India News and Views

Stay Healthy -- Keep Your BMI Normal

2009-06-25T00:22:00.000-07:00

Are you normal, over weight or obese? What is your Body Mass Index?
Is your waist-to-hip ratio more than 0.95 (for men) or 0.9 (for women)?
Do you have sedentary (very little physical activity) lifestyle?

Your Weight and Height; Your BMI
Your weight and your height tells you if you are normal, over weight or obese. Regularly check your weight to know if you are losing weight or gaining weight. If you are gaining weight, it means that input is more than your output; your calories intake is more than calories you are burning. If you are over weight or obese, this is not a good situation; you do not want to gain weight. You need to burn more calories so that your input calories are not more than calories you are burning. Thus a daily record of your weight will give you a good idea of what you should do to maintain your weight within normal range. After all you will not like to be in the over weight range or obese.

Figure out your Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is a ratio of your weight in Kg and square of height in meters.
That is BMI = weight/(height x height), where weight is in kilograms and height is in metres.

If your BMI is between 18.5 to 24.9, you are normal;
If your BMI is between 25 to 29.9, you are overweight;
If your BMI is 30+, you are obese.

Your Waist-to-Hip Ratio
Measure your waist and measure your hip. The waist-to-hip ratio, the lower the better. The optimum value for men is 0.9 and for women is 0.85. Higher waist-to-hip ratio means you have a fat belly or abdomen. The extra fat on abdomen produces hormones which can cause diabetes, high blood pressure, and raise blood lipid levels. If you have fatty hips, it is better than having fat on abdomen.

Tips for Weight Loss
Here are some simple tips that will help you lose weight.
1. Get enough sleep daily. Seven hours of sleep is normal. Less hours of sleep can also increase appetite.

2. Daily eat some veggie diet. A veggie diet ensures a lower average Body Mass Index and a lower mean plasma total cholesterol concentration. If you do not take veggie diet, you can at least replace a small portion of your food with veggie diet. Vegetarians have reduced rates of heart disease, hypertension, type II diabetes, constipation, certain cancers and gall stones. Fruits and vegetables are low in calories but high in nudtirents and fiber. So make it a part of your weight control diet.

3. Your metabolism is how you burn fat. As you age, your metabolism tends to slow down. Lazy or sedentary (very little physical activity) life style reduces your metabolism rate. Take steps to increase your metabolism. Do some exercise. Bring changes in your life style so that you are more active.

5. Divide what you eat in a day, in more number of meals. Don't skip a meal. Avoid the habit of skipping a meal and then over eating when you get time. Keep break between meals limited to four hours. This habit will help your body maintain the metabolism rate. Don't let your digestive system to relax and get lazy.

6. Make some changes in your life style. If you watch TV while lying down on bed, then sit and watch. When you are sitting, regularly shake or move your body and move your legs. Even gentle shaking or moving will help. Even slight changes in your sedentary life style help.

7. Once you are over weight, you can not reduce your weight in a few days or even in a week. You need to burn an extra of about 4,000 calories to lose 1 lb of fat or about 9000 calories to lose 1 kg of fat. You will lose weight in the same way you have gained it. You did not gain weight in just a few days, so you need patience when working to reduce your weight.

Swine Flu in India

2009-06-15T04:02:00.000-07:00

In India till June 14, 2009, the confirmed number of those affected with the H1N1 virus reached 23. Most of those affected came to India from foreign countries. One lady contacted H1N1 flu from her son who returned from the U.S. Union health ministry officials are treating it as a "national emergency”. Passengers coming from foreign country are advised to remain under home quarantine for a period of seven days and monitor themselves for symptoms like fever, cough and difficulty in breathing.

The Swine Flu cases are treated under strict isolation to prevent the flu from spreading. Tamiflu Oral (Generic Name: Oseltamivir Oral) is the only anti-viral known to be effective against H1N1 influenza. It helps make the symptoms like stuffy nose, cough, sore throat, fever/chills, aches and tiredness less severe and shortens the recovery time by one to two days. This medication works by stopping the flu virus from growing. It is also taken to prevent the flu if you have been exposed to someone who already has the flu.

Take this medication by mouth with food or milk to minimize stomach upset. Oseltamivir works best if you start taking it within 2 days of the start of symptoms or exposure to the flu. Usually Oseltamivir is taken twice a day for 5 days, as directed by your doctor. Take this drug at evenly spaced intervals at the same time every day. You must take it for the full time prescribed.

Stopping the medication too early may allow the virus to continue to grow, which may result in a relapse of the infection or failure to protect you from the flu. Government of India has put a ban on the sale of Tamiflu to general public. Taking Tamiflu just as precautionary measure is not recommended at it cause the virus to develop resistance against this drug. Still many chemists are selling this medicine and are disregarding the Government warning.

Swine flu is just like a conventional flu except it is pandemic (meaning: epidemic over a large area) that causes global outbreak. It is a new strain of the flu that is capable of sustained transmission among. Because there is little natural immunity, pandemic influenza will affect significantly more people than seasonal flu and like seasonal flu, is easily spread from person to person.

Health Department is working for developing swine flu vaccine in India. The first batch of vaccine is expected to be ready in three months.

Delhi Drinks Adulterated Milk

2009-06-05T22:46:00.000-07:00

Who Cares if Delhites drink adulterated milk that contains urea, paint, starch and caustic soda. Even baby food products contain poisonous contaminants. These contaminants are killing the residents of Delhi, our new born and children. Urea has direct effect on urinary system and starch, caustic soda damages the digestive tract and some contaminants cause cancer. But who Cares?

Delhi is going to have Commonwealth Games in 2010. Are we going to feed this to our guests? Not only milk, almost every thing we eat is contaminated. What ever we buy may be spurious. Shops around bus stands and railway stations are freely selling contaminated and spurious items without any fear. Authorities know this, but who cares?

Here is extract from Times of India, 22 Mar 2004, about the findings of the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) department of the Delhi government. "The department, in its report, points out that 40 out of 229 samples of milk sold in the city is adulterated by chalk, urea, soap and other whiteners."

This is what Business Line, a financial daily from the HINDU group, dated July 25, 2000 reported
"...caustic soda and chemicals, such as hydrogen peroxide are used liberally to increase the shelf-life of milk. Dairy owners also use harmful chemicals such as zentamycin in the milk. Intake of these chemicals can cause diseases in the intestine and are harmful for the eye. They are particularly harmful for infants and children and can be life threatening. Continuous intake of zentamycin has the potential to cause cancer as well... and while the Government remains inactive, the life of innocents are put under risk."

Many years have passed, and the situation has worsen. Who cares?

Does any one has a clue from where the Chief Minister, Health Minister, LG, and Commissioners and Chairmen of Corporations get the milk they and their families drink?

Are these people so helpless? Is it so difficult? Why can't they put an halt to this once for all? At least they can axe the officers of Delhi Milk Scheme. These officers getting paid by your hard earned money were feeding you and your children adulterated milk. Read this news item dated May 29, 2009:
"Haryana Police today claimed to have busted five units involved in manufacture and supply of spurious milk across the state and neighbouring areas...seized 1,900 litres of adulterated milk, 26,000 lt of milk, 150 kg caustic soda, 158 bags of milk powder and 16 barrel of glucose, an official spokesperson told reporters here today. The cooperative used to supply the adulterated milk in Delhi under Delhi Milk Scheme..."
Don't tell me that the officers of Delhi Milk Scheme did not know. Even if this is true (which you know is not), they should still be axed for not doing their job properly. Have we become butchers of human life?

If milk supplied by Delhi Milk Scheme is adultered, how can we be sure about Mother Dairy?

What is more important for you?
(a) Metro Rail Network
(b) Commonwealth games in 2010
(c) Non adulterated milk and food products
(d) India becomes the superpower.