April 2024 letter - towards holistic healthcare

Thank you so much for all the extremely positive feedback I have received, it has been overwhelming. Thank you. I intend to put a lot of information here on my blog, to share what I have learned on my journey and what has helped me heal. In the (hopefully near) future I will also include interviews with other experts on the field which will hopefully be very beneficial for all of you reading this blog. One of the key subjects soon, will no doubt be the importance of the balance of our gut microbes. I have learned so much about this extremely important subject recently and I am fascinated to learn more, for example, about the effect of our microbiome on the development and treatment of cancer, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. I believe that research around microbiome will see a breakthrough in medicine in the future. The balance and wellbeing of microbiome plays a key role in maintaining health and the basis of everything is a good, healthy diet, probiotics and fermented products such as sauerkraut.

I just read an article about the prevalence of intestinal diseases. The number of difficult to treat inflammatory bowel diseases, i.e. IBD, has grown massively in the past 10-15 years in both children and adults. The worrying thing is that no one knows why. This article was hoping for increase in research in the effect of microbiome on this and the root causes behind dysbiosis, such as the food we eat but also past mental trauma. We know that chronic stress and trauma has an effect on the microbiome and dysbiosis increase the risk of diseases. How to look after our gut microbiome should be in the root of healthcare when both preventing or treating any illness.

In the near future, I would also like to talk about the importance of epigenetics and learn more about, for example how stress during pregnancy affects the child's epigenetics and the immune system. The mother's mood and stress affect the child's adrenal glands and can contribute to illness, excess weight or cardiovascular diseases later in life.

No one can say anymore that what we eat doesn't matter. The food we eat, our nutrition is extremely important to our health and these things should also be included in the treatment of any disease. What we think, is equally important how do we 'feed' our mind.

Everything we do, how we live, eat, what we think, affects everything in us, our physical and mental health and even our microbiome. A headache is not just a headache. A fever is not just a fever. All these are you body whispering to you, giving you signs of how things are. The important thing is to stop and listen. Pay attention to these signs. What could you do to treat your symptoms, does your body need rest, good food, or for you to reduce stress? Give your energy to those things that are important to you, for example family and friends. Strive to live a life that is as natural as possible and in accordance with your own values and dreams.

"You are the CEO of your own life!" 

You can do it!

Recipe to try:

Frittata with feta cheese, sweet potato and broccoli

• 1 broccoli, cut into florets

• 1 small/medium sweet potato

• 1 large onion, thinly sliced

• 1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed

• extra-virgin olive oil

• 12 large organic eggs

• 100ml good quality whole milk

• 100-200 g feta cheese, cut into cubes

• Sea salt and pepper to taste
  

Peel the sweet potato and cut into small cubes. Cook the cubes into a small amount of water until soft. Add the broccoli florets, towards the end of the cooking and cook a few more minutes until they are lightly cooked too.

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease an over dish or glass pan with olive oil.In a frying pan, heat a good drizzle of olive oil and saute onion until soft. Add the crushed garlic, then cool. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Pour the egg mixture into the oven dish. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the cooked, cooled vegetables and feta cheese to the egg mixture. Bake for 30 minutes or until the centre is fully cooked and nice golden brown. Let the frittata cool for a few minutes. Cut into desired size slices. This recipe makes a lovely breakfast or lunch.