There Is An Alternative To Statins

Dr. John Moran explains when it is really necessary to resort to statins.

1.8 million people in England alone currently take statins and they are the most widely prescribed class of drugs, and the most expensive item on the NHS drugs bill, costing over £700m a year.

Statins are drugs used to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of stroke or coronary heart disease. They work by blocking cholesterol production in the body through inhibiting an enzyme called HMG-CoA. They may also help the body reabsorb the plaque which has accumulated on the artery walls, preventing the life-threatening blood clot which could lead to a stroke or heart attack.

One clinical trial concluded that statins reduce the risk of developing coronary heart disease by around a third, if taken over a period of three years.

Sounds too good to be true? Some medical experts think so.

By blocking the HMG-CoA enzyme, statins not only deplete the body of cholesterol but also the beneficial natural substance, co-Enzyme Q10, an antioxidant and cellular energiser which is present in healthy hearts.

Statins also have potential side effects, ranging from the moderate to severe. Moderate symptoms include nausea, diarrhoea, constipation, lack of sex-drive, and muscle aching; severe side effects are an increase the production of liver enzymes which can eventually damage the liver, and severe muscle pain and tenderness (statin myopathy).

In severe cases the muscle cells can break down and release a protein called myoglobin into the bloodstream. Myoglobin can impair kidney function and lead to kidney failure.

Last year, plans were outlined to make statins available over the counter from pharmacies, and in January this year, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommended that GPs prescribe statins to anyone with a 20 per cent chance of having a heart attack or stroke over the next ten years. Many GPs have voiced concerns over this suggestion, including Dr John Moran.

Dr Moran of the Holistic Medical Clinic in London’s Wimpole Street began his career in the early 1970s in dentistry, before moving to the Medical Commission in 1979. He then became interested in women's hormonal health and worked at Mary Stopes for seventeen years, training in psychosexual and sexual medicine. He has since become interested in the role of nutrition in health care, and last year finished his post graduate masters in nutritional medicine.

"I have concerns about people being able to buy statins over the counter without supervision, because I think in many cases there are much better ways to lower cholesterol."

"The patient won't have been given any advice from their GP, the pharmacists won't know their family history, and how can you tell what their blood pressure is? But, if people are in a high risk category - by that I mean if they are overweight, they smoke, have high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, or a history of coronary heart disease - then they very much need to go on to statins because the track record of what they do is extremely good."

Dr Moran says it is people who have no high risk factor who should first try alternatives to statins.

"People with marginally high lipid profiles - by that I mean their total cholesterol is over 6 and their LDL is over 4 shouldn't necessarily resort to statins."

"The first line of treatment in my opinion, should be with diet and exercise. If this does not work, then they should resort to statins, but we should not be advocating them as the first line of defence in people with no high risk factors."

"My concern is not about the correct NRC guidelines, my concern is that people who do not have any of the high risk factors help themselves to a statin when they are better off looking at nutritional things that can help, in particular the Mediterranean diet."

"Statins have two reactions. They work in the liver by lowering the amount of cholesterol the liver actually produces. Their other is anti-inflammatory, stabilising unstable plaque in the arteries. But nutritional substances can also do this. Fresh garlic is one of the best natural anti-inflammatories, as are essential fatty acids such as cod liver oil and flax seed oil. Many natural antioxidants also have anti-inflammatory action, as do probiotics which help feed healthy gut organisms, oats and soya. As far as lifestyle is concerned, regular exercise and no smoking is very important."

"Often, gut health affects liver health. Your gut is the seat of your immunity so if you have an unhealthy gut, then prebiotics are in order. Prebiotics are foods such as asparagus, artichokes and onions. I know you can buy probiotics yoghurt drinks, but out of the millions of bacteria in these products, only 5% survive by the time they reach your colon, so either eat natural sources of prebiotics, or take a good quality supplement."

The other issue which Dr Moran doesn't think is being adequately tackled sufficiently is the evidence that statins affect the body's production of co-Enzyme Q10.

"If people do have to go onto a statin, they really ought to take co-Enzyme Q10, which is depleted when you take statins."

"It has been a bone of contention with a few people as to whether they is any evidence to show that co-Enzyme Q10 is depleted when taking statins. However, several studies have shown this to be the case, and the symptoms of a lack of co-Enzyme Q10 are muscle cramp and muscle pains, which are very common when people go on to statins."

"My wife has got familiar hypocholesterol and she is on a statin quite rightly, and she gets muscle cramps if she doesn't take co-Enzyme Q10 too."

"In Canada and the States, but in particular Canada, most stains are taken with co-Enzyme Q10 as a matter of course. In this country you can get co-Enzyme Q10 prescribed on the national health under its proper name, but patients will have to ask their GP about it."

Rachael Hannan: 2006

Published on 50connect.co.uk

Prevent MRSA With Honey

A product now available on the NHS prevents MRSA, but why hasn't it received more publicity?

The latest Government figures claim that MRSA infections have fallen to their lowest since records began. Labour hailed this a 'turning point,' whilst the Conservatives have accused them of 'pre-election trickery.'

The tiresome political banter of our MP's is irrelevant if you or a loved one are going into hospital and have concerns about MRSA. National audit data from last year shows that 100,000 people contracted an infection whilst being treated in hospital, and of those, 5,000 people died.

The risks of MRSA are well publicised, but the same cannot be said for a preventative measure, now available on the NHS and over-the-counter.

UMF® Manuka Honey dressings kill MRSA - something many of our strongest antibiotics cannot do.

Professor Molan is one of the world’s leading authorities on the use of Manuka honey in wound care. He has conducted numerous clinical trials that document the success of Manuka Honey in killing MRSA and treating various other bacterial infections associated with open wounds and ulcers at New Zealand’s Waikato Hospital.

We spoke to Professor Molan to find out how these honey dressings work and what action patients can take to prevent MRSA.

"MRSA is basically an antibiotic-resistant form of a very common bacteria that lives on your skin and normally doesn't cause you any harm. Certainly, if it lands on an open wound it can cause an infection, but generally, your body can fight the infection itself."

"This antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria has bred itself to be so in response to our over-use of antibiotics. Some strains are resistant to all but one antibiotic and that has to be taken intravenously. In some cases, MRSA can even be resistant to that which is why it is potentially dangerous for people whose immune system isn't at its strongest, such as the elderly, infirm or those who have major surgery."

"In cases where they have stopped using antibiotics in hospitals, the infection rate decreases - so when hospitals frequently use antibiotics, they are just left with these resistant strains of bacteria."

Dr Molan has been conducting numerous clinical studies on the effectiveness of UMF® Manuka Honey against MRSA and its additional health benefits. UMF stands for 'Unique Manuka Factor,' an acronym chosen because of it's similarity to Sun Protection Factor (SPF) on sunscreen.

Although any honey can help treat burns or minor wounds, Manuka honey is the only honey with the ability to kill antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria because it contains a unique type of antibacterial activity.

"All honey, including Manuka honey, contains hydrogen peroxide which is produced when the bees add an enzyme to the nectar. Hydrogen peroxide is an acid, but because of the enzyme, it's produced continuously in the honey and at fairly low levels. This means the hydrogen peroxide can be effective against bacteria, but is not at high enough levels to cause harm to the tissues of the body."

"Manuka honey is special because it contains something that we still haven't identified, but which must come from the plant itself, because it's in no other honey, anywhere in New Zealand or Australia, or in any closely related species in the 'Jelly Bush', as we call it."

"What we do know is that different plants have different components in the nectar and some of these stabilise and destabilise that enzyme, so bees add different amounts of the enzyme to different nectars depending on how watery they are when they are harvested from the plant. They add more enzymes to the more watery nectars and that is why honey can vary one hundred fold in antibacterial qualities."

Dr Molan and his team have been amazed at the scope of bacteria Manuka honey is effective against, and its ability to heal ulcerated open wounds.

"First we conducted lots of laboratory tests which have shown it has such a broad spectrum of activity as an anti-microbial agent. It is effective on many different types of bacteria which antibiotics generally don't cover. There has also been work in New Zealand hospitals where people have had MRSA infections, and it has cleared up after treatment with Manuka honey dressings."

"Currently, there's a big trial running in New Zealand at the Waikato Hospital with open wounds and varicose ulcers on the lower leg. Usually, if wounds or ulcers do not heal after six weeks then they probably won't heal for many years. But we are finding that once Manuka Honey dressings are used, ulcers heal in a period of six to eight weeks, even though some people had had the ulcers many years."

"What’s more, many patients don't require any antibiotics, even those who had been taking them every couple of weeks before, over a period of several years."

Professor Molan wants to make sure that patients know they can ask for Manuka honey dressing on the NHS so that knowledge spreads about this potentially life-saving option.

"There are now honey products being sold as registered medicines so they have been proven by the Health Regulatory Division as medical products. This means the honey has to go through a sterilisation process so it can be safely used in hospital wards. The honey is heated to a high temperature for a matter of seconds and then pushed through a very fine filter, and cooled seconds later so it is completely free from any particles that can embed themselves in the wound, and so there is no chance of the honey carrying bacterium spores."

"The medical wound dressing is now a registered product on the NHS, so it is just a matter of asking or persuading the hospital to use them. This is the message I am trying to get through. If hospitals have a problem and routinely cover all surgical wounds with honey dressings, they will not be infected with MRSA. If honey is actually used on fresh surgical wounds they will also heal faster and without leaving a scar which is an important added benefit."

You can purchase UMF® Manuka Honey dressings over the counter. Comvita ApiNate Dressings cost £44.95 for pack of 3 10x10cm dressings and are available from the New Zealand Natural Food Company on 020 8961 4410.

Web Links

BBC News: MRSA - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4324281.stm

Department Of Health Report On MRSA - http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/documents/digitalasset/dh_4105518.pdf

Government Table Of Worse Affected Hospitals & Figures - http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsStatistics/DH_4085951

Rachael Hannan: 2005

Published on 50connect.co.uk

Speak To Your GP About Osteoporosis

All post-menopausal women should speak to their GP about a bone mineral density test.

We all know the old adage, prevention is better than cure, but no where is this more pertinent than in the case of osteoporosis.

Under-recognised and under-diagnosed, the good news is that if caught early enough, osteoporosis is an entirely preventable and treatable disease.

The flip side of the coin is that it is often only once a fracture has occurred that osteoporosis is diagnosed - and herein lies the problem because the statistics for recovery are frightening.

In the UK alone, one in two women, and one in five men over the age of 50 will break a bone because of osteoporosis.

1 in 5 who have a hip fracture die within a year, whilst 60% never regain full independence and require some sort of care. 40% of those who break a bone will never be able to return to work.

The potential debilitating nature of osteoporosis is clear, and statistics like these are the reason that the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) is urging everyone to be responsible for their bones, to speak to their GP about osteoporosis, and ask for a bone mineral density scan which can assess your risk of osteoporosis.

What Is Osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis literally means porous bone, and it is known as the silent thief because it gradually ekes strength away from your bones without any physical discomfort. So it is only once a bone has become brittle enough to break, that it is discovered.

Bone is a living tissue and new bone is constantly replacing old bone. Up until the age of thirty, the body continues to make enough new bone to replace the old, but as we get older, our body's ability to make more new bone decreases and the bones gradually start to weaken.

Fractures from osteoporosis usually occur in the wrist, spine or hip - areas which contain smaller bones that weaken more rapidly than the bigger bones in the body.

Am I At Risk?

Although osteoporosis affects both men and women, it is more common in postmenopausal women because they have reduced levels of the hormone oestrogen, which helps maintain strong bones. Men who have reduced levels of testosterone are also more susceptible.

Women need to speak up about bone health, get scanned, ask for treatment, and ask for a treatment which suits your lifestyle, says the IOF.

Osteoporosis is often a disease dealt with in stereotypes. The typical image of an osteoporosis sufferer is that of an elderly bent over lady who is frail and fragile, yet this certainly is not the case, and a fracture can occur in anyone over 50 who considers themselves active.

Genetic factors play a large part in determining whether an individual is at risk of osteoporosis, so if someone in your family has had the condition, the chances are you are more likely to get it too.

Age is also another inescapable factor, and as we get older the prevalence of osteoporosis increases, so half of all seventy-five-year -olds have the disease.

Some medical conditions and some medications can also increase your risk, and if you are concerned you should speak to you GP or visit the National Osteoporosis Society's 'Am I At Risk' page for further information.

Healthy habits such a not smoking or drinking alcohol to excess, good nutrition and exercise can influence the rate of bone loss and play a key role in determining how quickly our body loses bone in later life. Exercise and nutrition is key to building strong bones up to the age of thirty, but is also essential to maintaining a healthy skeleton as we age.

Medical research has produced mixed results about whether calcium supplements taken in conjunction with vitamin D reduce the risk of a fracture. Some studies suggest that it does reduce the risk, but others have concluded that supplementing has little effect. Nevertheless, once diagnosed with osteoporosis, calcium combined with vitamin D supplements are usually recommended.

It is worth noting that calcium supplements alone have little effect on the strength of the bones, unless it is taken in conjunction with vitamin D, which carries the mineral to the bones.

What Can I Do To Prevent Osteoporosis?

The IOF is urging all women who have been through the menopause to build up a dialogue with your GP, and speak to them about getting a bone mineral density scan to assess your risk for osteoporosis.

Unlike breast cancer, where all women over the age of 60 are entitled to a mammogram on the NHS, it is not routine to give all post-menopausal women a bone mineral density scan.

If you already take certain medications or have a family history of the disease, you should qualify for a bone mineral density scan.

For full guidelines on whether you would be eligible, read the National Osteoporosis Society's bone mineral density scan information document.

However, with the onset of an ageing demographic, the IOF is stressing that prevention is better than cure. So, although you may not currently qualify, still speak to your GP and see what they say. And continue to raise this issue with them.

The disease currently costs the NHS £1.7 billion a year which equates to £5 million a day. With the onset of an ageing demographic, using drugs to prevent fractures in women already known to have low bone density could be the most cost-effective practice for the future.

The IOF is also urging women currently on osteoporosis medication who skip their medication or find it difficult to take, to speak to their GP about alternative treatments that will better suit their lifestyle.

If you miss your medication, protection from a fracture is reduced by 60%, but there are now monthly and yearly osteoporosis treatments available, so speak to your GP about the alternatives.

Web Links

UK National Osteoporosis Society: http://www.nos.org.uk
International Osteoporosis Foundation: http://www.iofbonehealth.org/

Rachael Hannan: October 2008

Published on 50connect.co.uk

Ursula Andress Interview

The iconic James Bond girl speaks to 50connect about getting older and her new role as abassador in the prevention of osteoporosis.

In 1962 she was one of the most photographed women in the world, riding on the success of her role as Honey Ryder in the James Bond film Dr No.

Her opening scene, where she wades out of the Caribbean Sea in a bikini, carrying a shell and singing a calypso, has become iconic, and has been polled as one of the top two 'sexiest movie moments' in both the UK and Australia.

Today, at seventy-two years of age she hasn’t lost any of that film-star aura or her signature eye liner. And when we meet, looks stylish and slightly risqué in a black trouser suit and white ruffled shirt, undone enough to reveal a black bustier.
As she looks at her photograph from Dr No, she laughs and says with her distinctive accent;

"Forty-five years ago looking like that was easy, now it is hard. These days I prefer a little more darkness, and to keep the old photos going.”

An avid collector of art, today she says she will only do a film if it is in the name of art, and has collaborated with contemporary American artist Matthew Barney, in his film series The Cremaster Cycle.

“It has to be art or else I am not interested. There is no shortage of good actors, there is a shortage of good films because they are very costly, but I did my work, and now I only do things for art."

Today Ursula divides her time between family in Switzerland and her properties in Rome and America.

“I am a gypsy,” she jokes. “I have always been a gypsy, dreaming about curiosity and dreaming about travelling."

“The world has become so small today. It is so sad that everything is becoming the same, and different traditions and cultures are all disappearing. I want to see different cultures, and different traditions, and my favourite places are villages which do not have high-rise houses or cement-block flats, but villages that are confined in a wall with their traditions intact."

“I did enjoy London in the 60s. Everything was fun, it was a happy town, an English town, but now there are no English there!”

Ten years ago Ursula was diagnosed with osteoporosis, and she has now become an ambassador for the prevention of the disease.

She says that when she was diagnosed, she, like many women, did not understand the severity of the implications.

“It wasn’t a shock when I found out because I didn’t know enough about osteoporosis. I was ignorant about the disease. I thought that with calcium tablets and exercise, the bones would get healthier by themselves.”

“I bought a suitcase full of calcium tablets back from America to my home in Rome, because they were cheaper there than in Europe. When my doctor saw them he said Ursula, this alone will not work, so they are now hidden in the cellar of the chateaux.”

Even though she knew she had low bone density in her hip, initially, she took her medication lightly.

“I am the worst pill taker in the world; days would go by without me taking the medicine. Now I have a yearly medication and that is much easier for me.”
The problem, she says, is that it is easy to carry on and feel healthy with osteoporosis.

“Women don’t take it seriously enough because life goes on with osteoporosis very well. There is no pain, you don’t feel like you have a disease or sickness, so you do everything – until something cracks.”

“I want to be healthy because I am very active; I would be miserable staying in bed. I would also be embarrassed and uneasy if someone else had to take care of me."
"If I cannot be active, I want to go.”

Ursula says that getting older is something nobody can prepare you for.

“Age brings you very strange surprises. You know, everybody tells you when you are pregnant, to expect this and to expect that, and it is such a surprise when you discover it for yourself because it is completely different."

“It is the same with getting older; aging is a very difficult problem. I have experience, I have knowledge, I have the past - but health can be so problematic."

Ursula had her only child, a son, at the age of forty-three.

"Now there are a lot of mothers who have children at this age, but then it was a scandal."

"It was a surprise when I found out I was pregnant because I never thought it was going to happen. But it did, I went with it, and now my son is twenty-eight-years-old; it goes so quickly.”

“The only thing that matters when you have children is that of your children’s future, but what kind of a world are we leaving the children?"

She says she is fearful of the future and the world we have created, and when asked if she had ever considered taking up journalism, she emphatically declines.
“No! The injustices of the world are too hard to take in."

"I am not very confident at all about the present and future. We have done so many harmful things to nature with pesticides, and 50% of bees have already disappeared."
When asked about her personal philosophy, she says; "Maybe you should talk to my son; he majored in philosophy and is a very deep thinker. But my philosophy is to be honest, happy and live life."

Rachael Hannan: Interview October 2008

Published on 50connect.co.uk

Face Reflexology

Rachael Hannan gets under the skin of a new, yet relatively unknown alternative therapy.

Face reflexology sounds a contradiction in terms but it is actually a new complementary therapy that combines looking good with feeling good through a unique marriage of three ancient techniques; Chinese energy meridians, Chinese acupuncture points, and Vietnamese and Andean tribal body maps.

It has been in the UK a mere three years having been created and brought to the regulatory body, the Association of Reflexologists (AOR) by a Danish lady called Lone Sorensen Lopez, who has been formulating the therapy throughout her work over the past twenty-eight years.

We spoke to Nikke Ariff, a practitioner and teacher of face reflexology in London, to learn more about this intriguing yet relatively unknown new therapy.

Nikke was an oil trader until a serious car accident seven years ago prompted her to change her lifestyle and train in alternative therapies.

"I was working in a very stressful environment and used to have complementary therapies on a weekly basis so I could bring myself back to the lions den the next morning, so to speak. In 1998 my company in London sent me to South Africa to build up some of the market there, and that is where I had a very bad car accident. Afterwards, all the clichés started to fall into place like; this is the first day of the rest of your life; life is not a rehearsal - and the most natural thing was to start training in complementary therapies."

"In fact, only recently I tried to look up an astrologer I had been to see in 1993. Unfortunately she's passed on now, but she asked me way back then if I had ever thought of a career in healing. I looked at her as though I had come to the wrong place, but five years later it just made a huge amount of sense, and that's when I started my journey if you like."

Nikke trained in a variety of alternative therapies before finally discovering face reflexology.

"I began with Reiki, then Indian head and shoulder massage, then a body massage course, anatomy and physiology also followed after that, as did my interest in nutrition. I wanted to do a body therapy course but because I am quite petite, I found body massage tiring, so instead I trained in a fantastic therapy called the Bowen technique which is soft tissue manipulation. It is gentle for the therapist to practice and gentle for the client to have, plus it is a very fast and effective treatment. It was then things just started to open up. I trained in football reflexology and in 2003 met Lone Sorensen Lopez, the Danish lady who has devised face reflexology."

"Discovering face reflexology has become a significant moment for me. It is a powerful therapy, and having experienced so many therapies myself, I thought I had done a lot of clearing and a lot of journeying. I knew there would be some surprises, but I think because of the trauma I had experienced to the face from the accident, this really did leave an extra dimensional impression on me."

It had such an impact that Nikke can remember the exact date she met Lone, on April 27th 2003. Lone, a multi-disciplined practitioner herself, started studying reflexology in 1978 in Denmark. She was always interested in facial acupressure points because of the success of her work with hyperactive children and children with learning difficulties, but it was not until she moved to Argentina that she fully developed face reflexology.

Reflexology itself was virtually unknown in Argentina when she first moved there, but in the twelve years she lived there, she founded three schools of Facial and Foot Reflexology, and treated more than 100,000 patients.
Now she and her husband Marcellas, a medical Doctor, live in Barcelona where they run a face reflexology school. Nikki teaches the first half of the London course, and then Lone and her husband come over to London to teach the second half.

As with all holistic or alternative treatments, the therapy aims to get to the root cause of any health problems and discomforts, healing on a physical and psychological level. The success and effectiveness of face reflexology lies in its ability to identify the root cause of the imbalances causing ill-health, and its ability to stimulate the healing process within the individual using the balancing properties of the combined three disciplines.

"All your sense organs are located in your head so on a physical level, face reflexology is incredibly relaxing," Nikke explains.

"From the time you are born, people are looking at your face and gauging your mood, and in fact that is the one part of your anatomy that's constantly being judged. In an effort to paint a mask we decorate it with makeup and adorn it with jewellery such as necklaces and earrings. Equally, it is our means of expression, whether that is expressing expression or trying to hide it and suppress it. So a lot of the tension such as chewing, grinding, clenching, talking swallowing, you name it - all happens around the face and face reflexology releases some of this tension."

Just like reflexology, the face is a map of the entire body so specific parts of the body or health problems can be targeted, although Nikke says it is not as well organised as the feet.

"Face reflexology is very closely aligned with the Chinese energy meridian system which - the energy lines that flow up and down your body. You have twelve major meridians in all, each named after what the Chinese considered thousands of years ago to be your vital organs. So we start off the therapy working on thirty-five different acupuncture points that are on the face. Acupuncture points lie on energy meridians, and they are the points on the energy lines or meridians that are closest to the surface of the skin."

"For us, however, the thirty-five points we work on are also important nerve junctions within the face, and vital blood circulation points, so they have three functions for us; they are a direct route into the nervous system, the circulation system and the energetic Chinese Meridian system."

Another one of the main differences between foot and face reflexology is that working on the face allows direct access to the brain, and could explain why some people make life-changing decisions after a course of treatments.

"As a therapy, on a deeper physical level, where foot reflexology has the entire surface of the body to travel through before it hits the control centre of the body - which is the brain, face reflexology gives you a direct path into the brain through the cranial nerves."

"These are twelve nerves which run from the brain into the face, along the side of the head. They are nerves which essentially connect a part of the brain to each of the sensory organs such as speech; creation of speech; interpretation of what you see; the act of seeing; they control sense of smell and hearing; and so on. So face reflexology provides direct access to these areas."

During a session, a variety of moves are used to stimulate these points on the face, so to protect the skin Nikke uses a specially prepared rose oil moisturiser.

"You have a lot of layers in the face so in any face reflexology treatment you have nine, maybe ten stages that you go through. In each stage I am either stimulating something, rebalancing something or assessing something. There is no substitute for touch in face reflexology."

"There is a stretching type of move which we use when we start assessing the maps which are essentially your energy meridians. As you go through the entire surface of the face, bar the eyelids, we are working on and assessing the energy meridians and to do so, we have five grades.”

“Some people ask if you can tell from looking at the face where the imbalances are, but you can’t because we are not doing a surface analysis in face reflexology. We have to get into the deeper layers of the skin, so the pressure we are applying is not a ticklish feathery approach, it is part of a firm but slow stretching movement from which we are trying to assess tissue degeneration within the face as a result of poor nerve supply."

"For healthy tissue you need a good blood supply so that it is bringing nutrients into the tissue, and getting rid of the waste products. You also need a good nerve supply to the area as well. If the nerve supply is poor, it means that the tissue starts to become a little bit hard, and so the five grades of deposits that you are looking for range from grains of sand, which will be minor irritations, to something like coagulated porridge, to perhaps a hard pearl in the fifth grade, by which time you are probably on medication and you probably have a named medical condition, and you know you do."

The benefits of face reflexology are predominantly health based, with the additional benefit of releasing some of tension you have probably been holding in your face for years.

"I have clients who have been for a regular course of treatment because people comment on the condition of their skin, whilst other people also make pretty radically lifestyle changing decisions because it works on a physical, emotional, mental and a more esoteric; either spiritual or energetic level if you like."

"The physical benefit is a release in muscle tension which is released because the pressure we are using is quite deep and we are also stretching out the muscle fibres. As a result, there is better blood circulation, better nerve supply and you feel more relaxed so your body behaves more relaxed and you do look better. It can also help with specific conditions such hot flushes during the menopause, digestive complaints - it can help with any health problem."

Nikke runs a holistic treatment centre called Mind, Body Positive based in Baker Street, London. She chose the name because she believes that our state of mind does affect our health, but by gradually changing our attitudes, we can overcome health problems in a more efficient way.

"I am very aware of the mind, body relationship. This morning a lady came for some Bowen because she suffers from sciatica. She has had two sessions and is absolutely fine, but now and again she gets tweaks. She is a caterer so her job involves a lot of standing and her mind starts thinking, 'I've got a big job tomorrow, I am going to be standing for hours,' and she is basically gearing herself up for an outcome that she is helping to create."

"So, we have talked, and she now accepts that she is making it an eventually by her thoughts. Now she thinks, I know how to do the stretches, I will do some extra stretches tonight, I will make sure I keep my water intake up, I will make sure I stand level, and then it will not happen - and if it does, I will go to Nikke; simple."

"That is, if you like, the whole link and she now accepts that is one of the ways to prevent it - by not pre-empting it and making it happen."

Nikke Ariff practices a range of alternative therapies, including face reflexology and the Bowen technique at her practice Mind, Body Positive based in Baker Street, London. She can be contacted on 07941 417441. She also organises courses.

Alternatively visit her website at http://www.mindbodypositive.com/

Rachael Hannan 2006

Publlished on 50connect.co.uk

Die Young Late In Life: Interview With Leslie Kenton

Leslie Kenton debunks the ageing myths.

Would you cut sugar and carbohydrates from your diet, walk thirty minutes a day and follow a weight training programme four times a week if it meant you would reverse high blood pressure, lower cholesterol, lose excess weight and experience an abundance of energy and zest for life like never before?

A New Zealand television documentary followed eight participants who did just that. In only five weeks their biomarkers, the medical measurement of age, had either normalised or were well on their way to a healthy level. Every participant had increased vitality, a renewed sense of adventure and drive to accomplish their dormant dreams.

Health guru, broadcaster and journalist Leslie Kenton now aged 60, was asked to make the documentary whilst writing Age Power, the book which and exposes our false but commonly held notions about ageing. Using the latest scientific evidence she readdresses the lies, myths and statistics which govern our perception of health.

“Forget birthday’s. It’s your biological age that matters, not your chronological age. By making simple changes to the way we eat, use our bodies and align ourselves creatively or spiritually, Age Power can enable us to die young late in life.”

A complete anti-ageing Bible, Age Power takes the reader along the path to achieving complete rejuvenation and includes chapters on beneficial herbs, Alzheimer’s, prostrate cancer and the menopause.

It takes a holistic approach to health, incorporating body, mind and soul. Living with Age Power isn’t simply a matter of physical health, it also concerns spiritual wellbeing so that as human beings, we can live to our full potential.

“The internal and the external, the psychological and the physical are so bound together holistically, there’s no way you can separate them. Shifting things on one level, on the physical for example, helps shift things on a psychological level so gradually, people become genuinely autonomous and learn to trust themselves.”

Living With Age Power

Age Power examines what the body is genetically programmed to thrive on and in doing so, returns to the lifestyle of our Palaeolithic ancestors. From them we have inherited the genes which predispose us to the age degeneration we are so familiar with, but how we live dictates the way these genes behave.

Leslie returns to the diet of our Palaeolithic ancestors, debunking the low fat, high carbohydrate regime experts currently recommend.

“Genetically, over a million years of human evolution we have eaten in a particular way, whether we lived in the South Seas or in Northern Siberia. We have always been hunter gatherers, eating masses of non-starchy herbs and vegetables. Not potatoes and not grains. These only came into being during the agricultural revolution which peaked 4000 years ago. It takes 10,000 years to genetically change the development of the body, so today our body’s are processing foods we do not have the genetic material to handle.”

“In terms of changing how we eat, it means cutting out the foods our body has never been able to deal with and which we now eat in massive quantities. This means sugar and all its derivatives found in convenience foods. It means the masses of grains the government is still telling us to eat, the pastas, breads and pizzas.”

“What’s more, eating masses of non-starchy, bright coloured vegetables also provides the body with phytonutrients which scientists now know are more important than vitamins and antioxidants in preventing age degeneration.”

Our current diet and genetic makeup is also responsible for the rise in obesity which has tripled in the last twenty years. Currently, nearly two-thirds of British men and over half of all women are overweight.

We've been trained by our parents, largely by the education system but also by the media and government to listen to the so-called experts and never trust ourselves.
“Carbohydrates are the reason people get fat, but sugar is a carbohydrate too. Carbohydrates raise blood sugar levels very high, where as if you’re eating non-starchy vegetables, blood sugar levels are raised, but only very gently so they do not cause an insulin reaction.”

“Insulin is the most important factor that determines how quickly we age. A diet which rapidly creates high blood sugar levels forces the body to secrete masses of insulin in order to control it. When this happens, insulin is unable to escort glucose from the blood sugar into the cells to create the energy which runs the metabolism."

If insulin cannot start the production of energy, the body is unable to burn calories efficiently. Genetically, the majority of us have inherited the ‘thrifty gene.’ Essential throughout our evolution, this gene encourages the body to store fat so we can survive famines and harsh winters, but today, our current diets hinder the body’s ability to burn calories and this gene stores them as fat.

"There’s so much heart ache out there, particularly amongst women. They spend their lives thinking that they’re not as good as others because they gain weight, but it’s a biological thing.”

“This is major stuff. It's so life changing, if only we can get more people to understand it, it will literally transform the face of health throughout the world but it’s hard when we’ve still got the media out there pumping us full of nonsense about fat and carbs. It took me two months to get my head around it because I, like everyone else, had been so brainwashed.”

Taking Control Of Your Health

Questioning wide-spread authoritative opinion and taking responsibility for our own health is central to Age Power.

“We've been trained by our parents, largely by the education system but also by the media and government to listen to the so-called experts and never trust ourselves. My goal has been to share with people the techniques, information and hopefully inspiration that enables them to come to a point of balance in their own bodies so they can hear from within what is good for them, what suits them and what doesn’t.”

Leslie also blames the media and gerontologists for perpetuating our negative image of age.

“I hear people talking, ‘Oh I’m just hanging around waiting for the bits to fall off' - what!? Three years ago I became a photographer quite by accident but I really liked it. I’m now writing my own film script, I have things I want to do thank you very much and I don’t want my life inhibited by not having enough energy to do whatever I want.”

“I’ve been a mother for 42 years. It’s one of the most enriching things in the world, but that’s it, I’ve finished. I want to do other things and that was the most exciting thing we found with the television documentary. The participants’ self-esteem just soared, they became excited about life and many changed their jobs because they had the energy and confidence to do so and this is what health is all about. Age Power is nothing more than expressing your creativity, energy, enthusiasm and adding to your life whatever feeds you psychologically.”

“Health is the foundation that makes it possible for us to use the gifts each of us has to express. Age Power has enabled me to experience a deeper level of joy because as you live this way so much of what really doesn’t belong to you but has been learned or accumulated on a biological level and made your body toxic, falls away and genuine rejuvenation takes place.”

Age Power is available at all good book shops, priced £13.99, or you can purchase it from Amazon, priced £9.09.

Rachael Hannan: 2002

Published on 50connect.co.uk

Fact Box 1

Biomarkers are the medical measurement of biological age. They include;

Cholesterol Level
Blood Pressure
Bone Density
Muscle Strength
Lean Body Mass (BMI Index)

Fact Box 2

Leslie's Meal Suggestions

Breakfast

Live yogurt topped with slivered almonds and fruit.

Omlette packed with fresh vegetables such as peppers, tomatoes, spring onions.

Grilled fish such as kippers or salmon, served on a bed of rocket.

Lunch

Large salad topped with chicken, turkey or tuna. Salads should be made from any selection of raw vegetables. Use as wide a variety of vegetables as possible (cabbage, grated carrot, beetroot, broccoli, peppers, apples, radishes) not simply lettuce, cucumber and tomato.

Dress with olive oil, lemon juice, chopped herbs and spices to create different flavours.

Cottage cheese on cos lettuce services with slices of peach, apricot and apple.

Dinner:

Sautéed sea bass with garlic, steamed broccoli and courgettes with slivered almonds. Strawberries with fresh lemon juice and mint. Slice oranges with shaved coconut.

Grilled prawns served with aioli and salad. Strawberries dipped in finely ground almonds.

Bunless turkey burger - combine minced turkey with finely chopped onions and red pepper. Grill with courgettes, onions slices and Portobello mushrooms.

Stir fried chicken with bok choy, bean sprouts, ginger, green onions, garlic, water chestnuts cooked in coconut oil with a coconut cream sauce sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds. Watermelon balls with ginger.

Give Yoga A Go

Yoga teacher Barbara Currie explains why anyone resolving to boost their health and lose weight this year should consider yoga.

Barbara Currie has been practising yoga for thirty years and has become one of the UK's experts, writing for Yoga Magazine, speaking on BBC Radio4's Women's Hour and appearing on television programmes such as GMTV, Something For The Weekend and Open House with Gloria Hunniford.

She discovered yoga quite accidentally in the early 70s after moving from London to Scotland.

"I trained as a state registered nurse and worked at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington (London), then I left and flew for British Airways. I saw the world and had a marvellous time for four years, then I got married, moved to Scotland and had two children in rapid succession."

"I was actually quite lonely in Scotland. The contrast from flying around the world and having an amazing time with massages in Tokyo and water-skiing lessons in Bermuda, to being stuck in a new town, with two small children, not knowing anyone was the terrible. I thought, I've got to get out there and do something so I looked in the paper and all I saw was curling or yoga, so I thought I would try yoga."

"I walked in and it just clicked right away. My teacher just radiated health and although I never knew her real age, I reckoned then that she was in her 60s. She could move into every position with effortless ease, and if she turned around, she looked like an 18 year old. I thought to myself, whatever she is doing, it just works - it is as simple as that, and it does work."

The reason it works, Barbara says, is because it is a complete system of positive health, incorporating mind, body and soul.

"You work every area of the body so your breathing improves, you become more flexible, have more energy and basically feel tremendously better at the end of the class than you did when you arrived - and that is very rewarding."

One of the reasons yoga is so beneficial is because it encourages deep breathing which increases the amount of oxygen in the body. Very few of us breath properly on a daily basis. We take shallow breaths that fill only the top part of our lungs, where as a yoga breath starts at the belly, fills the sides of the ribs and then fill the top of the chest, right up to the collar bone.

"As we get older or when we are stressed, our breathing becomes more shallow," continues Barbara.

"But at the end of the day, no matter what you die of, you really die from a lack of oxygen. If the lungs were stretched out, our actual lung capacity is equal to half a tennis court, so by making the lungs work hard and breathing very, very deeply you are filling the lungs properly and sending extra oxygen into the system. As oxygen is required for every cell in your body, the more there is in your system, the better you feel - and that is what helps the body create its own system of positive health."

The most common misconception, Barbara says, is that people think they have to be flexible to do yoga. Practising yoga enables you to become more flexible, but flexibility is not important when you first start a yoga class.

"People say I can't possibly do yoga, I am not a flexible person, but most people are flexible - it is just that your joints stiffen dramatically very, very quickly if you don't use them - in fact as early as your late twenties."

"In yoga, we use every joint, in every which way possible and this stimulates the synovial fluid in the joints, which lubricates them and prevents deterioration and arthritis. With regular practice you will be surprised at how quickly your joints loosen up, and you will find that you can keep your joints flexible if you really work at it, carefully, right up to the end of your days."

Besides joint health, yoga will help every other area of your body, making you look slimmer and feel fitter.

"Yoga gives you energy, helps you to relax, best stress, calms and refocuses your mind, and just really helps your whole body. You will correct your posture, release tension in your neck and shoulders which will prevent headaches. You will reduce back aches because yoga keeps your spine flexible. You will also improve your shape. As you begin to correct your posture, your body gets better and better and the fatty deposits start spreading out nicely, and you develop long beautifully slender muscles which give you this lovely lean figure."

Yoga helps with weight-loss on two levels. On the one hand yoga stimulates weight loss because certain postures stimulate the thyroid gland which is responsible for controlling your metabolism among other things. The other reason is sue to the fact that yoga gives your health an overall boost, which naturally makes you not want to indulge.

"Yoga works as much on the inside as it does on the outside, so it has an internal effect on all the vital organs, the circulation and the nervous system - and one of the glands it does affect is the thyroid gland which regulates hunger and cravings."

"Yoga is also a system of integrated health, and as such, it affects your energy on a much deeper level and this leads to changes in your mind-set, not only your body. Yoga stimulates healthy eating, although very few people understand this at first but it really does comes from within, it honestly does. A lot of people think it is nonsense, but by the end of the first term, they say to me: 'Do you know, I used to have three glasses of wine and now I only want half a glass because that's all I need.'"

"This is because yoga helps you relax and once you start feeling good, you don't want to ruin your body by shoving junk food or alcohol into it. Your body naturally leads you to a healthy lifestyle and healthier habits because yoga is a system of positive health."

Besides weight loss, yoga can assist us with other aspects of ageing from going through the menopause to dealing with retirement.

"Yoga also helps get rid of the tensions within you. I am sixty-four so I know that life is not totally care-free when you reach fifty. You still have problems with your kids, you have older relatives to care for, and have to deal with big changes in life such as the menopause or dealing with retirement - and yoga can help in many ways, and people from all walks of life and ages do it."

"When you start moving your body, you start feeling more positive about it. Often the menopause occurs at the empty nest period, but once you feel good and people start telling you that you are looking better, it boosts your self-esteem. Hot flushes disappear because of the cooling breaths we do in the practice and your body just becomes a better system of entire health."

The powerful effect it has on the body is one reason Barbara suggests that anyone toying with the idea of joining a yoga class should really just do it.

"I would honestly hate to grow one year older without it. Seriously, I look at some of my friends and I think, thank god I did yoga because a lot of them now have problems with their backs, hips and knees."

"Yoga keeps your joints so flexible, I wake up every morning feeling energised and I sleep very well at night. I am just so very, very grateful to it. I even went for an eye test and the optician said my vision is 100 percent perfect and that it was probably because of the exercises we do which strengthen the eye muscles. I am still the same weight as I was when got married. My shape has not changed at all which is a bit of a problem sometimes because my daughter says: "Mum, you've had that in your wardrobe twenty years, throw it out!" And I say: "Yes, but it still fits me!"

Of course Barbara has also witnessed yoga having an extraordinary effect on people who have had serious illnesses and disabilities.

"A lady came to me crying her eyes out. She had a problem with her back and had had an operation for it which had not worked. Her friend brought her to see me, and she said that all she wanted to do was have the ability to walk around the shops for half an hour, and if she could ever drive her own car again, that would be marvellous. Two years later she is trekking down the Amazon - and she was doing two classes a week. You've got to go carefully, you've got to take it gently, and gradually, you do get better."

"Another man had suffered a severe stroke, and the doctors said that he would be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. His wife was given a grim medical prognosis for him but he has been doing my advanced classes twice a week and now, he and his wife have just come back from Vietnam. He also walked a section of the great wall of china two years ago. So to be able to do that after being told such a dismal forecast is just amazing."

For those thinking of trying a class, Barbara suggests trying many different classes until you find a teacher and a class that feels right for you.

"I think yoga is very personal. When I started training there was only Hatha yoga, but really, all types of yoga stem from the same source - and all teachers add their own input. Some people hold the moves much longer, others concentrate on breathing and some on working the body very hard."

"The thing is to try a few classes. Speak to the teacher and ask if you can try one. If it doesn't work for you, try another. When I moved back to London after being in Scotland, I thought my yoga class in Scotland was going to very basic compared to the one in London, but every class I tried in London, I hated."

"I spoke to my teacher back in Scotland, and she said, do you own thing which is what made me decide to become a teacher. I suppose, she was a bit of a mentor for me. I think I just loved her way of teaching, the way she made people feel better about themselves and the way she inspired people. She just loved everyone, and we all walked out with a smile on our faces. When people came in tetchy and stressed she could immediately relax them, and everyone flocked to her classes if they could get in. She was one of Richard Hittleman's top pupils - and he was doing television at that time so I was incredibly lucky to have her."

It will come as no surprise to hear that Barbara has absolutely no intention of retiring, intending to continue teaching at her yoga school in Surrey.

"I do not think I will ever retire because it is just so rewarding. My youngest pupil is five, the oldest eighty-five; I enjoy stimulating health and am very lucky that I now teach and share yoga with others. It's given me a lot of life, I meet lovely new people and I find it immensely rewarding. I am just incredibly grateful I learnt it."

Barbara Currie's Exercise DVDs

The Seven Secrets Of Yoga is for the person has a busy life and can only manage 10 minutes a day. One day you work your tummy, another your hips and thighs, and another your legs. This DVD costs £19.99 from all good retailers. Alternatively you can purchase it from Amazon for £14.98.

Her Power Packed Yoga DVD is a higher impact class for those who want to exercise for longer. This costs £17.99 from all good retailers, or £12.98 from Amazon.

You can learn more about Barbara Currie at her website: www.barbaracurrieyoga.com

Rachael Hannan: Interview 2007

Published on 50connect.co.uk