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What’s your diagnosis? (February 2017)

During a 10-year-old girl’s annual physical, her mother asked about her daughter’s thinning hair along her frontal and temporal scalp. Over the past few months, she thought it had been looking patchier – almost like she had started balding – but she thought her daughter was too young for that condition. The child didn’t have any lesions or scarring visible on her scalp. She was so proud of her beautiful hair and all the different kinds of braided hairstyles she could wear that her mother didn’t want her start feeling badly about how it looked. (Photo courtesy of ©VisualDx 2017)
Dermatology Times – Dermatology

The FreeFromers guide to Food Matters Live 2017

Food Matters Live is the UK’s first cross-sector event which brings together the food and drink industry, retailers, foodservice providers, government and those working in nutrition, to enable collaboration and innovation to support a sustainable food landscape for the future.

New Push freefrom chocolate  coming soon in 2018
New Push freefrom chocolate coming soon in 2018

The three day event has been running now for a number of years at the Excel in London. Visit the Food Matters Live website to find out more.

My advice is to plan ahead. Study the programme and work out which events you want to attend. Certain events, like the Allergy UK Catering session required pre-booking so do this early to avoid missing out. Others get full up quickly to make sure you get to the room on time.

  1. Free Seminars – There are so many subjects, streams and speakers to choose from that it’s actually hard to decide and there were many clashes that meant I couldn’t attend everything I had ear marked but I did cram in a lot of learning. As well as a whole afternoon crammed with speakers in the FreeFrom seminar series you could learn about so many things from The Future of Food to Tackling Obesity to name just a few.
  2. Allergy UK ran a seminar – Catering for those affected by Food Allergy – I was lucky to be able to attend this and it was so useful for me, not to mention timely after my recent experience in America. Find out more here.
  3. Skinny gluten free beer
    Skinny gluten free beer
  4. New Products – It was exciting to discover a new Dairy Free Chocolate from Push. It is dairy, soya and nut free and also very low in sugar. I was lucky enough to try to some it was really delicious, not too sweet and great cocoa flavour. It’s not on the market yet but look out for news in 2018. Remember, you hear about it here first!
  5. The FreeFrom Eating Out Awards were hosted in the main glass theatre room to a packed audience. This was the highlight of the show for me and main reason for me attending. As a judge for the awards I’m so passionate about finding safe places to eat where I feel included and not like I’m awkward or not welcome. To see the Winners of the FreeFrom Eating out Awards visit their website here. More blogs soon on the amazing restaurants I was privileged to be able to judge.
  6. Networking – I managed to catch up with so many friendly faces and fellow bloggers and enjoyed coffees, catch-ups, wine, cuddles and support. Thank you Natalie (Intolerant Gourmand), Vicki (FreeFrom Fairy and the best freefrom flour), Carly (Gluten Free B), Sue Cane (GF Beer expert), Michelle, Cressida and Hannah, Jenny (The Lunchbox Doctor), Steve Walpole and so many more of you… you really don’t know how helpful those three days were for me.
  7. Meeting new people – I also made a few new contacts, including a blogger who I have been following on Twitter and not met properly before. I think we had met but I’d not connected the dots. So lovely to meet you 7 Years to diagnosis. You can read her review of Food Matters Live and the FFEO Awards 2017 here.
  8. New Skinny gluten free beer – A chance meeting on the train home on the last day meant I had a bottle of this to sample and it’s delicious. It’s not as sweet at a lot of gluten free beers and was really refreshing. I would definitely drink this again, and the creative in my just loves the brand and labelling. So clean, fresh and modern. Find out more about Skinny Brands lager here.
  9. Low FODMAP diets – Dr Megan Rossi presented a really informative talk about this very complicated area of food and diet.
  10. Most importantly, take a packed lunch (Courtesy of Warburtons GF, Violife, Lazy Days and Nairns)
    Most importantly, take a packed lunch (Courtesy of Warburtons GF, Violife, Lazy Days and Nairns)
  11. Histamine Intolerance – If you want to know about this check out Dr Janice Joneja who has written two books, one for the layman and another for professionals. This was such an interesting session as I hadn’t really grasped quite what histamine intolerance was or how it could be controlled. Read, The Beginners Guide to Histamine Intolerance here.
  12. Fecal Microbiota Transplant – don’t be squeamish, this isn’t a disgusting as it sounds and could really change the lives of many people with allergies. Visit the Taymount Clinic website to find out how introducing missing, healthy, clean and tested bacteria could help many immune conditions to improve.

Don’t go there expecting to find loads of FreeFrom foods. There were some of great brands there but many were not offering samples and none of them were selling their products. The lovely ladies from Angels and Cookies were there showcasing their delicious and totally freefrom cookie dough. Yes of course I had to try some of that! I did get to try some amazing Sprouted Rye Bread which was so moist and tasty, as well as Freedom Vegan Mallows. And Don’t forget the chocolate and beer – see above!

If you’re interested in food, science, the future and more, you should consider attending this next year. It’s completely free and well worth the horrible train journey out to the Excel Conference Centre.

talkhealth Blog

The success of the Stoptober 2017 campaign

For another year, a focus on quitting smoking swept the nation with the Stoptober campaign. This is a 28 day long event run each October during which smokers are inspired to stop smoking.

There is always a considerable amount of buzz on the run up to Stoptober, encouraging and supporting smokers across the UK to sign up. Stoptober events include focusing on celebrities who are taking part to rouse the UK to stand together to quit smoking and enjoy the numerous benefits of a smoke-free lifestyle.

Coronation Street actress Kym Marsh supported this year’s campaign as she has not only given up smoking, but she also encouraged her teenage daughter to swap smoking for vaping as well. Vaping uses an e-cigarette to allow you to inhale nicotine through vapour rather than smoke. E-cigarettes are a great way to help buck nicotine cravings at the fraction of the health risk of cigarettes.

The idea behind Stoptober is based the evidence that after twenty eight days without a cigarette, smokers are as much as five times more likely to give up smoking permanently.

It is easy to see why Stoptober offers such a winning formula. Giving up smoking can be a huge challenge, but there is an immense amount of support available during and after the campaign from sources including:

  • The NHS
  • Friends and family
  • The Stoptober mobile app
  • Stoptober emails
  • Social media group encouragement
  • The collective boost of other participants

This year’s campaign highlighted that vaping is now the most popular method of stopping smoking, with 53%of people using e-cigarettes to try and quit smoking.

For the first time, vaping officially featured within the NHS Stoptober campaign, including the Stoptober TV advertisement.

Following this advocacy from the NHS, Vape Club reported that they have seen e-cigarette starter kit sales increase by 37% year on year.

Director of Vape Club Dan Marchant says that this medical acceptance has provided a pivotal moment for public health in relation to vaping:

‘It’s fantastic to see the NHS finally backing vaping as a pathway to quit smoking.

The industry has been backing this alternative for a long time, but with the evidence provided by Public Health England, endorsements from the likes of Cancer Research UK and the figures which are produced by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), there can be no doubt that vaping is the most effective method to give up tobacco.

The NHS advocating vaping as an alternative to tobacco is an enormous breakthrough and will do an outstanding amount of good for public health and tobacco control in the UK.’

E-cigarettes are believed to be 95% less harmful than traditional tobacco and are officially included within the NHS’ Stoptober campaign as a way of gently phasing out tobacco. This is deemed much more realistic as opposed to the ‘cold turkey’ approach.

Through the adoption of this harm reduction strategy, the UK is fast becoming the European leader with success rates for quitting smoking at an all time high.

E-cigarettes are particularly powerful when combined with support from stop smoking services. People who choose to vape have some of the highest quitting success rates. E-cigarettes aren’t currently available on NHS prescription, but they can be bought in shops and online.

The yearly success of the Stoptober campaign is morale boosting. However, you don’t need a campaign to stop smoking. If you would like to quit you can set your own timeline, for example by trying to stop smoking before Christmas or the New Year. The key is that an event boosts your willpower – finding a reason to give up will always be advantageous.

talkhealth Blog

Find the Fun in Fitness for National Fitness Day 2017

This week, talkhealth will be joining thousands all across the UK in supporting National Fitness Day 2017. Wednesday 27th September will see people all across the country shoving on their running shoes or slipping on their swimming costumes to have fun and get fit while they’re at it.

Whether your a gym bunny or a couch potato, there’s an exercise out there for you!

For those of us however who have not caught the fitness bug (I for one will never see the harsh light of 5am in order to get a quick jog in before work), the prospect that exercise can be fun and something to celebrate is enough to make you choke on your morning vanilla latte and almond croissant. We are all aware of the importance of fitness; it betters our health, gives us energy and improves our mental well-being, all of which are crucial to help towards a long, happy and healthy life.

To ensure those of you that are fearful of fitness can get involved in this year’s National Fitness Day we have gathered our 5 top tips to make you find exercise fun (or at least hate it a little bit less!):

1) Find exercise that suits you that you don’t dread: Don’t enjoy running? Don’t do it! Can’t lift weights? Don’t do it! For many people who say they don’t like exercise, it more often than not translates that they don’t enjoy the particular forms of exercise they have done in the past. Exercise is not limited to sweating it out on the treadmill. Join a dance class (there could be a Strictly Come Dancing champ in you after all), buy some roller-skates (an 80’s throwback could be just what you need), organise a family sports day or a Wii fit championship with your kids (I’ll take an egg and spoon race over spinning any day), or if your more Clubland than health club try a daylight rave exercise class (nothing goes better with your morning workout than UV sticks). Exercise doesn’t have to be serious business, as long as you’re moving about getting a sweat on you’re going in the right direction.

2) Set realistic goals: we’ve all been there on January 1st where we set ourselves the task of ‘New Year, New Me’, and we’ve all ALSO been there on February 1st when gym 3 times a week has turned into 3 times a month, and hearing the monthly charge of £35 for gym membership on your bank statement laughing in your face. We can’t expect to get up one day and miraculously change our lifestyle; it needs to be taken one step at a time. Rather than paying for an annual gym membership, book yourself onto 1 exercise class a week and build it up from there. Rather than signing up to run a marathon when you’ve never run further than the corner shop, sign up for a 5k park run. Pick the healthier option of a chicken salad wrap at lunch so you can start to see some real differences in your body (sadly the road to fitness is not paved with kit-kats and walkers crisps). Take small steps to achieving a big goal, hitting all those little targets will give you the boost you need to continue onto the achievements you never thought were possible.

3) Fit it into your day to day life: if you know you’re basically dead to the world by 6pm, don’t sign up for that 8pm Zumba class. If you live in the middle of nowhere and your gym is a 30 minute drive out of your way, don’t sign up for a £50 a month gym membership. The more barriers in your way when it comes to exercise, the more opportunities you have to say, ‘oh stuff it, I’ll start again Monday’. If you’re an early riser with a nice country trail near your house, build a morning jog into your day rather than sitting around watching the telly. If you pass your local community centre on the way home from work, sign up to some classes there after work. The easier it is for you to do it, the more you’ll do it.

Get your partner, friends and family involved!

4) You don’t have to go it alone: whether it’s going to a dance class with your sister in law or trying out a hilarious salsa-cise DVD at home with your partner, make exercise a group activity. If you’re struggling with motivation and want to pack up and go home, having someone there who can spur you on and share in the pain and hilarity with you will mean you carry on for that extra 10 minutes, or 20 minutes, when all you want to do is pack up and go watch MasterChef. BUT if there are times when even your fitness pal can’t give you the energy you need…

5) Cut yourself some slack: when busy schedules and kid’s parties all get a bit too much, let yourself have a day off. One bad day doesn’t spoil a week; one bad week doesn’t spoil a month. Some days you will be more motivated than others, and that’s okay. The important thing is to make sure you don’t give up altogether. If you can only find time for a quick 10 minute jog, that’s fine. Get up and get out, the more it’s built into your lifestyle, it will become second nature to you.

This Wednesday, whether it’s a short walk with the dog, a Pilates class, or a boot camp session, get moving and take a step towards being a lighter and happier you. Your future self will thank you for it!

talkhealth Blog

EADV 2017 around the corner

The European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology will be taking place September 13-17 in Geneva, Switzerland. As the organization celebrates its 30th birthday, it promises an event not to miss! If you won’t make it over seas this year, watch this space as we provide highlights from a sessions covering all aspects of dermatology.
Dermatology Times – Dermatology