adamfinchley

[adamfinchley]

OUR MICROBIOME AND HOW TO KEEP IT HAPPY

I’ve just been reading an article in my newspaper about our microbiome and what are the main features that affect its efficiency. 

The article goes on about our genetics, any drugs including antibiotics we may take, our personal hygiene, physical activity and diet. 

It doesn’t mention the importance of oxygen in the process and although the article goes into some more detail about the above, it seems to put little emphasis on the type of food we eat. 

Understanding the difference between probiotic and prebiotic food is important. Probiotics are foods that contain good live gut bacteria and prebiotic foods are things like fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts and whole grains. 

In other words, prebiotic food is designed to satisfy not just our hunger, but to keep our existing gut bacteria happy as well. There are certain types of bacteria that live in our intestines that look forward to a meal as much as we do. 

In so doing, they are like any other form of bacteria that exist on rotting organic matter, and reduce the mass to worthless waste. In our gut this munching away by bacteria means we benefit with the nutrients it releases that our gut lining then absorbs.

The intestines is an aerobic atmosphere and so is the vast majority of our bacteria. Other microorganisms also live here. Fungi in the form of candida lives inside us. Usually it remains in a small enough number not to cause any problem.

But it can sometimes create a problem we call thrush and this can usually be eliminated with an oxygen agent such as Oxysan. 

Candida doesn’t like oxygen and this makes it quite rare. When the world began, it is safe to speculate that the first living organisms on the planet, four and a half billion years ago, were creatures such as this. And when mankind blows himself to oblivion, they’ll be one of the few things left alive. 

Since our gut bacteria has been on Earth longer than we humans have existed, it’s almost worth considering that as they were the first, we are the aliens. 

Like all symbiotic relationships, we cannot exist without some bacteria, and our gut bacteria would struggle to thrive without us. 

Any of the oxygen based supplements such as Oxysan may be considered as colon cleansers. The extra boost of oxygen agitates good gut bacteria helping to shift any sticky compacted waste. 

Junk food that often contains strange additives, may stick on the gut lining and result in many minor problems such as constipation, bloating, and other discomforting conditions. 

In Victorian times, colonic irrigation was all the rage. Spa towns like Harrogate did a roaring trade in this, and continues to a slightly lesser degree today. 

Most people don’t have the time or the inclination for the Harrogate lavage. And Oxysan seems a much kinder and cheaper method of colon cleansing.

[adamfinchley]

LISTEN TO YOUR STOMACH BEFORE PREPARING A MEAL

It’s annoying when some TV producer comes up with an idea for a new show and it becomes so successful that it spawns a load of copycats.

A classic example of this is an Antique program that began in 1977 and has been running weekly ever since. 

The program has lost a lot of its appeal because the internet makes it easier for guests to have done their own research before appearing. It means there are fewer genuine surprise reactions.

Anyway, this program has led to plenty of similar antique shows, although you can replace antique with the word junk now.  

The same problem has happened with cookery shows. There are far too many of them and it seems everyone that appears is an expert mostly repeating variations of the same recipes. 

One of these cookery programs seems to have disappeared. This is a shame for me and many others as it seemed just that little bit different. 

Guests were presented with a number of seemingly unconnected ingredients and they had to find a way of putting them together and producing a tasty dish. This is just the way I like to cook, and I believe many others also like to cook this way.

I also have a theory that this creative cooking is a great way to have a good variety of healthy meals. I also believe that you can listen to your gut and it will tell you what is good for you. 

Many years ago when I suggested this to a friend, he thought I was clearly mad. But now, there is much evidence that our brain health and gut health is more closely connected than ever thought before. 

It is also becoming clear that variety is the best way to good health. Our gut bacteria needs to be fed, and it likes nothing better than prebiotic products it can all feast upon. 

Modern thinking is that at least a third of our daily food intake should consist of of fresh fruit and vegetables. 

Good food should keep us regular and prevent any blockages that leads to constipation and other digestion problems. If this occurs, there are supplements such as Oxysan that is one of the best natural ways to move things along. 

Some newspaper recently revealed the order a chef and nutritionist put in for the main diet of the England Rugby team, for one week at their training ground.

It included 100Kg of berries, 200kg of bananas, 150kg of potatoes, 25kg of pasta, 50 litres of milk per day, and 2,000 eggs. 

There was plenty of sushi, not on the list as this was consumed fresh at a Japanese restaurant. Such a diet should preclude the need of Oxysan.

Compare this list with the average family supermarket shopping that mostly consists of ultra processed foods. There’s no fat on those rugby players, just plenty of muscle and a diet that has plenty of collagen protein that helps repair soft tissue damage as quickly as possible.

[adamfinchley]

BRAIN AND GUT WORK IN UNISON TO KEEP US WELL

We use the expression of going with your gut, and it seems there is evidence that this has a serious primal truth to it. The connection between gut and brain is now a proven fact.

The expression of neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorder, may not roll off the tongue so easily for most of us, but medical science is constantly revealing remarkable connections between good diet and gut bacteria, in relation to brain health.

It has been discovered that the greater the diversity of gut bacteria in children, the more likely it is of an increased learning ability.

It’s strange isn’t it that we get urges for certain foods and this particularly with women in pregnancy. We should listen to our gut. It may be warning us that we are low on a certain vitamin or mineral.

On the other-hand, we should not always listen to our gut when it craves ultra processed foods like frozen pizzas or constant burgers. The same with sweet sugary food, as the latter may be a sign of early diabetes. 

Ultra processed foods are laced with additives that are designed to create craving for more. Many of these processed foods are by definition, low in fibre. Low in fibre diet means our gut bacteria isn’t getting enough to eat. 

This in turn, means the brain gets the message that more food is required and this eventually leads to obesity.

Obesity is a modern problem and there is no doubt it can be mostly attributed to over-eating of low fibre, highly processed food. 

The UK Heart Association sets out a table of recommended daily safe amounts of sugar, sodium, and some other common food additives. 

Sodium is added to white processed bread to act as a stabilizer as well as a preservative, and additionally, to add flavour. Just two thin slices of this bread provides over a third of the recommended daily maximum amount we should take of sodium.

The USA has an even worse obese condition than the UK. And in the US, it has been found that the average adult intake of sodium today is 3.400 milligrams a day when the recommended maximum is 500. 

Bacteria of any kind does not thrive well on salt, or sodium. And our gut bacteria is responsible for the final stages of food digestion and deserves to be looked after.

Bacteriology is a fairly new science not least because it took the invention of the microscope to view them. 

Around twenty years ago a handful of the most common and useful gut bacteria were identified. The are reproduced in laboratory conditions and sold as supplements such as the popular Fivelac.

As the name suggests, Fivelac contains five of these bacteria types and the boost they give us results in a colon cleanse. 

Any type of colon cleanse is good for our system. Back in my rugby playing days, a few pints of stout and a vindaloo seemed to do the trick, but Fivelac is a safer and gentler option.

[adamfinchley]

BLOOD TESTING AND THE FUTURE OF STOOL TRANSPLANTS

In some countries a visit to hospital as an outpatient automatically begins with a blood test. This is true in Turkey when a friend was visiting a private hospital with some worry-some pain in their chest.

After a brief talk with the heart specialist, he was directed to the blood station where the phlebotomist took a couple of syringes of blood. 

He was told to amuse himself for a couple of hours and return for the results. This was no hardship as the hospital was on the waterfront of a tourist part of town, and there were several coffee bars to while away the hours. 

On return to the hospital blood station, a folder was handed to him with a sheet of paper detailing the twenty or more blood results. Things like cholesterol, iron, sugar and so on. Like me, he didn’t know more than twenty different tests were available so quickly.

Additionally, besides each count was another column revealing an acceptable range of the ideal counts. 

He was shown into the consultants office where the same results were already revealed on a large flat wall mounted TV screen. The consultant ran through the highlighted, and relevant to his condition, results. 

As it happened, after an ultrasound and ECG, he was released without further ado. The efficiency of the whole procedure was impressive. As is the custom in Turkey, he was given a file with a record of everything for him to keep. 

Later, someone told him that they had a colonoscopy procedure at another private hospital and when they left, they were given a CD of the procedure to watch in the comfort of their own home. Imagine mixing that up with your holiday snaps to show the in-laws. 

Where these blood tests are the norm, there is a real possibility that sometime soon in the future, hospitals will take a stool sample to discover many other secrets of our health. 

This procedure is already in operation for men over sixty in the UK to test for early onset colon cancer. But in future it may be used for many other tests. 

The state of our colon gut bacteria, or microbiome, can reveal a great deal. A healthy gut should be easy to maintain as long as we eat a healthy diet. Our gut needs a balance of both prebiotic and probiotic foods. 

Sometimes it also helps to take a supplement like Threelac that boosts good bacteria and helps counter candida along with other toxic waste. 

Threelac is one of the original probiotic supplements that was developed just over twenty years ago. The fact that it is still a worldwide best seller after all these years, confirms its usefulness. 

Donating blood is a selfless and harmless procedure that we should all consider doing regularly. But believe it or not, there is already research into the likelihood that stool transplant will become another normal medical procedure.

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A PIE A DAY KEEPS THE DIET AWAY AND OTHER TALES

Before we look at the microbiome and the workings of our digestion, I am reminded of the expression a fat friend of mine uses. 

Instead of the old saying that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, he used to say to me, a pie a day keeps the diet away. 

Other expressions such as salad dodger, gives you an idea of the shape of the man. 

A huge amount of our overall mass is dedicated to digestion of food and drink. The purpose of eating is to convert food into energy. There are thirteen essential vitamins we need to have in our diet, and fifteen minerals.

Surprisingly, all the vitamins were only formally categorised and given names or numbers, in the twentieth century. Before then, humans had worked out that certain foods were good for health. An obvious example of this was lime and lemon juice to drastically reduce the chances of sailors getting scurvy.

Our digestive system is obviously extremely clever at extracting all these vitamins and minerals, and the best way to ensure we get them all is to eat a great variety of food. 

It’s only in recent years that nutritionists and others in similar fields of study, have come to the conclusion that ultra processed food is in the most part, not helpful as part of a healthy diet. 

Other revelations are that there should be a good mix of probiotic and prebiotic foods. Probiotics are foods like live yoghurt and any other type of food or drink that contains good live digestive microorganisms. 

This is adding to the existing trillions that live in our gut, boosting their numbers. Prebiotics are foods that we used to call roughage. Green leaf vegetables, whole grain and nuts, and anything else that our gut bacteria like to chew on. 

Eating well is also primarily about feeding the brain. The brain is perhaps the most active muscle in the body. It needs a constant supply of enriched blood to keep it active. 

In what is considered by many to be the greatest discovery of this century so far, the connection between gut and brain is the most exciting. 

The connection between these two parts of the body even has its own set of direct nerve communicating neurons. When one part suffers in any way, the other also may have problems.

There is another crucial element that is essential for the life of the healthy gut and brain, and every single other body cell. This is oxygen and when there is a minor gut problem such as constipation, bloating or other irritation, a boost in the form of the supplement Oxy Powder may help. 

Oxy Powder uses magnesium oxide and citric acid that is designed to release nascent oxygen into the bowels. This should help liquefy any compacted faecal matter. 

It’s designed to remove any other toxic waste and help to rebalance the digestive system.

[adamfinchley]

THE SUNSHINE VITAMIN AND THE GOOD LIFE

There is more than one series of programs running on daytime television about people from Britain moving to remote parts of France, Italy, Romania and Spain, and renovating derelict old properties.

In some cases, this might be the whole of one deserted hamlet or village. Usually, though not always, these are young couples with a romantic notion of getting back to a simpler and more satisfying way of life than city or urban Britain.

Their enthusiasm and hard graft is to be admired. And one thing they all share is a desire to grow their own fruit and vegetables and sometimes, keep their own livestock.

It takes me back to a quirky television series many years ago about two suburban neighbouring couples. One couple suddenly decided to get out of the rat race and boring jobs in the City, and concentrate on digging up their nice neat garden to grow vegetables and anything else they could think of to become self sufficient.

They were thought of as cranks. But looking back today, they were probably the sanest people on the planet.

Two newspaper articles grabbed my interest today. Both are just about related. The first was a story about sourdough bread and supermarkets cynical ploy to convince customers, that if they eat their version, they are looking after their gut.

They aren’t. If they are lucky enough to find a true artisan baker somewhere in their town or village, they may well be looking after their gut. Better still, we should all look to baking our own version.

Food manufacturing along with the big four or five supermarket chains in the UK, have become a monstrous industry centred on shareholder profit, and little concern for our health.

A decade or so ago, few people were aware of the benefits of home-made sourdough bread. Classes sprang up around the country teaching people how to make it. There are just three ingredients; flour, water and salt. It also takes time and patience.

Supermarkets arrived late in the game but realised the potential to make profit. So they made their own sourdough and used a number of tricks to make it appear that real bakers were making it in store.

They aren’t. It is palmed off as sourdough and sold in plastic. It contains commercial yeast, that is never used in the original, it and has emulsifiers and flavourings to fool the public.

The article in the paper today reveals some new research on the harm emulsifiers can do to our gut, and the possible connection with bowel cancer.

The best sourdough that presents the highest fibre and B vitamin, is with the use of spelt or rye grain.

White bread has little fibre and no useful quantity of any vitamins.

If we eat well we should get all are nutrients. There are a couple of odd exceptions and vitamin D3 is the most obvious.

A vitamin D3 supplement is widely available and along with B12, particularly good for firm and elderly.

[adamfinchley]

THE SUNSHINE VITAMIN MISSING IN A BRITISH WINTER

In a good healthy diet, variety is key to getting the full number and quantity of essential vitamins and minerals.

There are reckoned to be thirteen vitamins and fifteen minerals that we should be getting. There is also a need for a mix between prebiotic and probiotic types of food. 

The thinking is that our gut microbiome, are mostly hungry little creatures that need to munch on fibre in our food. This is the reason nutritionists keep going on about our aim to consume five fruits or vegetables a day. 

In conjunction with research into the powerful nerve connection between the gut bacteria and our brain, it seems that our hunger pangs and cravings for certain nutrients is driven by our brain. 

The brain is told by the gut that there is a need for certain extra minerals or vitamins. Our hunger is not those stomach pangs or cravings for certain food. After all, food passes through our stomach in a relatively short passage of time. And we don’t crave more, immediately after a meal.

Throughout history, humans have slowly learnt that certain foods give particular health benefits. 

The obvious one is the story of vitamin C in the search for a cure, or prevention of the spread of scurvy, suffered by many sailors on long journeys in the great age of sea exploration.

This was during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. When on-board fresh produce, such as green vegetables and fruit, ran out, a naval doctor called John Lind, loaded up the ship with fresh limes when in a West Indies port. 

With every sailor invited to suck on a whole lime each every day, it not only prevented scurvy, but in one month, reversed it dramatically. 

With many similar examples throughout history of observation that certain foods helps with certain medical conditions, a catalogue of foods and benefits was built.

But it wasn’t until the first half of the twentieth century that science was able to explain the reason, and to build a table of vitamins.  

As we reach old age, there are two vitamins that we should be thinking about taking as a supplement. Vitamin B12 is one of these and perhaps even more importantly, Vitamin D3. 

Vitamin D3 is a commonly taken supplement particularly in our long dark winters. This is because the best source is from sunlight. Our skin only needs exposure to the sun for twenty minutes a day to be able to absorb enough. 

Many elderly people don’t necessarily get out much in the cold, and even when they do, in winter, they are likely to be fully covered up. 

The best source of vitamin D3 other than the sun, is oily fish. For what ever reason, British people seem to eat little fish these days. 

Another source of vitamin D3 is through milk. Cows milk is the best, although if you read the label, the milk we drink today, has this vitamin added. The reason is probably a sorry sign of the times that nutrients in soil is sadly, depleted.

[adamfinchley]

WORLD TESTING OF BACTERIA IN JUNE OF EVERY YEAR

For some microbiologists around the world, June 21st is a special day. Not a lot of people know that. 

It’s the global metagenomic study of microbes. On this day in June, you should not be surprised to catch sight of the odd character swabbing all sorts of common street furniture in public places. 

This may be in a library, a bus station, airport, any type of public handrail, and a hundred other common places in the city. They are collecting a random set of DNA, RNA, and other microbes that live in all these hundreds of cities around the world. 

There are many common microbes in all these cities, but sometimes there are intriguing variations. It is thought these differences are caused by climate, geography, weather, altitude, building design and ventilation. 

The over all objective is to build a microbial landscape and find any pattern between human health and habitat.

We think of humans having their own unique gut microbiome but any environment that contains bacteria will also have a unique combination. Other animals have their own microbiome so why not cities?

The common complaint sometimes called travellers’ tummy, that many people getting when going abroad for business of holiday, may be directly caused by being in an unfamiliar environment. 

This does not just mean a different diet, but air borne and contact with new strains of microorganisms. 

The importance of diet for physical and mental health can never be exaggerated. But weirdly, we should also consider the health of our gut bacteria. These trillions of little creatures like specific prebiotic foods to munch onto.

In so doing, they help complete the final part of digestion by releasing nutrients from our food into the lining of our gut. 

The purpose of eating is to get energy through thirteen vitamins and fifteen minerals. It may sound repetitive, but the goal of thirty portions a week of fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts and grain, is the best way we can achieve this.

Ultra processed food we typically buy in supermarkets, along with heavily processed takeaway meals, rarely gives us enough fibre. 

The simple test is to eat a couple of slices of white processed bread and usually still feel hungry. Try the same with some good quality whole grain like sourdough, and our hunger is better satisfied. 

And the white bread usually contains an unhealthy amount of salt or sodium used as a preservative, and extremely bad for long term health. 

Another important part of a good diet is probiotic foods. Normally we think of fresh raw yoghurt, kefir, some soft cheeses, sauerkraut and so on, but supplements like Oxysan can also help.

Oxysan introduces another essential part of our diet onto our bowel and helps clear any compacted waste. This is oxygen that along with hydrogen, is impossible to live without.     

The common complaint of traveller's tummy that many people get when they travel abroad for business or pleasure, may be directly because of a different set of bacteria in food, water, or air.

[adamfinchley]

MICROBIOME AND GLOBAL CITY SAMPLING DAY

We read a lot these days about the gut microbiome, our health, and the connection with our brain. 

But the term microbiome does not apply exclusively to our gut. It means a mix of microorganisms that exist in specific places. Our gut contains a certain set of these single cell archaea along with fungi, bacteria and viruses.

A completely different mix of those might exist at the top of a mountain, the bottom of a pond, or any other place. 

It’s safe to assume the mix found in different animals will be unique on account of genetic differences, diet and other factors.

It should therefore come as little surprise that there is currently a study into the microbiome of cities around the world. Global city sampling day exists on the 21st June every year by teams of researchers all around the world.

If you live and work in London, your microbiome in and on you, is not likely to be the same as someone that lives in Tokyo, or any other city.

People’s microbiome is influenced by geography, altitude, climate, design and build of buildings, and ventilation. Perhaps this is the reason some travellers get stomach bug abroad. 

On the 21st June, teams of research assistants take swabs from surfaces in libraries, rail stations, parks, subways, buses, trains, and many other common places. 

To give it the proper name, this study is all collated and called the global metagenomic study of microbes. 

It is already throwing up some fascinating early results. DNA and RNA is all part of the research and since the project has been running, some sites have claimed to find that some bacteria is growing resistant to certain cleaning materials. 

For many years, end of the day cleaners have used the same wipes on surfaces. Those surfaces are showing signs of the an increase of microbes as that resistance grows. 

Our own gut microbiome is created by genetics, our surroundings, and our diet. Because we have so many trillion in our gut, it means we are unique. No two people will have the same. 

There are a great number of common digestive bacteria types that decades ago were properly identified. Cultures are grown in laboratories and developed into probiotic powders such as Fivelac.

As the name implies, Fivelac contains five of the most common bacteria and when released in the bowel, helps with many minor gut problems. At the very least, it acts like a mild colon cleanser and can ease bloating, constipation, and other complaints.

The global research in our urban and city environments is helping understand the possible health differences between some parts of the world. But It’s never quite that simple. 

We inherit our genes from our parents and our health is not just all about those trillions of creatures that live in and on us. It’s also all those other influences stated above. 

And perhaps most importantly, health has a great deal to do with our diet, and that includes the food we feed our gut microbiome.

[adamfinchley]

LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT DIET TAKES US BACK TO BASICS

Some smart person has worked out that since nutritionists have discovered the perfect balance of nutrients to live, why not just produce a slushy with all of them in the mix.

It includes the right balance of protein, carbs, essential fats and fibre. Additionally, there should be the right mix of the essential twenty-six vitamins and minerals. 

As a consequence, the slushy drink has been made. It’s available in half a dozen different flavours from banana to cinnamon. 

Several people are fixed on such a juice, but fortunately, there are a couple of side-effects that should prevent sane people from risking such a strange diet. Gout is one problem, and excess wind is another. 

But the main problem seems to me to be the fact that we have a thirty foot digestion system with multiple organs and glands they find themselves redundant. And the other problem is that for many people there is much pleasure in eating well.

Social gatherings such as Christmas around the dinner table, would not quite be as enjoyable and entertaining if instead of a plate of turkey and all the veg and trimmings, we were presented with a glass of slush. 

Not long ago, a newspaper ran a story about the English rugby fifteen touring side to Australia. For their training week, a food order was placed with a wholesaler that included the following:-

One hundred kilos of fresh berries. Two hundred kilos of bananas. Twenty-five kilos of pasta along with various mixes as chosen by individual players. Fifty litres of milk per day. Two thousand eggs. 

There was also plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables but these were bought fresh every day so the amount was unclear. 

The article didn’t fully explain the reason for this but during the couple of days before departure, plenty of sushi dishes were ordered. 

One point that all nutritionists seem to make today, is the importance of fibre in diet. And the other golden rule is to have variety. 

Fibre and variety is most easily obtained through fruit and vegetables. We need to keep our gut microbiome happy and it is important to recognise that different bacteria likes different fibre to chew on. 

The simple equation is that good nutrition feeds the gut microbiome that in turn equals good health and immune system. It also feeds our brain.

It is increasingly obvious that gut health and brain are very closely connected. They have nerves that communicate with one another to a point where many professionals believe the two may be considered and treated as one organ. 

Some thirty years ago a number of the most common good gut bacteria were identified and can be cultured in laboratory conditions. Three were produced into a supplement that has over the years proved very popular and effective for good gut health. 

The supplement is called Threelac and the fact it has been going for such a long period suggests it is most effective. Threelac may be considered as a probiotic as well as a colon cleanser.

[adamfinchley]

HEART REPAIR AND DIGESTION PROBLEMS

Just like a well-known television presenter and game show host, I very recently had a life-saving heart procedure that involves a stent implant. 

In my case, it was two stents, each in different parts of the same artery. In the press it was reported that the presenter had received emergency heart surgery. But it’s not as dramatic as opening the chest cavity and exposing the heart. 

When revealing your heart operation scars after this procedure, all you can show is a pin prick on the wrist, little more than the size of a small pimple. 

This is the entry point for the tube that is pushed all the way to the heart. When this fine tube reaches the blocked artery, a balloon is inflated to allow the stent to be positioned. 

I’m now a great fan of this type of micro-surgery that has given me another shot at life. In the presenter’s case his symptom was a needle and pins in his arm. In my case it was the gradual loss of feeling in the lower leg and an increasingly annoying shortage of breath. 

The difference is staggering. And when I returned home the next day, my wife told me that I must forever onwards be more careful about my diet. But then this advice seems about as useful as the advice she gave me as I was being led into the angiogram clinic. The advice then was to be careful. 

When I thought about that, I realised she should be directing that advice toward the surgeon and not me. 

And as for the advice about future diet, I am not obese and the clogged up artery probably has little to do with my previous eating habit but more to do with some hereditary problem. 

We humans are born with a unique genome system that changes with our gut microbiome, our lifestyle, medication we may be on, and the immune system we have built up during our life. 

High cholesterol and too much iron stored in our liver, along with heavy smoking, doesn’t help with angina, but like so many illnesses, most of us born with a greater susceptibility to certain health problems than others.

We can have the best healthy eating habit imaginable, but it doesn’t mean we wont suffer some chronic health problem at some point in our life. Death, after, has to claim us all at some time. 

Intestinal problems are common to us all. It may be minor and it could be lethal. There’s a big difference between constipation, piles and colon cancer. 

Keeping the colon clear helps prevent many problems. Food goes through our whole system usually in around thirty something hours. A new trend is with us called the five-two diet. 

This means eating five days and not eating the next two. This kind of fasting should mean the digestive system is completely empty for the best part of a day. Other methods include supplements such as Oxy Powder that releases nascent oxygen through the medium of magnesium oxide and citric acid.

You don’t even need to try the five-two diet to enjoy the cleansing benefit of Oxy Powder that brings relief from many minor gut problems.

[adamfinchley]

THE SUNSHINE VITAMIN WE ALL MISS IN THE WINTER

Societies through the Ages, all the way back to Ancient Egypt and probably before, knew that certain plants were useful in combating illness. 

They just never had the science to explain the reason. As recently as the nineteenth century, physicians discovered that lime and other citrous fruit, could prevent and even heal scurvy.

This was because the juice contains ascorbic acid, but back then, they didn’t understand this. 

A similar example of the same period involved an illness called beri-beri. And like the observation of scurvy amongst seamen, this was cured by observation of the predominant food of the sufferers.

Both beri-beri and scurvy are extremely easy to prevent with the right common vitamin, and both are extremely unpleasant ways to die untreated. Beri-beri causes people to look skeletal as the waste away with the inability to make collagen. 

In the Dutch colony of Indonesia, a doctor noted that the natives on a simple diet containing plenty of rice did not suffer beri-beri. But many others preferred the clean and washed white rice, the Dutch preferred. 

The difference with the Dutch, is that they could afford protein rich food like fish, poultry, beans, peas, eggs, and leafy green vegetables.  

Washed rice has had the husk removed and this is where the essential vitamin B1 is stored. A lack of B1 results a thiamine deficiency that cell metabolism and red blood cell production.

The importance of what we eat cannot be over-emphasised. We need a regular supply of thirteen different vitamins and fifteen minerals. A few of these are stored in various organs, most noticeably in the liver. 

Although it is impossible to take too many vitamins since most cannot be stored, one or two minerals can be a health problem when we have too many. The most common of these is iron. 

Iron is stored in the liver as ferritin and too much can cause hyperthyroidism. This can upset metabolism amongst other problems.

There are two vitamins that medical professionals are often keen for many older people to take. One of these is vitamin B12 that can help with cognitive ability amongst other problems.

It’s also one that vegans should certainly be considering as the greatest source of this vitamin comes from meat and dairy and does not appear in any vegetables. 

The other vitamin is one that can be obtained from direct sunlight. It only takes twenty minutes a day of direct sunlight but in British winters, this is not always possible to enjoy. 

Vitamin D3 is the supplement in question and along with B12, it is worth considering for many people over the age of sixty. 

In some countries, B12 is prescribed as standard for everyone over the age of sixty. Where I live in the East Mediterranean it is certainly recommended. On the other hand, with three hundred and twenty days a year of sunshine, there’s not much call for Vitamin D3.

[adamfinchley]

A GOOD RAPPORT WITH THE DOCTOR MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER

If you are lucky, you just might have a GP with a sense of humour. It makes appointments so much more relaxing, and stress free.

Some years ago I went for the results of some regular diabetic check. As the very first patient of the day, he surprised me by collecting me from reception instead of calling via the tannoy system. 

He explained that a new young doctor was on her first day, and he asked if I would mind if she sat in on the consultation. Of course I didn’t, and when I entered his rooms I was surprised to see she looked about fifteen years old. Just like policemen, the older you get, the younger they look.

Whilst he consulted my results on his computer monitor, we chatted about some mutual friends that were returning later in the year from work in Hong Kong. 

I said they wanted us all to meet up for a drink at Christmas that was just three months away. I also casually mentioned that I was thinking of moving abroad for work and if the health service was not so good where I was going, perhaps I should just give up all my medication. 

Well, he said, you won’t be alive to see our friends at Christmas then. I laughed, he laughed, and the poor newcomer, on her first ever live sit-in with a patient just looked horrified. 

Later, after I left, he told her that it was important to understand your patient and that not everyone should be treated the same way. 

Humour, is as much a part of health as eating well. We all know a hypochondriac or two. These are the ones that you wish you had never asked, how are you today, and they then drone on about all their problems. 

These are often foreigners, that don’t understand that when an Englishman asks the question, they don’t want to hear anything other than, I’m fine, thanks.

On another occasion, my doctor asked if I had any other problems and I said that I had a sharp pain sometimes below my stomach. He said there were various organs down there that could go wrong, but don’t worry about it. 

There are plenty of things going on just below the stomach, collectively this is known as the biliary system. It’s a series of ducts and organs that includes the liver, gall bladder, and pancreas. 

Clearly there is a great deal more in food digestion on top of the stomach and intestines. Oxysan is a supplement that helps to keep the intestines clear from obstructions like sluggish moving waste. 

Oxygen is a most essential part of digestion and a supplement like Oxysan is a colon cleanser, that delivers oxygenated magnesium oxide. 

Trillions of bacterium live in our gut. They are an essential part of the digestion process and most need oxygen as well as prebiotic food to exist upon. 

When we eat a healthy diet, we have nothing to concern ourselves with. But sadly, much of the food we eat is ultra processed produce that contains almost alien extras that need a bit more care. Oxysan does just this.

[adamfinchley]

DON’T UNDERESTIMATE A GASTROENTEROLOGIST

A friend introduced me to a hospital consultant doctor at an evening party recently. When I asked her speciality, she said she was a gastroenterologist. 

Like a number of people in my position, it seems I wasn’t the only one to think that her chosen speciality simply involved the digestive tract from mouth to backside, via the stomach, and a load of intestines. 

Having got into the spirit, and finding I was enjoying her good company, I asked why she had not chosen a more glamorous consultancy, such as open heart surgery or brain surgery, or even eye surgery. 

And like many before me, she had to correct my ignorance, and explain that her speciality meant she had to have a huge knowledge of much more than the basic parts as stated above.

The liver, pancreas, gall bladder and the whole of the biliary system were all her responsibility. Like you, I had no idea what the biliary system was until it was explained to me. 

Sometimes also called the biliary tree, this is a system of ducts and tubes that connect and work in conjunction with the liver, pancreas and gall bladder, that produces and stores a greenish, blue, liquid called bile. 

Bile is an essential part of food digestion and it’s the reason our poo is always brown. It is water, bile acids, cholesterol, bilirubin, phospholipids, and electrolytes. The body can only burn fat with this cocktail, and also process vitamins K and D.

Bile is released into the small intestine as soon as it senses food in transit. And this brings me to the other important part of a gastroenterologist’s speciality. And this is the other agent that exists in the intestines and also helps reduce food to that point where nutrients are released and enter into the blood through the intestinal wall. 

This other agent is collectively known as our microbiome. A mass of anything up to one hundred trillion bacterium and other microorganisms that inhabit us. 

Gastroenterologists need to keep up with all the research that is going on in this area. It is increasingly obvious to all, that the bacteria in our gut is strongly connected to our neuro condition. 

An unhappy balance of gut bacteria can contribute to everything from headache, depression, anxiety, and so on. Modern medicine may one day soon lead us to a situation where gut bacteria transplants are the norm. 

For many years there have been probiotic supplements such as Fivelac that work as a colon cleanser by delivering five good digestive bacteria. 

By taking a boost of good bacteria, the intestines gets a bit of a rush of activity that means it can also be thought of as a rejuvenating exercise. 

And so we come back to the beginning of this tale and remind ourselves that if we ever are introduced to a gastroenterologist, just remember the knowledge they must have to do their job properly.

[adamfinchley]

GOOD NEWS ABOUT GUT BACTERIA AND RED WINE

Almost without fail, my daily newspaper will have some article to do with food, whether it’s supermarkets or cookery tips, or some new news about our gut bacteria. 

It’s the same with television, where there seems to be a constant stream on competitive cooking competitions, or just some professional chef showing us all where we are going wrong in the kitchen. 

In most countries, and Britain is no exception, the biggest industry is the food business. It starts with farming and then onto food processing and packaging and finally the outlets of shops and supermarkets along with restaurants and delivery drivers. 

In the UK, four supermarket chains sell over sixty-five percent of all food. There is a similar number of food processing conglomerates producing eighty percent of all processed foods. 

We can go without buying clothes, newspapers, alcohol or cigarettes, but what we all need, is daily food. 

We tend to forget that we are not just feeding ourselves to stay alive, but also our one hundred trillion gut bacteria. There are so many of these microorganisms that collectively we have up to two kilos in total weight. 

It’s hard to believe that with something we cannot see, we have so many of them. And it’s also essential to remember that they are some of our best friends. There are anything up to a thousand different types, although most of the whole lot fall into four basic groups. 

Each of those groups have favourite foods. They need different nutrients that they hope to obtain from certain foods. This is the reason that fibre in the form of assorted fruit, vegetables, nuts and grain is so important. 

I was reading an article about the importance of variety in our diet and the importance of avoiding ultra processed foods that contain so much artificial rubbish. 

The article listed eight suggestions about good food and lifestyle choices, along with bad choices. To get all the nutrients our body and gut microbiome needs the simple answer is the greater the variety, the more likely we are to have a good gut.

But in the list, it mentioned the dangers of alcohol, and at that point I was about to turn the page for the cricket results. But it actually started with spirits, and in particular, gin, as being bad. 

And then it said that red wine might actually be good for the gut. At that point, I read on. 

The Victorians confused bacteria with germs and spent good money on colonic irrigation with a view to flushing them all out. 

Today there are plenty of supplements such as Oxy Powder that are far better at refreshing the colon. This and other supplements simply work as an oxygen boost in the bowel that that by helping clear the bowel, may also helps shift any static toxic waste. 

Oxy Powder helps shift constipation, relieves bloating, and provides support in the growth of those friendly bacteria. Just follow the instructions and remember to persevere for best results.

[adamfinchley]

OUR TEETH MAY LOOK BAD BUT THE STRENGTH IS THERE

When I was working and living in Turkey, I had to see a dentist for some emergency work on an extremely painful tooth problem.

It turned out to be my last remaining wisdom tooth trying to appear out of the gum, and the only way to deal with it was by extraction. 

After the procedure, the dentist and I had a chat and I learnt a couple of interesting facts. The first was that he told me that I have exceptionally strong bones because it was difficult to pull the tooth from the bone. 

It also follows that hard teeth equates to hard bones. Then he told me something about his experience with teeth in people of different nationalities. He reckons that by looking at someone’s teeth, and mainly the dental work, he could tell where they were from.

Some of the worst dental work had been performed on the British. This is particularly true with the more elderly people. And I told him that I think I knew why. 

In the years after the Second World War, for some reason there was a shortage of dentists in the UK. In the nineteen fifties and sixties, the NHS tried to entice dentists from Australia and other Commonwealth countries with the promise of a nice relocation package and good salary. 

Crucially, they were offered a bonus for every filling they performed. Consequently, many became filler happy. And children had fillings they never really needed. It seems the UK also continued using an amalgam for many more years.

Amalgam is mercury mixed with solid shavings of silver, copper or tin. The mix was entirely up to the individual dentist. 

On the plus side, my Turkish dentist reckoned that British teeth of people over a certain age were strong because of milk rationing.

Free milk was given to schoolchildren in the nineteen-twenties and by the nineteen-forties, nearly ninety percent of all schoolchildren from the earliest age, were getting free milk.

This was what gave the British the edge in tooth strength. Other countries followed suit with France offering fresh yoghurt and soft cheese also on the free menu. 

There are many nutritional advantages to milk, but the most important for growing children is the strength its calcium gives to our teeth and bones. 

There are fifteen minerals and thirteen vitamins that we need almost daily, and calcium is just one. Nearly all the others are obtained from different foods, and the fresher and more natural, the better.

Ultra processed foods contain unnecessary ingredients like artificial colourings, flavouring, emulsifiers, sugar and sweeteners, are not good for our gut microbiome.  

Vitamin D3 is unique in that it can be obtained by simply standing in bright sunshine for a minimum twenty minutes a day. Given the dreary and overcast British weather, a supplement vitamin D3 is a safe and useful standby.

[adamfinchley]

THE SUNSHINE VITAMIN WE ALL NEED INCLUDING OUR CATS

The human body like so much else in nature, is one hugely complicated machine. The heart is the pump that ensures oxygenated blood, with all its recently absorbed nutrients, is constantly through veins and all those capillaries. 

The first statistic that seems impossible, is that if all our blood vessels were to be stretched out in one piece, it would be long enough to go around the equator, twice. 

That mind blowing fact I had to read and reread from a number of sources. The other fact about the heart is that in one day it will beat 100,000 times. In that one day, a total of 2,000 gallons of blood passes through.

Even this pumping in and out is not without a ridiculously complicated manoeuvrer. The heart is divided into four parts and it receives and chooses what proportion of the blood needs to go via the lungs for extra oxygenation and which oxygen rich blood goes elsewhere. 

At the same time that this is going on in the background, the lungs are breathing in 2,000 gallons of air a day. The work of the lungs is to collect oxygen. Pure oxygen is so combustible that if air consisted solely of this gas, the world would have exploded a long time ago. 

Air is only 20% oxygen and in each breath we take, we only manage to collect 5% before exhaling the rest. 

The body consists of around 37 trillion human cells in an adult of average size and weight. Outnumbering these cells are our friends the microorganisms that treat us as hosts. 

Much of this is in the form of gut bacteria and it is estimated that we each carry a couple of kilos of them. Many of them are essential in the food digestion process and are at the heart of our immune system and therefore, our DNA.

Dozens of smaller organs and glands contribute to digestion adding juices that help break down our food. The whole purpose is to extract nutrients from food, and this is why the type of food we eat is so important. 

It is generally considered that there are thirteen vitamins and fifteen minerals that our body needs. And surprisingly, it can also be said that our gut bacteria also likes these nutrients for them to flourish. 

It’s a shame that schools and parents do not seem to educate children on the importance of good eating habits. It seems our grandparents were better at this than we are today. 

Fresh greens and other vegetables, fresh fruit, pulses, nuts and protein including that traditional fresh fish on Friday, is all better than today's ultra processed supermarket offerings. 

One unusual vitamin is the one that we can absorb through our skin by having just twenty minutes minimum a day in the sunshine. If we don’t have sunshine we can always take a Vitamin D3 tablet to keep topped up.