Iridology- Healthy Digestive Principles

Here are six basic principles that everyone can follow to ensure you have a healthy digestive system according to my iridologist:

1. Allow 4-5 hours between meals to allow for proper digestion. This equates to eating no more than three meals a day (so don't snack and only drink water or a cup of tea on occasion in between these three (substantial) meals)
2. Avoid overeating with any meal
3. Do not drink fluids with your meal (exception is where half a glass of water is needed to swallow supplements). Generally it is best to wait about 2 hours after meals before consuming water
4. Thoroughly chew your food into paste before swallowing. This is because your digestive system is only effective at breaking down food chemically not mechanically.
5. Limit eating cold or raw foods (e.g. fruit, salad, raw veggies). It is preferable to eat cooked meals although one raw meal a day such as salad is fine (but always have protein with it).
6. Manage your stress levels as stress will tend to decrease your digestive function by influencing your nervous system.

So I am going to try this out for a few weeks (actually when I looked at my eating habits, I have been doing completely the opposite to these e.g. not eating meals but snacking on fruit and raw food until dinner all day which I thought was healthy!!!) and see how I feel so watch this space.......

I am now going to have a cooked breakfast of eggs with veges, a lunch of protein and salad (or left over dinner from the night before) and our usual dinner.......less the glass of vino! And no more snacking for me!

I hope this is useful to everyone however, I have read that the digestive system changes after chemo so I think this is really helpful and relevant to chemo patients.

Here's to healthy digestive functions and great health and wellbeing!

xx

Exploring Iridology

Well it's been a while once again since I've updated you so I am already one week into my radiotherapy treatment and so far so good........ I am going every day (not wk ends) for five weeks and while it has been a bit of a shock to the system to get up and be somewhere by 8.10am every day, it is a far more easy and pleasant experience compared to chemotherapy!

My focus for the past few weeks has been on rebuilding my body and gaining strength and endurance......so what better way to achieve this than to go to the gym every day and do a taxing workout for more than an hour????!!!! hmmmmm well after doing this for two weeks, I realised that my progress has not really improved.....so have decided to taper back the gym visits and convert to walking around our hilly streets for about 30-45mins instead! And I'm pleased to report that I am feeling better from this already! So word of advice, don't overdo it after chemo! I think it would be a natural instinct for most people to want to get out and rebuild themselves as quickly as possible but for me, hard exercise (jogging and hill walking for one hr) has not aided my achy bones or ability to breath!!!

At a visit with my kinesiologist a few months ago, he told me that I had 'freaky eyes' and that I should see an iridologist...... so I waited until after chemo deliberately and went along to my first appointment yesterday! I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it was an enlightening and worthwhile experience!

Basically, he said that even before chemo, I had anaemic tendancies in that my red blood cell count was only 122 and it should be around 140. This means that I am lacking in quality red blood cells and that my heart was working harder to pump the quantity of blood needed to get adequate oxygen around the body...... (so I'm not sure how I managed to do those half marathons!!!)

The causes of anaemia can range including hormone disorders, blood loss (due to chemo), dietary deficiency (lack of iron, B12 or folic acid) and chronic diseases and symptoms can also vary including fatigue, pale skin, weakness and tiring easily, headaches, loss of appetite etc.....

In addition to this diagnosis, he observed my eyes and told me that my constitution type is Bilary (for a quick overview see http://www.positivehealth.com/articles/vision-and-eye-sight/601 ). While this is a strong constitutional type, it also comes with a few weaknesses including digestion problems, liver and gall bladder deficiency, asthma tendency, food allergies and low blood sugar levels.

The most important finding was that he told me I have leaky gut syndrome......there are many resources available to research this but one of the best explanations I found is here:  http://www.ei-resource.org/illness-information/environmental-illnesses/leaky-gut-syndrome-(lgs)/

So in essence, I am now detoxifying my body and taking a series of additional supplements which he explained will help my digestive system become healthy... he also gave me some rules to stick to which I'm going to put as a separate post as I think they are INVALUABLE to everyone! (as he rightly pointed out, we are not taught HOW to eat but these are basic tips which I'm sure we have all seen before but succinct and practical).

So it was a very useful and positive session and I am hoping that if I am very disciplined (oh yes and I've been told not to drink alcohol at all for a few weeks so now I have NO treats left in the world!!!) that I will be feeling much better, be rid of hot flushes (which he's given me a supplement for and says I should be rid of them in 2-4 weeks) and have more energy which all sound very appealing to me right now!

Check out the rules for healthy digestion in my next post and have a cheers on me when you're enjoying your next cold beverage!!! (oh what a thought in this steamy hot weather! YUM!)

xx