralize plaque buildup
• Food that is not exposed to the enzymes properly, pass along the colon in chunks where it feeds harmful bacteria resulting in gas, bloating, abdominal cramping, constipation and other symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.
• It will slow your intake down, allowing you to eat less whilst still remaining satisfied as eating slower gives your brain time to turn off the hunger message (this usually takes about 20 minutes into a meal).  You will feel less inclined to eat as much and will prevent you from feeling uncomfortably full and tired after a meal.
• It saves the body from expelling energy on eliminating indigestible foods, and prevents the swallowing of air

Benefits of properly chewing your food:

• Improves digestion
• Produces more energy and endurance
• Develops patience and self-control
• Reduces quantity of food desired & promotes weight-loss
• Reduces cravings for sweets
• Improves tastes for food
• Develops stronger teeth and gums
• Improves the quality of sleep
• Greater mineral absorption
• Reduces indigestion and acid reflux
• Decreases GAS
• Anti-bloating

7. Avoid processed food

Processed food refers to the transformation of raw ingredients or food into other forms for consumption by humans or animals. Typically this involves taking clean, harvested crops or butchered animal products to produce attractive, marketable and often long shelf-life food products in a process that mixes, grinds, chops and emulsifies the food. The processing strips the food of natural nutrients so artificial food additives are added – E numbers.

In a typical western diet we consume around150 pounds of non-food additives per year; 130 pounds of which is refined sugar and 10-15 pound are salt with the remainder comprising 5-10 pounds of emulsifiers, food colouring, fake flavoring, buffers, perfumes, texturizers, preservatives, and laboratory-synthesized vitamin and mineral replacements.

Refined sugar includes table sugar, sucrose, fructose, glucose, dextrose, and corn syrup. White bread and white rice lack the nutrient and fiber of grains that are whole and unprocessed and should be avoided.

Glucose is the primary fuel for all the cells in your body and your digestive system slowly breaks down the food to turn it into glucose, over period of time. However, processed foods are fast to digest and get absorbed rapidly, flooding the blood and cells with glucose. To rebalance the levels (and designed primarily as an emergency maneuver), glands produce insulin, which turns the glucose into fatty deposits, which in turn can be deposited out of the blood, into the body.  This constant bombardment of blood sugar raises your risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, premature aging, and cancer

The food industry produces appealing adverts with colorful packaging and its difficult to protect ourselves and our children against lifeless convenience foods, candy, soda, and fruit juice drinks loaded with sugar and corn syrup as they are common snacks and easy foods. White bread, breakfast cereals, flours are all refined grain products which contribute greatly to our nations ill health.

Food Irradiation

Food irradiation is the process of exposing food to ionizing radiation to disinfect, sanitize, sterilize or preserve food. It is also used for insect disinfestation. However, all forms of ionizing radiation, including the cobalt-60 and cesium-137 are known carcinogens.

Good foods to eat

Eat organic, fresh, unprocessed foods as often as possible.
Some healthy foods:
Organic dairy and meat, wild salmon, tofu, tempeh, all fresh fruits and vegetables, brown rice, rolled oats, barley, millet, nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, macadamia, hazel, brazil, etc), seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, etc), berries, beans (pinto, black, navy, red, fava, kidney, etc), flaxseed oil.

Foods to avoid

Hydrogenated oils
trans-fatty acids,
artificial coloring,
artificial flavouring,
 sugar (any food that containing table sugar, sucrose, fructose, glucose, dextrose, and corn syrup), added salt, 
junk foods

Do not eat canned foods from rusty or swollen cans.

8. Wheatgrass

• It is a super food
• It contains 92 minerals needed by the body
• 1 fl. oz. of wheatgrass juice is equivalent to 2½ pounds of the choicest vegetables
• It is a complete protein containing 20+ amino acids and has higher protein densities than any other food source
• The magic is in the enzymes with more than 30 found in the juice
• The juice is 70% chlorophyll and since the chlorophyll molecule is virtually identical to hemoglobin (red blood cells that carry oxygen), wheatgrass juice will oxygenate your body

9. Organic food

Organic foods provide a variety of benefits. Some studies show that organic foods have more beneficial nutrients, such as antioxidants, than their conventionally grown counterparts. In addition, people with allergies to foods, chemicals, or preservatives often find their symptoms lessen or go away when they eat only organic foods. In addition:

Fewer pesticides.

Pesticides are chemicals such as fungicides, herbicides, and insecticides. These chemicals are widely used in conventional agriculture and residues remain on (and in) the food we eat.

Most of us have an accumulated build-up of pesticide exposure in our bodies due to numerous years of exposure. This chemical “body burden” as it is medically known could lead to health issues such as headaches, birth defects, and added strain on weakened immune systems.

Freshness

Fresh food tastes better. Organic food is usually fresher when eaten because it doesn’t contain preservatives that make it last longer. Organic produce is often (but not always, so watch where it is from) produced on smaller farms near where it is sold.

Better for the environment.

Organic farming practices reduce pollution (air, water, soil), conserve water, reduce soil erosion, increase soil fertility, and use less energy. In addition, organic farming is better for birds and small animals as chemical pesticides can make it harder for creatures to reproduce and can even kill them. Farming without pesticides is also better for the people who harvest our food.

Organic animals are NOT given antibiotics, growth hormones, or fed animal byproducts.

The use of antibiotics in conventional meat production helps create antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. This means that when someone gets sick from these strains they will be less responsive to antibiotic treatment. Not feeding animal byproducts to other animals reduces the risk of mad cow disease (BSE). In addition, the animals are given more space to move around and access to the outdoors, both of which help to keep the animals healthy. The more crowded the conditions, the more likely an animal is to get sick.

10. Himalayan salt

Although Salt is critical for our existence it is widely recognised that today we consume too much refined salt, leading to many health problems.

Natural salt retains a large amount of vitamins and minerals; containing 84 substances, including iron, fluorine, copper, zinc, chromium, iodine, manganese and cobalt which play a number of vital roles in the body and importantly regulate our metabolism.

However the commonly used table or cooking salt has been through a heavy refining process, which involves the removal of the natural content to only leave sodium chloride to which preservatives and anti-caking agents are added to improve shelf life and reduce water retention.

The medical community has reached a consensus that diets high in sodium are a major cause of high blood pressure as well as pre-hypertension, or blood pressure just short of high blood pressure. This significantly increases the risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

Himalayan Salt

Himalayan crystal salt is a pure form of salt, created over millions of years under intense tectonic pressure, in an environment with zero exposure to toxins and other impurities that pervade other forms of ocean salt.

It tastes the same as common salt, is not expensive and you can buy it from most supermarkets or health stores.

It can be used as table salt or for cooking and can be recognised by its distinctive pink colour.

Claimed Health Benefits of Himalayan Crystal Salt

• Regulating the water levels within the body,
• Promoting stable pH balance in the cells, including the brain.
• Encouraging excellent blood sugar health
• Aiding in reducing the common signs of aging
• Promoting cellular hydroelectric energy creation
• Promoting the increased absorption capacities of food elements within the intestinal tract
• Aiding vascular health
• Supporting healthy respiratory function
• Lowering incidence of sinus problems, and promoting over-all sinus health
• Reducing muscle cramps
• Increasing bone strength
• Naturally promoting healthy sleep patterns
• Creating a healthy libido
• In combination with water, it is necessary for blood pressure regulation
• Prevents cellulite, when compared to table salt
• Reduces chances of developing rheumatism, arthritis and gout, when compared to common chemically-treated salt
• Reduces chances of developing kidney and gall bladder stones when compared to common chemically-treated salt