Archive for the ‘Anemia’ Category

Let us beckon 2013 with a fresh pledge to living healthy. The following healthy resolutions, if you adopt, are sure to keep you happily fit and gorgeous, both inside and out.

Rein your portions

Wish to right size your shape? Mindless binge eating is often the villain. Start right sizing your food portions by using smaller dishes. Yes, the smaller your platters are, the more you lose that extra weight. And instead of serving directly from the main bowl, take some into a small dish and put away the main bowl.

Staying Active

Instead of sighing jealously at those naturally thin people, observe their lifestyle. They are most likely to share a great liking for being physically active. Aim for moderate intense activity like brisk walking for atleast 30 minutes per day. This, you can squeeze in your busy schedule easily- like 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes after lunch and and another 10 minutes after office.

Cutting down on salt

Now the recommended limit of salt consumption per day is 1 teaspoon. And you know that’s way less than your daily intake. Besides making your stomach feel all bloated, this habit can shoot up your BP. Processed foods are the most dangerous as they use salt as preservative. Remember to check labels carefully before you give it for billing.

Piling on the antioxidants

Do you know why we need antioxidants? When foods are digested, body releases harmful free radicals that can eventually lead to heart burn, cancer etc. Antioxidant-rich foods like orange, tea, pomegranates etc are important to defend your body from these free radicals.

Flossing Daily

Oral Hygiene is horribly underrated. But bacteria in mouth can cause serious health risks. Flossing daily can ward off bacteria; it is a simple enough practice to ingrain with long term benefits to your dental health.

But all these resolutions will go down the drain if your expectations from yourself are far from healthy. For example, don’t expect a drastic change in your figure soon after you started portion-controlling and exercising. Just as it took your body to build-up fats, it will take time to lose it too. So if your inner-spirit tends to be a bit mean to you, just bash it with healthy acceptance. Let that be your founding stone to all your healthy New Year Resolutions.

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You are drained physically, emotionally as well as mentally during your pregnancy and delivery. Now, your health front needs to be in the forefront. Along with your newborn, your health also needs your special attention. It is necessary for you to keep hale and hearty as your newborn care can quickly make you drained and exhausted. So, do not miss your share of self-care.

En Route to Fitness

With the newborn, it is obviously difficult to find time for exercise, but you have to make the effort. It is not about getting back to your original shape soon after childbirth, but it is about staying fit as your body needs it. There is absolutely no need for any organized fitness classes; just a few exercises done at home can do wonders.

• Dance a little! The foot taps can tap your fitness.
• Chalk out some time for a small walk. Take your baby on a pram tram ride too in a park while you move your legs a bit.
• Swim away a little from your baby for a swim. You can leave your baby  with his/ her dad for a while and you go for a swim.
• Postnatal exercises are taught in child health clinics. Certainly, attending a class or two will give you a fair idea as to how to go about it.

Eat Right

As you would be breast-feeding your baby, so it becomes even more important for you to eat right. Never skip on the sips of water. Increase dietary calcium with lots of milk and dairy products. Even the temptations of snacking should be met with some healthy options like sliced and salted raw vegetables, vegetable soup, breadsticks, baked beans or scrambled eggs every now and then.

Come Out of Your Shell and Socialize

The more you meet your loved ones, family members, relatives and friends, the more you will feel reassured. Socializing helps! Try to interact with other new mothers who can be some of your friends or relatives, meet them frequently by visiting their houses, plan for outings together if possible. Getting to see the same pediatrician or exercising at the same dance class will further motivate you to keep fit and to stay healthy without affecting your bond with your newborn.

How has the phase of new motherhood added fun and excitement to your life?

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Pregnancy, a fantastic phase of womanhood, can be a tad worrisome due to fears and concerns over possible miscarriage. Statistics are not exactly comforting either, which says 1 in every 5 pregnancies ends up in miscarriage. Although miscarriages cannot be prevented, avoiding the known risks can increase chances of a safe and healthy pregnancy. The moment pregnancy is confirmed, a woman begins to get the ‘fragile’-treatment loaded with myths & restrictions, especially when it comes to the connection of certain foods with miscarriage.

For a country with as myriad a food culture as India, it is hardly surprising to have faulty but deep-ingrained myths surrounding what-to-eat & what-not-to-eat during pregnancy. Some of you must have heard nannies & ‘experienced’ moms telling the to-be-moms to stay away from fruits like pineapples, mangoes, papayas etc. Apparently these fruits can lead to miscarriage. No scientific reason, but still a widely perceived myth!

Why are the advisors eager to put plenty of distance between a pregnant woman & sesame seeds? This too is due to fear of miscarriage. They say Sesame seeds with its increased ‘heat’ can harm a baby. What they forget or rather underestimate is the power of woman’s uterus.

Pregnant ladies are often advised to take iron tablets, but they are reluctant to do so. Here’s the hilarious reason for that. Iron tablets will make baby dark! Ladies, genes and the amount of melanin decide your baby’s skin color, not the food you eat. Please don’t be anemic due to a myth.

Most untimely pregnancy losses & abortions occur as a result of genetics reasons and cannot be avoided mostly. But miscarrying once does not always mean that something is wrong with your health or that you cannot have any more kids. Nevertheless, periodic baby losses may be a sign of problems that require your immediate attention & medical help.

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In any emergency situation, you can be the first one to provide the necessary first aid to your dear one as it requires no real technical skills. A little courage and a bit of common sense can do the trick for you in saving your loved one’s life. You can also minimize the damage due to casualties caused by day-to-day road accidents with simple first aid skills.

Break-Free from All Misconceptions on World’s First-Aid Day

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Anemia is basically a decrease in number of red blood cells or presence of less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. The condition includes reduced oxygen binding of hemoglobin in the blood. The condition is prevalent in India – some studies suggest that Indian women are prone to anemia and even the urban, educated women are susceptible to anemia. The condition may be severe, long lasting, and life threatening based upon hemoglobin levels in the blood with specific medical causes and traits, some of these include Iron-deficiency anemia, Folic acid deficiency anemia, Pernicious anemia (vitamin B12 deficiency), Aplastic anemia, Sickle cell anemia, Polycythemia vera and Trauma related anemia (mainly injured in a motor accidents). Nevertheless, it can be traced back to the food habit of Indian society.

The statistics are shocking. A National Health Survey revealed that more than half the pregnant women in India are anemic. What is worse is that the percentage has increased from the 1990s. The National Family Health Survey dated 2005-06 (released recently) places India at 58.7% of anemic pregnant women as opposed to 49.7% in 1998-99. When the pattern in married women was studied, the trend was the same, but urban India women fared better than its rural counterpart at 50.9% as against 57.4% respectively.

Scientists are doing their bit. Scientists at the Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar in Gujarat have developed double fortified salt, which they believe will be a boon for those suffering from iron deficiency or anemia. But the key to beat anemia is a good diet.

Some simple dietary steps would help prevent or cure most forms of anemia:

• Consume adequate quantity of protein; include cheese, milk, eggs, fish or any substitute of meat products.
• Eat foods rich in iron like green leafy vegetables, plantain, lotus stem, puffed rice, whole grain cereals.
• Consume food rich in vitamin B complex, particularly B6 like whole grain cereals, parboiled rice, liver, milk etc.
• Include citrus fruits such as amla, guava, green pepper, orange and lemon in your diet.
• Include liver oil, fortified vegetable oil, sea foods for Vitamin E.
• Ensure intake of foods rich in folic acid like pulses, green leafy vegetables, legumes and eggs.

As the typical Indian diet may not be ‘complete’ consult your doctor for supplements and fortified foods. If you have symptoms like feeling dizzy, fatigued, shortness of breath, weakness – it may be anemia. When was your last general health checkup or blood test done? Being aware about anemia is the first step to prevent it.

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