The Lo-AIDS Diet Plan

Well, I had my appointment today with the Chinese Medicine place, the Gateway Clinic at Lambeth Hospital. I was enormously surprised by them. I got there, filled out a monitoring questionnaire that's obviously for their funders to be able to prove that the clinic has perceived results for the people attending the clinic. After about ten minutes the awful smell of alternative therapies was something I'd vaguely started to get used to, then I went in to see a French doctor in a London Hospital to talk about Chinese Medicine. Where else in the world can you do that? I don't think I saw anyone who looked even vaguely chinese there.

I no-thanksed the medical students (two!) for my initial appointment because you don't know if you're going to burst into tears or anything, plus it's not the big thing you want to talk about to everyone, even if one of the medical students was kinda fit, but it's such a dodgy thing to cruise guys in an HIV clinic, I'm sure. Especially if you're staff.

The doctor talked me through their philosophy, that HIV is a virus, like herpes, so it flares up when you're run-down or stressed and so their approach is to give you as much of an arsenal to get you relaxed and happy as possible. There was a lot of CBT type psychological thinking under the way he spoke to me, but I didn't mind that. I was just touched at having a stranger show something like care towards me. Think that says something about where my head's at lately.

Anyway, he said basically I can come in and get acupuncture every week, for free, forever, and if I'm stressed out, I can go in and get a de-stressing ear-acupuncture any time I like. How good is that? Impressive stuff for the NHS. If they offer herbalist stuff, you do have to pay for that, but they anticipate at most £30 per month. It's practically a gym membership or cable TV, but if it does work, then it's got to be worth something.

I was also given a diet sheet, which of course I'm going to not follow religiously.

AVOID: Alcohol, coffee, tea, red meat, shell fish, sea fish, preservatives, oranges, excess sugar, excess dairy, excess wheat, hot and spicy food and fried food.

EAT PLENTY: Chinese green tea, watermelon, papaya, apple, Chinese cabbage, rice, radish, carrot, beetroot, aduki bean. winter mushroom, freshwater fish, mushroom, asparagus, green leafy vegetables, pineapple, mango, pear, celery, chicory, endive, dandelion leaf, artichoke, corn, millett, mung bean, black fungus, lotus root, cucumber, bitterlemon and barley.

Cripes.