Health World News and Features

Illness due to contaminated food is one of the most widespread yet preventable health concerns, the World Health Organization said as it issued Ten Golden Rules for Safe Food Preparation to correct common errors the preparation of food.

In infants, children, immuno-compromised people, pregnant women, and the elderly, the consumption of contaminated food can result in life-endangering food-borne ailments and food handling is largely responsible for the occurrence of food-borne diseases.

The WHO list was held significant in the wake of the recent tragedy that befell 28 schoolchildren in Bohol who died from food poisoning after partaking of snacks bought from street vendors.

To reduce significantly the risk of food-borne pathogens, the WHO issued the following rules for safe food preparation:

1. Choose food processed for safety (i.e. choose pasteurized over raw milk etc.).
2. Cook food thoroughly.
3. Eat cooked food immediately. The preparation of food several hours before consumption is discouraged because it favors the growth of bacteria and/or the formation of toxins.
4. Store cooked foods carefully.
5. Reheat cooked foods thoroughly. Insufficient cooking or preheating favors the growth of pathogenic bacteria.
6. Avoid contact between raw and cooked foods.
7. Wash hands repeatedly. Proper personal hygiene must be observed by all food handlers.
8. Keep all kitchen surfaces meticulously clean.
9. Protect foods from insects, rodents, and other animals.
10. Use safe water.


-CHRISTINA I. HERMOSO, Manila Bulletin

The woman’s body has been manipulated throughout tim. Women not only in the entertainment industry are pressured to “measure up” to a stereotyped body image. Take the case of the breast. It is the first victim of this “psychological disturbance” among many women. It undergoes breast augmentation, enhancement, a lift, etc. to achieve that desirable form.

But we must realize that the most psychologically disturbing experience anyone can have is discovering a lump in her breast! Cysts (fluid lumps) or masses growth hence can alter the size and shape of the breast leading to potential distortion and even deterioration of body image. A woman who finds out that she has a lump in the breast will probably suspect cancer. A visit to the doctor to confirm what the lump is all about should be done immediately so that early treatment could be administered.

Since every woman’s breast change several times even in a month’s time following the menstrual cycle, frequent visits are not really necessary! A woman can do breast self examination (BSE). But first, she should know what is her “normal breast” and how her breasts “normally feel” so she can easily identify changes during BSE. Any change that is seen and felt is identified and compared to the other breast.

How to do the BSE:

*Stand or sit in front of the mirror for visual inspection. Raise the hands and place behind the head. Look for dimples, discharges, folds, lumps, thickening, size and shape change, and swelling. Check also the underarm for any lump.

*Next, examine the breast using the second and third fingers of the opposite hand. Start the finger-walk around the perimeter of the nipple, moving about an inch away each time you complete the perimeter creating a bigger spiral until the outermost edge of the breast is covered.

*Continue up towards and under the armpit. If your breast is large relative to the “average” allow the fingers pads to apply heavier pressure to better evaluate underlying breast tissue.

*Repeat the visual scan and finger walk at the other breast.

*Finger walk at the breasts should be repeated when lying down.

Early breast cancer is painless, non-tender when pressed, movable and feels like a mongo seed or a marble upon hand palpation. The mass is movable at early stage then becoming non-movable at late stage, with irregular borders. Other late stage signs are nipple discharge, nipple inversion dimpling and or swelling of breast skin, and or armpit mass.

September 13, 2005 – Philippine Star

People eat in different ways. Some gobble up their food, while others make an art of it. Does it matter? Definitely! How we eat also affects our health.

In “Cooking Naturally for Pleasure and Health,” authors Gail Watson and Michael Blate share guidelines on how to eat for better health:

Eat the right diet for the climate or region in which you live-eat regionally and seasonally, emphasizing fresh foods grown within 50 miles of your home.

Food should be chewed at least 30 times per mouthful. This will help restore acid/alkaline balance within the digestive system, which is vital proper digestion and assimilation

Proper chewing

Thorough chewing accomplishes several things: analysis (taste is developed and, if the food is bad, it can be spat out); proper chewing restricts excess food intake while providing complete nutrition; proper chewing massages important digestive acupressure points in the mouth and jaw to improve digestion.

3. Eat moderately – avoid food extremes (e.g. excessively large, salty, sweet, and/or highly spiced meals, etc.).

4. Eat with an eye to the medical repercussions of food. If it tastes sweet, it will affect – and, in large amounts, injure-the spleen, pancreas and stomach. If it tastes salty, in large amounts, it will injure the kidneys and urinary bladder.

Liver

If it tastes sour, large amounts will injure the liver and gallbladder. It is tastes bitter large quantities will injure the heart and small intestine. And if the tastes spicy or pungent, in quantity, it will injure the lungs and large intestine.

5. Discover – and avoid – any hidden food (or other) allergens.

6. Avoid food and drinks that are too hot or too cold. Food is best eaten at body temperature, since extreme temperatures injure the digestive tract. Food or drink that is too cold could injure the lungs, liver and gallbladder, while food that is too hot injures the stomach, spleen, pancreas, small intestine and heart.

7. Drink as little as possible with meals – ideally, wait at least a half-hour after eating (excess liquids in the stomach dilute the hydrochloric acid necessary for proper food assimilation).

Generations

8. Learn to use and enjoy miso, tofu, seaweeds and other tasty-yet-unusual traditionally oriental foods.

These have evolved over generations of logical, not haphazard eating.

9. Avoid eating frequently in restaurants. Their portions are too large – and cost, not quality, is ordinary their ultimate guiding light.

10. Substitute carob for chocolate, fruit juices for sugary, carbonated softdrinks, herbal teas for coffee and other caffeinated drinks.

Exercise and Diet can Treat Gestational Diabetes

During pregnancy, the physical and emotional experiences that a mother go through are shared with the child inside her. One condition that pregnant women should be watchful is gestational diabetes. In the United States alone, 135,000 cases of gestational diabetes are reported each year.

Gestational diabetes happens to pregnant women who have never had diabetes before but who have high blood sugar (glucose) levels during pregnancy.

With this condition, the body is not able to make and use all the insulin it needs for her condition. Without enough insulin, glucose cannot leave the blood and be changed to energy. Glucose builds up in the blood to high levels. This is called hyperglycemia. There is no clear explanation as to why this condition happens to some pregnant women.

However, most doctors claim that some hormones in the placenta block the action of the mother’s insulin in her body. Insulin resistance makes it hard for the mother’s body to use insulin that she needs.
Gestational diabetes is usually diagnosed between the 24th and 28th week of pregnancy when insulin resistance usually begins.

Pregnant women who have a family history of diabetes, are overweight, are 30 years old and above and those who have a previous delivery of a baby weighing more than nine pounds, are at the risk of experiencing gestational diabetes.

High sugar levels in your blood can be unhealthy for both mother and baby.
If the diabetes isn’t addressed immediately, the baby may be more likely to have problems at birth. This can lead to macrosomia, or an overweight baby.

Babies with macrosomia face health problems of their own, including damage to their shoulders during birth. Because of the extra insulin made by the baby’s pancreas, newborns may have very low blood glucose levels at birth and are also at higher risk of breathing problems.

Babies with excess insulin become children who are at risk for obesity and adults who are at risk for type two diabetes.

The good news is that gestational diabetes normally goes away after giving birth.

However treating gestational diabetes greatly lowers the baby’s chances of having health problems.
Pregnant women who have gestational diabetes must schedule regular exercise in their routine. It may also include daily blood glucose testing and insulin injections. Most importantly, expecting mothers must follow simple daily guidelines, like eating a variety of foods including fresh fruits and vegetables that limit fat intake to 30 percent or less of daily calories.

For pregnant women who need to watch their sugar intake, there are already a variety of sugar-free snacks available in the market.

One of these is the Murray Sugar Free cookies which come in different variants like chocolate chip, chewy double fudge, chocolate sandwich, vanilla craaèmes, shortbread, peanut butter and oatmeal chocolate chip.
Murray Sugar Free Cookies are available in leading supermarket nationwide and is exclusively distributed by Benby Enterprises.

Manila Bulletin

As a mother of three growing kids, I am sure that a lot of mothers like me are sometimes nagged by their con-science if they are doing everything to make their family healthier. It is a challenge not only because there are a lot of convenient and unhealthy options out here but also because present-day moms are modern-day task jugglers.

Nicki Anderson, a health and fitness advocate for over 20 years, fitness columnist of Chicago’s Daily Herald and author of the book Reality Fitness: Inspiration for Your Health and Well-Being, recently shared her pointers, as a mother of four, for a healthier family to eDiets.com where she is frequent contributor.

Nicki summarized the vast difference in lifestyle of two generations, those born before 1975 and the children of today. “When we were kids, many of us would come home from school, throw our books down the table, down a quick glass of milk and head outside to play until we were called in for dinner.

After dinner, it was homework then bed. Snacks were not nearly as prevalent as they are today. And when it comes to fast food, it was a rare treat! Today, fast food lures families in at a minimum of three times per week adding up to at least 12 times a month! That translates to excess calories, sodium and fat.

Not good! Cable TV encouraged more sitting as well (as did Internet and computer games, may I add). As daily activity in our life began to decrease, the food options began to increase. More snacks, more fast foods sugar, more sodium, more processed ingredients.”

Healthy Habit 1: Lose the “hurry up” habit and opt for some down time instead. This attitude promotes grabbing food on the go. The problem also with always rushing is that it prevents two important things from happening more regularly.

First, family meals are less prevalent because everyone is in a hurry. Second, healthy meals and snacks are scarce because being on the go limits options when it come to making healthy snacks and meals. Stress also compounds when everything is hurried, a sure recipe for disease.

Healthy Habit 2: Get in the habit of reinforcing good health versus condoning the search for perfection. There is a natural tendency for mothers, especially those who were never petite, to want that for their daughters just like skinny father would like their sons to be athletic.

Nick explained, “(By) trying to help them ‘fit in’ with what’s popular right now, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to help them embrace their body and come to terms with their true self. It is heartbreaking when I have a mom that brings her daughter in and asks that I help her lose weight when clearly the daughter is bright, beautiful and genetically designed not to be small or petite. Yes, it’s a shame that right now the Lindsay Lohans of the world are setting the standard for body shape. But don’t you think it’s our job as their parent to teach them that it is not normal?”

Healthy habit 3: Make it a habit to prepare foods at home or opt for healthier fast food choices. While fast food joints are a Godsend when you are swamped with office work and do not have the time to prepare a good dinner, it is not so wise to be hooked into the convenience.

In fairness though, more chains are now offering healthier options. I guess the pressure increases when you are not a great cook (like me) and you don’t have a cook to rely on (like Susan in Desperate Housewives).

Healthy Habit 4: Do not use food as a reward, find other options. A lot of parents are guilty of this. How many times do we tell our kids that we will give them chocolate or bring them to their favorite fast food chain, if they do something good? At an early age, children think of food as a gratification for good behavior. This is a habit that can go on when the child becomes an adult.

Healthy Habit 5: Instead of stressing weight, stress healthy choices. It’s funny to hear six-and seven-year old girls say that they are too fat. Sometimes the changes in body are only due to puberty and growth spurt. The notion that kids are fat only comes from comparing themselves to their favorite TV and movie stars.

Educate your children that there are better indicators of health such as having the ideal blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, etc. Stress that as long as you eat balanced meals in moderation and exercise enough, as long as you do not get sick often, then you should be happy.

Healthy Habit 6: Create a weekly activity goal. It is almost imperative, especially if the weekdays are less active, to delve into sports on weekends. It wouldn’t hurt also, said Ricki, if you create an activity chart for each child. The one with the most hours spent biking, jogging, swimming or playing in the garden, gets the chance to choose the weekend family activity.

Healthy Habit 7: Get in the habit of being an active parent. A lot complain that they do not have enough time or money, but there are so many free things you can do such as a brisk walk in the park. Dismissing the value of health and well being for us parents send the wrong signal to our children.

Healthy Habit 8: Get in the habit of discussing regularly with your children realistic body images. Billboards and glossy magazines declare everyday how ideal and perfect bodies should look like. We should explained to our children that different people have different frames and no matter what one does, some people cannot look like the Hollywood star they idolize. They should be encouraged to eat balanced meals, exercise and enjoy their youth.

Healthy Habit 9: Get in the habit of teaching your kids to be fit for life! Ricki said that while most of us were active back in our youth, the same type of activities did not find their way into our adult lives. “I have told my kids since they were little, that being active and eating well makes you strong, and eating junk food and not exercising makes you weak.

I believe that was a visual that kids could grasp. Though I don’t have an athlete in my house, they are slowly but surely catching on to the idea that when they eat well and move more they feel a lot better than when they eat too much garbage and sit idle. I have always held the belief that moderation is the best defense against obesity and related diseases,” Ricki explained.

Healthy Habit 10: Follow the 80/20 Rule. Ricki clarified, “Of all the things I teach my clients, the 80/20 rule is probably the most valuable. Basically the 80/20 rule means that 80 percent of the time you should exercise and eat well and 20 percent of the time is your margin of error. The reality of life is that we can’t always be dedicated to working out nor do we always want to stick to fruits and vegetables.

There are times in life where a good old fashioned ice cream sundae sounds good, and you know what? You should be able to have it. The same holds true with exercise. Though we should exercise most days of the week, there are some days where intentional exercise just doesn’t happen, and that’s okay.. The 80/20 rule allows us to be mindful of healthy living without being unrealistic.

Sometimes we’ll get ourselves into a place where it’s all or nothing and oftentimes that leads to inconsistency. If you believe that you have to abstain from certain foods all the time, you’re setting yourself up for failure. However, if you and your family follow the 80/20 rule, you are setting the course for a balanced lifestyle. It’s real life and something everyone can follow.”

Healthy Habit 11: Help you kids develop a healthy cooking habit. Let them be part of meal planning and even meal preparation. I also taught my kids how to read food labels.

“It’s an overabundance of any food that causes weight gain and it’s more important to teach kids about 80/20 and that having an ice cream or brownie once in a while isn’t the end of the world. In fact, the less you place the emphasis on what they can’t have, the less likely they will be to obsess over those food choices,” she added.

Healthy Habit 12: Learn to say “no” to your kids. “In a society where kids are becoming less active and eating more processed foods, we need to help them make better choices.

In order to develop habits that will perpetuate a higher quality of life for our kids as well as for ourselves we need to say no; no to an overabundance of junk food, no to hours upon hours in front of the computer; no to eating in front of the TV; no to soda at every meal. These are just a few of the boundaries you can set for your kids in order to help them make better choices down the road. I find that parents rarely have a problem setting rules about curfew, study habits, or friends. Yet, when it comes to healthy habits, parents are at a loss,” Ricki opined.

There are so many lists of habits for successful careers and enterprises. But this list is one that believe is indispensable for parents who want to create an impact on the healthy future of their children.

We almost always just live for the moment that is why it is easy to succumb to the unhealthy habits of bingeing, Internet surfing and watching cable TV. It is high time we seriously look into the consequences of our lack of planned action to keep our families healthy.

As Ricki explained, the steps to a healthy family are not drastic and restrictive. We can all pitch in to make sure that our families are active and eat balanced meals in moderation. And let us make sure that we support each other in the family deal with stress in a fun and healthy way.

Stay happy and healthy!

Post Note at mylene@goldsgym.com.ph.


MYLENE MENDOZA-DAYRIT, September 6, 2005, Philippine Star