[nukkad] Lifestyle choices

[Harshal Chhaya <hchhaya@epsilon.pair.com>]

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By: Sreenivasarao Vepachedu <vepachedu@iquest.net>

Life Style

Yoga and Exercise:  People of all ages can do yoga, and the asanas can
even be adapted for people with disabilities or special needs. Yoga's
purpose is to strengthen the body and make it more flexible, as well as to
calm the mind and awaken the spirit -- in effect, to provide a physical,
mental and spiritual system of health. It does this through physical
poses, or "asanas," breathing techniques and meditation practice. The
poses enhance muscle strength, coordination, flexibility and agility, and
can help a bad back feel better. According to the National Institutes of
Health, when people actively seek to reduce the stress in their lives by
quieting the mind, the body often works to heal itself. In this sense,
yoga can be seen not only as a way to get into shape on several levels,
but also as a tool for self-healing. There are lots of ways to work on
your physical fitness. Few, however, bring as many benefits to the body,
mind and spirit as yoga.

Asthma and Yoga Yoga exercises helped asthma symptoms in a small group of
patients exposed to toxic gas in the 1984 Union Carbide disaster in
Bhopal, India, a group of Indian doctors reported at the World Congress of
Asthma on 19th October, 1999. Dr. Ingrid Eckerman, from Nacka Hospital in
Sweden, and doctors from Bhopal reported that the Sambhavna Trust, which
was set up to treat victims, developed an individualized yoga program for
26 people who had been exposed to toxic gases. "Yoga seems to be an
effective means to provide sustained relief to persons suffering from
chronic breathlessness as a consequence of toxic gas exposure," the
researchers concluded.

Breast Health and Exercise:  Women who exercise an hour a day or more may
reduce their risk of breast cancer by 20 percent, according to one of the
biggest studies ever done on the topic published on October 25 in Archives
of Internal Medicine.  A 1997 study in Norway found that women who
exercised at least four hours a week were about a third less likely to get
breast cancer.

Stress and Exercise:  There is a solution for stress! Exercise every day!
Four related studies, supervised by Monika Fleshner, assistant professor
at the University of Colorado at Boulder presented at the annual meeting
of the Society for Neuroscience, held October 23 to 28 in Miami, Fla.,
have shown that regular, moderate exercise can reduce stress.

Hunger and Obesity Despite a booming US economy, nearly 4 million American
families continue to experience hunger on a regular basis, according to a
federal report issued on October 14, 1999. "During this, the most
prosperous economy in decades, it should shock most Americans to learn
that hunger persists and it is in every state," said Agriculture Secretary
Dan Glickman, after the release of the 1998 Current population Survey
conducted each year by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Ironically, obesity in the US is an epidemic that has surged in the past
decade and now affects nearly one in five adults, killing some 300,000 a
year, a collection of new studies (Journal of the American Medical
Association) suggest.  A report by the Federal Centers of Disease Control
and Prevention says that number of obese Americans sharply rose from 1 in
8 in 1991 to almost 1 in 5 in 1998. Georgia leads the US with a 102
percent increase. The traditional Southern lifestyle consists of mainly of
fried chicken, potato salad, barbecue and lack of exercise. The laid-back
Southern lifestyle is impacting waistlines below the Mason-Dixon Line!
Heymsfield of St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York told science
reporters at a conference of the American Medical Association said, "diet
and exercise are ultimately the mainstay of treatment" for obesity,
although it is possible that scientists may one day be able to switch off
appetite.

Obesity and Exercise:  It is a fashion to blame it on genes! If you are
obese, genes are responsible, not you. Even if you are a criminal your
genes are responsible, not you!  That is the trend in thinking in America.
But, the reality is different.  America's problems with extra weight are
not so much in their genes as they are in their discipline, researchers
say.  Only a little less eating or more activity is all it would take to
turn around weight problems that kill many Americans early, the
researchers say. Just the same, we don't do it.  "Modest changes in what
we are eating, and what we are doing may go a long way," said Dr. William
H. Dietz, director of the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity at
the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Fifty calories a
day less food and more exercise works out to 10 pounds less weight over a
year!

Even moderate excess weight is linked to a greater risk of dying early.
The American Cancer Society report, published on October 7, 1999 in the
New England Journal of Medicine, found the risk began to rise with a body
mass index, a weight ( kilograms)-to-height (square of meters) ratio that
should be below 25.  "Small permanent changes are what we should strive
for, rather than radical or punitive weight loss programs," said the
cancer society study's lead author, Eugenia E. Calle. It could start with
as little as a daily 15-minute walk out your front door and a 15-minute
walk back, she said. It also could involve eating more fruits and
vegetables, and less high-calorie processed foods, she said.

Obesity and Diet:  A high-fiber diet, already linked to preventing heart
disease and cancer, may also fight obesity, according to a new 10-year
study involving more than 2,900 adults who consumed 15 grams to 25 grams
of fiber daily, released on October 21, 1999.  Federal guidelines
recommended 20 to 25 grams of fiber per day.  A bowl of high-fiber cereal
can contain 25 grams of fiber. Fiber slows the rate of nutrient
absorption, reducing the rise of blood sugar levels and secretion of
insulin, thereby reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Fruits and Vegetables:  Apples are a good source of dietary fiber and are
identified as a major source of several antioxidant phytochemicals that
may prevent cell damage that can lead to cancer, and may prevent damage to
blood vessels that can lead to heart disease. No single fruit or vegetable
has everything we need, but together they offer a wide range of health
benefits. Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables is now seen as one of
the most important ways that diet can promote good health.

Dr. Kaumudi J. Joshipura and colleagues from the Harvard School of Public
Health, Boston, Massachusetts, report in The Journal of the American
Medical Association,that those who eat at least five servings of fruits
and vegetables a day are less likely to suffer from ischemic stroke, than
those who eat fewer than three servings a day.  Boston investigators
studied the association between total daily fruit and vegetable intake and
ischemic stroke, the most common form of stroke, in 75,596 women between
the ages of 34 to 59 enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study and followed for
14 years. The lowest risk of ischemic stroke overall was found in men and
women who ate broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and brussel sprouts, as well
as green leafy vegetables, citrus fruits and vitamin C-rich fruits and
vegetables.

Heart Disease and Peas:  Alice Lichtenstein, professor of nutrition at the
Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts
University in Boston, Mass., and spokesperson for the American Heart
Association says, "It's important to consume diets with adequate Folate" A
new study shows that a diet rich in folate and B vitamins may reduce the
risk of heart disease.  Past research has shown that people with high
concentrations of the amino acid homocysteine in their blood are at
increased risk for stroke and heart disease. It is also known that a
combination of folate, vitamin B12 and vitamin B6 can decrease
homocysteine levels. All enriched flour, rice and grain products are now
mandated to include folate that can also be found naturally in asparagus
and green peas.  

Sreenivasarao Vepachedu


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