Health and Fitness
The Health & Fitness Blog is a collection of diary entries, news, gossip and other Health and fitness related information.
A Healthy Chinese New Year to you all!
This Thursday 7th February is the Chinese New Year – the start of the year of the Rat and a time for celebration for Chinese people across the world. As with the western New Year it is a time for a party, but also a chance for all of us to make resolutions and changes, especially with regards to health.
Whilst we might not all be celebrating the Chinese New Year, we can all benefit from taking a look at Chinese health remedies and medicines. Among the most ancient and well used in history, many Chinese remedies are now becoming popular across the globe and the Chinese New Year presents a great opportunity to take a look at some of those currently hitting the UK shelves.
Bucking the trend – The Forgotton Omega
Whilst Omegas 3 and 6, the essential fatty acids, have been hailed as the ‘must have’ ingredients for healthy skin, there is another Omega that could play an even bigger role. The richest source of this Forgotton Omega is an oil from a prickly shrub known as Sea Buckthorn, which now it has reached the shores of the UK could quickly find itself as the must have of 2008
Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae Rhamnoides) is a well recognized source of traditional herbal medicine, vitamins and nutrients, and has been used in China as an anti-aging and medicinal skin care product for many hundreds of years. Whilst the berries of the Sea Buckthorn plant have been hailed as ‘exotic’ superfoods, with numerous uses and being rich in many important nutrients, it is their effect on skin that has received the most attention.
The first person to think of extracting the oil from this prickly shrub and rub it on their skin must have been thought mad by their piers, but due to its high content of nutrients, essential for the metabolism of skin cells, Sea Buckthorn helps to combat wrinkles, dryness and other symptoms of malnourished or prematurely aging skin.
Scientists now believe our most delicate body tissues, especially the skin membranes, use Omega 7 fatty acids as vital building blocks and one of the most concentrated sources of Omega 7 is Sea Buckthorn. Environmental stressors, such as sunlight and pollution, poor diet, and even normal aging, can challenge these sensitive membranes, and Omega 7 fatty acids are now being hailed as important agents to nourish, protect, replenish, moisturise, and restore.
Studies now support the use of Sea Buckthorn Oil1 for problem skin, including conditions such as eczema and dermatitis, and confirm that it is largely the berries’ high content of Omega 7 that is behind the benefits. This effect of Sea Buckthorn on external membranes has led to further research into how supplementation can help with digestive and genital tract lining problems 2.
Sea Buckthorn also contains Omegas 3, 6 and 9 and has been linked to various other health benefits including boosting the immune system and further anti-aging properties.
So, to give your skin a new start in 2008 and help get it looking fresh and young you should remember the prickly Sea Buckthorn and the Forgotten Omega.
Sea Buckthorn is a new product in the UK, but a high quality Sea Buckthorn supplement is available from Superdragon at www.superherb.co.uk
Radical Reishi
Claimed to be the Oriental secret of youth, health and beauty and with global sales estimated at 3 billion dollars annually, Reishi is big business. Despite this and numerous high profile studies the Oriental mushroom remains relatively unknown in the UK. The launch of Mikei Red Reishi Essence may be about to change this though and we could soon be singing the praises of this truly ‘radical’ mushroom.
Whilst exotic culinary mushrooms have seen a huge surge of sales in the UK, as we have become more experimental in the kitchen, medicinal mushrooms remain largely undiscovered. With some serious research supporting their benefits however and hundreds of years of medicinal use behind them, we could be seriously missing out.
Reishi is a very rare mushroom and one of the highest regarded remedies in Chinese medicine, having been taken medicinally in extract form for at least 2,000 years. With claimed beneficial effects including improved sleep4 and skin condition, lowering blood sugar levels, anti-inflammatory and immune boosting properties5, protecting the liver6, improving energy levels7, lowering blood pressure8, and acting as an anti-tumour agent and antioxidant3 it is clear to see why the mushroom plays such a central role in Eastern medicine and is known as ‘God’s Herb’ and the ‘Mushroom of Immortality’.
Sceptics will no doubt claim Reishi to be another snake oil, but with literally hundreds of studies and thousands of astonishing testimonials supporting its use, it is hard to argue that there isn’t serious scope for the mushroom to play an important role in improving people’s health and lifestyles. Even Cancer Research UK were so taken by the claimed benefits of the mushrooms they commissioned a report that highlighted the potential of Reishi mushrooms to boost the immune system and help in cancer treatment.
Making it harder to argue against the benefits of Reishi is the fact that its effects can be felt so quickly and there are no side-effects from its use. Within just a matter of days you should start feeling better in yourself from taking good quality extracts of Reishi.
The key to Reishi mushrooms’ effectiveness are their adaptogenic qualities; that is to say that they help to normalise the body and aid its natural processes via active substances found in the mushrooms such as water-soluble polysaccharides and triterpenes. The efficacy of the mushrooms can vary dramatically depending on how they are grown however. The mushrooms draw nutrients up through their stalks from the medium on which they are grown and this determines the quantity of active substances within the mushrooms themselves. Mikei Red Reishi Essence mushrooms are grown in aged Japanese Oak logs in the most natural conditions possible and take a full year to reach maturity, resulting in one of the highest quality and most effective extracts available.
Mikei Red Reishi Essence is a Reishi extract that couldn’t be easier to use and comes in ready to swallow vegetable based capsules; for general health and well-being only one capsule needs to be taken daily. Extracted from mushrooms grown in Japan, Mikei Red Reishi Essence is the most concentrated and high quality Reishi extract on the market and is now available in the UK from Haeon Limited. Buy online at www.haeon.com or from leading health stores.
From Manchuria 221BC to Hollywood 2008AD
We tend think of the concept of detoxing, the process by which we rid the body of toxins to help us look and feel better, as a new one; but a detox trend that has recently hit Hollywood isn’t so much new as over two thousand years old.
Madonna, Lynsey Lohan, Kirsten Dunst, Meg Ryan and, most recently, Halle Berry are among stars to have been seen drinking a unique health drink called Kombucha.
Whilst modern research has shown that Kombucha may help combat the effects of toxins in the body9, increase life span10 and beat stress induced conditions11 Kombucha tea is in fact an ancient remedy that originates from China. With records of consumption dating back to the Chinese Tsin Dynasty of 221BC, Zen masters declared Kombucha to be a source of ‘Chi’ – life energy which aligns and harmonises the body with the soul.
Kombucha is a totally unique drink, produced in a natural and organic process from an infusion of green tea, black tea and sugar being metabolised by the Kombucha mushroom (a symbiotic colony of friendly bacteria and fission yeasts). As the yeasts breakdown the sugar and combine with the tea, a beautifying and energizing and potent brew of organic acids, enzymes, vitamins and minerals is created, which is thought to be behind a whole host of health benefits.
Kombucha is full of probiotic-rich acids12, which help to populate the large intestine with ‘friendly bacteria’ and dissolve harmful micro-organisms. The gut contains a natural level of these ‘friendly bacteria’ which keep levels of possible disease causing bacteria under control.
A further detox benefit of Kombucha is, because it is packed full of anti-oxidants 13, its action as an adaptogen – a natural substance that increases the body’s resistance to stresses such as trauma, anxiety and bodily fatigue. Adoptogens, and Kombucha in particular, are said to work on a wide array of conditions from wrinkles to diabetes and help to restore balance and support the immune system 13, leading to you feeling better on the inside and out.
Furthermore Kombucha is thought to help curb alcohol cravings; especially useful for those detoxing in the New Year!
The drink itself is a tangy, carbonated beverage. The UK’s leading brand is Gourmet Kombucha Probiotic, which has just been re-launched in January 2008 as Gaia’s Organic Kombucha. It will be available directly from Gaia Brands Ltd at www.gokombucha.com and from leading independent health stores, in Peach, Blackcurrant and original Green Tea flavours.