A lifetime of obesity and dieting often begins in childhood. Children who are fat often stay fat—and find it extremely difficult to lose excess weight later in life. At least one in four children are overweight. Obesity is now one of the biggest health problems feeing children. Children who are overweight are likely to: Grow…

Try to set yourself easy slimming targets. If you try to get rid of all your unwanted weight in a month you will probably fail Decide what your ideal weight should be and then aim at losing two pounds a week. Remember that regular exercise will help to tone up your muscles and burn up…

Eating three square meals a day is old fashioned and bad for you. The healthy way to eat is to eat MINI-MEALS—and to eat little and often. You probably think of it as nibbling. Marketing experts call it ‘grazing’ because it is the way that wild animals eat. Whatever you call it eating numerous small…

I DON’T HAVE THE TIME TO DIET I keep meaning to go on a diet/ is a common cry. ‘I could be slim if I had the time. But my life’s so busy. It’s all right for her— she isn’t as busy as I am.’ If dieting really did involve weighing out food portions, working…

If you weigh too much then the chances are that you have been eating too much. In order to conquer your weight problem you need to find out why you’ve been eating too much. You may have been eating because you’ve been bored or depressed. You may have acquired bad eating habits. You won’t be…

When magic isn’t enough! The slimming ‘industry’ is the biggest and most profitable part of the health care industry and many companies and individuals have made fortunes out of the twin facts that losing weight is harder than putting it on and that most would-be slimmers are on the constant look out for an easy,…

There is no doubt that the simplest and most reliable way to find out whether or not you are overweight is to weigh yourself. Unfortunately, it isn’t always as easy as it should be to decide from this just how much weight you need to lose. Many of the height/weight charts which are in existence…

Overweight caused by overeating is the biggest cause of death in the Western world. At least one in three of us needs to lose weight. Being fat doesn’t just make people miserable—and make it difficult for them to wear the clothes they’d like to wear—it makes diseases as varied as asthma, gout, diabetes, high blood…

Every week millions of people take vitamin and mineral supplements to try to improve their health. But these special supplements do no good. Worse still, they may do harm—particularly if taken in large quantities. You will be able to do yourself much more good if you eat a sensible, well balanced diet. But to add…

Why you should eat less fat Cutting down your total fat intake will reduce your calorie intake and will make it easier for you to get slim—and stay slim. And reducing your intake of saturated fat will dramatically improve your health and reduce your susceptibility to a wide range of disorders (particularly heart disease and…

Why you should eat less sugar Sugar has a vastly over-rated reputation as a foodstuff. Whenever small villages get cut off by snow or floods sugar is usually one of the allegedly ‘staple’ ingredients airlifted in by relief organisations. But sugar is a pretty useless food. It is rich in calories and will give you…

Why you should increase the amount of fibre you eat Modern food manufacturing processes make life much easier for us in many ways. Most of us don’t have to grow our own food. We don’t have to get up early in the morning, go out into the fields and break our backs picking the food…

Vegetarianism is the fastest growing trend in the developed world. Here are 21 reasons why you should think about turning green too. Avoiding meat is one of the best and simplest ways to cut down your fat consumption. Modern farm animals are deliberately fattened up to increase profits. Eating fatty meat increases your chances of…

The diet you choose to eat will determine what illnesses you suffer from and how healthy you are. Most of us eat too much fat, too much meat, too much sugar and far too little fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and fibre. The list of diseases known to be associated with the food we eat grows…

The most important thing you have to remember about healthy eating is that you must eat a balanced diet. Only by eating a balanced diet can you be sure that you are getting enough protein and carbohydrate and not too much fat. Only by eating carefully and knowledgeably can you be sure that you are…

The chances are that you now have a microwave oven in your kitchen—and that you use it at least once a day for preparing food for yourself or your family. There are millions of microwave ovens in use around the world. In America nearly three quarters of all households own a microwave oven. In France…

Food is often expensive and time consuming to grow. It is, however, often more expensive to transport, package and store it. So to avoid the inevitable wastage (and financial cost) of food ‘spoiling’, food manufacturers and distributors use a wide variety of techniques to preserve and to extend the ‘shelf life’ of the food they…

There is a growing amount of evidence available to suggest that mad cow disease could, within a few years, be a major killer of human beings. Although the problem first developed in Britain. It could be a major threat to anyone—anywhere in the world— who eats any meat or meat product taken from a cow….

In order to maximise their profits, modern farmers often use drugs and hormones to keep their animals ‘healthy’. The drugs help to reduce the financial loss of animals dying. Since animals are often kept in over crowded conditions the need for artificial help is often considerable. In addition drugs are frequently used to improve the…

Food poisoning is a major problem—frequently caused by carelessness and bad habits in the kitchen. Do this quiz to find out how much you know about preparing food the healthy way. Which of these foods is safest to eat in the street? Bananas Oranges Hot dog Hamburger You have got raw meat defrosting in the…

Food manufacturers use flavourings, preservatives and colourings to restore or improve the taste, texture or colour of the foods they sell. Altogether they use several thousand different additives and in recent years there has been a considerable amount of discussion about the safety of these substances. Since the average consumer eats around 5.51b (2.5kg) of…

You may think your diet is healthy. But let’s find out! Answer the questions in this simple quiz to find out exactly how healthy your eating habits really are! Which sort of bread do you usually buy? White Wholemeal Do you eat an average of one piece of fresh fruit Every day? Most days? Occasionally?…

Cow’s milk Milk has a tremendous reputation as a healthy food. The consumption of milk has been rising steadily for decades. But that reputation is hardly deserved. Here are three health reasons why I don’t drink cow’s milk— a drink which is really only suitable for calves! (I also object to the way cows are…

Do you regularly suffer from headaches, indigestion or palpitations? Do you get edgy, irritable and nervous? Do you ever feel tired and washed out? Do you have difficulty in getting to sleep at night? If you have answered yes to any of these questions then there could be a simple explanation. For if, in addition…

The liver isn’t the only organ damaged by too much drinking. Stomach ulcers, muscle wastage, cancer and brain disease all occur in alcoholics. The incidence of alcoholism is going up fist as more women drink to excess. Early physical symptoms include hand tremor, indigestion, poor appetite, impotence, fits, blackouts, memory lapses and frequent accidents. Anxiety,…

You probably don’t think of water as a food but water is just as valuable as anything you eat. A massive 60% to 65% of your body is water! (The figure is even higher for a baby. Approximately 75% of a baby’s weight is water). If you didn’t eat and didn’t drink it would be…

Although they are sometimes called ‘micro-nutrients’ because we need them in such very small quantities, vitamins and minerals are essential for healthy living. Vitamins and minerals: Help keep your body tissues healthy Help keep your skin in good condition Produce enzymes to help your body function Help turn food into energy Help keep your nerves…

In an average lifetime you will eat thirty tons of food From those thirty tons of food your body will derive the building materials it needs both to grow and to repair itself and the energy to keep muscles functioning and organs such as the brain and the liver operating effectively. Food helps to provide…

Warfarin is a drug that interferes with the body’s clotting mechanism. It takes some time to kick in, unlike heparin, and is given to prevent clotting in deep vein thrombosis or emboli. Careful monitoring of blood clotting time is required but it may be a life-saving compound. Naturopathic treatments are available but should only be…

This drug, released in America in the early part of 1998, encourages the production of a firm erection by influencing a chemical that, in turn, constricts the contraction of the veins in the penis as opposed to relaxing the muscles in the arteries. Highlighting the large number of men with erectile problems this drug has…

Principally anything that opens up blood vessels is a vasodilator, which includes alcohol. Peripheral vasodilators are used in an attempt to treat Raynaud’s disease and others affect the blood vessels in the brain and are being unsuccessfully tried in Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Use only if alternative therapies do not work because these drugs…

Vancomycin is an antibiotic that deserves special mention. It can only be given intravenously and is used as a last resort against multiresistant bacteria. Its use is becoming more needed because of hospital-induced resistant strains, especially of staphylococcal infections. Special mention is given because it is our last-resort antibiotic. We now have resistant strains to…

A popular ointment made up of paraffin, neutral oils and alcohols and brilliantly marketed by the pharmaceutical company Merck, who attached their name to the Latin ‘Unguentum’ for ointment. It is safe to use as a barrier cream, preferably in conjunction with a naturopathic ointment such as Arnica or Calendula, which can be used instead…

Tryptophan is an essential amino acid and is used by the brain to produce serotonin, one of the body’s major calmants and sleep chemicals. L-Tryptophan was a most popular and successful antidepressant and is found in cottage cheese, milk products, meat, fish, fowl, bananas, dried dates, peanuts and most other protein-rich foods. It is now…

Until recently, tricyclics were a preferred form of antidepressant drug. More recently the serotonin re-uptake inhibitors have surpassed them. Tricyclics may still be prescribed by psychiatrists who stick with their known, tried and tested drugs and if they work and no alternatives are successful their use should be maintained.

This term has now been superseded by hypnotics and anxiolytics. A tranquillizer is principally a drug that takes away anxiety and is now synonymous with anxiolytics. These drugs can be divided into the benzodiazepines and barbiturates. The latter are very rarely used nowadays because of their side effects and rapid addictive qualities. The former are…

This drug is due to be pushed strongly as an anti-osteoporosis drug because of its oestrogen and progesterone activity. Initially used to block flushing after surgically induced menopause, the pharmaceutical industry have recently had it licensed for this other use. Avoid this drug until it has been on the market a little bit longer, in…

This is not strictly a drug although it is manufactured. It is a combination of an amino acid and iodine and is used as a replacement therapy in thyroid deficiency. Commonly needed and safe to use in the right dosage.

This is a second-line antiasthma drug, traces of which are found in black tea. Use it if prescribed, but consider complementary medical therapies to aim at a cure for asthma rather than this drug, which simply relieves symptoms.

These are powerful antibiotics with many side effects and should only be used after a firm diagnosis, culture and sensitivity have been established on any infection. This is sadly not done and many strains of bacteria are proving to be resistant to this antibiotic .

Tetanus toxoid is given if a wound is liable to be infected. Tetanus toxoid is likely to be administered to anyone with a wound or cut that is likely to have been infected by the tetanus causing bacteria . Its use in serious wounds is sensible but minor abrasions seem to receive the same dosage,…

Until recently this was the most popular antihistamine because it had a weak sedative effect. It is now known to create marked arrhythmias and should be avoided.

Tamoxifen blocks oestrogen receptors and is the first-line hormonal treatment in breast cancer that is sensitive to oestrogen. It is also used in postmenopausal women because of an effect other than oestrogen blocking , side effects are rare but include menopausal symptoms and will, of course, stop the normal cycle.

An ever-increasing market is being found for these creams, which contain agents that block ultraviolet light. Their effect is only as a barrier cream and most people do not apply the lotion thickly enough. This means that the effects are much shorter lived than described on the bottle. Limited exposure to sun and reference to…

Initially an injectable drug used in acute attacks of migraine, it is now available orally but has many side effects and little long-term experience. It should be used only after all other alternatives and orthodox antimigraine treatments have been tried.

God’s gift to nappy rash. This zinc-based synthetic beeswax cream acts as a marvellous barrier to prevent infection for nappy rash and open sores. Used in conjunction with an Arnica or Calendula cream, it will protect whilst the other heals.

Sudafed is an adrenaline-like drug called pseu-doephedrine. It is used as a topical nasal decongestant and should only be considered after alternative treatments have failed for situations such as rhinitis and hay fever.

This is an injected drug carried by most Gps and emergency doctors for use within a few hours of a myocardial infarction . Streptokinase is also used for deep vein thrombosis and other clot problems such as embolism. It is considered to increase the chances of survival following heart attack. Further studies are required but…

This drug is prescribed by specialist units in rare cases now to treat prostate cancer. It has many side effects and is less used than other oestrogens such as fosfestrol. Its use should be continued if started unless side effects are noted, in which case the specialist involved should be advised.

The human body makes its own steroids. These may be anabolic or catabolic . The body maintains an intricate balance of these chemicals and different types are produced for different functions, accurately and rhythmically. Steroids that encourage repair are produced through the night when we are sleeping and those that stimulate activity are produced in…