Just Natural Health & Beauty magazine - April - June 2022 (issue 10)

April - June 2022

www.justnaturalhealth.co.uk

ISSUE 10

Beauty is a Beast: Curbing the Cruel History of the Cosmetic Industry

Future Wellness: Dave Asprey Foretells

Nourishment for Immunity: Powerful Health in Pandemic Times

Are You a Virtuous Vegan?

Philosophising Our Way to Wellness:

Environmental Spiritualism & the All

A Superfood Summer, Ethically

Rethinking superfoods as we step into a British summer

Editor’s NOTES The sun will come out tomorrow… As we shift from late spring into summer, little orphan Annie’s words hold true both literally and figuratively. Climatically, these are to be the first of the warmer, happier months; no more talk of Covid restrictions and isolation (if it’s good enough for the PM, it’s good enough…).

That’s not to say the coronavirus is gone, and we’re certainly still discussing its effects and fortifying our immunity in this issue. However, it’s simply not a main character in the playing out of our lives at the moment (for, sadly, probably only a few scenes/months).

Rather, these are yet strange times indeed. With abject horror we watched war unfold in Eastern Europe, were devastated and angered by the needless human suffering, no more so than that it follows years of being pandemically assaulted and bemasked, with what liberty people knew before already removed. Over a million Ukrainians have since been made refugees.

At the same time, Earth didn’t let up its environmental alarm. The weather held us in its grip in worrying ways: a stern additional reminder of the negative impact human activities have had and continue to have on the planet. Meteorological signs such as more severe storms (the triple onslaught of Dudley, red-alert Eunice, and then Franklin), widespread flooding across the globe, and conversely drought areas from compass point to compass point, and famine too… All so far, so Armageddon.

Yet, we necessarily “Keep Calm and Carry On”, beloved readers. We must accept the state of all affairs as they stand and choose to act, be that in our own personal ways. That acceptance is our armour against further disappointed surprise at developments of whatever type. What’s more, such acceptance – with its incremental push for change – is, perhaps, the true form of liberty we’ve been seeking amidst all this: what the Japanese term ukeireru, a concept we discuss further this issue. It starts on the individual level and, if each of us do our part, it results in an evolution

into something as a whole which is truly beautiful.

And so, to “sunnier” musings; we’ll determinedly focus on the here and now, pleasantly pendant between the dual seasons of warmth for that trinity of body, mind, and soul. It’s a decisive positivity which could be said to have been encapsulated in the prelude that was Starbucks’ decision to henceforth cease charging for vegan alternative milks in all 1,020 of its UK stores (post a little bit of a prompt of a hoax, but who’s keeping tabs?). Meanwhile, Veganuary kicked off 2022 with a powerful plant-based bang, hitting the milestone mark of over 2 million participants since its inception in 2014. Timely, given the extensive bird flu outbreak at 2021’s close, Plant Based News reporting some half a million birds being “humanely culled” just here on home turf.

Now that we live life with Covid, it stands to reason that anxiety levels naturally increase at the thought of H5N1 becoming our next (zoonotically caused) pandemic. A potential moral to be gleaned from this tale? Step away from the animal products, or at least as much as you can. The stats from Veganuary alone don’t so much hint as yell from the rooftops the benefits of a vegan diet for the planet: 31 days meat-free result not only in saving 6.7 million animals from slaughter, but prevent the usage of some 12.4 million litres of water in the animal agricultural process. To which end, we’ll be covering the major vegan updates going on both behind the scenes and on the high street this issue.

So, while we try to get our heads around the brilliance of LanzaTech’s Lanzanol – an ethanol come from fermentation of recycled CO2 from steel plant emissions (before being converted into monoethylene glycol and then a low-carbon polyester yarn; in short, the surprising eco-minded material used in – yup – fast-fashion brand, Zara’s latest LBD) – we’re also planning to step into summer from

out the militarily shadowed beginnings of spring with a clearer concept of sustainability and authenticity on the whole (determined to believe that there was no truth, really, to the in-yourface satire that was Don’t Look Up).

In short, as the days lengthen into balmy sunset-hued evenings, this issue we bring you what’s new and what’s lately been found to work best in this shared search of ours for not just longevity, but energy and converse rest, contentment and often-elusive happiness; the gently philosophising means by which to catch a breath at your own personal pace, rather than at the mad dash of contemporary life – and still contribute to the healing of the planet. We’re human, after all: not machines, not lists of data. We are flesh and blood creatures who optimally function not through planet-detrimental consumption of low-cost flesh and blood, but predominantly sun foods, plant foods, by respectfully coexisting with the natural world.

Peaceful coexistence: if humans can’t comprehend the notion between themselves, what hope environmental harmony?

The sun will indeed come out tomorrow, dear readers, but ya gotta hang on ‘til tomorrow, come what may.

NICOLE RALEIGH EDITOR

MARKETING MANAGER MARK SHARP DESIGN CLARICE LEIGH & JAMES HEATHCOTE MARKETING EXECUTIVE CLAIRE CUNNAH WEB DESIGN ANT PAPA Produced by Just Natural Health, 210 Mauretania Road, Nursling Industrial Estate, Southampton, Hampshire, SO16 0YS Just Natural Health make a conscious effort to ensure accurate content at the time of publishing. The views expressed by advertisers do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher.

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AP RIL - JUNE 2022

48 A Superfood

Summer, Ethically We all covet that next exotic wonder food, yet at what cost to the land from which it comes and the people there? Rethinking superfoods as we step into a British summer.

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52 Beauty is a Beast:

Curbing the Cruel History of the Cosmetic Industry

16 06 Authenticity &

Environmentalism: Sifting Through the Sands of Fact and Fiction Following COP26, we explore conservation and regenerative agriculture developments and how we can put this glorious Earth of ours first and arrest climate change.

16 Today’s Living,

Clapham – Independent Celebrates 40 Years on the High Street

How the customer service ethic of one family-run health store in Clapham has seen it become a beloved independent of the community.

21 The Vegan Update The latest on what’s going on in plantbased alternatives to meat, fish, and dairy and the arguments for and against veganism as a panacea to the environmental problem.

23 Are You a Virtuous Vegan?

From lettuce leaves to juicy alt-protein burgers – which dinner plate tingles your tastebuds?

28 The ‘Coronacoaster’ and Fatigue: How Long Covid is Helping ME

How Long Covid research is paving the path to hope for treatment for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

32 Vitamin A in the Fight Against Loss of Smell

The intriguing new research bringing hope to those who lost their sense of smell to the coronavirus.

36 Nourishment for Immunity:

Powerful Health in Pandemic Times

With a little adaptogenic magic and some exercise and dietary wisdom, a strong immune system need not be an elusive thing…

42 A Microbiomic Mentality: Gut

Health, Covid, Cancer, and Stress How to keep our bodies and brains healthy by nurturing our digestive system: we bring you the gut health risk factors and latest developments in microbiomic research.

Make-up is a way of life, but why cruelly impact the lives of non-human animals for beauty? We bring you the latest on vegan-certified and natural products.

ON THE COVER

58 Philosophising Our

Way to Wellness: Environmental Spiritualism & the All Elemental, mindful meditation in a world gone somewhat mad; reigniting a sense of self through connection and wholeness.

62 Ukeireru: The Art of Acceptance

Bringing about change in our own lives and the lives of others through calm acceptance.

63 Future Wellness: Dave Asprey Foretells

The latest on longevity from the man who enlightened the world on the Blue Zones.

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Sifting Through the Sands of Fact and Fiction

To live authentically: that is what so many of us want. To have a job that satisfies our passions, a domestic life that suits our sensibilities, and the freedom to take joy from simple things that bring us peace, Nature – untainted – included. To be true to oneself, in short, is something so easily said to be the foundation of each of our personal ethics, but so difficult to put into practice, due in no small part to the demands of modern day competitive – and often conveyor belt – existence.

It’s a tale of the post-industrial age and one that has bled into discourse on and praxis concerning environmentalism.

At a time when proposed ecological solutions should be listened to attentively and trusted in, when time is in fact running out, even within those seeming oasis fixes there ever shimmers an interweaving mirage of fact and fiction: a grey area; each concept never black and white. Utopia, after all, does not exist in the same guise in the mind of one man to the next. What, then, is the answer for this planet of ours, hurtling towards extinction by our own species’ oh-so-selfish (though the Cosmic Skeptic, Alex J. O’Connor would term it otherwise) wrongdoings? There seems to be no one, clear solution, but rather a patchwork of healing processes. We might be a publication concerned with health and wellness, but without a healthy and thriving planet saved from pending climate disaster, there cannot be such for anyone. Rather, we are shockingly heading towards a planet of environmental refugees.

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The IUCN reported last year that Covid-19 – a pandemic caused by human interference with and exploitation of Nature – had negatively impacted conservation efforts, mainly due to having to let staff go and underfunding, with 20% of rangers losing their jobs due to pandemic-caused budget cuts. This was especially so in Africa and Asia, where it could be argued that environmental efforts and species protection are most required. Despite the drop in tourism to stop the spread of the virus, however, conservation activities were able to continue in places such as Australia and South America.

According to research published in PARKS (the International Journal of Protected Areas and Conservations), plans for PCAs (Protected or Conserved Areas) are happily being “scaled up” once again in many national budgets, including New Zealand and Japan, with several countries in the European Union due to expand existing schemes on the basis of the benefits of “natural capital and the circular economy”. Unfortunately, unsustainable and environmentally detrimental “road construction or oil and gas extraction” have been given the go ahead in approximately 64 “areas designated for conservation” across the globe. One step forward, two steps back for protecting biodiversity? A worrying pattern if so, considering that investment in “nature conservation and restoration” can actually “prevent the future emergence of zoonotic pathogens such as coronaviruses” and protect public health, as reiterated by GEF (the Global Environment Facility).

Late last year, the UNEP (UN Environment Programme) named Sweden as host of World Environment Day 2022. The theme for 5th June is set to be “Only One Earth”, the 50th anniversary event of the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm focussed “on living sustainably in harmony with nature”.

Three little words: “sustainably in harmony”. In other words, as a species part of the larger ecosystem: Earth is ours, and there is only one (the motto of the original 1972 conference).

With 150 countries participating each year, the choice of Sweden for World Environment Day 2022 (aka Stockholm+50) makes sense not just historically, and not only given it is the birthplace of that certain girl of global green campaigning renown by last name Thunberg, but also due to its notable past investments in environmental protection. After all, the country has stated a climate goal

of net zero emissions by 2045 – considerably ahead of other such declarations, including the UK’s for “near zero emissions by 2050”.

Of course, we can’t discuss environmentalism and sustainability without mention of the near-messianic hope that had been held for COP26 in Glasgow, only for scientists to doubt the – yes – authenticity of the claims made by politicians (i.e. how quickly promises might become actions).

As BBC News reported, although there were agreements on “forests, innovation and […] methane – from fossil fuel extraction”, and the decision was made to meet further this year in order to “pledge deeper emissions cuts”, already the Earth has warmed by 1.1°C. As well-documented, and as discussed previously by Just Natural Health & Beauty, this has resulted in “record temperatures, wildfires, floods and droughts” on a catastrophic scale.

The danger is not a future, conjectural one: it is here, it is now, it is very real indeed.

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Drought Farming and Soil Health: Desertification and Food Futures Here in Britain we might not yet fully appreciate the effects of global warming, but, as BBC News reported, Madagascar is “on the brink of experiencing the world’s first ‘climate change famine’” after an endless drought. For 4 years, the country has been without rain. The United Nations has made it known that “tens of thousands of people are already suffering ‘catastrophic’ levels of hunger and food security” as a result of the ongoing aridity. With approximately 30,000 people affected, insects such as locusts have become a go-to emergency food source as well as cactus leaves.

In reaction to the situation, better water management has been suggested. An article by Peter Lehner, executive director of the NRDC (Natural Resources Defence Council), in Live Science nearly a decade ago, discussed the notion of the “drought-proof farm”, a concept which operates on the wisdom of, “It’s not how much rainfall you get. It’s how much you can store.” As Just Natural Health & Beauty has written in the past, a large part of water management involves reverting to biodynamic regenerative farming practices: cover cropping, no-tillage – soil healing methods, for it is the soil which not only sequesters carbon, but which holds water too.

The dire state of affairs in Madagascar is not, however, entirely new. In 2016, the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) wrote on efforts back then by the country to prevent further soil erosion, with 30% of land already degraded. Together with the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), using nuclear science-based “isotopic techniques” that tracked the movement of atoms in the soil of the mountainous landscape, the IAEA ascertained that traditional terrace farming is almost 40% more effective in reducing soil degradation than “unprotected agricultural fields”.

Back at the close of 2021, BBC News reported on Madagascar’s long-standing drought, some 1.3 million people without adequate food and nearly 30,000 on the brink of starvation. Nonetheless, the focus of the piece was the assistance charities such as CTAS (the Agro-Ecoglogical Centre of the South) can offer farmers in the water-deprived country, providing guidance on drought-resistant crops and alternative ways of farming which permit soil revitalisation. Indeed, by turning to “grains like millet and sorghum”, as well as legumes native to Madagascar and its sandy ground, CTAS has helped feed roughly 10,000 households.

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Globally, each year that passes sees approximately 75 billion tonnes of fertile soil destroyed or lost. A 2020 IAEA report noted, by charting FRN (fallout radionuclide) levels in the topsoil layer, that in cultivated land in the Central Highlands of Madagascar “over 10 tonnes/ hectare of soil are lost on unprotected slopes every year”.

This is due to the farming practices used and inclement weather coupled with poor land cover, resulting in erosion. Simply by switching to terraced farming, that soil loss could be reduced by 50%, as suggested by the INSTN (L'Institut national des sciences et techniques nucléaires). Since the report’s release, such measures have begun to be implemented.

Desertification, as The Guardian reported last year, is “turning the Earth barren”. Spain, a country not so very far from British shores and an ever-popular destination for UK holidaymakers (Covid permitting) is currently so arid that “a fifth of all land is now at high risk of desertification”. The situation is similar in Italy and Greece, as well as the western agricultural lands of the United States. Indeed, a 2018 report found land degradation to have already detrimentally affected the wellbeing of a third of humanity (approximately 3.2 billion people). Process that for a moment…

Yet, far from being solely a result of a warming planet, it is interconnected with how that planet became hotter in the first place: through abuse of the land. Certainly, poor farming practices, chemical-heavy and without respect for unique local ecosystems have long been known to be detrimental to the natural world. However, it’s been a circular process, where constantly deteriorating soil has meant toxic fertilisers have had to be resorted to in order to produce a “good” crop.

“The soil is the foundation for life on Earth […] Humanity must get serious about our collective intergenerational responsibility to preserve the health and fertility of our land – wherever we live.”

Professor David R. Montgomery, University of Washington

ecent talk of rewilding – the hot topic of discussion the past few years – leads essentially to the reimplementation of wilderness.

Wilderness: a word that once meant “a tract of land or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings”, as recorded in 1828 in the Noah Webster “American dictionary of the English language”; a term and a definition which would go on to inspire Ralph Waldo Emerson’s hugely popular Nature.

Wilderness, the natural world untamed and free and abundant, would become exploited as colonialism spread, forests and grasslands cultivated, farmed, mined; respect wasn’t a notion given a moment’s thought, however, as natural beauty and natural resources were exploited or erased to make way for the new, profitable vision of western Man. Today, that respect is being resurrected. Granted, it is through a will to survive that hindsight has become a

wonderful thing and rewilding projects are underway with energy and enthusiasm. Yet, blame is not something which promotes positive results. As we finally en masse come to appreciate our planet and what we have inflicted on it, it is worth remembering that Emerson himself suggested the word “landscape” for recapture of respect for Nature – with a particular interpretation.

Instead of extending the theologically prompted binary interpretation of Man vs. Nature, Emerson conceived of landscape as “the place where [Man] might embrace nature”; a place that was “an interstitial space between urbanity and wilderness”, as author Tyler Green has noted. In other words, even though humans tore down forests and ploughed over miles of fertile lands, even though that land was no longer wilderness, it was (and is) still Nature, and as such must be stewarded.

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"Climate change is happening now. It is one of the biggest challenges of our generation and has already begun to cause irreversible damage to our planet and way of life.”

UK Climate Change Risk Assessment report 2022

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Evidently, global warming is no fiction.

Last year, the UK’s longest lasting snow patch, the Sphynx, melted “for only the eighth time in 300 years” after shrinking to the size of an A4 piece of paper due to prolonged milder weather, BBC News reported.

A climbing route located in Garbh Choire Mor on Braeriach in the Cairngorms, Britain’s third highest mountain, the Sphynx’s thawing could be the future of other Scottish snowy areas, too, including Ben Nevis in Lochaber. Indeed, snowfall has been decreasing rapidly since the 1980s and 1990s and it is projected that it could disappear altogether by the 2080s. Goodbye, any notion of a winter wonderland.

Aside from temperature, quality of the very air we breathe highlights further the severity of the situation.

Last year, researchers at the University of Southern California discovered a link between air pollution and memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease. As the Los Angeles Daily News reported, the study – which was published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: the Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association – found that both “cars and factories produce a form of pollution called PM2.5”. The particles travel from nose to brain and pass through “the blood-brain barrier”

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which usually blocks such toxins, together with dust and the like. The laboratory mice studied exhibited resultant increased cognitive decline.

What has become clear, however, is that cutting emissions is insufficient, even though wholly necessary. Already, we have pumped too many GHGs into our atmosphere – and, still, China and India wanted the “language on coal” to be not “phase out” but “phase down”.

That weaker wording was passed, even though global warming to 2°C is imminent. As The New York Times wrote, we have less than a decade within which “to reduce emissions enough to keep the planet below 1.5 degrees of warming”. So it was that there was hope the Hunga volcano’s eruption on Tonga at 2022’s start would result in sulphur dioxide emissions being shot high into the atmosphere equivalent to the Philippines’ Mount Pinatubo, which released 20 million tonnes of the stuff during its eruption in 1991. That’s because sulphur dioxide has a cooling effect and Mount Pinatubo reduced global temperatures by around 0.5°C for almost two years afterwards. Unfortunately, it turned out that Hunga released a mere 2% of the sulphur dioxide of the predecessor Philippine volcano: no hope there for a reprieve from global warming, then.

Meanwhile, lack of sense prevails. Although the UK might very well be phasing out traditional petrol cars (while the US continues oblivious in its passion for oversized vehicles), our very own PM apparently sees no need for considerable behavioural amendments elsewhere (ahem)... Rather, the UK has called for an increase in flights and there are still plans for additional roads, “an oil field near Shetland”, and HS2 – all of which go against scientific advice that carbon emissions must not just decrease, but ideally wholly cease. Interestingly, Julian Allwood, Professor of Engineering and Environment at the University of Cambridge, told BBC News that COP26 discussions were based “on unrealistic amounts of clean electricity, carbon capture and biomass”. Instead, Allwood insists what is needed are to “cut levels of flying, shipping, cement and ruminants”.

This type of illogic is what was satirised and lambasted in the recent and phenomenally successful Netflix film, Don’t Look Up. Starring an enviable line-up of stars, including Leonardo Di Caprio and Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett, and the ever eerily brilliant Mark Rylance, Don’t Look Up is a cinematographic call to climate change action arms. As The New York Times wrote, the film garnered some 152 million viewings in just one week – it can’t surely be just that the comedy was on point; the viewing public must recognise the danger of refusing to see the truth (we are positive thinkers, here).

Refusal to accept the facts can also be accused of attendees of COP26, another scandal of the conference being the hypocrisy that was to be seen in delegates not only arriving by private jet (the 400 aircraft emitting approximately 2 tonnes of CO2 per hour, the equivalent to the annual emissions of 1,600 individuals) – but also dining on meat even though a purportedly “plantforward” menu had been publicised previously, Plant Based News reported. Branded a greenwashing (and bluewashing) exercise in mere PR, animal agriculture (which has been found to be responsible for up to 16.5% of all human GHGs) was not a main course topic at the talks, discussions predominantly focused instead on how to support meat and dairy industries, with only one panel on a vegan future food system. When you consider that it takes only five of the largest animal agricultural producers combined to surpass the emissions of Exxon oil, something is very wrong with this picture. Similarly, the agreed 30% reduction of methane by 105 countries did not allow for emissions from livestock (which equates to roughly 32% of the total methane issue).

The Netherlands, however, seems to have taken note of this lack of sense, the country revealing last autumn that there were plans to reduce its livestock herds by a third in order to cut ammonia levels and lessen the nitrogen compounds crisis (illegally high in terms of EU law since 2019, with nitrogen 265 times more potent a trapper of heat in the atmosphere than CO2). The biggest meat exporter in the entire EU, the decision was perhaps overdue: in 2020, the Netherlands’ total exports reached 3.6 billion kilograms of meat from over 100 million livestock, including not just cows, but chickens and pigs as well. Good intentions, seemingly, the 13-year plan will also reduce speed limits and curtail adversely impactful construction, while costing the Dutch government approximately €25 billion [c. £20.85 billion] in order to cover the cost of buying out farmers and helping others downsize to smaller herds on larger parcels of land. Although praised by environmentalists, The Guardian reported that farmers have cried foul, claiming that it is a means of expropriation. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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Sticking with the topic of livestock, the recent avian flu outbreak was just one of many ongoing warnings that Mankind needs to be stepping back from animal agriculture, 2021 beginning with a lockdown for poultry flocks and the year’s close seeing humans becoming infected – not to the extent of the 1997 Hong Kong outbreak, which saw some 1.5 billion domestic birds culled to stop the spread, the virus especially fatal to children, but enough to cause considerable concern. What must be remembered, however, is that (a) no known transmission of bird flu has occurred from human to human and, somewhat less positively, (b), the devastating 1918 Spanish Flu is nonetheless thought to have sprung from pigs infected with avian flu, whose bodies provided a mixing vessel for the virus, which was then able to mutate and be passed onto and between humans, as discussed on the Radio 4 three-part series, The Jump early last year. The programme explored “the human behaviours that make viruses jump from animals to people”, looking more closely at Covid-19, avian flu, and HIV (the latter broadcast discussing new evidence which suggests the origin of AIDS rests in a necessary killing of primates for food

by Allied forces in Cameroon during WWI). Yet another example of intrusion by Mankind on the natural world and the rocking of the ecological balance. Sadly, fact.

Nevertheless, with symptoms of bird flu mimicking those of seasonal flu – feeling hot and shivery, having a temperature, aching muscles, a headache, and a cough or shortness of breath, as well as nausea, stomach pain, and diarrhoea – the risk of developing pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome makes this zoonotically transmitted virus seem all too similar to Covid-19’s effects on the human body. And, worryingly, avian flu has changed to be able to spring back into wild birds from domestic, such as chickens and ducks: those wild birds then migrate around the world. As a result of this “intensely more populated and farmed world”, many academics believe another pandemic is inevitable (you knew that pronouncement was coming, didn’t you?). Dr Peter Dashak of Eco Health Alliance notes that of the 1.7 million and counting undiscovered coronaviruses potentially infectious to humans 1,000 or so are already known to come specifically from animals. So, it again begs the question: what – if anything – is to be done?

“The two animals that humans eat the most are the most deadly mixing vessels: pigs and chickens.”

- Chris van Tulleken

The other risk from non-organic meat consumption, of course, is the potential for antibiotic resistance build-up, as factory farming often resorts to pumping livestock full of hormones and antibiotics to survive the terrible conditions they “live” in: you might consume a steak supposedly for the quantity of iron it contains, but so too are you consuming whatever else was ingested by that animal. Antibiotic Research UK states that antibiotic resistance is “a global health disaster that is already killing 700,000 people each year” – evidently not solely as a cause of industrial level animal agriculture (overprescribing antibiotics makes culpable modern medicine, also). If the situation is not improved, however, the charity warns that there could be up to 10 million deaths annually by 2050.

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Biofouling: Nautical Risks of Polar Conservation & Tourism As BBC News reported earlier this year, Antarctica is suffering from biofouling, from invasive species quite literally “hitchhiking” on seagoing vessels that have not just been passing through for touristic purposes or for fishing, but even research ships in the area for conservation purposes. An example of good intentions that only make the situation worse? Perhaps, yet the effect is that Antarctica’s otherwise “pristine marine ecosystem” is being threatened.

Indeed, BBC News reported only in January that millions are already dying from drug-resistant infections, a study published in the Lancet finding that 1.2 million such deaths recorded in 2019 alone (5 million more deaths that year were related). Haunting figures and “more than the annual death toll from malaria or Aids” (640,000 and 860,000 deaths in 2019, respectively). AMR (antimicrobial resistance) has been called the “hidden pandemic” behind Covid’s domination of headlines and low-income countries are most at risk. At the moment, some 46,000 people per year are dying from sepsis, antibiotic resistance meaning their bodies cannot fight the infection antibiotics would otherwise heal.

Consumption, then – how we live our lives – is a key factor. Vegconomist and Carbon Brief reported at the start of the year that researchers have projected that appropriation of a plant-based diet and implementation of rewilding strategies combined could provide a “double climate dividend” from wealthier nations, while solely cutting out animal products could permit a 61% reduction in GHGs (less than the University of Oxford’s well-publicised earlier 73% projection, but still a considerable amount). The study, published in Nature Food, noted how rewilded areas could possibly sequestrate 14 years’ worth of current global agricultural carbon emissions in just one year.

With vessels from approximately 1,500 global ports visiting the isolated region each year, the risk of invasive species “completely changing” the Antarctic ecosystem and creating entirely new habitats looms large.

A study by researchers at the University of Cambridge and the British Antarctic Survey noted the danger posed by “hitchhiking” mussels and barnacles, algae and crabs that have biofouled the hulls of the ships by clinging on and globe-trotting (for all intents and purposes). Mussels, in particular, can well survive the polar waters and spread and threaten other marine creatures on the seabed due to their water filtering action altering the chemistry of the water – part of which process is also beneficial for carbon sequestration. With climate change causing oceanic temperatures to rise, though, other invasive species could thrive equally well.

When you consider that for the past 30 million years native Antarctic species have prospered in isolation, to have international ships frequently passing through in recent times is not ideal at all. Tourist ships (which account for 67% of annual vessels) must “follow biosecurity protocols” and undergo sniffer dog inspection for rodents on board, as well as hull cleaning, but tougher measures, including cameras for closer inspection of hulls, have been called for.

Furthermore, tours in operation in the region since the 1950s (when tourist numbers were in the hundreds, rather than the circa 70,000 people today), it is not just biofouling that threatens Antarctica’s fragile ecosystem, sadly, but other human impact in the form of “waste, pollution, collisions with wildlife or noise disturbance”.

Sometimes, Nature is best left alone, her wonders heard of and imagined or glimpsed from afar, rather than known first-hand and altered irreparably. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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Eating Better noted that Marks & Spencer’s campaign, “Sparking Change: The Challenge”, in conjunction with Hubbub, aimed to improve the diets of British households “with more veg and ‘less and better’ meat and dairy” – but it doesn’t quite go far enough; and it can’t, essentially, because it is not a small independent. The campaign might very well have started with Protein from Plants as its focus and then shifted to More Taste, Less Waste, yet, if that oligopoly noted earlier is left as it stands, monoculture will only worsen.

Already, consumers are limited to a narrow choice of crops, set to become ever narrower as soil quality diminishes further and rising prices prohibit local and seasonal purchases. Importantly, though, it is the independent growers who are especially suffering: due to the challenges facing those in the industry today, a Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution survey found that those working in the farming and food sectors exhibited “some of the highest 14

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Photo: www.leaf.eco

With the US’s President Biden allocating $1 billion [c. £736 million] to the meat industry at the start of this year to assist smaller farmers and lower product costs, it is clear that the fight to take the idiomatic wool from peoples’ eyes is far from over. By contrast, European countries including Denmark and Austria are investing in plant-based proteins.

Speaking of plants, the global sustainable farming organisation LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) announced at COP26 that it aimed for 85% sustainable growth of fruits and vegetables in order to allow for the estimated doubling of global food demand by 2050 via a reduction in emissions and increase in biodiversity. Founded in 1991, its certification label can be found in such supermarkets as Waitrose & Partners and Tesco, as well as on the Quaker Oats UK brand. However, will that serve to address what the Sustainable Food Trust has called the oligopoly of 12 supermarkets’ “domination” of the food retail sector (forming 95% of the market) and its supply chains?

mental health issues in the UK”. By contrast, a combined report by Sustain and the RSPB found that “for every £1 spent on a veg box scheme, there was £3 in economic and environmental returns”.

Moral of the story? Support the hard-working little man: shop local and shop organic. Indeed, it is local markets – not supermarkets – that most often are supplied by agroecological farmers, ameliorating the environment and people’s health together. As a result, in the long-run healthy food will be affordable food, there will be greater food security as costs of quality product are brought down, Nature will be permitted to recover through cessation of harmful chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Fairness for Man and environment will prevail.

A potential solution in form of the best laid plans of mice and men? Perhaps, but as the saying goes, you never know unless you try.

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Today’s Living, Clapham – Independent Celebrates 40 Years on the High Street To talk with Pinder Soor, immediately one understands why it is that in 2022 Today’s Living is celebrating 35 years on the high street.

With a sincere ethic of care for his customers that pervades both his thought and conversation, Pinder took over the family business from his parents, Harbans Singh and Baljeet Kaur, so naturally that he doesn’t remember precisely when he shifted from simply helping out to replacing his folks full time. His father having come over from Tanzania in 1971, where he ran a general store that served the needs of the local community, hotels, and safari lodges – when Pinder and his mother followed straight after, the Soors didn’t leap into running a health store straightaway.

Rather, just as supermarkets were becoming mainstream, Pinder’s parents transformed a pre-existent shop into a popular grocery store at 90 Clapham High Street, understanding that they needed to “stick to what we know best” in order to succeed, and get closer to realising their dream.

Back then, the Soors provided the local community – far less affluent than the gentrified locals of today – with a good delicatessen and all one might expect from a supermarket.

Very much a family affair, Pinder and his brother were frequently handson; hence, his quick adjustment to running the business later on. As time passed, natural products started to be brought into the shop more and more, including health supplements: the direction they were heading was starting to crystalise. When the shop next door then became available, the pieces fell into place and the Soors sold the grocery business to focus on becoming a specialised health store. As third and fourth generation vegetarians, it simply made sense.

as big-name supermarkets such as Budgens, Tesco, and Sainsbury’s were beginning to dominate the high street: happily, the dream quickly became a reality.

Today’s Living has ever since been situated at 92 Clapham High Street.

Pinder was always in and out, lending a hand as a relief guy for weekends, trade shows, and so that his parents could go on holiday (important self-care time), and in time he left his job in the graphic design and print business permanently.

The passion of his parents’ dream had clearly been passed down to their children. In fact, he admits the turning point for deciding to switch careers came when he was in the shop as cover and a female customer walked in and became very distressed, asking worriedly where the “old man” who normally ran things was. Bewildered, assuring her that his father was simply at a wedding, the woman exclaimed, “Thank goodness! Your father is God to me.” Blown away by such a statement, Pinder discovered that the lady had cancer and had been told by doctors that she had a limited time left to live.

Having sought out Harban’s advice, she was actually getting better. That such a thing could happen left Pinder in no doubt that it was “the best job in the world” to have.

Helping someone in their hour of need: that’s what makes Today’s Living so valued by the community. And it isn’t just passion that fuels the business, but – importantly – expertise also. Pinder’s parents frequently attended seminars in order to stay abreast of research developments and, interestingly (but it’s perhaps no surprise), his grandfather had been an excellent homeopath.

A civil engineer, outside of working hours Pinder’s grandpa would nonetheless get out his box of remedies whenever the children were unwell and Pinder used to marvel at how they wouldn’t ever have need of a doctor.

Clearly, natural products have always been in the family blood. Second nature to them all, to be raised in such an environment is rare – but it was certainly an inspiration for what they have achieved since.

Pinder’s wife, Manjeet herself is a qualified naturopath and helps run Today’s Living, and they both continue Pinder’s parents’ tradition of attending lectures and seminars (although it became webinars during the pandemic) in order to remain informed about new research. They supplement such learning with staying up-to-date with academic journals and scientific papers and, with this knowledge base and their own expertise, they confidently provide the service the shop has come to be valued for (though, obviously they don’t simply recycle all that information verbatim!). That’s why their reputation in the local area and quite far afield is second to none: they give the right advice and sell the right products.

Operating with “proper ethics”, Pinder would rather see a dip in sales than sell a customer the wrong product. That’s why, if someone comes in with the wrong research (often gleaned from an internet search), he will correct them, rather than sell them something they don’t need. It is all about the wellbeing of the person. What language the store uses to discuss health problems is also euphemistically softened to provide a calm approach to addressing issues.

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Of course, the Soors have to deal with time wasters, as well. When someone comes into the store, uses their expertise, and it becomes obvious that they are going to look for a cheaper deal online, the disappointment is inescapable. It is frustrating because it is sadly becoming ever clearer that this shopping behaviour is what closes all types of independent businesses, not just health stores.

Small business owners don’t often if ever have out of date items from overstocking, so they cannot offer the big discounts that large corporations can. Although Covid necessarily initiated the veritable explosion of internet shopping, it is prolongation of that habit that seems to be tolling the death knell for the high street’s local independents.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, the store experienced the madness that all such enterprises experienced (even the loo roll panic), and when it came to pasta Pinder had to tell people to buy only what they needed and assure them that more would be in the next day. As is the Soors family ethic, Pinder’s children helped out, too, while his parents had to be more careful (though they still came in: “You can’t let go of your baby!”).

The store offered a personal delivery service at no extra charge, unusual times calling for unusual measures and Pinder refusing to profit from bad times. Yet, it was the logistics of delivering items as fast as they were selling out that caused the empty shelves. It was a first for everyone.

At one point, Today’s Living didn’t receive a delivery in three days and it ended up that the managing director of CLF, their wholesaler, picked the products to be delivered the next day.

However, the store was otherwise prepared with masks and hand sanitiser, Pinder having heard from a Birmingham based doctor in late 2019 that there was concern over a new virus. Readers will probably remember the early run on hand 18

sanitisers in shops... Well, Pinder had already bought in drums of the stuff for antibacterial sprays and lotions in anticipation. Yet, his horror at the pure, cheap alcohol sanitisers some people resorted to using palpably transferred over the telephone line, the “mental” overuse of such resulting in multiple cases of poisoning after too much alcohol absorbed into their skin.

Normally, however, the Soors provide guidance on how to successfully make dietary changes and on which supplements to take.

Not in it for the rewards (“It’s not about a gold star,” Pinder asserted during our interview), it is simply helping make a difference that propels them forward. For example, cases such as a previous dogwalker of theirs who suddenly became afflicted with dry eyes and dry skin and who with their help recovered within two weeks. Or the instance of a girl who had battled with anorexia for over five years and who is now finally on the mend; whose card of thanks they treasure greatly.

After all, this business is about people.

Small things on the surface, but their effect runs deep. Humanity at its most inspiring.

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And so, Today’s Living’s survival and achievement of a 35th anniversary truly is something to celebrate, inclusive of the new activities and products which the shop is excited to share with the local community and further afield this year. Real, personal advice can only be meaningfully provided face-to-face, person-to-person. Even though most customers who have had the more recent variant Omicron (about 80%) have said it was not so bad (thanks in no small part to the roll out of the vaccination series), Today’s Living continues to provide a lifeline for those still in self-isolation, high-risk individuals even more vulnerable since the alleviation of pandemic restrictions earlier this year. It also quite simply continues to offer people hope through sound advice. It is by keeping our immune system well-supported, by making sure stress remains at a minimum, and by not exhausting ourselves in this all-too-busy world that we can avoid being led to our sick beds by cold and flu, and even – to a certain extent – pandemics too.

hile the British Nutrition Foundation’s recent metareview supported more predominantly plant-based eating, it did not propose a 100% vegan diet. Yet, with Veganuary reporting in 2021 that, of 82% of those who had pledged to go vegan at the start of last year, 30% were still fully plant-based by July, and with the campaign noting that in 2022 in excess of 629,000 new pledges had been recorded (whether helped by that Bigfoot short of theirs or not, but younger vegan novices will have been taken with it, surely) – it’s clear that a plant-based lifestyle is beneficial to the amelioration of our bodies and minds, as much as the planet as a whole in its reduction of individuals’ carbon footprint.

Nonetheless, the situation is a tentative one and the balance could go either way (humans are fickle creatures with a tendency for divisiveness).

Vegconomist reported that PETA had recently felt it necessary to urge vegans not to demand separate cooking equipment. The move came at a point when vegan menu options have never been more available.

However, the rub lies in the fact that the explosion of the alt protein market has not been directly marketed at those already in the plant-based pool of health: the target audience is the omnivorous public. Investments in plant-based meat (and fish) alternatives are for the benefit of restaurants and chains whose typical customer also eats animal products.

Who can forget the fiasco of Burger King’s plantbased burger release in 2019, consumers not long after discovering it was cooked on the same grill as meat products? Fast-forward to today, and Burger King has invested in separate cooking equipment. But not every eatery can afford such outlays. So it is that PETA is essentially warning “pick your battles”: better there are more vegan burgers and the like cooked alongside meat, than fewer or no such plant-based alternatives on offer or in existence at all. For a renownedly activist vegan organisation, it is admirably balanced advice.

Previously, an Oxfordshire county council caused a newsworthy stir when it decided official events that provided food (of which there are six a year) would no longer be serving any animal products, as “global meat and dairy production is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation”. Fair enough, you’d think… But some councillors considered it a move that had been “rammed down the throats of vegetarians and meat eaters” (as one opposition Conservative councillor, David Bartholomew, put it).

Just Natural Health & Beauty has previously written on acceptance and finding equilibrium when it comes to matters of diet: not everyone can be fully plantbased (whether due to certain types of anaemia or Coeliac disease or similar); nor does everyone want to be vegan or believe it the best course of action for the planet. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion and freedom of (informed) choice.

Regarding such information, an Oxford University study recently published in The Lancet Planetary Health found that adoption of a fully vegan diet could “reduce food costs by one-third”, while a vegetarian diet was the second most affordable. An attractive prospect, particularly in the current financial climate with the hike in energy prices: money-saving and good for the environment? Seemingly win-win. Of course, the vegan diet used in the study was a WFPB (whole food plant-based) one. If you start including mock meats and other similar products, the costs increase considerably, but so too do the health implications from eating an excessive amount of highly processed foods.

For the NHS, though, the prospect of a (whole food) plant-based public is most appealing. Indeed, Plant Based News reported that Dr Shireen Kassam, a consultant haematologist and honorary senior lecturer at King’s College Hospital, has estimated that if the entire nation were to go vegan it would save our health services in excess of £30 billion each year (annually, the UK’s medical spending is around £225 billion). justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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It is (almost) common knowledge now that diets free from animal products can help lower a person’s risk of heart disease (by about 25%, in fact), bad cholesterol levels, and reduce prevalence of obesity and the likelihood of developing Type-II diabetes by over 50%. These are all preventable chronic illnesses. Increased energy levels are often one major beneficial factor in anyone new to the vegan diet sticking to it, as well as better mood, improved skin complexion, and weight loss (a veritable holy trinity of health if ever we heard one).

Indeed, some life insurance companies in the US, such as HealthIQ, are so certain of the data that they have lowered the cost of their policies for vegans.

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A scientific review undertaken by Unilever at the start of the year also recommends a plant-based diet “for public health and sustainability”.

Drawing on 141 studies, the multinational corporation concluded that ditching animal products resulted in an increased intake of “several vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients such as fibre”. The caveat was that “proper education of consumers” was needed, for people to be fully aware of what they need to include in their diet to stay in optimum health. The review strongly urged that an improvement in fortification of certain foods with vitamin B12 be carried out.

Of course, when plant-based living is promoted as an environmentally positive and healthful way forward to people and planet both, that’s not to say that “dirty veganism” is what is being promoted (sorry, Mathew Pritchard)… Don’t get us wrong, the ability to still enjoy junkier, fast food type meals from our omnivorous days without causing harm to animals is wonderful – but, this being the season to do so, think about the impact that type of living will take on your body after a while.

Are You a Virtuous Vegan?

Many people think all vegans were health-conscious people before they even began their journey, but that’s not always the case. Question is, though: what type of vegan are you?

(NB: Definitions whole-heartedly tongue-in-cheek…)

Virtuous Vegan (aka WFPB Vegan) Nothing passes your lips that hasn’t been lovingly prepared in your own kitchen from the freshest of local seasonal ingredients.

Unsurpassable when it comes to food prep skills, virtuous vegans derive the most pleasure from knowing they’re nourishing their body and mind with every healthy bite. Granted, this has made them a little bit of a food snob.

Tip: Live a little every now and again and treat the family to that raved over vegan burger. Moderation works both ways, you know…

Dirty Vegan (aka Junk Food Vegan) A super fan of vegan chefs who keep it “real”, you went vegan for the animals, not your own health.

Agog at WFPB vegans’ dedication to wellbeing, and in disbelief that anyone would willingly put that much time into cooking (though you’ll happily watch the YouTube videos), you still want to be chowing down on tasty fries and a juicy-yetmeat-free burger or some sort of – erm – greasy goodness. Not for you the effort of a cauliflower rice gastronomic endeavour.

Tip: In addition to adding a bit of lettuce and avocado to your preferred quick-and-satisfying meals, it wouldn’t hurt to cook from scratch upon occasion.

Or go halfway and perhaps invest in an air-fryer…

Starved Vegan (aka Vegan for weight loss) The one who didn’t get the memo that veganism in not about shedding pounds or denying oneself any sensory pleasure at all, the starved vegan took the macrobiotic movement beyond a physical health reset and became a culinary ascetic fearful of all fats. Recognisable by iron-deficient dark circles under their eyes and a rather gaunt silhouette, their alternative versions are the raw foodist and the fruitarian.

Tip: Come into the 21st century way of thinking when it comes to food. A “moment on the lips” is not a lifetime on the hips, but rather an actual life: take pleasure in what you consume and you’ll positively thrive. Life is too short not to seek enjoyment, and plant-based options are too delectable to go on like you have been… justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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Beautiful Bac-uns to Make at Home So, bacon: along with cheese, one of the foods people seemingly have the most trouble giving up.

Yet, essentially what they fear they’ll miss is simply that umami flavour. It might seem obvious to the plant-based awoken crowd, but bacon really doesn’t have to come from a pig or be unhealthy for the heart or cholesterol levels – not when that bacon is plant-based.

Here are just some of the myriad options for shaking up one’s concept of bacon. These “bacuns” should hit the tastebuds and provide some health benefits, too. Experiment and you might just find yourself becoming the next vegan social media culinary star…

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Rice Paper Bacon

Carrot Bacon

Daikon Bacon

Eggplant Bacon

Seitan Bacon

Banana Peel Bacon

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While Vegconomist reported last year that companies like “plant genetics pioneer” NuCicer are developing non-GMO chickpeas even more chock full of protein (some 75% more, in fact), and thereby hoping to reduce the price of chickpea protein by half (and pocket-sizing the breeding cycle from 10 years to 24 months) – it’s clear there’s a lot more on the horizon for cellular agriculture, both vegan and omnivorous. NuCicer has been in development for a decade and plans to release the chickpeas next year. There’s sure to be an appetite, being “the third most widely grown grain legume” (and who can forget the shortage in shops in the first lockdown?), but even if not palatable for some, that chickpeas are a crop highly beneficial for nitrogen fixation and as a result improved soil health should certainly be news received with enthusiasm.

A recent FSA (Food Standards Agency) survey found that 60% of us (from teens to pensioners) are willing to try plant-based alternative proteins, while 34% of the UK population would be willing to try cultivated meat. The survey also found that cultivated meat as a concept is “off-putting”, while those who still shunned plant-based alternatives chose to do so because they derived pleasure from animal products. That pleasure principle was the focus of discussions when Ed Winters (aka Earthling Ed, newly published Times bestselling author of This is Vegan Propaganda with Penguin Books, and longstanding globally recognised vegan activist) was invited to take part in a debate on BBC Politics Live, hosted by Jo Coburn. Arguing whether veganism is a moral imperative or not with the LBC Radio presenter Nick Ferrari, Darlington Labour MP Jenny Chapman, and Conservative backbencher MP Andrew Rosindell, the debate highlighted concerns over farmers’ livelihoods and the freedom of choice. And that is to some extent why biodynamic regenerative agriculture can seem such a panacea – one which distracts from the fundamental ethic of avoiding exploiting animals for pleasure.

If a Welsh pub can go fully vegan for a month and decide to do it permanently after sales went through the roof (customers even driving from Scotland to sample The Queen Inn’s new menu in Cwmbran, South Wales), then perhaps that essential consideration of freedom of choice will find a natural plant-based conclusion after all. Just look at Nebraska, otherwise known as the “beef state”: The Independent has reported that peas and beans are becoming a competitive industry to cattle ranching in the state, as plant-based alternatives take off. The trend follows other heavily livestock focussed states like Montana and North Dakota, but in Nebraska it was sparked by Ingredion’s opening of a pea processing plant in South Sioux City last March. It is hoped that as more farmers turn to the crop the health of the soil will recover, too.

The Allergen Pea – A Cautionary Tale There’s no doubt that peas have been the key to the worldwide rolling out of many protein alternatives, the industry working towards a well-fed human population in a sustainable future. However, peas are not a boon for everyone. A little while back, The Huffington Post wrote on the issues peas have caused for people with allergies as vegan and glutenfree options flood the market and the use of pea flour and pea protein becomes more commonplace. For, peas are a legume closely related to peanuts; and people with nut allergies can be allergic to legumes as well.

From cakes and biscuits to bread and plant-based milks, and even processed meats (but that’s another problem) – peas are seemingly inescapable these days unless one is living the WFPB lifestyle and making everything from scratch. This is a real risk factor for some, as food manufacturers and eateries are not legally required to state inclusion of peas in their products, not being governmentally recognised as an allergen.

While there might be little sympathy for those who lament not being able to buy highly processed ham slices and low-price pork sausages due to the products having been padded out with pea protein (and the purchase of which perpetuates cruel factory farming practices) – if someone wants to switch to a vegan diet and doesn’t possess many if any culinary skills, pre-made alternatives are very handy.

But pea and lentil flour have proliferated as ingredients in pre-made foods. What’s more, pea protein is considered more allergenic than green or yellow peas in their whole state, as processing concentrates the protein strands which are to blame for an allergic reaction. Yet, under current law, “ingredients outside the top 14 [allergens] don’t have to be listed if they make up less than 2% of the product”. Often, pea and lentil flour can be lumped under the dubious listing of “vegetable fibre”.

Happily, there are a few companies – like Heck – which voluntarily label in bold their use of pea protein in both their omnivorous and vegan lines. That said, Heck’s founder, Andrew Keeble has advised they are looking to move towards using rice instead.

Nonetheless, the global pea starch industry (yes, it really does exist these days) is expected to be worth $203 million [c. £150 million] by 2026.

Although pea farming ran into a bit of difficulty recently, with a drought in Canada resulting in a 45% reduction in production and overly wet weather in France ruining the crop, the appetite for the humble pea is quite something. As is its versatility: improving taste and texture, acting as a thickener and gelling agent in multiple foodstuffs… There’s now even a pea-based softgel that has been developed by Roquette as a vegan alternative to gelatine capsule medication. The uses, it seems, really are endless, but one should surely proceed responsibly and label up honestly for those with an allergy.

There has been negative press towards plant-based innovation, of course.

Action on Salt announced at the close of 2021 that excessive levels of salt had been measured in meat alternatives that had been touted as “healthy”. In fact, it claimed that over 75% of alt-meat products were above recommended salt levels. Why does it matter? Because salt raises blood pressure, which in turn is connected with 50% of heart disease and 60% of stroke cases.

Globally, over 2 million people die from excessive salt intake every year.

Nevertheless, plant-based alternatives offer just that: alternatives to exploiting and eating animals. With the UK now recognising prawns, lobsters, crabs, and squid and octopus as sentient beings, it’s no longer just land-based animals that are getting the consideration they should naturally be due. Yet, land-based animals are obviously not insignificant in positive environmental endeavours. Eating Better recently announced that The Wildlife Trusts had become a supporter of their campaign. A grassroots movement providing land management advice for avoiding pesticides and preventing those and other pollutants finding their way into nature both terrestrially and in waterways, The Wildlife Trusts (of which there are 46 in total) believe that “we need nature and nature needs us”: with some 850,000 members and 2,000 staff and 35,000 volunteers, it’s clear that an ethic of care is blossoming throughout the nation.

So, while some of us might have swapped out real eggs for vegan alternatives on the basis of concerns over animal welfare, while others of us now opt for plant-based prawns instead of actual crustaceans in order to protect endangered mangrove forests and thereby reduce the increased risk of flooding in multiple areas of the globe – diversity of reasoning and of praxis in a purposefully plant-based lifestyle mirrors a natural biodiversity we should never have come away from belonging to in the first place. Therefore, let the innovation continue apace. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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We’ve all been there: having sat at our desks of an afternoon as the hands of the clock ticked closer to the end of the working day, contemplating what we’d make for supper (lunchtime sandwiches most times leaving not just a lot to be desired, but rather an empty space in the stomach; even in WFH schedules, sadly) – only to decide upon a tofu dish, relish the thought of that tofu dish all the way home, pondering which spices to employ in making it a rival to a takeaway, and then frustratingly (perhaps with a raised utterance of dismay) find that that pack in the fridge went off a week ago, its plastic cover puffed out and ready to burst as the tofu decays within, entirely uneaten…

There are worse things to come home to, granted, but for a more peaceful life and fewer stresses than necessary, here’s a little guidance on how to make that tasty tofu stick around for a while longer (though we can’t make any promises about making you remember it’s there):

Silken Tofu The least pressed of the tofu options, silken tofu is creamily soft and due to its high water content tends to last about half the time of the firmest tofu choices. Like any tofu, silken tofu shouldn’t be open and left at room temperature for any longer than two hours. Otherwise, it will start to go off.

Likewise, all tofu should be stored in the fridge to prolong shelf life. Soft Tofu should be handled similarly.

Firm Tofu There is a school of thought that believes freezing tofu for later use actually improves its consistency and ability to absorb any marinade or sauce. The thawed ice crystals also create porous holes which means previously frozen tofu becomes crispier when air-fried. Be sure to remove as much liquid as possible and pre-cut the tofu before storing in an airtight container in the freezer for later (maximum 3 months). Medium tofu should be dealt with in the same way.

Super Firm Tofu The tofu pressed the most, super firm tofu is the firmest and driest option, while also offering more protein than other types of tofu. Once open, this is definitely one tofu you want to be storing in water in the fridge, to prevent it drying out even more and becoming stale. As with any type of tofu, if the water becomes murky or yellowish and if the tofu starts to brown in the fridge, it has gone off (water should be clear and the tofu egg-shell white). Extra firm tofu is a similar option.

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“E-h What?” E Numbers for Vegans Explained

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It is all too easy to disregard a numbered letter, isn’t it?

But if you dig beneath the surface, those E numbers lurking in the midst of lengthy ingredients labels are hiding a lot more than you’d care to know… Here’s a quick-guide chart to help you when out and about:

E101

Riboflavin

Also known as B2, the problem is it sometimes comes from animal sources. Otherwise, riboflavin is usually derived from plants and fungi.

E120

Cochineal

Also known as carminic acid or carmine, E120 is a red pigment that comes from the shell of cochineal insects.

E270

Lactic Acid

Used as – low and behold – an acidity regulator, lactic acid can sometimes be animal-derived, though is able to come both from plants and be synthetically produced.

E322

Lecithin Emulsifier

Although normally come from soya or sunflowers, this emulsifier is sadly sometimes sourced from animals.

E422

Glycerol Emulsifier

Usually a product of soybeans or palm, unfortunately glycerol can also come from rendered animal fat…

E441

Gelatine

Used as an emulsifier, gelatine comes from the collagen in the bones and skin of animals (usually livestock, such as cows and pigs).

E901

Beeswax

Pretty self-explanatory, beeswax is used as a glazing agent.

We don’t know why either…

E904

Shellac

Also a glazing agent, this one comes from the resin secreted (never an appetising word) by Asian lac insects.

E913

Lanolin

Yet another glazing agent, lanolin is literally the grease from a sheep’s wool.

E920

L-Cysteine

An improving agent, this amino acid can be produced synthetically, but otherwise can come from duck feathers.

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Kallø’s mission is to make eating natural and healthy food delicious and effortless, through a growing range of snacks and cooking ingredients. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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The ‘Coronacoaster’ and Fatigue: How Long Covid is Helping ME Kate Weinberg, author of The Truants, wrote of her personal experience with Long Covid in The Times Magazine last year, describing the “strange bouts of powerlessness” and how exhaustion would strike “like a baseball bat to the back of the knees”. Thus, Weinberg endured ever being a potential victim to be flung into “the pit” of pain and fatigue, disorientation and loss of self again, and again. Told by her GP not to undertake more than 500 housebound steps a day for fear of setback in recovery, that road to wellness became a patience game, a case of mind over matter and a letting-go of established notions of time.

Under such circumstances, it is no wonder that the black dog of depression started to nip at her heels. Far from antidepressants being of help, it was instead breathing and mindset techniques that took the edge off the numb despair. Even nine months later, at the time of the article’s publication, Weinberg was not yet at her destination, but was connected more deeply to her body and its “reconfiguration”; had learned its warning signs and what seemed to “stir the hornets in the Long Covid nest”.

With some 2 million adults in Britain suffering similarly, and an estimated 41 million people globally, the reality of Long Covid is undeniable.

This is not another Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) scenario, where it is for too long patronisingly put down to psychological factors, as those suffering from ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or Myalgic Encephalopathy; the other name for CFS), fibromyalgia, and Lyme disease frequently are told. The main theories for Long Covid include “hyperactive immune response, viral debris, viral persistence, and auto-antibodies”. Research into mitochondrial failure saw Weinberg explore NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) deficiency theory a little more, which exhibits ultra-low levels of ATP, “the fundamental energy-carrying molecule that powers the body”. Thus far, she has been continuing with that approach.

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Tiredness, of course, is nothing new in itself. Nevertheless, COVID-19 has focussed the spotlight on extreme fatigue like never before. Tiredness can be physical, it can be psychological (“coronacoaster” isn’t dubbed thus for no reason, with its eye-opening and out of the blue mood swings). Yet, Long Covid’s exhausting ways might provide a light in the darkness for those suffering from CFS, many of whom had been dismissed as hypochondriac work-shy fabricators in the past.

Usually triggered by an acute infection, similar to Long Covid, CFS is a post-viral fatigue syndrome. It is not, as was once believed, simply a psychological condition or symptom of depression; nor is it a case of the 1980s glandular fever outbreak, with snide comments about “yuppie flu”. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is all too real. Indeed, one study found that 77% of ME sufferers had had a negative experience with doctors who thought they were simply “hysterical” anxiety disorder cases. Another survey of patient respondents found that 66% thought the emotional battle of getting a doctor’s diagnosis had actually worsened their condition.

To be clear, CFS is a chronic neurological condition with physical consequences, mainly associated with the nervous and immune systems. And it affects four times as many women as men. Women, after all, have two X chromosomes, as opposed to men with their XY makeup. The X chromosomes induce immune responses and so the female immune system is doubly prepared to respond to any threat, making it overreactive and sometimes self-attacking.

Those women who already suffer from an autoimmune condition are particularly at risk.

Long Covid mirrors the debilitating fatigue of ME and its other symptoms. It also includes shortness of breath and, for some, a sense of smell does not return. What both conditions share in common is the possible scenario that patients will never get better.

Fortunately, the government has invested £50 million into Long Covid research to try to find a cure and – if, as thought, the two conditions are as similar as they seem – it could mean light at the end of the tunnel for CFS sufferers, too. The key is finding the responsible antibody.

May 11th through 16th is ME Awareness week this year. It’s important to note, not least because the ME Association estimates that in the UK between 130,000 and 260,000 of us – both adults and children – are currently living with CFS. Otherwise known as ME, symptoms can be manageable or downright debilitating.

From muscle aches and pains to brutal fatigue and brain fog so bad speech becomes slurred, and often extended periods of time have to be taken off work. Now a recognised neurological disease, ME can be so disabling that quality of life is shockingly lowered, some sufferers becoming not just housebound but bedbound and requiring 24/7 care.

Until that time, ongoing rolling out of boosters for the Covid vaccine (of whichever type) and continued hygiene protocols are still crucial in protecting against what is looking to become an endemic disease – despite alleviation of restrictions at interim points. And that remaining 28% of the population who have not had a single jab? They need to do so. Increasingly infectious variants have put paid to initial belief in herd immunity against Sars-CoV-2 (as has the tragic case of the Czech folk singer, Hana Horka, who thought deliberately getting infected wise for such a purpose). The global presence of the coronavirus (and its zoonotic transmission) means it will never just go away.

Furthermore, Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has questioned the unknown long-term impact of Long Covid: “We know that after the Spanish flu of 1918, people were getting Parkinson’s disease, which only became apparent about 20 years later. So, we still don’t know what the long-term consequences of this virus are”. In other words, though it seems self-evident, protection rather than infection is safest, in all respects. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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Recovery Foods, the Plant-Based Way Vegans were recently up in arms when it transpired that people recovering from Covid were being advised by a National Health Service online programme to heal their bodies with “meat, fish, eggs, and cheese” and to “hydrate” with dairy milk.

Notably, the old established wisdom of five-a-day fruit and veg was lacking.

The advice is strangely uninformed and misplaced, given Covid’s suspected zoonotic origins. In fact, two studies have found a plantbased diet to be of use in lessening the severity of the virus. One study, published in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health found that vegans were 73% less likely to suffer from the severest symptoms of Covid, while the second study was the “largest study to date examining the links between diet and disease”, according to Plant Based News. Indeed, the ZOE COVID Symptom Study looked at data from 600,000 participants and concluded that vegans were 9% less likely to catch Covid-19 in the first place, while omnivores whose diets were high in animal proteins were at increased risk of the virus’ severest symptoms.

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With this in mind, we thought it prudent to provide some plant-based suggestions for recovery, whether for yourself or for your loved ones:

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Pulses

Vital for protein, fibre, vitamins, and minerals – pulses can be enjoyed in a variety of dishes. From chickpeas to butter beans, from borlotti to kidney beans, pulses are the versatile protein provision extraordinaire for plant-based healing.

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Quinoa

Probably the go-to protein grain (though a wild grass), quinoa is easily digestible as well as tasty – perfect for convalescence.

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Nuts & Seeds

The theme of protein continues, but nuts and seeds also contain essential healthy fats (Omega-3s and Omega-6s), as well as many other vitamins and minerals.

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Avocadoes

Taking up the baton for healthy fat, avocadoes are a low sugar fruit that contain vital nutrients for recovery; particularly beneficial when appetite might be lacking.

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Soup

Let’s be honest, any list stating plant-based foods for recovery would be a nearly endless naming of fruits and vegetables. The term “soup” therefore encompasses a plethora of cruelty-free, Nature-given (savoury) produce that when seasoned and boiled together in a pot come together to heal body and mind (and soul, too, only without the unnecessary chicken of the 1993-founded entertainment company title).

Covid & the Brain: 6 Protective Measures Covid-19 – attacker of our lungs, our hearts, our blood, our body entire (not to mention our lives). But what is no longer getting overlooked is Covid’s effect on our brains. With studies showing that many Long Covid sufferers complain of lingering brain fog six months and longer after infection, it is clear that the fight against the coronavirus isn’t a matter of immunity in the sense of flu only, but one of total body health and protection against the virus’ far-reaching effects, also.

What Sars-CoV-2 can cause is inflammation of the brain, known as Covid encephalitis. Indeed, a study published in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences in 2020 found that nearly 13% of those who had Covid-19 with neurological complications could go on to develop some form of encephalitis. Given that with other viruses an occurrence of encephalitis can mean developing dementia or having a stroke later on, the danger is clear.

So, how best to protect the brain against an invisible assailant? Pretty much by bolstering it the same way you would against the advancing years:

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Mental Stimulation is Your Rainy Day Exercise Whether it’s a beloved sudoku (or its warrior version), a crossword (we envy those who can fathom a cryptic), or challenging a friend (or the computer) to a game of chess, a 2016 study in Brain Imaging and Behaviour found that mental stimulation – if enjoyable – helps to create new connections in the brain that protect against future memory loss.

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There's Wisdom in Friendship Covid kept us isolated from not only our family, but our friends as well, the resultant loneliness more of a challenge than many other struggles with the lockdowns. A 2020 study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry found that even that brief sojourn behind closed doors might have increased our overall risk of cognitive decline later on, even to the point of dementia and Alzheimer’s. The reason being that humans are social creatures: we need to be connected with others of our kind. In this sense, Zoom and its ilk were a godsend.

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Food for Thought Functional nutrition is key. You literally want to be feeding your brain what it needs. Think not just dark green leafy veg (vitamin K, folate, beta carotene…) and berries (flavonoids), or beans and legumes (protein and fibre), but wholegrains (carbohydrates and fibre), and nuts and seeds (fats and protein) – and if you’re omnivorous you can do no better than oily fish (Omega-3s). All of these keep the brain’s blood vessels healthy and help prevent cerebrovascular disorders (such as stroke).

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Exercise for Extra Brainpower A brisk walk in the outdoors or a quick jog round the park doesn’t just benefit your heart health and circulation, the impact strengthening muscles and bones, but such exercise is brilliant for brain health, also. Daily exertion of this kind improves brain oxygenation and function. Meanwhile, a 2013 study published in PLOS One found Tai Chi to be an especially effective regime for brain health, given the need to memorise the sequence of movements.

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Meditate for Mindfulness of Cerebral Matter Meditation, with its long slow breaths and inward gazing, thoughts stilled and silenced, slows the heart rate, which in turn alters the tone of our blood vessels and subsequently reduces blood pressure. This results in better immunity, ameliorated blood sugar levels, and – importantly – an overall improved mood.

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There’s Sense in Some Serious Sleep The benefits of proper shuteye are almost innumerable.

Make sure you’re getting between seven and nine hours each night for full brain-protective effect. Your everyday thoughts, effectiveness of memory, and future cognitive health depend on it. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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Vitamin A in the Fight Against Loss of Smell Our sense of smell is crucial to our sense of wellbeing: nostalgia is a scented affair of the memory, from cookies baking in the childhood kitchen to the perfume of a mother now lost as she tousled her hair with a smile.

There are those of us who cherish the smell of an absolutely new book, fresh from the printer’s; those of us who deeply enjoy nestling our noses into a lover’s neck; and most of us who simply relish walking down a bustling street waiting to be lured in by the wafting scents of diverse culinary concoctions in restaurants and cafés. Even the morning tea or coffee holds a ritual not just of wakefulness, but of smell.

Losing the ability to smell can also affect taste (herbs like deodorant and eggs reminiscent of burnt rubber have been mentioned by sufferers). Nonetheless, apparently adding lemon juice or chilli lessens the odiousness of the situation.

There’s also a new therapy that’s been developed in order to re-educate the olfactory system, according to Yoga Journal: SRT (Smell Retraining Therapy) helps those afflicted with anosmia (loss of smell) through use of four categories of scent, flowery, fruity, spicy, and resinous. The key is to remain patient and to be diligent in one’s practice.

Indeed, the UK charity Fifth Sense suggests smell training can take up to 12 weeks, sniffing at containers of different scents at least twice a day, so as to re-establish the correct neural pathways.

However it stands, one only hopes the trial is a success and that those without a sense of smell post-Covid can be helped to appreciate the beauty of the scent of a flower in time for Summer, or the nostalgic whiff of a log fire by Autumn’s more distant arrival.

So, imagine losing yours. A startling number of people who have had Covid have. Fortunately, as BBC News reported, hope might be held in a drop (or two) of liquid vitamin A. The University of East Anglia began a 12-week trial at the end of last year, testing the scenting abilities of participants with roses and rotten eggs (after all, our sense of smell is there for survival, too; how else to scent a leaky gas pipe or a fire which shouldn’t be burning?). Hooked up so scientists can take brain scans, the images of volunteers’ brains will show whether the vitamin A (or retinol) nasal drops have “repaired injured olfactory pathways or ‘smell nerves’” in the olfactory bulb that is located above the nasal cavity, the nerves joining together there and connecting with the brain.

Retinol (vitamin A) is known to help support the immune system and maintain optimum eyesight and the condition of our skin. A fat-soluble vitamin, it is commonly present in dairy foods.

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• Minimizing stress where possible.

If you feel as though your diet is not allowing you to gain all of the nutrients you need - perhaps you are on a special diet or you don’t like certain food types, then taking a daily vitamin or mineral supplement may bring health benefits.

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for

erhaps never before has immunity been as much a public preoccupation as it has become since Covid’s arrival and lingering presence. Certainly, when the mercury used to plummet we would adopt a few, more practical habits and personal protective measures so as not to spend the entire autumn or winter struck down by cold and/or flu. But, aside from glugging Lemsips (once those had replaced traditional remedies of yore) and carrying a veritable box of tissues with us as we suffered through, immunity was pretty much considered something you either were blessed with or weren’t, and if you weren’t then wry, distinctly British self-mockery would see you through. Not so anymore.

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From the first mad days of the pandemic, shelves cleared of every immune support product possible – from vitamin C to elderberry to Manuka honey – we’ve by and large come to understand that continued good health is not simply about a last-minute miracle cure; rather, it’s about prevention. Although popping a high-strength echinacea tablet or nasturtium-acerola cherry blend might indeed bring you back from the brink of a truly awful cold, it is far better and more effective to nourish our bodies through functional nutrition on an ongoing basis, and strengthen our physiques with exercise carried out with awareness and acceptance of our natural limits.

Certainly, from this WFH window it appears as if Covid and all its multiple variants have resulted in a public utterly obsessed with jogging and hiking and generally seeking wellness from the outdoors. And that’s no bad thing at all. Every cloud…

Yet, speaking of natural limits, one avenue of alternative health that can support this ongoing fight for optimal health lay with adaptogens. A term coined only relatively recently (in 1958,

by Russian toxicologist Nikolai Lazarev), the adaptogen category is described as “naturally occurring substances that help the body adapt” – low and behold – “to stress responses”. Those stress responses can be from myriad causes, of course: physical or mental (the psychological fallout of the pandemic has been no small matter), or even cellular (which in itself can be down to poor nutrition, exposure to chemicals or toxins, and even something as seemingly innocuous as lack of sleep). It is, further, on that cellular

level that adaptogens work, involving both the adrenal glands and hormonal centres in the brain.

What’s more, each cell “worked on” by the adaptogen becomes more resilient and resistant afterwards, sensitivity decreased and future potential negative impact from the same cause(s) lessened also.

As Just Natural Health & Beauty has written before, what’s so amazing about adaptogens (apart from everything described above) is that their “powers” are transferable due to becoming so toughened by the harsh climates in which they naturally grow. Be sure to heed advice that suggests rotating different adaptogens on a circa 6-weekly basis: that way, they’ll remain optimally effective.

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A Little (Adaptogenic) Magic Guide to See You Through 1

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An aid for proper lung function and liver health, schisandra berry helps fight off fatigue through blood sugar stabilization, also.

A stabiliser of blood sugar levels and blood pressure, holy basil (aka tulsi) is incredibly antimicrobial and can help protect against both chemical stress and environmental toxins. It’s thought to improve mood and memory, too.

Schisandra

Holy Basil

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3

Licorice Root Not the sweets…

Licorice is a stress-buster and a brilliant support for the immune system. It’s thought to possibly offer anticarcinogenic properties, too.

Astralagus Root

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Helpful for lowering cholesterol levels, astralagus’ saponin content supports immunity, as well.

Currently of interest in diabetic research, this not-so-humble root is, furthermore, anti-inflammatory.

Who among us has not yet heard of this adaptogenic wonder? A boon for calming the central nervous system and reducing inflammation in the body, ashwagandha is thought to help lessen the symptoms of arthritis and balance the immune system overall. Nice.

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Ashwagandha

We might be in spring, and duly approaching summer, but that means nothing to cold and flu viruses, and so it pays to be prepared (after all, what’s worse than a summer confined to one’s bed?). However, if you’re not keen on trying adaptogens, there are other ways and methods that can provide that extra bit of support in the struggle to stay healthy when you feel as if a cold has already taken hold of your body and will see you under the duvet in no time.

While we’re all aware of the efficacy of an herbal tea or two to bring peace to a throat both sore and prone to a tickly cough (anti-inflammatory nettle tea is particularly good in this respect), apart from a hot bath and an early night we’re never quite sure how to manage the aches and pains of a virus (barring popping over the counter medicine – and that shouldn’t be so).

To this end, medical professionals would have you know a few little tricks of the trade, keeping more of us safely away from doctors’ surgeries with minor ailments that simply require rest and recovery, or for at least a while longer:

1

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Hydrate

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The Power of the Zzzzs

It’s no fallacy that sleep deprivation depresses the immune system (as well as your mood). If you feel a cold coming on, the best thing you can do for your body is to go to bed an hour or two earlier than you normally would in an effort to catch up on that sweet slumber. Improved sleep duration and quality has been shown to bolster antibody production, ameliorate T-cell function, and decrease cortisol levels and inflammation.

Furthermore, sleep quality has been shown to increase diversity of bacteria in the gut microbiome. This is aided by not eating after 8pm, but making that meal one rich in carbohydrates in order to encourage serotonin production. Made of a constituent of protein (tryptophan), serotonin is also found in food products such as poultry and fish (if omnivorous), as well as pulses, avocados, and bananas for those following a plant-based way of life.

Gargle

A warm salt water gargle is know to reduce the pain of a sore throat, reduce swelling and irritation, and clean out any bacteria lingering back there in the, um, mucous. A quarter to half a teaspoon stirred in well to room temperature or warmer water should do the trick; try to gargle for at least 30 seconds.

Avoid caffeine and alcohol and reach directly for the water instead. Water maintains the body’s electrolytes, delivers oxygen to our cells, while removing toxins from the body and optimising lymphatic flow (a key function of a healthy immune system). That’s pretty important and powerful stuff.

4

Zinc it Up

A 2017 study published in JRSM Open found that sucking on a zinc lozenge every 6 hours or so reduced the duration of a cold by blocking the rhinovirus’ (the typical cold virus) ability to replicate. It is thought zinc coats the tongue and prohibits the virus’ ability to target the mucous membranes. So, what are you waiting for?

Get sucking!

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Nourish

Let’s be honest: this list was never not going to include the importance of nutrition in recovering full health, was it? And the go-to foods you’ll need are those both high in fibre and vitamin C – basically, a plant-based menu. In particular, consider citrus fruits your friends (you can even prepare a jug of water with lemon slices to have to hand throughout the day). Otherwise, think antioxidantrich yumminess: kale and broccoli, onions and garlic, sweet potatoes and butternut squash, as well as legumes, of course. At the same time, grains are beneficial for their beta-glucan content: a 2017 report published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences found beta-glucan to be positively connected to immune function. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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On the subject of nourishment, even culinary herbs contain medicinal properties: oregano, for instance, shot off the shelves in the first lockdown due to its antiviral and antibacterial properties.

Aromatic and historically Italian, oregano is also replete with antioxidants and a single teaspoon serving provides around 8% of the RDA of vitamin K. Other secret immunity saviours in the kitchen include the following. So, what are you waiting for? Whip on that apron and get cooking: your health depends on it.

Sage

Rosemary

Most often used in soups and stews, the earthy scent and flavour of sage makes it ideal for comforting dishes on the nostalgic menu of mum and her healing homemade food ways – even in the warmer months.

Medicinally, though, this is another leaf which is good for vitamin K, as well as vitamin B6, iron, calcium, and manganese.

Its antioxidants are also thought to improve memory and general cognitive function.

Pretty magical (and we don’t mean in a burning-a-smudge-stick-to-clean-theenergy kind of way; but then again…).

Thyme

Parsley

A bit of a “marmite” herb, you either love the smell of fresh thyme or you don’t.

That said, once dried and sprinkled over roasted root veg, there are few who would turn their nose up (pun intended) at such a dish. Medicinally, thyme a is a good herb for those looking for added vitamin C and vitamin A, both of which help support immunity. Further, thyme has long been believed to lessen irritating coughs and as a general pick-me-up reminiscent of rosemary.

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Another herb reminiscent of colder climes and months of the year, at the same time rosemary is a Mediterranean herb, versatile enough to top such things as delicious homemade focaccia or even lemon cookies.

High in antioxidants, rosemary is also antimicrobial and reduces inflammation. As an essential oil (i.e. for aromatherapy’s purposes, not an infused extra virgin olive oil), rosemary is believed to lessen feelings of anxiety and generally provide an uplift in mood.

When it comes to plant-based eating, those already on their journey are wellversed in parsley’s powers. Wrongly considered a mere topping for other dishes, parsley should be heartily enjoyed as a valid salad ingredient and as a wilted green. Loaded with vitamins A, C, and K (which is beneficial for the bones), as well as folate and potassium and some iron, parsley is a great antioxidant herb that can be enjoyed both fresh and dry.

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A Microbiomic Mentality: Gut Health, Covid, Cancer, and Stress ur gut microbiome is as individual as our DNA and our digestive system is our second brain. Existing within our gut are trillions of microbes consisting of some 10,000 species.

Ranging from bacteria to yeasts, from fungi to parasites – the precise composition is unique to each person, but our intestines also have the same number of neuroreceptors as our spinal cord. Absorb (for want of a better word, though apt) that information for a moment… So, when we read of the true extent of the brain-gut synchronicity, with clarity we can see why it’s no wonder we start to feel shoddier about ourselves when on an extended period of poor diet (not just because of the bathroom scales): in that scenario, our brain is not receiving the best nutrients it can from our intestines, either through reduced absorptive capabilities or inadequate nutritional intake.

April is Bowel Cancer Awareness month; it is also (perhaps tellingly) Stress Awareness month. The bowel plays a critical function, forming part of the digestive system as a whole. It comprises of the small bowel (small intestine) and large bowel (colon and rectum).

Large bowel (or colorectal) cancer is far more common than small bowel cancer. According to Bowel Cancer UK, it is the fourth most common cancer in Britain and the second biggest cancer killer in this country (after lung cancer). Each year, almost 43,000 people are diagnosed as having it, with 94% of cases in those over the age of 50. However, over 2,600 cases are diagnosed in those much younger each year. In their lifetime, 1 in 15 men will receive a bowel cancer diagnosis; 1 in 18 women will receive the same. If caught early enough, the survival rate is very high, but more than 16,500 people die from this cancer each year.

We many of us, particularly when young, think we are invincible, that such things will never afflict us, but that simply isn’t so. Nor is ignorance bliss. If you’ve noticed any of the following symptoms, you should see your GP. They’re not all unique to bowel cancer, so don’t panic if you do have one or more of them. Other reasons might be piles (haemorrhoids) or an anal fissure, constipation and/or diarrhoea, ulcerative colitis, or diverticular disease. See the NHS’ guidance sheets for further information.

Blood in your stools; bleeding from the anus Persistent change in bowel movements with no obvious cause Unintentional weight loss Extreme fatigue but no obvious cause A lump or pain in the stomach area of the torso NB: Sudden onset of strong pains in the stomach area with bloating and nausea and/or vomiting can be a sign of a blocked bowel or bowel obstruction.

Seek immediate help from A&E. 42

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There are certain risk factors, as with most diseases.

Bowel cancer’s include: Being over the age of 50 A family history of bowel cancer A medical history of non-cancerous growths (polyps) in your bowel Severe and long-standing IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease), e.g. Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis Type-II diabetes Obesity A poor diet and unhealthy lifestyle Despite figures which seem to state the contrary, bowel cancer is far less prevalent than it was only half a century ago, and that’s because the wider public is much better educated in what constitutes a healthy lifestyle and what does not. Nonetheless, 6-7% of bowel cancer cases are directly linked to alcohol consumption and smoking and it is estimated some 54% of bowel cancer cases could have been or could be prevented simply through lifestyle changes. There is still a lot to learn, it seems.

The basics really are just that, however: avoid processed meats, minimise or cut out red meat consumption (though, if you’ve iron deficiency issues, discuss this with your GP beforehand), stay well hydrated (think water, not cola), and make fibre your friend (a plant-based or plant-heavy diet serves this purpose without effort, made up as it is of wholegrains, pulses, and fresh fruit and vegetables). Remember, fibre exists as both insoluble fibre (adding bulk to faecal matter, preventing constipation) and as soluble fibre (water-soluble, a resultant gel-like substance softens stools for passing; soluble fibre also lowers cholesterol).

The bonus? With these methods, weight management shouldn’t need to be too active an endeavour.

Diet & Digestion: A Bacterial Balancing Act Dr Sten Ekberg, previous Olympic decathlete (he represented Sweden in 1992) and now a respected chiropractor and holistic practitioner, discussed gut health and the microbiome recently, noting that it has only been since 2001 that scientists have truly begun to understand and investigate further the role of the microbiome in our overall wellbeing (this epiphany some 60 years after the first antibiotic usage). Whether it is metabolically, digestively, or for immunity, the multi-species ecosystem that is the gut microbiome contains, yes, some 40 trillion bacteria, but the balance of those microbes is critical.

An ideal ratio would be 85% beneficial (or “good”) bacteria to 15% pathogenic (or “bad”), but if we eat a highly processed diet, the scales are going to tip in favour of the pathogenic… So, what to watch out for?

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Sugar

Take a sugar in your tea or two? Always sprinkle those Weetabix with a sneaky serving of the sweet stuff? You’re simply feeding your gut’s bad bacteria. About 99% of gut bacteria are anaerobic (they don’t need oxygen); instead, they get their energy from sugar. Yet, there’s a difference between the sugar good bacteria like and the sugar bad bacteria go for: beneficial bacteria use fibre, while pathogenic bacteria use glucose.

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Gluten

In Latin, gluten literally means “glue”: consider that in relation to the cells of your body before your next meal. An allergen for those with Coeliac disease (and a sensitivity for some 70% of the general population), gluten can be found in around 80% of grains. However, that doesn’t mean you have to swear off a dunk of freshly baked bread in extra virgin olive oil forever more (unless you’re Coeliac; for which there’s glutenfree bread, of course): the rule is, the more fibre within the bread, the more it offets the glucose (from which gluten is derived). To translate, avoid white bread like the poison it is and opt for ancient grains or at very least properly wholegrain versions.

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Fried and Processed Foods

A recent study discovered that in just one week of living on fried and processed foods, participants lost an astonishing 33% of their gut bacteria species. Those are some seriously imbalanced bacterial scales. The problem is that fried and processed foods are full of sugar, lack fibre, and are loaded with preservatives, emulsifiers, chemicals, gluten… Not to mention the poor quality oil they’re heated in. Indeed, on that point another study found that diets high in Omega-6 PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids) were found to adversely affect the gut microbiome. Far better an option is to steam or grill a favourite whole food and then drizzle with cold-pressed flaxseed oil (with its unsurpassable Omega-3:Omega-6 ratio) or organic extra virgin olive oil. Don’t touch with a bargepole sunflower, safflower, soy, or corn oil.

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Alcohol

Sadly, you knew it was coming. Alas, alcohol really isn’t kind to the gut. In fact, it changes it, increasing intestinal permeability, leading to inflammation, oversensitivity, and eventually immunity problems. This is because it kills beneficial bacteria, as well as bad: think about the alcohol-based antibacterial hand sanitisers and soaps wielded like weapons against the pandemic, only for overuse to start drying out and peeling off the skin; now think about your insides…

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Soya

A boon for vegans, nonetheless soya has been found to interfere with and decrease the best bacteria in our gut, lactobacillus and bifidobacterial. However, all hope is not lost: longevity reigns supreme in Asia because it is organic and fermented soya that is consumed (think tempeh and miso). In the West, a lot of alternative products to animal-sourced ones are from TVP (textured vegetable protein), which is highly processed and will eventually damage the gut.

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Dairy

As with soya, fermented is fabulous when it comes to dairy too. Otherwise, steer clear. While raw (unpasteurised) and fermented dairy products such as natural unsweetened yogurt, kefir, aged cheese, and buttermilk are beneficial for the gut microbiome, pasteurised milk products are not. Just the opposite, dairy is a common food sensitivity not just because of the lactose or sugar, but irritational proteins, the effect of which pasteurisation only heightens.

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Artificial Sweeteners

In terms of overall health, not just digestive, you’re better off suffering the consequences of sugar than you are these toxic replacements.

Closely chemically related to pesticides, artificial sweeteners negatively affect the gut entire, altering the microbiomic balance and developing glucose intolerances and increasing rates of metabolic disease. Not such a “splend[id]” idea after all, then… justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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It is thought that by eating approximately 50 different types of food each week, the widest range of microbiota can be not just satisfied, but helped to thrive. And what does a happy gut mean? A happy person (give or take one of life’s troubles or two). Of course, that can seem quite intimidating a number of foodstuffs for a lot of people (“Where do I even start?!). This is why prebiotics and probiotics are important, especially as supplements these days. Prebiotics being the fuel for probiotics, both of these combined serve to maintain gut health equilibrium. Natural, non-digestible carbohydrates (or oligosaccharides), prebiotics are fermented by probiotics and create butyric acid (a fatty acid) in the process.

Essential as the foundational stage of gut function, prebiotics are especially useful for those with Crohn’s disease,

ulcerative colitis, and leaky gut syndrome.

Additionally, by eating seasonally we provide our body with Naturerelevant nutrients, and help the environment as well by reducing carbon footprint – if we're buying local or growing our own produce, rather than electing to consume berries and warmer climate vegetables when there’s a thick frost on the ground (not unheard of in April…). Eating seasonally is better for out gut, also, as most foods are at their optimum consumption quality. Further, a 2017 study of the hunter-gatherer Hadza people in Tanzania discovered a seasonal fluctuation in their gut microbiomic states, wherein the berry-rich wet season uncovered greater diversity of bacteria, as opposed to the meatdense dry season.

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Immunity is some 90% determined by our digestive health, making gut microbiome health critical during the pandemic, but the connection between digestion and cognition is under the lens more frequently at the moment, as well. While psychological impact from Covid continues, MQ Mental Health Research reported at the start of the year that a new study funded by the Wolfson Foundation has looked more closely at the neurological effects of Covid, specifically the “brain fog” lamented

by Long Covid sufferers. “Brain fog” is an umbrella term for slower thought processing, a “fuzzy” memory, and extreme difficulty in concentrating. Some have described it as “an air bubble at the front of [the] head all the time”.

A previous study (the PHOSP COVID study) found around 8% of people still had cognitive impairment after contracting Covid 6 months later, decreasing only to 7% at even 12 months after infection. Indeed, according to the Office for National Statistics, at the close of 2021 over 1.3 million Britons were still living with Long Covid and 28% of them had concentration issues. That’s just the UK: the potential global impact of impairment of people’s mental processing is a huge future problem. Looking at data gathered over 12 months from 2,000 participants with Long Covid, the new Oxford University-led study has set out to understand what mechanisms in our brain cause these issues and what can be done about it, with possible crossover benefit for furthering research into the brain fog symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis sufferers.

What does this have to do with gut health? Well, Covid’s impact on gut microbiome health – and vice versa – is also under scientists’ microscopes, quite literally. Ana Valdes, Professor of Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, wrote for The Conversation recently, explaining that a new Japanese study has extended previous research from Hong Kong and from China and suggested that abundance of a certain type of bacteria – Collinsella – in the gut, together with high levels of ursodeoxycholate (a secondary bile acid), could help protect against severe infections of Covid.

As of February this year, Japan had had 17,612 infections per million people with only 146 deaths per million (as opposed to Peru’s 88,345 infections per million people and 6,067 deaths per million).

In addition to diet and genetic predisposition, geography to a large extent determines the microbes that live in our gut. Already, it has been shown that severe cases of Covid have been most common among those with certain types of bacteria involved in the breaking down and fermentation of sugars, seen also in people with elevated inflammation in the body and a decreased immunitydetermining T regulatory cells.

In the West, Collinsella on its own is often seen in the guts of those whose diets are low in vegetables and whose bodies are suffering inflammation: it is the ursodeoxycholate that Collinsella produces that is important. Primary bile acid is produced in the liver in order to break down fats. Once in the gut, bacteria transform this to various secondary bile acids. Where ursodeoxycholate is unusual is that it prohibits the coronavirus from binding to cells: no binding means no infection. Additionally, ursodeoxycholate is thought to reduce inflammatory response. So, where severe Covid causes a cytokine storm in the body, ursodeoxycholate protects against that excessive immune response. Already prescribed as a drug for those with certain liver diseases, it is hoped ursodeoxycholate could be used to lessen Covid’s severity. Clinical studies will be required, but the hope is palpable.

Although Collinsella seems to be a determining factor in ursodeoxycholate levels, gut microbes aren’t the sole influence: the levels of primary bile acid from the liver and people’s diets matter, too.

Uncanny how Spoonshot predicted gut health becoming equivalent (and supporting) respiratory health in 2022… But there you have it. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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To return to the psychology of it all, though, Just Natural Health & Beauty wrote this time last year on Harvard Health Publishing’s report on the two-way affective link between our brain and our GIT (gastrointestinal tract): if our GIT is compromised, our mental health suffers also, exhibiting in anxiety and depression. Luckily, repair of our digestive health isn’t too difficult for most people, involving mostly an amelioration of diet and a calming of external stress factors, as well as better sleep patterns. However, it is slightly more complicated for those with autoimmune inflammatory response diseases, such as IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and ulcerative colitis.

Interestingly, it has been found that most of these people have previously suffered sleep disorders. One study published in the Expert Review of Immunology a decade ago was already looking at the potential cause and effect of sleep disorders and imbalanced circadian rhythms on IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease), under which term ulcerative colitis and also Crohn’s disease fall. Sleep instigating melatonin production and our GIT having veritable “clock genes”, more recently circadian rhythms were once again in the press as implicated in the development or otherwise of Alzheimer’s.

Sleep, then, is crucial; our own little god-within-body.

And the reason lies within our brain, specifically the suprachiasmatic nucleus at its centre. Sun-governed master of our “body clock”, this rice grain-sized nucleus in the hypothalamus knows when we try to cheat it, skimping on adequate sleep during the week to cover deadlines and still maintain a social life (even in Covid times) and then lie in luxuriously at the weekends: all that does is skew our physiological timekeeper further and increase the likelihood of mood disorders and insomnia. To be blunt: we all need to get some sleep.

These are anxious times as it is and our modern habits serve only to fuel our ill health.

Yet, despite knowing this, according to the Sleep Council 74% of us get less than 7 hours’ sleep each night. Due to our brain lymphatics, what sleep we do get should definitely be between 10pm and 2am, the glial cells in our brain shrinking during these hours and fluid flushing through at an incredible 20 times the normal rate of flow. What that means in practical everyday terms is that our long-term memory improves, stored up with lots of new and lovely short-term memories as well.

How to reduce stress, though? Well, researchers regularly recommend, erm, regular exercise to keep cortisol levels minimal and gut health optimal. The APA (American Psychological Association) has found that stress can lead to acid reflux and/or heartburn, which if left untreated can sometimes cause the oesophagus to spasm. It can also increase bloating and nausea episodes and lead to “stress eating”, as stress can alter the time it takes for us to digest, either speeding it up or slowing it down, thus affecting our bowel habits, also. And stress can even affect our intestinal lining, allowing pathogenic bacteria to slip through, resulting in IBD and IBS. Therefore, it’s pretty obvious we need to mind our stress levels. But – again – how?

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Graze Reduce portion sizes and eat more frequent, smaller meals.

Mindfully Meditate Studies have shown a reduction in gut issues in those who take at least 10 minutes for mindful meditation daily.

Take a Breath Break Every few hours, breathe slowly and deeply with purpose for a minute or two.

Learn to Say No You don’t have to be a yes person; if you can’t manage with any more responsibilities, be honest.

Enjoy Exercise Just 15 minutes each day has been shown to help reduce stress levels, whatever the workout (plus, it will help you sleep: win-win).

A Superfood Summer, Ethically “Superfood”: a word so overused it makes many of us groan. Cynically believing the term to be just another clever marketing ploy, those of us who utter groans of frustration at the inclusion of the word in conversations with friends most likely determinedly wave a dismissive hand and close any discussion that cares to promote such things. But, truth is, many “mainstream” foods are just as worthy of superfood status. Exceptionally nutrient-rich wholefoods that are mostly consumed raw, what makes them so beneficial to our health is the bioavailability of what they contain, oftentimes anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, detoxifying and immunosupportive and energy promoting – a superfood is a food which makes us feel, well, pretty super.

From nuts and seeds to humdrumseeming broccoli and kale, as well as those widely lauded berries (the Hollywood starlets of the fruit world) – generally, fruits and vegetables offer awesome beneficial properties for our overall wellbeing. However, when it comes to the more exotic (and more expensive) superfoods, the question of ethics these days is a valid one, not just in terms of environmental cost in harvesting and exporting/importing (pandemic problems with such aside), but as pertains to cultural appropriation (a valid concern in the twenty-first century, and a debate which concerned yoga in the West not too long ago, as well).

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Food Facts: Fonio

For instance, cacao is commonplace in shops today (“duh”, we hear you guffaw): from grocery stores to cafés worldwide, its history was nonetheless located in Mesoamerica, specifically Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Originally harvested in approximately 1900 BCE, the ancient Mayans believed it heaven-sent by the feathered serpent god, Kukulkan. The beans were used as currency and victorious soldiers were honoured with it. Now, we know that its popularity is fundamentally due to the anandamide it contains, a neurotransmitter also referred to as the “bliss molecule”: it reduces fear and anxiety and offers a momentary euphoric feeling.

However, these days – because we like our chocolate bars cheap and readily available; because of the state of the Amazon rainforest now – 75% of global cocoa production happens in West Africa (Ghana, Cameroon, and Côte D’Ivoire).

And the forests there are suffering too.

Indeed, in the last half century, 80% of forests on the Côte D’Ivoire have been lost to cocoa farming. But it’s the human cost which rises up cobra-like to strike at our hunger that matters: the cocoa industry might be a lucrative one, but farmers themselves are often subsisting on under £1 per day. While buying chocolate aligned with the Rainforest Alliance helps to replant the forests, ensuring your cocoa is only Fairtrade helps to make sure the labour that brings such a delicacy to your household is paid for, well, fairly.

Fonio: never heard of it? Well, that soon will change. A protein-rich grain (one might even say “supergrain”), fonio is being lauded as the next big thing in skin, sleep, and gut health. Intrigued?

Read on.

For those who like their grains less carbohydrate dense and more protein providing, fonio joins the ranks of farro, barley, and quinoa. A naturally glutenfree grain that has been harvested in West Africa for thousands of years, fonio has been compared to millet, while its nutty taste and earthy texture is said to be similar to cornmeal.

The Dogon people of Mali deemed it “the grain at the root of all existence” and it has even been found in tombs in the pyramids of Egypt.

Some powerful historic marketing. But why is it so revered?

Well, as a wholegrain, it is beneficial for the cardiovascular system and also provides fibre (far better a portion of fonio than white rice or couscous). Rich in iron, zinc, B vitamins, and the amino acids methionine and cysteine, fonio supports healthy growth and repair of tissues, while its magnesium content aids sleep cycle maintenance.

Sounds good to us – and who can argue with the wisdom of the Ancient Egyptians?

What, then, of açai? Remember when those dark purple berries became the latest craze? You still can’t go too far without coming across an açai-inclusive smoothie bowl or two (notably on photoheavy social media platforms), but should we really have appropriated this native species of the Amazon into the West? Their distinctive purple hue come the compound anthocyanin, açai berries are powerpacked with fibre, calcium, even healthy fats. And they’re deemed a superfood as they’re thought to be anticarcinogenic and help lower bad cholesterol. Furthermore, studies have shown their antioxidant properties can assist in bettering postexercise muscle recovery. Nonetheless, their original consumers were Brazil’s Ribeirinhos (or “river people”), the berries most accessible to them and western tastes for açai threaten local biodiversity as more wild forest is cultivated for açai production in homogenising fashion. As with cacao, buying only from those companies aligned with forest conservation is one way to ameliorate the state of affairs somewhat, but the essential question remains: do we really need these berries in our diet? After all, in this era of critical climate warnings, what of the logic of eating seasonally and locally..?

The colonialist-begun mentality of “universal entitlement” needs to stop.

If these products are harming local people through alteration of the natural environment and unfair and oftentimes dangerous working conditions, it goes without saying that it is unethical to be deriving pleasure from such things. Of course, this notion could be compared to vegans’ perspective on eating animalsourced foods. On which point, it is worth including – for the sake of a balanced presentation on the topic – informative mention of non-plant-based “superfoods”, also.

Biodynamic regenerative farmers will assert that, in addition to healing the soil, their organic and holistic farming practices provide not just top-quality muscle flesh from their grass-fed free-range animals, but prime offal, too. And liver is one such organ considered to offer superfood benefits.

Within a 100g portion, you’ll find 3,460% of the RDA of vitamin B12, vital for red blood cell formation, healthy brain function, and our very DNA. You’ll also find up to 1,100% of the RDA of vitamin A – as written previously in this issue, vitamin A is in the spotlight at the moment in its possible assistance in recovery of smell post-Covid infection. There’s also around 260% of the RDA of riboflavin (vitamin B2), 65% of the RDA of folate (vitamin B9), and 80% of the RDA of iron, as well as 1,620% of the RDA of copper (crucial for activation of numerous enzymes and regulation of energy production).

Liver, though, was once a valued indigenous community foodstuff, reserved for chiefs and women and children. West Nile tribes discovered by one Dr Weston Price in the 1930s (such as the Nuer people of Sudan) apparently had amazing dental health and were of impressive stature – and they deemed liver sacred, never held in the hand, but eaten raw or cooked on a spear, sabre, or forked stick.

This is because it was believed the soul of a person lives in the liver and can be best fortified with the livers of other animals. Similarly, the

children of Comanche Native American Indians are said to have run up to returned hunters and begged for the raw liver from a freshly killed animal.

However, raw liver out of a fresh carcass aside, the very thought of shop-bought offal makes a fair few people squeamish. A term which encompasses not only liver, but also the tongue, heart, kidneys, and other such parts of an animal, when “superfood” is applied to offal, it is – like plant-based superfoods – in respect of the nutrient density.

By eating offal from only organic, grass-fed animals, you can be sure it is “clean” offal. Additionally, offal is affordable due to diminished popularity, and it is by-and-large a lean protein that leaves a person feeling fuller for longer (meaning less likelihood of fatty/sugary snacking after a meal). Importantly, though, offal consumption fulfils “nose-to-tail” eating, the wholecarcass philosophy of ethical omnivorism which doesn’t waste an animal’s life just for a prime cut of muscle meat.

An interesting comparative point to bear in mind, at least, as we step forward into summery salad day plans…

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Jackfruit Snapshot For those who are plant-based, jackfruit is a boon. A delightfully palatable alternative to meat, these days Artocarpus heterophyllus (jackfruit’s official name) permits vegans and plant-based experimenters alike the “fleshy texture” of meat products which they might miss. Able to grow up to 40kg, a fourteenth-century traveller once compared its large size to “a lamb and a three-year-old child” (in fact, the Bengali word for jackfruit means “tree mutton”).

However, it really isn’t a new thing: in South Asia, jackfruit has been a staple foodstuff for quite literally centuries. And, according to JSTOR, British imperialists fed it to those they enslaved and had labour for them, as it was “cheap nutrition”. They even cultivated it in the Caribbean for this purpose. Makes that mock pulled pork roll slightly less palatable, doesn’t it?

Nevertheless, today’s researchers have found that jackfruit it beneficial not just as a meat substitute (low and behold), but holistically too, its leaves and bark able to be utilised for “traditional medicines” as an anticarcinogenic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antifungal. Redemption from its tainted history?

Perhaps.

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Why Not to Overlook Okra Okra is one of those vegetables which divides opinion: you either love it or hate it. However, it could be that you just don’t particularly enjoy it when it’s cooked in such a way as to be too “slimy”.

It’s certainly worth giving these green “ladies’ fingers” the benefit of the doubt, though, due to the quite simply brilliant health properties they offer.

Another cultural appropriation, they were originally grown in Ethiopia and Egypt, before okra cultivation spread through North Africa and the Middle East and found its way to North America with settlers and slaves.

Fibre-rich, okra are a boon for the gut: with 3g of fibre per cup, it is actually the slimy or slippery texture of okra that helps our intestinal lining most.

Further, that fibre isn’t fermentable or FODMAPs fibre, and so okra are suitable for those with IBS and similar digestive issues. That same cupful will provide almost an entire day’s worth (RDA) of vitamin A, necessary for both our immune system entire and our ocular health, as well as roughly 23mg vitamin C and about 82mg of calcium.

With a variety of cooking methods, culturally determined, out there and with knowledge of just how good okra are for us, it’s no waste of time to turn to a recipe book and find the perfect style of okra for you. Who knows, you might even come to like that slightly different slippery texture…

Beauty is a Beast: Curbing the Cruel History of the Cosmetic Industry he beauty industry: once a vivisection-pitted horror of a minefield for ethical and eco- conscious consumers; now, a vibrant marketplace offering almost too much choice. From cruelty-free vegan cosmetics to plastic-free and zero waste products – the sector has had a veritable makeover.

However, is it for the sake of the animals and the planet (all those chemicals!), or in order to stay current in a world which no longer brooks the (vegan) wool being pulled over its line of sight? Let’s take “no rinse” shampoos and conditioners, specifically – what with Plastic-Free Beauty Day coming up on the 17th June – Garnier’s 2021-released No Rinse Conditioner, which comes in a cardboardintegrated tube. Although it claims to save some “100 litres of water per tube” and offer a 92% smaller carbon footprint than “wash-out” products (with 63% of those products’ carbon footprint solely water use) – and although Garnier is progressing from being almost as bad as its sister company L’Oréal in the plastic pollution stakes (L’Oréal using 140,000 tonnes of plastic in 2018 alone) – is there anything really new and especially “green” about the “no rinse” concept?

In short, no. It is joining in with other industry “greenwashing” (a term in this case which is, you know, ironic). Why? Because the company is still selling the less sustainable “wash-out” products, 52

most of which are made from between 60% to 85% water to begin with. Makes water wastage in almond milk production seem almost tame, doesn’t it?

Garnier might have pledged “carbon neutrality and the creation of an effective water recycling loop system by 2030”, but like countries’ promises for Net Zero, proof of the truthfulness of the matter only time will tell. Furthermore, “No rinse” products normally use stearamidopropyl dimethylamine for a soft, no-water-needed and little build-up result, instead of washout products’ quaternary ammonium compounds (e.g. behentrimonium chloride), which are antistatic, antibacterial, and need water to wash them out after use. Neither sound particularly “natural”, do they? Well, there are those who are starting to argue that, instead of going to Nature and using up the planet’s natural resources, disrupting the lives of wild animals and other kingdoms of species – they’re arguing that synthetic innovation is actually a more sustainable option.

Sounds quite similar to the reasoning behind cellular agriculture, doesn’t it?

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Indeed, innovation-wise but branching out into the VMS sector or “ingestible beauty”, Personal Care Insights recently wrote on the new biomimetic vegan collagen that’s been laboratory-developed and due for release this year. VeCollal is said to offer an “identical to human type 1 collagen” amino acid profile that effectively stimulates collagen production naturally in the body. Human collagen consisting of a triple helix structure, mimicking that structure is a precise exercise.

This latest innovation was inspired by research showing that ingestion of collagen peptides from animal sources promotes collagen production in our bodies, but lacks certain amino acids like L-tryptophan.

The company’s principles being “supported by over 50 reference […] and clinical studies”, VeCollal hopes its “beauty-from-within” powder (created by fermentation processing of its plant sources) will be well-received in the current environmentally and ethically aware climate.

Certainly, the cosmetics industry has been cleaning up its act in recent years, with “clean beauty” the order of the globally warmed day. Humans are never going to become immortal; ageing is ever going to be a battle to be fought (or accepted, depending on your point of view). And beauty products help us believe we’re winning that battle. Interestingly, The Times reported back in December that scientists at Liverpool University were due to send lab-grown human muscle cells into space in order to better understand the ageing process. Launched on a Space X Falcon 9 rocket to the ISS (International Space Station), the MicroAge Mission aims to explore the reason behind muscle wasting as we age, looking comparatively at why astronauts lost muscle strength after prolonged weightlessness.

The study, funded by the UK Space Agency, follows on from that of Nottingham and Exeter researchers, who sent worms into space in 2020 for the same purpose.

Legless, self-regenerating bugs in outer space aside – “clean beauty” can’t actually be legally defined as yet. According to cosmetic scientist and formulator Perry Romanowski, it is clever marketing, clamouring for the attention of the morally activated part of consumers’ brains. This isn’t for want of trying, though: in 2019, the Natural Cosmetics Act was introduced to the House of Representatives in the US, aiming to ensure the label “natural” or “naturally derived” could only be used by products with 70% or more natural ingredients; the bill has still not been passed and it didn’t cover terms such as “green” or “clean”.

Additionally, such a bill would remove any hope of small start-up brands vying for contention with the major players. Although start-ups tend to begin with eco-friendly packaging and ingredients, given the type of market they’re now launching in, big name brands have the financial muscle to seem like they are going further, better, when in fact they’re playing catch-up.

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Essentially, “clean beauty” means “non-toxic” (oh, goody). That often means a “clean beauty” product won’t use petroleum sources, parabens, or sodium lauryl sulphate. However, toxicity is a subjective matter, as sensitivity varies from person to person: what consumer A can thickly lavish on their skin post shower will bring consumer B out in hives. When it comes to “green”, that can normally be translated as “plant-based”, but Harper Bazaar’s “Ultimate Guide to Clean Beauty” set out that it “should mean that the product does no harm to the environment”, such as “reef-safe” sun creams (soon to be a relevant topic of discussion in usually chilly old Britain).

Otherwise, “sustainable” should adhere strictly to the preservation of an “ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources”.

There’s even the SBC (Sustainable Beauty Coalition) in existence today.

But, as we’re living in the present of potential global doom, there’s ever the wonder as to whether any of this makes any difference. After all, L'Oréal pledged to “only use refillable, rechargeable, recyclable, or compostable packaging by 2025”: now well into 2022, a substantial number of products are still using virgin plastic. Certification, however, can provide assurance – and reassurance – for consumers. B-Corp certification can be found on The Body Shop products, for example: one of the most difficult sustainability certifications to obtain, B-Corp requires that brands it certifies “meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability”. There you have it: rigorous wording, indeed.

Equally tough to attain is The Vegan Society Trademark. Products must be 100% free from any animal products and brands must provide “evidence of the ingredients used, how they are manufactured, where they are manufactured, and how they are tested”. Although a UK-founded charity in the early twentieth-century – our nation tends to get forwardthinking on these ethical matters; we’d refer you to the Suffragette movement – Britain might soon cease to be a world leader on animal testing laws.

Concern over animal testing began with Queen Victoria: her majesty was horrified by “practices that involved injecting, operating on, and force-feeding animals in the name of scientific [medical] progress”.

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Yet nought was done about it for almost a century, and animal testing for cosmetic purposes didn’t come into practice until after the Queen’s death (in the States, the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act mandating it after the horrific Lash Lure mascara blinding case). In fact, it wasn’t until 1998 that the EU duly banned animal testing for cosmetic purposes; now, however, that ban is under threat.

The ECHA (European Chemicals Agency) implemented regulation REACH (the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals) requires some animal testing to be undertaken for certain substances in the manufacturing process, including cosmetic ingredients. Since Brexit, Britain has been considering its own version of REACH.

testing on to computational biology (where existing data is used to model the reactions of new drugs and chemicals). The US’s EPA (Environment Protection Agency) has announced its intention to phase out animal testing entirely by 2035 because of these advancements, as stated by the EPA’s former Administrator, Andrew Wheeler.

So, in an age when a teen vegan activist such as Greta Thunberg is photographed by conservationist Alexandrov Klum so as to adorn the cover of Vogue Scandinavia, discussing sustainability and environmentalism during her interview for the fashion magazine (deploring that industry’s key role in “accelerating climate change”) – it is clear that change is very much on the horizon. Question is, have the cosmetic giants received the memo?

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Of course, animal testing has continued beyond our shores in certain other countries (though Mexico recently became the first country in the Americas to ban it entirely), and it is a practice that predated even Queen Victoria’s time – but the Ancient Greeks did it on medical grounds. According to the Humane Society International, approximately half a million animals still die annually for the purposes of cosmetic testing, species including mice and rats, rabbits and guinea pigs.

But this doesn’t have to continue.

There are now alternatives, permitted by advancements in science, from growing human cells in a lab for

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Skincare from the Garden

When you stop to consider the amount of time it takes to fully read ingredients lists on the labels of skincare and cosmetics products (let alone understand everything that’s printed on them) – the notion of growing one’s own skincare seems a pretty idyllic option, doesn’t it? Well, if done right – and accepting that, by its very “natural” nature, it is preservative-free and therefore needs to be used up more speedily – your skin will probably express its gratitude with a glowing resemblance of dewy youthfulness. Fresh from the garden takes on a whole new meaning.

Indeed, “skincare gardening” is a trending activity. By growing herbs, harvesting them, mixing them with oils and other ingredients, you end up with nourishment for the largest organ of the body, achieved by your own personal graft and craft. It’s no wonder skincare gardening provides

a mental health boost as well (though gardening in general – reconnecting with Nature – offers that, too). Of course, one also saves a few pennies and pounds…

In 2015, a study published in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology noted that plant keeping inside the home promotes a reduction in “both psychological and physiological stress”, while researchers at Bristol University have found outdoor gardening, coming into contact with bacteria in the soil, results in an effect on the brain similar to taking antidepressants. Nice.

You’ll need airtight containers for storing the finished product, but what you’ll be using before that point will be pots, gloves, shovels, shears (sharp scissors will suffice in most instances, though), as well as potting soil and compost fertiliser. Then, you need to decide what to grow…

aC lendula

Laev nder

oR semary

Leom n Balm

Pepermint

Jasmine

Eucalyptus

h C amolim e

– soothes damaged skin and acts as an anti-inffammatory.

– uplifting, cooling, and beautifully scented to boot.

– for calm and reduction of stress and anxiety.

– for peace and a sense of tranquillity.

– for relaxation, but antibacterial restoration, too.

– for respiratory health and a clear mind.

– an alternative to lavender for calm and a brain-booster, too.

– reduces blemishes and redness and smells sweet.

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Peace and the Gardening Art

One hobby that really took root during the pandemic was gardening and Grow Your Own. It could very well have been as a result of fears over supply chain issues and worry as to whether we’d ever be set free from our domestic shackles again, and yet the trend has continued even in these post-new normal days. No bad thing at all, really. Yet, there could be a deeper undercurrent to our greenfingered leaning pastime.

Olivia Laing’s recent Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency questioned art and activism in relation to humans’ never-ending search for the meaning of existence, in all its guises. Part of that discussion mused over whether gardening can be seen as an art and, if so, whether it is – like other art often is – a form of resistance. Though we might have been cast from Paradise, that does not mean we cannot craft a new oasis for the society of today. And that society became one separate from the rapidity of social media for a considerable while – despite the boon that digital technologies were during the lockdowns, enabling us to stay in touch with loved ones.

Rather, life adapted to a slower rhythm; we began to nurture plantlike patience and keenly look for signs of growth (signs of hope, one supposes now). Similarly, we became acquainted with life and death on a more intimate, floral level, mortality not something that can be resisted; a fact utterly impossible to ignore at that time. Thus, the art of living could be seen to be – and still can – in order to imbue days of existence with beauty, and with peace.

Time has sped up once more, of course, despite the hibernal season and lingering concern over Covid variants. Yet, we mustn’t forget the artistry of gardening nurtured while we waited out the viral storm. After all, the planet itself taken as a whole is the human race’s remnant Eden.

Every effort to safeguard its verdancy and environmental health counts, even on the backyard scale; even if all you’re promoting are insects instead of plants. To this end, be sure to pay heed to it being National Children’s Gardening week from May 28th to June 5th and then National Gardening Week (you know, for us adults) from June 5th to 11th.

“The gardener digs in another time, without past or future, beginning or end…”

- David Jarman

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“The sight of sky and things growing are fundamental needs, common to all men.”

- Octavia Hill

Indeed, we might not directly be able to speed to the aid of polar bears, but in our gardens and on allotments and in urban parks, rather than coiffing plant-life and giving it a false and manicured style, that wild look is what our surroundings need more of. Certainly, local councils have seen the potential of roadside verges, returning them to wildflowering for bugs and bees. Closer to home, however, get your garden all a-buzz with old herbal favourites such as marjoram and mint, thyme and chives, for a scented wonderland with ease, and power pollination’s purposes (they can even be used culinarily, too).

Of course, sometimes there can be too many insects (especially as we go further into spring from out the quiet-but-purposeful chill of winter). To that end, you might want to look at planting to feed butterfly caterpillars, installing into the soil such plants as trefoil and lady’s smock. Additionally, leave off mowing the lawn for a while. Instead, let the flowers-referred-to-asweeds prosper for a brief spell: buttercups and daisies, dandelions and clover, all these promote insect life and look more natural, also. And when you finally do come to mow, given that added height of cuttings and (though it goes without saying) your not using any pesticides whatsoever, add the detritus to the compost heap and rest assured that springtails and tardigrades, millipedes and woodlice will relish it (rather than perish from it).

What humans relish, though, is being in Nature; we possess an innate ecopsychology. Multiple scientific studies support this, with one showing that only 15 minutes out of doors in a countryside setting improves concentration and overall sense of wellbeing. Even being able to simply see trees stands us in better mental health stead than someone who can only view a building or two in the city – however architecturally awe-inspiring they might be. Nonetheless, a visual of a perfect lawn, no wildflowers in sight, and the taint of mankind’s taming is less beneficial than the freedom of a field in full cornflower bloom and birds singing as they loop overhead (we’re not looking ahead to the height of summer, at all…).

Biodiversity is not merely a concept for future farming.

That freedom also includes being in that landscape, appropriating myriad microbes for a stronger immune system and overall microbiome, skin- and gut-wise. To reiterate, we are part of the planet on which we live and, with a little care and attention, the environment in which we can so much more easily not just survive, but positively thrive. That is the resistant art of “gardening” today. justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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Philosophising Our Way to Wellness: Environmental Spiritualism & the All

“Nutrients are recycled throughout nature, throughout millennia, this is the essence of life, life is a beautifully complex selforganising combination of elements that come from stardust and will eventually return to the cosmos.”

- Jane Cull

The volition to do good by the planet is an honest one not nurtured on a whim. It takes a true, heartfelt self-questioning to reach the point where, after considerable hours of contemplation, we set ourselves the task of amending our ways for the benefit of the greater good; not necessarily because we want to, but because we must. After all, an individual’s impact multiplied by billions of other individuals’ impacts becomes a veritable human movement, a species-driven shift to save the Earth before it’s too late.

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The debates rage on, but there is not as yet a panacea lifestyle prescription that encompasses suiting everyone (including medically) with ameliorating the state of the environment and adhering to ethical consideration of all sentient non-human animals. So it is that there can be voiced questions such as the seemingly ridiculous “Is bone broth vegan?”, contemplating (a) how vegans assert we must eat the plants for their nutritional benefits directly, rather than as processed through animals and, also, (b) the interconnectedness of life

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and how a vegan diet still results in the deaths of small animals and insects in fields ploughed (and chemically treated if the farm is nonorganic; or fertilised with bone meal if the farm is biodynamically managed – very few use seaweed – in which case why not sip on bone broth directly?).

Points of view are thus myriad and all is cyclical, an endless rolling wheel of birth, and life, and death. Yet, as planets orbit the sun, so Mankind has come to believe that everything else revolves around itself. How very wrong we are.

Musing on this oneness of existence, it’s not too far a step to considering not just our corporeal body within the grand cosmic scheme of things (cosmic skeptic Youtuber, Alex J. O’Connor’s ethics videos aside), but our consciousness too. Indeed, that is Yoga’s essential purpose – a veritable yoking of the mind, the monkey chatter (Yogas chitta vritti nirodha, as Pantanjali put it), bringing our thoughts into stillness, into equilibrium: into alignment with the All. The very chant of Om (or Aum) is a voicing to that unity. Or, at the very least, that is the aim.

Cosmic Prana (or Mahaprana) is the essential life energy of everything in the universe. Mahaprana is present in both sentient and insentient beings, infusing all life with the spark of existence – from the ocean’s body of water to the creatures within it that call it home, to the rainbow spectrum of coloured light that filters through to the ground beneath our feet and the vibrational energy of being that trembles even within a stone. According to yogic thinking, humans have five coexistent levels of energy: the koshas (or “sheaths”, or bodies). Prana pervades them all, interconnects them all – as it does all of us and everything.

Annamaya kosha (the physical or food body) We depend on food and water (and air) for life, given us by prana.

This is the reality of the Annamaya kosha.

Manomaya kosha (the mental body) A subtle body, Manomaya kosha is the messenger between Annamaya and Pranamaya koshas, conveying sensations and experiences from the external environment to the internal.

Pranamaya kosha (the pranic body)

Vijnanamaya kosha (the astral or psychic body)

In combination with Annamaya kosha, Pranamaya kosha constitutes the basic human structure: Atmapuri (or “city of the soul”).

The second of the three subtle bodies, Vijnanmaya kosha permits intuition and comprehension of the reality of situations, rather than reacting without thought and manifesting illusions of false understanding (assumptions can be dangerous things, after all…).

Anadamaya kosha (the blissful body) The transcendental subtle body, Anandamaya kosha cannot be defined, it is said (only sagely experienced).

Fundamentally, this awakening to the whole is not just a yogic practice wherein meditation in asanas and seated mindfulness permits us to see beauty in a life that challenges us often (sadly, frequently with circumstances dire and beyond our control), but a practice that is taking place in the recent mass awakening to climate change. The environmental issue – the planet-wide problem of global warming and its effects on the future – have brought human into dialogue with human, and a noticeable praxis is ensuing.

It goes without saying that the pandemic hit the reset button on the old day-to-day way of things. However, what it also did was open our minds to a return to a Nature-based way of living, reminiscent of traditional indigenous spiritual practices and Wordsworthian awe (perhaps with a lesser

outpouring of words, though). Only being allowed out once in a 24-hour period for exercise and mental wellbeing certainly shifted something in our psyches, nonetheless: where we could no longer take comfort in the company of others, we sought connection with the outdoors, communing not with friends and strangers alike in courtesy, but sensing we belonged to a secret rhythm shared with other creatures, too (not to the extent of some Snow White psychological complex, but you get our meaning…). Even trees seemed to hum with a vibration to which the very blood in our veins thrummed along with in time – one can indeed see sense in the wonder of scientists at the mycelium “highways” that thread the Earth beneath the surface (and also find uncannily appropriate the Na’vi content of James Cameron’s Avatar…). justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty

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In short, the flame of a rediscovered environmental spiritualism has begun burning again. It is how most of us were able to stay sane throughout the lockdowns: if part of a grand design, what real suffering in a little hardship and loss of freedom for a while?

The sensation, though, is nothing new. Boccaccio’s Decameronian principles for survival aside, explorers back in the 17th century would discover the sublime in the wild, ignoring the inherited perception of a remnant evil in those untamed spaces, still seeping out from the broken paradise of the Garden of Eden.

Yet, it wasn’t really until Henry David Thoreau in the 19th century, with his Eastern influences, spiritualised in a western sense immersion in Nature. The Church was transcended for a divinity communicable not at an altar of bricks and mortar – something indigenous cultures never forgot.

However, Nature can be honoured even at home, in green-fingered manner: in that lovingly tended balcony garden, in those humble window box herbs, and – yes – in that quintessential English cottage garden with its intricately plotted out vegetable patch and beans strung upon the lattice, ornamental plants interspersed around the edges and in between for variance and promotion of wildlife. A green spirituality, then, is what is thriving today. It is as if chlorophyll, like some magic speck of dust, has like the Snow Queen’s icy flake to an innocent’s eye penetrated our blood with its verdancy and reawakened our sensory connection to the planet.

Or something like that.

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To return to yogic practice, if we think of the salutation cycles – one to the sun and one to the moon – they too are cosmically focussed on totality of self in unity with all. And the asanas themselves are often inspired by other species (e.g. camel, tortoise, dolphin). But when it comes to meditation, according to the principles of Kripalu Yoga, there are certain practices which specifically align with our wishes for the future of this planet, living each day mindfully, with compassion and with respect. The key is to think elementally:

Air Meditation When you’re pottering outdoors with those beloved plants, or when you’re simply engaging in some forest-bathing, breathe deeply.

By simply inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide, you are feeding the floral life around you, assisting the natural process that is photosynthesis.

By also doing this consciously, with intent, your active meditation becomes a practical endeavour of reunion with the natural ecosystem humans belong to.

If you want to take air meditation even further, you might care to employ Three-Part Breath (or Dirgha pranayama). Stand or sit with an elongated spine, remaining relaxed, and breathe deeply into first the stomach area, before the ribcage, and then the upper chest to the collarbones. Exhale similarly in a three-part manner, from collarbones to stomach.

Earth Meditation Get your hiking boots on and connect those (protected) soles to the soil. Although it’s lovely in the summer to walk barefoot on a sandy beach for such meditative practice, in the wet and windy winters of Grand Bretagne the satisfying squelch of mud beneath a wellington boot can evoke similar joyful calm. Focus on the rhythm of your gait and listen to the sounds of the outdoors as you journey without destination or time parameters (ideally).

You might also like, on crisply dry wintry days, to shift your yoga practice itself to outside, placing a blanket on the ground for comfort and some protection (though the Scandis have it right, perhaps, with their yoga gloves and socks for grip and heat-retention).

Either which way, touch from palm or foot to the earth is what you’re looking for in re-bonding with this beautiful planet of ours.

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Fire Meditation Few of us won’t have looked into the dancing flames of a fireplace in use and not been calmed to the point of mesmerisation by the rhythm and subtle hissing-crackling white noise of the burning process of the wood being consumed. We have arguably inherited the ability to be hypnotised by fire from our ancestors, who would sit around a fire for heat and survival every night. Indeed, if you stare long enough into the flames, you can tumble into a trance of sorts. And this is where fire meditation comes into effect.

Tratak, or gazing meditation, can employ any object (whether it be the ocean, an ancient tree, a simple cloud that catches the eye). The point is to look at the object intently in order to tumble into meditation. Candle meditation is a minimised form of fire gazing. Ensure you’re warm if employing only a candle (whereas a log fire might give sufficient heat, candle gazing will need a warm blanket around the shoulders for enveloping comfort). Then, turn out all the lights and gently settle your gaze on the flame. It has been shown that when we focus on a flickering flame, we leave the beta brainwave stage (alert thought processing) and shift instead to an alpha brainwave state (relaxed creativity), before shifting again to theta brainwaves (intuition and a meditative state). It is when theta brainwaves occur that we become more receptive, or open-minded; it is when amazing ideas can form…

Water Meditation Similar to flame, the kinetic energy of a body of water provides focus for meditation, also. We might not all have nearby access to rivers, streams, brooks, or – erm – waterfalls, but whichever liquid form it takes (ice might not have the same effect, however little of it is left even in the North), the flow and the sound of that constant energy draws us in, connecting to our very liquid selves, too.

Ukeireru:

The Art of Acceptance It is all too easy to simply react. How many of us raise our voice when someone does something that displeases us, if only in passing?

Who among us lets their thoughts whirl to the worst conclusion before an event has even fully unfolded?

Instead, by practicing the art of ukeireru (a Japanese term for “acceptance”, i.e. of people and the things around us), we remain more balanced in our emotions, more rooted to the multisided reality of each situation. Certainly, it is a calmer, more peaceful way of being – something many if not all of us could use more of.

Who we are and our very “place” in the world is an interdependent matter: we might each of us be unique, but we are not unique in our uniqueness; nor are we alone.

There is no true aloneness in the Earth’s ecosystem, from microbe to

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humans and beyond. Life is, rather, about relationships: with our family, with our friends, with strangers, with communities local and global both, and with the natural world. The “happiness” of one is dependent – fundamentally, however much seemingly distant from our own – on the happiness of all.

Identifying how this can be not just achieved but made to flourish requires awareness.

Attentively listening to and regarding others, going about our lives empathetically open to the needs and feelings of others is a crucial first step. And sometimes it requires great personal change to come to naturally behave in such a manner where we accept other people and situations as they are – and don’t try to change them. Or at least not all at once.

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As ahimsa (non-violence) applies to oneself in Yogic philosophy, so gently nurturing change is an incremental, soft step but soft sure step endeavour. Essentially, ukeireru proposes three questions that should ever be held in mind for a less stressful existence that lives in the present at the same time as considering the fallout in subsequent moments and further into the future: 1. What impact would making a decision to act in such a way have on others?

2. Is the best decision at this time not to make a decision?

3. What has really prompted how you are thinking and feeling right now?

Future Wellness: Dave Asprey Foretells Dave Asprey: you’ve heard the name before. He of Blue Zones and Bulletproof coffee fame, the man who sang from sunny California rooftops the praises of “biohacking” and a thought-leader on numerous other wellness innovations – Asprey was recently interviewed by The Chalkboard Magazine, discussing the notion of the “Human Upgrade”. If you’re wondering what on Earth that means and envisaging something semi-bionic from films like I, Robot, you’re probably not too far off – as far as technology’s influence goes.

From cryogenics, to ozone therapy, and PEMF (pulsing electromagnetic fields) – Asprey seems to be clairvoyant when it comes to future trends in health and wellbeing. With his latest venture, Upgrade Labs, moving that one step closer to “hacking longevity”, Asprey seriously admits a “plan to live to 180”. Follower of a lowcarb, high-fat diet, who together with his wife undergoes stem cell therapy to rid themselves of old injuries – the man who opened our eyes to the diets of centenarians around the world advises a critical initial undertaking is to block EMFs (electromagnetic fields), as these are subversively “messing with” our biology and speeding up the ageing process… So far, so LA. Given Asprey is also a fan of taking muscle-building and fat-burning compounds for increasing his growth hormone and testosterone levels, as well as NFB (neurofeedback) for brain function and overall psychological health, is it any wonder he advises we should all switch off the news and listen to his Human Upgrade podcast instead for “actionable takeaways that will help you perform like a superhuman” instead of feeding mass fear over the state of the world? That said, the Aspreys also have a working pig farm and grow a lot of their own vegetables… The twenty-first century example of a self-sufficient family? Perhaps.

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Jenny Carson

Magnesium, the Miracle Mineral

Senior Nutritionist Viridian Nutrition

Known as the ‘spark of life’, magnesium is an important nutrient for over 300 bodily processes that contribute to our health. Magnesium is involved in energy production, muscle relaxation, nerve function, blood pressure regulation, brain function and more. It is a mineral which is necessary throughout life, with separate special considerations for men and women.

Women and Magnesium During a woman’s lifetime, there may be several health events where an optimal magnesium intake is important. Some conditions associated with menstruation can be as a result of hormone disruption or blood glucose disruption, such as premenstrual syndrome (PMS) or polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Magnesium may offer relief, because it contributes to normal hormone production and also assists insulin in removing blood glucose and delivering it to the cells.

During menopause, the hormones progesterone and oestrogen decline. Magnesium alongside vitamin B6 and a healthy fats intake are vital for supporting female hormone status. Magnesium can also be useful for support against menopausal symptoms that affect mood, stress management, blood pressure and – when balanced with calcium – bone mineral density.

Insomnia may be a result of an inadequate intake of magnesium. Magnesium helps our muscles relax and can benefit preparing for sleep and normalising disturbed sleep.

A useful tip is to optimise magnesium intake to see if sleep improves.

Toxins can disrupt several body processes such as hormones, brain function, and digestion, and magnesium plays a role in eliminating these from the body, also.

Men and Magnesium Like women, adulthood for men can involve optimising fertility and raising a family while managing career related stresses. Although hormone production does not cease in men, testosterone starts to decline from the age of 40 by approximately 1% annually, such that effects may be noticeable by a man’s 50s. Lowered testosterone levels are associated with increased atherosclerosis, a risk marker for cardiovascular problems. Magnesium is known to support testosterone production and offset these risks.

Intriguingly, research on magnesium taurate shows benefits for heart health, with indications that the combination of magnesium with the antioxidant amino acid taurine is responsible for the effect.

Research also shows that migraine sufferers have a lower magnesium status than non-sufferers. Studies suggest magnesium may prevent the brain signalling waves that can lead to migraine aura, alongside a decrease in pain transmitting signals.

Magnesium Sources To support this wide range of roles, Public Health England recommend that adults should aim to consume 300mg of magnesium daily.

Luckily, magnesium is widespread in food, although in small amounts. But making your meals magnesium-rich is easier than you might think. Try adding a large handful of leafy green vegetables at mealtimes or incorporate them into a smoothie: spinach, kale, mustard greens, and collard greens can provide 150mg per double handful. Try also to generally include wholefoods in your diet, such as oats and barley, leafy greens and oily fish (e.g. salmon and mackerel). Other good sources include pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids).

However, if you are finding this to be a challenge, it might be beneficial to consider food supplements to fill nutritional gaps. Ideally, choose a supplement which provides a minimum of 300mg of magnesium per serving. Magnesium supplements are available in both capsules and powder format, which exclude binders and non-nutritive additives. To achieve a therapeutic intake of the mineral, opt for supplements which provide magnesium alone or which partner it with one or two other nutrients.

For more information or about your individual needs or for advice on lifestyle changes, please visit your local health store at: www.findahealthstore.com Viridian Nutrition has selected Magnesium as its Ingredient of the Year.

Author: Jenny Carson, MRes, BSc (Hons), MBANT, senior nutritionist at ethical vitamin company Viridian Nutrition. She holds a BSc (Honours) in Nutritional Science and is a Master of Research (MRes) in Public Health. For more information visit www.viridian-nutrition.com.

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2022

INGREDIENT OF THE YEAR

Magnesium

Add a little spark to your life with magnesium from Viridian, the pioneers of ethical vitamins.

This amazing micronutrient contributes to more than 300 enzymatic processes in the body.

Get advice on the right magnesium for you at your local independent health store.

Available from your Local Health Food Store |

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