Does nature restore you? – Part 2

Following on from my bowel health checklist.  I want to focus on the large intestine whose job is to take all the remaining water and nutrients our any any food that comes its way and turn whats left into compact stools.  When things start going wrong with your large intestine, you usually get inflamation and this can lead to a range of symptoms including:

• Stomach pain
• Cramps
• Bloating
• Flatulence
• frequent diarrhoea or constipation

So here are my tips to improve your large intestine: Drink more water and eat more fibre Increasing the amount of water your drink and upping your fibre intake with foods like well cooked brown rice, oatmeal, prunes, kiwi fruit or flaxseeds.  This should produce at least one bowel movment a day and will avoid undigested waste sitting around in your gut. Get Moving A sedetary lifestyle can slow down your bowels. Take slippery elm capsules. A natural way to ease constipation. Minimise stress levels Stress upsets your digestion and reduced your bacteriodetes levels. Eat more vegetables Bacteriodetes love fruits, beans, pulses and fibre so east lots of them.  Where as firmicutes thrive on fat and sugar so eat less sugar! Up your selenium High levels of selenium are linked to low colon cancer risk.  So increase your intake of brazil nuts, slamon, onions, oats and brown rice as they are high in selenium. Eat a wide variety of foods Diversity of foods equals a diversity of gut bacteria. References https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4421088/  

My final swap is nettles for spiralina. Spirulina's deep blue-green color reveals its active ingredient — chlorophyll — clearly. Health.com explains it as one of the oldest life forms on Earth and possibly consumed in Aztec and African diets centuries ago. Today it's touted for its ability to strengthen the immune system, reduce fatigue and combat allergies. Nettles are another plant with chlorophyll that even rivals the amount found in spirulina, but they're often found in ditch banks, forests and riverbanks. It's sometimes called "stinging nettle" because it does just that; if you touch it without wearing gloves, the tiny hairs on every surface sting like a bee due to the presence of formic acid, leaving small red welts. But internally, Bon Appetit asserts, it acts like a tonic:

"Taken over time, nettle will strengthen your circulatory, immune, and endocrine systems to promote peak function. The stronger these systems, the better position our bodies are in to deal with whatever might come our way."

Cooked or dried, though, this pesky stinging problem goes away completely; good thing, too, because this free foraging food is highly nutritious, containing fiber, lecithin, chlorophyll, sodium, iron, phosphorus, sulfur, potassium and vitamins A and C, according to Mother Earth News. It's been used in birth rooms and battlefields to stop bleeding, both internally and externally, and is considered to purify blood, as well. As a tea:

"It has been found to help cure mucus congestion, skin irritations, water retention and diarrhea … stimulate the digestive glands of the stomach, intestines, liver, pancreas and gall bladder. Applied externally, nettle tea … relieves rheumatism in both people and animals, makes a first-class gargle for mouth and throat infections, helps to clear up acne and eczema and promotes the healing of burns."

To complete the series I want to point out that brocalli is arguably one of the most nutirtious vegatables readily available in supermakets.  Not only does it support normal cell function and division, it helps your body detoxify and reduces inflammation and damage from reactive oxygen species (ROS).  Another vegatable that I would highly recommend is rocket.  It has many of the same nutrients and healing compounds, including fiber, vitamins A, C (to boost the immune system) and K (for bone strength), folate, calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and manganese that are found in cabbage and brocalli.  One study showed that rocket can be a powerful aid against gastrointestinal ulcers, psoriasis and skin, lung and mouth cancers. Many more vitamins and minerals help lower blood pressure and improve blood vessel function. References Bon Appétit July 19, 2017 Health December 27, 2016 Mother Earth News March/April 1981  

In part 1, I shared details of supplements that may help alleviat ethe winter blues.  In this blog post I want to share other lifestyle tips. 1. Exercise If you suffer from winter blues it is likely that your GP would perscribe a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI).  This is the standard drug to treat depression and one of medicines all time bestsellers.  Researches compared aerobic exercise aginst the Lustral (SSRI sertaline) foudn that exercise and the drug were equally effective at reducing depressive symptioms.  But only exercise had long lasting effects.  Of the patients declared free of depression at the end of the study, those who had been in the exercise only-group were less likely to see their depression return during the next 6 months. 2. Eat Fish If you love fish like I do, then science says you are less likely to get depressed.   In one study women who ate fish two or more times per week where less likley to get depressed than those who ate fish less often.  It is thought the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish are responisble for lifting mood.  A number of studies have found that omega-3 supplements have a significant antidepressant effect. 3. St John's Wort A herb commonly used in Germany to treat mild depression.  Scientists have established that not only better is the herb better than a placebo its as effective as an antidepressant. References Blumenthal JA, Babyak MA, Moore KA, Craighead WE, Herman S, Khatri P, Waugh R, Napolitano MA, Forman LM, Appelbaum M, Doraiswamy PM, Krishnan KR. Effects of exercise training on older patients with major depression. Arch Intern Med. 1999 Oct 25;159(19):2349-56. Blumenthal JA, Babyak MA, Doraiswamy PM, Watkins L, Hoffman BM, Barbour KA, Herman S, Craighead WE, Brosse AL, Waugh R, Hinderliter A, Sherwood A. Exercise and pharmacotherapy in the treatment of major depressive disorder. Psychosom Med. 2007 Sep-Oct;69(7):587-96. Babyak M, Blumenthal JA, Herman S, Khatri P, Doraiswamy M, Moore K, Craighead WE, Baldewicz TT, Krishnan KR. Exercise treatment for major depression: maintenance of therapeutic benefit at 10 months. Psychosom Med. 2000 Sep-Oct;62(5):633-8.