Dear Readers

You probably read recently that a man was rejected as a bone marrow donor because his BMI (Body Mass Index) was too high as it put him into the obese category.  This was a man who was very fit and athletic and it was obvious that the weight was made up of muscle.  It is so sad that the BMI is still being used for categorising people into being overweight.  The Army has given up using the BMI as they were getting very fit rugby playing men applying who would actually have been obese according to the BMI criteria but were in fact very muscular with very little body fat.

The importance of where fat is distributed on the body is also crucial and that is why I wrote the Fat around the Middle book.  Further research in this area and published in the American Journal of Epidemiology only recently has highlighted again the relationship between waist circumference and risk of death.  In this study, they looked at 250,000 men and women over 9 years.  Within the group of people they looked at those whose BMI was classed as healthy and then within that group looked at the difference between those with a larger waist (more than 88cm (34.7ins)) for women and 102cm (40.2ins) for men).

So for those with a healthy weight according to the BMI, those women with the higher waist circumference had a 22% increased risk of death and the men with the larger waists had a 23% increased risk of death.

This message is so important, if you have extra fat around the middle of your body, it needs to be reduced.  Not only will your clothes fit better and you will be happier with how you look but the change in body shape will have an enormous impact on your health, now and in the future reducing your risk of cancer (especially breast cancer), heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. 

Kind regards

Marilyn Glenville

Dear Readers,

Welcome to this issue of Natural News. This month there is an article on cutting cancer risk.  It is something that affects us all or those closest to us at some point in our lives so it is important to know what we can do to reduce the risk, especially if you have a strong family history of this illness.  Osteoporosis is also covered and why we need both calcium and magnesium for strong healthy bones.

One of the articles covers middle age spread and I wanted to share with you an email I received recently.

‘I just wanted to let you know that I have been following your Fat around the Middle plan for two weeks and have already lost weight and inches off my belly. 

I am 41 years old and have had an early menopause at the age of 29 and was feeling large and uncomfortable at 11 stone, I also have a very stressful job but I have been doing weights and yoga on alternative nights and generally trying to be calm!! I have even had a glass or two of wine!! I just wanted to say thank you so much for your book.  I intend to keep going for the next three months and hope to be lighter and flatter by the time I am 42.

An added side effect for me – and this may sound odd- but I have noticed a reduction in facial hair as I have only been drinking peppermint or spearmint tea since I started in May.  I have seen articles in magazines on this before; in Middle Eastern countries where lots of mint tea is drunk, the women are less hairy!!  And having been through an early menopause I did get quite fluffy around the lip and chin and resorted to waxing, which I had never done in my life so the benefits of this diet seem endless!’

I thought this last paragraph was interesting and thought it might be a useful tip for all women and wondered whether any other women had noticed this effect.  Do let me know. 

Kind regards,

Marilyn Glenville

Dear Readers,

I do hope you are enjoying Natural News and the aim is to keep giving you a good variety of articles and news.  If there is something particular you would like to know about then do contact me as I am happy to include topics of specific interest.

In this issue of Natural News, there is a really easy to follow 24 hour summer detox, which can be useful if you have been overdoing things while on holiday.  There is an article on breathing because this is something we all do, every minute of every day and yet very rarely think about it and it is so important that we breathe correctly.  There is information on vitamin C because everybody knows about its immune benefits but there is a lot more to this water soluble vitamin than just that.

 

One of the articles covers cholesterol and although we don’t want too much of it, we also don’t want too little because it has certain functions.   For instance, our sex hormones are synthesized from cholesterol and it a major component of the membrane that surrounds every cell.  So as always with Nature we are aiming for a balance.

 

Hope you are enjoying the summer months and the wonderful variety of fruits and vegetables around at this time of the year.

 

Kind regards

 

 

 

Marilyn Glenville