Mike came to see me at the end of January with skin and stomach problems - mainly his stomach. He didn't smoke, wasn't a heavy drinker, had a healthy diet and exercised.

After a consultation, we decided that a food intolerance test was suitable and went ahead with the 59-food test. The results came back positive, showing a reaction to brazil nuts, mushrooms and yeast.

Yeast plays a major part in Western diets - as well as the obvious foods such as bread and pizza, yeast extracts such as Bovril, stock cubes etc..., there are also fermented foods to consider such as beer, vinegar and soy sauce. This is by no means an exhaustive list, so a major dietary change was required, which would not be easy.

However, I recently received an e-mail from Mike:

Hi Emma,
Been meaning to send an email for a while now.
You did a food intolerence test for me in January which showed I had an intolerence to yeast.I have cut out alot of foods which contain yeast- mainly bread-and the results have been really good, I no longer get stomach problems which had caused me a lot of grief in the past.I hope this continues and I am very pleased the food intolerence showed this up,the test was worth every penny!
Kind regards
Mike

I'm really pleased for Mike that the test worked and has such a positive result.

Food intolerance testing for 59 foods costs £89 and results can be obtained within an hour. Alternatively, there is an indicator test costing £20 that will tell you whether you have an intolerance or not, if you are not sure that your symptoms are caused by foods.

Pilates is a non-impact form of exercise which focuses on core posture to help keep the body balanced and the spine supported. It also teaches awareness of breath and alignment of the spine, and aims to strengthen the deep torso muscles.

Pilates classes start at Aqua Viva Health on Thursday 1st May 2008.

The class, held at 7.15pm-8.15pm every Thursday evening is £4 per session.

For further information and to book please ask at reception, or give us a ring on 01472 722444.

Please note this is an update from a previous post.

Pilates is a non-impact form of exercise which focuses on core posture to help keep the body balanced and the spine supported. It also teaches awareness of breath and alignment of the spine, and aims to strengthen the deep torso muscles.

Pilates classes start at Aqua Viva Health on Thursday 17th April 1st May 2008.

The class, held at 10-11am 7.15pm-8.15pm every Thursday morning evening is £4 per session.

For further information and to book please ask at reception, or give us a ring on 01472 722444.

According to "Alternative Therapies" on BBC television recently, reflexology cannot possibly work. But how accurate is this?

The findings that reflexology increases a sense of wellbeing and fulfilment, and this allows us to cope better with incidents in life are certainly true. However, looking from a strictly scientific viewpoint, there was no satisfying explanation as to how reflexology could anecdotally provide so much benefit to so many people.

Kathy Sykes looked at reflexology from various angles - she spoke to an anatomist who told her that there is no part of the nervous system that connects the soles of the feet with various organs of the body. Fair enough.

She spoke to a gout specialist who told her that breaking down of crystalline deposits was not possible. Okay.

And she spoke to a leading scientist who told her that science cannot account for reflexology - it can't possibly work. Here's where the problem lies in science. This eminent scientist should have said "science cannot currently account for reflexology". I'm going to skip to plate tectonic theory in geology for a second (yes, bear with me!) to explain myself more fully.

Plate tectonic theory basically states that Earth's surface is made of large sliding plates which move in relation to each other and at the boundaries of these plates earthquakes, volcanic and mountain-building occur. This theory supersedes previous ideas of continental drift and sea-floor spreading and is based on our most current knowledge. As short a time ago as 1988, some very prominent scientists in positions of influence and authority ridiculed the whole plate tectonic theory, yet it is now commonly accepted. Scientific knowledge changes - there are trends in science just as there are trends in fashion. And new discoveries are being made all the time.

The programme didn't investigate energy meridians any further, which seemed an omission - particularly as the previous series looked at the effects of acupuncture, another therapy involving energy meridians. The conclusion from this programme was that acupuncture was a powerful healing therapy.

So, to bring back to my thoughts on reflexology, just because science cannot currently account for a particular idea, doesn't invalidate it entirely.

Further information: reflexology | acupuncture