Category Archives: helpful foods

I saw this great post about cabbage juice at the Whole Body Health and Fitness Blog.

I’ve tried some of the slow cooker recipes from this site and they’ve been really successful (enjoyed not just by me, but the whole family).  So, when I read about the cabbage juice, despite thinking that it did not sound like it would end in a tasty drink, I decided to give it a try.

I’m willing to do quite a lot to gain all the health benefits listed in the original article: there were 17 separate bullet points.

However, even before I took the lid off the pot (3 days after setting up the mixture) I had been wondering why the kitchen smelt funny.  Once I removed the lid, the reason became clear.  The juice smelled REALLY bad.  Despite the smell I did try and drink a spoonful of it, but I could taste/smell the stuff for a good hour afterwards and it made me slightly nauseous.  Perhaps my container did not have a tight enough lid, or perhaps I forgot to add the salt, or perhaps it’s always like that.  I do know that this experiment was a fail and this is one healthy drink that I won’t be partaking of.

In my post Foods to eat more of, I said that I am aiming for 1/3 protein to 2/3 carbohydrates for every meal, that carbohydrates should be in the form of vegetables as much as possible and that I’m trying to eat plenty of green, leafy vegetables.

For a long time I was reliant on other people cooking meals (my family still cook 4 nights out of 7), and my family usually don’t provide such a high proportion of vegetables with a meal.

Often I have dragged myself to the table from where I have been lying (sofa or bed) to discover a meal that did not match my ideal.  I’d like to stress here that I am always grateful for a meal prepared by someone else, and I certainly don’t want to criticise whoever has prepared it or suggest that their efforts aren’t appreciated.  So I need to increase the vegetable content without creating a fuss.

My solution to this is to always keep a bag of ready washed green leaves in the fridge.  This could be spinach, lettuce, watercress, rocket or other green leaves that can be eaten without cooking.  Then I simply add a handful or two to my plate.  I also try and keep a jar of homemade salad dressing (olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, herbs and celtic sea salt) to make the salad a bit more interesting.

One extra tip if you’re going to try this; darker green leaves have more nutritional value than paler leaves, so don’t stick to iceberg lettuce, experiment with other darker green leaves.

Salt and Blood Pressure

I’m sure you’ve heard that salt is bad for you and you should reduce your salt intake, because salt can lead to high blood pressure, which puts you at risk of all sorts of horrible diseases.

However, many ME/CFS sufferers have low blood pressure, and hence eating  salt can help us to maintain a more normal blood pressure.

What type of Salt?

Celtic Sea Salt or Himalayan Pink Salt are the two best salts to use.  This is because unlike regular table salt they contain plenty of essential minerals.  I have been using Celtic Sea Salt. I bought a bag over a year ago for around £12, and still have nearly half of it left.  So although it seemed quite expensive at the time because of the quantities you need it is not.

Himalayan Pink Salt

Dr Mercola claims that Himalayan Pink Salt contains all of the 84 elements found in your body,  and the benefits of natural Himalayan Crystal Salt include:

1. Regulating the water content throughout your body.
2. Promoting a healthy pH balance in your cells, particularly your brain cells.
3. Promoting blood sugar health and helping to reduce the signs of aging.
4. Assisting in the generation of hydroelectric energy in cells in your body.
5. Absorption of food particles through your intestinal tract.
6. Supporting respiratory health.
7. Promoting sinus health.
8. Prevention of muscle cramps.
9. Promoting bone strength.
10. Regulating your sleep — it naturally promotes sleep.
11. Supporting your libido.
12. Promoting vascular health.
13. In conjunction with water it is actually essential for the regulation of your blood pressure.

Celtic Sea Salt
According to http://healthfree.com/celtic_sea_salt.html Celtic Sea Salt contains 82 trace minerals and has a list of benefits similar to the Himalayan Salt.  However, Dr Mercola points out that our oceans are now polluted, so as well as all these great minerals you may be ingesting pollutants.

Reducing Dizziness

In the first few months of my CFS/ME dizziness was a huge problem for me.  I think this is because of low blood pressure and my heart simply not having enough energy to pump the blood up to my head when I was standing or sitting (orthostatic intolerance).  If you want to find out more about orthostatic intolerance I found the article at Learning to Live with CFS really helpful.

I started using Celtic Sea Salt and at the same time used the Stop Process whenever I started thinking about my dizziness. Within a few weeks my dizziness was dramatically improved, and stayed that way until this summer.

After my dizziness went I carried on using Celtic Sea Salt, until my summer holiday this year.  When I returned from holiday I forgot to use the salt and my dizziness started to return.  This was really worrying.  I had improved lots and did not want to revert back to the person who had to lie down all the time to avoid the dizziness.  I made a big effort to add salt to as much of my food as I could and within 2 weeks my dizziness disappeared again.