The Journal of
Oct-Dec 2011
HEALTH & HAPPINESS How kids eat more fruits in school Should the UK have Fat Tax Add 3 more years to your life Farah's struggle to quit smoking
How to fight flu
Yoga reduces fear of falling
Family dinners save teens from drugs, drinks and smoking Atul Kochhar's Health & Happiness recipe
With this issue we celebrate the first anniversary of the publication of The Journal of Health & Happiness. It has been a challenging and yet a highly satisfying journey. We have been getting immensely positive feedback from our readers. "I haven't seen anything like this, an inspirational health magazine free for everyone," said one of our readers. Atul Kochhar's Health & Happiness recipe is proving really popular. Just the other day the Michelin star chef was stopped by a group of yoga enthusiasts who wanted to know more about his lean and reduced-fat recipes. We also organised a 'Heartstart' class in Hounslow with the help of the British Heart Foundation. We are grateful to Karen Walling, the Community Resuscitation Training Officer from London Ambulance Service who taught fifteen members of our group, Ajivan: The Society for Health & Happiness, what to do in a life threatening emergency. There has been a lot of demand for this magazine from areas where we cannot afford to distribute it free. We find postal distribution quite expensive. Therefore, we have decided to set a small annual subscription of ÂŁ10 and we hope our distant readers will still support us with undiminished enthusiasm. We always welcome your ideas and feedback to improve this publication.
C O N T E N T S October - December 2011
Issue 4 04
HELP DIABEATSE Campaign
05
Exercise 15 minutes a day, add three more years to your life
06
What family dinners do for teenagers
08
SAD: Seasonal Affective Disorder
10
Fighting cold and flu
11
Should the UK have 'Fat Tax'
12
Fruits and vegetables could modify faulty heart genes
12
Hatha Yoga reduces fear of falling
13
How materialism could kill a marriage
15
Heartstart : How to do CPR
Vijay Rana
16
Farah's struggle to quit smoking
Editor, The Journal of Health & Happiness
17
Ayurveda: Food as medicine
Want this magazine delivered to your home Many readers have asked us to post this magazine to their home address. To meet the postage costs we have decided to set a small annual subscription of ÂŁ10. Please send your annual subscription with your full address to: Subscriptions H&H, 1 Stucley Road, Hounslow, TW5 0TN Please send a cheque payable to 'Ajivan Health'
18
Atul Kochhar's Health & Happiness recipe
The Journal of Health & Happiness is a publication of Ajivan: The Society for Health & Happiness Website: www.ajivan.com Email: info@ajivan.com Tel: 07850 374 595
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Disclaimer: The information available in this magazine is for general awareness only. It is NOT a substitute for the knowledge and judgment of qualified medical experts. We make no warranty as to the accuracy, reliability or completeness of this information. Should you have any health or medical condition, you are strongly advised to consult a qualified physician or other health care professional. Views expressed by our contributors are their own and we take no responsibility for their views.
A groundbreaking campaign to beat the disease that costs the NHS £1 million an hour, £173 million a week and takes up about 10% of the total NHS budget. A national campaign was launched in September to help people with diabetes to take part in the very latest clinical research aimed at finding a cure for the disease. HELP DIABEATES is a new campaign from the Diabetes Research Network that is asking people with diabetes to participate in clinical research studies. The scheme would work like a "dating agency" matching needy patients with relevant diabetes research experts. Experts say diabetes research is suffering because less than 1% patients take part in research trials, whereas in cancer trials patient participation is about 30%. According to Diabetes UK about 2.8 million people in the UK are known to have diabetes and there are another 800,000 people who might not know that they already have the disease. Professor David Matthews, Co-
Director of the Diabetes Research Network and Professor of Diabetes Medicine at The Oxford Centre for Diabetes said: ―This is a refreshing approach to recruit patients to a "consent for approach" database. It means that diabetes patients are agreeing to be contacted in the
three areas of England: the North West, the South West, and the North East area of London. This campaign is expected to last 18 months and recruit up to 25,000 diabetes patients.
How to take part in HELP DIABEATES People can express their interest in diabetes research by texting "research" and their name to 81400 or through:
www.researchforthefutur e.nihr.ac.uk. People will then future if a study becomes available which might suit them. It also means that clinical trials can be set up much faster which is ideal for diabetes research.‖ The campaign is taking place in
be contacted by a dedicated NHS team to discuss how they might be able to help with diabetes in the future. At this point people can decide if they want to be included in "consent for approach" database.
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How much salt should we eat? Just 6g Eating too much salt might result in increased blood pressure. This can then increase the risk of cardiovascular disease such as stroke, coronary artery disease and heart failure. Some argue that giving children too much salt is likely to make them continue to eat a high salt and unhealthy diet as they grow, making them more likely to become obese and develop higher blood pressure in adulthood. Also, the kidneys of babies and younger children are actually unable to filter salt as well as those of adults. This increases their risk of water retention 4 THE JOURNAL OF HEALTH & HAPPINESS
and kidney problems. The UK Food Standards Agency has set the maximum recommended daily salt intake for adults at 6 grams per day. The recommended maximums for children are generally lower: ● less than 1g per day for babies under 6 months ● 1g per day for those aged 7-12 months ● 2g per day for 1-3 year olds ● 3g per day for 4-6 year olds ● 5g per day for 7-10 year olds ● 6g per day for children aged 11 or above
Exercise 15 minutes a day, add three years to your life Though the UK government guidelines recommend at least 30 minutes of exercise five days a week, a new study suggests that even half that amount can provide significant health benefits. The study showed that a small amount of leisure-time physical activity, just 15-minutes of moderate exercise a day, reduces mortality from cardiovascular disease and cancer. And there is further good news, just 15 minutes of moderate exercise a day (or 92 minutes per week) could increase your life expectancy by three-years. It might also result in a 14% reduction in risk of death by any cause, compared with a sedentary lifestyle. Each additional 15 minutes of daily exercise (up to 100 minutes a day) reduced the risk of death by an additional 4%, the study found, and people who got 30 minutes of activity a day added about four extra years to their life expectancy, compared to those who live a sedentary life. The observational study, published in The Lancet, involved more than 400,000 people in Taiwan, who were followed for an average of about eight years. Researchers gave participants a questionnaire asking about their medical history and lifestyle habits,
including how much leisure-time physical activity they do. Based on the answers, researchers divided them into activity intensity groups: light (walking), moderate (brisk walking), vigorous (jogging) and very vigorous (running). "The 30-minute-a-day for five or more days a week has been the golden rule for the last 15 years, but now we found even half that amount could be very beneficial," said Dr. Chi-Pang Wen, the leader of the study. "The knowledge that as little as 15 minutes per day of exercise on
most days of the week can substantially reduce an individual's risk of dying could encourage many more individuals to incorporate a small amount of physical activity into their busy lives," wrote coauthor Dr. Anil Nigam of the Montreal Heart Institute. The authors also warn this study shouldn't be an excuse to scale back if you're already working out for at least 30 minutes a day.
When it comes to exercise, more is better.
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Want to live longer, turn off your TV Sitting in front of the television may be a relaxing way to pass an evening, but spending too much time in front of the television may take years off your life. The findings suggest that watching too much TV is as detrimental to longevity as smoking and lack of exercise. Australian researchers from the University of Queensland, analysing the TV-viewing data from more than 11,000 participants older than 25 years, showed
that Australian adults watched an estimated 9.8 billion hours of television in 2008. People who watched an average six hours of TV a day lived an average 4.8 years fewer than those who didn't watch any television. It's not surprising at all. We all know the more TV we watch, the less physically active we become. And the less exercise we get, the more likely we are to develop diseases such as diabetes or heart problems. 5 THE JOURNAL OF HEALTH & HAPPINESS
Teens who have dinner with families are less likely to smoke, drink or use drugs Teenagers having dinner with their families may not be common these days but those who do have clear health benefits. A recent report by the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA Columbia) concludes that teenagers who regularly have dinner with their families are less likely than others to use tobacco, drugs or alcohol. The report, 'The Importance of Family Dinners VII', also shows that a child who gets to the age 21 without smoking, using illegal drugs or abusing alcohol is virtually certain never to do so. Compared to those teenagers who have frequent family dinners (five to seven per week) and those who have infrequent family dinners (fewer than three per week) the latter are almost four times more likely to use tobacco; twice more likely to use alcohol; two-and-a-half times more likely to use marijuana; and almost 6 THE JOURNAL OF HEALTH & HAPPINESS
four times more likely to say they may try drugs in the future. There is also a correlation between the frequency of family dinners and teenager's access to drugs. Those teenagers who have infrequent family dinners are more likely to be able to get alcohol, prescription drugs or marijuana in an hour or less. The leader of the study and the chairman of CASA, Joseph A. Califano, said: "The study demonstrated that the magic that happens at family dinners isn’t the food on the table, but the conversations and family engagement around the table. When asked about the best part of family dinners, the most frequent answer from teens was the sharing, talking and interacting with family members; the second most frequent answer was sitting down or being together." The survey, which has been conducted annually for 17 years,
questioned 1,037 teenagers and 528 of their parents over the Internet and 1,006 teens by telephone from all over the Unites States. This year, 58 percent of those surveyed reported eating dinner with their families five or more times per week, a number that’s been remarkably consistent over the past decade. And 54 percent said that their favourite thing about eating with their families, other than the food, was the opportunity to chat and catch up with their folks. Over the past 17 years, The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA Columbia) has surveyed thousands of American teenagers and their parents to identify factors associated with an increase or decrease in the likelihood of teen substance use. They have found that parents have the greatest influence.
Kids eat more fruits if displayed in colourful bowls Do you want children to eat more fruits and double fruit sales in schools? The trick is to display fruits in the school lunchrooms in colourful bowls and place it in a well-lit area. Presenting a new study at the American Dietetic Association Conference in San Diego in September 2011 Prof Brian Wansink of Cornell University said, "Moving the fruit increased sales by 104%." Moving fruits to more visible front shelves in the school canteen is only one of the changes proposed through the Smarter Lunchrooms Movement of the Cornell Centre for Behavioural Economics in Child Nutrition Programs (BEN).
"The best solution is often the simplest one," Prof Wansink explained. "Rather than penalizing a less healthy food choice, we just made the healthier item much more likely to be noticed and chosen." He suggested some other simple adjustments to the school lunchroom layout, for example: suggesting students to take a fruit will increase the number of them eating it by as much as 70%; closing the lid on an ice cream freezer can reduce the number of people choosing ice cream from 30% to 14% and introducing a salad bar increased school lunch participation by 21% in a high school of 1,000 students. The BEN centre has analyzed multiple school
lunchroom layouts and designs that hindered student's selection of nutritious foods. The lunchrooms were revamped with easy, low-cost/no-cost environmental changes that resulted in an increase in healthy food choices. BEN has received the White House's support to help fight childhood obesity. Sam Kass, the White House chef, and Let's Move, Michelle Obama's initiative to solve the childhood obesity epidemic, have recently teamed up with BEN to progress toward this goal. This partnership will provide wider access to BEN centre, allowing more schools to use simple, cheap, and effective ways to lead children to choose healthier food.
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SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) or winter depression affects an estimated 7% of us When it is dark and gloomy, many people feel more lethargic and less sociable. The symptoms of SAD often start as the days begin to get shorter in the autumn. They are worst during December, January, and February. For most people with SAD, the symptoms start to improve by spring time, then disappear. In the UK, it is thought that SAD affects around 7% of people. It is caused by a biochemical imbalance in the hypothalamus due to the shortening of daylight hours and the lack of sunlight in winter. For many people SAD is a seriously disabling illness, preventing them from functioning normally without continuous medical treatment. For others, it is a mild but debilitating condition causing discomfort but not severe suffering. We call this subsyndromal SAD or 'winter blues.' It is estimated that a further 17% of the UK population have a milder form of this condition. Like any type of depression, SAD can be a difficult condition to live with. Symptoms can make you feel tired, stressed and unhappy. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) advises that the treatment of SAD should be the same as the treatment for other types of depression. Treatment for depression usually includes psychosocial treatments, and/or antidepressants. Light therapy is another form of treatment that is sometimes used to treat SAD. Depending on the nature and severity of your symptoms, your GP can recommend the most suitable treatment for you. Psychosocial treatments Psychosocial treatments are those that have both psychological aspects (looking at how your brain functions) and social aspects (looking at how you interact
with other people). These treatments include: Cognitive behavioural therapy: CBT is a combination of therapies. It starts with the idea that your problems are often created by you. It is not the situation itself that is making you unhappy, but how you think about it and how you react to it. Group physical activity programme is known to be beneficial for treating people with depression. You may be offered up to three sessions of exercise a week, for around three months. Counselling or psychodynamic psychotherapy, is where you talk to a trained counsellor about your problems, and psychodynamic psychotherapy. Antidepressants are often used to treat other forms of depression, and in some cases they may also be used to treat SAD if your symptoms are severe. Light therapy is thought to work by simulating the sunlight that is missing during the darker winter months. The additional light encourages your brain to reduce the production of melatonin (the hormone that makes you sleepy), while increasing the production of serotonin (the hormone that affects your mood). Light therapy involves sitting in front of, or beneath, a light box. Light boxes are special bright light lamps that come in a variety of designs, including desk lamps and wall-mounted fixtures. Speak to your GP and check the manufacturer’s instructions before using a SAD light device. Though evidence on the effectiveness of light therapy is mixed. However, a number of studies have concluded that light therapy is effective, particularly if used first thing in the morning. Source: www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Seasonal-affective-disorder
UNDERSTANDING STROKES: The brain is made up of living cells that require a constant supply of nutrient- and oxygen-rich blood. Most strokes are caused by blockage or rupture of the blood vessels. A stroke occurs when brain tissue is deprived of blood and brain cells die from the lack of oxygen. Depending on which area of the brain is affected, a stroke can cause vision problems, speech problems, disability, even death. Traditionally, treatment for stroke-causing diseases involves blood-thinning drugs to prevent clots, but for patients with severe blockage, this may not be sufficient. Some temporary blockages only last minutes or hours, leading to mini-strokes.
What's the difference between cold and flu? Colds and flu affect 15 million people each year in the UK. Often people make unnecessary trips to their GP when they should be resting at home. However, flu can be a serious condition for some people, so it’s important to get advice if you have flu like symptoms. Before you call your GP, make sure you know the difference between a common cold and the flu virus. Colds : Blocked or runny nose ● Sneezing ● Coughing ● Feeling generally a little unwell (sometimes with a cold you can get a fever, aches and pains and a headache but these are usually mild). Flu: Fever (a temperature of 38°C/100.4°F or above) and chills ● A dry or sometimes a chesty cough ● Runny or blocked nose ● Sneezing ● Sore throat ● Headache ● Tiredness ● Aching muscles or joints ● Upset stomach or diarrhoea ● Loss of appetite and difficulty sleeping.
How to fight Flu You can never guarantee you’ll avoid flu, but these measures will help reduce the risk and help prevent it spreading:
Ask your doctor or practice nurses about the flu jab as early on in the flu season as possible. Avoid touching your nose and eyes after touching hand-contact surfaces in public places such as handrails – it’s the second most common way of catching flu. The first way is by breathing in small droplets of saliva that are coughed or sneezed into the air by an infected person. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water, especially before handling food or eating. Use disposable tissues rather than handkerchiefs and wash your hands after blowing your nose. Cough or sneeze into a tissue or into the fold of your elbow. Source: bhf.org.uk.Heartmatter 10 THE JOURNAL OF HEALTH & HAPPINESS
Should UK, the fattest nation in Europe, follow Denmark to impose a 'Fat Tax' Yes we are the fattest nation in Europe. One third of our children and nearly two-thirds of our adults are overweight or obese. If the situation continues, by 2050 obesity will be costing the state ÂŁ32 billion a year. So we have to look around how other countries are addressing the problem of obesity. A new controversial example is set by Denmark, which became the first country in the world to introduce a new "Fat Tax" on food containing more than 2.3 percent saturated fat. Denmark already had a ban on trans-fats and a "sin" tax on sugary items like soda and candy. The new "Fat Tax" is a complex one, in which rates will correspond with the percentage of fat in a product. The value of the tax is about $3.00 for every 2.2 pounds of saturated fat. The complex formula takes into account the amount of fat used to produce a particular food, not the amount that's in the final product, according to Ole Linnet Juul, food director at Denmark's Confederation of Industries. He calculated that the tax adds 12 cents to a bag of chips, 39 cents to a small package of butter and "In the UK, the clock is ticking. Public health experts fear that if we do not take steps to improve our diet in the UK, by 2050 we could expect a 20% rise in heart disease and a staggering 70% rise in Type 2 diabetes." BBC Panorama Programme 40 cents to the price of a hamburger. The tax was approved by large majority in a parliament in March as a move to help increase the average life expectancy of Danes - which has fallen below the international average of 79 years. Now other European governments are considering
following suit. Romania and Finland have been debating a similar fat tax for months. And just a couple of days after the Danish fat tax came into effect, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he too was considering similar legislation to tackle growing obesity levels in the country. Cameron said drastic action was needed to prevent health costs soaring and life expectancy falling. "I think it is something that we should look at," he told 5 News during the Tory conference in Manchester. He added: "I am worried about the costs to the health service, and the fact that some people are going to have shorter lives than their parents." He warned that obesity was on the verge of overtaking smoking and drinking as the biggest health challenge facing Britain.
Want this magazine delivered to your home Many readers have asked us to post this magazine to their home address. To meet the postage costs we have decided to set a small annual subscription of ÂŁ10. Please send your subscription with your address to: Subscriptions H&H, 1 Stucley Road, Hounslow, TW5 0TN Please send a cheque payable to 'Ajivan Health'
Your Name: .............................................................. Postal Address: ....................................................... .................................................................................. ...................................Post Code............................... Tel: ........................................................................... Email: -......................................................................
Fruits and vegetables could modify faulty heart disease genes Until now we believed that you cannot change the genes you have inherited from your parents. Now a team of scientists from McMaster and McGill Universities, Canada have found that a faulty gene which is the strongest marker of heart disease could be modified if we eat large quantities of raw vegetables, fruits and berries. The researchers gathered data from over 27,000 people from various ethnic ancestries, including Arab, Latin American, Chinese, South Asian and European. They studied what effects diet might have on the functioning and behavior of
Photo by Vivian Orr, Toronto, Canada
this faulty 9p21 gene. The authors say that theirs is one of the largest gene-diet interaction studies ever carried out on cardiovascular disease. The study published in the journal PLoS Medicine found that people with this high risk genetic variant which considerably raises heart disease risk, ended up having the same risk of heart disease as the rest of the population if they followed a diet rich in raw vegetables, fruit and berries. Lead author, Dr. Ron Do, wrote, "Our research suggests there may be an important interplay between
genes and diet in cardiovascular disease. Future research is necessary to understand the mechanism of this interaction." Dr. Sonia Anand, professor of medicine at epidemiology at McMaster University and the joint lead-author described the discovery as "exciting" and said that "Our results support the public health recommendation to consume more than five servings of fruits or vegetables as a way to promote good health."
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Hatha Yoga practice reduces fear of falling in older adults Hatha Yoga is one of the most popular branches of yoga. This 5,000-year-old Indian practice is based on physical movements alone. These are the standard stretches, or 'postures' that are done in order to build strength, peace of mind, balance, and endurance. Hath Yoga is considered the lowest form of yoga, but essential nonetheless. Raja yoga is the highest form, which develops the mind and spirit. In a 2009 study, US researchers from Indian University found that after a 12-week class, participants reported a 6 percent reduction in their fear of falling, a 34 percent increase in lower body flexibility, and a significant reduction in leisure constraints. The study leader Marieke Van Puymbroeck said participants reported "tremendous benefits," with emerging themes that included the ability to adopt right posture, increased range of motion, increased flexibility and improved balance.
How money and materialism could kill a marriage We all know that money can't buy happiness but a new study has found that relentlessly chasing life's luxuries, owning things to impress others, dying to buy new gadgets and expensive clothes or splashing money on lots of ostentatious things could spell disaster for a marriage. The simple message is: materialism kills marriages. In a survey of 1,734 married US couples, researchers from Brigham Young University and William Paterson University found that couples in which one or both partners placed a high priority on getting or spending money were much less likely to have satisfying and stable marriages. For one out of every five couples in the study, both partners admitted a strong love of money. These couples were worse off in terms of marriage stability, marriage satisfaction, communication skills and other metrics of healthy matrimony that researchers studied. The one out of seven couples that reported low-levels of materialism in both partners scored 10 to 15 percent higher in all metrics of marital quality and satisfaction. Interestingly, the correlation between materialism and marital difficulties remained stable regardless of the actual wealth of the couple. "Couples where both spouses are materialistic were worse off on nearly every measure we looked at," said Jason Carroll, a BYU professor of family life and lead author of the study. "There is a pervasive pattern in the data of eroding communication, poor conflict resolution and low responsiveness to each other." Couples filling out the questionnaires responded to queries about their marital satisfaction, conflict patterns, marital communication, marriage stability and other factors. They also rated their agreement with the
phrase "Having money and lots of things has never been important to me." People who agreed were categorized as non-materialistic, while those who disagreed qualified as materialistic. The findings are published in the October issue of the Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy. Relationships usually fair better when partners share priorities and values, but researchers found that the opposite was true in this case. When only one partner was materialistic and the other not, the non-materialistic partners seemed to sustain the marriage, resulting in higher levels of satisfaction, communication and stability in marriages made of mismatched couples when compared to dual-materialistic ones. The study couldn't test how materialism erodes a marriage, but Carroll and his colleagues have a couple of theories. The first is that materialism causes spouses to make bad financial decisions, spending beyond their means, getting in debt and stressing each other out. Another possibility, Carroll said, is that people who are materialistic spend less time nurturing their relationships with people in their haste to get things. "They simply don't give relationships the same priority and attention as non-materialistic spouses," Carroll said. 13 THE JOURNAL OF HEALTH & HAPPINESS
were estimated to have insomnia, and that figure was corroborated by sleep medicine experts. Researchers also found that workers over 65 were less likely to have insomnia (14%) and that men were less likely (20%) to have trouble sleeping than women (27%).
Lack of sleep costs Americans $63 billion a year Lack of sleep has been linked to health problems like high blood pressure and even early death, and now a new study, published in the journal Sleep, claims that insomnia costs the average American worker 11.3 days, or $2,280 in lost productivity each year. That adds up to $63.2 billion a year. Data was collected on a sample of 7,428 full-time employed people, who were participating in the longitudinal American Insomnia Study. Researchers asked survey questions specifically dealing with sleep habits and work performance, and found that sleeplessness was a significant detractor from productivity. Nearly a quarter of the survey respondents — 23% of employees —
the impact of the patient. The study was published in the July issue of the journal PLoS One. DRACO was found effective against all 15 viruses that the team has so far tested, including cold viruses, H1N1 influenza strains, adenoviruses, a stomach virus (reovirus), a polio virus, dengue fever
New drug to cure all viral infections There are few drugs that could effectively deal with clinical viruses such as HIV or hepatitis, seasonal viruses such as swine flu and highly lethal viruses such as Ebola or smallpox. Now there is new hope as researchers from MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the US have developed a new broadspectrum approach called DARCO (Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizer). The technique induces cell suicide, rapidly killing virus infected cells without harming uninfected cells. Researchers believe DRACO should be effective against virtually all viruses while minimising
virus, and several members of hemorrhagic fever. DRACO was also demonstrated to be nontoxic in 11 different cell types representing various species (e.g., humans, monkeys, mice) and organ types (e.g., heart, lung, liver, kidney). Study leader Dr. Todd Rider says that although more extensive testing is needed, "DRACO has the potential to revolutionize the treatment and prevention of virtually all viral diseases, including everything from the common cold to Ebola."
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HEARTSTART: Learning Emergency Life Support
Would you know what to do in a life-threatening emergency? Learning Emergency Life Support (ELS) skills can help you keep someone alive until professional help arrives. Ajivan: The Society for Health & Happiness organised a Heartstart training session in the Heart of Hounslow centre on 12 July. The two hour long training course was attended by fifteen trainees. The training was conducted by Karen Walling, the Community Resuscitation Training Officer of London Ambulance Service. "It was indeed very useful", said Yash Batra, "It's a great feeling to think that in case of emergency I can save someone's life. I think every citizen in this country must have this training." Heartstart is an initiative of the British Heart Foundation in which more than 2.6 million people have
learned what to do in a life-threatening emergency – simple skills that save lives. Heartstart schemes provide free ELS training in community groups and schools. They are aimed at the public, and anyone from the age of ten upwards can attend and learn the complete range of ELS skills. The Heartstart programme includes skills such as: assessing an unconscious patient, performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), dealing with choking, serious bleeding, helping someone that may be having a heart attack. Knowing what to do when someone has a cardiac arrest is important. If you can do CPR you can buy the time needed for professional help to arrive and save the life of your loved one. Being able to do CPR more than doubles their chance of survival.
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Funeral expenses suggested for organ donors The Nuffield Council of Bioethics, a leading ethics body, has suggested that Patients who donate their organs should have their funeral expenses paid for by the NHS. It has though ruled out directly paying donors for their organs. Prof Marilyn Strathern, who chaired the inquiry said: "The possibility of sparing relatives the financial burden of a funeral might encourage more people to register as donors." Some experts have expressed concern that this might be a slippery slope towards payment for organs.
And others have said that it might not be a very effective move. The government, meanwhile, has said it will consider the recommendations but it added that donating should be "free from any financial consideration". In the UK there are approximately 8,000 people on the waiting list for a transplant. On average three people die every day waiting for an organ. Currently 18 million, or one in three, people are on the Organ Donor Register, but the NHS wants 25 million people to sign up by 2013. 15 THE JOURNAL OF HEALTH & HAPPINESS
Stop Smoking, Start Living…
The story of Farah one of the 2,000 people who quit smoking last year with the help of Hounslow Stop Smoking Service Every year approximately 1 million people in the UK try to stop smoking and yet are unable to stay stopped. It is the nicotine in cigarettes that makes them so addictive. One study showed that nicotine was more addictive than heroin. However, research has shown that the more attempts you have made in the past, the more likely you are to succeed in the future. Even the most hardened smokers can quit with the right approach says Farah, a lady of Pakistani origin who had a 60 a day habit for 20 years. When asked how many times had she tried to stop in the past, she said: ―So many times that I have lost count! The important thing though is that I never stopped The Heart of Hounslow stop smoking drop in clinic trying to give up and now I have! I told my pharmacist when I saw her the other day that I If you would like more information about support to have quit for 3 months now and she was amazed.‖ stop smoking then please call: 020 8630 3255 or e-mail: So what was different this time? Farah said: ―Being StopSmoking@hounslowpct.nhs.uk . To contact the honest and sincere with myself. I was ashamed and Ealing Stop Smoking Service please call 0800 876 6683 embarrassed that smoking had taken over my life. This or e-mail: ealingstopsmoking@nhs.net is a very important point – I had quit for short periods before, but it was only when I was really honest with -------------------------------------------------------------------myself that I was finally able to stop properly.‖ "I have been smoking for 20 years and I don’t have words to say how pleased I am with the Hounslow Stop Smoking Service, especially my advisor Lavina. She was very patient with me even though I still smoked sometimes in the beginning.‖ About the stop smoking medication Farah said, ―I used the 25mg nicotine patch. Two things helped me to finally quit. The first was the support of the service and the second was the patch.‖ Farah has now told her friends and colleagues about the stop smoking service. "I think it’s really important that people decide to quit for themselves when they are ready,‖ she said. How has quitting changed her life? What message would she have for others that want to quit? "Well, I’ve saved money, saved time and I feel like chains have been broken and I am now free! I would of course advise others to stop, but you must be honest with yourself or you won’t be successful.‖ Hounslow’s NHS Stop Smoking Service has drop in clinics at seven different locations across the borough of Hounslow. There are also stop smoking advisors trained up in many local health centres and some local pharmacies as well. 16 THE JOURNAL OF HEALTH & HAPPINESS
Ayurveda: Food as your medicine
"When diet is wrong medicine is of no use, When diet is correct medicine is of no need." Ayurveda, the ancient Indian science of life, does not differentiate between food and medicine. Foods are nourishment as well as therapeutic, often playing the role of medicines. From the Ayurvedic point of view, it is not only the food we eat but also the way it is eaten and cooked, presented and even preserved, that makes it nourishing. So the general guideline is that food should be hot (as in freshly cooked), tasty and easy to digest, eaten in right quantities and additional food must be taken only after the last meal has been digested. The ritual of eating should be done in pleasant surroundings, at one’s own pace, and the attention of the eaters should be on the food, not wandering. The single most interesting thing that Ayurveda proposes is that each person should find out his or her temperament type and eat food according to it, that which is suited to the person’s physical and emotional makeup. While these are common sense dictums, most of us can identify times when we have not adhered to these. In Ayurveda, food is nourishment as well as medicine, so one has to be careful about it. One more important thing to know is that the term `hot food’ in Ayurveda does not mean foods hot in temperature, but foods hot in intrinsic nature. These are foods that stimulate digestion and deter bacterial growth and other microbes. Of course, cooking takes care of the bacterial load in any food, but there are certain conditions for which the
Ayurvedic doctor can prescribe raw foods or juice diet. Another important thing is the strotras or the channels, within the body. These do not correspond to the veins or arteries or even nerve channels; they are in fact, energy channels. They are stronger than any energy carrying channels and many diseases arise from blockage of these strotras. A healthy diet is required to keep these seven body elements in perfect balance. Remember, Ayurveda considers body to be made of seven basic dhatus (elements) These are: Rasa (plasma), rakta (blood), mamsa (muscle), meda (fat), asthi (bone), majja (marrow), shukra (reproductive strengths). The third basic concept is that of ama (waste) in the body. Accumulation of ama in the body, or its blockage can wreck havoc in the human system. It does not include only digestive waste but also the toxins that we absorb because of wrong food and also from our environment. In today’s terms, the chemicals and radiations that our body is subjected to, can also be termed as ama. By these principles, good health is maintained by a twopronged strategy: 1. Maintaining a proper and balanced diet to replenish and maintain the elements. 2. Keeping the energy channels open for free flow of the life giving force (tatva). Dr Rohan Nagar, BAMS (Ayurveda)
AYURVEDA UK LTD More than 30 years of experience in the UK & India
Ayurveda can help you in: ● Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Tension and Psychological Problems ● Joint Pains/Arthritis, Backache, Spondylitis & Rheumatic Problems ● Asthma, Allergy, Chronic Cough, Sinusitis & Respiratory Problems ● Diabetes, Hypertension, Hypo or Hyper Thyroid and Hormonal Problems ● Obesity & Metabolic Disorders ● Headache, Migraine, Acidity etc. ● Sleep Disorders ● Skin, Nail and Hair Problems ● Pediatric and Gynecological Problems
Under the supervision and guidelines of
Dr. Anil K Mehta G.A.M.S Director of European Institute for Scientific Research on Ayurveda, Netherlands
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Dr. Rohan Nagar BAMS (Ayurveda) Senior Ayurveda Consultant
Contact: 322-Great West Road Hounslow, Midd,TW5 0BA 02085777436, 02085727394 07846095768, 07737308767 Email: info@ayurvedauk.com Web:www.ayurvedauk.com
We provide services in UK ( HOUNSLOW ), HOLLAND and BELGIUM. In INDIA. We have residential AYURVEDIC treatment centre PDI: Situated on the holy Land of Vedas and Ganges in between Devbhumi Haridwar and Rishikesh in Uttarakhand
Atul Kochhar's Health & Happiness recipe
Bharwan Khumbi Field Mushrooms stuffed with Apple and leek masala with Kadhai Kale and Kholrabi Salad Serves 4 Ingredients: - 8 large field mushrooms, stem removed - 2 tbsp grated cheddar cheese - 1 tsp fine chopped green chillies Stuffing: - 2 medium cox apples, peeled and chopped - 1 large leek, thinly sliced - 2 tbsp vegetable oil or butter - ¼ tsp cumin seeds - ¼ tsp red chilli powder - ¼ tsp coriander powder - ¼ tsp garam masala - Salt to taste
and chillies for minute and add chopped tomatoes. Cook on medium heat for 7-10 minutes and then add all the powdered spices and cook for further 5 minutes. Add chopped coriander leaves and ginger followed by blanched Kale. Cook for 2-3 minutes and hold warm until required. Place the mushrooms under the grill for 3-5 minutes to gratinate. Whisk in all the ingredients of dressing. Place the apple and kohlrabi slices alternately on a plate and drizzle the dressing on top. Place the Kale on
Kale: - 1 tbsp vegetable oil - 1 tsp chopped garlic - 1 tsp coriander seeds - ¼ tsp crushed dried red chillies - 150 gm tomatoes, chopped - 1 tsp coriander powder - ½ tsp garam masala - 1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves - 1 tsp fine chopped ginger - 400 gm Kale leaves, blanched - Salt to taste Kholrabi : - 2 medium Kholrabi, thinly sliced - 1 red apples, thinly sliced Dressing: - 1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and crushed - ½ tsp coriander seeds, toasted and crushed - Sea salt - Chilli flakes - Olive oil - Sesame oil - Lime juice Method: Heat oil in pan, sauté cumin seeds and add leeks. Cook at slow heat for 5 minutes until leek softens. Add apples and spices and cook for further 5 minutes and remove on a tray to cool the mixture. Mix cheddar cheese and chopped chillies and fill the mushrooms with this mixture and keep aside. For Kale, heat oil in a separate pan, sauté garlic, coriander seeds
the centre of the plate and then place mushrooms right in the centre and serve warm.
Living in a Fast Food Carnival Fast foods are "layered and loaded with fat, sugar and salt, all of which ... prompt us to continue eating. Such foods cause particular excitement in areas of the brain associated with emotion and reward - much like alcohol, sex and drugs. With sugar, salt and fat on every street corner we are living in a food carnival." Dr David Kessler Former FDA commissioner and author of 'The end of Overeating'. Rodale Books, 2009
18 THE JOURNAL OF HEALTH & HAPPINESS
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Lambourne's OP Sharma facilitated by DL Kalhan. Also sitting in the photo is India's Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai.
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