While there are various ways in which you can thank your mom for all that she has done for you, why not do something that will benefit her the most? Celebrate a healthy Mother’s Day this year and let her know that you are there to take of her just like she does when you fall sick.

Here’s a healthy plan to celebrate Mother’s Day.

Start this day by early morning exercises which will benefit the both of you and also help you bond further. Depending on the age of your mom, you can choose the kind of workout you would like to do with her. If both of you are looking to shed some kilos, what better way to start? Drag your mom along with you to the cardio machine and sweat it out together. If relaxation is what you are looking at, then why not attend a yoga class together and try some meditation and calming asanas. You could also go for an early morning run together. This will give you time to talk as well and make both of you fitter.

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After workout, it’s time to have some healthy yet yummy breakfast. Give your mom a rest and surprise her by cooking for her today. But remember to keep it healthy. With age, every woman needs some essential nutrients without which her body cannot function properly. Ensure that your mom has them regularly in her diet. Start today itself by making her eat healthy.

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Apart from exercise and diet, you also need to ensure that your mom does not suffer from any major health ailments. Get her tested regularly for common ailments. If she suffers from a health condition, try and control it with available measures.

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Apart from this, don’t forget, the day doesn’t end with a small gift from your end. It could be as small as getting her glasses made or getting her a gym membership. You could also gift her a spa/ massage or pedicure voucher which will pamper her and bring a smile to her face. So this Mother’s Day, give her the gift of health. 

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Your friends

While having close friends generates plenty of health benefits, research has also indicated that being overweight can be contagious amongst friends. Research results published in the journal PLoS ONE indicated that students were likelier to gain weight if they had friends who were heavier than them, while a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that having an obese friend increases your chance of obesity by 50 per cent. The good news is being slim can also be contagious, so try to influence your social group and keep your weight down by arranging healthy, fun group activities such as walks, bike rides or dance classes.

Diet foods

You’ve cleared your cupboards of junk food, stocked up on smoothies and cereal bars, and now you’re feeling pretty saintly. However, those seemingly innocent diet foods nestling in your cupboards could actually be causing you to gain weight. Many foods claiming to be diet-friendly are actually hidden calorie traps packed with sugar and syrups. In fact, ‘healthy’ cereal bars can contain as much fat, sugar and calories as an average chocolate bar. Research by the Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio also found that those who consumed diet drinks daily experienced a 70 per cent greater increase in waist circumference than those who drank none.

Late nights

Most of us lead busy lives, and this could mean that sleep becomes a last priority. However, a study by researchers at the University of Washington found that getting less than seven hours of sleep a night was linked to a higher body weight. They also found that the longer a person sleeps, the less impact the obesity gene has on an individual’s weight. For a quick and easy way to keep off the pounds, try to skip your favourite TV show or night out every once in a while and catch up on your sleep instead.

Your to-do list

As well as causing you to miss out on sleep, having a hectic daily to-do list can also lead to feelings of anxiety and stress, which can quickly pile on the pounds. Cortisol – the stress hormone – not only increases your appetite, but studies have suggested that it can also affect fat distribution so that it is stored on the abdomen; leading to an unhealthy ‘apple’ shape. Furthermore, a busy lifestyle can also lead to erratic eating patterns and a reliance on unhealthy fast foods. Try to opt for healthy filling snacks instead to fuel your busy day, and make sure you take some time each day to relax and unwind.

Food sensitivities

While few of us have serious life-threatening allergies to food, many people unknowingly suffer from intolerances and sensitivities to certain foods which can cause a wide range of vague symptoms such as stomach pain, bloating and skin problems. Shockingly, food sensitivities could also be to blame if you are struggling to lose weight. When you eat foods you are sensitive to, it triggers a reaction in the body which increases levels of insulin and cortisol; two hormones which increase fat storage, particularly around the abdomen. Furthermore, our body’s reaction to food sensitivities can also, ironically, create an addiction to the foods we are sensitive to, causing us to crave them more.

Your job

Whether you’re being tempted by staff meeting refreshments, celebrating a colleague’s birthday with cake and treats, attending business lunches or being inundated with edible gifts from grateful patients or parents, your workplace can be a source of constant food temptation, and there can be a lot of peer pressure to indulge. Furthermore, if you’re in a job that you don’t enjoy, the temptation to treat yourself is even higher. According to researchers, 62 per cent of people break their diets mid-afternoon (with 3.23pm being the time when you are most likely to give into temptation), and this is generally due to workplace stress or boredom.

Exercise

While regular exercise is essential for good health, research has found that relying solely on exercise to manage your weight can actually be ineffective. Studies have shown that exercise, when not combined with dietary changes, does very little in respect to losing weight. Statistics also show that while obesity levels continue to grow so do the numbers of people getting active, which shows that exercise may not be having its desired effect. While exercise itself is not to blame, experts believe that many exercisers gain weight as they undo the benefits of their exercise regime by increasing their calorie intake to fuel or reward their sessions; often overcompensating for their workouts.

Content Courtesy: Real Buzz

• Eat regular meals. Have at least three meals at about the same time everyday. Eating every four to five hours can help control blood sugar. Always carry with you some type of carbohydrate food or drink that has 10 to 15 grams of carbohydrate which you can use in case of emergency (low glucose level).
• Eat a variety of foods. Choose foods that fulfill your body’s nutritional needs. Eat less fat, less sugar and less salt.  Avoid fried foods. Baked, boiled or steamed foods are healthier to eat. Avoid red meat. Have low fat dairy products. Eat more high-fiber foods, like vegetables, fruit and whole grain breads and cereals.
• Monitor your blood glucose two to four times every day with a blood glucose meter, if your doctor has advised you to. It is an electronic device for measuring the blood glucose at home. The blood glucose test is performed by pricking your finger with a small, sharp needle (lancet), putting a drop of blood on a chemically active disposable test strip and then placing the strip into a digital meter that displays your blood sugar level. Within a few seconds, the blood glucose level will be shown on the digital display.
• Get an A1C test done once every 3 months. This helps assess your diabetes control for the past few months by basically measuring the amount of glucose that has been sticking to your red blood cells. Each red blood cell is replaced by a new one every 3 to 4 months. Hence, this test tells you how high the glucose levels have been during the life of the cells. Your aim is to keep your A1C around 6-7%. If most of your recent blood glucose readings have been near normal (70 to 140mg/dL), the A1C test will be near normal (about 6-7%). Many readings above normal will make your A1C test read higher.
• Avoid alcohol and smoking. They can cause health problems, especially if you are diabetic. Alcohol adds calories without giving you any nutrition. Drinking alcohol may cross-react with the medicines for diabetes and cause problems. Your blood glucose can also go down drastically if you drink alcohol on an empty stomach.
• Be active. Physical activity keeps you fit and helps you control your blood glucose and weight. It can help prevent heart and blood flow problems. It helps you lose weight.
• Keep a check on your blood pressure and cholesterol. Have your blood pressure checked two to four times a year and cholesterol checked (fasting lipid profile) at least once every year. If you have diabetes, you are at a greater risk of developing high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which can lead to other serious conditions.
• Watch out for the nerve damage symptoms. Diabetic neuropathy is damage to nerves in the body that occurs due to high blood sugar levels from diabetes. Symptoms may include numbness and tingling of extremities, diarrhoea, erectile dysfunction, loss of bladder control, vision changes, dizziness, etc. If you have any of these symptoms report to your doctor. During your physical exam, your doctor will check how well you can feel touch, pain, movement, etc. and also your strength and reflexes. If nerve damage is suspected electromyogram (EMG) and nerve conduction studies may be done.
• Take care of your feet. Nerve damage and poor circulation are common complications of diabetes. This makes foot problems common among diabetics. Check them every day for signs of injury and infection. Avoid walking barefoot to reduce the risk of injury. Trim your toenails straight across to help prevent ingrown nails. Keep your feet warm at all times.
• Get your eyes examined every year to check your vision. Prolonged and inadequate blood glucose control can damage and weaken the small blood vessels in the retina (innermost layer) of the eye; a condition called diabetic retinopathy. It can cause blurred vision, double vision and a severe, permanent loss of vision. It also increases the risk of developing cataracts and glaucoma.
• Get your kidneys checked once a year because diabetes can cause damage to the blood vessels in your kidney (diabetic nephropathy) and the risk increases if you have both diabetes and high blood pressure. The first sign of nephropathy is protein in the urine. When damage to the kidneys gets worse, your blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels rise. There may be swelling in your body, at first in your feet and legs. In a urinary albumin test your urine is tested for albumin protein. Blood urea nitrogen and urine creatinine are the other tests that may be done to check kidney function. Kidney damage, if caught in early stages, can be slowed with treatment.
• Get your teeth and gums checked by your dentist twice a year. Diabetes can affect your teeth, gums and oral cavity as well. Increased blood sugar level increases your risk of tooth decay. Gum disease can happen more often, be more severe, and take longer to heal if you have diabetes.

Also read: Living with diabetes

The disease is triggered by an imbalance in two different amyloid species — in Alzheimer’s patients, there is a reduction in a relative level of healthy amyloid-beta 40, compared to 42. Now Inna Slutsky of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Sagol School of Neuroscience, with postdoctoral fellow Iftach Dolev and PhD student Hilla Fogel, have uncovered two main features of the brain circuits that impact this crucial balance.

The researchers have found that patterns of electrical pulses (called ‘spikes’) in the form of high-frequency bursts and the filtering properties of synapses are crucial to the regulation of the amyloid-beta 40/42 ratio.  Synapses that transfer information in spike bursts improve the amyloid-beta 40/42 ratio, reports Science Daily.

This represents a major advance in understanding that brain circuits regulate composition of amyloid-beta proteins, showing that the disease is not just driven by genetic mutations, but by physiological mechanisms as well. The findings were recently reported in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Source: IANS

Myth 1: Diabetes is caused by eating too much sugar and I won’t get it if I don’t eat sweets

There are two types of diabetes – type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes develops if the body is unable to produce enough insulin. It occurs when the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas are mistakenly destroyed by the body’s own immune system due to an autoimmune response. Genetics may play a role in this process and it can be triggered by certain infections or by abnormal secretion of some hormones in blood which act as antagonists to insulin (adrenocortical hormone, adrenaline and thyroid hormone). It can also be caused due to destruction of the pancreas by alcohol, disease, etc or due to removal of pancreas by surgery. It can also result from the progressive failure of the pancreatic beta cells.

In type 2 diabetes, the insulin secreted by pancreas is either not enough or the body is unable to recognize the insulin and use it properly (insulin resistance). It is caused primarily due to genetics and lifestyle factors like diet. Foods high in fat, low in protein and heavy on starch can hasten the onset of diabetes or trigger blood sugar imbalances in diabetics.

Hence, eating sugar does not cause diabetes per se. But it is recommended to limit your intake of sugar. You must remember that pretty much everything you eat gets converted into glucose. And overeating makes you overweight which is one of the conditions linked to the disease.

Myth 2: I am overweight. I will eventually develop type 2 diabetes

There are many different causes of diabetes and being overweight doesn’t mean you will get the condition but it does tip the scale. The reason obesity is linked to diabetes is because it increases insulin resistance (which means greater amount of insulin is required to regulate blood glucose levels).  This makes the pancreas work overtime to produce insulin. This is what causes diabetes. However, there are cases where thin people have uncontrolled diabetes and obese people have no diabetes whatsoever.

Myth 3: I can’t eat sweets or chocolate because I have diabetes

No food is absolutely forbidden as long as attention to portion control and advance meal planning is done. A piece of sweet or chocolate won’t cause any problem but it’s necessary to keep a check on how much of it you consume.

Myth 4: Fruits contain carbohydrates, so I should avoid including them in my diet

Any food that contains carbohydrate will raise blood sugar levels but the only proper way to see how high your blood sugar levels will rise is the glycaemic index (GI). The lower the GI value, the lower will be the rise in blood sugar level and the better it will be for your health. Most fruits have a low GI value. They are also excellent sources of vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre, and are relatively low in calories. Also beware of fruit juices, especially the packaged ones because they’re very high in calories and sugar.

 Myth 5: I should eat special diabetic foods if I have diabetes

There is no such thing as a diabetic diet. A healthy diet is one where you get 40-60% calories from carbs, 20% from proteins and 30% or less from fat. And the same is applicable if you have diabetes. Diet for diabetics should include a good amount complex carbs, vegetables and fruits. It should be low in processed foods, fat, salt and added sugar. It’s better to have five small meals a day instead of three large ones and make sure they’re well-spaced out.  

Myth 6: I shouldn’t exercise if I have diabetes

On the contrary, exercise is an important part of diabetes treatment. Regular exercise, especially aerobic (walking, jogging, etc.) helps control your weight, gives you more energy and is good for your overall health. It also helps to control blood sugar elevation by increasing the body’s sensitivity to insulin.

Myth 7: Diabetes is not a very ‘serious’ disease

Diabetes is a silent killer which can lead to deadly complications if left undetected for too long. It can affect your immune system, kidneys, eyes, heart, skin and sperms. It can even cause erectile dysfunction! An estimated 346 million people around the world suffer from diabetes and India has more patients than most others.

Myth 8: Type 2 diabetes is not as bad as Type 1 diabetes

If uncontrolled, both forms of diabetes can lead to complications.Though the type of medical management for both may vary, a healthy lifestyle goes a long way in leading a long and fulfilling life.

Myth 9: If my doctor advises me to start using insulin it means my diabetes is getting worse

Insulin therapy is necessary for all people who have type 1 diabetes. Type 1 is treated with insulin, exercise and diet. Type 2 is treated first with lifestyle changes like weight reduction, diet and exercise. If these measures do not control the elevated blood sugars, oral medications are used. If oral medications are still insufficient, insulin treatment is considered. So, your doctor will advise you to start using insulin when your blood glucose levels are not under control with other measures. It doesn’t mean that you have developed complications from diabetes.

Myth 10: The disease will ruin my life. I can’t prevent its complications.

Diabetes is a chronic condition that can be treated but can’t be cured. You can still live a long and healthy life. Controlling the diabetic condition significantly reduces the risk of developing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart diseases, stroke, kidney failure and eye damage. Living with diabetes becomes stress-free once a systematic approach to taking medications, dietary restrictions, regular physical activity and blood glucose monitoring is established.

Keeping fit during pregnancy

Lara did not stop exercising even during her pregnancy but she modified her workouts to suit different stages of her pregnancy. She is a firm believer of yoga and admits that is the best thing that’s happened to her as it provides holistic wellness. According to her, practising yoga during her pregnancy helped her in a quick recovery post delivery.

She got back to doing moderate amounts of workouts after eight weeks post the delivery and resumed her regular exercise regimen after three months. Though working out is essential, she did not want to spend too much time in the gym and miss out on bonding with her baby girl. She even launched her own fitness DVD called H.E.A.L which stands for health, exercise and longevity. With inputs from her long-time yoga instructor Tonia Clarke who is a certified prenatal yoga teacher, Lara demonstrates various asanas to have a smooth pregnancy in the DVD. These include – utkatasana, veerabhadra, vrikshana, camel pose, sarvangna and pranayam among others.

While food is one thing that one needs to keep a tab on, Lara was in favour of giving in to one’s pregnancy cravings. She herself craved for mint milkshakes but she did not miss out on the essential vitamins and did not have any caffeine. She made it a habit to eat small but nutritious meals during the day to stay fit.

Her regular workout regimen

Being a vegetarian, Lara makes it a point to eat enough raw fruits during the day and get her protein content from pulses and lentils. Drinking adequate amounts of water is also a must for her. She meditates and works out five days in a week. Her regimen consists a mix of yoga, cardio and strength training. Eating healthy and regular workouts are the secrets of her enviable figure even at 35. Here’s wishing her a very happy birthday!

Enjoyed reading this? Read fitness secrets of other Bollywood stars like Shilpa Shetty, John Abraham, Salman Khan. 

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Losing weight is not just about sweating it out for hours in the gym, but also about what you eat. Many people may work out regularly but not see any results as they do not eat the right food. Having junk or unhealthy food can ruin the hard work you put in in the gym in no time. Our expert Shilpa Mittal, a renowned dietician, gives tips and a sample diet for those who want to lose weight.

According to me, if one wants to lose weight, their diet should be as close to their normal diet as possible; only then will they be able to stick to it. Otherwise one tends to discontinue the diet or does not follow it regularly. So, if you are a south Indian who enjoys his dosas and idlis, the diet should include these but in a low-fat form.

Here are a few tips before I share the sample diet for weight loss:

For weight loss, a healthy and balanced diet is a must as it helps maintain your metabolic rate, gives you energy, maintains the shine and lustre of your hair and skin and if a person has any medical issue, the diet helps to prevent it or at least lowers the medicine dosage.

Diet for weight loss involves a healthy lifestyle change – you do not need to follow a particular diet to lose weight but you need to eat healthy. It should be based on your likes, dislikes, culture, schedule, and a pattern that you are willing to accept and follow in your daily life.

Apart from diet, one needs to engage themselves in some kind of physical exercise like walking, cycling, swimming, dancing, jogging, etc. This is essential to burn fat and keep the metabolic rate in control. Here is sample diet plan for weight loss that I have been promising you:

Breakfast: Start your day with milk and cornflakes, or milk and poha/upma. If you are from northern India, and are into eating parathas, you can still have them but make them healthy. Instead of just aloo paratha have potato mixed with other vegetables and use less of oil/ghee/butter. Similarly, if you are from southern India, you can have idlis, dosa, uttappa but avoid medu wada since that is fried. You can even opt for egg omelette or sandwiches.

Lunch: This can consist of a proper meal like rotis/ bhakri with vegetables, salads and a source of protein from dal/curd/ sprouts/ non-veg dishes like eggs, fish, chicken plus a small helping of rice. Avoid pickles and papads.  

Snacks: This can be mixed dry fruits, seasonal fruits or any fruit you like or a handful of roasted channa or kurmuras.

Dinner: Preferably opt for an early dinner and it can be just like lunch or it can be a single wholesome meal like khicdhi, pulav, briyani.

Other important things to keep in mind:

Have small frequent meals. Do not keep long gaps between your meals as it reduces the metabolic rate. Do not skip breakfast, have a healthy wholesome breakfast. Do some kind of physical activity at least for 30minutes, 4-6 times a week. Eat 2 fruits and 3 servings of veggies to get good amount of fibre which will help you lose weight. Stay hydrated by drinking good amount of water. Avoid junk foods, sweets, too much of biscuits, fried and bakery products. Avoid fried foods, jams and instead fruit juices have raw fruits.

Follow these simple tips to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle to keep fit for the rest of your life. 

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The ‘America’s Got Talent’ judge thinks it is important to stay in shape for the sake of her own self-esteem. ‘Having been in the fashion industry for many years it is important for me to stay in shape, plus with my busy schedule it helps me to stay energised throughout the day.  ‘And like any woman, I want to feel attractive and confident so I can wear hot dresses and heels,’ said the 39-year-old who has four children.

Source: IANS

The FDA had asked GMT Teleshopping Pvt Ltd to stop advertising its body growth powder, since it was against the Drugs and Magical Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, which prohibits advertisements of drugs for diagnosis or treatment of diseases.  The Bombay High Court was hearing a counter petition filed by GMT Teleshopping Pvt. Ltd. The product in question is a drug named ‘Step Up Body Growth Formula’, manufactured in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Mridula Bhatkar said that they did not wish to interfere with the actions of the authorities, but felt that since television was a very powerful medium, and advertisement was likely to be watched by a number of naive, illiterate people who might think that the product actually works, it could be misleading. Such misleading advertisements had no place in the common man’s living room. They also said that the act was in place to prevent self medication amongst other things, and this product would flout that rule.

When questioned as to how the company got the permit to produce the product at all, VA Jawadekar, commissioner in the FDA department, said that the company was licensed to produce a medicine that was helpful in ‘body development’ and not increase the height of the person. He also quoted a particular line in the advertisement that research has proved that development of the human body can happen at any age.  The advertisement also claimed that the medicine was formulated using rare herbs procured from the Himalayas and African jungles.

In the end the judge accepted the contention of senior advocate Asutosh Kumbhakoni that the act applies to all drug irrespective of the fact that they were licensed or not, and that the drug must not be advertised if it was harmful in nature. Keeping all these facts in mind the judge upheld the ruling of lower courts to ban the advertisement.

Can medicine increase height at any age?

As a baby a human has 300 bones, which fuse together as the baby grows to cause an increase in height, towards the end of a person’s growth a person has 206 bones. A person’s height increases until the age of 21 in men and about 16-18 years in women. This increase in height happens because the bones and tissues in the body are still developing. This development happens due to various things such as Genetics (If you have tall family members, you are likely to be tall as an adult), Human growth hormone (a hormone released by the pituitary gland to help the bones and tissues grow), Exercise (research says that if a person were to exercise during their growth phase, they are likely to be taller) and finally Testosterone , a hormone that is known to cause growth spurts in boys. But when a person reaches a certain age, the body stops producing these growth factors and instead concentrates on helping the mature body function well. Research has shown that a person cannot grow taller after a particular age because neither does the body produce the specific hormones, nor do the bones have the tenacity to grow. Therefore products that promise an increase in height cannot work, because the body does not have the capability after the age of 21.