Category Archives: Health

New Year’s detox

Posted by jamiebarton on February 26, 2012 No comment

Christmas time often results in over-indulging on rich foods and a large binge on alcohol, because of this, the time after Christmas often leaves us feeling ‘stuffy’. The various Christmas antics and traditions often put a strain on the liver, as well as affecting the levels of bacteria within the gut. This is what then leads to the bloated and sluggish feeling that we experience around the same time every year.

During Christmas I tried not to over indulge to much and watched what I ate however there is no getting around the fact that your diet is different than normal. So after Christmas, what is the solution, then? Simple. Why not try a healthy and easy detox and put those vital organs at rest I have been and it has been great!

The body has its own systems for dealing with toxins, the liver and the kidneys. These two major organs perform a variety of roles and are essential in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Following the steps below, it is easy to give them a helping hand and to banish that well-known sluggish feeling, once and for all.

1. Drink plenty of water. Large amounts of water are needed within the diet anyway, to replace water that is lost on a day-to-day basis. However, drinking a little more can help flush away toxins and restore a health inside. You should aim to drink around 8-10 glasses of water per day, at least. This may be difficult and may become boring, therefore another successful alternative would be a detox tea. Nettle is thought to be a natural cleanser and is thought to help remove any impurities. This may be worth a try!

2. Eliminate Alcohol. Yes, you heard me right, eliminate alcohol. This may be a little harder for some of us, rather than others. But try and eliminate alcohol, or even keep it to a minimum whilst trying to flush away any toxins. If your Christmas has been anything like mine, your liver will be well in need of a break! Also it is worth trying to avoid sugar and caffeine and it is worth trying to replace these with items like fruit and veg! Simply replacing sugar with fruit and vegetables has been proven to help many people sleep better, given them more energy and even in some cases, help them lose some weight!

3. Why not consider using a probiotic multivitamin? Multivitamins help balance the bacteria within the gut and therefore helping to maintain a healthy digestive system.

With all these points considered, why not give it a go? Your sluggish feeling should be gone in no time!

Sleepy? The dangers of not getting enough sleep

Posted by jamiebarton on February 8, 2012 No comment

Picture courtesy of tohoscope

I was feeling quite tired all day yesterday at work, it wasn’t like I had a busy day the day before nor had a late night so I couldn’t figure out why I was so tired. Anyway I was looking online about tiredness etc. and read about the dangers of not getting enough sleep.  Apparently third of people in the UK suffer from lack of sleep at some point in their lives, it’s not often I don’t sleep unless I am really anxious/nervous about something.

The side effects of not getting enough sleep are quite self-explanatory such as impaired concentration, memory and fatigue as well as constant tiredness and irritability. However there are other side effects caused by lack of sleep and these include increased weight and poorer glucose handling.

There are plenty of reasons why people are having poor sleep, these include stress and anxiety as well as a disturbed sleep pattern such as having later nights than normal and distractions before bed such as TV, laptops and mobile devices.

Luckily there are ways to get a good night’s sleep, like establishing fixed times for going to bed and waking up, making sure your bedroom is neither too hot or too cold and make sure it’s nice and quiet too. You should also avoid taking naps during the day, plus avoid drinking caffeine or alcohol six hours before you go to bed and the same goes for nicotine.

I’m am going to keep these things in mind tonight and hope that I can get a decent night’s sleep so I am not tired for work tomorrow!

Health hazards – Please that’s just life

Posted by jamiebarton on September 3, 2011 No comment

I do get irked when I read articles on what is a danger to your health and what isn’t (not that there is much that isn’t a danger to our health). A lot of the time it’s just common sense and most women especially know it and most of the time avoid it, if they can.

I did read recently though many things women do are actually quite dangerous such as:

Heavy hand bags: We have all been guilty at some point, but a lot of the time it’s necessary, especially for mother who don’t just need to carry stuff around for themselves but their children also. I have a lot more in my handbag when I go to work than I do normally as do a lot of women I suspect. Also I think with the introduction of re-usable bags you find your handbag filled up with these before a shopping trip and some are not light. Some women’s bags can weigh up to a stone when full and this can be very damaging to your back, neck and posture so the lighter the better, if you can.

Other things like wearing high heels all the time, wrong bra size and even wearing make-up to bed are also bad for women though I’m sure occasionally wearing high heels and wearing make-up to bed won’t do us too much harm. However I am an advocate of women wearing the right bra size it’s not that hard to get properly measure and is worth it.

Weird celebrity diet

Posted by jamiebarton on August 24, 2011 No comment

I was reading an article the other day about Victoria Beckham and her plans to shift her post pregnancy weight. Now I’m not actually sure how much weight she actually gained, reports suggest 1st 7lb but it didn’t look a lot and recent pictures I have seen of her don’t really show her carrying a lot of extra pregnancy weight however it might just have been the camera angles.

Apparently she is doing the new ‘Five-Hands’ diet which means you can only eat just five handfuls of food a day. Strange I know, according to a source close to the star Victoria has been snacking on palm-sized portions of high protein foods such as smoked salmon, prawns with chilli, scrambled eggs and yellow fin tuna sushi, as well as avoiding carbohydrates. She supplements these meals by drinking lots of water and snacking on goji berries and nuts.

I’m not sure how much energy she will get from this diet though, especially with a new baby and her sons to look after she will need a lot.  But then I guess that is what nannies are for! I personally wish she would have a bit more meat on her bones, looking at someone that thin is not nice, bones shouldn’t protrude that much and your legs shouldn’t look like they could snap.

Now I’m not a jealous fatty before you all start saying so, I just wish people would understand what effects their extreme dieting has on other people especially young girls.

Exercise key to quitting smoking?

Posted by jamiebarton on August 14, 2011 No comment

According to a new study from the Miriam Hospital in Rhode Island, the key to quitting smoking could be pumping iron and their study found that this form of exercise made men and women attempting to quit smoke TWICE as successful!

With a couple of friends who smoke and struggle to quit, as well as having weight issues, this could be the perfect weight for them to kill two birds with one stone!

The researchers at the Miriam Hospital recruited 25 male and female smokers who were between the ages of 18 and 65, who were all also smoking at least 5 cigarettes a day, to take part in the study. They were placed at random into two groups: One group took part in two 60-minute training sessions per week for 12 weeks, while the other group only watched a brief health and wellness video twice a week. Out of this group 16% who were in the resistance training group not only found they quit smoking at the end of the 12 week period, but they also decreased their body weight and body fat as well. Out of those who watched the video only, 8% of them quit smoking and saw an INCREASE in their weight and fat.

It does show that exercise has a lot of health benefits, those who did exercise, probably skipped smoking, so they could have more energy and could probably breath better after stopping.

At the moment there needs to be more research into this link, plus much longer term research, currently 15% of those in the resistance training group had managed not to lapse either in the last three months, which is a good sign.

Looking after your teeth

Posted by jamiebarton on June 16, 2011 No comment

I always feel rather self conscious of my teeth, they aren’t as straight as I would like, even after years of wearing braces and no matter what I use to clean them, I can’t seem to get anywhere close to that Hollywood smile. On the other hand, when I visit my dentist he does remark that my gums are in good condition and I never have any cavities, so I suppose I can’t have everything, well without spending a fortune.

I had a quick look on the internet just to see what options are available if I wanted to get my teeth whiter. One of the easiest easy is to have veneers which are bonded to the front of your teeth and look fairly natural, fitting the shape of your teeth. They are still fairly pricey at around £400 per tooth and most dentists can now fit them.

Some people steer away from veneers though, because to fit them because they require removal of natural tooth structure. There are other options available as well, teeth whitening can be done by your dentist and normally uses a type of bleach which gets rid of stains on your teeth, you can also buy home versions of the kits too, however I’m not too confident at trying that out at home myself.

For now I think I may wait and hope my teeth get whiter eventually, however I am not fully ruling out veneers.

National Blood Week

Posted by jamiebarton on June 13, 2011 No comment

This week it is a National Blood Week, I am an active blood donor and have been since I was around 18, I am up to my 14th donation and have received a bronze award. In the past year unfortunately I haven’t given blood as much as I would have done, due to the fact when the time comes around for donation in my area I seem to pick up nasty colds. So far this year I have donated once and am due to go again in July.

Tomorrow is World Blood Donor Day, which is the birthday of Nobel Prize winner Karl Landsteiner who discovered the blood grouping system, more people need to be aware about giving blood and encouraging people to do so. It’s really important for people to be aware of blood donation, all my family have been and still are donors so I have never had a problem with it and neither am I scared of needles, even after a couple of tattoos. Unfortunately though my friends are not the same, only a couple regularly donate which is a shame, the rest who don’t/wont I am most disappointed in. Only one of my friends has a medical reason for not donating the rest are just scared/can’t be bothered no matter how much I nag.

According to NHS Blood and Transplant Currently, only 4% of the population are blood donors, this is a really low amount, it’s no wonder that the blood stocks in the UK regularly run low. I would actively encourage everyone to go along to donate blood, or in the very least enquire; after all you could save a life.

Healthy eating

Posted by jamiebarton on March 13, 2011 No comment

I mentioned at the beginning of the year I was looking to be healthier, not going on a diet but changing my diet so it was healthier and taking part in some light exercise. I have been quite successful with the exercise part mainly because the Kinect I got for my Xbox is so darn fun; however I am still struggling to keep a healthier diet.

For example I still snack quite a lot and although I’m trying to eat healthier alternatives to crisps and chocolate I still don’t get round to it, although I did read recently that popcorn is a better for you than crisps, although I’m presuming plain popcorn not the stuff covered in butter and sugar. On the other hand however I have cut down my tea consumption and am now drinking more water instead although I’m not convinced that, that is making much of a difference yet.

I’m currently scouring the internet for foods, recommended by various health experts that should be included into your diet such as Blueberries, broccoli, Brazil nuts, blackberries, strawberries, goji berries, oily fish, eggs and so much more. I am though however finding it a harder task incorporating some things into my diet, a lot of the time I spend is looking for recipes, but this is the price you pay for trying to stay healthy and enjoying a varied diet.

Spring into action

Posted by jamiebarton on April 27, 2010 No comment

As we have now had some warmer weather this past week I decided it’s about time to start getting my body into shape for summer, after putting on a few extra pounds over winter (to keep me warm obviously) I could do shedding them and also toning up my squidgy bits. On top of that my skin seems to be looking fairly dull and very pale at the moment which as I start wearing more summer clothing will look more apparent.

Obviously sticking to an exercise regime will help tone me up and loose those pesky pounds but I can’t just suddenly start that as I haven’t exercised for a good 6 months, well since we headed into winter last year! I read somewhere its best to get your body and mind ready before taking on any mammoth exercise regime a god way to do this is to enjoy a relaxing massage to loosen up all your muscles. So I have decided to motivate myself I will visit a spa, now I know most people think that would be a good prize for getting fit but it’s also a good way to get you prepared. I can have some treatments that can revitalise my skin and give me a nice glow, like a body scrub as well as enjoying a sauna to rid my body of some of its toxins.

Once I have prepared my body I think I should be in a perfect mood to get fit and healthy.