MODIFIABLE RISK FACTORS FOR CORONARY HEART DISEASE: SEDENTARY LIFE-STYLE / LACK OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY Sedentary life or lack of exercise in our daily life has become the most important reason of heart disease in modern life. With modern technology, help from their wives, drivers, servants, peons, and staff, most of the executives have stopped doing any physical activity. Research studies have shown that low physical activity is often associated with high incidence of coronary heart disease. Regular exercise can break fat, decrease cholesterol, reduce blood sugar, control blood pressure, reduce overweight by consuming stored fat in the body and make the heart more healthy and strong to respond well to unexpected physical activity needs. The absence of the same will have the opposite effect. Without exercise more and more people will be prone to heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and a low level of fitness. Besides, lack of physical activity may also lead to less flexibility, joint diseases, and so many other ailments.Think of a typical person in a modern society. His life is literally sedentary. He gets up at 6 a.m., has bed tea, reads newspapers. These two sedentary activities will consume about two hours along with watching television. He will probably talk on the phone for sometime. And followed by a bath and a good breakfast. He goes to the office or shop by car, scooter or public transport, doing very low physical activity. Even if he plans to walk every day, he mostly misses doing it.In the office, he does a lot of writing, talking and computing – all requiring him to sit on a chair – the whole day. No exercise till now. Late in the evening he comes home in the car or by any other mechanical vehicle. He then sits and watches television, gossips, has a good dinner and goes to sleep.No exercise at all throughout the day. Heart disease is bound to come one day, may be after 5 years. If one does not exert physically, one must cut down the fat intake or face the consequences.It is seen daily that labourers, porters, farmers, athletes or people who go to office by cycle hardly have a heart disease. On the other hand, clerks, officers, executives, sedentary businessmen, lawyers, doctors, bankers are more prone to heart disease, because of lack of physical activity.In the past people did not have these vehicles. They used to exert more – walking to the office, visiting other villages on foot, working in the fields, carrying their luggage themselves, grinding their grains, cleaning the house themselves. So they did not have heart disease as they would break all the fats and meats they were eating. Now things have changed, therefore the heart disease is coming closer.*16/283/5*
GYNECOLOGICAL CANCER AND TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINETraditional Chinese medicine has a variety of practices including acupuncture, herbal medicine, traditional dietary therapy, and Chinese massage and moxibustion. They are all based on the philosophy that the human body functions as a whole and as part of nature. Disease occurs when the harmony between bodily functions and the environment is disrupted.The use of complementary therapies by women with gynecological cancers is widespread. Motivations for the use of complementary therapies vary. Women see complementary therapies as providing psychological support, and believe that they are useful for strengthening the immune system and thus helping to stop the progress of the disease and also preventing recurrence.There are also issues of self-empowerment, personal growth and communication. Patients perceive these issues as being more part of the complementary therapists’ view of treatment, rather than a conventional medical approach. Part of their decision to use these therapies is based on the need to take control of the management of their cancer treatment and overall well-being.
Did you know…• That 2 out of 3 women with gynecological cancer use some form of complementary therapy during the course of their treatment?• Younger and better-educated women seem to use complementary therapies more than older women do?*98/144/5*
HOW CONSTIPATION AFFECTS ARTHRITICS: BREAKFAST, LUNCH. DINNERThe Breakfast to Aid RegularityMost constipated arthritics too often think of breakfast in terms of “bacon, eggs, toast, and coffee.” Bacon and eggs do not add any stimulative effect to the colon. Toast and coffee contribute a mere trickle.Many people swear by coffee as a laxative. Taken by itself, it may prove of some help. But drink it ten to thirty minutes before a meal or at least three hours after eating.In this book, we have set up a better type of breakfast for arthritics. Consisting of buttered whole-wheat toast, eggs, and a glass of room-temperature milk, eaten in that order. This gives the stomach the potential semi-solid mass. The whole-wheat toast contributes the stimulating factor. A few leaves of green lettuce, with the morning meal, contain enough fibre to incite some more intestinal action.Lettuce is optional, of course. It may sound strange as a breakfast food, but it does contain the right ingredients. Since no one wants diarrhoea or three bowel movements a day, we do not need any vegetable in the morning stronger than lettuce.The fire—the burning of food—is now started. If you must drink anything between breakfast and lunch, make sure it is at least three hours after the first meal. And keep the liquid at room temperature or warm.Lunch with the Right IngredientsLunch should also contain a stimulating factor which will aid the contraction and relaxation of the digestive tract muscles.A lunch consisting of a grilled cheese sandwich should include a raw fruit or vegetable—so that the residue from the second meal will keep the mass moving. Celery, cucumber, or any laxative type vegetable is recommended. A portion of stewed prunes or raw, unsulphured (black) figs is gently laxative.Afternoon BreakIt is a long stretch between noon and six or “seven o’clock when the third and often largest meal of the day is served. No one is expected to go without some liquid or solid food during this long interval. But try to avoid eating if you can, especially if you are unduly constipated and your body needs oils.If necessary, drink water at room temperature. Providing it is at least three hours after lunch, or at least ten minutes before dinner. Especially avoid iced water after a meal, or you will congeal the oils still in the stomach and digestive tract . . . you will smother the food-burning fire which you set going at meal-time.Any mid-afternoon snack or sandwich should contain a little butter or lettuce. Butter serves as a lubricant, and lettuce as a stimulant to food already ingested. Mayonnaise should not replace butter, because it will yield energy, not lubricants.Dinner for Health and EnjoymentAt dinner time still remember the stimulating factor. Follow the dictates of taste and the needs of the bowel. The soup is beneficial, with its oils. The steak is delicious, and it can be improved by adding garlic. Garlic has a kick of its own, a stimulation for sluggishness.For complete dinner menus. The meals were designed to aid arthritics, and the list of foods was made keeping constipation in mind.*45\146\2*