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Natural therapies snapshot

It wasn’t too long ago that natural medicine was considered a vestige of the flower power era, something only hippies were into. Nowadays, complementary medicine has become almost mainstream. 60% of Australians regularly use herbal and vitamin supplements, and the latest figures show around three quarters of a million people consult a natural therapist every year.

Natural Therapies for Jetlag

Australia lies in splendid geographical isolation. Unfortunately, this means a plane journey of between 8 and 24 hours if we want to travel overseas for holiday or work.

Breast Cancer

There is a scary statistic around lately that says 1 in 13 Australian women will contract breast cancer. If it was any other disease, we would be calling it an epidemic. What can be done about beating these odds?

Beat the Bloat

Is your tummy bloated? Do you buy skirts and pants according to waistband elasticity rather than style? Abdominal bloating is a common but generally harmless symptom, which doesn’t stop it from a pestilence.

Are you Stressed?

Once you have acknowledged that stress is affecting your health and happiness it’s up to you to take steps to reduce your stress (if possible), and minimise the damage the stress may be causing to your body and mind.

Are you exhausted?

Are you exhausted? I mean really exhausted. On a scale of one to ten, with ten being jumping-full-of-beans, do your energy levels hover around minus 3? Well, you are not alone.

A bitter pill to swallow

James Green an American herbalist said “the mistake of eliminating the bitter flavour from our daily experience is like eliminating one of the colours of the rainbow.” Unfortunately, in Australia, bitter foods are thin on the ground.

Wedding stress

Sally has just married the love of her life, Joe. Their wedding was a wild success. The following morning, the happy couple jetted off to an island resort.

Just add water

It’s often the small changes that make a big difference to our health. Take water for instance. I’m convinced most of us are walking around dehydrated. Dry as a chip. Certainly, we consume enough fluid for the basics, but making a conscious decision to increase water intake leads to improvements in all sorts of unexpected areas. The brain, for example, is a very wet organ.

Warts

Mim, what can you do about warts?

- Worried

Dear Worried Wart

Thrush

Tell me about it girl friend. Sprain an ankle, and you will drip in sympathy. But, when you’re writhing around the office with a bad case of thrush, the most they will offer is a smirk.

Theory No. 47 - Stress and Weight

Everyone has a theory about weight gain. Mine (theory No. 47) relates to the connection between unexplained weight gain and stress. Some people put on a lot of weight for no good reason. Good reasons for weight gain include an unnatural and unfettered desire for chocolate cheesecake and a disinclination to do any exercise more vigorous than pressing buttons on a remote control.

The wheat trap

Our digestive tract has remained in much the same state for hundreds of thousands of years. Although humans have the incredible ability to adapt intellectually, our biology binds us to the past. Physical adaptation is painstakingly slow.

Naturopathic travel kits

I am often asked to organise naturopathic first aid travel kits for my patients before their overseas holidays.

Weight loss

We all know someone who eats like a sparrow but has the silhouette of a Christmas turkey. The problem with sparrow-style feeding (apart from the beak versus mouth issue), is that it lowers our metabolic rate. The metabolic rate governs how quickly the body burns calories for energy. If you are interested in weight loss, you are interested in procuring a speedy metabolic rate.

Cancer

Cancer is not a new disease. Evidence of it appears in skeletons of prehistoric man. Now it seems everyone knows someone who has been touched by cancer, and it has recently pipped heart disease to the post by becoming the leading cause of death in Australia.

Water - too much

Health and beauty magazines tell us to drink plenty of water so that our complexion will glow like Isabella Rossellini, our figures will ungrow to be like Elle Macpherson, and our energy levels will match tennis dynamos Venus and Selena Williams. Little wonder many of us wake each morning full of earnest intentions to drink a camels hump and a half of water before nightfall.

What is tea?

I am a tea girl from way back, unable to start the day without a full pot of tea under my belt. A tea snob too, none of this tea-bag nonsense for me, I insist on tea leaves for my cuppa. Unfortunately, I am rarely able to enjoy my preferred beverage away from home.

When does a therapeutic diet become an eating disorder?

Do you know anyone on a very restricted diet? First to go is red meat (because of the cholesterol), then chicken (because of the antibiotics) then it’s anything with eyes. What follows on the banned list is dairy (because it forms mucus), gluten (because of the bloat), potatoes and rice (because they are starches) and oil (because it’s oil).

Change of season

With monotonous regularity, at this time every year I get panicked by the large number of patients ringing up complaining of sore throats, hot and cold sweats and copious amounts of green mucus. “What is happening?”

Childhood coughs

Coughs and colds affect everyone, young and old. But at least an adult can tell you what’s wrong. Young children just suffer, some more silently than others. Here are some natural remedies that will help little ones recover from a nasty cough, so they, and the rest of the house, can sleep peacefully through the night.

Childhood eczema

Itchy, Hot and Irritable or Scratchy, Sore and Sorry, whatever way you look at it, eczema and children are a miserable combination. Eczema is one of a group of inherited conditions that includes hayfever and asthma.

Convalescing - a lost art

The word convalescence brings with it visions of wan weak spinsters sent to the seaside for a ‘cure’, after suffering a painful bout of something vague. The only distractions to be soup and blancmange, writing letters to dear aunts and taking long solitary walks along pebbly, wind-swept beaches.

Cystitis

Having a quiet wee should be one of lifes simple pleasures. Cystitis shatters this pastoral scene. With visions of razor blades, hell-fire and multiple midnight journeys back and forth to the toilet.

Constipation

The occasional bout of constipation is part of life’s rich tapestry, more than now and then, however, can be a bit of a strain. Straining, going to the toilet less frequently, and rabbit-dropping poos are all signs of constipation. Other symptoms include bad breath, tiredness, headaches, loss of appetite, coated tongue, bloated tummy, flatulence, and skin problems.

Detox ... if you must

Detoxing has become as fashionable as a Manolo Blahnik stiletto. In certain circumstances a gentle detox is justified. However I have several “issues” with the concept!

What is naturopathy?

A history and guide to naturopathic medicine in Australia. Naturopathy endeavours to find out and treat the underlying cause of an illness, not just the symptoms. Naturopathic medicine aims to improve your sense of wellbeing in all areas.

Stress and Cortisol

This article is a summary of a lecture Mim Beim gave to the AGM of the ATMS (Australian Traditional Medicine Society) in September 2005.

Sleep

Up to 40% of Australians suffer from poor insomnia. Whether it’s not being able to fall asleep, or having a restless night, it’s hard to feel 100% without a decent night’s kip. Some of the following suggestions may help to improve your sleep.

Stress and the HSC

Stress not only affects adults, children and teenagers can also suffer it’s ill effects. Especially when studying for the dreaded HSC. Here are some suggestions to help your child cope with this difficult time.

• Try Hair of the dog