Have you any idea what your body loses when you take prescription drugs?

I’ve been drawn to an excellent document that was dropped off in my clinic a few months ago. It explains what vitamins and minerals we can be depleted in when we take a modern pharmaceutical drug. I thought you may find some of this rather useful.

If you push the body in a particular direction with a chemical then there must be a corresponding reaction. Your body always attempts to maintain some form of equilibrium.

Of course our body never finds equilibrium until the day we die. It does it’s best to oscillate in a band that allows us to be healthy.

Modern prescription drugs can be very potent but this can bring side effects galore.

Statins deplete you of Coenzyme Q10

A common one is that if you take a Statin drug it will deplete your levels of Coenzyme Q10. This is a vital enzyme that ironically, is vital for your heart health. Not that long ago a patient would be prescribed Coenzyme Q10 by their GP when prescribed a statin. That does not happen anymore yet it is very important for your health.  If you are on a statin please get yourself a supply of Coenzyme Q10.

Blood pressure meds known as ACE inhibitors such as Lisinopril and Altace deplete your levels of zinc. Zinc is important for having a healthy immune system and vital for reproductive health.

And another blood pressure drug, amlodipine depletes your Vitamin D levels.

Amlodipine reduces your vitamin D

A common beta blocking drug, atenolol also depletes Coenzyme Q10 and chromium. Chromium is vital for blood sugar balance. So if you are diabetic and on atenolol it may be that you are having problems balancing your blood sugars. It also reduces melatonin which is critical for healthy sleep.

Lamberts do an excellent sleep product that has naturally occurring melatonin in it.

Omeprazole depletes you of Vitamin B1 and B12, zinc and calcium. Long term use can be a journey towards dementia so make sure you supplement with these vital minerals and vitamins.

Are you taking corticosteroids? Prednisolone is a common one. You need to supplement with Vitamin C, D, magnesium, zinc, Vitamin B6, folic acid and selenium! Steroid use is not recommended for long!

If you have been on a course of an antibiotic such as erythromycin use a good quality probiotic. Also take a vitamin B complex.

Even common over the counter drugs such as Ibuprofen come with trouble. Your heart attack risk increases for a month after taking it. It also depletes you of folic acid.

Truly I could go on as this barely touches the surface.

Are you rattling around on meds from your GP? How did humanity managed for so long without having to do this? Get yourself to a good health store to get advice on this.

our life expectancy is now falling. I do not buy the idea that the drugs help us all live longer and healthier lives. Of course, in an emergency they are truly miraculous but long term use for most of us? I’m not so sure.

Therefore, keep an eye on what you are taking. Ensure you are helping your body remain as balanced as it can be in the year to come. Onwards once more, it’ll soon be Christmas!

Insulin resistance causes serious health problems from the awful diabetic issues to heart attacks and more.

My wife and I had our lovely neighbour over for dinner recently and she explained how she had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes a while ago and that whilst she had conquered it by changing her eating habits she was completely confused about what she can or cannot eat.

I’m not surprised about this when one can see the often absurd and contradictory advice thrown around by the media, apparent nutrition experts. However, sadly there is a lack of real substance coming from our health service.

If a Type 2 diabetic has consulted their doctor, speaks to their nurse, consults the NHS nutritionist and is still confused it tells me the message is not being delivered effectively.

We are being deliberately confused.

There is a cynical aspect to this. This may not be coming from our medics but certainly emanates from huge food processing businesses and their supply chains. It is all designed to leave us confused and vulnerable. And eating food that is quite simply poisonous.

We need to be metabolically flexible.

When we have diabetes our body loses its ability to be metabolically flexible. It cannot cope any longer with carbohydrates, particularly the refined ones in processed foods.

This causes the spike in blood sugars (sugar IS a refined carbohydrate) which is dangerous to our health when we eat such foods.

Accordingly your body uses insulin to mop up excessive sugars. If we are eating foods that cause this excess our body eventually stops responding to the insulin. This is known as insulin resistance. Diabetes is the result.

Insulin resistance is the silent killer not fat.

Insulin resistance is the real trouble maker for your body. It is the cause of the plaques that narrow your arteries. The plaques may be made from cholesterol BUT it is not the cholesterol that caused the plaque. It was insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance damages your heart tissues.

Given that insulin responds to excessive blood sugars from eating refined carbohydrates can you now see how the idea that fat causes heart disease is simply wrong?

Fat and protein do not cause an insulin spike in your blood.

Insulin does not respond to fat or protein. Therefore, they do not cause insulin resistance.

If you find it difficult to keep your blood sugars in check I strongly recommend you take chromium as a supplement. It is vital for all of us but because of our depleted soils most of us are deficient in it. Chromium is really useful for helping our body regulate its sugar metabolism.

Having said that, I am sorry to say that eating too many biscuits, cereals, crisps, cakes, bread, pasta and crackers is the real problem.

It is difficult to overeat protein and fat.

It is very difficult to over-eat protein or fat. But if you add fat to a carbohydrate it becomes highly addictive. I won’t bore you with the biochemistry, however, there are masses of carb and fat combinations on supermarket shelves that are designed to be addictive. Food manufacturers actually put people in labs where they feed them different variations of fat and carb in the form of a ‘food’ such as a donut to see which one makes people want to eat more of it.

They look for the sweet spot that makes you want to eat more of this horrific food! They are looking for addictive behaviours and are using science to find this.

Have you ever sat and worked your way through a packet of biscuits/chocolates/crisps. Well it was the power of science that drove you to eat them all without realising. It creates an overweight and chronically sick population. Do we have that now? You bet.

The diet to defeat insulin resistance

So here is a simplified guide of what to eat and enjoy that is, I hope, clear.

Eat PROTEIN AND FAT freely

All forms of meat in order of preference:

Ruminants: Grass fed beef, lamb, venison, mutton

Wild game of any kind.

Organic free range chicken/duck/pork

Regular forms of all the above that are non organic.

Fish and seafood.

You can eat farmed fish once a week maximum.

Organic free range eggs freely in all forms.

Consume dairy, always full fat in all its forms – butter, yoghurt, cream, cheese. Preferably raw and unpasteurised/un homogenised.

Eat butter preferably from organic grass fed cattle –otherwise Anchor/Kerry gold are good non organic options and are readily available.

Cook with ghee, olive oil, coconut oil and butter.

There is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate.

You can live a healthy life without eating any carbohydrates. However, if you wish to eat them then only consume CARBOHYDRATES from:

Eating local, seasonal, vegetables.

Have small amounts of nuts and seeds

A handful of seasonal fruit.

A teaspoon of raw honey occasionally.

Always add a fat to your vegetables eg, olive oil as a salad dressing or butter to steamed veg.

REMEMBER – fat does not make you fat. Good fats listed above eaten freely DO NOT cause heart disease.

I have encountered many patients through the years who have unwittingly demonstrated to me the dangers of overmedication. They are usually very sick and have chronic illness.

The record number I encountered was a poorly woman fading away from life on 17 different drugs. I suggested to her that if I took those 17 drugs that day I would become very poorly. However, she looked through me. The doctor had told her to take them and take them she would!

It seems that the dangers of overmedication were quite simply not apparent to this poorly patient.

If 17 drugs would make a reasonably healthy man sick, how on earth will they make a poorly person well? Can a medical professional come and tell me please. I'm here waiting at my clinic on Garstang High Street. Please explain the logic behind such over medication.

Don’t get me wrong, if I have an accident or a sudden collapse take me to hospital. The medical system has amazing acute medicine and care that can save my life. It has made advances bordering on miraculous but in everyday ‘health’ care it has fallen way behind.

Omeprazole can cause osteoporosis.

But there are now lots of patients who have osteoporosis caused by taking omeprazole for 20 years. Wouldn't it be better to give them advice about diet first?

There are patients who do not know what joy is in life because of antidepressants. When exercise, meditation, dietary changes and social connections could change their life profoundly.

There are people with weak or damaged muscles because of statins. They end up buying a bungalow because they cannot manage the stairs anymore. There is no realisation that it’s the side effects of their medication, not their age, that has caused this problem.

Can no one see the dangers of overmedication just because a medical doctor has prescribed them?

I could go on. It is now rare to see a patient past the age of 65 who does not take some form of medication. What a powerful message to send to us all – that as we age we must take drugs.

Would you buy 17 different products from my shop without question?

Can you imagine if you walked into my store and walked away with 17 different tubs of tablets and pills. One lot for your gut. Another for your brain. Something for your sore ankle, a hormone balancing oil, things to take ‘just in case’ and on and on.

You would think you’d been ripped off and you’d be right.

Taking too much of a good thing can be just as bad as too much of a bad thing! I asked an artificial intelligence website about the dangers of overmedication. What can happen with overmedicating and here are just a few of its answers.

Symptoms of overmedication

Overmedication may cause depression, anxiety, and mood swings, cognitive impairment and confusion. The body may develop a tolerance to certain medications, requiring higher doses to achieve the same effect. Medications, when taken in excess, can cause organ damage. Especially to the liver and kidneys. Overmedicating may temporarily alleviate symptoms but might not address the root cause of the medical condition.

When I trained as an osteopath, if I could not say ‘why’ a patient had a problem I failed exams. It is when we know why there is a problem that we can address it. We can correct the cause and restore good health.

You can find good health at any age.

Therefore, if your health is not where you’d like it to be, the first thing to ask yourself is ‘why’. This may require you to look in the mirror and face some hard truths. That might not be easy but it is not a reason to despair. At any age, if you ask your body to find good health with healthy behaviour it will do so.

If you cannot find the answers, please come and talk to people who are interested in creating good health. It is not complicated, even if the chaotic health advice in the tabloids makes you think it is.

Welcome to our natural health blog!

We not only sell high quality vitamins and supplements but work alongside Garstang Natural Health treatment rooms. This means that we have a wealth of knowledge from the team of therapists there to complement our highly trained and experienced staff in the shop. Keep an eye on our blog where we will cover all manner of natural health topics. Given the time of year and the fact we are all up to our eyeballs in tasks to do and not enough time to do do them in we thought we would start with a look at how to beat high blood pressure naturally.

Beat blood pressure problems naturally

If you speak to consultant geriatricians and cardiovascular experts the vast majority would admit that most problems involving high blood pressure can be rectified with simple lifestyle changes.

So if that is the case, why do we start popping pills instead? Because it is quicker, easier and requires precious little effort on our part…heaven forbid we actually make an effort to be healthier eh?

In my experience as an osteopath I meet countless patients who want to be better, who want to improve their health without medication but are not sure where to start.

So let us begin with our blood pressure problems. Firstly, get up from your sofa or desk and start moving. Walking is a profoundly good thing to do. Our body is a moving machine and thrives when we use it, so get up and walk. Thirty minutes every day! If it is raining outside then pace your room, get a step and step up and step down and repeat. Obviously being out in the fresh air brings more benefits but I cannot stress enough the importance in lots of slow movement every day….a rolling stone gathers no moss!

There have been some interesting experiments that have shown certain foods can influence our blood pressure. If you are a liquorice fan then beware, it can raise your blood pressure (so if you have blood pressure that is too low it may help you!)

Three particular foods have been shown to be beneficial:

Beetroot, watermelon and garlic. Each has a different chemical which helps our blood vessels to dilate, thus reducing our blood pressure.

Beetroot and watermelon influence levels of nitric oxide via nitrates which encourages this dilation. Interestingly many green vegetables do this too – celery, watercress, rocket, spinach, broccoli amongst others.

Nature’s Aid do an excellent Beetroot supplement for blood pressure problems that I have seen work wonders.

Garlic works by having an active ingredient called allicin which works in a different way but has a similar affect on our arteries. Unfortunately the allicin in garlic is unstable so must be consumed very quickly after it has been chopped. The finer it is chopped the more allicin is released. The alternative is to get a fabulous supplement called Allicin from a good health food shop. This has been made so that the crushed garlic is preserved within seconds of it being crushed thus making it very potent and effective. It is also very good for boosting your immune system. It has the added benefit of not making you reek of garlic.

To get the most from your vegetables eat them raw. Or make soup, the nitrate lost in the water will remain in the soup. Steam vegetables rather than boil them and use water from cooking vegetables in soups and stews.