Child constipation

Many children, amazingly enough, suffer from constipation. Here are some advice on how to solve the problem and make the child intestine work nicely every day.

Children can become constipated as a result of holding back stool. They might no want to stop playing to go to the loo. That means that the stool becomes drier and more painful to pass. That will lead to avoid going to the loo because is too painful and etc….

Important points:

1. Make sure that your child drinks up to a litre of water of more per day, throughout the day. Have her/him drink water, herbal tea, very very diluted juices and soups readily available and encourage your child to drink them often.

2. Increase the fiber in their diet: Simply add a piece of fruit such as banana, apple, orange, pear or prune. The whole fruit provide the most fiber. Give your child a fruit half an hour or an hour before the main meals or 1 hour after her meal.

A dry pitted prune soaked overnight in a glass of water contains extra moisture and is easier to digest. Make sure that is soaked in a 1 glass of water and they drink the juice from that as well as the prune. Vegetables and whole grains are also rich sources of fiber. Beans and lentils very good source of fiber, you can mash or blend them. Zucchini and cooked spinach as well as cooked broccoli will help. Green leafy vegetables are full of magnesium and other minerals that will help her constipation. Have them eat one or two of these everyday. Make sure that they eat what vegetables they like as well as the vegetables that are good for her, maybe with an incentive, such as you can have an homemade ice lolly (made from fresh seasonal fruits). Add some Udo’s oil, 1 teaspoon with each meal. That will help soothe their stools as well as providing essential oils for their growth.

3. Serving warm liquids or hot oatmeal every morning acts gently to stimulate the intestinal tract, in addition to being a fiber provider.

4. For an overnight relief of constipation, mix ½ cup of prune juice and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice with 1 cup of spring water. Have your child drink this before bedtime.

5. Give them acidophilus, the recommended dose half an hour before going to bed.

6. If your child’s stool has an exceptionally foul odor, consider giving them chlorophyll supplements. Chlorophyll is high in trace minerals, especially magnesium and has natural antibacterial properties.

7. Simmer a half teaspoon of flax seed in two glasses of water for fifteen minutes. Use the liquid to make the oatmeal in the morning.

8. Massage your child’s lower abdomen for comfort and to help to get things moving.

9. Gently massage your child’s abdomen, following the natural movement of the intestine which is clockwise. Start in the lower right corner, move up towards the ribs, over to the left side and then down toward the pelvis.

10. Make sure that your child runs around for 1 hour everyday, this stimulates the elimination system.

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Resveratrol

I was researching resveratrol and it is amazing how many benefits it has been connected too. It is not only a powerful antioxidant but much more. Resveratrol (RSV) is a phytochemical found in the skin of grapes and particularly the red grapes. A phytochemical is a chemical that may affect the health but it is not considered an essential nutrient. RSV has been shown to positive effect on inflammation, platelet and as it has also been shown to have a phytoestrogen effect, it might help to prevent breast cancer caused by the oestrogen. Phytoestrogens have shown to inhibit cancer formation and growth, reduce cholesterol levels and have some benefits in preventing osteoporosis, especially after menopause. RSV is mainly known as powerful antioxidant which has been shown to help prevent the destruction of the vascular endothelium. RSV is high in red wine and this has been indicated to be the reason for the so called French paradox, where in certain region of France, people drink more red wine and the mortality from coronary heart disease is lower than any other region. RSV has also been shown (in animals studies) to increase aerobic capacity (energy created in the mitrochondria, which is part of our cells that make our energy). RSV induces the genes for oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial biogenesis and it has been shown to protect the animal against a diet-induces obesity and insulin resistance. So do we now start drinking a lot more of red wine or should we eat other healthy food which contains this nutrient. Well a glass of red wine a day might help, but more than that it starts to counteract the good effect of the RSV nutrients, so not worth drinking much more because of that. Eating red grapes might be good but too much of eat would give you a running for the toilet and feeling of bloating, therefore moderation on this too. RSV is made synthetically from the Japanese plant knotweed for the supplements production. Well I think drinking a glass of really good red wine few times a week, or everyday with your food, some grapes and maybe adding some supplements if there is a history of heart problems might have a good effect on preventing some of the disorders mentioned above.

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Naet treatments for weight loss and allergies

Being overweight nowdays is a major issue, as there is an abundance of food around (in the more rich country) and less exercise or work of the adults and children. We sit at our desk most of the time, and the children after a school day they other play with the Nintendo ds or Xbox or whatever computer gadget they have. Most parents complain about their children being a bit overweight and the majority of the children that are overweight, have the same diets as the parents which is junk food, salty foods, no vegetables or fruits and lots of sweets and fizzy drink. Now for the majority of the overweight adults and children, as sedentary work and choice of food is the main problem. For some the hormonal glands are the problems (very rare though). For a lot of adults, emotions play a major part of their problems. For others is the choice of certain foods that they are allergic or intolerant too that they keep eating that leads to put on more weight that they would otherwise, even though they exercise 3 times or more a week. Let’s have a look at the more scientific problem with being overweight and/or obesity. Obesity is the modern lifestyle disease. The body mass index (BMI), is the measurements that the science use to see if a person or child is overweight or obese and at risk of physical problems due to the weight, such as heart disease, high cholesterol and or diabetes. A BMI of more than 25 is considered overweight and above 30 obese. Obesity seems to affect more women than men; there is a genetic susceptibility for obesity as well as lifestyle, dietary intake and lack of exercise (11, 13, 17). Many studies, therapist and doctors have been trying to find one solution for being overweight or obese. For example leptin has been identified as the obesity gene (ob). Leptin is expressed in the fat cells and codes for the protein leptin. It acts as a hormone in the hypothalamus, and it has shown to promote a negative energy balance by suppressing appetite and increase energy expenditure. Therefore a lack of ‘ob’ has been suggested to cause obesity in susceptible people (17). But unfortunately this is only for very few obese people, not many obese people have a deficiency of this gene, therefore all the other factors have to be accounted for before blaming the individual gene. Quite often obese people and children are malnourished, even though they consume a high amount of food, which is usually highly processed fats, refined carbohydrates and fizzy drinks that are empty calories food. Abdominal obesity (the so called apple shape) has been associated with elevated markers that are connected to heart diseases and strokes (11, 18). In this case the waist-hip ratio, as in the apple shape individual, has been shown to be more relevant in predicting the syndrome X disorder than the BMI factor (18). High oestrogen has been also connected to increase appetite and therefore increase in weight (11). Eating breakfast reduces total calorie intake and late night eating increases it, therefore breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day and an emphasis on not skipping it is important even if the person does not feel hungry. Usually once a person gets used to eating breakfast the evening meal might be lighter and therefore their appetite in the morning increases (11). In summary obesity should be addressed from every angle that include testing and assessing any body glandular disorders, good planned dietary intervention, addressing any nutritional deficiency, testing and eliminating allergies or intolerances, physical exercise that is suitable for the individual as well as emotional support (11, 13, 17). NAET is a method of testing and treating allergies, intolerances and sensitivities. I have treated children and adults with NAET and eliminated allergies and intolerances as well as some of the disorders that allergies and intolerances can cause, reduce asthma attacks, eczema, hayfever, headaches, fertility problems, candida and weight problems.

Maria Esposito BSc (Hons) NTCC - More on the therapy and the therapist on

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Protection from the sun inside out!!

Protecting the skin from the inside out is not that difficult. What you need to do is eating a lot of orange and yellow foods, which contains the most beta-carotene, which will not only protect the skin but also the eyes from the damage of the sun (I still recommend to wear sunglasses and sun cream if you are in the sun in the hottest of times such as from 11am till 3pm or and for a long periods of times). The foods that you should include in your diet in greater quantity for your protection are the following: carrots (juices or slightly cooked you absorb the beta-carotenes better), squash, pumpkins, cantaloupe melons, apricots, mangoes, yams, sweet potatoes, spinach and green peppers. To protect your eyes a bit more, blueberries and berries in general increase the range of antioxidants and therefore protect them more from the damage of the sun. In general colourful fruits and vegetables will be full of antioxidant and vitamins and you might also eat less of the sweet foods that do not contain any or little nutrients, therefore loosing weight as well, without much effort.…. Enjoy your spring and summer with the most nutritious food and you will see and feel the difference as well as getting a safer tan……

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Easter time and lots of Easter eggs around

Easter is back again, and for most kids and some chocolate fun people, Easter is about chocolate eggs rather than any of the religious part of Easter. Nutritionally chocolate has been the bad and the good food. Even though, I think there is not as much as good and bad food but healthy and unhealthy food. Even the healthy food for some can be unhealthy if they are allergic to it. I had treated a little girl with NAET (see my website for more information), just before last year at Easter time. The girl, who is now 12 years old, had been having terrible headaches since she was 6 years old when she ate even a small piece of chocolate. Naturally for her was not as nice when she went to parties when Easter time would come and she could not have much of the Easter eggs!! I treated her a week before Easter and when she came back from the Easter holidays last year for a check up, she said she had had a big chocolate egg with some more small little eggs, with not so much approval from the mother obviously!! But the girls was very very happy, and in some way even the mother as she did not suffer of headaches anymore if she had any chocolate. I saw her a week ago and she is still eating her chocolate almost every day (not a big portion) with no headaches or any other problems at all (she is very healthy and active so no problems in having a bit of chocolate as a dessert). Now I love chocolate but unfortunately my liver does not, so I cannot eat a lot of it. But when I do eat it, nutritionally,  the darker the better, because it contains a good amount of antioxidant and iron (even though you do not absorb much of the iron!). Well I think if you do not exaggerate with the chocolate a little bit of Chocolate Eggs is not too bad for anyone and not even unhealthy, as long as you have a good healthy meals in between... Enjoy your Easter and the Easter eggs!!!!!

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An apple a day!

One apple a day
Almost everyone know the expression ‘one apple a day keeps the doctor away’, even in Italy when I grew up! Being lucky enough to grow up in the countryside in Italy and near the seaside I did not realize then that not everyone had the same fortune of picking up their own fruits and vegetables from their front yard. I remember just going under the tree and picking up the fruits of the season wash eat or clean it and eat it. I don’t think I have ever tasted the same fruit ever again really. Or I still do when I go back to Italy and my parents still pick up pears from the tree for our breakfast. But all fruits have really a good amount of nutrients and vitamins, so why just apples are the ones that are so important or why the expression. I am not sure where it started or when but here are some apple history and qualities:
There are about 25 types of apples and they vary in colour and texture, from green to red. Some are sweet such Red Delicious, Royal Gala (my favourite) to Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Cox Apple, etc.. It seems that the original apple tree comes from Eastern Europe and Southwester Asia. Because of the cultivations and hybridization (is the process of combining different varieties or species of trees and make a new type) there are now many more varieties of apples from the first original apple tree. In the past the apple was thought to keep people forever young. Scientifically the consumption of apples in many studies have show to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, asthma, type 2 diabetes (as it releases the blood sugar slowly). Here are some of the nutritional benefits of apples. Apples contain high amounts of flavonoids especially quercetin. Quercetin is an antioxidant that protects the integrity of the cell membrane. Our body is formed of millions of cells and the outside of the cell can be under oxidation attack all the time. Quercetin and other antioxidant such as vitamin C, and many more flavonoids found in coloured fruits and vegetables, protect our cells from being destroyed. Quercetin also blocks the inflammatory cascade, which involves quite a lot of the inflammatory disorders such as asthma, arthritis, allergies, etc... Of course you could be allergic to the apple and so in that case you need to find the solutions for that (see my website for treatments). Pectin is another ingredient in apples; pectin can help lower cholesterol levels by improving the intestinal motility and reducing therefore the reuptake of fat and toxins (in few words good for elimination of food waste). One medium whole apple supplies 3 grams of fibres; eating about two apples a day will reduce the cholesterol up to 11 percent. Pectin is good not only to relieve constipation but also diarrhoea (Kaopectate is an over the counter medication for diarrhoea that contains pectin). Nutritionally raw apples contain vitamin C, pectin, fibres, potassium, phytochemicals such as ellagic acid (anti-oxidant) and quercetin. So really when they say that one apple a day keeps the doctor away is quite true but it is also true that many fruits also contain some sort of nutritional value, antioxidants, and fibres and therefore is worth to vary and combine our fruits to get the most of goodness from them. So hopefully the above has convinced you a bit to start eating keeping an apple or two in your lunch box or bag or any other fruits. Fruits salads are really good to have and enjoy!!!!

 

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Tiredness

Many people are tired nowadays, either they run around too much or try to fit too much in a short period. Also many people wake up already tired. If you are one of the ones that wake up tired, it means that something is not quite right. There are various reasons for that. What I am concentrating on is food that we eat and water that we drink, as well as a possible cause is the liver being sluggish to detoxifying. What I have found that certain foods, and especially sugary foods, wheat, cheese and dairy products can cause water retentions, and also the body to work at a slower rate. Quite often eliminating wheat or reducing it, makes people have more energy during the day and in the morning when they wake. Drinking enough water, which can be between a litre and half to two litres or more, depends if you are working somewhere with air conditioning or heating system, or if you exercise or cycle to work. Dairy and especially cheese, is another food that makes the body sluggish. Try to eliminate some of the food above to see which one gives you more energy and either stay off it for a long time or reduce the amount that you have a day.

http://www.nutritionhealth.net/