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Mouth should have very slightly alkaline/neutral pH

There are several ways to promote a very slightly alkaline/neutral pH (potential of Hydrogen) in the mouth, e.g. : by brushing your teeth with a very slightly alkaline/neutral pH toothpaste (like Weleda Salt Toothpaste or Green People Fennel & Propolis Toothpaste) about an hour after every meal, snack and drink (other than pure water) to remove: any food or drink residues any tartar or dental plaque that may be forming (see Edi below) (https://www.weleda.co.uk/salt-toothpaste-75ml-101004) (https://www.greenpeople.co.uk/products/fennel-propolis-toothpaste-50ml) Eating or drinking anything acidic softens both dental enamel and dentine, making them more vulnerable to erosion by brushing, so brushing sooner is unwise. Please note that ‘acidic foods’ and ‘alkaline foods’ are not the same as ‘acidifying foods’ and ‘alkalising foods’ (see Edii below). by swilling a small mouthful of water around the mouth and between the teeth

Mindful chewing

Lexico.com* defines: 'eat' as 'put (food) into the mouth and chew and swallow it', and 'chew' as 'bite and work (food) in the mouth with the teeth, especially to make it easier to swallow' Chewing We at Green Health Watch Magazine think that chewing has other important roles, e.g.: reducing food into a smooth, gruel-like liquid in preparation for its further breaking down by the stomach (using churning, digestive enzymes and gastric acid (see Edi)) in preparation for its digestion by the small intestine promoting calm and rumination (thinking time) promoting the values of the Slow Movement - slowing downthe 21st Century's current frenetic pace Mindful chewing Never 'wolf' your food down. 1. Fill your mouth two-thirds full. One moderately heaped spoon or fork should do the trick. 2. Pause. Put down your cutlery. Focus your attention on

'Nick has a go' take two ...

Further to 'Nick has a go' (GreenHealth Watch Magazine Edition 52 page 7) ... I made good progress towards consuming ten 80 gram (g) portions of vegetables and fruit (V&F) a day, but began to feel very full. I will spare you the details. Suffice it to say that my body's waste disposal system began to challenge my house's waste disposal system. The solution was obvious but unwelcome - reduce the volume of cereal, meat and fish I was eating. But then I thought ... if I were to accept a lower target of, say, eight portions of V&F a day, and bearing in mind the advice that most V&F bring a unique contribution of nutrition to the feast ... which V&F that I regularly eat would I stop eating? Was there any almost 'dead wood' V&F in my current diet? From what I'd heard and read previously there were two obvious candidates - parsnips and potatoes - so I decided to research them in more detail. I found out the following ...

Nick has a go

Following Dagfinn Aune and colleagues' call for both women and men to eat at least ten 80 gram portions of vegetables and fruit (V&F) a day (see the article 'Five-a-day? Ten? Lucky thirteen?' ), I thought I would see if I could squeeze ten portions of V&F into my habitual meal structure, viz: a hearty breakfast (~600g), a wholesome lunch (~470g) and a modest dinner (~260g). The hearty breakfast (~600g) The hearty breakfast required little change. I had been breakfasting on porridge accompanied with two portions of fruit followed with a generous (~30g) mix of sunflower and pumpkin seeds and lubricated throughout with a very large dollop (~100g) of organic plain yoghurt for years. Adding a third 80g portion of fruit was not difficult: Porridge - ~230g Portion (80g) of fruit x 3 - ~240g Sunflower and pumpkin seed mix - ~30g Yoghurt - ~100g a total weight of meal - ~600g One of the first things I noticed when I took on this challenge was how sma

Five-a-day? Ten? Lucky thirteen?

It is generally accepted that: eating a 200g (gram) mix of vegetables and fruit (V&F) a day (two and a half 80g portions) reduces one's risk of: developing heart disease by 16% having a stroke by 18% developing cardiovascular disease by 13% developing cancer by 4% and succumbing to premature death by any cause by 15% eating a 400g mix of V&F a day (the UK Department of Health's Five 80g Servings of Vegetables and Fruit A Day' recommendation) reduces the risks of developing these diseases significantly more, and ... In February 2017 a very large review and meta-analysis conducted by Dagfinn Aune and colleagues (which pooled and re-analysed the findings of 95 studies covering around two million people) 1 concluded that: eating 800g of F&V a day appeared to have reduced the risks by even more, viz: of developing heart disease by 24% of having a stroke by 33% of developing cardiovascular disease by 28% of

Were humans originally fruitarian?

Green Health Watch subscriber David Ryde was once recognised as the UK’s least-prescribing GP. His studies and experience had led him to advising changes in diet rather than dishing out drugs. In this article we summarise what convinced David that: humans were probably originally vegan, even fruitarian contemporary levels of meat-eating may be a factor in many diseases. Microscopic marks found on both the teeth of living species and on fossil teeth indicate that the humans of four million years ago (Australopithecus robusus) were fruitarians rather than omnivores, like present day chimpanzees Although the move from veganism to omnivore happened over millions of years, it may still have outstripped the ongoing evolution of the human digestive system, he suggests, causing many of the illnesses from which we suffer today. David's evidence David’s evidence includes: The human stomach needs half as much hydrochloric acid to digest plant protein as it needs