Thanks to those of you who let me know you prefer these digests rather than single posts – you say it is easier to scroll through and see what you are interested in and read. Glad they help. Any other thoughts or feedback, please let me know.

All About Cholesterol

I thought this article in Knowable about cholesterol was interesting. A good thought piece but it does make me laugh that they think Lp(a) is suddenly something to be looked at – I’ve been measuring that for about 15 years or so, I think! The conclusion at the end is far too simplistic for me – improve HDL activity and lower – as much as possible – anything that’s not HDL. Cholesterol is actually needed in the body, so lowering it willy nilly seems a bit step-too-far for me. See my Cholesterol factsheet here for more on this. It’s a bit of an oldie now and I need to update it myself, but the gist is there for you.

The main issue for me with cardiovascular disease is the impact of inflammation alongside imbalanced lipids – and not much of that is even mentioned here.

If you want more up to date and effective ways of testing and preventing heart attacks and strokes, see here. Follow the various links, look at the sample reports etc.

And my top tips for cholesterol and heart health generally include:

If you need help with supporting normal cholesterol, blood pressure and/or blood sugar levels, take Berberine preferably with the ultra-protective alpha lipoic acid two to three times daily before meals. Or try a combination of red yeast rice, plant sterols and CoQ10 for overall cardio health. The best I’ve ever come across for lowering high blood pressure specifically is good-old garlic. Get more in your diet and/or take a really good supplement with standardised amounts.

Shocking Quote of the Week: Diabetes

Using data from the Health Survey for England 2013 to 2019, the ONS estimates that 7% of people over the age of 16 show evidence of type 2 diabetes, although three in 10, or about one million, were not diagnosed.

Medscape

I’ve a lot to write on this topic yet, but here’s my weeny Diabetes Type 2 factsheet with some tips on it for now. If you recognise any of the key symptoms below, see your GP for diagnosis and start following the tips on the factsheet, which I have seen turn developing diabetes around more times than I can say.

Typical symptoms include:

• feeling very thirsty
• passing urine more often than usual, particularly at night
• feeling very tired
• weight loss and loss of muscle bulk
• slow to heal cuts or ulcers
• frequent vaginal or penile thrush
• blurred vision

Read more about the symptoms of type 2 diabetes on the NHS website. Of course, those aren’t always related to diabetes and can have other causes so diagnostics is key here. If you need it, I have a really comprehensive diabetes test, which measures a lot more than just the usual glucose and HBA1c.

Zoe Top 10 Healthy Recipes

I thought this list of the top 10 healthy recipes from members of the Zoe app might be useful for you, especially if, as they say, you’re in a bit of a rut meal-wise and need some inspiration. Check it out. To make them even healthier, swap the pasta to a chickpea or lentil version. If you need more recipe inspo – especially gluten, grain, corn, dairy free – don’t forget I have almost 1000 now on my Pinterest boards. And I compiled a load of new recipe ebooks for you last year, which are all on the shop at low cost. Variations include low lectin, paleo, AIP, hormone-balancing, brain health, carb control, and more. Gosh, I’m good to you ;). Enjoy.

14 Top Anti-Inflammatory Foods

Continuing the food theme, I see Restless recently did a list of their top 14 anti-inflammatory foods. I can’t say I agree with grains or the nightshades particularly, no matter what they say, but most of the others might be good to include a bit more in your diet. My top 3 from here: turmeric, green tea and oily fish. So, mackerel with turmeric broccoli spears and avocado for tea, followed by dark chocolate, grapes and green tea! Nom nom. (Picture of traditional green tea above).

Highly Sensitive People and Depression

As a kind of HSP myself, I’m always interested in other HSP’s descriptions of themselves and how they cope with a life that can be pretty overwhelming when you feel things so deeply. I thought this very honest piece about how HSP’s can tip into low mood states, but also how using the heightened level of sensitivity can also help lift you out of them could be really useful to some of you, so I’m sharing it in case. I don’t identify with every descriptor of an HSP here, but enough of them to know I’m somewhere on that sensitivity spectrum. Are you?

The world caters to a different percentage of the population, so we often find ourselves struggling to adapt to a fast-paced world full of stimulation, competition, and messages that encourage us to “toughen up.” This lifestyle is not suited to our sensitive needs and it’s easy for us to reach burnout. Similarly, we have a strong need to make our lives purposeful and an environment that feels devoid of meaning and purpose to us is simply soul-crushing.

Anatomy of a Reaction

You hear people say that they have ‘reacted’ to something, a food, chemical or whatever, but what does that actually mean? There are as many different reactions as there are people who have them; they vary enormously even from day to day, hour to hour. One day you might not react to a substance, the next you might – and it may not even be the same reaction as you’ve had before. It very much depends on how stressed you are already feeling, how much histamine and mast cell activity there is already going on that day, that hour, if you’ve already got something reacting and this latest thing is compounding it, tipping the balance, so to speak. That’s why reactions to stuff are so hard to track down. For more on this, see my Allergy 101 factsheet.

So, I thought I would share a reaction I am in the middle of as I type so you can understand more what people mean if they say they are worried about trying something because they might get a reaction (instead of rolling their eyes in disbelief, often – GPs included!).

My deodorant that I have used safely for many years was reformulated about 2 years ago. They label it as ‘unfragranced’ and yet it contains ‘parfum’ and stinks to high-heaven, which makes me feel sick and get constant headaches. Despite me and several other people on forums calling them out on it, begging for it to be changed back, nothing has happened. I managed to buy a lot of old stock from a weird online source and am now coming to the end of it. Hence, I am now trying the very few truly unfragranced antiperspirants around. (And before you say, I have tried every natural one under the sun over the last 2 years in hope, but no go for me, sadly).

So, this Sunday I tried a little of a new one under one arm – no grain alcohol, no parfum, nothing I could see might be too much of an issue. I then had what I assumed was a reaction which lasted 48 hours. In case – and living in hope – I always try things at least twice in case it was actually something else, I tried it again this morning (Weds). Eternal optimist!

Sadly, that optimism was misplaced. Exactly the same process has ensued this time, which tells me that it is indeed the deodorant. Bugger.

So, what happens? Most of my reactions occur about 2 hours after exposure. This one started with a mildish vaginal spasm, then my head started to feel ‘shuddery’, I felt ravenously hungry and thirsty (a common one for me), had a stomach upset and severe bloating. After 5 hours, my neck went into spasm and that then spreads down my back and into my limbs until I am in pain throughout my whole body. It’s like someone has put their foot on my head and taken hold of the top of the facscia muscle and pulled it as tight as they can! The fascia muscle is like a web of connective tissue from the soles of your feet to the top of your head – fascia pain is what I think causes a lot of fibromyalgia-type pain. You can read more about fascia pain here. I suspect the original vaginal spasm is an internal type of the same spasming, a prelude to the whole body doing it!

I am currently at 6 hours past exposure. The latest is my skin has split in various (usual) places. If it continues the same path as it did on Monday (which it has so far), then I have more body pain to come, which lasts for hours, insomnia because the body pain and headache (from tightened sinuses) keeps me awake. Tomorrow morning, I will most likely experience a bad mood drop and cry a lot. I’ll probably feel that it is because I am naffed off at yet another reaction, but actually it is part of the reaction. People often underestimate the effect of a food or chemical reaction on mood. My first ever patient with severe, hospitalised depression taught me that. I was terrified about making her worse, but she begged me for help and nothing else was working for her, so I just removed wheat and dairy. She was a changed woman within days! And that’s a true story. First patient – what a baptism of fire!

Anyway, not pleasant. I’m hoping it won’t be as bad as Sunday/Monday – that optimism again. Truthfully, though, it is still tons better than the migraine and jaw pain that could last days or months on top of all that, so I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth, trust me! I rarely get this type of reaction now and, frankly, I am angry that I have to try to find safe things because of stupid, unnecessary changes to products. I wish the manufacturers who change things could see what their decisions mean to us (or care – I have told them!).

The learning: if someone says they are worried they might react to something, don’t be offended or disbelieving, because you probably won’t see the consequences over the next day or so if they did eat or use it just to please you; they will hide it from you! And, if someone tells you you can’t react to such a small amount of something, to putting something on your skin, or to inhaling something, look witheringly at them as if they are woefully misinformed. Because you clearly can.

Anyway, I’m off for something more to eat and some painkillers!