Editor's Letter
Spring naturally puts a DETOX in your step
Until scientists can draw more direct links between toxins and disease, we’re left to wonder: Can we successfully reduce our toxic load?
Dr Elson Haas, expert on our panel and author of The Detox Diet says: ‘I look no further than the thousands of people I’ve seen lose weight, lower their cholesterol, get off their medications, and feel better after completing my ten-day detox diet.’
I am a bit of a detox devotee and am convinced environmental toxins are to blame for a range of ills from fatigue to cancer, and that our number one priority should be to get rid of them. The CDC’s National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, is a scientific paper to spell out the sheer variety of toxic residues
lurking in human bodies. Some detox experts routinely fast one day each week, while others, such as Haas, fast once a year for up to ten days.
People have been ceremonially cleansing themselves long before the advent of dioxins and PCBs. Native Americans use sweat lodges for religious and purification rites; in India, an age-old system of healing, called Ayurveda, is built around ridding the body of toxins. Detoxing is a booming business, and why shouldn’t it be? What person in their right mind wouldn’t want to lighten their toxic load? Colonics and multiday juice fasts are nearly as commonplace as hot stone massages and reflexology. To read the article by Dr Haas on detox, click Detox done right – the purification process.
Those who do not find time every day for health must one day sacrifice a lot of time for illness.
And if you plan on reading the whole magazine right now, take a break of at least 20 seconds, every 20 minutes, to look at least 20 feet away. This 20-20-20 rule has been confirmed by scientists at Aston University to help ease some of the symptoms of prolonged computer use.
Special mention: In this issue Patrick Holford shares his latest research on Alzheimers and the evidence shows that, according to two new studies, a synergistic effect of having optimal omega 3 and B vitamin intake can prevent Alzheimers and that a lack of B vitamins drive the pathology in Alzheimer’s. See his very important article The Dynamic Duo for Dementia Prevention.
THANK YOU TO OUR EXPERTS
Our authors receive no payment or any other form of remuneration from us or from the industry. They take time out from their busy schedules to write articles – and then we insist that they meet our deadlines, submit extra references, answer endless queries from reviewers and copy editors, and respond to the letters we receive from you, our readers. Here’s to all of them! May their tireless and tremendous efforts bring them well-deserved rewards.
Yours in Healthy Living
Prevent Skin Cancer from the Inside Out
Table of Contents ↑|According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, a plant- heavy diet rich in antioxidants can decrease your chances of all types of cancer, skin cancer included, by 20%.
Mushrooms as Medicine
Table of Contents ↑|Medicinal Mushrooms activate various components of the immune and nervous systems, support brain and cognitive function, the regulation of blood sugar levels and increase energy levels and stamina. And that’s not all!
Disease and Health
Table of Contents ↑|Any perceived excess generates imbalance, with a resulting stress upon the system as a whole. Excessive eating, worry, stimulation or sloth will cause ‘defects’ in our body structure. ‘Dis-ease’ itself is a process of too much and too little – function out of time with need – like a tyre out of balance that wobbles as it spins.
Insomnia & Related Sleep Disorders
Table of Contents ↑|Today insufficient sleep is increasingly seen as important to public health, with too little shut-eye linked to medical and occupational errors as well as disasters on the road and in factories. So our sleep quality needs to be prioritised with measures put in place to ensure a good night’s rest.
Detox Done Right – the purification process
Table of Contents ↑|Our health is a consequence of many factors, a lot of which we can control – starting with our food intake. Elson Haas moves from the need to avoid the usual bad stuff like alcohol, nicotine and caffeine, to common foods that may cause unexpected reactions.
The Dynamic Duo for Dementia Prevention
Table of Contents ↑|Are Omega 3 + B vitamins - the dynamic duo for dementia prevention? There are many factors that increase a person’s risk for dementia, such as age, but very few that are ‘disease modifying’. A risk factor such as age is obviously not modifiable. You can live to any age without getting Alzheimer’s. That means that Alzheimer’s is not a natural function of age. Age might ‘predict’ increased risk but it tells you nothing about how to prevent it.
Get Social