Health advice you should take with a pinch of salt
Sorry that should be 'low sodium salt substitute'.
For the past three months I have been writing nutrition-based health articles for Suite101.com based on the latest scientific research into the cardiovascular, blood pressure and weight loss benefits of herbs and foods. I've sung the praises of garlic, dark chocolate, cocoa, oatmeal, fresh fruits and vegetables and oily fish in helping to lower cholesterol, control blood pressure, maintain a healthy weight, and even increase energy levels.
I've able to write these articles and even get paid for them (finally, my first payment from Suite101.com!), because the scientific studies backed up what I've believed in and practised for many years, but particularly this past 12 months. "Let your food be your medicine and your medicine your food."
Just over 12 months ago, when an immense adverse reaction to an unfortunate combination of prescription meds for high BP and cholesterol caused me physical and emotional distress as well as damage to my liver, I vowed to manage my health problems the natural way - diet, exercise and meditation.
Mind you, 'diet' also included nutritional supplements such as (the very expensive) COQ10, lecithin, combination fish oil and evening primrose oil capsules, multivitamins, calcium supplement, and a herbal mixture containing hawthorn, motherwort, tilea, Korean ginseng and dandelion.
(The multivits, calcium and combined oils have been a regular daily supplement for the past seven years or more.)
Having a herb garden on my verandah has given me a regular supply of parsley, chives, rosemary, rocket, sorrel and a variety of lettuces, all growing reasonably well despite the almost continuous rain and lack of sun. So I'm getting fresh green vegetables every day, & eat salad most days.
Today I received the printout of the results from my recent blood tests. According to the markers, my liver is back to 'normal', though judging from the metallic taste I still get most days, I'd say it's not entirely happy.
My cholesterol total is the highest it's been in 12 years, with the HDL down and the LDL up on the previous reading 6 months ago.
And, as my doctor informed me earlier in the week, my BP is still going up. Not yet to dangerously high level, but certainly high enough to be concerned.
So what's going on? Were all those studies wrong? Are my articles misleading the trusting reading public?
There are two answers:
1/ Lack of exercise and/or meditation:
Due to a combination of factors beyond my control - lousy weather, broken toes, lack of finances (for gym fees) - since I moved to the mountains, I have had significantly less exercise than when I was living in the dirty city and walking every day plus going to the gym 2-3 times a week.
The factor within my control is laziness, or the discovery that a warm bed is the place to be in the morning when the weather outside is uniformly cold, foggy or downright wet!
Meditation is the harder one to pin down - strangely it's the one fitness-related activity (in the broad sense) that I do better in a group. Quaker meetings, or the early morning low-key Christian meditation sessions I used to attend before work, gave me the motivation to sit down and knuckle down to it. Doing it alone, I can't concentrate (excuse the pun). I fidget or I fall asleep.
2/Statistics:
No valid scientific study is going to show that 100 per cent of the participants gained 100 per cent of the benefits shown to occur. So long as enough people get enough benefits for the number crunchers to be happy, the premise is 'proven'.
Now, I understand that. I have a scientific background. It just pisses me off that I must be in the small group that get little or no benefit from eating lots (& I mean lots) of garlic, oatmeal every day, plenty of vegetables, lots of dietary fibre from beans of every sort, 3 servings of oily fish a week, plus all those supplements, etc etc etc...
I mean, hey, body, what's going on here? I'm ideologically and temperamentally a flag bearer for the natural way to health, and you let me down like this?? You saying you want to go back on pharmaceuticals? No offence to anyone connected in any way with pharmaceutical companies or working as pharmacists, but those little pills made me mighty sick last year! Why should I trust them now?
The only glimmer of light I can see with that scenario is that prescription meds, under Australia's wonderful pharmaceutical benefits scheme, will cost me a hell of a lot less than all the supplement & herbal mix!
For the past three months I have been writing nutrition-based health articles for Suite101.com based on the latest scientific research into the cardiovascular, blood pressure and weight loss benefits of herbs and foods. I've sung the praises of garlic, dark chocolate, cocoa, oatmeal, fresh fruits and vegetables and oily fish in helping to lower cholesterol, control blood pressure, maintain a healthy weight, and even increase energy levels.
I've able to write these articles and even get paid for them (finally, my first payment from Suite101.com!), because the scientific studies backed up what I've believed in and practised for many years, but particularly this past 12 months. "Let your food be your medicine and your medicine your food."
Just over 12 months ago, when an immense adverse reaction to an unfortunate combination of prescription meds for high BP and cholesterol caused me physical and emotional distress as well as damage to my liver, I vowed to manage my health problems the natural way - diet, exercise and meditation.
Mind you, 'diet' also included nutritional supplements such as (the very expensive) COQ10, lecithin, combination fish oil and evening primrose oil capsules, multivitamins, calcium supplement, and a herbal mixture containing hawthorn, motherwort, tilea, Korean ginseng and dandelion.
(The multivits, calcium and combined oils have been a regular daily supplement for the past seven years or more.)
Having a herb garden on my verandah has given me a regular supply of parsley, chives, rosemary, rocket, sorrel and a variety of lettuces, all growing reasonably well despite the almost continuous rain and lack of sun. So I'm getting fresh green vegetables every day, & eat salad most days.
Today I received the printout of the results from my recent blood tests. According to the markers, my liver is back to 'normal', though judging from the metallic taste I still get most days, I'd say it's not entirely happy.
My cholesterol total is the highest it's been in 12 years, with the HDL down and the LDL up on the previous reading 6 months ago.
And, as my doctor informed me earlier in the week, my BP is still going up. Not yet to dangerously high level, but certainly high enough to be concerned.
So what's going on? Were all those studies wrong? Are my articles misleading the trusting reading public?
There are two answers:
1/ Lack of exercise and/or meditation:
Due to a combination of factors beyond my control - lousy weather, broken toes, lack of finances (for gym fees) - since I moved to the mountains, I have had significantly less exercise than when I was living in the dirty city and walking every day plus going to the gym 2-3 times a week.
The factor within my control is laziness, or the discovery that a warm bed is the place to be in the morning when the weather outside is uniformly cold, foggy or downright wet!
Meditation is the harder one to pin down - strangely it's the one fitness-related activity (in the broad sense) that I do better in a group. Quaker meetings, or the early morning low-key Christian meditation sessions I used to attend before work, gave me the motivation to sit down and knuckle down to it. Doing it alone, I can't concentrate (excuse the pun). I fidget or I fall asleep.
2/Statistics:
No valid scientific study is going to show that 100 per cent of the participants gained 100 per cent of the benefits shown to occur. So long as enough people get enough benefits for the number crunchers to be happy, the premise is 'proven'.
Now, I understand that. I have a scientific background. It just pisses me off that I must be in the small group that get little or no benefit from eating lots (& I mean lots) of garlic, oatmeal every day, plenty of vegetables, lots of dietary fibre from beans of every sort, 3 servings of oily fish a week, plus all those supplements, etc etc etc...
I mean, hey, body, what's going on here? I'm ideologically and temperamentally a flag bearer for the natural way to health, and you let me down like this?? You saying you want to go back on pharmaceuticals? No offence to anyone connected in any way with pharmaceutical companies or working as pharmacists, but those little pills made me mighty sick last year! Why should I trust them now?
The only glimmer of light I can see with that scenario is that prescription meds, under Australia's wonderful pharmaceutical benefits scheme, will cost me a hell of a lot less than all the supplement & herbal mix!