Q: I want to look at my medical records, but my GP surgery seems reluctant to let me. Can they stop me from seeing them?

A: No. The Data Protection Act 1998 means that everyone is entitled to see their medical records, according to the Patients Association patient’s guide (patients-association.com, tel: 0845 608 4455).

Your records consist of all information relating to your physical or mental health recorded by healthcare professionals, including GP s, hospitals, dentists and opticians, both NHS and private. It also applies to any similar records held by your employer.

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Q: I have macular degeneration and am confused by press reports about Dame Judi Dench, who is also affected, which suggest that the condition could cause blindness. Is this true and is there any treatment?

A: Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD ) is a debilitating and common condition. But the sight can be improved to some extent in most cases, according to consultant ophthalmologist Professor Charles Clark (charlesvclark.com). ARMD is not painful and people affected will not become totally blind, he explains.

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Welcome to the May newsletter where we take a look at new product launches and I tell you about the most outstanding range of hair care products that I have ever used!  With much emphasis in the media on the importance of ‘green’ foods, Shabir investigates the green ingredient that really makes a difference to our health and wellbeing, I write about a product because I like its name (it just happens to be excellent too, of course!) and we bring you all the very latest from the VH Editorial Team.  I’ll also be reporting on compromised skin conditions, news, feedback and (tra-la-la) Ms Josephine Fairley’s new book.  Let’s go:

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Millions of people worldwide suffer from diseases associated with poor circulation. Varicose veins, Spider Veins and Haemorrhoids are just some of the common circulatory disorders which are directly associated with poor circulation.  Circulatory concerns do not occur in a day. They are often a result of poor dietary and lifestyle choices, although they may also be associated with the ageing process.   Poor circulation primarily affects the legs and feet, however the implications of poor circulation are widespread and severe and the numerous concerns associated with poor circulation also include leg ulcers, tired and heavy legs, reduced libido, persistent wounds and infections, Restless Leg Syndrome, shortness of breath, mental fog, poor memory, dizziness and a lack of energy.

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I have always been fascinated with green foods and particularly with their explosion onto the market over the last few years, so let’s investigate these further to discover the specific integral ingredients that make green foods so popular.

Not so long ago, green nutrition was reserved for those who were serious about their health, often idiosyncratic in nature.  The incredible power of the internet and other forms of media are now constantly reminding us of the benefits of eating green foods such as green leafy vegetables and algae, as well as including green supplements such as Chlorella and Spirulina as part of our nutritional regime.  But what is so special about green foods and supplements?   Aside from their fibre content, green foods are a source of vitamins, minerals together with live enzymes that aid digestion and crucially a rich source of chlorophyll.  They alkalise the body helping to alleviate many digestive disorders especially because our diets lean towards making the body acidic which results in numerous concerns such as poor nutrient absorption, reflux and even cardiovascular disease.   The most notable property of green foods is their ability to detoxify the body of numerous types of toxins including heavy metals from environmental pollution  and this property is attributable solely to chlorophyll and not to their nutritional content.

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Over the years of Beauty Bible, we’ve done a fair bit of travelling:  Jo has countless relations in the States and Oz and now even Sarah (who once upon a time only went as far as a horse, car or train could take her) has been to Australia twice!  (Her about-to-be-husband has a home in Fremantle.)

Our mission, however – whether it’s a short train hop from Hastings to Charing Cross or a major trans-Continental flight across multiple time zones – is to travel happily, so that we can arrive gorgeously.  So as the holiday season looms, here’s what we shared on the subject in our last-but-one book, The Green Beauty Bible – which happens to feature many travel beauty-boosters that you’ll find on VH…

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If you are a dynamic person, who treats life as a race, there is sanctuary to be found in the gym.  Especially if you are of a certain age.  For someone who has long regarded fitness as something that needed to be achieved in record time in order to shed weight (invariably in record time too), it’s liberating to discover that, at a certain point in life, there is more to be gained in challenging your body in kinder, more compassionate ways.

Whether we like it or not, our bodies change shape during our lifetime.  A 50-year-old woman who weighs exactly the same as she did at the age of 20 cuts a very different figure – fuller in some places, angular in others.  Her stomach will be more convex, her waist a bit thicker, her hip-bones less defined, her collar-bones more pronounced, her bust less full and high, the skin on her thighs and arms apt to give a bit with every passing year.  The effect is generally softer and squashier as muscle gives way to fat.  This tendency is independent of, though obviously enhanced by, reduced activity levels in later life.  From your early 20’s, unless you increase your activity level considerably, working out several times a week every week, you will sacrifice about 200 grams (half a pound) of muscle for the same amount of fat every year.  The visible consequence is a spreading middle, bottom and thighs.  And clothes that feel as if they must have shrunk in the drier.  Since fat is a lot lighter than muscle, the woman who steps on the scales and discovers to her delight that she hasn’t put on an ounce may also be mystified to discover she has gone up a whole dress size, or more.

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A couple of months ago, I shared with VH readers some of the tips I’ve gleaned over the years for not piling on the pounds:  what I eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.  (Click here to read it).  But I’ve also picked up many other tips for resisting temptation and ensuring I eat healthily, even when I’m touring or away on business.  I hope – as the bikini season approaches rather scarily fast, and we all start to think about our bodies! – that you might find these useful, too…

•  I always keep plenty of bottled (or filtered) water in bottles, at room temperature – not cold because I don’t like it chilled.  I have trained myself to drink water;  it’s not the most delicious thing in the world, but I know it’s good for me, so I make myself drink it.  It helps keep me filled up between meals, but I don’t drink it with food.

•  I like a curry as much as the next person – no, maybe more!  But I’ve eaten a lot of Indian food in India, when I’ve been on meditation retreats, and I’ve learned that it’s very different to what you’ll find in most Indian restaurants in the UK – which is very high in fat (usually hydrogenated), and often straight from the freezer and microwaved.  I have an Indian friend in London and she has helped me to seek out the kind of Indian restaurant where they use fresh ingredients, fresh spices, and cook from scratch.  There is a world of difference:  ‘fresh’ Indian food is very clean, not a glutinous sloppy mess.  When I eat curry, though, I tend to go for chapatis, naan and popadums.  I used to be terribly brown-rice-and-Woodstock in the 60s, but I’m not big on rice now.

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Q: I would like to do yoga but I’m worried about recent reports that it can be harmful. I have an intermittently dodgy back and am 43. Is it safe for me to do?

A: Yoga is a 5,000-year-old system of postures, breathing and meditation. Like 30 million people worldwide, I’m a huge fan both for its general mind and body benefits and because iyengar yoga [iyengaryoga.org.uk] helped my badly fractured left arm recover strength and suppleness to an extent that astonished the surgeon.

All sports can be harmful if you have a medical condition. ‘Yoga is no different,’ says Josephine Fairley, author of Yoga for Life (Kyle Books, £16.99). ‘But most yoga classes are very hands-on, which means that you will be closely observed and helped by the teacher. Always share details of injuries or conditions that may affect your ability to do certain postures. However, it is always sensible to consult your doctor first.’

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I am a yoga bunny from way back.  (You were more likely to find 12-year-old me attempting Tree pose in my bedroom with a copy of Teach Yourself Yoga at homework time than revising logarithms, that’s for sure.)  Over the years since then, the one nugget of anti-ageing advice that I give out to everyone – aside from recommending eight glasses of water a day and plenty of omega 3s – is to take up yoga.  And in the hope of making yoga a little more accessible for people, I’ve just written a (mumbo-jumbo-free) how-to book, Yoga for Life, which you can now buy signed copies of via VH.

With input from yoga teachers that I admire (and a foreword from the esteemed Simon Low), the book is designed to lead readers gently by the hand through many different yoga poses that are useful and often highly enjoyable for women and men who are forty-plus.  (And indeed, beginners of any age.)  But while it’s certainly perfectly possible to explore the world of yoga with the help of a book – without every crossing the threshold of a yoga centre, or even a draughty village hall – as far as I’m concerned there really is nothing like a class to deepen your practice.

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