Tag Archives: homeopathy

Autumn advice

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A reminder of Fiona’s hints, tips and treats for autumn from this morning’s show…

Rainbow eating

Eating the rainbow is based on eating as widely as possible from the coloured fruits and veg we have to choose from – apply that seasonally as new fruits come into season.

So add in blackberries (rich in B vitamins as well as the anthocyanins that give them their glorious purple colour), pears (rich in potassium and vit C) and vibrant orange pumpkins and squash as well as zinc-packed  pumpkin seeds.  Use fresh carrots and other roots to make healthy soups.

Eating in harmony with the seasons is a part of many health and spiritual practices, including yoga. A yoga perspective encourages eating with the seasons, adding more warming and stimulating foods in autumn such as spices, garlic and ginger (carrot soup is wonderful with ginger added for some extra zing).

At the same time yoga advises cutting down on cooling foods such as leafy greens and cucumber. So move away from the salads as the weather gets chillier and focus on warming foods with small numbers of ingredients cooked slowly, especially stews and soups.

You may find it helpful to add in more protein from nuts, seeds, cheese and eggs (useful to substitute this for some meat so you can reduce your intake) to help balance the unpredictable weather at this time of year. Consider adding in more protein at breakfast – see below.

Back to school

The summer holidays are over, school days start this week and that means getting back into a routine.

One key aspect of routine vital for children at school is getting enough sleep (six to 12 year-olds are reckoned to need 10 hours a night). After holidays and lie-ins, you’ll need to take charge of this important aspect and re-establish times for bed and getting up.

Talk about how important it is to have a good night’s sleep. Encourage them to take part by creating a night routine they enjoy, such as that special book time or a five-minute cuddle before turning in. Restrict screen time to at least 30 minutes before bedtime so they don’t go to bed over-stimulated and don’t give sugary drinks and juices at teatime. Encourage your children to be comfortable in the dark if at all possible.

After a refreshing night’s sleep, what we need is a nutritious breakfast. Although cereals have long been a favourite, protein helps us stay feeling fuller for longer.

An old-fashioned boiled egg with soldiers makes a great breakfast – and if you make the kids a boiled egg, remember to have one yourself!

Feet treats

Our feet do an amazing job but wearing shoes often cramps the toes and stops them being as flexible as they should be. Look after your feet and toes – your legs and back will thank you for it.

Go barefoot whenever you can, especially after a day at work. And give your feet a workout – you can do this in front of the TV or when you’re relaxing.

  • With both feet flat on the floor, lift and spread your toes as wide as you can. If you do this every day, you’ll notice a big difference in how much space you can see between your toes! One foot may need a bit more help than the other – you can always separate the toes with your fingers to start with.
  • Put your feet on the floor with your toes splayed out. Try to lift your big toes only away from the floor. Do this every day to wake up your feet.
  • Then put your big toes down, lift the other toes and give them a good wiggle!
  • Use a tennis ball to massage the bottom of your feet – put the ball on the floor and roll your feet on it one at a time. You need to do it quite firmly and you may experience a little discomfort but, done regularly, this is good for keeping your feet responsive and supple.

Face Time

Here’s how to do a simple face massage.

  • Have a bath so you’re nice and relaxed.
  • Lie down and put a pillow beneath your head.
  • Relax your face – try to imagine that your skin sliding off your face it’s so relaxed. Then say the vowel sounds to stretch your face: AEIOU. Repeat slowly three times.
  • If you can, bend your head back for a count of 10 while opening your eyes as wide as you can and lifting your eyebrows. If bending is not advised, just open your eyes and lift your eyebrows.
  • Place two fingertips on each ear lobe and press gently with your thumb for a count of five, then slide fingers up to your temples and press gently for a count of five.
  • Finish by making gentle circles over your temples. Then have a nice glass of water.

If you want to find out about using remedies to look after the family, why not go along to Fiona’s next Homeopathy at Home between 10am and 12 noon on Friday 23 September? For more information, just give her a call on 01636 679290 or visit her Facebook page…

Autumn treats – food, face and feet!

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autumn

Although it seemed to be a long time coming, with a little luck there’ll still be chance to enjoy a few more days – or even weeks – of summer before the season of mellow mists and fruitfulness brings its own unique delights.

But the Girls Around Town are already looking ahead to autumn and, on this week’s show, Fiona be offering some timely hints and tips on how to get the most out of the new season.

Find out how to make the switch from summer salads to autumn fruit and vegetables – get the lowdown on healthy habits for youngsters starting a new school term –  and, if you fancy spoiling yourself, Fiona’s got that covered too (from top to toe!) with suggestions for a few treats for face and feet.

Tune in on listen online between 10am and 12 noon for a mellow Sunday morning with June and Fiona…

Time to smell the roses…2

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smell the roses 2If you were listening in on Sunday, you’ll have heard Fiona talking about our sense of smell as an introduction to Julie Payne‘s interview about aromatherapy. Here’s a reminder of what Fiona had to say…

Our sense of smell is an amazing thing. We get our sense of smell via 5 million smell sensors in our nose. Sounds impressive doesn’t it?

But compared with dogs, who have 220 million and even rabbits who have 100 million of these sensors, our sense of smell is limited. Nevertheless, an average human can recognise 10,000 different odours, with women usually scoring higher across all tests.

Our lives are shaped by smells from our earliest days and it’s the sense most closely linked to memory. That’s why the bakery in a supermarket is often near the front – that homely smell makes us feel welcome. Vanilla is another odour which often reminds us of cakes, ice-cream and childhood, which goes some way to explaining why perfumes based on vanilla are so popular.

But imagine what life is like if you have no sense of smell. All those things you can’t enjoy… And one of the worst things is that your sense of taste more or less disappears too, as what we consider our ability to taste is about 80 per cent due to our sense of smell.

For most of us the experience is temporary; we get a cold, for example, and for a few days everything tastes like cardboard. But for some a sense of smell is something they can only imagine – or remember.

It’s reckoned up to 3 million people in the UK suffer from anosmia – the medical term for no sense of smell – although the reasons vary. Commonly it’s due to nasal polyps – swellings often related to allergies – which form a blockage in the nose. It is often possible to operate on these polyps and restore the sense of smell.  One snag is that the polyps can recur.

Currently, there’s only one NHS Smell and Taste Clinic in the UK, near Great Yarmouth. Here the surgical team led by consultant Carl Philpott has pioneered a new technique which means these operations often have a longer lasting effect.

Anosmia can also result from a head trauma or injury. And some people are simply born with no sense of smell. Anosmics report even wishing they could smell bad smells just so they understand what they are like – one of Carl Philpott’s patients said in an interview she even wanted to be able to smell farts!

Smell is fundamental to how we bond with our children and our close circle, so losing your sense of smell affects your feelings of connection with others. That loss of connection can lead to feelings of depression. These days there is a charity called Fifth Sense that works to support people with anosmia. It was set up by Colin Boak who suffers with anosmia himself, following an accident,

Occasionally, a woman experiences anosmia during pregnancy, starting in the first trimester. It usually returns after the birth.

The early weeks of pregnancy are more often associated with the opposite condition, when the sense of smell is hyper-sensitive. Women report being unable to stand the smell of coffee, despite having loved it before, and the smell of food can be very unpleasant with the odours much stronger than usual.

When people contact Fiona about this, the remedy she most often advises is a homeopathic one called Sepia, which can ease the feelings of nausea made worse by an acute sense of smell.

For more help with symptoms in the early weeks of pregnancy, contact Fiona via her website – and watch this space for a reminder of Julie’s hints and tips on using essential oils for health and around the home…