Are you troubled by Brain Fog? Too 'foggy' and tired really even to think what to do?

Are you troubled by Brain Fog? Wish you could counter it but don't know what to do? Too 'foggy' and tired really even to try to think about what to do? Well I offer some simple  suggestions.

First off I'd recommend cutting down on salt and salty food. People who try this are commonly amazed at how much better they feel, and how much brighter, happier and more energetic. Even in just a few days.

Secondly, cut down on sugar and sugary food, and on bread/biscuits/wheat. These are notorious for causing fluctuations in blood sugar levels, which can lead on type 2 diabetes, with its attendant health problems of overweight, tiredness, vision damage/possible blindness, cognitive decline, impaired mobility, depression and many more, including premature death.

Improve your nutrition. - You're tired and you can't think straight and that makes processed ready meals/convenience foods a big temptation. Try hard to overcome this temptation because this sort of food is usually high in salt and sugar, the baddies I have already indicted, and very low in nutrients that your brain and body need. They are nutrient-poor and baddie-rich. Instead of taste, they offer addictive saltiness and sweetness, with the added harm of artificial colours, artificial toxic garbage like MSG (monosodium glutamate), synthetic transfats to lengthen 'shelf life', etc. (Note: if an ingredient lengthens the shelf life of a food product, it's a pound to a penny that it shortens the longevity of the person who eats the product!)

Vitamins that are especially helpful for brain fog are Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D. - If you click on the Vitamin D label beneath this blogpost you can read some of my earlier blogposts that go into more detail about this very important vitamin. See also this related page with more info about Vitamin D and other essential nutrients.) Similarly you can read further about Vitamin B12 by clicking on its label beneath this post.

Avoid taking anti-depressants, the ultimate in pharmaceutical junk! Tricyclics and any other drugs that have anticholinergic properties cause memory loss, cognitive impairment/decline and can lead eventually to dementia. You've only got one brain and one body. Don't damage them with pharmaceutical junk.

As you gradually improve your health in the ways - or at least some of the ways - I have mentioned - you will hopefully soon have the energy to do a bit more and take a bit more exercise than you can manage at present. Exercise will in turn add to the virtuous circle and reduce your brain fog and ill-health even further.

And here's a more authoritative and much more detailed webpage about clearing brain fog for when you can cope with reading more demanding reading material than my little effort.

Thinking of getting a stairlift?

This week, along with my copy of the Radio Times coming through the letterbox, there were also some of those leaflets advertising this and that. There is usually at least one with a photo of a photogenic TV doctor endorsing something or other, and doubtless being very well paid to do so. This time the 'doctor advert' was trying to sell stairlifts. 

 

If you too received one of these leaflets and it has started you wondering whether you should be getting a stairlift - a very expensive purchase - I would just like to invite you to read this blog article I posted earlier this year. You too may well be short of vitamin D. Most people in this country are short of vitamin D because the main source of vitamin D is sunshine, and we don't get a lot of that in the UK. Perhaps you too would benefit more from improving your nutritional status and thus your bone and muscle strength and general health, than by spending thousands of pounds on an expensive stairlift.

Fewer people in the 'at risk' groups are taking the free flu jabs

It's really good to read that fewer people are falling for the propaganda urging them to have the flu vaccination. Flu vaccines are pretty ineffective. See this article and this.

And why have vaccine injected into your body and take the risk of adverse effects from it, when there are excellent drug-free ways to avoid catching flu? Here are some good precautions to take:

Wash your hands frequently to lower the risk of germs being spread.

Avoid dieting.

Eat good, nutritious meals cooked from fresh foods, rather than processed meals which are nutritionally poor and usually contain unhealthy additives.

Make sure you are getting enough Vitamin D, the 'sunshine vitamin', which builds up immunity to respiratory diseases. Most of us are short of this vitamin, especially in the winter, so you may find that taking a supplement of vitamin D3 capsules or tablets would be helpful for you. Some GPs will get your vitamin D level checked for you - a little blood test.

Cut down on salt and salty food.

Cut down on sugar and wheat/bread.

Avoid synthetic chemicals like artificial sweeteners, colourings, flavours, etc and those ghastly artificial scented room sprays and laundry products.

I myself haven't had the flu or a cold since I stopped having the flu jabs many years ago.

Woman's Hour: Joanna Blythman has converted Jane Garvey to whole milk.

Joanna Blythman has converted Jane Garvey to whole milk. Well done, Joanna! This Woman's Hour item today may have persuaded some listeners at home, not just Jane, to change from semi-skimmed to whole milk. Like Jane, they may have swallowed the Government's line that whole milk is high in fat and that that fat is not good for us. Joanna explained that whole milk is not at all high in fat, and that in any case, the fat in milk contains the fat-soluble vitamins, one of which is vitamin D, the vitamin that research increasingly finds most people to be short of, so whole milk is better for us than semi-skimmed or skimmed milk. Jane and her family are now luxuriating in whole milk, rather than the nutritionally inferior semi-skimmed. Maybe you would like to consider swapping too?

A snippet of information can transform someone's life

A snippet of information can transform someone's life. This is a message I received from someone one day last week:

"hi margaret

just thought i would let you know about my experience with regards to vitamin D i saw what you have said about it and as i have had fibromyalgia for over 25 years i thought what the hell i'll try anything once and so i have started taking a supplement called osteocare and WOW what a difference i have been taking it for 3 weeks now and i can already feel a big difference in my muscles and bones and also my energy levels i really don't know how to thank you enough i have not used my stairlift for a week much to everyones amazement and i am hoping that i will continue to improve lots more it has already made a huge difference to me and my quality of life it's amazing what a snippet of someone elses wisdom can have such a massive change in someone else's life

thankyou so much"

Fresh sardines make a healthy, nutritious, economical meal

Fresh sardines make a healthy, nutritious, economical meal. Yes indeed. The big drawback to tinned sardines is the added salt, but if you buy fresh and cook them yourself you can avoid adding salt. If you've not cooked sardines before, there are many internet sites that give good instructions about this. One site I thought extremely clear to follow is this one. I bought half a kilo of fresh sardines with my last supermarket order and that cost only £1.50.

When I was a child I was always being told that fish is good for the brain and I'm sure that's as true today as it was then. Being small fish at the bottom of the food chain, they do not carry the mercury contamination dangers that bigger fish do. They are oily fish, packed with healthy nutrients: protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, vitamin B12 and other B vitamins, vitamin E and calcium. They don't contain carbohydrate. And of course they cook very quickly. - Why not give them a try? They are very tasty and they are good for you - and good for your brain!

Today is World Diabetes Day

Today, November 14th 2011, is World Diabetes Day. November 14th was the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, the Nobel Laureate who, in 1922, discovered insulin. If you have diabetes, I believe you would find the following articles interesting:

Paleolithic diet much better for diabetics than conventional ‘diabetes diet’

Vitamin D has potential to combat Type 2 diabetes

Conflicts of interest rife in those setting diabetes and cholesterol guidelines

Vitamin D is crucial in human immune response to tuberculosis

Medical Xpress reports that Vitamin D is crucial in human immune response to tuberculosis. The researchers "found that T-cells, which are white blood cells that play a central role in immunity, release a protein called interferon-gamma that triggers communication between cells and directs the infected immune cells to attack the invading tuberculosis bacteria. However, this activation requires sufficient levels of vitamin D to be effective."

This important finding stirs very mixed emotions in me. In childhood and adolescence I suffered repeated bouts of pulmonary tuberculosis, after which time I was advised by health professionals to avoid exposing my skin to sunshine in case it reawakened the dormant TB germs. Vitamin D is known as the 'sunshine vitamin'. Clearly, in the light of this research finding (published online today,Oct. 12, in the peer-reviewed journal, Science Translational Medicine) the advice that I was given was completely wrong, and since I followed that advice for a long time, it cannot but have compromised my health. More and more, researchers are reporting the many health benefits that vitamin D bestows on us, and the many disbenefits that are caused by inadequate levels of vitamin D.

We Need More Vitamin D

Vitamin D has emerged as the nutrient of the decade. Numerous studies have found benefits for nearly 100 types of health conditions. These health benefits include reduced risk of bone diseases, many types of cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes mellitus, bacterial and viral infectious diseases, and autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, neurological conditions such as cognitive dysfunction, and improved athletic and physical performance.
Read news release at orthomolecular.org

Rickets reported in Cardiff

BBC Wales reports that cases of the crippling children's bone disease rickets are being seen in Cardiff. "Caused by a lack of vitamin D, the disease can lead to deformities like bowed legs and stunted growth, but it largely disappeared last century. Eye on Wales has learnt health professionals working in communities in south Cardiff are reporting incidents."

Vitamin D deficiency can result in a host of serious health conditions, including susceptibility to colds and flu, overweight and dental problems. See Vitamin D Deficiency. Sunshine is a good source of vitamin D. Food sources include oily fish such as salmon and sardines, eggs, full fat natural yoghurt, whole milk and beef liver. Low fat diets are not healthy, but they are particularly bad for children. Your doctor can arrange for vitamin D level testing.

Kirstie brought her baby to see me today

My friend Kirstie brought baby George to see me today. It was so nice to see them. It is the first time I've seen them since George was born, nearly two months ago. He was wide awake and busy looking round and learning. Kirstie is giving him a good, healthy start in life by breastfeeding him, and she doesn't eat any salty food or other junk that would be bad for him. I gave her a tub of Yeo Valley whole milk probiotic natural yoghurt to take home with her. That will do them both good, with its no added ingredients, and the dairy calcium, vitamin D and Bifidobacteria it naturally contains.

New Study suggests Sunshine may help prevent Multiple Sclerosis

A new study in Australia suggests that obtaining Vitamin D through sun exposure may help prevent the onset of multiple sclerosis as well as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and some types of cancer.
Read article on the Daily Nexus website (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)

Want to know more about infectious diseases? I recommend Melvyn Bragg's Radio 4 programme

I recommend Melvyn Bragg's Radio 4 programme "In Our Time" which I heard yesterday. Lord Bragg assembled experts: Steve Jones, Professor of Genetics at University College London, Sir Roy Anderson, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College London and Mark Pallen, Professor of Microbial Genomics at the University of Birmingham and led a fascinating and informative discussion on the origins, history and survival mechanisms of the microbes/bacteria/viruses, etc. that sometimes afflict us with infections. There is an iPlayer facility on the webpage to listen to the programme.

And if you would like to reduce your own risk of succumbing to respiratory diseases, I recommend Dr Briffa's recent article about Vitamin D.

Study suggests that Vitamin D helps with Psoriasis

Relief from red, itchy skin: Vitamin D helps to reduce the inflammation associated with psoriasis, a common skin condition that causes red, itchy patches on the skin, shows a new study.
Read article at medicalxpress.com

Vitamin D conference in London on April 7th

Details of the Vitamin D conference are here: Vit D conference 7th April pdf - It looks to have a fantastic line-up of speakers. I understand that DVDs of the event are to be made available about a month after the actual event.

Vitamin D is my favourite vitamin...(o:

Birmingham launches Vitamin D Against Rickets drive

Birmingham is launching a Vitamin D Against Rickets drive. Well done to Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Trust, who have taken this important initiative to safeguard/improve the health of the children of Birmingham.

Rickets, in former times a disease of poverty and deprivation, has re-emerged in Birmingham and other parts of Britain, partly because of our chronic shortage of sunshine, partly because screening children from possible sunburn has been too zealous, and partly because the preponderance of processed foods and salty snacks makes modern-day children's meals less nutritious than they might be.

You've heard of rickety stairs, no doubt: rickety meaning shaky, not strong, weak, liable to break, etc. A child with rickets is recognisable by bowed legs as well as weakness and by the physical disabilities of this serious bone disease.

Safeguard your children's health by ensuring they get their share of sunshine when our summer eventually brings us some. And protect them from the harm that a salty food intake and ready meals with insufficient nutrition can do to them. Read Fat Retention and the consequences of salty food, insufficient calcium and insufficient Vitamin D. Read also about Salt Intake and Child Health. You can read further about Vitamin D and its many health benefits by clicking on the labels beneath this blogpost.

Meta-analysis finds Vitamin D linked to colon cancer protection

High blood levels of vitamin D are associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer, according to a new meta-analysis of observational studies from an international team of researchers. Analysis of data from nine studies revealed that, for every 10 nanograms per milliliter increase in levels of vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D) the associated risk of colorectal cancer decreased by 15 percent.
Read article at nutraingredients.org

Would you like to know the truth about sunscreens and skin cancer?

Dr Briffa's blog article here refers to the fact that "interests that are not scientifically based seem to be driving the heavy reliance on sunscreens as the first line of prevention against skin cancer." - Unfortunately, those interests that are not scientifically based may well have led to the use of sunscreens blocking the manufacture of vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, which is linked to helping to prevent cancer...

A country physician with an admirably candid blog and a great respect for vitamin D

That physician is Dr Ken D Berry and here is what he has written about vitamin D and the widespread need to take supplements of it. Dr Berry came to my attention initially because he left a helpful Comment on this blogpost of mine.

It is so refreshing to see a doctor who is not afraid of criticising the faults of his profession: faults like proffering firm advice on a subject about which they know very little, if anything. - See his blogpage about coffee and its effect on blood pressure, for example.

I've had my vitamin D level tested and have received the result

As some of my readers will know, I have been taking Vitamin D3 supplements since last Spring, and have greatly benefited from them: feeling stronger, finding it much easier to get up from a chair, steadier on my feet so less likely to fall, etc. - Well last Wednesday I had a dental appointment. This entailed climbing steps. - Suddenly I found this sooo much easier! I didn't need to hold onto the handrail. - My leg muscles managed on their own.

So the benefits of my vitamin D3 supplements are continuing to increase. And I've not had a cold or flu or any other respiratory infection since I started seriously supplementing with this vitamin. - It's my favourite vitamin now...(o: It has helped me so much.

I recently sent off for a home testing kit to get my vitamin D level measured and I received the results a week or two ago. I am informed that most experts consider the optimal level for health to be 50-70ng/nl, and mine was found to be 52ng/ml, so that's fine. - I reckon it shows clearly that I certainly needed the supplementation! I shall continue supplementing. I feel so much stronger.

There is a great deal of research these days that shows vitamin D deficiency to be common, especially in people who cannot get out into the sunshine in the summer to build up their stores of the sunshine vitamin. Maybe you too could benefit from taking vitamin D3 tablets. Especially if you are unsteady on your feet as I was, or have had a fracture from a fall, or find it difficult to rise from a chair or to climb stairs, or you repeatedly catch colds - maybe your doctor would consider it a good idea to arrange for you to have your vit D level checked and then take it from there. - It's worth checking, don't you think, for the sake of your health? There's more information about vitamin D on my Fat Retention webpage.