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How to boost your immune system as the bad weather bites

December 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

As the cold rainy weather settles in, many of our patients in Ealing and Uxbridge are reporting epidemics of flu, colds and various upsets ravaging their families and colleagues at work.

So it seems like the right time of the year to offer some tips to boost your immune system. If you are feeling under the weather, or want to try and fight-off the colds this winter then our top 10 tips are as follows:

  • Watch your diet
    Stuff yourself with as much seasonal fruit and raw or lightly cooked veg as you can; choose brown over white – for bread, pasta and rice; prefer grilled or poached oily fish (tuna, salmon) over red or white meat – and generally, eat less rather than more;
  • Optimise your intake of natural minerals and vitamins
    by juicing 250-300 ml-worth of mixed fruit and veg. For example, combine apple, carrot, celery and a little grated ginger;
  • Consider botanical immune boosters
    such as turmeric in curcumin form, echynacea, bromelain (found in pineapple stem), liquorice and co-enzyme Q10;
  • Drink less caffeine and alcohol
    and, needless to say, tobacco and occupational drugs which threaten to overpower your waste elimination organs (liver, spleen and kidneys);
  • Consider multi-vitamin supplements
    If you are feeling very depleted, or under pressure to recover, consider some good quality high potency multivitamins and minerals: Cytoplan or Lamberts are considered good brands; we’re not great fans of supplements, but sometimes there’s little choice;
  • Ensure good fluid intake
    Aim for six to eight 200ml glasses of fluids per day: water and natural fruit-juices are in; tea, coffee, and high caffeine, fizzy drinks are out;
  • Replenish your body with electrolytes
    If you have been suffering from vomiting or diarrhoea for any duration; 1 litre of homemade electrolytes can be made up by adding 1/3 L fresh apple juice, 2/3L water, 2 tea-spoonfuls or raw cane sugar of honey and 1 tea-spoonful of sea-salt – to be sipped within a day;
  • Go for daily exercise and deep breathing
    Aim for a daily brisk 30-minutes walk in the fresh air – try for two to four 30-minutes sessions of light exercise a week, and invest in 200 bounces per day on a bouncer/mini-trampoline to stimulate your lymphatics!
  • Treat yourself to manual therapy
    You’d expect us to say that but… a couple of sessions aiming at stimulating good blood and lymph flow, activating the waste elimination organs and encouraging good whole-body function is a sound investment this time of year;
  • Get some decent rest - this is not a great season for regular partying (end of year excepted!) – aim for 7-8 hours of daily sleep, aiming to have retired to bed by 10 O’clock to give your body a chance to repair itself.

We hope these tips don’t come over too much like a one way ticket to boot camp. On the upside, using them may just allow you to reach the end of the year in top form to fully enjoy Christmas and new year celebrations.

With our best wishes of good health!

Can we help? This is our blog highlighting what we at Bridge to Health do. If you want a friendly chat with an osteopath – please contact us at Uxbridge Osteopaths / Ealing Osteopaths.

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FSA attempts to slap organic food with a red herring

July 31, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Having reached the supposedly mature haven of my mid-forties, I try not to get too easily worked up by the nonsense dished up by our national press on the subject of health and nutrition. However, I failed miserably when I read the lead article of Wednesday’s Evening Standard. It dealt with an allegedly rigorous report produced by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), which concluded, after 12 months gravely studying 50 years of comparative research, that organic food has no significantly greater nutritional value than conventionally produced food.

The article mused that this earth-shattering conclusion would no doubt cause great prejudice to the organic food industry, and concluded with a quote by Gill Fine, FSA Director of consumer choice and dietary health:

“This study does not mean people should not eat organic. What it shows is that there is little, if any, nutritional difference between organic and conventionally produced food and that there is no evidence of additional health benefits from eating organic food”.

Great stuff – but for one small detail: the reason why most people pay extra for their organic food has nothing to do with calorie count or vitamin content. Equally, the organic food industry has to my knowledge not used nutritional content as a major argument in favour of its produce.

Rather, customers are willing to pay the organic premium not to be poisoned by the hormones, antibiotics and pesticides being pumped into conventionally-produced meat and vegetables. It is with this in mind that with our nutritionist hats on, we recommend organic food-source to our patients, budgets permitting.

In this light, Gill Fine’s conclusion is highly pernicious, as it links the absence of nutritional difference with the false deduction “therefore” that organic food has no additional health benefits. In fact, organic food most definitely does have the critical health benefit of not loading our digestive tract with toxins that it cannot easily metabolise – although rather conveniently, there is not sufficient scientific research on the long-term effects of pesticides on human health, and pesticides are only anecdotally related to liver and bowel cancer, other tumours and chronic systemic diseases.

I for one will most definitely be feeding my family organic food for as long as I can afford to do so, and strongly recommending that our patients do the same. I was somewhat reassured to read this evening of the backlash against this report by some nutritionists with a conscience, and I hope that the FSA will in due course be fully exposed and shamed for misinformation and dereliction of duty.

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Patients' stories: Finding a healthy diet that works

July 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

“Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine your food”

(Hippocrates)

As holistic osteopaths, we take a keen interest in what our patients eat: frequently, a patient’s symptoms can be largely linked directly to their diet; equally, sound nutritional advice can improve that person’s health, stamina and wellbeing beyond recognition. Our aim is to avoid dieting, but to shape a healthy, enjoyable and sustainable diet.

In this post, one of our patients provides a first-hand illustration of this positive transition.

Christine: Confessions of a Serial Dieter

When your clothes are tight, you can’t climb the stairs or walk along the road without feeling out of breath and aching joints, and you have indigestion most of the time, then something has to be done. Up to that point, I had tried every diet book known to man plus I had done the rounds of all the slimming clubs (group therapy just isn’t for me but it works for some). I had been a dieter on and off for over 30 years and something different was called for but I didn’t know what.

It was then that I spotted a Bridge to Health leaflet in my church. I contacted Mathieu and he asked me to keep an honest diary of all food and drink that passed my lips plus the emotions and feelings I encountered throughout the day. Even as I was writing I could begin to see where I was going wrong. It’s funny how a person can live a fantasy of being a healthy eater when we are clearly not. Delusional – definitely…

The next step was to have a one to one with Mathieu. He had carried out a study of my diet diary and came up with a very useful analysis of what was going on. I felt quite amazed that he had found “areas of strength” – that made me feel immediately better that I actually had some, and of course went on to suggestions for improvement and things to consider. Straight after the appointment I went shopping for food. I filled up a trolley with all the things that had been missing from my diet.

Since then I have been enjoying what I eat much, much more. I have switched to eating lots more fruit and raw salad vegetables and nuts. I don’t feel and act as if I am “on a diet” because I am not. I am gradually changing my previously unhealthy eating habits for healthy ones. I am gradually drinking less tea and coffee, having hot water instead especially first thing in the morning. I am trying to get out for a walk every day. You will note that I have used the word gradually, in the past I have found that stopping something immediately in a “giving up” sort of way, just doesn’t work for me, I end up with cravings which I give into.

How do I feel now a few months on? Well, clothes are looser, weight is coming off slowly (but I don’t keep jumping on and off the scales like I used to), the back ache and knee aches have gone, and best of all no more indigestion.

At long last I think I have found an approach to eating that is working for me.

Christine B.

Can we help you? Telephone Bridge to Health on 01895 200050 to talk directly to an osteopath (not a receptionist) – or email us if you prefer. We are based in Uxbridge, at the Fitness First health centre on Uxbridge High Street (a 4 minute walk from Uxbridge station on the Piccadilly and Metropolitan lines).

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Adopting a Proactive Approach to Good Health

March 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

A Presentation to the Rotary Club, Hillingdon

In the week before last we had the pleasure of being invited by the Rotary Club of Elthorne Hillingdon to address their local members on the enticing topic of preserving good health.

The presentation was entitled “Ten Tips to Avoid the Osteopath and Maintain Rude Health“: it aimed to take to task the conventional and somewhat resigned approach of many, where health is just how one is “all equal, touch wood”, and disease is the state in which one turns to the GP for pills.

The presentation emphasised that our body and its predominant state of health are a miraculous gift, and that it is worth investing in a few simple dietary, physical and lifestyle daily practices to maintain that enviable state of health.

Some of the thoughts caused a bit of a stir – the idea of daily hot and cold showers more of a shudder – but at the end of a reasonably long and lively question and answer session, the consensus seemed to be that the osteopath had left his audience with food for thought, and some practical health hints that some might go home with and implement the very next day.

Bridge to Health in Uxbridge regularly offers to share this type of presentation with corporate audiences, health spas, gyms, sheltered housing or residential homes. If you feel that your company or organisation might benefit from this type of workshop, please contact Mathieu on 01895 2000 50 at the clinic (click here for all contact details).

Filed Under: Diet Plan / Nutrition Advice, Employee health, Lifestyle, Nutrition, Stress Relief / Management Tagged With: , ,

Managing Osteoarthritis Positively

February 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Many patients visiting us suffer from osteoarthritis (OA), either as their primary complaint, or as a feature of their health history.

Most of these patients are in their sixties and beyond, but an important minority are younger, professionally active people suffering from OA as a result of impact or repetitive, work-related, trauma.

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative, “wear and tear” disease – usually affecting weight bearing joints (hips, knees) but also the spine, wrists and hands – causing joint stiffness, pain, damage and, over time, joint deformity.

What is striking is how little these patients know about their condition, and how limited the tools given to them to manage it positively.

Yet although osteoarthritis is a “degenerative” condition (meaning that it gets worse over time), it is not life-threatening, and hence is begging to be managed practically and positively.

With this in mind, we engage with our patients in a multi-disciplinary approach to managing and limiting the symptoms of OA, as follows:

Manual therapy

  • gentle joint traction and mobilisation to alleviate and shift areas of stress
  • muscle stretching and massage to achieve good muscle balance and tone
  • frictions over affected joints to stimulate tissue repair and healing

Hydrotherapy

  • cold packs, compresses, or water are used to fight joint swelling and pain during acute stages
  • contrast hydrotherapy (alternating hot and cold applications) stimulates local blood supply to chronically swollen joints, and helps accelerate tissue repair

Exercise
We encourage our patients to engage in a daily exercise routine aimed at:

  • distracting the affected joints
  • increasing the joint’s pain-free range of motion
  • stretching, strengthening and balancing out supporting muscle groups

Patients frequently report not only a decrease in pain and an increase in movement and resilience in affected joints, but also a marked improvement in their sense of balance, body awareness and self-confidence.

Additionally, patients who regularly practice an all-body exercise routine such as yoga, pilates or tai chi tend to report better progress and overall fitness.

Diet
Key dietary advice includes:

  • avoiding too much acid forming foods – processed food, refined carbohydrates, red meat and an excess of animal protein generally, excess of tea or coffee
  • optimising the intake of high quality calcium sources (nuts and seeds, dark leafy vegetables, pulses, fish – including small bones and cartilage in whitebait and sardine)
  • optimising intake of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants found in the widest range of fresh, seasonal, local fruit and vegetable
  • aiming for 6 to 8 glasses of water, herbal teas or fruit-juice daily (depending on their fruit and vegetable intake) to promote better tissue hydration and metabolic waste elimination.

Where patients wish to take supplements – e.g. chondroitin sulphate, glucosamine – we encourage them to shop for the better quality supplements rather than the cheaper alternative.

Relaxation, Meditation and Visualisation
Many of our patients with OA report relatively high degrees of stress and anxiety.

Although this area is poorly researched, we find that OA patients engaging in regular routines of relaxation, meditation or visualisation report better improvement in the course of treatment.

Sleep
Good sleep is critical to body tissue repair. The cycle of body tissue repair – or circadian rhythm – varies little across individuals, and requires one to be in a deep sleep between 10pm and 2am – 11pm to 3am from the seventh decade of life on – for optimal body tissue repair to occur.

We encourage our patients to manage their sleep patterns accordingly, and if they have difficulty sleeping, to encourage onset through relaxation or meditation exercises.

Conclusion
Whether you have just been diagnosed with Osteoarthritis or are suffering from a wide-ranging, chronic version of the condition, do not be resigned to stiffness and pain. Plan a systematic, wide-ranging range of measures to minimise and even cancel out the negative impact osteoarthritis can otherwise have on your life.

Please do get in touch if you have any questions or to discuss how we can help you. Osteopathy successfully treats more than just neck and back pain, our clinic is on Uxbridge High Street, 4 minutes walk from Uxbridge station (just a couple of stops down from Ickenham, Ruislip and Hillingdon).

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Can osteopathy positively affect acid reflux and high blood glucose/cholesterol? (case study)

February 9, 2009 By 1 Comment

Chris A. (not his real name) is a 60 year old college lecturer from Ruislip, who visited our clinic six months ago for a knee injury following a long walk on uneven terrain. Beyond this injury, he had two other overriding health concerns: he had been suffering for over a decade with acid reflux due to a diagnosed hiatus hernia (for which he took medication), and was very worried about recent high blood glucose and cholesterol readings, and associated risks of diabetes and cardio-vascular disease.

On the first appointment, it was obvious that these concerns were causing a serious strain on Chris’ well-being, as he appeared both anxious and depressed about these issues, and his general outlook on the future was over-cautious and pessimistic. Further, his body was untoned, stooped and defensive, displaying how poor posture can both embody the cause and the outcome of poor health.

Planning a Course of Action

Chris and I agreed early on that we would attempt to tackle all of his health problems head on (accepting in doing so that it would require far more than a few weekly osteopathic treatments to achieve this goal).

  1. Fixing the Knee Injury:
    The osteopathic treatments focused on the rehabilitation of his knee sprain on the one hand, and the improvement of general posture and rib cage mobility on the other. Rehabilitation exercises, contrast (hot/cold) hydrotherapy and tissue frictions at home aimed to accelerate the recovery of the injured knee tissues.
  2. Combatting Acid Reflux:
    Chris was also given some further home exercises to tone up postural muscles, improve the flexibility of his spine, and tone up his diaphragm, a key muscle for good breathing, digestion and containment of acid reflux symptoms.
  3. Targetting high blood glucose and cholesterol levels:
    Chris also agreed to record a diet diary over two weeks, which he proceeded to do with rigour and precision. Once the diary was analysed, the findings and conclusions did not make good reading – specifically, they highlighted:
  • Very insufficient levels of fluid intake (other than tea and coffee!) promoting waste elimination and tissue repair
  • A predominance of high glycaemic index, acid forming foods (mainly refined starch in white bread, pasta and rice);
  • Too large an intake of red meat which has an inflammatory and detrimental impact on both the cardiovascular system and the colon; and proportionately little cardio-protective fish protein;
  • A very insufficient intake of fruit and vegetables, providing essential dietary vitamins, minerals and digestive fibre.

Put simply, Chris’s diet pointed to many factors increasing the predisposition to acid reflux, high blood glucose and high cholesterol readings; with this in mind, we agreed a set of simple – but fairly radical – changes to his diet to be urgently implemented if he was to head off the risk of being put on anti-diabetic and hypertensive drugs.

The diet is an emotional topic, and many patients might have prevaricated or tried to water down the recommendations; not so with Chris and his wife Tessa (not her real name): they quite simply cleared their kitchen of the “offending” foods, and took it to heart to implement all of the nutritional recommendations within the shortest period possible.

As the exercise, lifestyle and dietary changes progressively came on board, so the osteopathic treatments were spaced out to provide more of a health support and maintenance framework to proceedings.

Has it worked?

Six months into this process, the results speak for themselves:

  • The two most recent blood tests have shown levels of blood cholesterol and glucose that are back within the upper reaches of the “normal” range;
  • Chris’s knee has recovered well, so that he can now enjoy his long walks again;
  • His posture has radically improved, he now stands almost a head taller, his muscle frame is toned and balanced, his skin tone is rejuvenated, and he actually looks significantly younger than his age;
  • His breathing, stamina and life outlook have all improved radically; and
  • He recently informed me that for the past couple of months – and the first time ever since diagnosis – he has experienced several long spells of complete relief from his acid reflux symptoms – he specifically ascribes the relapses to stress, and is looking forward to a near future where his new lifestyle may free him from this condition.

The factors underpinning this success story are worth highlighting:

  • The holistic – or multi-modular – approach to treating Chris’s conditions has clearly been critical to a successful outcome – the downside in a world focusing on evidence-based treatments is that it is very difficult to determine which treatment method has been the key to success: in effect, success hinges on the combined and cumulative effect;
  • The treatment and advice provided by the osteopath are clearly important but, but the will, organisation skills and staying power displayed by the patient and his wife in changing their dietary habits and doggedly sticking to daily exercise and hydrotherapy were just as key to a successful outcome.

The final note belongs to the hero of the tale: on our last appointment, Chris informed me that although he has never travelled further than neighbouring European countries, and is afraid of flying and “foreign food”, he has recently volunteered for a short-term stint teaching English in a village deep in the Kenyan countryside – he views this as his personal bid of gratitude for this new lease of health.

Please contact Marcus or me with any questions raised from this case study. The Bridge to Health Osteopathic Healthcare clinic is 4 minutes walk from Uxbridge station one stop down from Hillingdon, Ickenham (2 stops) and Ruislip (3) on the Piccadilly and Metropolitan underground lines.

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Recovering from Christmas and Setting Sights on a Healthy 2009

December 17, 2008 By 3 Comments

Let me start this entry by clarifying that it is not meant as a guilt trip, and is no diatribe against your choices over the Christmas period…

“you must forego all pleasures and only eat sprouts for your Christmas dinner!” -

I’m no hypocrite, Christmas is an important time for celebration and reflection where we should get together with family and friends, take stock of the year gone and look onwards to the New Year and its new challenges. However we should note that during this time our health usually takes quite a hit and as always, prevention is better than cure. Some planning around this time should prevent the worst effects.

Start at full power

If our health is going to take a hit, it’s better to start at full strength so right now take extra vigilance in your lifestyle choices. Fend away potential illness by the most effective way we know, a healthy immune system.

  • Boost your immune system with a good balanced diet, ensuring plenty of fresh ingredients, at this time of year we have a wide array of fantastic, earthy vegetables full of vitamins and minerals such as squash, parsnips, and the wide variety of greens which are in season now.
  • Supplementing your diet can also help this but not as a replacement for good nutrition. There are several powerful immune boosters such as echinacea, propolis and the most effective, vitamin C.
  • If you do feel you are ‘coming down’ with an illness, my personal cure is always fresh chilli and garlic (and plenty of it), although probably not before the Christmas party or you might clear a wide space on the dance floor…

During party season

If I suggest you drink less at the Christmas party, are you going to listen? If not, then at least minimise the damage you cause (both to your body and your reputation at the office).

  • You need to maintain good hydration, so if you know you’re going out that evening drink plenty of fluids throughout the day and most definitely at the end of the night before bed.
  • Make sure you eat a full meal before you start drinking and try to stick to one type of drink.
  • The following day, get back to extra good habits, good food, plenty of fluids and some light exercise.

Into the New Year

By now we’ve drunk too much, eaten our body weight in mince pies and the body feels like it’s running on crude oil, not high-octane performance fuel. Most people have started a new year with a pang of regret about the previous couple of weeks, but that can’t be changed by then, so how do we get the body back up to full steam, and fast?

The body needs to flush out all the toxins you’ve been kindly storing and the lymphatic system will be working overtime.

  • Some light exercise such as walking will provide the muscular pumping needed to clear the waste, preferably in the good fresh air, rather than up and down the Uxbridge high street, and this can also be effectively boosted by treatment aimed at stimulating your lymphatics and clearing the waste – see our January special health offer!

Back to diet, whatever you goals are for your dietary intake now is a good time to critically evaluate and improve your nutritional habits. “You are what you eat” so in order to maintain a healthy weight, a strong immune system and an active lifestyle, you must give the body the nutrients it needs and deserves. Improve your habits now!

As I said before, this is no lecture, I will be enjoying a healthy dollop of brandy butter on my Christmas pud! To be frank, this period of rest and indulgence is incredibly important and does bring with it some valuable benefits to health, but be aware of your body’s needs throughout and you will be able to start the New Year at full speed.

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Using a Diet Diary – Our approach to diet plans and nutrition advice

September 29, 2008 By 3 Comments

As a person, I have been interested in dietetics for almost 20 years. All started when my wife suffered a very nasty and painful bout of shingles, and flatly refused the extensive and powerful medical prescription on offer in favour of some significant dietary and lifestyle changes. Within three weeks, all traces of the infection and its manifestations had disappeared. I decided that prevention was better than cure, and followed suit. We have never looked back.

As holistic osteopaths, it is difficult to ignore the effects of diet, since it has such a fundamental qualitative impact on the very body tissues that Marcus and I palpate and treat daily: the muscle tone and quality of a smoker-drinker-fast food addict is quite radically different from that of a patient following a healthy diet and lifestyle – that much I can assure you!

We are fortunate that our osteopathic degree includes a diploma in dietetics, and we decided right from the start that Bridge to Health would actively promote dietary advice alongside osteopathic treatment. The form this service takes is very straightforward.

Diet Diary

Patients are asked to fill in a diet diary over a typical period of ten days – i.e. not involving atypical partying and dining out… They are asked to provide some general information about their diet, for example the type of bread and milk (if relevant) used, what oil is used for cooking or salads etc. On a daily basis, they then fill in with as much detail what is eaten and drunk, in what quantity and at what time. As relevant, patients are equally encouraged to provide information about symptoms, frame of mind, mood etc. As such, this process is known as a “diet-symptom diary“.

On completion, the diary is returned to us for analysis and review, which usually takes a week to ten days. We tend to use a combined quantitative and qualitative approach to interpret findings more systematically. Our emphasis is to provide guidelines tending towards the healthiest diet possible, whilst addressing causes of concern specific to each patient, for example weight loss, diabetes, reflux/hiatus hernia etc.

Effects and Causes of Diet, and Making Changes

We then schedule a review session with our patient, the focus of which is essentially positive: we aim to highlight existing positive features of the pre-existing diet, stress areas and causes of concern, and then lay-out and agree some practical suggestions and advice to implement dietary improvements.

This advice encompasses a range of issues including diet content (covering all food groups, vitamins and minerals), eating patterns, food quality etc. It also takes account of important patient particulars: does the patient live alone or with other people s/he will have to compose with? Does the patient know how to cook? Is the patient exposed to a wide or narrow range of food? etc.

The key to success is that the diet improvement strategy must be patient-driven. In other words, the patient must understand the rationale behind the advice, and honestly believe that he/she can happily implement and adopt it for the long haul. For instance, wholemeal porridge with cinnamon and grated apple is a great component of a diet to control diabetes or manage high blood cholesterol… but does the mere mention of “porridge” cause the patient stomach cramp?

Put simply, the nutrition advice we provide at Bridge to Health is based on sound, proven dietetics, but the patient has to be able to understand it, approve it and consistently apply it. With this in mind, we also make provision for the patient to feel free to contact us a few times after our meeting with a progress report, or questions that may arise while adopting and adjusting to the new diet.

If you have any questions about our diet diary approach, feel free to contact me by email or telephone the clinic on (Uxbridge – 01895) 2000 50.

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