Choosing a healthy diet. is never easy.

Michael Eades provides excellent information about four popular diets – Atkins, Ornish, Zone and LEARN – and provides intelligent commentary on them.

If you are confused by the contradictory advice offered in the press, by books, and by medical advisers; and if you are prepared to spend half an hour taking on board some new information I strongly recommend this post to you.

The truth is, all these diets have some good points. The trick comes in knowing what the good parts are, and at what times they might suit you.

Michael Eades’ post will help you get to the truth underlying these diets. You will then be in a position to judge yourself what you should be eating, and what you should not.

It’s a great piece.

Let me know in the comments what you think.

A British nutritional therapist and former chef, Gurapeet Bains, has spent 2 years perfecting a curry. which is thought to be the most rich meal in antioxidants possible.

Part of the high anti-oxidant score is due to the spices which are naturally found in curry. About a quarter of all high anti-oxidant foods are spices.

Mr Bains’ meal scores 25,000 on the ORAC anti-oxidant scale. A typical salad measures only 5,000.

The secret of the recipe is that it is stuffed with foods such as blueberries and goji berries – as well as the usual complement of spices. As well as being antioxidant, the meal also contains powerful antivirals and antibacterials – such as garlic and onions.

The recipe for the curry looks interesting. I will be giving it a go. I like curry – and 25,000 on the ORAC scale is very impressive.

Wikipedia states:

A 2007 study found that 36 volunteers taking 4.5 grams of spirulina. per day, over a six week period, exhibited significant changes in cholesterol and blood pressure.: (1) lowered total cholesterol; (2) increased HDL cholesterol.; (3) lowered triglycerides.; and (4) lowered systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

They say the study is not 100% because there was no control group.

Well – I would certainly try the Spirulina if I had any of those conditions!

What can you lose?

Spirulina is a super-nutrient, so you can only do yourself good. If it cures one of the problems mentioned, what a huge bonus!

Worth trying and see if it works for you.

Get a good Spirulina here.

Beans cause wind – and that’s not very nice.

Well, I had a huge bean lunch a couple of days ago, and I suffered for it about 18 hours later. I could have powered a wind farm. I had to find out how to reduce wind from beans..

I’ve never noticed beans have this effect on me before: but I plan to be eating them more frequently, so I thought I’d attack the problem.

The Answer To Reducing Wind From Beans.

I think I might have the answer. Next day I did two things to the same bean mix:

1. I added cumin and curry powder.

2. I ate s-l-o-w-l-y. I chewed lots. And lots. I know we all know we should – well, I actually did.

And next day – perfectly fine: no discomfort, no extra wind. Yay!

Scientists at California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a robot to help them easily test advances for the blind.

The robotic machine on wheels will enable them to test out artificial retinas and change the chips in them to see the results. Doing this will spare any humans having to be involved at early stages of the trial – which would obviously involve unpleasant surgical operations.

More detail at Gizmag.

Doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions. Remember them with the acronym STR.

Why is this useful? Sometimes a person may stumble for no reason – or blame it on new shoes or tripping. To check if they might have had a mini-stroke, use this test.

1. Identify a Stroke – S

Ask the individual to SMILE.

2. Identify a Stroke – T

Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (Eg “It is sunny out today.”)

3. Identify a Stroke – R

Ask the person to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately describe the symptoms to the advisor.

A Final Test

A final test which can be helpful – ask them to stick out their – if the tongue is ‘crooked’, that is, if it goes to one side or the other, that can also be an indication of a stroke.

Is this true? Well, it comes from a cardiologist and it smacks of common sense to me. I think it could save a life.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Omega 3 oil – as fish oil. – is a supplement every child or adult should be taking.

The main benefit of fish oil is that it reduces inflammation. And inflammation is linked to most degenerative diseases – cancer., heart disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes.

An adult needs from 1-2 grammes of EPA plus DHA daily. This is not 1-2 grammes of fish oil; but 1-2 grammes of EPA + DHA. To work out how much DHA. and EPA in your omega 3 oil you need to read the label. You might need 6-7 capsules a day of fish oil to achieve this intake.

This amount of EPA and DHA has the best anti-inflammatory effect. It should be taken daily – as should a top quality multi-vitamin/mineral supplement.

Take your fish oil daily, every day. It is possible to get it delivered to you monthly so you never run out.

The best vegetarian source is linseed oil (flax seed oil) although the omega 3 oils in this supplement are not as easily available as those in fish oil.

Here is an article on omega 3 fatty acid which gives you more background information.

I talked about the fact that our article on slippery elm is the most popular page on our website.

Slippery elm. is a unique herb in the herblist’s armoury. There are a few other herbs which can soothe the stomach and intestines but none match the properties of slippery elm.

If there is any sort of digestive discomfort, slippery elm is a prime herb to sort it out. This can range from stomach indigestion. to burning in the oesophagus to IBS. – irritable bowel syndrome.

Perhaps slippery elm finds its best expression in the treatment of colitis or IBS. Because slippery elm can be made into a thick tea, as it passes down the intestines it touches every part. Every part it touches is soothed and healed. Many people with even severe IBS have found that taking a cup of ’slippery elm tea’ 2-3 times a day offers them rapid relief.

As slippery elm is healing as well as soothing, it will often help the inflamed wall of the intestines to heal right up and get back to normal. Following this, a cup a day of slippery elm may well keep things in order.

So this is why our article on slippery elm is the most popular on our web site – it is just a fantastic herb!

For a long time now the most popular article on our main site – www.alternative-healthzine.com – has been the one on slippery elm.

I would have thought it would have been agnus castus for period or menopause; or maybe milk thistle for the liver. But no – slippery elm definitely has the vote of our visitors.

Well, it certainly is a fantastic herb. Slippery elm. has several great features:

1. It can be taken by just about anyone. Because it can be made into a ‘tea’, it can be taken by quite young children. It is safe for any age as its benefit is in the mucilage it provides for the throat, stomach and intestines.
2. It is a fantastically soothing herb. Any part of the throat, stomach or intestines it touches is soothed.
3. It can be used externally – on the skin. Here, it dries and sticks to the skin, so it can be put under a bandage and soothes and nourishes the areas it touches. Other herbs can also be mixed in.
4. It is particularly good to help with IBS. and similar inflammatory bowel conditions.

I will tell you more about how to use it in the next post. If you want more information now, go to the slippery elm  article on the web site.

I have previously referred to the problems with the  EU and herbal medicines. Another issue we have with the EU is their proposed legislation over nutritional supplements. – vitamins, minerals, amino acids, chondroitin, and similar supplements.

Basically, manufacturers want to manufacture them up to a certain strength; and people want to take them. However, the EU is legislating (under pressure from the pharmaceutical lobbg no doubt) to ensure that only supplements much weaker than this can be sold on the market legally.

I expect, surprise, surprise, that the stronger supplements will be made by drug companies and made available on prescription.

Here is an articles I’ve written concerning the restriction of UK nutritional supplements by the EU.