Sylviawh.co.uk Blog

Many people believe in the power of faith or spiritual healing. As healers work they channel their energy through to the person they are working with by using their hands.

They very rarely touch you but if by chance their finger tips touch your head or neck it is like a mild electric shock as the energy courses through you.

This was my experience as I have seen a healer three  times, I also felt a warmth through my back although her hands were not touching me.  I have never been hypnotized but I am sure it is a similar feeling as I felt as if I was coming out of a trance at the end of it.

I went to a healer at the spiritualist church, I had never been to a spiritualist church before and I was quite apprehensive about it, but they made me feel very welcome and never once in the three times I went did they ask for a donation or mention about my attending their church.

I was just told that if I did wish to attend a service anytime I was very welcome. I found it a very peaceful environment and if I was a regular churchgoer I would have no qualms about attending.

These spiritualist churches are usually  in every town and village and their is no charge for attending a healing session, also you do not need to make an appointment. You may need to phone to find out what evening they have them but that is all.

Xmas is on the way once again and grandparents are in high demand. I should know as today I have had my my first long session of caring for the grand kids.

Three of them, and stopping overnight as mom and dad are at a Xmas dinner dance.

I have done my share of reading stories and trying to keep them amused, but this is only the start of the runup to Xmas.   More days and nights to come, but the one I am dreading is when one of my other young grandsons comes to stay for Xmas.  I will then have four of them for an allnight session and as they don’t see him very often it is like mayhem when they are together.

Apart from being together they have the excitement of Xmas to look forward to so I think I will buy some earplugs for that night.  Craig lives in Wales but comes to us every school holiday including Xmas, so I still have the joy of putting up Xmas decorations and shopping for loads of presents.

It is a bit more difficult this year as I suffer with my back and at the moment I can barely walk, but my son who lives with me is a great help, so he will do all the difficult tasks. I just hope I am fit enough to cook Xmas dinner but we’ll manage somehow.

For some reason it is drummed into us buy fresh vegetables. 

In this day and age most moms are working moms, so coming home from work and having to prepare fresh vegetable is tiring and time consuming.

With the kids clamouring for their dinner, mom is inclined to forget about healthy and nutritous meals and serve up the old favourites like chips, burgers, fish fingers etc.  All the easy options that we must admit the kids love.

Ok thats fine, but there’s no need to knock vegetables off the menu.  Frozen vegetables are just as nutrit0us as fresh vegetables and as they are frozen within hours of being picked they retain all their nutrition.

It is just as easy to cook a few frozen vegetables as it is cook burgers or fish fingers.

If they insist on chips go for oven chips as they contain less fat. if they have an aversion to greens try them with frozen corn, boiled or steamed. Try frozen baby carrots, kids are more likely to go for these rather than the chopped variety.

Cook a small amount of mixed frozen vegetables,they can be cooked together, then place just one sprout, one small floret of cauliflower, and a small piece of brocoli on each plate, see if you can tempt the children to try them.

Quite often it is the amount that might put a child off so just one of each might do the trick and slowly but surely you can increase the amount.

Although it is well over 60 years ago I was one of those kids that wouldn’t touch greens, my main meals consisted of meat, potato’s and gravy when I would eat it.  The only thing I would eat happily and for every meal was  kelloggs corn flakes.

Needless to say I never suffered from any childish ailment even though my brothers and sisters caught everything. I’m not saying to feed them cornflakes every meal, although I stayed healthy eating them.  Oh bye the way, I love any greens and veg now, as you get older your tastes change.

“An Apple a Day keeps the Doctor Away” Is it true or a myth?

Well I don’t know if it will keep the doctor away, but an apple does have health benefits so an apple a day is well worth eating.

Research done on apples states that they may reduce the risk of colon cancer, prostate cancer. and lung cancer. Apples contain relatively low amounts of vitamin C, compared to other fruit and veg, they also contain antioxident compounds.

The fibre content although low does help to regulate bowels which reduces the risk of colon cancer, they may also help with heart disease, weight loss, and controlling cholesterol.

It is quite safe to eat fallen apples as long as they are in a garden or orchard that does not contain cattle or other animals, as they can become contaminated and cause food poisoning.

Skin cancer may not sound as serious as other cancers but it does have a relatively high mortality rate. the reason for this is that even highly skilled doctors still struggle to identify cancerous moles.

The only way to be certain is by having the mole removed then waiting possibly weeks to find out if you have cancer, or if if it is simple mole.

But now a small device that will fit in a GP’s pocket can diagnose dangerous skin cancers in just 20 seconds.  It is a hand-held gadget, which costs around £500, it can detect cancer using a technique called Optical Transfer Diagnosis.

If a tumour is growing new blood vessels arise as a growing tumour needs a rich blood supply to keep it nourished.

Blood is known to absorb  light and this device measures how much light is absorbed compared to healthy tissue and it works out if a cancer may be setting in.

Early trial results suggest it’s so accurate that it could be used to identify malignant melanomas, the most serious form of skin cancer, without the need for a biopsy.

This could be available in the UK within two years.

According to a certain  San Francisco psychologist many of those ladies that have just entered into married bliss are now suffering from what she calls post-nuptial depression.

A feeling of sadness has entered their lives!  As most couples now live together before entering the state of marriage, how do they expect a day of pomp and ceremony and those few words spoken, to change what they already have together.

A ring on her finger to show her married status is the only difference, so why is she feeling depressed?

It could be that after all the excitement of leading up to the special day, she is left with the feeling  of emptiness, and nothing special to look forward to.

All the months of planning are finished, now she has a husband instead of a lover and the passion may have faded slightly.

Perhaps when living together as a couple she made him feel special and ignored any faults, after all he could have just walked out and they would be finished,  but now they are  tied together and she feels more secure.

Those faults that were ignored are now pointed out and rows begin, now married life has begun.

Of course not all marriages turn out this way. Dr Michelle Gannon says that this happens to ten per cent of marriages and they end up by visiting marriage guidance websites and marriage guidance counsellors.

This was based on married couples in California, so lets be sensible and ignore this nonsense, your marriage will be what you make it, for better or worse.

Winter is upon us once again. Snow, Ice, and freezing cold weather.  What do people in the UK have against wearing warm woolly hats in the Winter?

Head gear is high on agenda in most cold countries, as it is well known that you lose most of your body heat through your head, but in the UK people seem to be shy about wearing them.

A few brave individuals do sport the woolly hats and make those hatless people feel rather envious, and wishing they had the courage to wear one.

Protection against the cold is a must, you can even make it a fashion statement.

Start a new craze in hats amongst your friends, buy different ones to wear with different outfits, your friends will often follow your lead and apart from starting a new craze you’ll feel a lot warmer when outdoors.

Look at it this way! In the hot weather you smother yourself in sun cream to protect your skin, so why not protect yourself in the Winter. You don’t look glamorous, or handsome when your shivering with cold, so think hats, woolly, fur, cloth, what ever its made of as long as it keeps you warm.

We have come to a stage where our lives are almost ruled by computers. Three of the main London hospitals have almost ground to a halt after a computer virus has wreaked havoc with their systems.

It seems to have been planted deliberately by they believe a disgruntled employee. Operations and blood testing have been postponed, and accident and emergency services have been disrupted after the computer service had to be shut down.

Computers play a big part in our lives now, even though many people are oblivious of them. Hospitals, Doctors surgeries, Banks, shops, Hotels and our commuter services are just a few of the areas that are dependant on the computer.

Years ago it seemed laughable when told that one day a computer could take away the jobs and livelihoods of millions of people, yet it happened.

Factories became automated dispensing with thousands of jobs, offices cut down on the staff, in fact almost every area of our lives has been dictated by the computer.

What is frightening though in this computer age is the fact that one single person can disrupt so many lives and jobs and even put peoples lives at risk by their stupidity or malice.

I have just been reading that they are blaming patients themselves for the high death rate amongst Cancer patients. They say patients are leaving it too late in seeking help from the doctor and before being referred to a specialist.

I believe this a load of nonsense, as my husband was visiting his GP regulararily and he was seen by specialists numerous times for tests over a period of two to three years. They put his problems down to Irritable bowel syndrome and just prescribed different tablets.

He developed a chest problem, and it was after being sent for a scan by the chest specialist that he referred him to the Cancer specialist.

It was found that he had liver cancer, originating from bowel cancer.

It took a chest specialist to alert the cancer specialists about his condition.  Are the doctors and specialists, too busy, or too tired, or even not too caring about sorting out patients problems correctly. If   they diagnosed correctly to start with, and sent patients for the much needed scans and tests, maybe the death rate would be lower.

My husband passed away last year after being told that cancer treatment would be a waste of time, he lived on pain killers.

My best friend suffered the same fate, she was visiting doctors and specialists for over two years with stomach pain. It was just six weeks before she died that they said she had terminal cancer, and that was after they finally sent her for a scan.

It is my belief that if a patient is not satisfied with just a GPs diagnosis and they believe it something worse, then they should insist on a CT scan being done.

Cancer is not always easy to diagnose so a CT scan will usually show up a problem and more lives could be saved. Why wait untill it is too late.

It seems that scientists are on the verge of making a breakthrough into us living a longer life span. They have created a substance that can create immortal cells which could be the key to living a longer life.

By boosting the amount of enzyme that forms naturally in our body researchers believe this would prevent cells dying and extend our lifespan.

As we age, our cells divide and become frayed and shorter and eventually become so damaged that the cell dies. Scientists believe that by boosting our natural levels of telomerase this could rejuvenate them.

Although it may extend your life span nothing is without risk, and one of the problems with boosting telomerase is that it can increase the risk of cancer.

Scientist say this could be overcome by using cancer drugs that could offset the negative affects.

At present only mice have been used for these experiments which have shown good results, but will human results prove the same?