Eat Your Way To Health

Cold and flu -a strong immune system is the key to fighting off virual infections. A diet which contains plenty of fruit and veg, including lots of garlic and onions, is the best way to boost it and fight infection.

Constipation -increase your fibre intake by eating wholegrain cereals such as brown rice, wholemeal pasta, wholemeal bread and high-fibre breakfast cereals; drink atleast 8 glasses of fluid a day. Also eat prunes, they contain a substance which stimulates the muscles in the bowel and acts as a gentle laxative. (if you really can't face eating prunes, try drinking prne juice instead.)

Cystitis - cranberries and cranberry juice contain a natural antibiotic that prevents the bacteria from sticking to the walls of the bladder. To prevent cystitis, drink a glass of cranberry juice every day. To treat it, drink 350-500ml a day. Drin plenty of water, too but avoid tea, coffee and alcohol.

Gastric ulcers - a dessert-spoon of manuka honey afer each meal and another at bedtime can help heal stomach ulcers and kill the H.pylori bacteria that cause them.
Headaches and migrainecan be caused by low blood sugar, so eat little and often and try not to skip meals. Cheese, chocolate, citru fruits, caffeine and red wine can trigger attacks in migraine sufferers.

Mouth ulcers - often a sign that you're run down. Try eating natural yogurt, which is high in the acidophilus bacteria. Keep it in your mouth for couple of minutes before swallowing. The bacteria in the yogurt will help the ulcer heal.

Nausea - try sucking a piece of crystallised ginger or drinking ginger ale, or make ginger tea: grate a 1.3cm (half inch) piece of fresh root ginger into a mug of boiling water. Stand the tea for about 10 minutes before straining and drinking.

Psoriasis - eat more oil-rich fish. They're rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, which can have an anti-inflammatory effect. Aim to eat atleat 3 serving a week.

Thrush - Caused by an excess growth of the yeast candida albicans. Eating live yogurt can help by encouraging friendly bacteria to flourish. Avoid sugar, which encourages the growth of candida.

Drink up your greens!
Green tea is a rich source of flavonoids which help protect the body against the damaging effects of free radicals linked with heat disease, cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

Get The Best...

To get the maximum nutritional content from all the fruit and veg you eat, you'd need to pick them from an organic plot and eat within a few hours. That's pretty unlikely, so what's next best thing?

Fresh foods... you'd think fresh was always the best option, but only harvested veg is eaten within a day or two. In reality, so much is imported and may have taken days to reach the shops where it then sits around for a couple of days. Produce starts to lose its nutritional content the moment it's picked so, by the time we eat it, it's pretty minimal, especially if it's been pre-washed and chopped. Up the ante by buying from a busy shop solve the distance problem by buying Localley.

As for canned and frozen... most frozen foods are picked and frozen within hours so nutrients are locked in. The best example is peas, which have the same amount of vitamin C as fresh just picked ones. Fruit and veg destined for canning are transported to canneries fairly quickly, where they're canned in water, syrup or juice, then cooked at high temperatures - no worries about the nutrients, tinned carrots can contain more vitamin C then either boiled fresh or frozen. So now there's no excuse for not eating your greens, your oranges, your yellows....