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Could chestnuts clear up a painful problem?
24th March 2006
'That's right,' boomed the voice in the cloud, 'one day, you shall take it upon yourself to write One day, the young Ray Collins was ambling home from another boring day at school.
Suddenly, the clouds parted, and a booming voice said to him.
'Ray Collins?'
'Yes,' squeaked the frightened child.
'You may not realise this, but a great destiny awaits you, Ray Collins. For one day your name shall be known by thousands of people across the kingdom.'
The child tried to think what his destiny would be....
A great train robber, famous actor, wild Lothario, or perhaps the first Welshman into space...
letters to people, suggesting littleknown ways they can deal with PILES.'
Young Ray walked on, bewildered.
But lo, it came to pass...
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How to ease one of the most troublesome and embarrassing agonies in life
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Yes, I'm going to tackle one of the most troublesome and embarrassing agonies in life.
Haemorrhoids... or their shorter, slightly cruder name... 'piles'.
Even if you've never suffered them, I don't need to tell you that haemorrhoids are small, bloodfilled swellings inside the anus.
But you'd probably thank me if I didn't dwell on that and went quickly to a few great solutions I've found. (Little did I know, as a young man, that I would end up eagerly scouring medical books for information on piles!)
The usual advice is to try and avoid constipation, which is one of the causes.
Straining puts pressure on the veins, which can then swell, causing you untold agony.
So doctors will usually recommend a diet with more fibre and roughage particularly green vegetables, fresh fruit, wholegrain cereals and at least 25 grams of bran per day.
They'll also tell you to drink 8 to 10 glasses of fluid daily is advisable.
All good advice...
But my old chum, Dr Andrei Dracea has some more interesting alternative remedies for the problem.
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Could CHESTNUTS and GOLD really be the answer?
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'Chestnuts are effective for keeping veins healthy,' writes Dr Dracea in 'Eat & Heal'. He adds: 'Make sure they are well cooked before you eat them.'
He also writes that gold is a powerful antiinfectious agent, often combined with silver and copper.
'Its polyvalent composition makes it a treatment of choice for a wide variety of organic disorders, including haemorrhoids,' he writes.
He recommends foods that you should eat to ease the problem...
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-- Clay (dissolve a teaspoon of nutritional clay in a glass of
water)
-- Beets, chervil, cabbage, dandelion, leeks, potatoes
-- Chestnuts
-- Water
-- Melon, myrtle
-- Whole grain bread
And also foods you should avoid...
-- alcohol
-- coffee
-- processed meats
-- pickles
-- pepper and other spices
-- dairy products
-- mustard
Dr Dracea's brilliant book, Eat and Heal, is packed with remedies for everyday problems like these... and the great thing is, all of them can be treated with common, inexpensive food!
If you like my letters, you'll like the crazy tips in this book: Eat and Heal
Right, shall I move quickly on to another subject?
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More diet hysteria in the media
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You may have noticed that the knives were out for the Atkins diet again last week.
Newspapers, websites and television news programmes all ran with it.
The story was about an obese 40-year old woman in New York who was rushed to hospital with 'ketoacidosis'. This is a condition that occurs when dangerous levels of acids called ketones build up in the blood.
These acids are produced in the liver when insulin levels fall dramatically, usually because of starvation or diabetes.
Public health doctors writing in the Lancet are now crowing that this shows that low carb diets are 'far from healthy'.
Hmmm....
Seems a little unscientific to judge an entire diet plan based on one woman.
Let's look at it rationally.
This is ONE person out of MILLIONS of dieters worldwide. What's more, she was obese, which meant that there could be many factors involved in her sudden illness.
And think of it this way... if something went wrong with just ONE low-calorie dieter, would it hit the global headlines like this?
Probably not.
Now, I'm not a massive fan of Atkins and its demand that you stick to red meat, cheeses, prawns, cream and the like.
I think it's too extreme. there are far more balanced low-carb diets you can try, like The South Beach diet and the Montignac diet plan.
Anyway, I can't believe it's an enjoyable diet to stick to after a week or two.
As you know, I'm a fan of ALL food... (perhaps too much of a fan)... and I think balance is the key to a good, healthy life.
I'm more for the Mediterranean diet myself... plenty of olive oil, vegetables, meat and wine!
That said... I dislike the witch-hunts and scare tactics of the mainstream media. They're far too quick to get hysterical just because they hear an anecdote that lives up to their prejudices.
But we know why.
Fear sells more newspapers.
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Right... rant over!
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Now I've got that rant out of the way, I'll bid you good day. I'm taking my talking pedometer for a funky strut to the shops.
Yours, as ever,
Ray Collins
The Good Life Letter
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