Interview with Marian Bourne BSc [Hons], CST, AK, ACE

I was approached by Limara who works for a PR company and offered the chance to ask Marian some questions. Marian is a  nutritional therapist as well as offering other areas of expertise. I thought this would be a great chance for my readers to have a few queries answered, and so I asked on a few bloggers forums for questions to put to Marian.

So  who is Marian? Marian runs the Bourne Practise,

                        The Bourne Practice
Welcome to my practice where I specialise in treating pain and chronic health problems.

Clinical Kinesiology    Nutritional Therapy    Cranio Sacral Therapy

A chronic problem is one which you have probably lived with for a long time and which has not so far responded to treatment.  The likelihood is that you have a complex picture of symptoms and have been to see a lot of doctors and specialists to try and find out what’s wrong.   
The question I ask in my practice is “Why”?  Why do you have the problem? Why, out of the blue, have you woken up this morning with a bad back or a swollen knee or a debilitating headache? 

Finding out the underlying cause of a problem means that treatment can be more effectively targeted. 

Conditions I commonly treat: 
Back pain, Sports injuries, Constipation, Diarrhoea, Chronic pain,  Gastroenteritis, Indigestion, Neck pain, Migraines, Headaches, ME, Sciatica, Thyroid problems, Hormone imbalances, Irritable Bowel syndrome, Chronic tiredness,  Joint pain, 

Sadly I did not get all the questions that I posed  answered, and I am apologise for those of you who took the time to send me interesting questions for whom I did not get an answer. But I appreciate how busy Professional people can be.

The answers are well explained and nicely detailed, so I hope they help.

Qu 1. My grandson cannot eat any dairy, gluten, wheat, nuts, eggs,  kiwis or strawberries and he is not growing or putting on weight. he will be 7 in April and wears clothes for a 3-4 yr old. what would you recommend feeding him on that will help him  grow and put on weight.  They tell us high fat but we cannot think of anything he can eat that fits that criteria. 


Marians answer; Eating gluten free is now relatively easy, most of the supermarkets and good health food shops stock gluten free pastas and flours, you can also use grains such as buckwheat [different family to wheat and doesn’t contain gluten], quinoa and millet as alternative grains. Rice is gluten free so that’s another grain you can use and you can get rice milk and rice yogurt as well.  Instead of nuts, use sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds, just sprinkle them over  any food; if you put the sunflower seeds under the grill for just  a few minutes to go slightly brown, they’re lovely and crunchy and most children love them. Other sources of protein rather than eggs could be fish – plaice, cod, haddock, salmon – lamb, beef and he might be ok with chicken even though he can’t have eggs.




Qu2. I find certain foods upset my stomach giving horrendous pains, cramps and diarrhoea pre menstrually, but I eat the same food the other 3 weeks of the month and I am ok. Why should that be?  


Marians answer;
There is no definitive answer to this one I’m afraid.  There is a hypothesis that because the two hormones, oestrogen and progesterone, have receptor sites in the gastrointestinal tract, there is a change in how your gut functions in response to the hormones  around your period.   Another possibility is that NSAIDs that many women take for period pains may contribute to gastrointestinal pain, cramps and diarrhea. Interestingly, it seems that women who have IBS tend to have much worse symptoms around their periods which seems to suggest that the first hypothesis holds some truth.





Qu3.Is it possible to get rid of headaches just by drinking water? I suffer headaches and I think its from smoking too much...Im always being told to drink water but it doesnt help me. 

Marians answer; Yes and No!  for some people drinking water can be a big help because they have a headache directly related to being dehydrated.    For you, I agree that smoking is most likely the cause because your liver has to metabolise the nicotine and all the chemicals in cigarettes. It’s more likely that your headaches are related to the toxic effects of smoking rather like people get headaches from too much alcohol.



Qu4. Tiredness - no matter how much sleep I get I am still always tired. Is there anything I can eat or drink to boost my energy levels apart from caffeine


Marians answer; This might be a case of cutting things out –  caffeine and sugar – being the 2 biggest culprits of why people get out of bed tired.  Sugar is probably the bigger of the two because our diets are so full of hidden sugars nowadays.

When you eat a Kit Kat, a Mars bar, Ice cream or anything sweet (and totally delicious of course!), your pancreas releases insulin which forces blood glucose levels to fall as the 
glucose is moved into the cells. Each time your blood glucose levels fall [in response to insulin] your adrenal system responds with cortisol.   Over time, when your adrenals have pumped out more and more cortisol, you end up with adrenal exhaustion. 

How many people do you know who eat lots of chocolate and biscuits who say they need it to give them energy but who wake up tired and are permanently exhausted?  

 The long term consequence of “adrenal exhaustion” is that you can end up with low levels of cortisol which lowers your metabolic rate, makes you feel extremely tired and gives you cravings for more sugar.