The issue is fish, mercury and your health. After years of advocating fish as one of the finest foods for man (and sharks), medical doctors suddenly had mercury to contend with. Fish were found to contain mercury and some had levels that were simply unacceptable for human consumption. This has been in the news for some months now, but the November issue of Readers Digest promoted it to the front cover.


The Digest draws our attention to the fact that last year for the first time ever, the FSA (Food Standards Agency) warned fish-eating Britons that some fish might contain unacceptable levels of mercury. Now I don’t want to go into gruesome details of mercury poisoning. Suffice to say it’s capable of damaging babies in utero and can cause neurological disease. On the positive side it served doctors very well in thermometers and blood pressure machines, but the digital age is starting to replace those too. But take it from me, mercury is not good for you. So here is the low down; what you need to know. Which fish have the mercury?

Well, according the Digest the following fish are ‘safe to eat’: Cod, haddock, salmon, sardines, sole, halibut, monkfish, sea bass, sea bream, trout, prawns, crab, scallops and oyster.

The following fish should be limited in our diet, as follows:

Tuna: no more than two sandwiches a day – hey, that sounds pretty reasonable

If you are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, two medium sized tins or one fresh steak a week is enough.

Shark, swordfish and marlin:

The Digest recommends that people under 16, pregnant women and women who are breastfeeding should avoid these fishes all together. For the rest of us, one portion a week is the recommended limit.



Cheer up and WALK!


Now some good news. An early morning walk can cure the ‘blues’. This time it was a lady in a white coat that brought us the good news. The Week reports that according to Professor Marie-Annette Brown, one of the reasons for this is that our bodies really need light to boost our serotonin levels. The other is that moderate exercise invigorates the circulation thereby sending more blood to the brain which helps it feel better about things. How long and how often to walk? Twenty minutes five times a week. They used to call such walks ‘constitutionals’. They were right; now we know why. Other forms of exercise are also good, but the point made by the good professor is that activity outdoors is especially good for us.



Homeopathic Tip of the Week: pregnant women shouldn’t eat shark



Okay so pregnant women shouldn’t eat shark. Perhaps sharks shouldn’t eat pregnant women but sharks are not gender conscious when it comes to food. Pregnant women should be happy and looked after and kept away from sharks as well as ‘sharks’. After labour they should be treated with a lot of tender loving care and given one or both of the following two homeopathic remedies.



Arnica 6: one three times a day.
Bellis perennis 6: one three times a day.


Both of these famous homeopathic remedies has a good reputation for treating bruises – which are inevitable in normal labour.