Watch your Weight.

Obesity and Health risk

Obesity is a health hazard, not a cosmetic problem.
A person who is 40% overweight is twice as likely to die prematurely, as is an average weight person, researchers say.

Obesity has been linked to several serious medical conditions, including -

Heart diseases and stroke
High Blood Pressure
Diabetes
Cancer
Gall Bladder diseases and Gall Bladder stones
Osteoarthritis
Gout
Breathing Problems such as Sleep Apnea (when a person stops breathing for a short time during sleep) and
Asthma

Obesity & High B.P.
Overweight people are twice as likely to have high B.P, a major risk factor for heart diseases and stroke than people who are not overweight.

Obesity and Diabetes
Overweight people are more than twice as likely to develop Type 2 Diabetes compared to normal weight people. By regular exercise and by reducing weight one can reduce the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes.

Obesity and Cancer
Several types of Cancer are associated with being overweight.
In women they are - Cancer of the uterus, Gall bladder, Cervix, Ovary, breast and colon.
In overweight men they are- colorectal cancer and rectal cancer.

Obesity and Gall Bladder Stones
They are more common on overweight people. It is not clear how being overweight may cause gall bladder diseases.

Obesity and Osteoporosis
Carrying extra body weight places extra pressure on the joints and wear away the cartilages (tissue that cushion the joints)

Obesity and Gout
Gout is a disease that affects the joints that is caused by high levels of a substance called Uric acid in the blood. The large amount of uric acid can form into solids or crystals like masses that deposit in the joints.

Gout is more common in overweight people and the risk of developing the diseases increases with higher body weights.

Obesity and Sleep Apnea.
Sleep Apnea is a serious breathing condition that is associated with overweight. The risk of Sleep Apnea increases as body weight increases. Weight loss usually improves Sleep Apnea.

A Quiz for You

You don't actually have to take the quiz. Just read straight through, and you'll get the point, an awesome one. ..... Take this quiz:

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Bollywood Best Actor award winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss India contest.
4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Bollywood Award winners for best actress awards
6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday.
These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields.
But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten.
Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here's another quiz.
See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel, appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.
6. Name half a dozen heroes whose stories have inspired you.

Easier?

The lesson:
The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards.
They are the ones that care. Pass this on to those people who have made a difference in your life.

Diabetes and Heart Disease.

According to the American Heart Associations statistics and estimation, heart disease and stroke are responsible for 2/3rd to 3/4th of deaths amongst people with Diabetes.
Heart Disease is found very common with people having Type 2 Diabetes.

What causes Heart Disease?
The most common cause Heart Disease for a diabetic person is hardening of the arteries which is a build up of cholesterol in the blood vessels that supply oxygen and nutrition to the heart.

These cholesterol plaques can break apart or rapture, causing blood clots and blocking the blood vessel. This can lead to heart attack. The same process can happen in all the arteries in the body, resulting in lack of blood to the brain, causing a stroke or lack of blood to the feet, hands or arms causing peripheral vascular disease.

People with diabetes are also at higher risk for heart failure, a condition in which the heart is not able to pump blood adequately. This can lead to fluid build up in the lungs, which cause difficulty in breathing or fluid retention in other parts of the body, especially legs that cause swelling.

Please note, chronic diseases like Diabetes, Heart Disease and Stroke can be prevented or controlled by slight shift in life style, food habits and with certain physical and mental processes and exercises.

To know more about prevention and control, we recommend to attend our workshop “Wellness and Holistic Health at Work” and the program on “Stress Management”.

"The Window"

The Window"
(Author unknown)

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour a day to drain the fluids from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the man in the bed next to the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed would live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the outside world. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake, the man had said. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Lovers walked arm in arm amid flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man could not hear the band, he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Unexpectedly, an alien thought entered his head: Why should hehave all the pleasure of seeing everything while I never get to see anything? It didn't seem fair. As the thought fermented, the man felt ashamed at first. But as the days passed and he missed seeing more sights, his envy eroded into resentment and soon turned him sour. He began to brood and found himself unable to sleep. He should be by that window - and that thought now controlled his life.

Late one night, as he lay staring at the ceiling, the man by the window began to cough. He was choking on the fluid in his lungs. The other man watched in the dimly lit room as the struggling man by the window groped for the button to call for help. Listening from across the room, he never moved, never pushed his own button which would have brought the nurse running. In less than five minutes, the coughing and choking stopped, along with the sound of breathing. Now, there was only silence--deathly silence.

The following morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths. When she found the lifeless body of the man by the window, she was saddened and called the hospital attendant to take it away--no words, no fuss. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it all himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.


Moral of the story:
The pursuit of happiness is a matter of choice...it is a positive attitude we consciously choose to express. It is not a gift that gets delivered to our doorstep each morning, nor does it come through the window. And I am certain that our circumstances are just a small part of what makes us joyful. If we wait for them to get just right, we will never find lasting joy.
The pursuit of happiness is an inward journey. Our minds are like programs, awaiting the code that will determine behaviors; like bank vaults awaiting our deposits. If we regularly deposit positive, encouraging, and uplifting thoughts, if we continue to bite our lips just before we begin to grumble and complain, if we shoot down that seemingly harmless negative thought as it germinates, we will find that there is much to rejoice about.

I WAS ALWAYS WITH YOU!

Last night I had a dream. I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonged to me, the other to the Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that at many times along the path of my life, especially at the very lowest and saddest times, there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it. “Lord, you said once I decided to follow you, You’d walk with me all the way. But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life, there was only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”

The Lord replied, “My son, my precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of suffering, when you could see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

10 Diet Rules Meant to be Broken

Some food 'dos and don'ts are best ignored, experts say.

Do these diet truisms ring any bells in your mind?:
· Don't eat before bedtime or you'll gain weight.
· Skipping meals will help you take off the pounds.
· If you want to stay on a diet, eat at the same time every day.

Experts say these are among dozens of silly food 'rules' we often try to follow to the letter.

"Some are half-truths, some are complete myths, and some are clearly more harmful than others, but most of them won't help you lose weight or make dieting any easier," says Elizabeth Somer, MA, RD, author of 10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman's Diet.

Yet many of us persist in believing our weight loss programs won't be successful if we don't "follow the rules."

"In some instances, rules can offer hope, almost like a superstition," says Abby Aronowitz, PhD, author of Your Final Diet. "In other instances, they can offer the promise of control -- certain familiar food rules offer a sense of comfort."

In the end, nutrition experts say, many of the food and dieting rules we hold dear are meant to be broken - without guilt! Three experts gave WebMD the low-down on what they say are some of the silliest food rules around.
10 Food Rules to Ignore

1. Eating at night will pile on the pounds.
"It's the total calories you consume over a 24-hour period -- and more often, over a week -- that is what causes you to gain weight, and when you eat those calories doesn't matter," says New York University senior clinical nutritionist Samantha Heller, RD.
That said, because you may be more tired at night, your resolve may be lower, Heller says. So you may tend to eat larger portions, or more high-calorie foods, than you would during the day. But as long as you keep an eye on calories and portion size, feel free to set your hunger alarm to the time that suits your lifestyle.

2. It's best to eat at the same times every day.
"Eat when you're hungry, not when the clock says it's time to eat," says Somer. While it can help to keep some consistency to mealtimes, Somers says that forcing yourself to eat when you're not hungry -- or forcing yourself to wait when you are -- only makes it harder to stick to your diet. If you must eat at a certain time - say, during a designated lunch hour at your workplace -- cut yourself some slack the rest of the day and eat only when your stomach says it's time.

3. Dieting with a buddy always makes weight loss easier.
No one doubts that companionship and common goals can pay off for dieters. But Aronowitz notes that there are some instances in which the buddy system may work against you and your buddy.
"If one buddy fails and the other doesn't, it clearly upsets the balance, and could cause tension and embarrassment," she says. Ultimately, Aronowitz says, weight loss is a personal journey. If you find it's easier with a friend, remember to compete only against yourself -- not each other.

4. Dietary fat keeps you feeling full longer, so you'll eat less.
This was a well-accepted food rule for many years. But Somers says new research has challenged this logic. It has shown that while fat does take longer to digest, "it's actually the least satiating of any food group -- so no, it will not help you control you appetite," Somers says. The foods likely to stave off hunger the longest are protein foods, followed by carbohydrates, then fats, she says.

5. When you blow your diet, you might as well wait until the next day to get back on track.
Nothing could be farther from the truth, Heller tells WebMD.
"Every meal matters, so if you ate that big old piece of birthday cake at lunch, get right back on track with your next meal," she says. "You don't have to have a full day of healthy eating in order for it to count."

6. Refusing food at a party or when visiting is rude.
"If you had diabetes, or a severe food allergy to something, you wouldn't think twice about turning down a food you weren't sure of -- and you should feel that same sense of priority in turning down a food that you know will blow your diet," says Heller.

7. Skipping a meal every now and then will help you lose.
"Skipping a meal means you will be so hungry at the next meal that you are likely to overeat," says Somer. Not only that, skipping meals can actually help lead to a slowdown of your metabolism, meaning you'll burn fewer calories, says Aronowitz.

8. Bread is fattening, nuts are fattening, pasta is fattening.
"It's not what you eat that contributes to weight gain," says Heller. "It's how much you eat that matters most."
Whole-wheat bread, for example, is a great source of nutrients, and it won't make you gain weight more than any other food with the same number of calories.

9. All calories are equal.
While it's true that 1,400 calories is 1,400 calories no matter how you slice the cheesecake, experts say certain foods have a greater ability to fill you up before they fill you out. These tend to be fiber-rich, water-rich foods, like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Further, Heller says, you'll get more nutrients from, say, a 100-calorie apple than from a 100-calorie portion of white bread.
"All calories are equal if all you're doing is counting calories to lose weight," Heller says. "But if you care about how you are losing weight, or controlling your hunger, or the health of your body, then no, all calories are not of equal value."

10. If you don't clean your plate, you're wasting food
(don't forget those starving children Mom told you about).
Tying emotions to eating (like when you feel guilty about leaving food on your plate) sets the stage for emotional overeating, Aronowitz says. If you've been taught that cleaning your plate is the best way to show appreciation for a meal, she says, instead show your gratitude with verbal praise, by asking for the recipe, or by sending a thank-you gift or note the next day.

"Food is simply a source of fuel for the body -- not an emotional payoff or payment," says Aronowitz. If you just don't feel right leaving the table until you've cleaned your plate, she says, underestimate your hunger and put less food on your plate to begin with.

(WebMed)