Reduce

Some strategies to get you on your way to ideal weight…

Lifestyle plays an important role in maintaining an ideal weight. Instead of burning away inches with a single pill, concentrate on these few strategies to have an ideal weight.

Record everything that you are eating
Keeping a record of what you are eating helps in managing your weight. It actually tells you how much you are eating. It can tell you what unhealthy diet you are having in your day to day life. It can motivate you to achieve your goals. Few steps in this are:
- Decide how detailed you want your food journal to be.
- Record everything. Do not even miss the sauces, gravies and even a small thing that you eat.
- Service sizes should be specific while noting them in the food journal.
- Include the time interval and food groups.
- Maintain the food journal for two weeks to get a consistent record.
- Maintain a record of physical activity.
- Every food has a calorie and nutrition content. Keep a knowledge of that.

Be more active
- More calories should be burn than consuming.
- At least 60 minutes of workout daily is necessary to keep yourself active. Workout can be a walk or any other physical activity.
- Exercise will keep the weight off.
- Exercise will also take a large amount of weight off the abdomen.
- Besides walking, some other ways to be active are swimming, dancing or biking.

Goals set should be reasonable
The key to successful weight control is to set goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and track-able. Setting an unrealistic goal will lead to your disappointment. The focus should be on making performance goals rather than outcome goals.

Triggers should be identified
There are always some factors that are responsible for making you overweight. These factors should be identified and accordingly changes should be made.
- You should be honest with what you are eating.
- Sometimes, eating is related to the mood of the person. Identify the cause of eating by:
1. You tend to eat more sweet when you are depressed over something.
2. Is there any kind of pressure which is making you eat more?
3. Is the environment trigger over eating?
Try to do:
- Are you really physically hungry?
- Say no to extra calories.
- Distract yourself from your desire to eat.
- Direct negative energy into a positive energy.

Watch out for foods that you eat
- Reduce the caloric consumption which means choosing the foods wisely.
- Reduce food high in sugar or fat.
- Say no to junk food.
- Favor fruits, vegetables and whole grain products.
- Select foods that are low in energy density.

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What are the side effects of smoking? Difference between active and passive smoking?

Smoking is injurious to health. There is hardly a part of the body that is not affected by smoking.
Immediate side effects of smoking a cigarette includes:
- raised blood pressure
- decreased blood flow.
- nausea and dizziness.
- Hyper-acidity
- Loss of appetite
- Chronic cough
- Breath shortness
- Yellowish teeth and fingers

The withdrawal symptoms include:
- lack of concentration
- coughs
- headaches
- strong cravings
- changes in sleep patterns

How smoking affects different parts of the body?
- If we start from the top, risk of developing mouth cancer is increased. Tobacco can cause mouth ulcers, bad breath and tooth decay. Headaches
also caused by smoking.
- Chemicals like hydrogen cyanide and others damage the bronchi causing inflammation which results in cough. In lungs, the mucous secretion is affected causing chronic cough.
- Nicotine present in tobacco affects the heart as it raises the blood pressure and carbon monoxide leads to the development of cholesterol deposits on artery walls.
- Smoke tars can cause esophagus and throat cancer. The stomach acid increases which leads to ulcers and heartburn.
- Carcinogens in tobacco case damage to genes that control the cell growth.
- The chemicals present in smoking affects the immune system of the body and makes it weak.
- Smokers have low level of anti-oxidants in blood as compared to non smokers.
- Heart diseases and heart attack are very common among smokers as compared to non-smokers.
- During pregnancy, the risk of premature baby, low birth weight, spontaneous abortion are observed.
- Tobacco is responsible for cancer of lungs, mouth, pharynx, larynx, stomach, urinary bladder, gall Bladder, penis.
- Tobacco consumption reduces estrogen levels in women.
- Vitamin D metabolism decreases resulting in slow absorption of calcium in the body. Deficient calcium absorption can lead to osteoporosis or thinning of the bones.
- Antioxidants such as vitamin C, vitamin E and carotenoids help the body fight off diseases ranging from cancer to heart disease, and help stave off the degenerative effects of aging.

TYPES OF SMOKING
In active smoking, the person is lighting up the cigarette actively and smoking it.
Passive smoking is also called involuntary or second hand smoking as it involves people in your surrounding to inhale certain toxic gases which in turn could harm more than active smoking. In this type of smoking, people are forced to smoke.

The health risks that a passive smoker may occur are considerably less than those of an active smoker, secondhand smoke still contains many of the chemicals and carcinogenic compounds that are also breathed in by the active smoker.

Indoor air pollution is ranked as one of the top five major environmental health risks that affect us today.

The Digestive System – what is it and why is it important for health ? Part 2

The digestive system allows the digestion and absorption of food and execution of waste products. There can be many problems associated with the digestive system which if ignored can lead to complex situations.

- Ulcerative Colitis
If a person is suffering from bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever and anemia then it could be ulcerative colitis which is an inflammation and ulceration of the colon and rectal lining. Drugs are needed to cure it.

- Liver disease
If a person is suffering from loss of taste, then it could be a possibility that he or she is affected by a liver disease.

- Diverculitis
If a person is suffering from severe stomach pain that does not abate within an hour and is not relieved by antacids, coupled with pain, recurrent diarrhea, fever, chills, nausea and vomiting then it could be diverculitis which is an infection of pouches on the wall of the colon that requires antibiotics, antispasmodics and a high fiber diet.

- Peptic Ulcer
If a person is suffering from persistent ache in the gut that lasts for more than a few days between meals and at rest together with flu like symptoms, weight loss or rectal bleeding, then it could be peptic ulcer which can be treated with antibiotics and antiulcerants.

- O-esophagus Cancer
If a person is suffering from difficulty in swallowing, weight loss, chest discomfort, heartburn then it could be the cancer of oesophagus and it can be diagnosed by a barium meal and endoscopy.

- Hiatal Hernia
If the food is regurgitated from the stomach into the mouth then there is a possibility that the person is facing from hiatal hernia in which the upper part of the stomach slide up through the opening in the diaphragm and is diagnosed with barium meal and is treated with surgery.

- Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
If a person is suffering from fluctuation between diarrhea and constipation with stomach cramps which rarely hit you while you are asleep then it could be irritable bowel syndrome which can be treated with antispasmodic drugs, frequent small meals and fiber diet.

- Acidity or Heart Burn
If a person is suffering from a burning pain in the chest then it could be because of acidity which is often confused with a heart attack. When stomach’s excess acid is forced back up from the wind pipe, acidity bursts. Eating a rich spicy meal just before bed time is the main cause for acidity. Take an antacid and raise the head of your bed and sleep on your left side.

- Round Worms
If a person is suffering from anal itching then it could be because of round worms and you need a de-worming session.