Proactive Gut Health by Laura Bowles
Rob Munro • 16 March 2023
Weight Management by Laura Bowles
Hi everyone. I’m Laura Bowles, also known as Your Fairy Gut Mother! 💫
I am a fitness instructor, dance teacher and total nutrition nerd. My passion is getting people moving well, eating well and feeling well … and a big part of that means focusing on gut health. Gut health has an impact on so much including your mood, weight management, energy levels, cravings, hormones, skin, and digestive issues, I could go on!
Over the next few blog posts, we’ll be looking at simple things we can all do to improve our gut health. Today we’ll look at DIVERSITY. Eating a variety of plants is great for feeding our good gut bacteria. The more variety, the merrier the microbiome.
A great place to start is to aim to consume 30 different plants a week - I know this sounds like a lot but, this doesnt include just veggies. We’re talking fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, grains, lentils, legumes and herbs. Could you add a tin of chickpeas to your chilli? a handful of frozen spinach in your curry? or a sprinkling of mixed seeds on your porridge?
Take the 30 plants a week challenge this week and let me know how you get on, I’d love to hear. Let’s connect 👉🏼 www.instagram.com/yourfairygutmother or laura@backbeatdance.com
Next month we’ll be looking at the huge impact gut health has on weight management.
Laura x
PS. Drop me a message if you fancy trying Powdered Greens - 36 different fruits and veggies in 1 scoop 🥬
Message from Rob - Lisa Munro uses these Powered Greens and has lost over a stone since starting it!
Now that schools are breaking up for the summer, many of you will be going on holiday, I thought you would like some remedy recommendations, things you could pack before you go, or buy in a pharmacy while away. With the current heatwave in Europe, top of the list would be remedies for sun burn, and for when you’ve had too much sun. Belladonna is amazing for this, especially if you have a banging headache, red skin, feel hot and may even be delirious. A true sign that you need this remedy is if you start craving lemonade. Obviously if a person is delirious then this remedy should be given while you are on the way to the doctor, and drinking water is essential. Sol is a remedy made from potentised sunlight, I know isn’t that amazing! It is great for sun burn, but can be used for prickly heat or headache. I have learned that it is amazing for helping those of us who burn easily, I haven’t tried this yet, but this summer I am going to give it a try. I’ll be taking it once a day for three days at the beginning of my holiday. Apis is a great remedy for prickly heat, all that prickling, stinging and burning can be gently relieved by Apis, especially if you will feel relief from bathing in cold water, or uncovering the rash, and worse in a warm room, your skin will often be red. This can also be tried for a jellyfish sting, wasp or bee sting with heat, redness and swelling. Urticaria urens is made from the common nettle, so great for any skin rash that looks like a nettle sting, whether it’s from an insect, allergy or heat. If your prickly heat gets worse when you exercise then you could give Natrum Muriaticum a try. For those heading further afield a great remedy to take for the infamous Bali/Delhi Belly is Arsenicum album, this is the top remedy to take for food poisoning. Another fantastic remedy for bites and stings is Ledum I would give this for any bite or sting, but especially mosquito. Enjoy your summer everyone, hopefully you wont need any of these remedies, but if you have them to hand it might make your life a little more comfortable. If you are travelling in Europe then many pharmacies stock Homeopathic remedies, and the pharmacists are knowledgeable about natural health. These remedies should not be taken long term without advice from a Homeopath. I would advise up to 5 doses, 4 hours apart unless advised otherwise by a local pharmacist on your holiday. For further information,or a free 20 minute Discovery Call please contact me, my details are below. Victoria Waring Homeopath, PDHom Adv victoriawaring@mac.com 07973187882 Appointments on zoom and in person
Are you a man of a certain age who regularly gets up in the night to pee? Or maybe you frequently dash to the toilet during the day? This one simple technique could change your life. With age, the prostate enlarges pushing on your bladder and shrinking the urethra. The result is a weaker flow and a half full bladder even after urinating. Like all soft tissue in the body, the prostate will accumulate bodily fluid throughout your lifetime. Think of the prostate as a sponge that enlarges when it gets wet. In the 19th century, men of a certain age and status who were experiencing problems, were told to go horse riding. The constant bouncing up and down on a horse would work the bodily fluid from the prostate and symptoms would improve. The principle is exactly the same if you go for a shoulder massage. One of the side effects is that bodily fluids are washed out of the muscle and drain away through the lymphatic system. Today in western medicine we are told to take medication such as Tamsulosin to reduce these symptoms. However, this can come with some harsh side effects that may result in men preferring to not take the medication. My advice if you can bear to hear it, is to take a leaf from the 19th century; grab your massage gun and place it for 10 mins, once a week between your scrotum and anus. 100% of the clients who are brave enough to try this technique have seen immediate results. You will most likely see an improvement that same night. So guys, EXTERNAL prostate massage is a game changer.
Many women find the menopause or the period leading up to it, called the peri-menopause, challenging, with symptoms such as hot flushes, fatigue, brain fog and emotional fluctuations endured by many.Homeopathy can help ease women through this time of hormone change, and help your body rebalance, thus easing your symptoms. An international study in 2008 of 438 women over 55 found that Homeopathy reduced hot flushes in 90% of cases.Homeopathy uses diluted and potentised remedies from natural sources to stimulate your body’s own healing mechanisms, and therefore rebalance you. The concept is analogous to that of a vaccine, giving a tiny amount of something to stimulate your body towards health. Homeopathy is holistic, meaning we look at every aspect of your health, taking into account all physical, mental and emotional symptoms, and by that I mean all those niggly, annoying things that you’ve noticed about yourself (and we all have them!)…….these things are really helpful for finding a truly individual remedy. Homeopathy is fantastic because it can help both those on HRT, and those who choose not to use HRT on health grounds, or because it doesn’t agree with them. It’s always best to see a professional homeopath, as each women’s menopause is different, and each will need an individual remedy. However, there are some that you could try yourself. Sulphur : a great remedy for hot flushes for women who will kick of the bed covers in the early hours of the morning. Lachesis : another great remedy for hot flushes, for women who have never felt well since the menopause, often chatty, and have had a history of feeling awful in the lead up to their period, but then feeling better once it starts. Senecio Aureus : this is a great remedy to try with insomnia related to menopause. Cimicifuga : the source is Black Cohosh which many know as a herb for balancing hormones. In menopause this can ease mood swings, depression and rheumatism. For home prescribing - take one pill per day of 30c for up to 3 days, and then stop and see how you feel. The remedies are available in all good health shops. For further information please contact me, my details are below. Victoria Waring Homeopath, PDHom Adv victoriawaring@mac.com 07973 187 882
I have had a few patients coming to see me recently with aches and sprains because they have been working in the garden, doing DIY over Easter or training for the marathon. I thought this would be a good subject for a blog because it compliments the fabulous work that Rob and his team do at Proactive Osteopathy. There are quite a few acute remedies for aches and sprains and they are very easy to use for home prescribing, they are often stocked in good health shops, and are great to have at home for emergencies. These remedies are for the initial acute phase of the injury, if the symptoms are more long term then you can call me for a free 20 minute Discovery Call to see how I could help you get back to health. From personal experience I know how effective a combination of seeing the Pro-active team and Homeopathy is to speed up healing, so you can get back to gardening, or training more quickly. Arnica : this is the first remedy to think of, it is the number one acute remedy in homeopathy and often the remedy people use the most at home. The main use that people know of is for bruising, but it can be used for any joint, tendon or muscle trauma. I would suggest one 30c pill every day for 3 days, this will help reduce the bruising and inflammation. Bellis Perrenis : This is the humble daisy from your garden, it is from the same plant family as Arnica, but is used for soft tissue damage that is slightly longer lasting, so after you have used Arnica for 3 days you can switch to Bellis Perrenis and take one 30c per day for another 3 days. Bryonia : This is for injured joints that hurt when you move them at all, even the tiniest amount. Take one 30c pill per day for 3 days. Ruta : A great remedy for overexertion, sprains and stains. Its area of healing is more fibrous tissues like tendons and joints. A sign that it could be a good remedy to try is if your sprain feels better if you use a heat pack. Rhus tox : This is for when your joint or back seizes up and hurts when you first move it, but then as you warm it up with movement it feels much better, and the pain reduces, but often you can get a bit over confident, and use it too much, and it starts hurting again. Often to avoid the pain you will keep stretching and moving it. I find that Ruta and Rhus tox can be quite hard to differentiate for sprains, so I often prescribe one 30c pill from each remedy on alternate days for a week. This is also a great combination for tendonitis. Health shops often sell a Ruta and Rhus tox cream which you can put externally on the affected area al well. This advice is not meant to replace seeing Rob and his team, but it will make their treatment more effective. These remedies should not be taken long term without advice from a Homeopath. For further information, or a free 20 minute discovery call please contact me, my details are below. Victoria Waring Homeopath, PDHom Adv victoriawaring@mac.com 07973187882