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

India. (For a full explanation of Ayurveda – or the ancient Indian ‘science of life’ – see page 272).

      One simple but highly effective tip from these practitioners, especially for those of you suffering digestive disorders, is to make and drink a special ginger pickle 30 minutes before each meal. The pickle, a combination of honey, freshly grated root ginger and lemon juice, together with a pinch of salt, all dissolved in warm water, does not taste as bad as it sounds. In fact it has a warming quality and, I can promise you, it definitely works.

      Other healthy eating tips from the older healing traditions include leaving the table when you are three-quarters full (this is customary in yoga traditions); replacing your cutlery on the plate between mouthfuls to slow the rate at which you eat, avoiding all gassy or fizzy drinks and taking a short walk to help ease digestion after each meal.

      The most important thing is to make time for the food you have prepared, and that means setting the table and sitting down to eat. Even when you are alone. Eating on the hoof may be tempting when you are in a rush but you will, eventually, pay for this bad habit with a disruption to your digestion.

       True Nutrition

      Many humble, everyday foods bring huge health benefits. Did you know, for example, that rhubarb is an excellent source of calcium, or that eating just two apples a day can reduce blood cholesterol levels by 16%? True nutrition would have nothing to do with supplements and everything to do with what you choose to put on your plate.

      The biggest irony in modern medicine is that doctors have little or no training in nutrition – in the UK, most qualify with just an hour of nutritional training – yet the very idea that good nutrition is paramount comes from their own founding father, Hippocrates who said: ‘Let food be thy medicine’ and who believed that adjusting the diet should be the first step in any treatment to alleviate or prevent ill health.

      The following guidelines show just how easy it is for all of us to use food as medicine:

      Beating Stress: The B vitamins are known as nature’s own stress busters. They always work better together than when eaten alone, and are found in foods as diverse as bananas, cheese, sunflower seeds and soya. Eat lentils and brown rice for vitamin B_6, which can alleviate nausea and help treat morning sickness; eat dairy products and fish for B_12, which boosts energy and improves memory and concentration. Dark, leafy green vegetables are rich in folic acid, which can slow down ageing and help prevent heart problems.

      Banishing Fatigue: Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is an antioxidant vitamin-like substance needed to produce energy in every single cell in the body. Frequently taken by athletes to increase stamina, it bolsters the immune system and revitalises the body by boosting circulation, increasing the oxygenation of tissues and strengthening muscles. Food sources include tuna, spinach, sardines, peanuts, mackerel, sesame seeds and legumes, but it is highly perishable and easily destroyed by cooking, storing and processing, so eat as many of these foods raw – say in the form of Japanese sushi – as you can. Magnesium also plays a crucial role in the production of energy – eat fish, seafood, green leafy vegetables, whole grains, nuts, lemons, figs, apples, apricots, bananas and brown rice.

      Boosting Immunity: High cholesterol levels can prevent white blood cells from getting to infected sites and from multiplying, so keep the saturated fat content of your diet down and watch out for hidden fats in processed foods and meats. Disease-fighting white blood cells are also slower to mobilise after alcohol consumption, so cut back on drinking. Vitamin A promotes thymus health, which in turn supports the immune system, so eat lots of yellow fruits and vegetables,organic dairy products and oily fish. Vitamin C is also a potent immune booster: eat citrus fruits, broccoli, kale, peas, tomatoes, orange juice, kiwi fruits, guava and papaya. Shiitake and Reishi mushrooms are also used as immune enhancers in Asian food.

      Balancing Hormones: Hormones serve as the body’s messengers. They are secreted into the bloodstream by different organs, and different hormones have specific jobs. Even minor fluctuations in hormone levels can have a dramatic impact on the body. Thanks to the use of synthetic hormones in medicine and xeno-oestrogens in the environment and food production, our hormones have never been under greater threat. Phytochemicals, derived from natural plant substances such as soya, help rebalance hormones that have gone haywire. They act as adaptogens, preventing, for example, too much oestrogen from locking on to receptor sites in the body, and, conversely, boosting levels when they fall lower than normal. Foods containing these substances include soya, citrus fruits, vegetables, cereals, onions, garlic, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower.

      Boosting Brainpower: Folic acid is crucial for proper brain function, yet surveys show it is one of the nutrients most deficient in our diets. Food sources include spinach, asparagus, turnip, greens, root vegetables, brewer’s yeast and brussels sprouts. Vitamin B₁₂ improves memory and concentration. Cheese, eggs, fish, clams and dairy products are all good sources. The amino acid Lysine will also boost brain power. Eat fish, soya products, cheese, yeast and lima beans when you need to be sharp and alert.

      Aiding Digestion: Magnesium is crucial for proper bowel function, but is the second most common mineral deficiency in both sexes. Good natural sources include seafood, whole grains, dark leafy green vegetables and nuts. Add fibre-rich ground psyllium seeds to your food; avoid mucus-forming dairy products and keep caffeine down to a minimum.

      Elimination is as important as digestion; the best way to flush toxins from the body is to drink a cup of warm water and lemon juice every morning and to fast one day a week. The herb Pau d’arco will also help restore the pH balance of the colon and promote healing. It tastes very planty but has excellent detoxifying properties, so make it an acquired taste. Bananas also help repopulate the good bacteria in the gut, which aid digestion – so make lots of banana smoothies.

      Revitalising Your Skin: Intestinal health is crucial for glowing skin, so follow all the above to help regulate the bowels and keep the colon healthy. The skin is not just the body’s protective wrapping – it’s your largest organ too. Vitamin A is important for it’s maintenance, so eat lots of those yellow fruits and vegetables which are rich in carotenoids. Zinc, which is plentiful in oysters, pumpkin seeds, herring, eggs, crabmeat, turkey and seafood, will also help. Eat broccoli, tofu, green leafy vegetables and organic dairy produce too.

      Revving Up Your Sex Life: Most people are surprised to learn that nutrition plays any role at all in sexual function and performance, but the sex hormones are controlled by the glands of the endocrine system, all of which can themselves be specifically nourished by certain nutrients. The B vitamins, for example, enter the cells of the thyroid gland to act as energisers and increase the hormonal flow. One way to boost the hormones responsible for libido is to mix 2 tablespoons of Brewer’s yeast with 2 tablespoons of wheat germ in a glass of organic vegetable juice. Drink this with your evening meal and the nutrients will be assimilated by bedtime.

      The pituitary gland controls the sex hormones, and needs vitamin E and zinc, as well as the B vitamins, to function at optimum levels. Eat the same foods as above for zinc, and peanuts, almonds, pecans and brazil nuts for vitamin E.

       Functional Foods

      Back to that laboratory at the UK’s Institute of Food Research, where one of the most exciting projects being pioneered is the development of prebiotics. Many people have now heard of probiotics – foods or supplements which replenish levels of good bacteria in the gut – but prebiotics are an even more clever and natural concept. They take the biochemical process a stage back from probiotics.

      What prebiotics do is work to rebuild the remaining levels of good bacteria by feeding them up to make them strong and dominant again. (See Fructo-oligosaccharides, known as FOS, page 100). As with probiotics, which are now common in yoghurts and other health drinks, prebiotics can easily be incorporated into everyday foods such as biscuits and breakfast cereals.

      But among the more ingenious ideas currently being researched by Professor of Microbiology Glenn Gibson and his team is that of a ‘designer’ prebiotic which is combined with free-floating receptor chemicals that attract and then bind