My journey down the path of holistic medicine began in 1998 with a much needed homeopathic remedy to stop me sleepwalking in the night. Turned out I was sleep walking in the day time too. After this I began to wake up to life. In 2000 having developed Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which my lovely holistic style doctor helped greatly with peppermint medication and Buscupan, I still needed more help. So down the path of Medical Consultants I went with no great joy or results.
Then I empowered myself and decided to figure this out and be my own physician and seek council of wise doctors, nutritionist, holistic health practitioners and who ever had knowledge that resonated with me. There is a long story here, yet for the purpose of keeping this blog short here are the lifestyle changes I found that helped my stomach heal.
- Changing diet to unprocessed natural home cooked foods.
- Reducing meat intake and reducing Dairy Intake. Going for organic options when I consume.
- Eliminating white shop bought bread, substituting spelt bread where necessary.
- Healthy snacks, like nuts, fruits, oat cakes, smoothies.
- Eliminating Fizzy Drinks.
- Reducing Alcohol consumption.
- Improving sleep hygiene, being more routined going to bed.
- Learning mediation, yoga, and self healing techniques like Reiki.
- Epsom Salts Baths.
- A Mantra, I digest with ease, I assimilate with ease, I let go with ease.
- Looking at food as a source of energy, if I eat something does it give me energy or leave me like a beached whale.
Specifically to help the bowel go from 1 movement every 3-4 days to 2 a day these tips helped;
- Started taking good probiotics like Udo’s 8 and Udo’s 5, and more recently when needed Alflorex.
- Supplementing my diet with good omega 3,6, and 9 oils which are essential fatty acids, found in good quality cod liver oil, Udo’s Oil, Hemp Oil, Flaxseed Oil, Eggs, Nuts, Avocados.
- Psyllium husk (fibre) and slippery elm (anti-parasitic, laxative, & fibre) are great to help clean the bowels and get them moving again.
- Olive leaf extract, is antiviral, antibacterial and anti fungal so a great go to when required if stomach is a little upset.
When experiencing stomach upset I would take dioralyte (essential salts) and probiotics. After which I would eat simple meals like rice, turmeric, Dal and coconut oil. - Turmeric, Ginger, ac are my go to for helping my stomach back to balance. I add them to anything i can from juices, to soups, scrambled egg, and curries. Turmeric requires heat, oil and black pepper to maximise its health benefits. Herbal teas, especially ginger tea. I love Lemon ginger turmeric honey.
- Half the juice of lemon in hot water to start the day is great for your digestive system.
- Aloe Vera juice is very soothing and healing for your digestive tract.
Recently I have suffered from indigestion and have resorted to using natural yoghurt, adding 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda to water twice a day, and consulted a doctor who recommended Nexium. First I will get the herbal answer to Nexium first from my Herbalist as I am 80% improved after putting a bit more energy into healing my digestion. If I don’t get to a 100% in a week then I will look at the pharmaceutical option.
It is important to always consults your doctor and/or pharmacist as your digestion systems health is optimum. If you have any blood in your stool or extreme pain please ring a medic for future exploration. Holistic medicine is looking at the whole picture and it is important to utilise all skill-sets available to you. If you have medical insurance more company’s offer free tele-health consultations with your plans. Please look at my website for list of Doctors and Nutritionist I highly recommend. Good health food stores tend to have knowledgeable staff so well worth having a chat.
