We are absolutely delighted to announce that the My Hair Care Nightmare Documentary Crowd Funding campaign is kicking off on Monday 3rd September, and we’d absolutely love for you to be involved.

We’ve teamed up with Tola Okogwu of My Long Hair Journey and filmmaker Sheila Marshall to answer the question: Are Black Hair Care Products Safe? We aim to highlight the recent research which showed that 80% of black hair products tested contain endocrine disrupting chemicals and ingredients linked to asthma.

Our goal is to educate and empower women caring for Afro textured hair so they can make an informed decision about the products they choose to buy and use. The film also seeks to highlight alternative and safer brands so that consumers realise they have options.

We’d very much appreciate you supporting our crowd funding campaign by making a donation and helping us spread the word so we can raise the funds to make this film a reality.  We want to make a big splash and create a buzz this week.  If you can please post about the campaign on your social media platforms and let your networks know, that would be great. We started a hashtag #MyHaircareNightmare where people can share their hair and product stories.

The link to our Indiegogo Campaign Page is https://igg.me/at/myhaircarenightmare

We’ve included some images and videos in the Dropbox folder below. Please use #myhaircarenightmare and tag us @myhaircarenightmare (Instagram) and @myhaircarenigh1(twitter).

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ek76ijvmyx8hzej/AADUvB3z4Vrz70lLdSkLzrXra?dl=0

Don’t have time to create a post? Have no fear, below are some suggested posts.

• Are your hair care products safe? My Haircare Nightmare documentary aims to find out. Support @myhaircarenightmare (Instagram)/ @myhaircarenigh1 (twitter) Indiegogo campaign to help make this film happen. https://bit.ly/2NwnOJm #MyHaircareNightmare #HaircareNightmare

• We’re supporting @myhaircarenightmare (Instagram)/ @myhaircarenigh1 (twitter) indiegogo campaign because 80% of hair products marketed at black women contain potentially harmful ingredients. Be part of the REVOLUTION by giving at https://bit.ly/2NwnOJm. #MyHaircareNightmare #HaircareNightmare

Want to have a bit more fun? Then share your #HaircareNightmare story.

–       Tag your friends, nominate other people. Help us to get the conversation going
–       Your post could make all the difference

What We Know

Research published in April in Environmental Research found that 80% of black hair products in this study contain endocrine disrupting (EDC) and asthma-associated chemicals. A second study published in 2017 by researchers at Rutgers University found a link between breast cancer and the use of hair dyes and relaxers and a research study published in 2012 identified a small link between fibroids and relaxers.

We surveyed 215 black women and 86% of respondents were very concerned and 13% of women were concerned about the main conclusion of the study published in April.

63% of women in our survey stated they didn’t feel able to identify the chemicals, that researchers stated may be cause for concern, and a further 30% stated that they can only sometimes identify these chemicals.

The most recent Nielson Beauty & Personal Care Report stated that black women spend nearly nine-times more than their non-black counterparts on hair products, demonstrating a high quantity of product consumption, which means exposure to any chemicals could be high and long-term.

More Information

We really appreciate your support! Let’s make a difference and once and for all get to the bottom of this issue. For more information please email info@lakehealthandwellebing.com and you can also sign up to the My Haircare Nightmare mailing list here

Looking For Organic Black Hair Products?

Check these brands out:

Afrocenchix
Almocado 
Camille Rose Naturals
Pure Goodnes
Root2Tip
Shea Butter Cottage
Shea Decadence
Yaphene
CARA B Naturally – Natural Products for African American babies

And view some more on Amazon – Organic Black Hair Products

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Disclosure: this post contains an affiliate link. Find out more here

We just finished reading Flow Fighter: How I Kicked My Fibroids and Heavy Periods to the Curb by Holly Bridges. We thought this was a very insightful and informative book that not only explores the personal experience of the author but that of other women, young and old, with fibroids, endometriosis and heavy menstrual bleeding. In this book we also hear from gynaecologists, young doctors, women’s health advocates and sexual health experts and through all these perspectives readers are given a comprehensive view of the fibroids experience.

We were also taken on an educational journey with the author having conducted extensive research into fibroids, other gynaecological conditions and heavy menstrual bleeding. The book explains, in detail, the latest warnings from the FDA and Health Canada on laparoscopic power morcellators and the drug Esmya. Helpfully and impressively we’re provided with:

• Timelines that provide context and background to these warnings,
• Letters, quotes, summaries of research, recommendations and reports from all interested parties on both sides of the argument of these warnings – the FDA, Health Canada, gynaecologists and other government agencies

The above facts were interspersed with commentary from the author which gave us some good background into both issues.

Our educational journey continued with a reminder of the structure and function of the women’s reproductive system, what fibroids are and what constitutes heavy menstrual bleeding.  The book covered all the treatment options for fibroids and what their pros and cons are. The author also reflects on the injustices that exist with respect to women’s health where the lack of focus on conditions like fibroids mean:

• There are still major gaps in research;
• There is a significant delay in the diagnosis of many women leading to years of unnecessary suffering;
• There is no clear understanding of the cause of fibroids and the best approaches to treat women;
• We have a healthcare system that is not patient-centred leading to women feeling isolated and confused.

Author Holly Bridges also discusses the reasons why hysterectomies are so common, why doctors recommend invasive treatments over non-invasive approaches, and why this needs to change.

At the core of this book is the message that women need to be empowered with all the information they need to make an informed decision about their treatment.

The format of the book is useful with many chapters ending with a list of takeaway messages. In addition, the author, throughout the book, refers readers to useful resources. These include books, research papers, videos and websites.

The book ends with a chapter entitled ‘Empowering Our Daughters’ which we thought was very important section because there is a need to ensure that the generations of women who follow have a better experience.

The only topic that we felt was missing was a discussion on the impact of diet, exercise and environmental toxins on fibroids. This was touched on very briefly and there was recognition at the end of the book that this is an area that requires some attention and the author will be exploring this in the future.

This was a very interesting and informative book and we recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about the experience of women with fibroids and how we can move forward and ensure that women get the best care possible.

You Can Claim A Discount on this Book

We’re delighted to say that Holly Bridges is offering a 20% discount on her book to all our blog readers. To claim your discount, visit her website and use the discount code LakeHealth at check out.

Also, the first few people who register to attend our fibroids self-care webinar in October will be entered into a giveaway and one lucky person will win a copy of the book.

Have You Read Flow Fighter?

Have you read this book? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Please leave them in the comments section below or send us an email

Disclosure: this post contains an affiliate link. Find out more here

We love collaborations and are so delighted to have teamed up with the family business Almocado for our upcoming fibroids self-care webinar series.  As a sponsor of our webinar series Almocado will be offering those who attend our webinars a 20% discount on their hair and body products – yay!

About Almocado

Almocado is a small family-run business based in the UK who we discovered several years ago. Almocado was founded in April 2010 and create artisan hair products for curls, kinks and coils which are handmade with love, you can tell by the way each order is packaged with care – sometimes a surprising free sample is included or a note that expresses that love – we really appreciate their personal touches.

Not only do they create hair products, but their collection includes skincare products and they are certified Sisterlocks consultants.

The founder and CEO of Almocado is the lovely Annette Clark-Headley who is very warm and friendly and has a truly inspirational story.

Annette is a British-Barbadian who graduated from the very prestigious Cambridge University and started her career in the fast-paced world of investment banking. It was during this time that she started exploring holistic therapies becoming passionate about wellness and stress management which led her to receive training in this area.

“In a nutshell, the company was birthed to fulfil a desire I have to provide holistic solutions (hair care, skin care, emotional & physical wellbeing) to the community.” – Annette Clark-Headley

Not long after starting Almocado, in July 2010, Annette was diagnosed with Alopecia Totali and by October 2010 she was completely bald. This was a difficult time for Annette personally and professionally, and professionally she was deeply concerned about whether her business would survive – could someone bald succeed in the hair industry? Annette rose to the challenge and refused to let her baldness act as a barrier to her business success and continued to spread the message of love and acceptance as the basis for cultivating healthy hair.

As an Oxbridge graduate she utilised her research and analysis skills to identify effective natural ingredients and by bringing together nature and science she has created products of the highest quality that have made her business an award-winning one.

Why Almocado?

We love Almocado and teamed up with them for a number of reasons. Firstly, they are a brand that truly cares about the health and wellbeing of their customers – their products are hand-made, paraben free, natural and organic.  In addition, their products are safety assessed and meet the stringent EU regulations. All of this means that their products don’t contain endocrine disrupting chemicals which many women with fibroids are keen to avoid.

Furthermore, the genuine interest the team at Almocado have in their customers’ wellbeing means they regularly host open-house events at their studio so they remain attuned to the needs of they customers, we also like that they go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure their customers are satisfied and it’s nice to see that they donate a percentage of their sales to Alopecia UK.

We just really like that love is the foundation of their business, and it’s genuine, as it is evident in everything they do.

Products We Love

We’ve been using Almocado’s products for quite a few years now and our two favourite products are their Avocado Honey Hair Milk and their Cherry Vanilla Moisture Mist

Avocado Honey Hair Milk

The product description states that:

“This luscious easily absorbed treatment is what your precious coils have been crying out for. Rich in moisturising soy lecithin and honey and packed with Pro-vitamin B and Silk Protein, the Triple Treat Moisture Milk strengthens, moisturises, improves manageability and reduces breakage while delivering botanical extracts and nutrients to the hair shaft.”

We can attest to this, this is a great moisturiser leaving our hair feeling soft and hydrated.  Once we purchase it, we pretty much use it daily, but since moving to St Kitts it’s harder for us to get products shipped to us so we’ve been rationing our last order!

Cherry Vanilla Moisture Mist

On Almocado’s website they say about this product:

“Think of this as a conditioning berry-tastic hair tea! Carefully blended with natural Aloe Vera and herbal extracts to refresh and hydrate without feeling sticky or greasy.”

All we can say about this fantastic hair mist is: wow! It smells divine and is perfect for adding some much-needed moisture to kinky hair. It’s just beautiful, we think of this product as a special treat for our hair and try to savour every drop of it. This product has the added benefit, for us at least, of having an aromatherapy effect, the smell just relaxes and soothes us…hmmm.

Thank you

We’d like to say a big thank you to Annette for supporting our webinar series, we’re so grateful. We’d also just like to thank and acknowledge her for being such an inspiration and fantastic role model for black women in business. She does business the right way, with kindness, dedication, excellence and integrity; we applaud her and wish her continued success with her business.

More Information

You can find out more about Almocado on their website here.

You can find out more about our webinar series and sign up to the first session on fibroids, diet and hormones led by Le’Nise Brothers, the founder of Eat Love Move, on our website here

We are delighted to let you know that registration for our Fibroids Self-Care Webinar Series is now open! Our series starts on Saturday 27th October at 11am AST/4pm GMT with a session led by Le’Nise Brothers, a Registered Nutritional Therapist and the Founder of Eat Love Move.

Le’Nise will deliver a webinar on Fibroids, Diet and Hormones giving attendees the opportunity to learn about the role that hormones play in the development of fibroids and how simple changes to your diet may improve symptoms.

Discounted Early Bird Tickets Are Now Available

Early bird tickets for this webinar are now available and are just $10 (about £8) and you can book your tickets on Eventbrite 

We Have A Special Giveaway Just For You

We’re pleased to let you know that the first 10 people who register for this webinar will be entered into a giveaway and one lucky person will win a copy of the book ‘Flow Fighters – How I Kicked My Fibroids and Heavy Periods to the Curb’ by Holly Bridges.

We’re also delighted to have formed a partnership with OH Services who will be launching their ‘Emotional Impact of Fibroids’ online course in November 2018.  The first 10 people to register for our webinar on 27th October 2018 can claim a £5 discount on the cost of the OH Services course.

Other Webinars in this Series

Other webinars in the series will include:

Session 2: Deciding on the Best Treatment For You, Apryll Chase, Consultant Gynaecologist, 5th December 2018

Session 3: The Importance of Exercise, Relaxation and Me-Time, Candice Bryan, Founder and CEO, Noire Wellness, 23rd February 2019

Session 4: Hair and Body Care for Women With Fibroids, Rachael and Jocelyn, Founders of Afrocenchix, April 2019 (To be confirmed)

Session 5: Dealing with the Emotional Impact of Fibroids, Olivia Haltman, Founder, OH Services, June 2019

Session 6: Our Fibroids Stories – A Time to Share, August 2019

More Information 

We hope that you’ll join us on 27th October for this really interesting online event and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at events@lakehealthandwellbeing.com or visit our Eventbrite page

Disclosure: this post contains an affiliate link. Find out more here

Our gardening and health series is back and Abi Begho, in this two-part blog, focuses on fruit trees. In this article she discusses her sour orange and mango trees.

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I have really been enjoying my gardening journey, it has been fulfilling and rewarding in so many ways. I’ve grown enough okras and tomatoes to keep us going for months, overcome the challenges of growing peppers and delved into the world of sweet potatoes. This has given me a new-found love of the outdoors and provided an outlet to relieve stress, unwind and relax. I can’t begin to express the significant impact that just five minutes in the garden has on improving my mood and lifting the heaviness of a bad day. It’s been fabulous.

In my previous blogs I have covered vegetables and fruits that I have grown from seeds or cuttings, but in today’s blog  I want to focus on the lovely fruit trees that we inherited from the previous owners of our house.

We moved to St Kitts about ten months ago and when we moved into our new house we were just so happy about the fruit trees that came with it, and we have thoroughly enjoyed exploring each one of them, and they are:

• Sour orange
• Mango
• Soursop
• Guava

Today I am going to focus on our sour orange and mango trees.

Sour Orange

You may know sour orange by another name,  such as bitter orange, Seville orange, bigarade orange or marmalade orange.

It originated in south-east Asia and was believed to have been taken to Arabia in the 9^th century and then made its way to many countries in the years to follow. An interesting fact about its journey around the world is: it was the first orange to arrive in the Americas.

Sour oranges, to me, taste like a cross between an orange and a lime. They are too sour to eat on their own but that hasn’t stopped them from being used in many recipes – its juice and peel are the key ingredients in marmalade, its oil is used as flavouring, its fruit is used in the preparation of liqueur and the dried peel is oftentimes used as a seasoning. And, just about every part of the plant itself  (the flower, leaf, fruit, juice and peel) has been used for medicinal purposes  but caution is needed as bitter orange supplements have been found to be “possibly unsafe”, especially if taken in combination with caffeine which can lead to high blood pressure, heart attack, fainting etc.

Our Sour Orange Experience

When we arrived, our sour orange tree was laden with fruit and continued to produce fruit for a couple of months and then stopped for several months and now, about 8 months later, copious amounts of fruit are starting to appear again.

For us, we have kept it very simple with our sour oranges and have used them to make a refreshing juice, very similar to lemonade but with more of an orangy-lime flavour (delicious!). The trick to making the juice is getting your proportions of sour orange juice, water and sugar just right. After several tries, I think I mastered it. I found that the juice from two medium sour oranges mixed with 1L of water and sweetened with 1-2 tablespoons of sugar makes the perfect drink, we couldn’t get enough of it and were so sad when we had used up all our fruit. We can’t wait to make some more juice when the current batch of oranges ripen.

Mango

When we first saw the mango tree in our garden it looked like it was on its last legs – the leaves were brown and dropping, in what seemed like large numbers. We kept looking at the tree and thinking: ‘is it going to survive?’, but then a few months later there was a re-birth. We noticed new leaves, and the tree started to look really healthy. Then, in March, we were so excited when we noticed lots of little flowers and it was at that point that we knew we were going to be inundated with mangoes. And, sure enough, a few months later, in May, our tree was absolutely covered with young mangoes (yay!) and in June we had so many mangoes we honestly didn’t know what to do with them. We started giving bags of them away and we’ve also frozen bags, and bags, of mangoes, and still they keep coming, so we’re probably going to run out of space in our freezer soon.

So far, apart from eating the mangoes as is, we’ve made a lot of smoothies. We’ve tried the simple, so almond milk, banana and mango (nice), then moved on to adding pineapple (very nice) and then added some spinach (not as nice). We then tried mango, strawberry, banana and almond milk and that was delicious, the best so far.

I continued experimenting with recipes and made a  mango tart/pie (same concept as a French lemon tart, but I used almond milk to make it a bit healthier) and it was absolutely delicious. All I can say is thank God for the internet, I pretty much combined three recipes to get what I had pictured in my mind (I wanted a mango pie with a key-lime pie/lemon tart consistency) and it turned out much better than I expected. I highly recommend it.

Next I would like to make dried mangoes because I have liked buying them in the past as a quick and easy snack.  I’m also contemplating making mango ice-cream as I found a very straightforward recipe online. I will let you know how it all goes!

At the moment I have to admit that I am getting a bit tired of mangoes – we have waaay too many and as I type I have about 10 more that dropped overnight that I need to get from the garden. This is truely mango overload!

Mangoes are very well-known so I won’t say much more about them except that I have discovered so many creative, simple recipes that we wouldn’t have come across had we not had an abundance of mangoes to experiment with.  So,  if you’re looking for something tasty, healthy and tropical then mangoes are a great option as they are very versatile.

Next Time

Our fruit trees have really been a blessing and we’re enjoying experimenting with various recipes. It has been fun. In my next blog I’ll tell you about the final two trees, our soursop and guava trees.

See you next time and happy gardening!

Previous Blogs

If you missed the previous blogs in this series you can read through them here:

1. Improving Our Health and Wellbeing Through Gardening: An Introduction
2. How I Got Started
3. Growing Tomatoes
4. Growing Okra
5. Growing Peppers

You Can Get In Touch

Are you a gardener? Are you new to gardening or an experienced gardener? We’d love to hear your story and experiences with gardening and how its impacted your health and wellbeing.  You can email us at info@lakehealthandwellbeing.com with your experience and we’ll include it in this blog series.

We love attending health conferences. They’re a great opportunity to discover the latest advances in the field, learn something new and meet interesting people. Since moving to St Kitts about 10 months ago we haven’t had the opportunity to attend any conferences and so when we learnt that the 63^rd Annual CARPHA Health Research Conference was going to be held right here in St Kitts, we jumped at the opportunity and registered immediately and started counting down the days until conference day.  In today’s blog we’re going to share some of the highlights of the conference from our point of view, but first, you may be asking: who or what is CARPHA?

CARPHA – Who Are They?

CARPHA stands for the Caribbean Public Health Agency and they are the only regional public health agency in the Caribbean. They provide strategic direction  in analysing, defining and responding to the public health priorities set out by CARICOM in order to prevent disease, promote health and respond to threats to the public’s health and emergencies. Their programme of work falls in the following categories

• Emergency responses to disasters (hurricanes, earthquakes, flooding),
• The surveillance and management of non-communicable diseases (NDCs) that have reached epidemic proportions such as obesity, cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
• The surveillance and management of communicable diseases (CDs), including HIV / AIDS; re-emerging diseases, like tuberculosis in association with HIV/AIDS; and new communicable diseases that are now endemic in the region
• The surveillance and prevention of injuries, violence and job-related illnesses.
• Contribution to global health agreements and compliance with international health regulations

CARPHA Conference

Every year CARPHA hosts their health research conference which provides Caribbean researchers, at every level, with the opportunity to showcase their work and disseminate their research findings.  This provides the perfect environment to determine how cutting-edge research can contribute to the development of effective evidence-based policies, programmes and practices to tackle the Caribbean’s health challenges.

This year’s conference was the 63^rd conference, making this event the longest running health research conference in the English-speaking Caribbean and it brought together policymakers, researchers, health professionals and public health officials from the Caribbean, Latin America, North America and Europe.

The theme for this year’s conference was ‘Sustainable Health Systems for Economic Growth, Development and Wealth.’ The aim of the conference was to provide an opportunity to raise awareness of Caribbean research that can provide the evidence and information to create stronger health systems in the region.

The conference was a three-day event, packed full of presentations, concurrent sessions, panel discussions, feature lectures, poster presentations and an exhibition, giving attendees an engaging, informative and diverse experience.

Our Conference Highlights

The conference on a whole was excellent, there was something for everyone, but for us certain presentations and pieces of work, really stood out for us. These included:

Assessing the impact of the Barbados Sugar Sweetened Beverage (SSB) Tax on Grocery Store Beverage Sales – with many countries  around the globe introducing a sugar tax it was interesting to hear about the experience in the Caribbean. This presentation summarised the findings, so far, from the introduction of a 10% tax on SSBs in Barbados in August 2015. It was promising to hear that following the tax there was an increase in water purchases, a 4.3% reduction in SSB purchases and a 5.2% increase in the purchase of non-sweetened drinks. It was interesting to note that the decline in SSB purchases was in expensive drinks and there was evidence that consumers were switching to cheaper SSBs.

Diabetes Distress and Diabetes Self-Care in Barbados – this presentation was insightful as we had never come across the term diabetes distress, which refers to the emotional impact of diabetes where patients may experience fear, frustration and guilt. It was interesting learning about this and how promoting self-care and self-management may address this issue.

Obesity and Weight Misperception Among Adults in Eastern Caribbean– this was a very well-presented and engaging talk that explored the extent to which people misunderstand their weight. Researchers found that in their study weight misperception was very common with the majority of people  under estimating their actual weight. This is a problem because it means that people who are overweight or obese don’t realise it, and if people don’t realise they have a problem with their weight they won’t take steps to address this. This leads to people remaining at risk of a number of health issues when they needn’t be. You can find out more about this study here.

Our Voices: Women’s Perspectives on Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening and Treatment in the English-speaking Windward Islands – this presentation really struck a chord with us as we conducted a similar piece of work exploring black British women’s beliefs about breast cancer and their help seeking behaviour. It was interesting to hear that their findings were very similar to what we found around fear, fatalism and stigma

Finally other highlights for us were, being new to the Caribbean, it was just wonderful meeting people, exploring the important health issues in the Caribbean (e.g. NCDs and mosquito borne diseases) and learning about interesting projects like ECHORN, the new Caribbean Cancer Registry Hub and The Seth Fund, as well as innovative methods of care like that being delivered by the Caribbean Cancer Centre Network – a partnered care hub and spoke model.

In Conclusion…

This was three days well-spent and a great introduction into the research being conducted in the Caribbean. We highly recommend this conference to anyone in the Public Health field and we look forward to next year’s conference. Every year the conference is hosted on a different Caribbean island, and we’re also looking forward to the announcement of which of the beautiful islands will host the conference next year.

More Information

To find out more about this year’s conference you can visit the conference website here and you can learn more about CARPHA here

Today we’re delighted to have a guest blog post by Constance Ray, the founder of Recovery Well, on getting back on track after substance abuse relapse.

Contance Ray started Recoverywell.org with the goal of creating a safe place for people to share how addiction has affected them, whether they are combating it themselves or watching someone they care about work to overcome it. The goal is to share stories of hope from survivors who know that the fight against addiction is one worth having, because no matter how it affects you, life can get better.

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Many people understand the battle against substance abuse; for millions of people, drugs and alcohol play a big role in relieving stress, anxiety, and the symptoms of depression, but unfortunately, substances only contribute to the problem–or exacerbate it. Because using drugs or alcohol to cope only numbs the issue and doesn’t get rid of it, many individuals find that after making the decision to live a sober lifestyle, they are unable to deal with their feelings in a healthy way, which leads to a relapse. This can in turn lead to guilt, shame, and even thoughts of suicide.

That’s why it’s so important to learn how to cope with stress, anxiety, and depression in ways that will make you feel strong and empowered. Having the support of your friends and/or family will go a long way, as will working to get your body healthy. This will allow you to see that even after a relapse, you have the power to turn things around for good.

Keep reading for some great tips on how to get healthy after suffering a relapse.

Seek professional help

One of the biggest keys to living a sober life is realizing that you can’t get there on your own. It’s imperative that you seek professional help so that you can address any physical or mental health issues that may be underlying. Starting at the root of the problem will help you find success much more easily when it comes to staying sober.

Forgive yourself

True recovery is impossible without the ability to forgive yourself for past mistakes. Understanding that all humans have inner struggles–and deal with them in different ways–will help you come to a place where you can love yourself, and therefore heal. Consider practicing yoga and/or meditation, which will incorporate mindfulness into your day. Learning to focus your mental energies on positive things rather than worry or stress will help immensely when it comes to your recovery.

Come up with a plan

It’s important to have a plan in place when it comes to your sobriety. Creating a step-by-step plan–as well as a routine to get there–will help you stay on track and find daily motivation for sobriety. For instance, you might set some small goals, such as working out every day or eating healthfully, and create a routine to make that happen. Having a plan in place will allow you to feel in control, which is important to many individuals in recovery.

Take up a hobby

Having a hobby can be hugely beneficial to those in recovery. Not only is it good for your mental health, it can help you get active, stay social, and will provide structure to your day. For many people who have battled substance abuse, the ability to know what comes next is important. Think about your interests and look online for activities that you’ll enjoy. Gardening, playing a sport, making art, and rock climbing are all great ideas. For more on how staying active can help your recovery, click here.

Stay connected

It’s common for individuals in recovery to have trouble staying social, especially after suffering a relapse. There may be feelings of guilt or shame involved, or you may be worried that your friends and loved ones are judging you. But having a connection with other people can be a big help for your sobriety, and it will give you a circle of support when things get tough. Make an effort to stay connected to your loved ones, even if it’s only through text messages.

We’re always looking for good public health books to read and have been going through various public health reading lists. One book that kept coming up was Sweetness #9 by Stephan Eirik Clark so we decided to order this book from Amazon and get reading.

Sweetness #9 is a fictional book that focuses on the food industry and explores the impact of additives (in the book they focus on flavour enhancers and artificial colouring) and sweeteners, but the book also touches on issues around food regulation, the approval process and the nature of modern life that leads to the demand for processed, easy to prepare meals. This was an interesting read that opened us up to the possible reality of the inner workings of the food industry and the fact that we’re unlikely to be fully aware of, nor understand, what has been added to the processed foods we eat and the long-term effects of these additives.

Sweetness #9 takes its readers on a 39-year journey as we follow the life of the main character, David Leveraux, who starts his career, after graduating from a food science program with a MSc, as an eager Flavourist-in-Training at a leading global food company. His new job starts well, and he is assigned to the Animal Testing division where his role is to test the long-term toxicity of an artificial sweetener called Sweetness #9 (the testing is a legal requirement before FDA approval can be granted). Whilst conducting these studies on Sweetness #9 David notices some side effects in both rodents and monkeys. Feeling conflicted he isn’t sure what to do, but he eventually reports this to management, but this doesn’t go well, and he ends up being dismissed from the company. This leaves him feeling disillusioned and he wonders what to do with his knowledge of the effects of the sweetener: should he report them to the authorities or not? David keeps quiet and life moves on, but as the years go by Sweetness #9 is approved by the FDA and it is in everything from soft drinks to toothpaste. David continues to feel conflicted especially as he observes, over the next 30 years, society changing, including his own family, who consume a lot of Sweetness #9. The public is gaining weight, ADHD is identified and seems to be on the increase, and anxiety and generalised dissatisfaction is rampant – all these effects are the same effects he observed years before in the rodents and monkeys exposed to Sweetness #9.

Through the main character of David we explore how families’ eating habits have changed in the modern era, how food is manipulated and the politics behind food. We see food scientists question the intentions behind the decisions being made in their industry – why are we really making children’s medicine that tastes like bubble gum and candy apples? Here’s an interesting exchange from the book, although this is fiction you can imagine this type of conversation happening.

                  “I just don’t know if we should be doing this.”

                 “What?”

                  “Making it like candy.”

        “Children’s medicine? So, this is political, is it?”

         “What if kids start trading them on the playground?”

“This is why we have nurses. To dispense medicine. Or are you for sick children now? Hardly a platform I can   support.”

“All right, all right. You’ll have a new formulation by the end of the day. But when I’m called before Congress to explain how America’s children came to be like fatted calves, standing there ready and compliant for the next Rasputin, it’s your name I’ll say while leaning into the microphone.”

This was a scenario where a young flavourist is convinced to make children’s anti-psychotic liquid medicine taste like wild cherry to appease a multi-national pharmaceutical company and thus ensure they keep said company as a client.

A story that ran through the book was one based around Hitler, we struggled at first to see the relevance of this story-line but it all come together nicely at the end, we won’t spoil it for you.  I don’t know how true to life this story-line is, but we did find bits of it fascinating.  In the book, flavourists were recruited during the war, as food was scarce, to create meals that would allow military leaders to have the sensation of having a gourmet meal. So, using meagre resources and their knowledge of chemistry they mimicked food textures and flavours so perfectly that leaders felt they were eating the real thing. Also, in the book, flavourists were recruited during the war for other reasons, to fight the enemy in a subtle way. So, the book really gave a wide-ranging look at the role of flavourists in society.

This was an interesting read and forces readers to reflect on the food we eat and how additives and sweeteners could be affecting the health and wellbeing of our society.

Want to read this book too? You can purchase a copy on Amazon, see options below.

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Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links. Find out more here

In today’s blog we are delighted to hear from  Angèle Mbarga the founder of Fibrome Info France. Angèle shares her personal experience with fibroids, explains why she started Fibrome Info France, talks a bit about the situation in France and discusses the excellent work her organisation is doing to support women with fibroids. 

I had a surgery by laparotomy in 2010. In January 2011, when creating the association Fibrome Info France, I had no idea just how vast my job would be. The only thing I was sure of was the absolute need to have a place of healing dedicated to women suffering from uterine fibroids. This shelter will be their place where they would find a sympathetic ear and be able to share their own experience in a mutual aid environment. I had the vision of a modern sisterhood where every woman physically injured and hurt in her inner self, intimacy can henceforth stop and they would be able to talk openly, place a word on her pain without any judgement. My objective was to offer to women what had so badly missed in my time when I had to face fibroids for the very first time. Fibrome Info France is my plea a distress call of a woman wrecked by the violence of fibroids.

My fibroids were out of control, disabling and hemorrhagic.  My symptoms were blood clots with throbbing pelvic pains sometimes. Untimely and chaotic bleedings were my sad daily reality. My life was completely turned upside down. I had no menstrual cycle reference anymore. I had no life anyway. Fibroids were killing me softly. Periods and unusual bleeding got mixed up and caught me in an endless, disturbing and distorted cycle in a completely crazy pace. I was in hell! At office, in meetings, when hanging out with friends, in restaurants, in my own car or in common transportation, anywhere. Always this inopportune and incessant flow of blood gushing from me! There were no sanitary pads that could help me out with stopping this. Fibroids gave me no place for neither private nor professional life. It was like holding a time bomb in my womb with the difference that I had no idea when the explosion would happen.

While recovering from my surgery at hospital, I made a promise to myself to help those women with fibroids issues. They should not face the lack of information about this disease anymore. They should not go through the fibroids complications alone either. Once this idea sprouted in my mind I put all resources and forces I had to make it happen as quickly as possible. And in January 2011, Fibrome Info France was born. Our association assists through our support groups, every year we help over 1500 women to overcome their profound distress caused by this disease. Uterine fibroma is a disease that affects the woman in the depths of her intimacy and in some cases affects fertility. Its development and complications vary from one woman to another. But a widely spread cliché makes one  believe that fibroids are asymptomatic hence do not require any specific care. However, witnesses and S.O.S messages received by our association prove the need for information and support of women severely exposed to this disease which has a strong consequences and significant impacts on their intimacy, their professional and social life.

Uterine fibroma is the most frequent non-cancerous tumor that affects women in childbearing age. It represents also the first cause of uterus ablation in France, over 75000 every year. Physicians who are experienced in the care of this condition are of the opinion that African-Caribbean women develop fibroids at a younger age than the average and are prone to a higher rate of recurrence as well. The specific cases of young women who might likely relapse therefore exposed to repetitive surgeries raises the question of the preservation of the uterus and fertility. As the founder of Fibrome Info France, I assess on a daily basis women’s expectations with regards to this disease in order to have a good match with our actions towards them. The key challenge for our association is the information and awareness of women about the symptoms and complications of uterine fibroids in terms of basic prevention. We also provide tangible and lasting actions to improve the care of uterine fibroids and fight against its banalization.

In 2012, our first awareness video was released as well as our first information campaign. Both were financed by myself. In 2013, with the support of the then Ministry of Women’s Rights and the Regional Council of Ile-de-France, an informational leaflet was published. We also launched our second information campaign. In 2014, in partnership with doctors who support our action we developed and informative and supportive guide for patients and for the rest of the medical corps that are still underestimating the impacts of uterine fibroids as well. Around ten centres fully dedicated to diagnose and to the care of fibroids were opened in several hospitals in Paris and in other French provinces. All of our actions aim to respond to the need for information by women suffering from uterine fibroids and the imperative requirement to guide them on their therapeutic path. Our association will turn 7 on June 30!  To celebrate our achievements and alert the public about fibroids’ impacts we will hold an open house day in our premises. We invite anyone who is keen on acting for women’s health and rights to come and join us in our fight to improve the care of uterine fibroids, for the preservation of the uterus and the fertility of women suffering from fibroids.

Angèle MBARGA
Founder
Fibrome Info France

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We would like to thank Angèle Mbarga for sharing her inspirational story with us and applaud her for the fantastic work she has done in establishing Fibrome Info France and providing much-needed support to women in France who have been affected by fibroids. To find out more about  Fibrome Info France you can visit their website or connect with them on social media. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fibrome-Info-France-233050816814726/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fibromeinfofr 

Disclosure: this post contains an affiliate link. Find out more here

On 23^rd May, we attended the St Kitts Marriott Wellness Lunch. This was a lovely event, organised by the hotel for its staff, that aimed to promote healthy eating.

We were invited to have an information table to raise awareness of the work that we’re doing, and it really was a pleasure being at this event. We received a very warm welcome from everyone and had a steady stream of visitors to our information table who were genuinely interested in learning more about our projects and campaigns.

We had some great conversations about a number of health issues and got the opportunity to talk to attendees about the Healthy Caribbean Coalition’s Childhood Obesity Prevention Campaign. This was very well-received with many showing their support by signing the childhood obesity prevention petition which will be presented to Caribbean leaders at the CARICOM heads of governments conference in July. You can find out more about this campaign and sign the e-petition here

We were able to speak to women about our fibroids survey which aims to understand the experiences of women with fibroids so that we can determine if there is a need to develop an awareness and support programme here in St Kitts. From our conversations, we learnt that  many women have been affected by fibroids and we hope that we can, in the future, provide some form of help to those who need it.

Additionally, it was  nice meeting representatives from other organisations such as MASA Assist, Nagico, the National bank and credit union, all doing great work in some form or the other to support the wellbing of the public.

The lunch also gave us the opportunity to showcase our new ‘Be Healthy’ badges which we recently released to encourage a healthy lifestyle. Our badges as well as our key rings, t-shirts, tote bag and mug are available on our new online shop. Please do visit our shop to find out more about these products. You can visit our shop here.

This was a fun event, in the beautiful ball room of the Marriott with some lovely healthy food and great conversation – the perfect way to spend an afternoon! We’d like to say a big thank you to the organisers for inviting us to take part and to everyone who visited our table, we really appreciate all the support and kind words, and we look forward to attending future events at the Marriott.