The best spas in the world? More from Stella at Wellbeing Escapes.

Posted on July 9, 2009 by Ian Marber

 Earlier this week I posted details of the first part of a conversation with Stella Photi from Wellbeing Escapes and am pleased to be able to post the second half.  To read the rest, see the post from July 6th 2009.

 Stella, I see that some spas have packages. Are they good value or should I go it alone given that some of the treatments on the package don’t appeal to me?

Packages are usually better value but have a close look at the inclusions to make sure they include what you want.  The packages that are goal orientated, such as detox, weight loss or stress relief are definitely worth going for as the programmes have been put together carefully to achieve the goal and are cheaper than individual treatments.

What are you insider tips for getting the very best from a spa holiday?

  – If you can, go on your own so you can focus purely on yourself and not worry about keeping your partner/friend or kids happy and don’t feeln guilty about it!

- Try and relax your mind and slow down the pace – you don’t need to fill every minute doing something.  The environments are usually beautiful – take in the atmosphere and enjoy the views.

 - Pre book and pre pay for your spa treatments so you know what it is costing you before you go – that way you can avoid the stress of the dreaded check out bill and also not worry about getting your treatments scheduled when you arrive.

 -  Take advantage of the holistic activities available – yoga and tai chi classes, meditation sessions, etc.  They complement the overal experience.

As an expert, what is the best spa for weight loss? And stress management? Exercise?

 -   For weight loss I would recommend the SHA Wellness Spa in Spain which will introduce you to the world of a macrobiotic lifestyle to regulate your weight and keep it off!

- For Stress Management, try an Ayurvedic Holiday which put simply will balance your individual constitution or “dosha”.  The idea of ‘dosha’ follows the therory that everybody is made up of a unique blend of the three basic physiological principles that govern bodily processes (vata, pitta and kapha).  With an Ayurvedic Holiday your treatments and diet will be individually prescribed to get your doshas in balance and you will notice a positive change. For example, if you are hyper and chaotic, it will calm you down and help you focus. If you are irritable, critical and easily blow your top, it will soothe you and give you a more positive outlook.   The treatments are very luxurious, using lots of oil and are stress relieving in their own right. For a great Ayurvedic Holiday I would recommend SwaSwara, a beautiful retreat on the beach in Southern India that combines daily yoga for maximum effect.

-  For exercise go for a specific fitness retreat such as Purescapes. These are week long retreats with no more than about 15 people on each retreat held in stunning locations across Europe (usually restored historical grand houses in private grounds with stunning pools).  The retreats are run by a group of extremely well qualified physical trainerswho will organise daily outdoor group activities (hiking, cycling, surfing, kayaking) and also give each participant unlimited one on one personal training. These weeks will not only kick start your fitness but also help you lose weight.

 For pure relaxation, which spa would you recommend?

- For pure relaxation visit Shanti Ananda in Mauritius.  This is am luxury destination spa located on a stunning beach in the underdeveloped south coast of Mauritius.  The treatments are divine, the service fantastic, the food is healthy and delicious and the yoga authentic.

And lastly, what is your personal favourite spa?

 My personal favourite is Kamalaya Wellness Sanctuary in Koh Samui as they gently took me apart and put me back together again after a very stressful period in my life.  This is a holistic holiday at its best – a naturally beautiful environment, gentle and kind staff who have the expertise to nurture and heal.  If I could I would spend a week there every 3 months – so good for the soul!

There you have it – straight from the experts mouth.  Given this advice, I am thinking that a week or so in Kamalaya is on the cards for later on in the year – perhaps I should take a Food Doctor group there sometime!

If anyone has personal experience of these or other spas, please let me know by leaving a post.

Happy travels.

 

www.wellbeingescapes.co.uk

Filed under: Holidays, Wellbeing, spas, the food doctor, travel, weight loss | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Spa holidays – a conversation with an expert from Wellbeing Escapes.

Posted on July 6, 2009 by Ian Marber

With so many of us about to take our traditional summer holiday my own thoughts have been turning to travel. Like many people my first port of call is usually the internet as I have become quite used to making my own arrangements rather than using a travel agent. However I am looking to spend time in a spa later this year, and although I have been to a few over the years, there are so many to choose from that I am finding it hard to make a choice. Rather than go it alone, I decided to find an expert, and am very pleased to have been introduced to Wellbeing Escapes. I met with their founder and managing director, Stella Photi and put some of my questions to her;

Stella, I am sure that you go online for your own needs, and now that people have become more used to booking holidays themselves, why use a travel agent?

Although the internet is a great source for instant information, what you see is not necessarily what you get. You will find thousands of options with individual hotel websites whose job is to do a great marketing job on their resort. I know this personally as I have visited many hotels and spas that did not deliver on my expectations from their marketing tools.

You could say the same applies for travel agents BUT good travel agents and tour operators invest a lot of time and resource in quality checks and accuracy of marketing material to make sure their clients have a quality experience and that the experience delivers on what is promised. This is a worthwhile investment as if the client returns happy they will have trust in our recommendations and holidays.

People also have the misconception that they will get a better deal when they book directly with the hotel or airline. This view has been promoted by the press and is usually not correct – especially with specialist tour operators. For example we negotiate specific exclusive discounts such as reduced or no single supplements for our clients that are not available directly with the hotel – especially since a Wellbeing holiday is perfect for single travelers (time to focus purely on oneself!). There are often early booking offers and discounted spa treatment packages that are put together purely for our clients.

The other point to consider is that if something goes wrong (like your flight is cancelled or delayed) you don’t have to worry about it as the touroperator will try and limit the inconvenience. We had customers who were stuck in Thailand earlier this year when the airport was closed by the protestors. We made sure they were accommodated at the hotels at discounted prices and also used our contacts to get them on the first flights back when they started to operate again.

Last but not least, most good tour operators are ATOL bonded which means that in these days of financial uncertainty, you will be covered if an airline goes bust or even a hotel. The tour operator is legally required to find you a suitable alternative or refund your money.

How did you get involved in well-being holidays?

I have always been interested in complementary health options and for many years I sought out spa and wellbeing holidays for myself as a means for stress relief, living a typical hectic lifestyle! Sometimes I was disappointed with the experience, having spent a lot of money and not feeling like I got what I paid for. That’s when I started thinking about starting a company like Wellbeing Escapes that could pre qualify and check out the quality of the treatments, accommodation and provide a seamless wellbeing experience.

I made my decision to start the company when I started practicing yoga and wanted to go on a yoga retreat that would tick all the boxes with regards to my own requirements – I didn’t want anything too hippy like but some luxury
with like minded people and good quality yoga. I googled “yoga holidays” and ended up with hundreds of options that were difficult to differentiate without spending endless hours on the internet. At that point, I went to mylocal travel agent who looked at me like I was crazy and tried to flog me a beach holiday in Spain that had the odd yoga class. That’s when I decided to start a company that could provide a service for people like me who want advice and guidance to a wellbeing break that suits their individual needs.

What makes Well Being different?

It’s all in the detail. Every holiday we sell goes through very stringent quality checks and it’s not just about the facilities at the resort or the rooms. We look at the training of the therapists, the yoga teachers, how the programmes have been put together to achieve a specific goal. For example there are many gimmicky detox holidays available but you won’t find them through us – the combination of the treatments, food and activities has to be just right. We look at details like how the resort deals with emotional detox which often happens alongside a physical detox and what experts are on hand to help our clients deal with this. Other details such as the ambience, if single travellers will feel comfortable, if water is readily available without people being charged an arm and leg for it.

I started the company to give guidance and advise in the often confusingworld of spa and the team are very well trained to help people find the right option. We have conversations with all of our clients, gently finding out what they want to achieve from their holiday and what is important to them. Although our website provides a great source of information, we are very personal company and do not take bookings online for that reason. A wellbeing holiday is a very personal experience and we want our clients to feel taken care when they are choosing their holiday and before they go. We even schedule their spa treatments before they go so there is one less thing to worry about when they arrive!

What should we look for when choosing a spa holiday?

Quality and a seamless experience – does the food complement the experience are there holistic activities available, are the therapists well trained will they feel comfortable if they go alone?…its all in the detail – see answer above!

I want a spa holiday for my family, do any cater for children?

Most destination spas and authentic holistic retreats do not cater for children as their purpose is all about wellbeing, which usually goes hand in hand with peace & serenity. There are however many resorts that have very well run spas and have lots of other facilities including entertainment for kids. For example, the Aphrodite Hills resort in Cyprus has one of the best run spas we have come across in Europe but also has a kids club, a teen club and even evening entertainment to keep the little ones busy and happy.

There will be more from Stella over the next few days including her personal recommendations for the best spas in the world. In the meantime do check out www.wellbeingescapes.co.uk.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

To tan or not to tan? Some tanning advice from The Food Doctor.

Posted on July 2, 2009 by Ian Marber

I am constantly amazed that the message about skin cancer isn’t getting through, and one look at the typical beach will confirm this.  Now that Britain is baking in the sun, every park, lawn and terrace is crammed with people getting some rays. I do think  that the idea of applying sun protection lotion is one that only comes to mind when on holiday but we don’t really think are in our home town.

Obviously, the less time you spend in the sun, then the less the risk of skin cancer, and the higher the protection factor you use makes a dramatic difference too. So if I told you that one supplement can help you go brown quicker, would you a) spend less time in the sun, or b) spend the same amount but expect to go darker?  If you answered b) then skip to the next paragraph. If it’s a), then read on…… L-tyrosine, an amino acid, when taken in doses of 500 mg twice a day, on an empty stomach, can help encourage melanin production, which is responsible for pigmentation of the skin.  Enhancing melanin makes the skin react to UV light more rapidly, so you can get the effects in less time, with less risk.

This is not a licence to tan for longer, as we must remember that there are 65,000 new cases of skin cancer in Britain every year, and dermatologists recommend that we use a sun protection factor of at least 15 even in the British sun when walking around, not just stripped off on the beach. You should not take L-tyrosine long term, as it can have some side effects, so limit intake to two weeks before your trip and one week into it. Limit sun exposure, as you should get the same tan without over exposure to UV light.

Filed under: supplements | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Water, water everywhere…..

Posted on June 29, 2009 by Ian Marber

I saw on the news this morning that we are ‘enjoying temperatures of 30 degrees in London’. I am not sure quite how much I am enjoying it but that’s another story ( I might enjoy it more if I had air conditioning at home. And a pool too ). In this extreme temperature it is more important that ever to stay hydrated especially when you bear in mind that we lose over 2 litres of fluid a day through urine, sweat and evaporation. Therefore we need to match this with a good intake of fluids, some of which may be better than others.                                                                                                          Water is the most obvious fluid and we should aim for at least 1 litre a day. Here are some ideas to make water a little more interesting;

  1. Add some slices of cucumber to a jug of water, leave in the fridge overnight. Discard the cucumber as it goes soggy and enjoy the deliciously flavoured water.
  2. When filling an ice tray squeeze some lemon juice over the top before freezing to make tangy ice cubes to add to water.
  3. Make a pot of green tea, fish out the teabag before after a few minutes to stop the tea from becoming bitter. Then cool in the fridge or make ice cubes from the tea – either way it’s lovely.                                                                                                                                       

All fluids count towards your daily total and although caffeinated drinks can have a mild diuretic effect it’s not especially pronounced.                                                                                                                                                                                            Don’t forget that the food we eat is a major source of fluid. Fresh produce is obviously bursting with water, but even a chicken breast will contain as much as 25% water. Fresh fruit is perfect at this time of year but do remember to eat some protein with fruit to slow down the way that the fructose ( fruit sugar ) converts to glucose. You might have a few unsalted nuts with an apple, or some seeds sprinkled on a fruit salad ( The Food Doctor Omega Mix is a good start as it contains sunflower and pumpkin seeds together with soya beans and pine nuts ).                                                                             If you have any tips on keeping cool or anything else related to the heat, then please let us all know by leaving a post.

Filed under: food, nutrition, the food doctor, water | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

A year without coffee and the benefits of green tea.

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Ian Marber

 It’s almost a year since I gave up drinking coffee and aside from saving £5 a day by not having my grande skimmed latte, I have become a devotee of both green and white tea.  Thankfully green tea is a widely available now although white tea is a little harder to get when out and about.  I have a penchant for Tea Pigs White Tea and Clearspring Sencha Green tea ( in case you were wondering )

There still seem to be a belief that green tea is quite different from the regular black tea that we Brits are famed for. In fact, both black and green teas originate from the Camellia Sinensis plant, which generally grows in tropical and sub tropical region.

The Camellia Sinensis grows to a height of about five feet when it reaches the age of around two, at which point it is pruned on an ongoing basis.  The leaves and buds are picked by hand and then steamed before being shaped into leaves or strands. This is the only process that green tea undergoes and as such many of the properties are left unaltered, including the caffeine content. Green and black teas contain similar levels of caffeine, but as green tea is best drunk lightly brewed, caffeine levels are lessened, whereas black tea is usually left to brew for longer.

Aside from caffeine content, the main difference between the teas is that black tea is fermented and oxidised when its left to dry, whilst green and white tea is left unfermented and steamed as opposed to dried.  This minimal processing results in a slightly different spread of various antioxidants, meaning that green tea provides roughly three times more of antioxidants called catechins, a type of polyphenol, than other teas. In addition these catechins are especially active and available for absorption. Especially rich in green tea is epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), an element that may well be able to stop types of cancer growth. This is thought to be because it blocks the formation of cancers cells own blood supply, making it less likely that they can multiply and thrive. In fact, various studies suggest that green tea catechins suggest that they have anti-oxidant effects 200 times more potent than vitamin E.

As green tea intake is far higher in Asian countries, so cancer rates have been benefited, according to the American Cancer Society, the incidence of various cancers are significantly reduced in areas where green tea is frequently drunk.

Green tea has many other properties, ranging from reducing cholesterol to aiding weight loss as EGCG affects glucose movement in fat cells ( according to the International Journal of Obesity ) However, for green tea to work in both cholesterol and weight loss you would have to drink an awful lot of it, perhaps 1% of your total food intake for a day,  so supplementing with concentrated green tea capsules is probably the easier option, in conjunction with a good eating plan.  EGCG has also been found to encourage the beneficial bacteria in the digestive system to flourish, which in turn helps aid digestion and the immune system.

Aside from caffeine and polyphenols, green tea also contains fluoride so has benefits in preventing tooth decay and gum disease which is always a good thing.

It is estimated that drinking 10 ounces of green tea daily is enough to provide many of the potential benefits available. Whilst this is also true of other sources of polyphenols, such as red wine or cocoa beans, green tea has the advantage of being free of sugar and alcohol. For those who are sensitive to caffeine, there are decaffeinated versions available too although I haven’t tried one myself so can’t vouch for how it might taste.

By the way, both green and white tea are delicious served cold especially at this time of year.

Filed under: Diet | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

‘Best before’ dates and an interfering Government.

Posted on June 9, 2009 by Ian Marber

I see that the powers that be are going to revamp food labels doing away with the ‘best before’ dates. We are told that 364,000 tonnes of edible food are discarded having passed its ‘best before’ date and also that almost 40,000 is thrown away without ever having been opened.

 Clearly this is a vast waster of resources at every level and according to Wrap ( who are a body committed to reducing waster )  “1.3million unopened yoghurt pots are dumped every day, along with 440,000 ready meals, 5,500 chickens and 5.1million potatoes”. That’s every day.

 Just so that we know, the FSA website has this to say about ‘best before’dates :-

 “’Best before’ dates appear on a wide range of frozen, dried, tinned and other foods.

The ‘best before’ dates are more about quality than safety, except for eggs. So when the date runs out it doesn’t mean that the food will be harmful, but it might begin to lose its flavour and texture.

About a third of the food we buy ends up being thrown away and most of this could have been eaten. So think carefully before throwing away food that is past its ‘best before’ date.

However, you shouldn’t eat eggs after the ‘best before’ date. This is because eggs can contain salmonella bacteria, which could start to multiply after this date.

And remember, the ‘best before’ date will only be accurate if the food is stored according to the instructions on the label, such as ’store in a cool dry place’ or ‘keep in the fridge once opened’.

So, if you want to enjoy the food at its best, use it by its ‘best before’ date and make sure you follow any instructions.”

 I would add to the section about eggs and best before dates and suggest that extra care be taken fresh meat, fish and poultry.

All of this is very sensible but the part that bothers me is that the Government are suggesting that retailers reduce the size of jumbo packs and also stop BOGOFs ( Buy one, get one free for ). These offers great prices to the consumer and I really don’t see why the authorities have to get involved at this level. I am perfectly capable of buying food to suit my needs and of course you are too. If there is a special offer on a food then inevitably it will attract more sales, but we aren’t stupid, we have bought food before and we know how it works. You aren’t about to buy three of something if you aren’t planning to use it, are you? Of course plans change and one might go to waste but that’s life, it happens, and it can happen if you buy two at full price. 

What other shopping habits are they going to try to get involved with? Maybe they should intervene if we are about to buy a sweater that doesn’t really suit us after all. Or if your bum really does look big in those trousers perhaps they can swoop in and stop the transaction, all in the name of thrift and wastage.

We don’t need the Government nannying us like this because it thinks we aren’t bright enough to do it by ourselves.

Filed under: FSA, Wellbeing, food wastage, nutrition, the food doctor | Leave a Comment »

What’s the big deal about The Food Doctor approach?

Posted on June 8, 2009 by Ian Marber

I was at birthday lunch this weekend and was pleased to hear from various people about their continued success with their Food Doctor plans. The general consensus was that whilst it did help with weight loss, following our ethos also helped maintain a healthy weight even in those people who didn’t need to lose weight. A couple of people asked what was different about The Food Doctor plan, and rather than bore them over lunch I promised to write all about on the blog. 

The metabolism problem :-

Most diets have a beginning, a middle and an end. Afterwards, inevitably people return to eating much as they did before having achieved their goal.  When the weight creeps back on, they panic and go back to that wonder diet that helped them shed the pounds, only to find that this time, it doesn’t work so well. This is all due to your metabolic set point.

Your body does not know you are living in the 21st century. As far as it’s concerned, you are a cave man or woman, not knowing where your next meal will come from. It is designed to hold onto fat, and store it up during times of plenty for times senses potential famine, so resets your metabolism to work on what little food it is getting. Then, in times of surplus, fat is laid down, but after a period of abstinence you are more likely top store more fat to prepare for another period of famine. That’s why, on returning to a diet that once worked well, you are likely to find it won’t have the same results. 

The Food Doctor solution :-

We believe in balance, so not a ‘diet’ in the conventional sense thus preventing the problems listed above. Because you will be eating satisfying, regular amounts of food, you won’t get hungry, so you won’t feel as though you are on a diet, and your body won’t think there is a famine. You will retrain your metabolic rate to eat differently, and will learn to truly enjoy your food, so there will be no return to old habits.

 The nutrition problem:-

Many popular diets exclude certain food groups, such as carbohydrates or fats, which is never a good idea as you will miss out on a lot of useful, and necessary, nutrients. These diets are rarely sustainable, anyway, as human nature decrees the banned foods are the very thing you will crave.

The Food Doctor solution: -

 The plan promotes good digestive health, as I believe that improving digestion will help ensure optimum absorption of nutrients, leading to weight loss together with an increase in energy levels. Many people also report clearer skin too. Although the diet is fairly low in grains, no food group is completely excluded

The sugar problem :-

Sugary foods such as cakes and croissants are high on the glycaemic index, meaning they are converted rapidly into glucose. The body is deigned to limit the levels of glucose, and so increased amounts encourage the production of the hormone insulin to ensure that glucose levels do not rise too high.

In effect, insulin acts as a storage hormone, forcing excess glucose to be stored away. This results in glucose levels reducing equally rapidly which we experience as a sharp drop in energy, setting you up to crave another snack that is sugared or caffeinated, or both. The problem is that as well as putting you on a rollercoaster of energy dips and highs, excess glucose is eventually stored as fat. So avoiding sugar and refined carbohydrates is essential to weight loss. But many diets either allow these foods, or suggest substituting them with artificial sweeteners, which hinders the situation by perpetuating your taste for sweet foods.

 

The Food Doctor Solution:-

 You will be eating very few ( in any ) refined foods on a Food Doctor plan, so you will avoid these problems. Instead, you will be eating regular amounts of food low on the glycaemic index, releasing their energy slowly, encouraging weight loss and preventing cravings for sweet foods. Its far easier than you think, as this plan removes the cravings for sugars, rather than just tells you not to have them. Willpower is therefore not an issue.

 

The lifestyle problem:-

 Many popular plansare based on obscure foods not available in your local supermarket or revolve around precise weighing and measuring of certain foods. But how many of us have time to visit specialist food stores or keep a set of scales in our handbags? Then there’s the boredom – if you’re surviving on a bland regime or eating bacon and eggs every morning, the chances are you will  not last long on any plan.

The Food Doctor  Solution:-

You’ll find no weird and pricey items in our plan – instead it is based on familiar foods that you can easily find in supermarkets or local stores. And I have the perfect machine for measuring portion size – your hands. As for boredom, you will be eating varied, tasty meals, and the 80:20 rule means that you can indulge yourself a little as long as you follow the plan the rest of the time. Variety and choice are integral elements of the plan.

That’s in a nutshell but see www.thefooddoctor.com for more.

Filed under: Diet, Weight, Weightloss, Wellbeing, energy diet, nutrition, the food doctor, weight gain, weight loss, weight maintenance | Leave a Comment »

Could you be amongst the 500,000 people in the UK who don’t know that they have a gluten intolerance?

Posted on June 1, 2009 by Ian Marber

Apparently it can take an astonishing 13 years to get a diagnosis of coeliac disease, as the symptoms are wide ranging and easily attributed to other conditions. Coeliac disease is a chronic and permanent auto-immune disease caused by gluten intolerance and is becoming more recognised in Britain than ever before.

Coeliac UK, the organisation for sufferers, confirm that whilst the condition is diagnosed in 1 in 1000 people, the figure is more likely to be 1 in 80 ( the remainder probably being undiagnosed ), rising to 1 in 10 prevalence in families with coeliac disease. When a person with coeliac disease eats gluten ( found in wheat, barley ,oats and rye ) even in minute quantities, it causes damage in a specific part of the gut, the duodenum and jejunum. This prevents normal digestion and absorption of food as it leads to inflammation, and then degeneration of the villi, the protrusions that are responsible for the absorption of nutrients. Sufferers can experience anything from nutrient deficiency to mild malnutrition if they continue to eat gluten. Symptoms can range from diarrhoea, fatigue, being underweight, depression, anaemia and abdominal pain and distension. In theory however, symptoms can be very wide ranging as the sufferer is not absorbing nutrients and deficiencies of vitamins are common, which can make the condition easy to miss. On avoiding gluten however, the villi are mostly restored along with a return to health.

When I was around six months old I developed what was termed a ‘wasting disease’ – all food would pass right through me and thus I lost weight. My parents were obviously deeply worried as I had what my Mother described as a ‘tiny body and a huge head’. Despite the fact that I had just been put in solids as part of the usual weaning process, Great Ormond Street told them they were worrying for no reason and that the condition would pass. My parents are both highly intelligent and practical people but were treated like half wits by the nurse. We now know that my symptoms were typical of a coeliac infant reacting to gluten, and is known as ‘failure to thrive’, and it is a great pity that the condition wasn’t recognised at the time as to a greater or lesser degree, the symptoms stayed with me throughout childhood.

Through my teens and twenties I suffered symptoms ranging from mild abdominal discomfort to depression. The digestive issues were sometimes hardly noticeable, other times very pronounced but I never made an association with what I was eating, and perhaps more annoyingly, neither did any of the doctors I consulted. When I was 18 I was again admitted to hospital for an exploratory operation, and given ‘nil by mouth’ for twelve hours before the surgery was due. Simply not eating reduced all my symptoms to a level at which an operation seemed unnecessary and I was discharged. The discomfort continued for years, as did the depression, but you learn to live with it and come to believe that this is how everyone feels. In my mid twenties I had another prolonged period of increased symptoms but this time it was associated with fatigue and bloating to such an pronounced level that I had to buy larger clothes as the bloating got worse as the day went on. I decided to eat as little as possible to minimise the bloating, so I ate only fat free wheat crackers with cottage cheese at every meal, unwittingly adding to the problem.

My frustration with my own GP continued and out of desperation I made an appointment to see yet another doctor who had been written up in a magazine for her nutritional knowledge. After describing my symptoms, I was told that I was ‘probably coeliac’ and should avoid gluten but arranged a biopsy to confirm her thoughts. I had never heard of coeliac disease, and I wasn’t really sure what gluten was and furthermore I had no idea that wheat and gluten were different things. At first it was hell as I didn’t know what to eat, but as soon as I cut out gluten the discomfort and associated digestive symptoms disappeared. My life changed on adopting a gluten free diet avoiding regular bread, rolls, pasta, crispbreads, biscuits, cakes, pastries, beer, pizza, sausages breakfast cereals, gravies, sauces, breadcrumbs and batter. I became an expert in reading food labels as some unlikely foods are made with wheat derived substances and thus are not suitable ( such as oven chips that can have a wheat based coating ). Eating out can be a huge problem as wait staff often have insufficient knowledge of ingredients, and even a pinch of flour can cause problems for those that are very sensitive. When I find a restaurant that I know I am safe with, I tend to go there and few other places. Airline food is perhaps the worst, as gluten free meals are notoriously vile. The next time you feel like complaining about your lunch in the air, just take a look over at my tray and count your blessings!

There are gluten free alternatives to foods that would usually contain it, made instead with a variety of gluten free flours ( rice, corn, lentil etc ). I tried every gluten free product I could find back then, and can’t say that I liked many of them. Although things are much better now, I made a personal decision to avoid pre-made food altogether, as reading labels told me that whilst it may be gluten free, that didn’t make it healthy. Lists of hydrogenated fats, additives and stabilisers never thrilled me much, and I couldn’t help but wonder that if a coeliac has potentially reduced absorption rates, then why would they choose foods that offered little in the way of nutrition compared to fresh food with proper ingredients? Coeliac UK publish a handy booklet that lists practically every brand and supermarkets products that are gluten free and which is a bible for many people. In addition I would encourage anyone who has to follow a gluten free diet to concentrate on fresh foods that are naturally free of gluten, such as fish, eggs, vegetables etc rather than the convenient alternatives that are high in sugars, fats and flavour enhancers but just happen to be free of gluten. Once my feelings of relief at getting a diagnosis wore off, they were replaced by anger as what I now understood to be typical symptoms of coeliac disease had been overlooked and misdiagnosed for almost thirty years. Had someone but recognised this earlier, might I have been spared years of discomfort and misery? I believe that there are countless people with coeliac disease in varying degrees who have not been diagnosed, nor perhaps will they ever be. Instead they are told that they have IBS, and take medication that may or may not alleviate symptoms when a change in diet could be all they need.

If you have any worries about coeliac disease then speak to your GP, or contact Coeliac UK via www.coeliac.org.uk or by calling their helpline on 0870 444 8804

Filed under: Coeliac disease, food intolerances, oats, the food doctor, wheat allergy | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Man suffers temporary paralysis after drinking 4 – 1- litres of cola a day. Surprised?

Posted on May 19, 2009 by Ian Marber

My sympathies go to an Australian ostrich farmer who suffered lung paralysis having drunk somewhere between 4 and 10 litres of cola daily for an extended period of time. He has now made a full recovery and has been advised to reduce the amount of cola that he drinks.

The likely cause is a significant drop in potassium levels, a condition called hypokalemia.  As potassium is directly involved with muscle and nerve function, low levels can lead to contractions, twitching and even temporary paralysis in extreme cases as demonstrated by the ostrich farmer. One doesn’t need to drink quite that much to get symptoms however, although the milder symptoms are often lost in the day to day ones.

I couldn’t drink 4 – 10 litres of any liquid in a day let alone one with sugar and caffeine in it, could you?

That aside, potassium is found in potato, banana, avocado, tomato and dried fruit as well as green vegetables. Hypokalemia is actually quite rare if one is eating fresh fruits and vegetables every day, although potassium can be compromised by excessive salt intake.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

5 a day for less than £1?

Posted on May 18, 2009 by Ian Marber

Did you know that you could get your 5 a day for less than £1?  According to  Nathalie Winn of the World Cancer Research Fund “shoppers should buy in season and also use cheaper tinned and frozen produce”.

Ms Winn suggests that 80 pence a day would do it and here is how it pans out over a day;

Banana (with porridge) for breakfast – 14p

Apple (for mid morning snack) – 22p

Baked beans (on a jacket potato) – 29p

Frozen peas as part of evening meal – 8p

Frozen sweetcorn along with the peas, fish and new potatoes – 7p

 Do you think this is an easy task? I decided to put it to the test this last weekend and whilst I don’t buy frozen vegetables for no other reason than I really prefer fresh, I managed to bring my 5 a day in at £2.08.

 It seems that the price of food in central London may be higher than the national average, and fresh does cost more than frozen but all in all I think that even £2 a day for the potential health benefits that fruit and vegetables offer, it’s a good deal.

 Whilst I do buy the more expensive softer fruits from time to time ( such as blueberries -  Marks and Spencer are charging over £4 for 250g, is this a record I wonder? ) I am lucky in that I enjoy apples and could eat them all day and thankfully apples are far cheaper.

If anyone would care to tot up how much they spend a day on food, and how much their 5 a day is costing, then let me know the results.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Next Page »