Homeopathy in the UK. It's been a funny old time recently, and yet I feel increasingly positive the tide is turning.  We needed a wake up call, we needed to work together as an organisation and we needed to grow together as a profession. Which has been one of the gifts that the skeptic movement has given us. 

Many of us practice homeopathy slightly differently to each other, indeed just as many General Practitioners practice slightly differently to each other.  We are working towards the same goal (both homeopaths and GPs too I guess albeit from even more different angles) - that of an increased level of health.  For the Homeopaths amongst us that may include a lower dependence on medication, a greater feeling of wellness, as well as a concrete reduction in symptoms for the patient.  Sometimes it's an education about living well as well as the remedy prescribed. It's an individual thing - and I believe it has to be. Afterall, my needs are very different from yours.  It's the memory of the same goal, the same healing potential that we're aware of with this very incredible medicine that for me means it's essential to work as a coherent whole. We work with holistic medicine, so surely being holistic in our approach to each other is the way forwards?

It is for me anyway - and to be honest in all areas. I want to see integrated healthcare where the medics and complementary practitioners work to each others' strengths.  I feel we have much to give. Working with food choices, homeopathy and other complementary medicines can make significant changes and improvements in health. Working together, both parties can provide better care for the individual.  However I digress. Tangents I am good at.

Working together as a profession, as professional homeopaths is what 4 Homeopathy have created.  A partnership between the leading registering bodies for homeopathic practitioners, patients groups, charities and other stakeholder organisations.  And this is what I'm calling homeopathy lovers, facebook users and tweeters for.  There is lots to do, much to be involved in and with and much we on the ground can help with. 

Have you benefitted from Homeopathic treatment? The Find a Homeopath website is collecting testimonials from patients who've found homeopathy and helped their complaints using it. It would be brilliant if you could take 2 minutes to share your story.

Do you tweet? Follow @HomeopathyWFM - there's a fabulous, fresh new awareness campaign coming very soon.

Facebook more your thing? Homeopathy Worked for Me is where it's at on facebook. You can like the page and follow updates as they evolve.

YouTube? I love to listen to videos whilst I'm cooking - whether it be homeopathy, food or... well usually it's homeopathy or food. FindaHomeopath on YouTube enables you to listen to brilliant, world famous homeopaths in the comfort of your home.

So check out the links, follow for brilliant information, and watch out for the really, really exciting awareness campaign that's coming very soon!

With gratitude and love,
Em x

Obviously to be chanted in a batman-y kind of way. Obviously.

Anyway tea, dinner, supper, food tonight was too good not to share. It's one of my favourites anyway but tonight's addition of mango made it super tasty.  My brilliant camerawoman meant I didn't have to film and talk and create all at once. Although I think it may cost me. She drives a hard bargain.  And does a great job.

So without further ado... here's dinner!

Let me know what you think!  And Isla would love feedback on the video too - she's asked for me to get opinions...

Muchas gracias,

Em x

I was at a marketing workshop today (where I did discover some useful hints, as well as that I'm not doing a terrible job of the marketing side of my business which was reassuring), and got chatting to the trainer guy. His wife is involved with nutrition and reflexology.  Apparently she thought about studying homeopathy but decided to help people not get ill in the first place. Which is a fantastic goal and one that I would love to add to my list of lifelong goals.

People do get ill before I've talked to them about food and before I'm able to make a difference here. So I think it's brilliant that homeopathy can assist in one's journey back to health.  Food too. And there is study after study (I'm currently reading Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr and the evidence presented is nothing short of astounding) which details how switching to a whole food, plant based diet can have hugely positive implications on one's health. At a very measurable level.

To go back to homeopathy and here I wish to call on Hahnemann, whilst he is not the earliest authority on food and eating this way by any means, as the founder of homeopathy and a great mind, it's interesting to hear what he says to avoid:

'Coffee; fine Chinese and other herb teas; beer prepared with medicinal vegetable substances unsuitable for the patient's state; so-called fine liquors made with medicinal spices; all kinds of punch; spiced chocolate; odorous waters and perfumes of many kinds; strong-scented flowers in the apartment; tooth powders and essences and perfumed sachets compounded of drugs; highly spiced dishes and sauces; spiced cakes and ices; crude medicinal vegetables for soups; dishes of herbs, roots and stalks of plants possessing medicinal qualities; asparagus with long green tips, hops, and all vegetables possessing medicinal properties (herbs - translation mine), celery, onions; old cheese, and meats that are in a state of decomposition, or that possess medicinal properties (as the flesh and fat of pork, ducks and geese, or veal that is too young and sour viands), ought just as certainly to be kept from patients as they should avoid all excesses in food, and in the use of sugar and salt, as also spirituous drinks, undiluted with water, ...'

So to cut out tea, coffee, beer, liquor, chocolate, very spicy foods, herbs in cooking, strong flavours (I've cut out onions recently and feel better for it), many meats, sugar, salt as well as avoilding all excesses in foods would be his recommendation here, at the footnote of aphorism 260.  It all makes sense to me.

Making dietary changes may help to restore health that has been impaired, just as working with homeopathy may. In my humble opinion, working with them both together can enable us to gain and sustain greater levels of long term health.

With love and healthful wishes,

Em x

A lot like the great big fat cancerous tobacco myth, I balked at titling this blog The great big fat cancerous milk myth, but actually that was my first choice.  Because milk isn't this innocuous substance that's all warm and friendly and you want to give to your kids, cats, dogs and yourself. Or at least whilst it may appear that way, below the surface there are uncomfortable truths to discover.

Uncomfortable truths to hear, as a parent who believed milk was the next best thing to, well, human milk, I admit I took a bit of convincing. But now there is resolutely no going back.  However, it's so well established in our society and culture that nobody stops to question whether we should be listening to the advice to drink milk to increase our calcium sources and prevent against osteoporosis, grow healthy bones, teeth and more.  It turns out we're at the peak milk drinking that we've ever been at and with more osteoporosis than ever before. The maths just doesn't add up.

Humans - supposedly the most evolved of all animals - and yet still suckling after weaning.  From an entirely different species with an entirely different physiology than us.  How many of us cringed at the Little Britain 'Bitty' sketches and yet happily guzzle the white stuff? How many protested, or at least had a little 'urgh' about the breastmilk ice cream at Covent Garden and yet contendly indulge in Ben and Jerry's?

But I've alluded to cancer and not given any more information.  Here again I was shocked.  Experiments time and time again on rodents have shown that casein, the protein in milk, is an active cancer promoter.  Without even any science behind it if you merely consider that cows milk is endowed with many compounds to promote growth in calves - it may also promote growth in ourselves. And once we're fully grown (leaving aside the issues around giving milk to children for a moment) do we want to promote growth? I don't know many people who would happily double their current weight. And what is cancer at it's simplest level? Overgrowth of cells in an area that they're not supposed to be growing in.

The China Study by T Colin Campbell, is, so far the most comprehensive study I've found around dairy and cancer.  Study after study, they are able to demonstrate the effects of consuming animal based protein (casein - the protein found in milk was most commonly used) and cancer.  Up to a certain level - around about 5% of the total dietary intake, appeared to create no issues - even whilst the animal was exposed to carcinogenic substances, but about the 10% mark the cancer was activated and grew. Even more interestingly, by switching the animal to a low protein diet, they were able to decrease the cancer growth. And on the opposite effect, the low protein group who were then swapped to high protein intake, then developed the cancers.

All well and good - but that was on mice and rats (which I acknowledge comes with other issues that I am passionate about but am merely quoting the research as is relevant here).  What about humans?  Which was where China came into it all.  The China Project was a large study looking into the links between diet and western based diseases.  And it echoed the previous, animal based research - the more animal based protein a person ingested, the more likely they were to succumb to what Dr Campbell would call - 'diseases of affluence' - your cancers, heart diseases, obesity, diabetes, and also maybe surprisingly - autoimmune diseases such as MS, Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis and more.  The book, The China Study, however is much more than just the China Project.  It's a collection of many researchers work, many well referenced and critiqued studies and, fundamentally, irrefutable evidence around dairy, meat, eggs and processed food stuffs.

There's more I could write, so much more, but I implore you to read The China Study and decide for yourself. It would be great to hear your views after you have.

With love

xx

PS Our favourite milk substitutes seem to be Coconut Milk and Oat Milk - what do you like best?

The here and now is the best place to be here and now, for if I'm in the past or in the future, who can possibly make sense of the present moment?

Many of us, most of us I would wager, can spend a lot of time in the past or the future. In terms of our overly analytical thinking brains anyway. The focus is not in the present.  And yet, the past is gone, it doesn't need repeating, it may never get repeated exactly as it was, no matter how awful or how brilliant.  The future isn't here and may never appear how we envisage.  All we really have is right here, right now. That's not to say planning and looking forward isn't an option, of course we want to know where to go to on a car journey and it makes sense to have the forward focus for business, life and the rest. But not for it to be the sole focus. 

I believe the beauty of a well prescribed homeopathic remedy can give us the most amazing gift of enabling us to shift into the here and now with a greater element of ease. The melting of past anxieties, conditions, symptoms and the softening of future worries, projected traumas and more is a wonderful concept. And I see it in my cases, in seminar cases, in live observed cases in teaching clinics.  It's a beautiful thing, to move with ease in the here and now. We can be truly, totally present in the moment and appreciate it like never before.

Just a few thoughts from the comfort of my desk. Food production and sustainability will feature heavily in the years ahead and we can make a difference to the impact on our world starting now.  If we want.

I'm always happy to help with advice and assistance around making these changes - just give me a shout if you'd like to know more.

I've just realised you can even spot our lovely 2014 calendar in the background which is available here. Get one whilst you still can - gorgeous, beautiful images of homeopaths around the world, out there in nature, and what's more, it's all in a calendar girls style.

Sitting here having been working on a case and was just thinking how lucky I am. I absolutely LOVE what I do. Yes, sometimes it's frustrating, sometimes challenging, sometimes someone has been ill for years and years and I can't make them better in a month (I really would love to) BUT it's magical, wonderful and an absolute priviledge to see people, really see them for who they are, be invited in to get to know them more, and to be able to assist in making a difference in their lives.

That's it really. Just wanted to share. I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing right now.

I'm just awaiting my official fliers (my graphic designer is off celebrating her wedding anniversary in Paris!) but wanted to let you guys know about 2 workshops I'm running in the near future.

One is my Juicing and Smoothies for Health which will be the 4th time I've run it. It's been consistently well recieved, I think is great value for money at just £15pp including lots of drinks to sample.  What's been particularly great I think is that people who haven't already been using these fab methods of increasing their fruit and veg intake have gone away and started doing so.  One recent participant said: '
I cannot recommend these workshops enough. Emma is so creative and knowledgeable about all things juice and smoothies, that she has something to offer everyone from the 'Bah-Humbugs' to the 'hmmmmm that is interesting', and to the 'I love juicers'. It is a worthy investment for your health, happiness and heart.'

The next session is on the 19th October 3-5pm.

New to the emmacolley.co.uk empire is my Raw Chocolate Workshop which I'm really excited about.  This will demonstrate raw chocolate making and showcase some of the various ingredients involved in different recipes.  It's a great Christmas present and is only £15pp including all the materials involved. 

This is being held on the 2nd November 3-5pm. 

Both days have a maximum of 6 participants so get in touch soon if you'd like to come along.

Please get in touch to book on or with any questions at em@emmacolley.co.uk

Best wishes,

Em

I was thinking yesterday, as a result of seeing a tweet around migraines and homeopathy, how nice it is not to have them. In fact I can't really remember when I last had a headache.

From being at primary school, headaches and migraines were always 'my thing', and, whilst Beta Blockers dampened them down for a whilst over my A level exam period, really the only solutions were migraleve, paracetamol combined with neurofen, possibly a bit of vomitting and a dark room to sleep in. Not, really, the best of fun.  My journey to banishing them with homeopathy did, to be honest, take some time - but not nearly as long as I'd suffered with them for, and to be free from them now is worth every day of it.

Would I have got there with just conventional medicine? My inner wisdom says no, really anything I took for it then was merely to palliate the problem, not to resolve it longer term.  My feeling is that conventional medicine can be great at that - the short term fix (as well, of course as many life saving interventions) but when it comes to deeper, gentler healing, there's not much that I know of as effective as the magic that is homeopathy.