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Christmas Is Good For You - Official
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20 Reasons Why You Should Enjoy This Christmas
 I don't know about you but I'm fed up to the back teeth with the battalions of food police who keep telling me how unhealthy Christmas is. Too much fat, too much sugar, too much alcohol, too many chocolates, too much wheat in mince pies, Christmas cake and pudding, too many dairy products in the brandy butter, bread sauce, and Stilton, too much yeast on grapes, in wine and bread - if we listen to them we'd spend the holidays eating nothing but pears and drinking bottled water.
Christmas is stressful enough without worrying about every mouthful you eat. The truth about good nutrition is that there are no bad foods, but lots of people with poor eating habits. It's what you do most of the time that matters and you mustn't feel guilty about the occasional binge. Don't forget that eating, especially in the company of friends or family, is one of life's great pleasures and anything which enhances our feelings of happiness and well-being produces a healthy boost to the body's natural defences.
20 Healthy Reasons for not being a Scrooge this Christmas
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Smoked salmon - a traditional starter for many families, it's low in calories, very rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and provides plenty of protein. Serve with wholemeal bread for fibre - you don't need the butter - and a generous squeeze of lemon juice for extra vitamin C.
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Read more reasons here
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The Boxing Day Revival Plan
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You wake up inevitably feeling
hung-over, sluggish, bloated, and definitely lethargic.
How are you going to survive another day of in-laws, step-children and duty visits to distant relatives?
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A hair of the dog - but make it Pineapple Fizz - half unsweetened pineapple juice, half champagne. The natural enzyme of bromelain in the pineapple soothes the aching head, stomach and joints, and the bubbles give you the magic lift that only champagne can produce.
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Read
more here
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Don't Let The Christmas Bugs Spoil Your Holiday |
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We have all fallen foul of the holiday bugs at some time, but the Christmas cold is a real kill-joy. You've shopped till you drop, done the cards, wrapped the presents and stuffed the turkey. At five in the morning your throat feels scratchy, the temples are throbbing and by the time you need to put the bird in the oven you can't stop coughing and sneezing.
Inhaling steam with eucalyptus oil as a decongestant, rubbing a mixture of pine, eucalyptus and neroli oils on the chest or using them in a vaporiser, will all help to keep nasal passages clear. But food and drink are the quickest cure. Every two hours take a glass of hot water, the juice of a lemon, a teaspoon of honey and a quarter of a teaspoon of cinnamon.
One of the most effective of herbal remedies is an African Pelargonium
now available as
sugar free Kaloba syrup, convenient and suitable for
adults, and children from the age of six.
Make sure you start taking the syrup at the very first signs of a tickly cough, blocked nose or sinuses and, of course, as soon as you or the children start sneezing.
Vitamin C is important for natural immunity so have plenty of citrus fruits and juices - they should be part of your regular family health promotion routine.
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SUPPLEMENT BOX
Kaloba syrup is a registered traditional herbal medicine for the relief of upper respiratory infections, colds, sore throats, coughs and congested nose and sinuses.
This is a registered herbal medicine available from Boots, other pharmacies or
online at
www.kaloba.co.uk
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 Onions and garlic are traditional cold cures around the world, like onion soup in France and the East of England or whole bulbs of garlic in Eastern Europe. The antibacterial effect of both are well proven so add plenty to salads, soups or even sandwiches.
Bursting with immune boosting and protective nutrients, try this lovely
recipe.
OK, so it looks like a pudding with cream on top, but I had it in a tiny bistro opposite the food market in Tours that built its reputation on the imaginative use of food, fresh from the market each morning . .
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Recipe: Lamb Parmentier
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Let The Sunshine In
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Rickets, osteoporosis, diabetes, breast cancer, bowel cancer, multiple sclerosis, rotten teeth and depression may all be caused or aggravated by one single factor: a lack of sunshine.
 When ultraviolet light from the sun reaches your skin it triggers the process by which the human body manufactures its own supply of vitamin D - and it's a deficiency of this essential nutrient which has links to all of these health problems.
Even though there are good dietary sources of vitamin D, few people in this country manage to get enough to make up for the lack of sunshine during the winter. I analyse the diets of hundreds of my patients each year and hardly ever find one that provides the recommended daily intake of 10 microgrammes (400 international units) of vitamin D per day. Even the healthiest of eaters seldom manage even half this amount.
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Read
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Try This Vitamin D rich and Calming Recipe
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Whitebait bursting with calcium and vitamin D
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Herbal Supplements to Prepare for and Survive
Christmas
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Try these safe natural-supplements
to prepare and protect yourself for Christmas. They are produced by
Schwabe, one of the leading makers of traditional herbal-medicines
worldwide.
After April 30th 2011, all herbal-medicines
must be registered under the Traditional Herbal Registration Scheme (THRS).
Schwabe_Pharma UK is leading the way with 18 Traditional
Herbal-Medicine registrations with
more planned.
This collection will not make Christmas a stress free or cheap holiday,
but they will help you stay serene, unruffled, calm and cheerful. You
may also be surprised by not waking up with a hangover.
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Read more here
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Game The Great Unsung Superfeast for a Winter Warmer
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The lunatic world of ridiculous attitudes to food leaves me speechless with anger. Those who chose not to eat meat have an absolute right to follow their convictions, but to try persuading the rest of us to give it up by using bullying and scare tactics is just plain wrong.
Game is not as popular as it used to be which is a great shame, as pretty well every sort of game falls into the Superfood category. It tends to be very low in fat, have a high content of minerals and is less likely to contain residues of antibiotics, growth hormones and other unwanted chemicals.
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Read
more here
Game Pie
This is the essence of English game cooking and historically, eaten with just as much pleasure in the poacher's cottage or the squire's manor house. In the 1960s I met Dame Barbara Cartland and this was the pie her butler served the first time I had lunch in her house.
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Recipe: Game Pie
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Tai Chi For Movement And Healing
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I first saw tai chi at midnight in an empty New York school playground. My cousin had taken me to China Town for a meal, and walking back to her car, we saw these shadowy, graceful figures that looked like some ghostly ballet. She explained that this regular ritual was for all the Chinese restaurant workers in the district.
I have been a fan since that magical midnight encounter and advised many patients to take up this ancient Chinese martial art. In all the 40 years since, I have never seen an injury caused by tai chi.
It is the combination of mind and body that so stress, anxiety and tension just melt away. Just the ticket
for Christmas and beyond!
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Read
more here
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THE CELEBRITY SHOPPING TROLLEY
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Jemma Kidd
What Is In Jemma Kidd's Shopping Trolley?
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Jemma Kidd is beautiful, married to the future Duke of Wellington, and has a glamorous career. But looking into her shopping trolley betrays a gullible woman who probably believes the hype about her products; says Michael.
Jemma would have been a “Heart Sink” patient if she had arrived at my surgery with this list of eating habits;
my heart sank with patients like this.
Why? Because they were a potential health disaster, so convinced they are doing right that persuading them to change anything was hard work.
Breakfast choices are; Gluten-free toast with avocado and organic ham with freshly juiced spinach, celery, cucumber, apple and Udo's Oil; or Scrambled eggs on gluten-free toast plus apple and carrot juice with Udo's Oil.
Jemma drinks Rooibos tea and a pint of water every morning.
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So what does Michael think?
Why gluten free anything? Unless she has Coeliac disease there is no benefit except to the makers of the products and the, sometimes doubtful, practitioners who feed off the unwary. Tests in health stores by non-medical staff using an electronic machine are virtually all bogus and can not diagnose food allergies or intolerance.
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Read more here
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Wishing you all a happy and healthy Christmas and New Year.
Eat
well - live longer.
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Michael van Straten Osteopath, Naturopath and Acupuncturist D.O., M.R.N., M.B.Ac.A.
Copyright 2011 Michael van Straten ~ all rights reserved
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Michael van Straten is an osteopath, naturopath, acupuncturist and
nutritional consultant. He's also one of the UK's most respected medical
authors, broadcasters and journalists and has written more than 40
books, which have sold over a million copies worldwide.