Brett Sanders: dealing with embarrassing bodies

Most people deal with body issues that they find embarrassing, and don't have the courage to ask their GP or friends how they might deal with them. Some of you were courageous enough to step forward and ask Brett, our resident expert last month, about these problems.

So we'd like to thank you for asking the questions on behalf of all of us!

You asked: Have a lot of stress at moment which makes IBS worse and flatulence embarrassing. Could you suggest any thing that will help?

Brett answered: Reducing your stress will be the place to start. Your digestive system is an intricate system that begins with your thoughts and the choices you make about food, then the mouth, the stomach, the colon, and on it goes. However this system only works when your autonomic nervous system is in a parasympathetic state. The opposite to this is a sympathetic state, or a "fight-or-flight" state. If you are in this "fight-or-flight" state then your body perceives that there is a great stress happening, such as a reason to stand there and fight, or to run away from this stress. If this occurs then the last thing your body is thinking about is your digestion - all your brain thinks is, "Let's get away from this stress, and then we can start to think about digesting my food a little bit later on!"

With this in mind you should try to minimise your stress levels which would mean eating a healthy diet that eliminates any possible sensitivities or intolerances so as not to further aggravate the gut - this might mean a very simple diet for a while, - sleeping at least 8 hours a night from 10pm so that you can fully repair physically and mentally while you sleep, and drink plenty of water - your bodyweight in kilograms multiplied by 0.033 in litres of water per day.

Plus, I would suggest that you sit down quietly some time and really analyse where your major form of stress is coming from - is it financial, is it your relationship, is it your home, your job, etc etc? The reason I suggest this is because we have approximately 70,000 thoughts a day, and if you are concerned with an area of your life and are letting yourself get worried about it then this will put you in a parasympathetic state, and no amount of good food or sleep can compete with 70,000 potentially negative thoughts each day.

Once you know where your biggest stress lies, be as positive as you possibly can about it, and go about moving yourself in the opposite direction and towards something that will not be stressful to you.

You asked: How do I get rid of the facial hair permanently? Is there any natural home remedy please.

Brett answered: I'll be honest, I have never had this request before, so I have done a simple search on the web for any natural home remedies for permanent facial hair removal and there are many, many options out there. A lot of them require applying a mask of certain food stuffs, which (as long as you are not allergic/sensitive to any of the foods) I see no problem in someone trying. However, I cannot guarantee their effectiveness or safety and am not recommending that you actually do them!

There is also a hormonal reason behind a person having too much facial hair which is usually caused by excessive male hormones, and of course what we are looking for is balance, in all areas of our physical body. It would be wise before you get any further advice, to have these things tested and then you will know what methods are available to you as a remedy.