You are here: Home / Archives for Healthy Living

Conquering Cancer through Healthy Living- Part A

May 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Antioxidants

“Cancer death rates show decline” was one of the CBC/health headlines on May 09 this year, that got a lot of of people thinking.  The article seemed to have raised awareness to some extent, hoping to catch the eye  (I mean, breath) of stubborn smokers, for 27% of all cancer deaths are due to lung cancer, says the group director of Cancer Cancer society.  The decline was attributed to increased screening and decreased smoking, so that the consistent hike in cigarette prices might have been a blessing in disguise. I certainly see laboratories busy screening people with increasing wait times over the past few years, as cancer has changed its status from being  a ‘stigma’ to a ‘death threat that everybody wants to avoid’.  Well, that is good news.

But then, is that all?  ‘Quit smoking and go for screening to reduce cancer death rates’ is all that we as a society need to do in order to look good on the frontline of  our fight against cancer??  Surely, cancer is more than just a side-effect of smoking (I hear that smoking causes more heart problems than cancer and some people might even argue that all these attacks on smokers is merely a publicity stunt).  We hear a lot about anti-oxidants such as Vitamin C and Vitamin E having shown some promised results in fighting cancer. Wow!! A magic pill indeed? Well, what does it do and how does it cure the deadly disease that even chemotherapy and radiation fail at times in controlling?

Anti-oxidants, as the name suggests, have something to do with the process of inhibiting oxidation (removal of oxygen from complex compounds) inside our bodies. The plain English definition of oxidation in us is “any chemical reaction in which a material gives up electrons, as when the material combines with oxygen such as burning (rapid) or rusting (slow).”  Basically, it is a chemical reaction or a series of chemical reactions caused by eating (my best guess) in which body compounds  lose electrons.  Can we avoid that? As much as we can avoid eating – the ultimate thing to do if we are generating too many ‘free radicals’ which nothing but charged ions or electrons. What do these free radicals do to cancer?  Most likely, are major sources of causing cancer. A free radical, if energetic enough, can run around in the neighbourhood and if happens to be present at the wrong place at the wrong time, can disrupt the fine process of cell division inside our body. There are certain areas inside our body where cell division does take place continuously.  We do not want free radicals in that neighbourhood, because once the cell division process disrupts, it can go haywire and boom!! Before we know it, we get a tumor.

Scary, isn’t it?? But that is what a renowned Radiation Biologist once told me.  I have no reason to believe he was lying.  We must, as much as possible, have as few free radicals inside of us as possible, and that is where antioxidants help. They neutralize the free radicals floating around in our body and essentially catch the tiger with its tail.

I will give you some time to think on this for a while and encourage you to do your own research. We will talk more on cancer once I get you more involved.

For additional health information or insight into your health concerns, Check this out!

For specific information and more on cancer, Click Here!

For living healthy and looking good, You may want to look into this!

After all, your health is in your hands.

Filed Under: Healthy Living Tagged With: , , ,

Healthy Mind

April 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A Beautiful Mind   

Mental health is an issue that we choose to not address. To varying extent, each and every one of us could go through mental ups and downs, not all of which may need special attention. A certain percentage of our population, however could (and probably does) suffer from greater extents of mental health problem for which help is available, provided the patient specifically asks for help.  Our health care system, which does not permit us to ask for help directly for our loved ones, expects some level of self-diagnosis by  those suffering from depression, anxiety or other mental health problems, in order to treat them.  Believe it or not, this seems to have become a humongous problem itself, since adult mental-health patients may not choose to see their problem or even go through the very first stage of self-diagnosis, most of the time.  We, as a society, therefore, are stuck in a sticky situation, which affects several aspects of our lives.

Consider the mental-health statistics reported in Canada:

It is believed that every fifth Canadian experiences mental health problem each year[1].  Mental health affects a high percentage of teenagers: 18% of adolescents (aged 15-24) report having  either a mental illness or a substance abuse problem [2].  A Canadian workplace study indicates that about 26% of employees suffer from depression [3].  It is believed that at least one person in 100 can be expected to develop schizophrenia[4.  Currently in North America, one child in 88 suffers from Autism [5]

Most of the homicides or other serious crimes committed in our country (or anywhere in the world for that matter) can be associated with mental health issues of the criminal.  Issues that are usually ignored till they lead to serious consequences.  By that time, many innocent people are victimized.  I understand if we have an unmanageable population that needs to be fed first, so that issues such as poverty and economic crisis need to be addressed.  But that is certainly not the case with our country, supposedly the “best country of the world”’ from UN standard (a fact that our Prime Ministers never fail to remind us on Canada Day, each year).

Some of the not-so-viscous consequences of mental health issues also show up in our lives in many forms. At workplace, employees suffering from mental health are not very productive and the effect is usually cascading if he/she happens to be managing other employees. Considerable amount of tax-payer dollars is invested into teenagers and adults who have problems with substance abuse and are unable to work, therefore (usually) on welfare.  The cumulative effect is that our economy suffers, big way, and would continue to do so unless we choose to do something about it, and figure out a concrete way of addressing the root cause of our mental problems, which could be as varied as the number of living species on this planet.  While we cannot come up with a magic pill to eliminate all mental health issues, we can begin to make a difference, by encouraging people to get help.

That brings us to another problem: the wait times for obtaining psychiatric treatment. It may take up to a few months [6] to get proper mental health evaluation and treatment for an adult.  There is, however, help available over the phone, and something can be surely arranged quickly enough for people who seek early intervention.

My heart goes out to you if you have kids that suffer from autism, depression or other disorders.  While there is still the time for intervention, I plead with you to get help and get your child evaluated, even at a very young age.  Please watch for abnormal behavior, and do not try to come up with an excuse.  There is usually a pattern for children who are displaying signs for mental disorders, as opposed to those who are throwing tantrums to get attention.  For example, check for these signs, that your child may display:

  • Consistently does not make eye contact, when you call his/her name, appears to be deaf.
  • Is too focussed doing whatever he/she is engaged with, ignoring everything else and shows less interested in interacting with others or bonding normally.
  • Carries himself/herself as if there is everybody else in the room is an object, not sensing another human presence.  This can be seen by pushing other children out of the way, without noticing it or realize that there was someone in the way.
  • Difficulty in learning language or oral communication skills
  • Not laughing or crying when you would expect or unable to control when upset
  • Other physical signs such as learning disability which are easily measurable.
  • Some dietary symptoms, such as gastro-intestinal disorders, self-restricted or elected diet, etc.
  • Consistent pattern of aggression, alternating positive and negative thoughts
  • Delusions, hallucinations, other extreme emotions or reactions

It is important that you check for  a consistent pattern of these symptoms, for certain symptoms may not persist.  After a short time, and the child could display normal behavior, so keep an eye on what’s happening, putting all biases aside.  Once you are clear that your child is displaying one or more of these symptoms consistently, then approach your family doctor or paediatrician for proper direction. Please keep in mind that early intervention the most effective way of addressing mental health issues.

References

  1. Kessler, R. C., Chiu, W.T., Demler, O., Walters, E.E. (2005). “Prevalence, Severity, and Comorbidity of 12-Month DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication”, Archives of Gen. Psychiatry, 62 (6), 617-627.
  2. Kirby, M. & Keon, W. (2004). Report 1, “Mental health, mental illness and addiction: Overview of policies and programs in Canada (Chapter 5)”,  Interim report of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology.
  3.  Ipsos-Reid, “Mental Health in the Workplace”, Largest study ever conducted of Canadian workplace mental health and depression. Public release date: Nov. 19, 2007.
  4.  “Schizophrenia: An Information Guide”, published by the Centre for Addiction and mental health, March 2012
  5.  Autism Canada, 2011 Annual Report
  6.  Barua B., Rovere M., and Skinner B.J. (2011), “Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada”,, 2011 report. Fraser Institute. The Fraser Institute study (2011) reported that across the provinces, the average total wait time between the referral by a general practitioner and the time that the required elective treatment begins by psychiatric specialist increased from 16.0 weeks in 2010 to 18.8 weeks in 2011.


Filed Under: Healthy Living

Deliciously simple

April 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Oil-free Green Chinese Eggplant curry

Healthy Eating can indeed be deliciously simple – particularly if you are my type of personality – always in a hurry to get the job done without spending enormous amount of time reading the ingredients and stressing out for not having the right ingredients, or cooking something which requires enormous amount of preparation time.

Besides, I believe that taste depends mainly upon how fresh the vegetable (or meat, for that matter) is.  So try out this deliciously simple Recipe, and feel free to experiment with other chunky type vegetables (like plain and simple potatoes, squash, zucchini, Italian eggplant, etc) and develop your taste buds with this simple, flavorful dish.

Filed Under: Healthy Living Tagged With: ,

Cooking Healthy

March 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 

This is my favorite part in my long-term health planning. I can trust what I   eat for my good health the most if I were involved in its preparation.  There were not very many fast-food options during the times of our grandparents who lived a relatively healthier life than we do. Undeniably. So let us spin the wheel a little backwards and try to do something that used to be a chore of choice – cooking!

I guess most of you are familiar with the cooking paradox – oils which are healthiest in terms of their fatty content cannot be overheated (or used for cooking, basically) and oils or fat that can be heated to cooking temperatures may not necessarily be the best ones for your health.  The debate is ongoing and for that  matter, the research is ongoing.  As of today, scientists are still trying to figure out whether or not saturated fats are entirely bad for you.

While the oil debate is still on, how about keeping the fat off the diet for a bit, and try to do some oil-free cooking?  It may sound a bit absurd or unconvincing to some of you, but that is exactly what I am talking about.  The concept is not new – recipe books for oil-free cooking are available with a colourful variety of recipes for breakfasts, meals and desserts.  Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn’s book “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease” offers a wide variety of reasons and recipes for vegan oil-free diets.

Although most components in an oil-free diet are baked or stewed, it is possible to try some stove-top cooking and improvise on existing recipes by simply eliminating the oil and reducing the time it takes to ‘fry’ things by dry-roasting them, and actually make them taste good. A good place to start would be to buy good quality non-stick cookware that allow you to cook without oil and preserve the taste of the food.  You could use heavy bottom stainless steel cookware too, as long as you cook within the safe limits of slow-medium high heat.  It also helps to do your preparation beforehand, because you do not want to burn your pan while you wait to do something else. I can share some tips for awesome recipes with you, and I promise you – these are so simple that you can do nothing wrong to make them taste bad. So go ahead and begin cooking!!

The best food, however, is the one that you can eat raw – fresh vegetables and fruits. A variety of vegetables offered in those colorful veggie platters taste best and exotic when eaten raw. If you can do without a dip, you can also avoid the excess salt and eat it as salad along with your favorite main dish.  Consider reducing the complex carbohydrates, or substitute white bread/ rice/ pasta with whole grain bread, pasta, brown or wild rice.  There are lots of colorful choices, low GI choices, even in ‘carbs’.  You will never find out unless you try them out.

 

Filed Under: Healthy Living, Uncategorized

Shopping for Health

March 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 

A good way to begin your day is by eating healthy.  Normally, healthy food doesn’t come laid out on a platter for us at each meal time, except for the priviledged few.  It does require some effort on our part to say NO to the junk or unhealthy food and step out for healthy shopping. But how do you determine what’s healthy?

Thankfully in North America, it is mandatory to label all processed food or canned food, so that the consumer has the privilege to read and choose. Produce (including fresh vegetables and fruits) is considered healthy by default, hence I haven’t ever seen a label on those.

Most of these items are found in any grocery store in your neighbourhood. Now-a-days,  grocery stores also carry organic food and health supplements, in limited quantities, however.  Health food stores, on the other hand, carry chiefly organic food and health supplements, and it might be a good idea to check out these, to help you figure out what works the best for you.

In the Nation’s capital, downtown Ottawa is cluttered with a lot of places to eat, drink and be merry. If you come for a visit on the famous Bank Street of downtown Ottawa  not too far from the Parliament Hill, there are locations of  health food stores who will be happy to serve you.  For those of you who are allergic to chemicals or drugs from the Pharmacies, a visit to ’Nature’s Care Heatlh Products’ in downtown Ottawa maybe a good starting point.  The owner of this particular store is upto  his sleeve with helpful tips and genuine advice, to the best of his knowledge.  He will carefully listen to your health concerns and come up with something that would suit you, so make sure  you share your specific concerns with him before you decide. By and large, I haven’t heard of  people complaining against health food store drugs.

If you opt for healthy, organic food and meals, then ‘Herb and Spice’, also in downtown Ottawa is a good place to be during mealtime. It offers a variety of organic produce, readymade meals and organic supplements.  I remember one of my professors at the University of Ottawa would bike all the way to Herb and Spice for enjoying the ‘best soup of the season’ in his words, most of the days.

And then there are reasonably priced salad bars and fresh sandwiches for quick pickup at Hartman’s Independent store, Loblaws and other supermarkets.  It might be a good idea to take a break from fries, hamburgers, hotdogs, etc, for a healthy intake.

Filed Under: Environmental Friendly Products, Healthy Living

Healthy Living

March 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 

 What is healthy living?  Is it just eating healthy foods, doing grocery shopping only at health food stores, or there is something more to being healthy?

The question about healthy living bogs every mind on this planet, for every single soul is convinced, to some degree, that something needs to be done in order to be healthy.  Health, wealth and  happiness are those timeless virtues that each one of us ultimtely desires, and strives for. The medical profession and health industry make the biggest splash in the vast ocean of human life.  Yet, the thirst for healthy lifestyle is never satisfied as each conscientious person on this planet thrives to lead a healthy life.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle to our good health is our stubborn refusal to discipline our indulgence or accept that we need to take the responsibility to take care of our health. It just is not ‘cool’ to make difficult choices.  Our heatlh-care system is in a better shape than it was, say, twenty years ago– so why bother? I love the careless dudes – they don’t strain the health care system either till ill-health suddenly encroaches over them from somewhere.

For the rest of us, I guess its time to get serious, as we realize that our health-care system is indeed overburdened due to imbalance between supply and demand.  It is time to focus and let not our health get out of our hands, for prevention is better than cure.

The three major components of healthy living include healthy eating, exercise and a positive attitude. It is important that we maintain a fine balance these components, for doing one thing while ignoring the others really does not qualify for a healthy life-style. It is all about fitness and that requires proper planning. Consider health as a major project in your life and you are the project manager.  You are the boss, and you reap the benefit of running this project well. So begin careful planning, scheduling and implementing this project and incorporate all the phases that are important to you.  Its your health. You define the goals and outcome. You assess the risks and choose on what are you willing to compromise.  And, like any other project, if you ignore or procrastinate, you suffer.  Now that is what most of us have been doing so far.  But I promise you, if you are reading this article, you realize, like I do, its never to late – there still is a chance.  You can do it – so I invite you to pack yourself some confidence, courage and capacity to embark upon this journey for achieving a healthy life.

Good Luck!!

Filed Under: Healthy Living