What Really Works: The Insider’s Guide to Complementary Health. Susan Clark

      

Dedication

       For my mother, Anne

       Let your mind run deep;Let benevolence flood your relationships;Let your words sing freely and true;Let your decisions be peaceful and just;Let your business be done well;Let your actions be timely, fulling and complete.

       Lao Tzu

       Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

Dedication

Introduction

Part One: BodyWorks

Food

Air

Water

Sunlight

ShapeShifting (Exercise)

Part Two: Top-to-Toe

       An A-Z of 80 Ailments and their Treatment, from Acne to Vitiligo

       Part Three: Hands-On

       An A-Z of Selected Complementary Therapies, from Acupuncture to Zero Balancing

       Part Four: SoulWorks

       Energy

       Medicine Now!

       Animal Magic

       Meditation and Prayer

       Time Out

       Further Reading

       Bibliography

       Resources

       Acknowledgements

       Copyright

       About the Publisher

Introduction

      You know St John’s Wort is nature’s own Prozac and good for mild to moderate depression, but you don’t know how much to take or for how long. You read somewhere that rotting banana skins can help heal a verruca, or was that one you imagined? Your sister told you there’s a great new hands-on massage treatment which will leave you feeling revitalised and centred, but you’ve forgotten the name and you’d love to escape to one of the new ‘spiritual spas’, but don’t know where to go or what to take with you.

      If these are the kinds of things that race around your brain as you try to keep up with what’s new in holistic and complementary health, then this is the book for you. If you’re forever cutting health and lifestyle snippets from newspapers and magazines and then losing them, or if you push your trolley around the supermarket trying to remember which is better – oat bran or wheat bran? – then What Really Works has the answer.

      Packed with cutting-edge advice and proven tips to help you lead a more holistic and nourishing life, it takes the legwork out of figuring out how best to enjoy optimum health and well-being for the rest of your life. You don’t have to do the research because I’ve done it for you.

      In the first section, BodyWorks, you will learn, for example, about the most important five building blocks of good health – Food, Air, Water, Sunlight and Exercise. You’ll find out why prebiotics are the next big wave in digestive health and how to breathe properly again. Find out why you should not be hiding indoors from sun and how a form of Tai Chi with a broom handle (of all things!) can help keep you in good physical shape.

      Section II, which is called Top-to-Toe, is an A–Z of everyday health complaints, from acne to vitiligo. Here you will find the same no-nonsense advice that has made my weekly columns in The Sunday Times, The Times and The Sun such a hit with 18 million readers. You’ll discover it’s true that a banana skin can help get rid of a verruca – but only if you tape the blackened inside of the skin over the head of the wart. You’ll also learn why homocysteine, a normal byproduct of metabolism, is a more important indicator of potential heart problems than cholesterol, and find out how you can reverse lots of digestive disorders.

      Again, I’ve read the books, interviewed the health gurus and been pummelled and prodded by a variety of hands-on therapists so that I can report back on what really works. You will find the best nutritional, herbal, homeopathic and other natural remedies to 80 conditions, ranging from whey protein concentrate for athlete’s foot to nettle tea for the common and distressing Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

      Section III, Hands-On, will help you sort your Reiki (pronounced ray-key) from your Metas (Metamorphic Technique). If you’ve never heard of either, this A–Z section will unravel the mystery and help you decide which complementary treatment