On the subject of holidays, if you haven’t yet decided where and when you might get away, why not check out these websites to find a good green choice? Also, here is a link to an Ecologist article which gives some great ideas.
Green traveler www.greentraveller.co.uk
Organic Places to Stay www.organicholidays.co.uk
Ecoescape www.ecoescape.org
Responsible Travel www.responsibletravel.com
http://www.theecologist.org
As many of you know, AMB make gorgeous Hair products. Just to let you know, they’ve just updated the formulations and packaging, and gone back to a previous name SEIDE, which means Silk in German. There is now Mild Conditioning Shampoo for daily use (£7.75), Volumising for fine hair (£8.50), Strengthening for treated hair (£8.50), Normalising for oily hair (£7.75) and Therapeutic for dandruffy hair (£8.50) plus Strengthening Hair Conditioner (£11.25). All in large 200ml bottles except conditioner which is 150ml.
They have also launched 2 limited edition Eyeshadow Quartets following on from their use at the Miss Germany competition and to celebrate 50 years of AMB natural cosmetics. The first quartet is golden sand, olive, gold ocher and savannah brown (so great for tans) and the second is brighter: tea rose, aquamarine, plum and beige. As always, their cosmetics are mineral-based, non-animal and contain none of the usual nasties. The quartets cost £16.00 and come in a mirrored compact with applicator.
Finally, for those of you going on hols and who don’t want to take large skincare bottles with you, they have launched Travel Sets in ZZ Sensitive (reactive skin £24.50), LL Regeneration (over 30s £27.95) and System Absolute (anti-ageing £39.20) skincare ranges. They include cleanser, toner, day and night creams and cost and are great also as a trial before you buy larger sizes, or as a gift for someone.
To get any of these, contact Simply Nature on 01580 201 687 and give my name.
But can it, really? Another media story you may have seen so I thought I’d look into it for you. The headlines: a study of over 61,000 people aged 20-89 found those who did not eat meat had a reduced overall incidence of cancer of 12%. Leukaemia and non-Hodgkins lymphoma was down by 45%. Bladder & stomach tumours were also significantly less in vegetarians. The research was published in the British Journal of Cancer.
On the face of it, this sounds great, but we do have to be a bit careful here. Often in my experience, vegetarians are following very poor diets and not really eating a healthy diet, meat-free or not. There is usually a high pasta and cheese consumption and, surprisingly, not very much veg, fruit, pulses, nuts, seeds or whole grains! Personally, my take on it is that if you can eat a healthy fishitarian diet including all those elements I’ve mentioned above, you’re not going to go far wrong. Also, you’ve got to consider the type of meat you eat: an organic steak (or indeed a Debbie & Andrew’s sausage!) is very different to corned beef, bacon and processed meat.
Tim Key of Cancer Research UK at Oxford University also sounded caution and said they are not sure whether it is the protective effect of eating more vegetables or something about the meat & called for more research. John Briffa also gave an interesting response about whether it was the fact that people didn’t eat meat, or that non-meat eaters tend to look after themselves more in terms of not smoking, drinking too much and getting exercise and fluids. Here’s a link to what he had to say: http://www.drbriffa.com/blog/2009/07/01/dont-be-fooled-by-the-study-which-found-lower-cancer-rates-in-vegetarians/
This is a useful bit of advice on the tuna stories doing the rounds at the moment, from the makers of Fish 4 Ever, the only tinned fish company we recommend. (I have edited this a bit as it didn’t really make sense, but hopefully I’ve kept the general gist!)
“The film The End of the Line is receiving a lot of publicity. Author Charles Clover is a noted and respected environmental expert. He has endorsed our product – his comment is on our website. So have Greenpeace, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and many other noted environmentalists. In seafood circles we are a well respected authority on tuna.
BUT the media gets it wrong very easily so you there is a lot of confusion from shops and consumers. For example, apparently on Radio 4, one interviewee said “just don’t eat tuna” and the other said “skipjack is the rat of the sea, there’s plenty of it.” Both are wrong, the “don’t eat tuna” applies to bluefin tuna which is posh sushi tuna you will not find in most places unless you go to £100 sushi restaurants – it’s like caviar, it is very endangered and you should not eat it – but probably don’t anyway.
All other tunas are in a “be careful about what you choose” category. There are critical conservation and social issues with yellowfin (used in tinned, fresh steaks and sushi), skipjack (tins) and big-eye (sushi mostly). With Skipjack, there may be plenty of it, but it’s not okay because the main skipjack fishing method heavily damages the stocks of other tuna and causes many other problems. All these facts are on our website www.fish4ever.co.uk and also in the ‘hidden cost of canned tuna’ brochure we published last year.”
Wind farms are capable of supplying more than 30 x the electrical consumption needed in Britain, scientists claim. Even operating at a fifth of capability, a network of 2.5 megawatt inshore wind turbines sited away from urban areas would easily meet electricity demands. This indicates that wind farms could provide over 40 x the world’s electricity needs. Published in ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’ Journal. Daily Telegraph 23.6.09
These are all taken from the very useful Natural Health Products e-news. NHP is the company who makes the Lose Your Belly Fat, menopause and agnus castus plus products we recommend.
Eleven chronic insomniacs tried Kriya Yoga, a form of meditation that reduces levels of arousal, for two months before replacing that with a course of health education, which included better diet, exercise, weight loss and stress management. But, say the researchers, the meditation was far more effective.
(Source: 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, June 8, 2009). WDDTY June 09
I am touching wood massively as I say this, but I seem to be having my best hayfever-free Summer in a long time. The difference is, I think, that I’m taking 3 500mg capsules of Quercetin every day, which is one of Nature’s most powerful anti-histamines, plus I’m using Haymax, an organic balm made from sunflower oil and beeswax that you rub around your nose to trap pollen which sticks to it instead of going into your nose. Simple, but seemingly very effective. On bad days, I’m still sitting next to a HEPA filter to de-pollenate the room. I even went for a picnic and sat on grass the other day – unheard of – normally poor Philip has to freeze in Spring and Autumn before and after the grass season! Meantime, here are some other useful other tips gleaned from Healthy House:
(Ref: Brostoff & Gamlin – ‘Hayfever The Complete Guide’) Healthy House newsletter June 09
Thank you to those of you who keep me informed about lovely new foods for those avoiding the ubiquitous wheat and dairy. First, Genius Bread is a new free-from bread that can be used untoasted and tasted ‘fab’. Foods Matter magazine also think it passes muster: “Excellent bready texture, light good flavour, really remarkable for a gluten-free bread, it does not need refreshing and keeps well.” It is made from potato, corn, tapioca, brown rice, egg, rice bran, cellulose fibre, sugar, salt, sunflower oil and fresh yeast. Available initially just from Tesco, although it should be on wider distribution by Autumn. For more info, go to www.geniusglutenfree.com.
Next, Debbie & Andrew’s 97% Pork Harrogate Sausages. I know I always advise against sausages, but these are an exception as they are almost 100% meat, are gluten and dairy free and contain nothing other than the pork, herbs, spices and some balsamic vinegar. I often cook the whole pack and munch them as a high protein snack as they’re very filling. Try them as a sausage casserole, to make a healthier cooked breakfast, chopped into pasta or rice or simply with sweet potato mash or barley couscous. Yum.
Sweet Freedom is my next choice. This is a liquid sweetener made from extracts of apple, grapes and carob, comes in mild or rich flavours and in a handy squeezy bottle. Ideal for weight management as it has a low GI (Glycaemic Index) and GL (Glycaemic Load) and 25% fewer calories than sugar. It is also suitable for diabetics and vegans. I’ve checked and nutritionally-speaking, it’s almost identical to agave syrup. It’s available in most supermarkets and can be used on toast, porridge, drinks and cooking.
For a treat, here are a couple of recipes suggested by Sweet Freedom, which I’ve adapted to make slightly healthier. Of course, you could use SF or agave to get a similar result:
This recipe is also wheat free! Ready In: 45 minutes or less Serves: 4
Crumble topping:
Instructions
This recipe is also wheat free! Ingredients
Instructions
How about this idea for a lovely refreshing drink on a hot Summer day? Use some elderflower or hibiscus cordial (from supermarket or health shop) and make a jugful with sparkly water, loads of ice and some sprigs of fresh mint. Gorgeous!
