Bribing kids to study in exchange for their favourite ice cream, targeting your elder sister to finish up some chores for you luring her with her favourite pizza or even getting your friend to come up with a project idea in exchange for your mom’s yummy parathas are in practice everywhere. If you notice, all the foods offered as bribes are mostly processed or fried foods that are loved by one and all. Vegetables or fruits occupy a place nowhere in this category of choices. Try giving your kid boiled broccoli as a treat for their good behaviour and all the goodness would evaporate into thin air immediately. Food, the very source of sustenance and nutrients has been made cheaper and cheaper (in terms of quality and health perspective) by using it as a means for procuring various other things. Angry, sad or happy we immediately reach out for a chocolate bar while there are some others who simply resist eating anything all through the day just to show off their feelings and unhappiness. Whom are we trying to punish here?
Science has never disappointed us and even the most ignorant of individuals must be aware of the fact that fruits and vegetables offer a plethora of nutrients helping individuals become healthier and fitter. Yet there are not many who try heartfully to fulfil the daily required five portions of fruits and vegetables consumption. Advancements have made our life easier and simpler but the very same advancements have also ruined our health to a greater extent. Obesity and overweight rules the world, stress is omnipotent and depression rates are taking the uphill path. There might be several reasons behind depression including genetic origin, some specific event, certain circumstances and unavoidable happenings such as death or lifestyle choices. By lifestyle choices, it also includes the food we eat, the physical activity we do and the kind of life that we choose to live. There is no doubt that consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy and proteins are essential constituents of a healthy life but upcoming data and research now show that healthy eating is advantageous not only to physical health but also to mental health. On the other hand, consuming unhealthy foods that are high in sugar, sodium and fats increase the risk of depression as the brain is deprived of the essential nutrients and the gut also becomes the origin for bad bacteria. Well-being has until now been measured in terms of economic stability, personal achievements and social interaction and food as a resource for well-being has been given little attention till date. A study of more than 12,000 Australians showed that the advantages of eating a produce-rich diet extended beyond physical health. The study showed that for every added daily portion of produce consumed the happiness level increased slightly. When an individual consumed 8 portions of fruits and vegetables a day they gained as much satisfaction in life as someone who had procured a job after being unemployed. The future is not far off when depression patients not only are recommended to visit a therapist for clearing out their mental illness but are also requested to meet a nutritionist who can correct their lifestyle and impart knowledge on the foods that must be consumed for mental well-being. There is a study on 67 depressed patients each of whom were split randomly into two groups-one group received nutritional counselling and the other group received one-on-one support where individuals were assigned to keep them company. At the end of the study period, it was seen that the group that changed its diet felt significantly more happier compared to the other group (https://www.forbes.com/sites/francesbridges/2019/01/26/food-makes-you-happy-a-healthy-diet-improves-mental-health/#11e3361226f8). There are imaging studies that show that brains of people who eat a Mediterranean-style diet seem to be younger, have larger volumes and are metabolically more active than that of people who eat a Western-style diet. They are at a 33% decreased risk of suffering from depression compared to others due to their increased intake of fruits, vegetables, grains and seeds. So, even though you might not need the superpowers of all the fibre and protein the effect of nutritious food on happiness quotient is more than enough to make individuals take better efforts to eat their daily share of produce. Refrain from indulging in doughnuts, baked goods and other processed foods for both short-term and long-term benefits. This will help to increase the nutrients that go to the brain and the good bacteria that grow in the gut! References Can What We Eat Affect How We Feel? https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/well/eat/food-mood-depression-anxiety-nutrition-psychiatry.html Here’s How Food Can Influence Your Mood: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/food-news/how-food-influences-your-mood/articleshow/70788338.cms Boosting Happiness Through Fruits & Vegetables: https://www.readersdigest.co.in/health-wellness/story-news-from-the-world-of-medicine-124371 For someone habituated to gulping down three bananas, a bowl of cornflakes with nuts, some toast with butter and some freshly brewed coffee, cutting off butter or nuts from your diet schedule affects your mind greatly. You feel dissatisfied with the intake routine, your mind prompts you constantly to eat more and you find yourself with lesser energy to do your chores. Most individuals who cut down on their calorie intake ignore these cues and pacify themselves that the body needs sometime to adapt itself to the latest dietary patterns. Logically this seems to fit the bill but practically we are only partly right. Weight loss clinics and techniques have revolutionized the world bringing in people across borders and different parts of the world to places that flourish in achieving weight loss. None can forget the Egyptian woman Eman Ahmed Abd El Aty who flew down to Mumbai for a bariatric surgery and lost more than 300 kg of her 500 kg but sadly died due to other health complications. Crash diets are popularized in the Internet where people give positive feedbacks soon after slimming without knowing the long-term effects. Such is the weight loss craze of this modern world that seeks to lose weight by hook or by crook.
Weight Loss is Not the End but the Beginning For those who cringe with pain and disdain after looking at the diet chart for weight loss, the positive results that follow this excruciating weight loss regimen brings upon sheer joy and confidence. This does not stay long and you find yourself hungrier than before after the weight loss journey but the one good point here is that you are not battling this alone and there are thousand others who feel similarly. A study shows that decreasing calorie intake is likely to spur your hunger hormone ghrelin and boost your appetite. Doesn’t this remind us of our early ancestors who sailed through frequent periods of famine and overfed later to compensate for all the lost energy intake? This ancestral effect might deviate long-term weight loss efforts which has been proved by a long-term research. The study involved 35 morbidly obese patients who underwent a 2-year strict weight loss program. There were 22 women and 13 men who weighed around 125 kilograms on an average and marked as ‘highly obese’ by their physician after which they enrolled themselves to this weight-loss study. The first three weeks of the program involved inpatient training where the participants were put on a rigorous nutritional education, psychological counselling and daily exercise schedules. Four more such 3-week sessions were organized over the entire tenure of the program. All the participants consumed 500 calories less every day than what they were otherwise consuming to maintain their current weight. The calorie-restricted diet was composed of 50% carbs, 30% fat and 20% protein. Participants lost around 5 kilograms within the first three weeks of commemorating the program and about 11 kilograms by the end of the two-year study. One general notion that united all participants included increased hunger sensation after the weight loss effects. That’s mainly because of increased ghrelin (hunger hormone) levels that increased post the weight loss efforts and the decreased energy needs to perform everyday functions such as eating, walking, breathing and even sleeping following a drop in weight measures. A Never-ending Battle The research shows that all fingers point towards regaining lost weight over time making weight loss maintenance a great struggle. Weight loss programs that boast of achieving sharp weight loss in limited time are mostly incapable of maintaining the loss in the long run. Reputed RDNs suggest reducing calorie needs by 200-300 calories per day and exercising regularly to achieve a lower ‘set point’. By adhering to such criteria one can be ensured of long-term weight loss maintenance without much struggle. Dedicate an hour every day to exercise your way to good health. This can include anything that you are passionate about, maybe swimming, tennis, dancing or even kick boxing. To do it right, get in touch with a registered dietitian nutritionist at www.firsteatright.com who can help you achieve weight loss and also ensure that you are equipped to maintain the weight loss in the long run. After months of meticulous planning and preparation you have been following a fitness routine diligently for the last couple of weeks. Be it the rain or sun, night shift or morning shift, festivities at home or yet another normal day you have made every effort to visit the gym, go for a walk or do physical exercise despite your busy schedule. But what if you are down with a running nose or pretty bad cold? This is nothing like your muscle cramp, joint pain or some other serious health problem that there is no choice but to take rest. After all, it’s the common cold and cough with which all of us do all our jobs irrespective of our body condition. If we were to abstain from work just because of a simple cold most of us would not be able to attend office or school 25% times. But this is not sitting at a desk and hitting off the laptop keys or trying to listen to your Mam in the classroom in between your comfy sleeping hours! Exercising needs much energy, strength and will power to perform and how many of you think that you can survive a vigorous exercise session with sickness? Exercising for or Against the Immune System? The rainy season is here and the doctor’s clinic is overflowing with patients suffering from common cold. It’s no secret that exercising is recommended for a great immune system but what remains unclear to many is whether exercising when sick can affect the immune system! If you suffer from heart disease or diabetes it is crucial that you take extra care of your body to avoid glitches in blood glucose or pressure levels due to overstrain. But logically, it seems to be ok to exercise when you have cold or sore throat. While it is not an outright yes, it depends on a general rule postulated by doctors: train moderately if the symptoms are above the neck such as a runny nose or sore throat but if you have symptoms below the neck such as coughing, chest tightness, joint pain or back aches it is best to avoid exercising for a couple of days. Having the flu or fever and trying to exercise is a completely bad idea! This brings us to an important part of discussion where many athletes have this misconception that exercising while having fever helps them sweat out and relieve the pain. Already our immune system fights hard to ward off flu and fever and when we try to exercise we are adding more stress on top of it and making the immune system’s job much more difficult. It was in 1990s that researchers in Australia found evidence that athletes who continued to exercise while having flu developed a form of chronic fatigue syndrome due to attack of the immune system (https://time.com/5167299/should-you-exercise-when-you-are-sick/). In times of sickness, there is a general feeling of tiredness and lethargy experienced by the patient which makes him/her abstain from going to work or doing chores. Exercising at this point of time is not recommended as training will make you feel more tired and fatigue might set in. Muscles ache, body pain is felt greatly and general weakness is observed. It is always better to wait for an entire week before starting to exercise not at your regular pace but slowly. Start with a short walk, go for brisk walks, proceed to moderate-intensity exercises and finally get back to your exercise schedule once you are back to your own self. Just like a fracture or a sprain your body does need the time and rest to get back to its usual self before it can start acting as per your whims and fancies. Listen to your body. It is not a strict rule that you should be in bed all day just because of a light sneeze but you should also realize that you can’t have the same amount of energy as you would if you were not sick! You might be a big-hearted person but it is not necessary that you should spread the infection to others in the gym too. Rather, go for a walk or a light job when down with a sneeze or cold. Exercising is good for the mind as well as the body. Experts recommend doing at least 150 minutes of physical activity to stay healthy while we need to exercise even more to lose weight. Despite all this, when experts do recommend abstaining from exercising in times of sickness it is always better to follow it and take care of our health. After all, our body is the only place we’ve got to live a healthy life! References Should I work out when I am Sick? https://www.popsci.com/work-out-sick/ The Place Where You Spend Your Childhood Days Paves Way for Determining Testosterone Levels1/17/2020
Testosterone, a steroid hormone, is the principle hormone released by the gonads whose levels increase tremendously in males from childhood to adulthood. Such a rise in testosterone levels is necessary for male physical development-such as the emergence of secondary sexual characteristics such as voice register, height and muscle mass. It also plays an integral role in bone growth, muscle size, appearance of pubic hair, sperm production and development of reproductive organs in men. In later life, it might even have a role in balding.
Presently, numerous couples suffer from infertility problems and men are said to be the causative factors almost 50% times. Sedentary lifestyles, inappropriate eating practices and abstinence from performing physical activities are some of the common contributors for rising infertility rates. But testosterone too plays an equally important role in contributing towards fertility. If you think that too much testosterone is good for the man making him all macho and muscular you are absolutely mistaken. Abnormally high testosterone levels in men lead to lower sperm count, shrinking of the testicles and impotence, all of which might surprise you. At the same time, too little testosterone production leads to lower libido, reduced sperm count and infertility problems. There is more to testosterone than what is assumed (that it’s simply a reproductive aid!). Men need optimal levels of this hormone to develop and function normally but we aren’t clear of what ‘optimal’ levels are really! Most of the infertility problems are the result of improper lifestyle practices that can be resolved with the help of reputed dietitians and nutritionists at www.firsteatright.com. Factors that Determine Growth Hormone Levels We simply say that genes determines a man’s testosterone levels which might be altered by dietary habits and exercise routines but a new study suggests that men growing up in challenging environments that house numerous infectious diseases are likelier to suffer from lower testosterone levels later in life compared to those who are brought up in a healthier surrounding. This study comes as a challenge to all theories that propose that testosterone levels are controlled by genes or race. Men are at a higher risk of prostate cancer and high testosterone levels increase the risk even more. Hence, when hospitals screen for risk of prostate cancer in men it is absolutely necessary that it takes into account the man’s childhood environment as well. The research team collected data on height, weight, age of puberty and other health information from 359 men. Their saliva samples were also collected to test for their testosterone levels. A comparison between 5 groups of men were performed-men born and residing in Bangladesh, Bangladeshi men who moved to UK as kids, Bangladeshi men who moved to UK as adults, second-generation UK-born men whose parents were Bangladeshi migrants and UK-born ethnic Europeans. The results showed that Bangladeshi men who grew up and lived as adults in the UK had higher levels of testosterone compared to those who grew up and lived in Bangladesh as adults. Bangladeshi men in Britain attained puberty at a younger age and were also comparatively taller than men who lived in Bangladesh throughout their childhood. The researchers feel the difference in testosterone levels to be the result of energy investment. When men dedicate their energy against fighting infections and strive hard for survival, they miss out on the ability to possess high testosterone levels. But it was also observed that a man’s testosterone levels were not influenced by the surrounding once he reaches adulthood. Hence, living in a poverty-struck area or in some place that requires much efforts to fight infections makes it hard for the man to grow up with normal testosterone levels showing that environment plays a greater role than genes in determining testosterone levels in men. Say ‘CHEESE’ and your lips go wide with a smile. This sounds remarkable for a candid photoshoot or a picture-perfect moment captured on the camera. How about experiencing the same happiness and joy even while consuming this dairy product that has turned out to be the No.1 favorite of a lot many people worldwide? The process of cheese making is thousands of years old though we really don’t know until now the makers of the first cheese. It is believed to have originated when an Arabian merchant accidentally put milk into a pouch while travelling through the desert under the scorching sun. To his amazement, during the night he found that the milk had turned into whey and cheese. It was only from Asia that the art of cheesemaking spread to Europe which now exists as the dairy capital of the world producing some of the finest dairy products available to mankind. To the common man, cheese exists in the form of small cubes or slices that can be readily used in breads but to a gourmet the options are versatile. A look at a classy buffet spread enlightens your knowledge on the ample cheese varieties available making one wonder whether all of which are cheese after all! Everything from the famous Cheddar and Leicester to the Stilton and camembert has its own unique and characteristic taste and flavor. One also needs to remember that to enjoy a taste of every slice of cheese displayed it is essential to choose the perfect slicing method. For instance, Cheddar must be cut into neat little cubes, a hard cheese like waxed truckle must be cut into wedge shapes to enable the person to enjoy all the distinguishing flavors that this variety has to offer and a delicate variety such as the camembert must be cut into equal quarters before cutting each quarter into half for an exhilarating cheese-tasting experience! Of course, reading about these many varieties does indeed makes us all salivate but here comes the main issue-is cheese really bad for health or being a dairy product, does it impart good health on the consume when taken in limited quantities? Easing Health Effects of the Cheese Any milk or dairy product prevails as the top-most source of saturated fat that can increase the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. There are even reports on the increased risk of breast, ovarian and prostate cancer. But we also find recommendation on consuming small portions of cheese every day, especially kids. Presently, eating cheese is more of an indulgence in tasty food rather than a regular part of a healthy diet though 2-3 servings of dairy consumption daily is recommended for good health. To fulfill this however, we have moved far away from simply stopping with milk and curd but moved towards creamier dairy products such as cheese, yogurt and likewise. Data pooled from three long-term Harvard research studies found that researchers did not find dairy intimidating to heart health when compared with the same amount of calories from carbohydrates but at the same time, replacing 5% of calories from dairy fat with unsaturated fat from other sources was linked to a 24% lower risk of cardiovascular disease. We also have data suggesting that when people eat a little bit of cheese every day they are less likely to develop heart disease or suffer from stroke in comparison to those who never or rarely ate it. As suggested previously, cheese, like any other dairy product contains high levels of saturated fat that’s linked to increased risk of cholesterol, atherosclerosis and heart disease. But, cheese also contains abundant calcium, proteins and probiotics that are good for body health. The probiotics decreases the chances of inflammation, the conjugated linolenic acid (CLA) increases the rate of HDL (good cholesterol) while decreasing LDL (bad cholesterol) and the nutrients present add good health. Even a study on elderly people all of whom were devoid of any cardiovascular disease found that those people with a higher recorded level of fatty acids in their blood had a 42% lesser risk of dying from stroke. Besides this, one type of fatty acid in dairy even lowers the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. This doesn’t mean that you go about overloading your tummy with cheese-burst pizzas or cheesy au gratin! Portion control is very mush essential to maintain the goodness of the food product. Enjoy a small piece of cheese as a snack with your whole-grain crackers, fruit or as a salad topping too. But again, the fat content also depends on the type of cheese that is chosen. More fat implies more calories! Cottage cheese is the best as it has the least amount of fat with 1 gram per 28 grams, ricotta has 4 grams per 28 grams, feta/mozzarella have 6 grams per 28 grams while Parmesan, Swiss and cheddar cheese have 7,8 or 9 grams of fat every 28 grams. Limiting portions is also essential to reduce sodium intake as some cheese have as much as 260 milligrams for every 28-gram serving. The underlying message is to enjoy cheese and be at ease with it but the only concern is to limit portion sizes and stick to a healthy, well-balanced diet with regular physical activity to stay fit. References How to Properly Slice Cheese? https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/christmas/food-drink/how-slice-cheese-good-housekeeping-institute-different-types-a8133551.html Is Cheese Healthy? https://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/25/health/cheese-healthy-food-drayer/index.html Eat Cheese, Eggs And Full-fat Milk but Limit Meat: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/aug/21/eat-cheese-and-drink-full-fat-milk-but-limit-meat-says-heart-foundation Eating Cheese Everyday May Actually be Good for You: https://time.com/5048478/health-benefits-eating-cheese/ Health and nutrition have a universal definition, but each person’s ‘healthiest’ level differs depending on the environment, mindset, body and people surrounding us. This makes us aware of the health needs of every person and the areas that need definite improvement to increase overall well-being of the individual. Two persons might weigh the same, be of the same height and do the same set of activities yet their physique is completely different from each other. This is mainly because of the way in which each person’s body assimilates nutrients, processes exercise routines and emotionally remains fit. Given below are the major areas that define wellness of an individual. Environmental Wellness We cannot always choose the environment in which we live, work or play but what surrounds you while you work, sleep at home or the neighborhood as such has a tremendous impact on your health. Taking precautionary measures to keep our environment safe as much as possible and limiting exposure to harmful substances can help to keep you as healthy as possible. Some critical steps to maximize environmental health include: Make your home as healthy as possible by discarding harmful substances such as certain chemicals and items. Always use a non-toxic product to clean anything, keep a door/window always open to maximize air circulation and ventilation, mop floors using disinfectant and wash your hands as much as possible. Spring is an attractive season with blooming flowers and greenery around but can also cause airborne substances to attack our nose through wind and breeze. Runny nose, itchy eyes and sneezing appear out of nowhere indicating the presence of an allergy. Avoid these by staying inside as much as possible and avoid pollens inside the house by washing yourself and your clothes as well once you are back. Changing your bedding and even vacuuming the floor every now and then minimizes allergy attack. Guard yourself against the scorching sun by taking some precautionary measures such as wearing sunglasses, drinking abundant water, restricting activities during early morning/late evening times, wearing hats, full-sleeved dresses and using sunscreen to protect your skin and watching your fitness regimen as you might suffer from dehydration sometime. At the same time, cold winter air can also harm your health. It is recommended to cover yourself well using blankets, socks, slippers and multi-layer clothing to stay warm. An overall combination of sun, wind, pollution and allergic particles can induce breathing difficulty. When an individual is exposed such high levels of unhealthy air, the side effect can last for few months or even years. Emotional Wellness One feels good when he/she has the ability to appreciate the good things. Mentally and emotionally strong people are better equipped to handle difficult situations in life which is also called as resilience. Stay emotionally strong by surrounding yourself with positive people, developing healthy habits, forgive yourself for your mistakes, do good to others every day and feel happy reminding yourself of such acts daily. Avoid stress as much as possible as it impacts your day-to-day functioning and health. A little stress can give you the competitive edge but when it crosses the threshold, the same stress becomes disastrous rather than being helpful. Find easy and practical ways to minimize stress from various techniques and strategies available at www.firsteatright.com. Sleep is what we neglect the most to fit in every activity of ours in the schedule. One often foregoes the fact that sleep is a part of the schedule otherwise it affects a person’s well-being. It helps you stay alert, think well and safeguard mental and physical health. We must refrain from using smartphones once we lie down in our bed and keep our sleep surrounding dark and comfortable to sleep well. Death of a loved one often moves a person into distress and people find various ways out to cope with it. Some take the support of family members while others immerse themselves in work to avoid other thoughts. There is no right or wrong way to mourn but it is necessary to overcome sadness to avoid draining yourself emotionally and sulking into depression. Stay connected with people (for instance, family members, marriage partner, friends, neighbors and so on) as this has a positive impact on well-being and our body functioning too. Physical Wellness Physical wellness is a familiar concept to most of you following the blog articles and there are five main concepts surrounding which our physical health exists. Those include staying active, maintaining a healthy weight, eating a wholesome well-balanced diet, maintaining your metabolism and building healthy habits. Social Wellness The relationship one maintains with the others helps the person sail through the world. Your everyday experiences teach you to how to talk with others, express yourself and build positive social habits. It is necessary to maintain a social network to improve well-being and longevity. One must ensure to take care of himself/herself in the process of taking care of others. This can involve taking short breaks in between, joining some support groups to exchange ideas and find solutions to tackle problems and pursuing hobbies/activities of interest. Environment plays a pivotal role in shaping your activity and weight measurements too. The people surrounding you, where you work and what type of work you do impact physical activity levels. Parents must spend sufficient time bonding with their kids. A parent is expected to be loving, strong, strict, available, sensitive and responsive to his/her kid. A child’s self-confidence and behavior are molded by the strength of the bond between the child and parent. Assign child-friendly jobs to your kid, speak frankly about his/her ideas and goals, work together on a problem, do activities together, take your kid to his/her favorite performances and keep yourself away from mobiles during playtime with your kid. Train your kids to be healthy by setting an example. Eat healthy food and do physical activity regularly and your little one will automatically follow suit. By doing this, you are setting an example for a lifetime! It’s a pleasant wait for the expecting parents to know whether it’s a girl or a boy who is going to bring joy and happiness into their home. Certain countries abroad declare the sex of the baby but it’s a wrongful act in India. The desire for a male child has decreased tremendously with the present generation and in fact, couples nowadays wish for a girl baby. Our genetic makeup determines many of our physical traits, characteristics and attitude. There have been wild guesses on the sex of the baby depending on weird factors such as the expecting mom’s looks, the position in which the baby kicks mostly and also depending on the signs of morning sickness. Science comes to rescue here declaring that a man’s genetic makeup can play an integral role in determining the sex of the baby. This is logical and comes as a welcome relief to all the myths and stories surrounding the sex of the baby. Apart from determining the sex of the child, a man’s weight can even affect obesity risks in his offspring which has been explained in detail at www.firsteatright.com. Centuries-old Discovery A group of researchers did a family tree study which included 927 family trees containing information on more than 5,50,000 people from North America and Europe going as back as 1600. The study predicts that the man inherits the tendency to produce sons or daughters from his parents. A man is likelier to have a son if he has more brothers but more likely to produce a daughter if he has more sisters. Sadly, the same relationship between sex of the siblings and sex of the offspring was not found in the case of women. Male to female ratio remains fairly balanced which means that on the whole, men deliver an equal amount of ‘X’ or ‘Y’ chromosome, but it is the shift in balance in certain couples that favors only boys or girls. Women only pass the ‘X’ chromosome always and it is men who pass either the ‘X’ or ‘Y’ chromosome determining the sex of the fetus as a girl or boy respectively. An X chromosome from mom and another X chromosome from dad make a baby girl (XX) while an X chromosome from mom and a Y chromosome from dad make a baby boy (XY). It is the number of men with the X chromosome to the number of men with the Y chromosome who affect the sex ratio of children born every year. There have been various theories put forward such as the difference in time in the woman’s monthly cycle to the period until which sperms wait in the testicle which determines the ‘X’ or ‘Y’ chromosome produced by the father. The study shows that every gene consists of two parts called as alleles and each of the allele is inherited from either parent. Men are likelier to carry two different types of alleles that pave way for three different combinations in a gene that control ratio of the X and Y sperms:
World War Witnessed the Birth of Boys There was an increase in the number of boys born every year in most countries around the world after the World War. The explanation that researchers give for this is that men who fathered more sons were likelier to see a son return from the war and the son was likelier to bear a male offspring due to his genetic inheritance from his father. Men who fathered more girls would have lost their only son in the war and those sons would have fathered a female offspring. This explains why men who survived fathered more male children resulting in a greater number of boys compared to girls in the after-war period. When there are more males in a generation the females are likelier to find a mate easily. Men who have more daughters will pass on their genes causing more females to be born in later generations. Male or female, it is required that we nurture a child with all the talents, capabilities and potential bringing out the best in our daughter or son. Tongue, according to me, is an extremely vital part of the body which expresses and conveys our thoughts, feelings, wishes, anger, sadness, happiness and all emotions to the external world. ‘Broken eggs and spoken words cannot be taken back’ is an evergreen proverb and one cannot deny the crucial role played by this muscular organ in our interaction with others. Relishing some lip-smacking burgers and sodas? Your tongue acts as the prime organ of taste and as an aid in the digestion process.
Human tongue is generally pink in color and when there is any color change noticed (such as orange color), it might reflect what you have eaten of late. For instance, cotton candy can turn your tongue more pinkish and so can other bright-colored foods such as popsicles or chocolates. Rarely, it might be an alarm to indicate some unwanted changes to your health such as acid reflux, thrush and certain vitamin deficiencies. Main causes of an orange tongue include: Germs: Germs such as bacteria and yeast can stick to the surface of the tongue and release a substance that can stain your tongue with a yellow or orange color or rather, these germs can appear orange in color. This is possible when germs reproduce too quickly in the mouth and stick onto your tongue. Oral thrush is due to the fungi Candida that collects on the tongue and affects people of any age. Most commonly affected are those individuals who are on steroid medications, have a weakened immune system and infants who take antibiotics. Treatment: Use a mouthwash containing compounds such as nystatin, diphenhydramine and triamcinolone to gargle and spit. Repeat this until the infections are completely gone. Antifungal medicines might be required to treat infections that remain despite liquid treatment. Poor oral hygiene: Improper maintenance of teeth, gums and mouth can cause food and debris to build up in between teeth and on the tongue. Tobacco, coffee and tea might cause orange coloration of the tongue if the individual abstains from brushing his/her teeth after consumption. Certain people suffer from dry mouth, a condition which prevents bacteria from exiting the tongue, which can turn the tongue orange. Treatment: Ensuring proper dental care which includes brushing your teeth twice a day, using a tongue cleaner to remove excess germs sticking onto the tongue and visiting the dentist twice a year for professional teeth cleaning can also help. Medications: Consuming antibiotics can cause an imbalance of bacteria, fungi and other germs in the mouth which can lead to an unusual coating for a temporary period. For example, the antibiotic rifampin used to treat tuberculosis causes orange coloration of the tongue. If the person consumes some beverage or brushes teeth after taking medications, the orange tint disappears in a few hours. Treatment: The infection goes away once the antibiotic course is completed and meanwhile, one can use probiotics to restore bacterial balance. Beta carotene: Beta carotene gives carrots its orange coloration and when we consume foods rich in this nutrient, it can cause discoloration of the skin and tongue. Termed as carotenemia, this condition is common in infants and young children who eat mashed carrots regularly. Some other foods that are rich in beta carotene include mangoes, sweet potatoes, cantaloupes, papayas and pumpkins. Treatment: Simply reducing the intake of such foods can cause carotenemia to go away. The orange coloration that has already happened will take a few weeks to disappear. Gastroesophageal reflux (GERD): GERD occurs when stomach acid comes up into the esophagus instead of going down accompanied by symptoms such as heartburn, burping, bad breath, sour taste in the mouth, nausea and vomiting. Color changes to the tongue are not common but possible. It can be either white orange in color. GERD can be utterly disappointing as it affects your quality of life as explained in detail at www.firsteatright.com. Our tongue can also be in different other colors such as Black due to accumulation of dead cells or due to the use of medications containing bismuth. Red due to the presence of scarlet fever, glossitis (tongue inflammation) or Kawasaki disease. White due to oral thrush, leukemia, dehydration, fever or syphilis. Yellow due to jaundice because of the presence of the pigment bilirubin in the body. Most causes of an orange tongue are temporary and the coloration should disappear in a few days. If it stays beyond a week or if you experience a rash, shortness of breath, bleeding sores or chest pain it is advisable to meet your physician immediately. Most stores these days including our supermarkets charge for plastic bags but ironically their product aisles are lined with fruits and veggies packaged in plastic, styrofoam or cellophane. The customer stands at the billing counter with his/her environment-friendly grocery bag holding iceberg lettuce/cucumbers encased in plastic sheets or apples packed in styrofoam casings. Whoa! One must admit that there have been several initiatives to reduce plastic usage and citizens too are becoming more and more aware of the hazardous consequences of using plastic bags/things. Major cities around the country collect biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste separately. Despite such measures when certain community of people, shopkeepers and sales teams continue using plastic as often as before it’s a sight of pity and agony. All these aside, do the plastic-covered fruits and veggies offer as much nutritive values and health as fresh produce? Hurry Burry World All of us are busy in this world attending to office meetings, dropping and picking up children, taking care of the household and occupied with meeting friends that any of us would love to reduce the burden of cooking as much as possible. Pre-cut fruits and veggies come as the perfect solution to this. Its easier to pick diced cucumbers for salads, a mix of the French beans, cubed carrots and bell peppers for the pulao and some pineapple rings or papaya chunks for the dessert rather than washing the produce, cutting them in desired shapes and then preparing the meal. A few years back, finding pre-washed salad bags, ready-to-cook veggies and fruits in supermarket aisles was a rare occurrence but now it’s become a booming market. Even before you reach the section of fresh fruits and vegetables you are attracted by rows and rows of colorful and neatly-packed produce stacked in racks. There are there to bluntly give you a signal of ‘Pick me, I am the best’ with their perfect wrapping, A1 packing and neatness oozing from their very existence. Right from orange carrots diced into small cubes, French beans chopped finely to juicy melons carefully deseeded and cut, you can find them all. Onions are one of those veggies that must be chopped right before using it to avoid bacteria, but we can see finely chopped onions or shallots minus their skin packed into small containers and sealed using plastic covers. As Good as Seen? Precut and prewashed produce are preferred mostly by those under the age of 50 trying to juggle a hundred things at a time. Looks can be deceptive and does this policy hold good for these precut veggies and fruits as well? We can see the ‘use by’ date clearly mentioned on the packaging, but does it exclude the picking, transporting, washing, packaging and chilling routines that’s happened before the packet lands on the supermarket aisle? Cost-wise too these packaged produces cost a lot more than your fresh ones, some are even double the rate as their fresh counterparts! We shell out money to save time but is this expenditure worth our health? Cutting fruits and vegetables expose them to oxygen, light and heat-factors that might reduce vitamin retention compared to whole fruits and veggies. Water soluble vitamins (B and C) are likelier to reduce in value as water evaporates faster from cut produce comparatively. Update yourself on interesting information about these water-soluble vitamins from www.firsteatright.com. Many of the cut fruits and veggies are treated with fruit acids or enzymes to preserve their shape and texture after washing. It was not long ago that consumers wanted to pick and choose some produce that was fresh, unharmed, rightly ripened and without damaged, and agitated against packed produce but now the same consumer wants the produce not only packed in plastic wrap but also cut, cleaned, washed and sorted. Pros Vs Cons While precut fruits and vegetables might save our time, make cooking easier and motivate people to cook more at home rather than ordering from outside, they are a lot more expensive, lack the actual nutritive content, generate more unrecyclable trash, may contain traces of compounds sprayed on the produce to retain freshness and above all, doesn’t match the freshness or taste of whole fruits and vegetables. This is a great tactic used by the retailer as it improves sales, garners more income, incurs less damage as bruised/damaged produce is mixed with fresh ones when sold as a package and requires less labor in trimming rotten cabbage leaves or pulling our dry onion skin off the vegetable. Vegetables and fruits are fresh when they are picked up from the farm and sold the very same day or next day without refrigeration. The pre-cut and pre-washed produce that are all glitzy and neatly packed can only have a fresh-like look and feel but never match the original freshness and quality of whole produce. It might be unreasonable to purchase farm-fresh veggies directly but at least we can choose whole fruits and vegetables over precut ones. Diabetes and high blood pressure are two of the most prevalent diseases amongst people worldwide. Having diabetes or high blood pressure means that the person is at an increased risk of heart disease, mostly heart attack or stroke.
Diabetes & Heart Disease Statistics show that 68% of people with diabetes aged 65 years and older die from heart disease and 16% die of a stroke. Diabetics are at an increased risk of heart disease generally, they are at an even higher risk for heart disease compared to non-diabetics and can also develop heart disease at a younger age. In general, people with diabetes are nearly 2 times likelier to die from heart disease or stroke. Such individuals usually have comorbidities such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol that increase their risk of heart disease and stroke. Prediabetes and diabetes are linked to rapidly increasing obesity rates. Obesity is termed a ‘global epidemic’ and is yet another cause of diabetes, high BP and cardiovascular diseases in individuals. Inexpensively available junk food products, sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy food habits are major contributors to increasing obesity rates. Many have taken undue advantage of soaring obesity rates luring people for weight loss/slimming with unscientific methods and practices that are extremely harmful and hazardous to life. To find practical solutions to your weight loss goals in a scientific way it is recommended that you get in touch with reputed nutritionists and dietitians at www.firsteatright.com. Blood Pressure & Heart Disease Blood pressure is the pressure of blood in your arteries and high blood pressure implies that your blood pressure levels are consistently beyond the recommended levels. High blood pressure is a prominent risk factor for heart attack and the narrowing and blocking of blood vessels due to such increase in BP elevates your risk for heart disease. Prediabetes & High Blood Pressure Together Increase Heart Risk Latest study has found that high blood pressure and prediabetes together can do more harm to your body than either one alone. Earlier studies that tried to find a link between slightly elevated blood sugar levels and high blood pressure concluded that prediabetes did not increase cardiovascular risk by itself. But prediabetes paired with high blood pressure increased the risk of coronary artery disease and cardiovascular events. Insulin resistance (sporadic increase of glucose and insulin levels) is an underlying reason for prediabetes and this causes excess insulin secretion. Such insulin secretion increases triglyceride production which elevates the risk of atherosclerosis. Hypertension makes your heart work harder than normal and this makes the heart and arteries more prone to injury. Hypertension increases the risk of heart failure and when it is coupled with prediabetes too, heart disease and stroke risk increase by multi-folds. Diabetes is often coupled with high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. Poor management of these conditions can triple the risk of heart disease which serves as the main reason for heart disease seen commonly in people with diabetes. People should start taking these conditions seriously as both, prediabetes and high blood pressure affect blood vessel integrity and result in stroke-the leading cause of disability and the second-leading cause of death in the world. The youth and charm that you possess in your 20s and 30s diminish gradually as you approach 40s and 50s with evidences of greying hair, ageing skin and crow’s feet (wrinkles around the eyes). Say goodbye to beauty products, anti-ageing creams and Botox treatments for staying youthful. Its great news for those who rely on natural beauty and avoid spending hefty prices for beauty products and creams. A first-of-its-kind scientific study has shown that practicing facial exercise daily for at least 30 minutes helps an individual stay youthful and look younger. The exercises proposed enlarge and strengthen facial muscles, face becomes stronger and much toned. Face Health Our face reflects our thoughts and emotions. Any stranger first looks into your face and it gives an insight about your inner self. Our face shape, color and features are gifts of nature and we have no power in altering any of it. The face pad between facial muscles and the skin gives the face its shape and as we age the face pad becomes thinner. The pads fit together like a child’s jigsaw puzzle, but ageing promotes thinning face pads to degenerate and droop giving our face a saggy look as we age. Increasing muscle area in the face helps the skin seem stuffier and the firm muscles help the face look fuller. Muscle growth and density helps to increase facial volume and nullify the effects of ageing. Anti-ageing Study Study participants included women aged between 40 and 65 years who underwent two 90-minute training sessions from a certified facial exercise instructor. The participants continued doing these exercised at home for 20 weeks. They did the exercises daily for 30 minutes for the first eight weeks whereas from the ninth week they started doing it for 30 minutes every alternate day. Each of them was taught around 32 different facial expressions common of which included puckering and squeezing the cheek and each of them were done for a minute. Common exercises taught included the cheek lifter where the participants open the mouth and form an ‘O’, upper lip is positioned over teeth, the participants smile to lift cheek muscles, put the finger over the top of the cheek, release cheek muscle to lower them and lift them back up. This is repeated by lowering and lifting the cheeks. Yet another famous exercise is the happy cheeks sculpting where the participants are required to smile without showing their teeth. Here, the women purse lips together, smile forcing cheek muscles up, place fingers on the corners of the mouth and slide them up to the top of the cheeks and hold in this position for 20 seconds. Two dermatologists assessed photos (before and after exercise) using a standard facial aging scale looking at 19 different features and rating all at three different time points-beginning of the study, at eighth week of study and at week 20. Results showed that upper cheek and lower cheek fullness was enhanced after exercising and average age of the patient decreased after the course of the study. While it started at 50.8 in course of the study (at eighth week) it fell to 49.6 years and finally to 48.1 at 20 weeks. Participants seemed almost three years younger in a span of just 20 weeks. Going Natural Facial exercises are non-invasive, have no side effects, come free of cost and can be done as per your schedule. Even exercising such as raising both eyebrows in surprise strengthening forehead muscles, frowning your eyebrows deals with the crow’s feet, blinking and closing your eyes, imitating chewing a bubble gum gives a rounded shape to the cheek, imitating the blowing of a balloon and then holding the lips together as though whistling helps to firm lip muscles, contracting and relaxing your neck pulling it up and sideways to avoid double chin and toning the neck and staring at a distant object with a shocked expression helps to improve blood circulation are extremely popular facial exercises. Along with these exercises when you eat healthy food especially those that improve skin care you are sure to sparkle and twinkle. For a list of those foods please visit the website www.firsteatright.com. Small windows pop up each time we surf the net displaying messages such as ‘Miracle ways to cut down belly fat’, ‘Drink this everyday to reduce belly fat’ or ‘Secret to losing belly fat is just a click away’. Curious individuals who try visiting the site land up in some fancy page that sells supplements, powders or shakes. From drinking lemon juice with honey to eating dark chocolate every day the advises and recommendations are countless. Whatever somersault you perform results are never going to vary with this kind of an approach. Who doesn’t love to flaunt a perfect body with a flat tummy? But you need to hit it hard to reap benefits.
The One Secret to Losing Belly Fat Hopes, promises and claims for reducing belly fat are many on the Internet but no specific diet has until now succeeded in eliminating belly fat. Diets that proclaim to lose belly fat include high-protein diets, Paleo diet, intermittent fasting and green tea. Results show that none of these are better than various other energy-restricted diets. None are aware of a miracle food, diet, drink or nutrient that targets abdominal fat. A recent article in the Health & Fitness journal tells us that a heart-healthy diet rich in fiber and low in saturated fats is a good way to reduce abdominal obesity. Abdomens are the worst part of the body to store fats and exists as the prime reason for cardiovascular health risk. Despite normal body weight and BMI people with a large waist circumference are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Fat can be visceral or subcutaneous with the latter type less dangerous comparatively. Visceral fat is the one stored below the abdominal muscles which surrounds major internal organs. This is metabolically active than subcutaneous fat that’s stored above the abdominal muscles but under the skin. Similar to BMI ranges, individuals with a waist circumference of more than 34 inches in women and 40 inches in men are classified as having abdominal obesity. Its normal to see small children with inappropriate amount of flesh around the abdomen and also elderly adults with belly fat but the risk of abdominal obesity increases with age. It is more commonly seen in women due to their changing hormone levels. There are some diets that help in reducing/preventing abdominal obesity, especially those that lower the intake of trans and saturated fats while increasing the consumption of high-fiber foods. Such diets include the DASH (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension) diet and the Mediterranean diet both of which are often recommended for weight loss purpose and the DASH diet is specifically for those with hypertension. Such diets recommend individuals to eat more of fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean meat and fish and lower levels of dairy and fat. Nutritionists and dietitians play a prime role in helping individuals choose the best diet after evaluating their cardiometabolic health risks. Get in touch with registered dietitian nutritionists at www.firsteatright.com to achieve healthy weight loss through diet and exercise. Along with diet it is necessary to exercise regularly to stay in shape. With the advent of the smartphone mankind has lost his humane touch in everything he does! We have forgotten to meet and greet people, never try to remember birthdays and anniversaries as everything is stored in our mobiles with reminders; our phones have also become our alarm clocks which we look at first thing in the morning and there are even some who have started leading lives using Skype and Facetime. Despite knowing that smartphones might emit electromagnetic radiations that could result in tumours or being aware of the fact that mobiles have been sole culprits in a number of road accidents we have not been able to restrict their usage. Our health nor the fact that our valuable life hangs by these phones doesn’t deter us from using them more and more. But the latest findings by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery that smartphone usage might make us look prematurely old comes as a shocking revelation! The Clue to Ageing Lies with the Blue Light Computer radiations are quoted to be bad for health and people started wearing plain glasses to protect their eyesight from prolonged computer usage. We also talk about the harmful UV rays from the sun that can cause skin cancers but don’t bother much about the blue light emitted from smartphones. Also known as high-energy visible light (HEV) these rays can have debilitating effects on the skin breaking down collagen and elastin. HEV is emitted from any type of electronic device (television, laptop or even tablets) which includes cell phones as well and we talk about smartphones here as these have become the most-used digital devices in today’s world. Studies also show that hyperpigmentation is a critical risk posed by HEV light that paves way for brown splotches and spots. Blue light increases activity of tyrosinase (skin enzyme that kickstarts melanin synthesis) and causes pigment-producing cells to go into overdrive promoting dark spots. Another fact is that however sleepy one is we have all made it a point to scroll through our chats, see our Facebook and Instagram updates or watch an episode of our favourite series before going to sleep. Such prolonged exposure to smartphone light during nights makes it difficult for an individual to go to sleep even after the mobile is switched off. Hence, with lesser sleep time and quality there is every chance that the skin loses moisture, becomes dehydrated and dull over course of time. Extending an Invitation to Germs It’s not the toilet seats but our mobile phones that are homes to a greater number of bacteria-almost 10 times more than our toilet seats! The mobile phone attracts bacteria as it resides in every place imaginable. It goes to the kitchen when we cook, to the living room when we sit down, to the dining table when we sit for meals, to the bedroom and even to the loo. This gives us immense opportunities to transfer the bacteria from the phone onto our face resulting in acne and other skin problems. So, every phone call that you make or receive is a chance for the bacteria to jump onto your facial skin and get into the pores disrupting your well-being. While smartphones cannot be avoided you can clean them using a microfiber cloth every day or use an earphone to speak to someone rather than keeping the phone onto your face. Check Your Neck It is common that many of us meet over for a meal together and all that we do is look at our cell phones with our head bent keenly rather than talking to each other. Looking down constantly to check your phone is common while waiting at the doctor’s place for an appointment, at the theatre before the movie is screened and likewise. Such repeated action of bending the neck to look at the smartphone screen causes creasing as the skin is delicate and loses elasticity (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/beauty/six-ways-your-phone-is-messing-with-your-skin/photostory/64218781.cms?picid=64218942). This can also cause sagging skin and wrinkles around the chin and the neck. Apart from causing a strain on our eyes, constantly looking at the smartphone can also cause crow’s feet that are bound to develop even during 20s and 30s when an individual strains his/her eyes for better visibility and contracts the muscles to focus better. The best way to avoid problems with the neck and eyes is to avoid using the cell phone for a prolonged period and rather, maintaining a straight posture. It is better to take breaks even while looking at the computer screen and apply natural aloe vera gel under the skin to keep it moisturised as this promotes cell renewal. Crow’s feet and sagging neck, indications of ageing, have started occurring in youngsters as well owing to prolonged use of cell phones. Curbing their use and sticking to more natural ways to engage yourself is the need of the hour. We did not stop using smartphones when it was a hazard to our health and life but maybe now that it affects our beauty and wellness there are chances that many individuals might stop using these gadgets! References Beware Your Cell Phones! It Causes Wrinkles, Cosmetic Surgeons Say: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2013/06/03/beware-your-cell-phone-it-causes-wrinkles-cosmetic-surgeons-say/#c22729028caa Attention: Your Smartphone is Making Your Skin Old & Wrinkly: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/photo-stories/attention-your-smartphone-is-making-your-skin-old-and-wrinkly/photostory/65474646.cms?picid=65474702 Your Phone Could be the Culprit Behind Your Dull Skin! What you Need to Know: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health-news/your-phone-could-be-the-culprit-behind-your-dull-skin-what-you-need-to-know/articleshow/70347492.cms Sleep is a potent medicine to good health that has no harmful effects when taken in the prescribed quantity, neither too less nor more. But as we know, many individuals are not of the habit of pursuing something that’s good for health which includes sleeping too. The present-day world offers people with too many options that keep them entertained, in the form of online games, thrilling online series and social media platforms, that individuals often don’t think about sleeping. We don’t even bother to get the right amount of sleep at least few days a week. This leads to sleep deprivation, a condition from which many of us suffer these days, and such insufficient sleep has been linked to disrupted brain functioning resulting in impaired alertness and cognitive skills. But now, we see that sleep loss is connected to disrupted energy regulation in humans which can have grave impact on weight gain and other health problems as well.
The utterance of the word ‘fat’ creates panic but its not the nutrient that’s the cause for tension here (as it is integral for different vital functions performed by the body) but the individual who does not control his/her consumption portion that exists as the root cause for many problems. Sleep’s effect on glucose metabolism has been studied but its impact on fat metabolism is quite unexplored until now. This interested researchers with a group of them focusing on 15 healthy men in their 20s observing them for sleep-related changes in their body. All of them spent a week getting plenty of sleep at home and then checked into a sleep lab for a ten-night study. During five out of 10 nights each of them did not spend more than 5 hours in bed each night. The rest of the time during the days (where participants got only 5 hours of sleep) was spent in an engaging and positive way by playing games, interacting and talking with the research team members and among themselves. All of them were given a high-fat dinner consisting of a bowl of chili mac after four nights of restricted sleep. The food was energy-dense and tasty which could be found from the empty bowls of food as the participants had no trouble eating it. But all of them felt less satisfied after eating the same meal while sleep deprived compared to when they had eaten it after a good night’s sleep. Blood samples showed that sleep restriction affected postprandial lipid response leading to faster clearance of lipids from the blood after a meal-this is a high-risk factor for weight gain. All of them had Friday and Saturday nights where they could sleep for as much as ten hours to catch up for all the lost sleep. After the first night they ate one last bowl of chilli mac and satisfaction measures showed that though the participants were better satisfied than they were when they lacked proper sleep still, they did not achieve the baseline healthy level of recovery. An optimal number of hours is required every day to stay healthy. Trying to compensate for the lost hours of sleep during weekdays on weekends is not going to benefit the individual in the long term. Improve your sleep quality by practising the tips and tricks available at www.firsteatright.com. Kids these days are overburdened with studies and suffer from cut-throat competition in all walks of life. They are forced to learn new things, expected to excel in different streams besides academics and peer pressure also creates tension among this age group. Kids, who are at a juncture in life that’s supposed to be their best years before moving on to responsibilities, work commitments and more don’t get to relish the blessing of adolescence presently. While some cope with all of these, stay ahead in the race and come out with flying colours they might only be the cream of the population. All others strive to get through the daily battles of life and are almost ripped off their energy by the end of day. This causes anxiety and stress among the younger generation which is evident with the rising number of depression and anxiety rates among youngsters. A little concern or worry over certain things is normal in life but when this becomes an everyday affair it manifests as anxiety disorder or panic disorder.
Statistics show that anxiety or panic disorder is higher in those with coronary artery disease in adults but there is no clarity whether anxiety brings about heart disease or vice versa. Anxiety disorder can cause heart rhythm disturbance and being diagnosed with heart disease might also elevate anxiety levels in the affected person. Its now been discovered that kids with abnormal heart rhythm problems are likelier to suffer from anxiety, depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The study probed into medical details of more than 2,50,000 kids and compared data on more than 7,300 children with abnormal heart rhythms to children with congenital heart disease, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease and kids with none of these conditions. Results showed that kids with arrhythmia were 1.5 times likelier to be diagnosed or treated for anxiety/depression compared to those with cystic fibrosis (the research team chose cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease as these can be managed with meds and involve multiple hospitalizations) and 5 times likelier than those with sickle cell disease. Kids with arrhythmia were nine times likelier to be diagnosed or treated for anxiety and depression and almost 5 times likelier to be diagnosed or treated for ADHD compared to kids without chronic diseases. According to health experts, there are a vast population of kids suffering from abnormal heart rhythms who don’t have congenital heart disease but might be suffering from depression and ADHD. It is both the physician’s and the parent’s responsibility to notice changes in the kid’s health and treat him/her to raise the quality of life of these little ones. So, when kids with irregular heart beats are put under medications it is also the duty of the physician to check for the mental health of the child. All of us have the habits of prioritizing physical health (if at all we do!) over mental health but this needs to change. Health is not just physical wellness but complete wellness of the body which includes emotional and mental well-being as well. If you are interested in knowing more about health and tips for leading a healthier life, please visit www.firsteatright.com. Water has the power to heal people! I am not talking about the holy water but the free-flowing tap water that’s available in each of our homes. Hot-water and ice-water compressions are usually suggested for people with a sprain or strain to their ankle and knees; isn’t it quite common for people to take a long plunge in the warm shower to clear their minds or take off stress? A lap in the pool is even better as it helps you enjoy the natural breeze outside in the cold water devoid of any thoughts of the world surrounding you. Beyond the bucket and mug bathing that evolved centuries ago we have come up with several modern adaptations including the Jacuzzi, watsu (underwater shiatsu) and thalassotherapy that includes immersing in seawater pools of different temperatures and different degrees of salinity. It’s the water’s thermal properties that help in healing. When hot or cold water touches the body, it sends impulses all over the body with the help of nerves that are present at the surface of the skin. These impulses lessen pain sensitivity, improvise our immune system and also improve blood circulation. More Cooler Things to Do at the Pool The sight of a swimming pool during hot summer months makes us all think about hitting the pool irrespective of the fact whether or not we know swimming. But gone are the days when the pool simply involved wading across the water back and forth doing butterfly or breast strokes. There are some of us who simply wet our feet in the pool and some others who love to stand in one corner where the water level barely reaches our chest. But now, you need not know swimming at all to get into the pool and reap its benefits. Call it hydrotherapy, aqua exercise or water running there’s nothing that can beat the benefits of exercising in water. It was not long back in 1930 that a marine biologist named Alister Hardy suggested that our ancestors were more aquatic than previously thought (https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/activity/aqua-aerobics). Now, our love for aqua aerobic classes and hydrotherapy is proving it without a doubt! Generally, walking and running are excellent exercises for staying fit or losing weight. Walking can be practiced by any individual irrespective of his/her weight and health condition but running is not everyone’s cup of tea as it exerts pressure on the joints and shock travels to the legs and spine equivalent to five times to that of the person’s body weight. Surprisingly, walking and running in water is now administered as a form of physical therapy for those individuals recuperating from hip, knee and back injuries/surgeries. Its claimed to be the best form of exercise for those suffering from arthritis and joint pain. But do you know the reason for this? Immersed in water up to the waist you bear almost 50% of the body weight and water’s buoyancy allows you to move around more easily with less stress on the muscles and joints. This support promotes your movement freely here and there helping to increase flexibility and balance. Experts vouch that this buoyancy of water helps reducing the impact on your joints by more than 85%. Exercising in water builds cardiovascular stamina as it brings down the basic resting heart rate and seems to be best for the heart. But just because water is soft on your joints and muscles it does not mean that its effects are also softer than regular workout. In fact, it is an excellent method to shed away calories even for those people with arthritis problems as it strengthens and tones muscles, improves muscle flexibility and every movement made makes you fight against resistance making your workout more intense than your regular workout. Muscles work harder burning more fat and toning your body more rapidly as they are fighting with water every time you do some movement. You can even try jumping jacks, water squats and lunges, elbow twist and water curls in the pool water. Hydrotherapy helps in relaxing mentally and physically. There are even water-friendly treadmills that can be placed in pools for people to exercise. There is a study in a reputed journal that shows that water workouts might benefit stroke survivors. There are even spin bikes and stationary bicycles that can be used for exercising in the water. While hydrotherapy benefits everybody it is especially good for those with joint and knee pain and also for insomniacs as the water is soothing and has a relaxing effect on the body. But it is recommended that pregnant women, kids and elderly people must avoid extreme temperatures and get a green signal from the physician before going for such therapies. So, whether or not you know swimming, whether or not you are extremely fit and healthy and irrespective of whether or not you have exercised before, aqua aerobics and water exercises can be practiced by anyone who has the determination to stay healthy and a passion for water. References Hydrotherapy: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/jul/06/healthandwellbeing3 How Can Aqua Exercises Help You Slim? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-105285/How-aqua-exercises-help-slim.html Each of us have different opinions regarding the umpteen things surrounding us. Those opinions are all based on our basic ideologies and principles in life. For instance, some might find today’s “work hard, party harder” culture to be intriguing, some find it hard to accept the live-in relationships and so on. Even at a restaurant when we are seated we love to glance around and comment on the different individuals who enjoy their food-for instance, the sight of a fat person munching on a cheesy pizza makes us wonder how on Earth this person can eat a hearty meal with no self-control while he/she is so fat! What you don’t know maybe is the fact that this piece of pizza could be his/her only cheat meal after some three months of heavy workout and weight loss.
Testing Self-control Levels Self-control has not been many people’s forte! But if you think deeply, self-control is a skill that all of us possess and is one primary skill needed to achieve our desired goals. But individuals are also very strict in setting very high expectations for self-control. They blame themselves for the smallest downslides that happen due to lack of self-control focusing more on the failures than successes. The best examples of self-control arise from the ones related to eating and weight loss themselves. There are many individuals who love to lose weight and start their dieting regimen or whatever it is with complete josh and all the hype. But in course of time the interest to lose weight withers as the desire to eat has an overpowering effect on the same. Especially in this world that’s full of weekend parties, calorie-rich processed foods and pizzas arranged to celebrate team accomplishments staying on your weight loss goal with food restrictions and daily commitments to exercise is taxing. Meanwhile, indulging in a small piece of chocolate or treating yourself to a cup of kheer cannot be branded as lack of self-control. There are cheat meals attached with even weight loss programs prescribed by dietitians these days as surviving on salads, greens and pulses without any of your desired foods is not practical. Such stringent restrictions can only end up in dissolving the entire purpose of a weight loss program making the individual go back on his/her eating habits. Self-control has always been associated with the ability or inability to abstain from ‘hedonic consumption’ – eating sugary or fatty foods. It has always been believed that decisions on choosing food have been made by taking a choice between health and pleasure. When pleasure is chosen over health, it has always been linked to self-control failure. But there are some experts who argue that exerting self-control does not mean sacrificing pleasure and for something to be branded as a self-control violation the choice must be accompanied by regret and go against some long-term goals held by the individual. For instance, when you are given a choice between salad and a piece of cake it would be deemed as abstinence from self-control when a person trying to lose weight chooses the cake over the salad as the calorie-rich cake is sure to increase total calorie intake of the person. But some health experts argue that it is not the consumption of cake that is a signal of failure but is a question whether you would regret eating the cake after eating it. If you have consumed only a small piece of cake it cannot be termed as failure of self-control as you have not eaten enough to trigger calorie increase or prevent weight loss. Foods cannot be branded as either good or bad in a one-sided fashion. It also depends on how much, how frequently and what type of food is consumed. Also, if the person is good with his/her body weight and does not show inclinations towards regretting their food choices then it cannot be termed as lack of self-control in any case. Please stop feeling that eating unhealthy foods makes you unworthy of self-control. Try tackling your weight loss problems and pursue a healthy lifestyle by sticking with your dietary plans (guided by a professional dietitian or nutritionist). Get in touch with registered dietitian nutritionists at www.firsteatright.com to help you with your diet plan for weight loss. Stay within your delegated portion limits but going off limits rarely should not be a hindrance nor a sign of lost self-control. After all, we are humans! People don’t sport a wristwatch nowadays, but it is mostly fitbits and other wearable devices that are securely tied to an individual’s wrist. Healthcare is booming as people are crowding hospitals with diseases. Increased medical needs, decreased healthy feeds and change in lifestyle has created a need for self-health monitoring and preventive medicine. In recent times, wearable devices and mobile apps are integrated with medicine and health services for better monitoring and tracking of the patient’s health.
By diseases it’s not only cardiovascular diseases or cancer that take the front seat. Of course, they are bad (in fact worse) but it’s the increase in obesity/overweight rates among people which is causing a stir across the country in terms of health. Such imbalanced body weight are major causes for diseases such as heart attack and stroke. Worldwide, obesity rates are skyrocketing and people of every age group are affected by it. Various initiatives have been taken by governments right from taxing obese to spreading awareness about its hazardous effects to curb the obesity epidemic. Amidst this, wearable devices and mobile health technology have evolved as excellent support tools to promote physical activity among people. One Amongst Many Home tuition might be the best these days owing to rising rates of child abuse and harassments. Still we prefer to enroll our children in schools due to various other advantages such as exposure to people, surrounding environment and disciple that’s instilled in a child at school. Many of us are not self-disciplined from within. We need a boss to monitor our work, parents to keep watching over our behavior and teachers at school to keep us from becoming a rebel. When it comes to health too self-monitoring attitude among people promotes weight loss but that’s not sufficient to keep them healthy without any inclusion of behavioral strategy. Also, we don’t have much evidence pointing to the fact that wearable devices promote consistent behavior change and long-term weight maintenance as a standalone factor. We also have proofs that game-based interventions provide us with better results compared to promoting use of fitness tracker among individuals without any rewards. Researchers always stand by the fact that rewards (non-food), incentives (social/financial) and captivating the individual by introducing concepts such as gaming induce a greater behavioral change comparatively. It’s a well-established fact that food rewards are the most anticipated ones by adults as well as children. But we must introduce non-food rewards that’s captivating to ensure better efforts for the desired result. For ideas on practical and effective non-food rewards please visit the website www.firsteatright.com. It must be a combination of several factors rather than relying on wearable devices/mobile technology alone as a primary factor for weight loss effect. There is no doubt that these devices/technologies play an integral role in defining weight loss strategies and providing better |
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Dr. Nafeesa Imteyaz of First Eat Right clinic, is the Best Dietitian Nutritionist in Bangalore. Best Dietitian Nutritionist in Pune. Best Dietitian Nutritionist in Hyderabad. Best Dietitian Nutritionist in Chennai. Best Dietitian Nutritionist in Mumbai. Best Dietitian Nutritionist in Delhi. Best Dietitian Nutritionist in Kolkata.