Dear Reader

I hope you find this issue of Natural News full of useful tips and suggestions for getting and keeping you in good health.

Sometimes just small changes can make a huge difference. It is often said that you are what you eat but more crucially you are what you digest and absorb.

So it is important ‘what’ you eat but also just as important ‘how’ you eat and nowadays we don’t often think about ‘how’ we eat. A recent survey showed that the average meal is eaten in 14 minutes, compared to 33 minutes twenty years ago. Two decades ago people took their time chewing while talking to their family around the table. The research showed that most meals are gulped down while reading, texting or even talking on the phone. Fewer than two in ten regularly think about what they are eating.

So, make a point of sitting down and eating your food as calmly as possible. Sit down (don’t eat standing up), chew well and take your time. While you are eating, calm your mind and enjoy the food. Don’t just shovel it in.

It is also important to chew well because the first part of digestion happens in your mouth. Chewing also signals the other parts of your digestive system to get ready to receive food. So if you are not chewing well, the first part of breakdown in the mouth doesn’t happen, the digestive system does not get the signal to prepare itself and the food will drop down to the stomach in larger molecules than the stomach can really manage.

Another advantage of eating slowly is you are less likely to overeat. Once you start eating it takes 20 minutes for your brain to register that you are full. So if you eat slowly you will end up eating less food because your brain will tell you that you have had enough. If you eat quickly, you can consume a lot more food than you actually need before your brain realises.

So eat good food and take the time to enjoy it and savour every mouthful.

Kind regards

Marilyn Glenville PhD

Dear Reader

I hope you are enjoying the articles in Natural News and do send in your feedback as that way I can keep improving the content and design.

This issue of Natural News includes an article on the natural approach to the menopause and as there seems to be a lot of confusion around this subject, I wanted to clarify one particular issue. I have always used the herb black cohosh in my clinics with great success for the menopausal hot flushes and night sweats so it came as a surprise to know that in the future all black cohosh products will have to carry a warning saying that the herb may cause rare but serious liver disorders.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) report cites 14 cases of women with liver problems in the UK that were “possibly” or “probably” linked to black cohosh. When the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) reviewed all the evidence worldwide, it concluded that, in fact, there were only two “possible” (one in the UK) and two “probable” cases and that it is not clear whether black cohosh caused the problem. These four cases are such a small number when weighed up against an estimated 9 million treatment days of black cohosh used each year.

The National Institute of Health in the US believes there’s no case to answer and their website states that black cohosh has few side effects and that ‘liver damage has been reported in a few individuals using black cohosh, but millions of people have taken the herb without apparent adverse health effects. There is no scientific evidence to show that the herb causes liver damage.’

Also worryingly, researchers have found that some black cohosh products on the market contain an Asian species of black cohosh which is cheaper than the North American black cohosh. Compared with the species cultivated in North America, the Asian variety has different chemical properties and may have different effects on the body.

So I would still recommend that you use black cohosh as the herb of choice for the menopause symptoms but make sure that you buy from reputable companies so that you know you are getting the best quality herb and preferably buy organic.

Kind regards,

Marilyn Glenville PhD

Dear Reader,

We are now coming into a wonderful part of the year with lighter days and warmer weather and time also to think about having a spring clean with our diet and lifestyle as well.

Many women know that their diet needs an overhaul but don’t know where to start. Making small changes each day can make huge differences in how you feel physically and mentally. The article in this edition of Natural News on increasing your fruit and vegetable intake is important (How to make sure you eat enough fruit and vegetables) and can be such an easy thing to incorporate in your life and that of your family.

You are not only adding in more vital vitamins and minerals but also making your diet more alkaline which is known to be helpful for the prevention of osteoporosis as the more acidic the diet, the more calcium is leached from the bones. Studies in test tubes have shown that cancer cells grow faster in an acidic solution but this has not yet been confirmed in studies on humans. But having more fruit and vegetables will increase your antioxidant levels which are known to help prevent DNA damage.

With the warmer weather, try and get out in the sun as new research has shown that having good levels of vitamin D can have a remarkable effect on prevention of cancer. It has been known for many years that vitamin D is important for bone health as it is needed for the absorption of calcium. Now the research has gone further, as it has been suggested that vitamin D could halve the risk of developing cancer and a study in the American Journal of Public Health in 2006 stated that ‘vitamin D supplementation could reduce cancer incidence and mortality at low cost, with few or no adverse effects’. So make sure you get some exposure to the sun without sunscreen and look at your cosmetics as nowadays moisturisers and make up can have in-built sun protection factors which will interfere with the production of vitamin D.

Hope you enjoy this issue of Natural News.

Kind regards,

Marilyn Glenville PhD