It may be a bit of a mouthful, but quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) is one of my all time favourite foods. Not only is it amazing for your health, but it actually tastes nice – what’s not to like?

Quinoa has only been made popular in the U.K in the last few years, and is still not a store cupboard staple for most people, but it has actually been used around the world since the ancient Inca’s. The beauty of quinoa is that it is used like a grain – you can substitute rice, couscous, barley, pasta with it – but it is actually a seed, and as such is high in protein. This makes it perfect for people trying to reduce carbohydrates (but not wanting to live purely off meat!), vegetarians/vegans, and pretty much anyone wanting to add some variety to their diet. When cooked, quinoa is light, fluffy, slightly crunchy and subtly flavored, making it really versatile.

Not only is quinoa packed with protein, containing all nine essential amino acids (the building blocks of things like muscles) but it also contains enzymes, vitamins and minerals, fibre, antioxidants, and phytonutrients. Making it, in my opinion (and plenty of other people’s too!) a superfood.

Just a few of the benefits of adding Quinoa to your diet:

That’s just a few of the benefits of eating Quinoa – the health benefits are only just being fully explored!

How do I eat it?

Well, you can use quinoa however you want to – you can make porridge for breakfast, salad for lunch, flapjacks for snacks and use it as the grain portion of your evening meal. It really is versatile! (although I wouldn’t recommend eating it more than 3times a week) And it only takes about 15minutes to cook, essentially being boiled like rice or couscous.

My personal favourite use for quinoa is to cook some up and add a little butter. I then lightly stir fry any vegetables I have lying around – asparagus, onion, broccoli, courgette, pepper are good choices – and stir them into the still warm quinoa along with some cubed up feta cheese. If I’m feeling especially virtuous I might also add some nuts and seeds such as pine nuts and sesame. And voila! This makes a lovely warm dish in the evening and then I save the left over and have it as a cold salad for lunch. Perfect.

Just a quick word of caution: it is really essential that you rinse quinoa throughly before cooking. This is because it is coated with a toxic chemical call saponin which can cause issues with the immune system and stomach. Whilst commercial processing does remove most of the saponin before the quinoa hits the supermarket shelf, it’s still better to be on the safe side. Rinse the quinoa in a sieve until it is no longer ‘soapy’.

 Hopefully you are now tempted to pick up some Quinoa in your next supermarket sweep (look for it in the wholefoods or grains aisle) and give it a try. If you’d like any more recipe suggestions just let me know!

Well, the sun is just about making an appearance today, which is making me think Spring thoughts. Namely hayfever, or the bringer of Sneezy, Dopey and Itchy as I like to think of it.

We probably all know someone who spends sunny months doped up on anti-histamines just so that they can breathe. But for many of us hayfever is more a minor inconvenience – a streaming nose, a headache, itching eyes, a sore throat, tiredness. We might not even realise we have it. When a new client comes to see me at this time of year hayfever is always something I look into and test for. Even if it isn’t severe, or even noticeable, it can be an added strain on an already stressed immune system that makes the difference between getting by and feeling rubbish.

The good news though is that whether it is mild or severe, or you are left as Sneezy, Dopey or Itchy, there are lots of natural alternatives to traditional antihistamines. Here’s just a few of my favourites:

So, that’s just my personal shortlist of hayfever favourites that I have seen work. If you have any personal favourites do let me know!

It’s time to talk about water. Quite simply one of my favourite healing tools.

Who would have thought the key to good health could be so easy and cheap? In the UK we are lucky enough to have access to this health god at, quite literally, the turn of a tap. And yet most of us neglect this essential nutrient in favour of health sucking alternatives. And then we wonder why we don’t feel as well as we should!

We all know that we need water, even though we might not know exactly why or how much. Most of us certainly don’t drink enough and some people claim that most of the UK population is, in fact, dehydrated. I wouldn’t go that far, as the body in its wisdom will suck as much moisture from everything we eat and drink as possible to help keep it alive. I prefer to use the term ‘walking withered’ because like an unwatered plant, you might still be alive and functioning, but you are certainly not in the best shape possible.

The sad fact is most of us are the walking withered. And it is such an easy thing to change. Here are just some of the benefits of adding a bit more water into your daily routine:

But what about tea, coffee, soft drinks, they count don’t they? Water doesn’t actually mean WATER surely?

Well, it is true that your body will extract water from everything you eat and drink. But as you need to use up water to break these down to get the water, doesn’t that seem to be somewhat of a false economy? Surely it is much simpler just to drink some water in the first place?

The additional problem is that most of the things we do drink, especially coffee, tea, fizzy drinks and alcohol, also have other detrimental effects on the body such as raising our stress hormones or being a diuretic. Now, I’m not saying you can’t drink these things, anyone who knows me will know I am a big fan of a good cup of black coffee and a glass of red wine. But relying purely on these for your fluid intake isn’t a good move.

So how much do I need to drink?

To be honest, there isn’t a hard and fast rule. It’s commonly said you need 8 glasses or 2 litres a day and this is what I tend to recommend to clients as it gets good results. However, as little as 1 litre is beneficial. Once your body gets used to water you will quickly find your own healthy balance. It’s worth noting though that too much water can be just as bad as too little – however too much is usually 4 litres or more!

A great way to start adding more water to your diet is to have a mug of warm water (with some fresh lemon for taste if preferred) first thing on getting up in the morning and then half an hour before every meal.

But Water makes me pee like a racehorse!

This is the most frequent opposition I get when suggesting people drink water. And it is a fair point. However, if water seems to go straight through you, it tends to be a sign that you are low on omega 3 fatty acids (commonly known as fish oils). We need a good level of omega 3 fats to keep the membrane around each cell healthy, which in turn helps to keep the right things in and out of our cells. If you are peeing like a racehorse, your cell can’t hold onto water and so you might benefit from some omega 3 supplementation.

If you find you are peeing a lot though and are also very thirsty or have symptoms such as dizziness or sugar cravings, then it’s worth getting yourself checked out by a doctor, as frequent urination is a classic sign of type 2 diabetes.

At the end of the day, whether you believe that water is a health tool or not, do you really have anything to lose from trying?

It costs (virtually) nothing to turn on the tap. It might make the difference between an afternoon nap and an energy packed day or get rid of that niggling headache you often get. The first task I give many of my clients is simply to drink up. And those that do often see changes in their health just from this simple step – no pills, no expensive supplements, just a simple item we all have access to.

So stop being the walking withered and imagine how you would feel if you bloomed.

Cold winter nights, working long hours, money worries, demanding children…none of these things exactly leave you feeling in the mood for a bit of loveplay do they? Yet, some simple additions to your diet can make all the difference between ‘I suppose I should as we haven’t in a while’ and a passion fuelled encounter reminiscent of your youth.

Believe it or not, you don’t have to stock up on oysters, dust off the whip or order specialist herbal supplements off a dodgy website to start enjoying a fuller sex life for both you and your partner. You can simply nip to your local supermarket and stock up on the following instead:

So, there’s just a few simple additions to your diet for a healthy sex life. But let’s not forget what you SHOULDN’T eat if you want to get hot between the sheets:

High processed, high sugar, high salt or high fat foods will actually drain you of energy and make you less inclined to have sex. Not only will they slow down your sex drive, but they’ve also been shown make it harder to reach orgasm.

So next time you reach for the Haribo, remember it could be the difference between a satisfied night or a bit of a flop.

If you are sick and tired of feeling sick and tired and being told that “there is nothing wrong with you”, then you are most definitely not alone.

Almost 70% of the people that doctors see are suffering from ‘functional disturbances’, which means that they don’t have a clinical disorder or disease. Now, on the one hand that’s good, it means you don’t have anything big and nasty wrong with you. But on the other hand you are still feeling unwell, which isn’t so great.

Many people soldier on and think that tiredness, headaches, IBS, PMS, depression, are just an inevitable fact of life and that you just need to learn to live with it. I know that’s what I used to do. But actually, it’s not really normal to feel unwell. If your body was working perfectly then it would be able to cope with most threats to your health without you even knowing about it. But these days, despite all our medical and technological advances, we live in an environment that isn’t conducive to good health.  And those symptoms that you live with, or are told nothing can be done about, are a sign that something is wrong. If you pay attention to them and deal with the underlying issues now then you might be able to avoid them evolving into anything more serious.

Here at Panacea, the most common causes we see for ill health are:

Guess what? All of these are fixable!

If you are feeling tired and stressed, try drinking more water. It’s a simple solution but it truly is amazing how much your health can be improved just by keeping yourself hydrated. And the best thing is,  it is a cheap solution that everyone (in the UK at least) has easy access to. For the other causes on the list, you can either try to tackle them alone or you can seek help from someone, which is often where we come in.

We know how horrible it is to be feeling less than healthy. And we know the effects of not doing anything about those nagging symptoms. So my one request is, whatever path you might choose to take, and whether or not it involves our services, DO SOMETHING.

If you are local to Bristol, Bath or Somerset then we can work with you to offer you a health MOT or complete healthcare package utilising Asyra Pro health screening. This will pinpoint all those imbalances putting your body under strain and enable us to support you in fixing them.

For those  of you a bit further away then why not take a look at our homeopathic or naturopathy services? 

If you aren’t sure what step to take call us today on 01934 853718 for a free chat about your needs and  the best path for you.

If you have frequent symptoms with no apparent cause, it could be that something you are eating is to blame…

Common symptoms of food intolerance or food sensitivity include:

Fatigue, Headaches, Bloating, Itchiness, Stiff Joints, Aching Muscles, Skin Breakouts, Irritability, Constipation, Diarrhoea, Stomach Pain, Wind, Acne, Poor Concentration, Mood Swings

Unlike an allergy, a food intolerance can be quite difficult to detect. Symptoms often don’t occur as soon as you eat the offending food and they may not always occur at all. Often, the reaction is to chemical compounds (also known as phenolics) in the food that you are eating, and it is not until this chemical reaches a certain level that symptoms occur. So, you might be able to have milk in your tea without any problems, but polish off a tub of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and you are suffering for days.

Common causes of food sensitivity include:

The good news is that food intolerances can be fixed.

Depending on the cause it can be a simple case of combining good hydration, a period of elimination and remedies or supplements to correct the underlying issue. Unlike an allergy a food sensitivity doesn’t have to be for life.

The most well known intolerances today are wheat and dairy, and there is a good reason for this. However, they are not, to any extent, the only food intolerances. You can in fact be intolerant to pretty much any food – even fruits and vegetables! So giving up wheat or dairy may improve symptoms initially, but not get rid of the problem altogether.

If you do think that what you eat might be making you ill and you want to find out exactly what the cause is, you have a number of options.

You could try:

One thing is for certain, whilst you can recover from food intolerances, this rarely happens from ignoring the situation. So if you suspect food is making you sick, start paying attention and look for a solution. It doesn’t have to be difficult to feel better.

The good news is, there are a number of ways to improve your energy. You may feel tired due to a simple nutritional deficiency or a blood sugar imbalance. Or perhaps you’re a little bit too toxic or stress is taking its toll.

Some top tips to improve your energy:

1. Get plenty of sleep

   If you have trouble sleeping, whether it’s getting to sleep or waking up in the night, it will impact on your energy levels. If it’s a chronic issue it will also impact on your hormones, your metabolism and your appetite.

2. Drink water

   When our cells are hydrated it makes energy production much easier. Whilst caffeine might give us an immediate energy boost, in the long run it actually exhausts us more, dehydrating us and stressing our adrenals. So make sure you drink water too.

3. Eat regularly

   Start the day with a good breakfast and make sure you have something to eat at least every 3-4hours in order to keep your blood sugar stable. This is particularly useful in preventing that afternoon slump.

4. Combine your foods

   Make sure you eat a combination of protein, good fat and starchy carbohydrates (i.e. bread, pasta, rice, potato) at every meal and snack to keep your energy stable.

5. Eat your fruit and veg

   These are powerhouse of enzymes and energy, not to mention the vitamins and minerals needed to help with energy production. Smoothies or vegetables juices also making excellent pick me ups in place of sugary snacks

These are simple easy changes to make, but can really make a difference. If you try them and still feel tired, then it’s time to look at other causes such as nutritional deficiencies, hormone imbalances, anaemia or adrenal fatigue.