I have never given anything up for Lent. Or at least, I never recall getting to the end of Lent have succeeded giving anything up. But this year, I thought I'd see what would happen if I set my resolve to giving up something important

CHOCOLATE

My love affair with chocolate has been going on for decades. There was Terry's Pyramint, and Terry's Chocoate Orange, of course. Ferreror Rocher; no Christmas is complete without one. Nutella; Ferrero Rocher deconstructed and bottled! Then there are all the lovely things in between - chocolate Brazil nuts, anything by Thorntons, mint choc chip ice-cream from Cadwaladers...... A few years ago my husband and I bought a dinosaur sized thick Belgian chocolate egg that made a deep cracking sound when you broke it. We had to start eating it before Easter and we were still eating it about 2 weeks later - gorgeous....

I'm just starting the 3rd week of a chocolate free Lent and I am very surprised that I really haven't missed it very much! I must admit, I did fancy a nice warm hot chocolate when I got into the office on Monday morning, but the replacement peppermint tea seemed to fill the gap. I have avoided the chocolate coated coffee beans and chocolate coated rice puffs that have come in my Graze Box over the last 2 wees too.

After I had my seizure back in July 2009, I went to see a Nutritionist who explained that chocolate is high in copper. High levels of copper are linked with many illnesses, including seizures. So, for a good few months, I ate chocolate sparingly. But, as time has gone on, I've fallen back into bad habits. So, by giving chocolate up for Lent, it's also a good chance to let my body's coper levels balance too.

So, anyway, Easter is on the 24th April, which means that Lent is 46 days this year, not the 40 days and 40 nights, as promised. 14 days down, 32 days to go. Piece of cake....carrot, not chocolate, obviously

From 1 March 2011 the Advertising Standards Authority's online remit was extended to cover companies’ own marketing claims on their own websites and in other non-paid for space they control. This means that complementary therapists all over the country have had to look at their websites with fresh eyes. Even though as Therapists we may know in our heart of hearts that our therapy benefits our clients, we now have to ensure that we do not inadvertently make claims that can not be scientifically substantiated.

The Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council's (CNHC) guidance for Complementary Therapists can be accessed here

So, little by little, I am going through my website and re-reading my website from a different perspective. For example, I have seen reflexology benefit clients with back ache, so in my website I need to ensure that I am clear that reflexology 'could' help and that it is my professional experience that it has helped clients and might help clients in the future.

This has prompted me to look a bit more in depth into the research that has been done into reflexology. It seems to come from countries far and wide. Here's just a small sample that I've found....

• REFLEXOTHERAPY INTERVENTION IN THE TREATMENT OF NON SPECIFIED LOW BACK PAIN By F.M.Kovacs, V. Abraira, G. Lopez-Abente and F.Pozo, Spain

• TREATMENT OF ACUTE LUMBAR SPRAIN WITH REFLEXOLOGY: A REPORT OF TWENTY CASES By Xiao Zhengke, Hospital of Beijing College of Languages.

• Gao, W., Wang, Z., and Liu, H.(1996). "Preliminary Exploration of Treatment for Insomnia." 1996 China Reflexology Symposium Report, Beijing : China Reflexology Association, pages 7-8.

• Reflexions, VOLUME 26, NUMBER 2, April. 2005 Editors: Barbara and Kevin Kunz © 2005 Kunz and Kunz 'Reflexology and insomnia'

• EXPLORING THE APPLICATION OF REFLEXOLOGY FOR THE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF FUNCTIONAL CONSTIPATION By Yang Yu-Ru, Chao Ling-Yun, Meng Guan-Ling, cao Su-wen, Hao Jia-Mo, and Zhang Suhui

• MYALGIC ENCEPHALOMYELITIS By Thomas S. McCreadie, GSSR, Member of the Scottish Institute of Reflexology

• Randomised controlled trial of reflexology for menopausal symptoms, PMID: 12269681

• REFLEXOLOGY TREATMENT FOR MIGRAINE AND TENSION HEADACHES By the National Board of Health Council, Denmark, 1995

• Randomized Controlled Study Of Premenstrual Symptoms Treated with Ear, Hand, and Foot Reflexology by Terry Oleson, Ph.D., and William S. Flocco

During my reflexology training days, we were required to complete 60 hours of case studies. They were extremely intresting and produced interesting results. I've decided that my client feedback forms will now look more in depth at the health benefits or otherwise that clients have noticed since their treatment and develop more contemporaneous case studies so that I can evidence my own practice.

If you would be interested in letting me know more about reflexology research that you have found interesting, please do drop me a line via my contact form.