Health Benefits of Onions

Onions are a very good source of vitamin C, B6, biotin, chromium, calcium and dietary fibre. In addition, they contain good amounts of folic acid and vitamin B1 and K. A 100 gram serving provides 44 calories, mostly as complex carbohydrate, with 1.4 grams of fibre. Like garlic, onions also have the enzyme alliinase, which is released when an onion is cut or crushed and it causes your eyes to water. They also contain flavonoids, which are pigments that give vegetables their colour. These compounds act as antioxidants, have a direct antitumor effect and have immune-enhancing properties. Onions contain a large amount of sulfur and are especially good for the liver. As a sulfur food, they mix best with proteins, as they stimulate the action of the amino acids to the brain and nervous system. Onions, Rich Source of Quercitin.

The onion is the richest dietary source of quercitin, a potent antioxidant flavonoid (also in shallots, yellow and red onions only but not in white onions), which is found on and near the skin and is particularly linked to the health benefits of onions. Quercitin has been shown to thin the blood, lower cholesterol, raise good-type HDL cholesterol, ward off blood clots, fight asthma, chronic bronchitis, hay fever, diabetes, atherosclerosis and infections and is specifically linked to inhibiting human stomach cancer. It's also an anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, antiviral, thought to have diverse anti-cancer powers. Quercitin is also a sedative. So far, there is no better food source of quercitin than onion skins. You don't need to eat loads of onions to achieve these effects. In fact, studies show that you can reap the health benefits of onions by eating just one medium onion, raw or cooked, a day.

FIX THE NATIONS

How Does Bananas Affect Blood Sugar?

If you have or are at risk for diabetes it is important to control your blood sugar levels through diet and exercise. Different foods affect blood sugar levels differently and each person with diabetes has unique responses to food. A physician or registered dietitian can help in formulating a healthy eating plan, which should include plenty of fruits and vegetables. However, even healthy foods such as bananas can raise blood sugar levels too much, so it is important to test often. Diabetes. After eating, the body breaks down the food into glucose or blood sugar to provide the body with energy. The hormone insulin must be present in order for the cells to use the glucose. Having diabetes means that the body either does not produce insulin or is unable to use it properly, which means blood sugar levels can get too high. Over time, high blood sugar levels can lead to vision problems, heart disease, damage to the kidneys and damage to the nerves. A large part of preventing diabetes related complications, is eating a healthy diet that keeps blood sugar levels within the range given to you by your doctor. Carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the main type of food that affects blood glucose levels. Diabetics have to watch not just how many carbohydrates are eaten, but the type as well. Carbohydrates that come in the form of processed or refined grains such as white bread, white rice, potatoes and baked goods, tend to be digested very quickly. They can cause blood sugar levels to spike and drop, making diabetes harder to control. Carbohydrate sources such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains are digested more slowly, which helps to keep blood sugar levels in check. However, even healthy carbohydrates such as bananas need to be eaten in moderation and the best way to tell how a food affects your blood sugar level is to test yourself after eating. The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, suggests keeping blood sugar levels at less than 180 one to two hours after a meal. Bananas and Blood Sugar. A general goal for diabetics is to eat no more than 45 grams of carbohydrates at each meal and some may need to go even lower. Bananas are part of an overall healthy diet because they contain fiber, potassium and vitamin C, but they also contain carbohydrates and the amount depends on the size of the banana. According to the American Diabetes Association, a banana that is 6 inches or shorter has about 18.5 grams of carbohydrate; a 7-to-8-inch banana can contain between 27 to 31 grams of carbohydrates and a large banana that is 9 inches or longer, can have up to 35 or more grams of carbohydrates. So eating a banana can cause a rise in blood sugar levels. Glycemic Index and Load. Bananas have a low glycemic index, or GI, at 47, and a moderate glycemic load, or GL, of 11. Glycemic index and load both indicate the effect a food has on your blood sugar. Foods with a high GI and GL have a rapid and pronounced effect on your blood sugar, leading to blood sugar spikes, while foods with moderate or low GI and GL have a sustained effect on your blood sugar. Eating foods with a low or moderate GI and GL help to regulate your blood sugar levels, and also help lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, explains the Linus Pauling Institute.

ARE THERE REMEDIES FOR LOW BLOOD PRESSURE? (HYPOTENSION)

By:Times of India and mayo clinic. COMPILED BY LEONARD NZEREOGU. While high blood pressure is much talked about and people are aware of its symptoms and effects, not many know about low blood pressure. In fact, it affects a large number of people worldwide. Very often people don't realise they are suffering from it and often dismiss it as an one-off case of feeling dizzy or ill. It could be a sign of a serious issue with the heart, endocrine or even signal neurological disorders. Severe low blood pressure can block oxygen and vital nutrients from flowing to the brain and hence shouldn't be taken lightly. Low blood pressure that either doesn't cause signs or symptoms or causes only mild symptoms, such as brief episodes of dizziness when standing, rarely requires treatment. If you have symptoms, the most appropriate treatment depends on the underlying cause, and doctors usually try to address the primary health problem — dehydration, heart failure, diabetes or hypothyroidism, for example — rather than the low blood pressure itself. When low blood pressure is caused by medications, treatment usually involves changing the dose of the medication or stopping it entirely. If it's not clear what's causing low blood pressure or no effective treatment exists, the goal is to raise your blood pressure and reduce signs and symptoms. Depending on your age, health status and the type of low blood pressure you have, you can do this in several ways: Use more salt. Experts usually recommend limiting the amount of salt in your diet because sodium can raise blood pressure, sometimes dramatically. For people with low blood pressure, that can be a good thing. But because excess sodium can lead to heart failure, especially in older adults, it's important to check with your doctor before increasing the salt in your diet. Drink more water. Although nearly everyone can benefit from drinking enough water, this is especially true if you have low blood pressure. Fluids increase blood volume and help prevent dehydration, both of which are important in treating hypotension. Wear compression stockings. The same elastic stockings commonly used to relieve the pain and swelling of varicose veins may help reduce the pooling of blood in your legs. Medications. Several medications, either used alone or together, can be used to treat low blood pressure that occurs when you stand up (orthostatic hypotension). For example, the drug fludrocortisone is often used to treat this form of low blood pressure. This drug helps boost your blood volume, which raises blood pressure. Doctors often use the drug midodrine (Orvaten) to raise standing blood pressure levels in people with chronic orthostatic hypotension. It works by restricting the ability of your blood vessels to expand, which raises blood pressure. Please consult your Doctor:

TOP 3 REASONS WHY YOUR CHILD HAS RUNNY NOSE ALL THE TIME

By Dr.Julie Wei, a Pediatric Otolaryngologist.

Are you constantly running after your child with Kleenex? Does your child seem to have a “cold” that never clears? Does your child have sore nostrils from constant wiping, shirt sleeves that you want to wash on “sanitary cycle”, and crusty material around his/her cute cheeks that is not so “cute”? As an ear, nose, and throat specialist, I am always advocating for what I consider to be the perhaps most underappreciated organ in our body, the nose. No matter how big or small, we all need the nose to work properly to breathe, smell, humidify the air, and smell is responsible for 2/3 of our perceived taste. In addition, our sense of smell let us know if we are exposed to potential dangers such as a fire or exposure to chemicals. Finally, as an Asian woman with a not-so-prominent nasal bridge, I can tell you how useful our noses are to hold up our glasses and sunglasses! For all that it is responsible for, in our children with their small noses, anytime it is runny with snot, many of these functions are impaired.English: A small box of Kleenex. If your young toddler and preschool aged child has chronic runny nose daily or most days, and they are playing, eating, running around, going to daycare, sleeping, and act like mucus is part of their personal charm, then it is very likely that they do not have a “chronic” illness. Any or all of the following are most likely the reasons why they have a runny nose all the time: 1.Young children can’t blow their noses effectively, nor do they sniff snot into the back of their throat effectively like we can. 2. they experience many more colds in the first years of life. 3. they suffer from the Milk and Cookie Disease (MCD) – too much dairy and/or sugar in their diet, and they are drinking milk at bedtime. Preschool aged children are known to experience at least 7-10 upper respiratory tract illnesses (URI) or “colds” per year. The great news is that only 7-13% of these URIs actually go on to result in a true and real “sinus infection” that we associate with bacteria, and therefore would benefit from a course of oral antibiotics. However, the rest of those 93-87% URIs can still result in green and snotty noses with cough even after the initial 7-10 days of cold symptoms, and not represent a true “sinus infection”. The trouble is that for parents and doctors alike, it is extremely difficult to tell when your child may be experiencing that 10% “acute rhinosinusitis” as a complication of the viral illness. As a pediatric ear, nose, and throat specialist, I think a course of antibiotics is reasonable if a child continues to have runny nose, cough, congestion, and fever for over 7 days and the cough is present both daytime and nighttime such that is disturbing their sleep. I am especially concerned if the child has poor appetite, can’t engage in fairly normal play and activities despite the runny noses and cough, and/or seem ill for longer than the week that we would expect it takes for a cold to go away. Research has demonstrated that this is an area of significant challenge. When pediatricians are surveyed, there is significant variation in the age at which pediatricians begin to consider the diagnosis of acute sinus infection with most using duration of symptoms as the most important diagnostic factor. Also found was the likelihood of pediatricians prescribing the use of systemic decongestants and antihistamines in young children, which is now being scrutinized given the recent Food and Drug Administration warnings regarding their safety. By the way, “snot” being green does not mean it’s a “sinus infection”. The discoloration naturally occurs due to an enzyme called “myeloperoxidase” found in neutrophils, a cell that fights infection, and the enzyme contains iron which causes the discoloration. This occurs due to inflammation and should not be interpreted as an indicator of true “acute rhinosinusitis” or need for antibiotics. It is important to understand that children CAN NOT have a sinus infection of a sinus they don’t have! Babies are born with early buds of the maxillary (cheek) and ethmoid (between the eyes) sinuses, while the formation of the frontal (forehead) sinuses and sphenoid (center of the head) sinus do not usually start forming until age 7 or older, for the frontals, and age 5 or older for the sphenoid. Again, the point is, nasty snotty noses can occur without a sinus infection! The understanding of this point by both primary care physicians and parents and caretakers is critical to reduce the overprescription, overconsumption, and inappropriate use of oral antibiotics. Furthermore, we can all reduce unnecessary visits to the emergency department, urgent care facility, and doctor’s visits for these symptoms if we share this information and support one another in how to better handle runny noses in young children. The overprescribing and overuse of antibiotics will continue to threaten our ability to treat resistant strains of organisms responsible for other infections. The overprescribing and overuse of medications in otherwise healthy children will continue to threaten our children experiencing potential side effects that we do not yet know or understand because we have not had research data showing what happens when a child has taken 20-30 years of once daily allergy medications or nasal steroid sprays. While my own research and other clinical trials have shown how effective and safe using saline nasal irrigation is for treating true and chronic rhinosinusitis (congestion, cough, and runny nose) in resolving these symptoms, I find that children younger than 4 simply can’t tolerate the once daily irrigation using a squeeze bottle. Before we get too discouraged, the good news is that based on my clinical experience and research, true chronic rhinosinusitis typically occurs in school aged children (average age around 7) who have underlying skin-test proven allergies to multiple aeroallergens (trees, grass, pollen, mold, dust mites, etc). Therefore, I am even more passionate about making sure that our toddlers and preschool aged children do not have MCD as the cause of their chronic runny nose. I am a strong advocate for making sure that our toddlers and preschool aged children do not receive unnecessary radiation exposure through x-rays of their sinuses and CAT scans to find out if they have “sinus infection”. While both tests definitely have a role in helping primary doctors and ENT specialists to confirm whether a child has sinus inflammation, they are neither recommended nor necessary to make the diagnosis of any suspected acute problems. Based on my own published research findings, I only order CT scan in children who are sent to me for chronic rhinosinusitis AFTER they have used once daily irrigation for 6 weeks, and report no improvement in their chronic symptoms of nasal congestion, cough, and/or runny nose. Thank goodness I find this to be the case in only about 10% or less of all the children I see in my practice. Here is the bottom line, if you have a young child (older than 12 months) with chronic runny nose, try the following and you will likely see an incredible improvement: 1) If your child drinks milk every night right before or at bedtime, STOP immediately. I promise that within 7 days you will notice that he/she will have much less congestion, nighttime cough, waking up with snot and phlegm, and sleep better. A Healthier Wei explains why undigested milk in the stomach lead to reflux and then these nasal symptoms. 2) If your child has a snack every night after dinner and before bed, especially if they contain dairy and/or sugar, STOP that habit. Instead, if he/she must eat again, choose items which do not contain diary and/or sugar. 3)If your child eats a great deal of dairy every day, yogurt, cheese stick, milk, chocolate milk, Mac-n-Cheese, cheese pizza, cheese, ice cream, etc., please consider cutting down on their daily dairy consumption.

Picky Eating and Young Toddlers

Picky eating often surfaces around one year—a time when many children are beginning to feed themselves. They can now choose what and how much to eat, giving them some degree of control over their lives. So some days they may eat a lot of everything. Other days they may not seem to eat much at all. In addition, while children usually grow a lot and quickly in their first year, growth slows down in the second year. Toddlers are also learning lots of new skills, like talking, walking, running, climbing, and more. During a time of great change, children often seek “sameness” as much as possible, including sticking to the same small group of foods. This consistency can help them feel safe and secure during a period of rapid change. Parents also need to be in touch with their own expectations about how much their toddler “should” eat. It is unrealistic to expect a toddler to eat a large amount of food at each meal everyday; after all, a toddler’s stomach is approximately the same size as her clenched fist (Martins, 2002). Ellyn Satter, MS RD LCSW BCD, a researcher and practitioner in the field of pediatric feeding practices, explains that both parents and children have their own “jobs” to do when it comes to eating. Parents are responsible for providing healthy foods at meal- and snack-times. Children are responsible for what and how much they eat. This helps children learn what it feels like to be hungry and then full—and how to make healthy choices based on this awareness, ie., eating when hungry and stopping when full. Back to Top The Role of Parents Research has found that parents’ food preferences are linked to their children's food preferences (Borah-Giddens & Falciglia, 1993). This is probably not a big surprise since we are more likely to prepare the foods that we enjoy, so our children are more familiar with that group of foods than others. Familiarity with foods is key, as a child may need up to be exposed to new foods more than 10 times before they try it. What can you do to help your child enjoy a range of foods? •Eat a range of healthy foods yourself. Make sure that your own choices are in line with the foods you want your child to eat and enjoy. •Prepare meals together. Having a hand in making the meal increases the chances that your child will taste her “creation.” Have your little one assist with measuring, pouring, or stirring. •Avoid showing disgust or disinterest when trying new foods. A study found that mothers who showed (with their facial expressions, body language or words) that they didn’t want to try a new food had children who also tended to refuse new foods (Carruth & Skinner, 2000). In short, your young child will probably be less willing to try something new if you haven’t tasted it. And if you are a “picky eater” yourself, then your young child is likely to imitate you in this behavior, just as she imitates the way you talk on the phone or the way you wave good-bye to her each morning at child care. Back to Top What to Do About Picky Eating There are many reasons why a child may be choosier than usual at mealtime. Listed below are some of the most common causes of picky eating and ideas for how to respond. (Adapted from Lerner & Parlakian, 2007). Some children are sensitive to the taste, smell or texture of food. You can: •Offer several healthy food choices—among the foods your child does like—at each meal. •Gently but frequently offer new kinds of foods. Children need to be offered a new food as many as 10-15 times before they will eat it. •Track your child’s food sensitivities and keep them in mind when preparing meals. Does your child have trouble with “mushy” foods? Then offer apple slices instead of applesauce, or a baked potato instead of mashed. If you’d like your child to try a “mushy” food, combine it with a crunchy food that she does like. Give her an animal cracker to dip in the applesauce. •Talk to your child’s health care provider about any nutritional concerns you may have. Some children are simply less likely to try new things based on their temperament—their individual way of approaching the world. You can: •Put new foods next to foods your child already likes. Encourage him to touch, smell, lick, or taste the new food. •Avoid becoming a short-order cook and preparing special meals for your child. But do make sure that at each meal, there is something he knows and likes on the plate. Also give him what the rest of the family is eating in toddler-sized portions. Over time, these choices will become as liked and familiar as her favorite mac-n-cheese. •Gently but frequently offer new kinds of foods. Children need to be offered a new food as many as 10-15 times before they will eat it. •Use healthy dips such as yogurt, hummus, ketchup or low-fat salad dressings to encourage children to eat fruits, vegetables, and meats. •Involve your child in preparing the meal (like dropping cut-up fruit into a bowl for fruit salad). Handling, smelling and touching the food helps your child get comfortable with the idea of eating it. Some children can seem “picky” because they want to feed themselves. You can: •Offer safe “finger foods” that your child can feed herself. •Offer your child a spoon to hold while you’re feeding her. This lets her feel in control. •Let your child decide where foods go on her plate—the peas there, the turkey there. If you’d like, you can also let your child serve herself (put your hand over hers to help her handle the bigger serving spoons). Some children are very active. They may seem picky because they don’t like sitting for long. You can: Set your child’s meal out before he sits down. •Keep mealtimes short—10 minutes or so. Let your child get up when he indicates he is finished eating. •Put healthy foods, such as a bowl of strawberries or bananas, where your child can reach them so when he gets hungry he can easily get to good foods. Some children have medical issues that make it difficult to swallow or digest certain foods. You can: •Seek an evaluation by a health care provider. Sometimes children need special help with feeding. What NOT to Do About Picky Eating There are two big pitfalls to avoid in order to encourage healthy eating behavior. They include: Forcing your child to eat. The fact is that forcing children to eat usually leads to the child eating less. Forcing also teaches children to rely on others to tell them how much to eat and what they are feeling. This does not lead to healthy eating habits or good self-esteem. In fact, some research has shown that forcing children to eat actually can make picky eating behavior worse (Sanders, Patel, Le Grice, & Shepherd, 1993). When it comes to eating, it can be helpful to see it as you and your child each having your own jobs. Your job is to provide your child with healthy food choices and pleasant meal and snack times. It is your child’s job to decide which of these healthy foods to eat and how much to eat. When you approach feeding this way, your child learns to listen to his body and make healthy food choices. It also leads to fewer power struggles between parent and child around food (Satter, 1990). Nagging or making deals with your child. “Just two more bites, just two more bites!” “If you eat your vegetables, you will get dessert.” Strategies like these don’t work in the long run. Children who learn to make deals about eating quickly learn to make deals and ask for rewards for doing other things—like brushing teeth or getting their shoes on. And soon they won’t do anything unless there is a reward for it! Back to Top What About Dessert? Ah, dessert. Many parents struggle with what to do about sweets. Daniel, father of a toddler and kindergartner, shared his family’s dilemma: I’m fine with letting them choose how much they want to eat. But after they’ve basically eaten nothing, then they want dessert. I feel like I’m getting taken advantage of if I give it to them. If I try to get them to eat more, it’s worse because we end up negotiating the entire meal: “Okay, if you have 3 more bites of meat, you can have a cookie.” It’s gotten to the point that my 6-year-old will ask at the beginning of the meal, “How much do I need to eat in order to have a treat?” How do you handle the “cookie cravings” in your little ones who insist they are done with dinner (after 3 noodles) but still have room for something sweet? The following are some ideas for handling this common dilemma. •Serve a small treat with your child's dinner (for example, one cookie or a small muffin). Yes, he may eat it first or he may eat only that. That’s okay. Over time, your child will come to see that sweets are part of a meal, but not the only part. He will get hungry for other foods. Soon, you might even find that he leaves the sweet on the side opting to eat the healthier foods first. •Serve a small treat at the end of the meal regardless of how much your child has eaten. Again, this teaches your child that sweets, when eaten in moderate servings, have their place.. It also takes away the power of the dessert being a big, special reward that they are constantly pining away for. When you avoid negotiating “if you eat this, you get that”, you also eliminate a big power struggle. You may find that your child eats more on his plate as a result. •Eliminate sweets altogether. Some families believe that cookies, cakes, etc. are not appropriate for their family’s diet. Instead, try offering fresh fruit or cheese to end the meal. Back to Top An Additional Resource: Healthy Eating Strategies for Babies and Toddlers This one-page handout explains how you can help your child develop healthy eating habits from the start. References: Borah-Giddens, J., & Falciglia, G. A. (1993). A meta-analysis of the relationship in food preferences between parents and children. Journal of Nutrition Education, 25, 102-107. Carruth, B.R., & Skinner, J.D. (2000). Revisiting the picky eater phenomenon: Neophobic behaviors of young children. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 19, 771-780. Gibbs, J. (2006, Jan-Mar). Working with picky eaters: The Toddler years. Family and Consumer Sciences Quarterly Media Packet, Michigan State University Extension, East Lansing, MI. Available online at: http://www.fcs.msue.msu.edu/mediapacket/Jan-Mar06/PickyEaters-theToddlerYrs.doc Lerner, C., & Parlakian, R. (2007). Healthy from the start: How feeding nurtures your young child’s body, heart, and mind. ZERO TO THREE: Washington, DC. Available online at: http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/healthy_from_start_eng.pdf?docID=1041&AddInterest=1153 Martins, Y. (2002). Try it, you'll like it! Early dietary experiences and food acceptance patterns. The Journal of Pediatric Nutrition and Development, 98, 12-16, 18-20. Sanders, M.R., Patel, R.K., Le Grice, B., & Shepherd, R.W. (1993). Children with persistent feeding difficulties: An observational analysis of the feeding interactions of problem and non-problem eaters. Health Psychology, 12, 64-73. Satter, E. (1990). The feeding relationship: Problems and interventions. Journal of Pediatrics, 117 (Suppl.), 181-190. The article below was also useful background in creating this resource: Cathey, M., & Gaylord, N. (2004). Picky eating: A Toddler’s approach to mealtime. Pediatric Nursing, 30(2), 101-109. Available online at:

Ten Reasons to Respond to a Crying Child

by Jan Hunt and Leonard Nzereogu. Do you stop a child from crying by whipping him/ her? How do you respond to a crying child? See if these reasons makes sense. 1. A baby's first attempts to communicate cannot be in words, but can only be nonverbal. She cannot put happy feelings into words, but she can smile. She cannot put sad or angry feelings into words, but she can cry. If her smiles receive a response, but crying is ignored, she can receive the harmful message that she is loved and cared for only when she is happy. Children who continue to get this message through the years cannot feel truly loved and fully accepted. 2. If a child's attempts to communicate sadness or anger are routinely ignored, he cannot learn how to express those feelings in words. Crying must receive an appropriate and positive response so that the child sees that all of his feelings are accepted. If his feelings are not accepted, and crying is ignored or punished, he receives the message that sadness and anger are unacceptable, no matter how they are expressed. It is impossible for a child to understand that expression of sadness or anger might be accepted in appropriate words once he is older and able to use those words. A child can only communicate in ways available to him at a given time; a child can only accomplish what he has had a chance to learn. Every child is doing his best, according to his age, experience, and present circumstances. It is surely unfair to punish a child for not doing more than he can do! 3. A child who has been given the message that her parents will only respond to her when she is "good" will begin to hide "bad" behavior and "bad" feelings from others, and even from herself. She may become an adult who submerges "bad" emotions and is unable to communicate the full range of human feelings. Indeed, there are many adults who find it difficult to express anger, sadness, or other "bad" feelings in an appropriate way. 4. Anger that cannot be expressed in early childhood does not simply disappear. It becomes repressed and builds up over the years, until the child is unable to contain it any longer, and is old enough to have lost his fear of physical punishment. When this container of anger is finally thrown open, the parents can be shocked and perplexed. They have forgotten the hundreds or thousands of moments of frustration which have been filling this container over the years. The psychological principle that "frustration leads to aggression" is never more clearly seen than in the final rebellion of a teenager. Parents should be helped to understand how frustrating it can be for a child to feel "invisible" when crying is ignored, or to feel helpless and discouraged when his attempts to express his needs and feelings are ignored or punished. 5. We are all born knowing that each and every feeling we have is legitimate. We gradually lose that belief if only our "good" side brings a positive response. This is a tragedy, because it is only when we fully accept ourselves and others, regardless of mistakes, that we can have truly loving relationships. If we are not fully loved and accepted in childhood, we may never learn how that feels or how to communicate that acceptance to others, no matter how much therapy or reading or thinking we may do. How much easier our lives would be if we had simply received unconditional love from birth! 6. Parents wondering whether to respond to crying might give some thought to their own responses in similar situations. Parents may consider it appropriate to ignore a child's cries, yet feel intensely angry if their partner ignores attempts to have a conversation. Many in our society seem to believe that a person must be a certain age before he has the right to be heard. Yet what age would that be? Infants and children are not any less a person just because they are small and helpless. If anything, the more helpless someone is, the more they deserve to have our compassion, attention, and assistance. 7. If children are taught by example that helpless persons deserve to be ignored, they can lose the compassion for others that all humans are born with. If, as helpless infants, their cries are ignored, they begin to believe that this is the appropriate response to those who are weaker than themselves, and that "might makes right". Without compassion, the stage is set for later difficulties or even violence. Those who wonder why a violent criminal had no compassion for his victims need to consider where and when he lost that compassion. Compassion is there at birth, and does not disappear overnight. It is stolen, through unresponsive or punitive treatment, drop by drop, until it is gone. Loss of compassion is the greatest tragedy that can befall a child. 8. When a child learns by her parents' example that it is appropriate to ignore a child's cries, she will naturally treat her own child the same way, unless there is some intervention from others. Inadequate parenting continues through the generations until new experiences come about to change this pattern. How much easier it is for a parent to have learned in childhood how to treat his or her own child! Perhaps the cycle of inadequate parenting can begin to change when bystanders no longer walk past an anguished child without stopping to help. This may be the first time the child has been given the message that her feelings are legitimate and important, and this critical message may be remembered later when she herself has a child. Crying is a signal Provided by nature Crying is a signal provided by nature that is meant to disturb the parents so that the child's needs will be met. Ignoring a child's cries is like ignoring the warning signal of a smoke detector because we find it disturbing. This signal is meant to disturb us so that we can attend to an important matter. Only a deaf person would ignore a smoke detector, yet many parents turn a deaf ear to a child's cries. Crying, like the loud detector sound, is meant to capture our attention so that we can attend to the important needs of the child. It just makes no sense to think that nature would have provided all children with a routinely used signal that serves no good purpose. 10. Parents who respond only to "good" behavior may believe they are training the child to behave "better". Yet they themselves feel most like cooperating with those who treat them with kindness. It is as though children are seen as a different species, operating on different principles of behavior. This makes no sense, because it would be impossible to identify a moment when the child suddenly changes to "adult" operating principles. The truth is much simpler: children are human beings who behave on the same principles as all other human beings. Like the rest of us, they respond best to kindness, patience and understanding. Parents wondering why a child is "misbehaving" might stop and ask themselves this question: "Do I feel like cooperating when someone treats me well, or when someone treats me the way I have just treated my child?"

The Intrapersonal Consequences of Schizophrenia

by Ann Reitan, PsyD. I have proposed before that schizophrenia represents a biopsyhosocial phenomenon. Essentially, it has been stated that schizophrenia originates from chemical imbalances in the brain in the form of auditory hallucinations. The outward appearance of hearing auditory hallucinations is stigmatizing, and the retreat from stigma by assuming a façade of normalcy alienates the schizophrenic in a psychological sense, driving her further into the self-concealed realities and unrealities of her mind. In terms of this, the biopsychosocial process is self-reinforcing. It is important to note that schizophrenia is termed a problem related to “behavioral health”, explicitly. This term may be appropriate in terms of diagnostic considerations using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The DSM utilizes behavioral criteria for the purpose of diagnosing schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. For example, the psychiatrist will note that the mentally ill client displays “negative affect” as opposed to the statement that she “feels badly”. The schizophrenic client may be stated to “report the experience” of hallucinations, as opposed to simply “experiencing” hallucinations. For the purposes of objectivity, the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia are stated in behavioral terms. The term “behavioral health” can be considered to be particularly damaging in that this term can be construed to mean that there is an appropriate and healthy way to behave – that of concealing one’s mental illness. While it is important to exercise caution in terms of self-revelation of psychotic symptoms, and, in fact, patients are encouraged to reveal to their psychopathological symptoms to their treatment providers, there nevertheless exists an implication that they should behave in a “healthy” way. This is especially true regarding the mentally ill indvidual’s self-conception. In terms of the biopsychosocial model of mental illness, assuming an outward appearance of “behavioral health” relates to concealing one’s symptoms as a retreat from stigmatization. This reinforces the tendency to retreat into one’s subjective mind in an effort the avoid stigma, and the consequences of this retreat is further alienation. As indicated, “behavioral health” implies that there is an appropriate façade that should be assumed by schizophrenics in their efforts to appear psychologically healthy. Note that the biopsychosocial model implicates a synergistic cycle of psychopathology, and it is possible to reinforce this cycle at any point in the cycle: biological, intrapersonal and interpersonal. It is noteworthy that individuals may say that the term “schizophrenic” is stigmatizing. I have heard it suggested that the term “schizophrenic” should be changed to “a person with perceptual differences”. It is much more benign to term an individual “a schizophrenic” than it is to term the fields of psychiatry and psychology those of “behavioral health”. The term “behavioral health” has emerged from the effects and consequences of behaviorism on the fields of psychiatry and psychology. It is obvious that behaviorism is reductionistic. However, behaviorism continues to dominate the mental or “behavioral” health fields due to its emphasis on predicting and controlling behavior, and behaviorism is valued in that it relies on objective results of psychiatric and psychological treatment. Behaviorism itself emphasizes outward appearances as opposed to subjective states, and subjective states can be referred to by the term “subjective well-being.” I have noted that most schizophrenics report that they simply want to feel normal most of the time. While one’s behavior may or may not convey subjective well-being, asking the schizophrenic to describe her subjective feelings may be more therapeutic than it is to emphasize her objective characteristics. While behavioral aspects of mental health treatment, such as hygiene and the observable effects of medication, are important aspects of treatment that emerge from the behavioral perspective, the term “behavioral health” has many negative implications that the lay person or the schizophrenic is unlikely to comprehend. In fact, the schizophrenic may misconstrue the term “behavioral health” to mean that she will be stigmatized if she expresses any symptoms of mental illness. While stigma is real and impactful, creating a wall between oneself and other people as an assumption or presentation of “behavioral health”, the term “behavioral health” will reinforce the psychopathology referred to as the biopsychosocial cycle of psychotic

Pain in Osteoarthritis

by Sara Adaes, PhD. Pain is the arguably the most distressing feature of osteoarthritis, affecting patients’ quality of life and ability to carry out daily routines. Why osteoarthritis is sometimes painful and others painless is yet to be explained. Efforts to develop disease-modifying drugs that could, as a consequence of disease reversion, also alleviate pain have not yet been particularly successful. While such therapies are not available, pain management remains the main clinical concern in osteoarthritis’ treatment. By the time a patient seeks medical help, probably due to pain, osteoarthritis will most likely have been developing for a long time, albeit asymptomatically. Symptomatic osteoarthritis designates the presence of radiographic osteoarthritis in combination with symptoms attributable to osteoarthritis, such as pain, aching, and stiffness. Not all individuals with radiographic osteoarthritis have associated symptoms, allowing it to develop unnoticed. Prevalence The prevalence of symptomatic osteoarthritis is generally lower than that of radiographic osteoarthritis. For example, one study showing a prevalence of radiographic knee osteoarthritis of 19% among adults aged over 45 years also showed that the prevalence of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis was of 7%. Worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, it is estimated that about 10% of the population over 60 years of age suffers from osteoarthritic pain. The risk of developing symptomatic knee osteoarthritis during lifetime is estimated to be of 40% in men and 47% in women. The overall risk increases 60.5% among persons who are obese, a well-known risk factor. A rise in osteoarthritis prevalence in the last years has been estimated, most likely due to aging of the population and increasing prevalence of obesity. Patterns of pain Pain in osteoarthritis is generally considered to be insidious in onset and exacerbated by activity, mostly by movement and by weight bearing on the affected joint. It can often have a diurnal pattern, being relieved by rest, but night pain and pain during inactivity are also reported. Although symptoms are predominantly experienced in or surrounding the affected joint, referred pain and tenderness may also occur. Patients’ description of osteoarthritis pain often include terms such as ‘aching’ and ‘throbbing’, intercalated with moments of ‘sharp’ and stabbing’ pain associated with activity. Joints are richly innervated, containing an array of sensory nerve fibers that convey information to the central nervous system about position and motion of the joint and of forces exerted on articular tissues. Under normal circumstances, joints are fairly insensitive to noxious stimuli. Following the development of osteoarthritis, increased sensitivity to load bearing and to normal movement of the joint can be experienced (allodynia), as well as increased sensitivity to further noxious stimulation (hyperalgesia). Under these circumstances, pain can arise in such innocuous situations as standing or walking. Changes in the joint environment can lead to altered mechanical sensitivity of articular nerves, leading to a reduction of the mechanical activation threshold, such that normal movements of the joint become sufficient to induce pain. Treatments Current pharmacologic treatment of osteoarthritic pain with analgesics and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs is often unsatisfactory because of lack of efficacy and of adverse effects. Despite treatment with therapeutic doses of such drugs, many patients still have osteoarthritic pain and acquire all the side effects of those drugs, such as nausea, constipation, dizziness, somnolence, and vomiting. In the case of opioid therapy, side-effects also include tolerance, dependence, and respiratory suppression in cases of overdosing or intoxication. Recently, the classical view of osteoarthritis as an inflammatory disease has been shifting towards the possibility of the existence of a neuropathic component in osteoarthritis-associated pain. As a consequence, new approaches have been emerging; antidepressants and anticonvulsants, commonly used to treat neuropathic pain, have shown some promising effects in osteoarthritis. Non-pharmacological treatments such as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation or acupuncture have also shown some short-term effects without major side effects. However, there is still little clinical evidence, with studies showing a high variability in their efficacy. A better understanding of the pathophisiology of osteoarthritis is crucial, but most importantly, due to the morbidity and incapacity induced by osteoarthritis-associated pain, understanding its mechanisms is of paramount relevance, so that better therapeutic strategies can arise. References Bijlsma JW, Berenbaum F, & Lafeber FP (2011). Osteoarthritis: an update with relevance for clinical practice. Lancet, 377 (9783), 2115-26 PMID: 21684382 Lawrence RC, Felson DT, Helmick CG, Arnold LM, Choi H, Deyo RA, Gabriel S, Hirsch R, Hochberg MC, Hunder GG, Jordan JM, Katz JN, Kremers HM, Wolfe F, & National Arthritis Data Workgroup (2008). Estimates of the prevalence of arthritis and other rheumatic conditions in the United States. Part II. Arthritis and rheumatism, 58 (1), 26-35 PMID: 18163497 Murphy L, Schwartz TA, Helmick CG, Renner JB, Tudor G, Koch G, Dragomir A, Kalsbeek WD, Luta G, & Jordan JM (2008). Lifetime risk of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis. Arthritis and rheumatism, 59 (9), 1207-13 PMID: 18759314 Thakur M, Dickenson AH, & Baron R (2014). Osteoarthritis pain: nociceptive or neuropathic? Nature reviews. Rheumatology, 10 (6), 374-80 PMID: 24686507 WHO Scientific Group on the Burden of Musculoskeletal Conditions at the Start of the New Millennium (2003). The burden of musculoskeletal conditions at the start of the new millennium. World Health Organization technical report series, 919 PMID: 14679827

ALL APPLAUDS NHIS AT THE 2014 LAGOS INT'L TRADE FAIR

Inset: Dr. Femi Thomas- the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme) (NHIS) and Haj Asma'u Mohammed- AG GM MARKETING DEPARTMENT(NHIS) Dr.Femi Thomas a distinguished medical doctor and the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) yesterday took the digitalization campaign of the National Health Insurance Scheme to the FOCUS CENTRE of the 2014 Lagos International Trade Fair, Lagos. In his remarks, Dr. Thomas said that the digitalization of the health insurance industry, which is currently being processed, is one of the latest initiatives to ease public access to the programmes of NHIS, as part of the overall focus on achieving and surpassing the presidential mandate of 30% coverage by 2015 and universal health coverage in the shortest time possible. The health plans brought to the table are: The public primary pupils’ sch. Health Insurance programme. (PPPSHIP). Tertiary Institutions Health Insurance Programme (TSHIP). Tertiary Intervention Programme. Community Based Health Insurance Programme (CBSHIP. National Mobile Health Insurance programme. Dr.Thomas is highly optimistic that this programme will deliver on the mandate of National Health Insurance Scheme which is totally committed to securing universal coverage and access to adequate and affordable healthcare in order to improve the health status of Nigerians, especially for those participating in the various programmes/products of the Scheme.

Haj Asma'u Mohammed and her team has made the registration and subscription process easier for you.just follow the steps to register your mobile health insurance. NHIS CALL- CENTRES: 09-4138487,092733104,08059282008,08065744100,08042318888,08039796126,08059015854

Me Cure Introduces SMART LOCK SERVICE SYSTEM A MIDST HER INNOVATIVE HEALTHCARE SERVICES @ 2014 LAGOS INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR.

Me Cure one of the most innovative healthcare solutions provider in Lagos Nigeria were at this year 2014 LAGOS INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR. The unfailing mission of Me Cure have been to strive to serve the people of Nigeria by converting the promise of modern day technology and expert care into the services that have the power to restore health and save lives. Delivering on this promise, Me Cure came with her team of qualified professionals at the trade show. Part of the services rendered at the trade show are, EYE CARE, DENTISTRY, DIAGNOSTICS and PREVENTIVE LIFE STYLE. Another service yet to be made public by Me Cure is the introduction of SMART LOCKER. With the introduction of a smart locker, it would be easier for patients and customers of Me Cure to pick up their products at a designated SMART LOCKER point near their home in Lagos or somewhere near you in Nigeria. When this is fully in place, Me Cure would be the first In NIGERIA to implement this innovative service. What is smart lock and how does it work?

A smart lock is an electromechanical lock which is designed to perform locking and unlocking operations on a door when it receives such instructions from an authorized device using a wireless protocol and a cryptographic key to execute the authorization process. It also monitors access and sends alerts for the different events it monitors and some other critical events related to the status of the device. Smart locks, like the traditional locks, need two main parts to work. The lock and the key. In the case of these electronic locks, the key is not a physical key but a smartphone or a special key fob configured explicitly for this purpose which wirelessly will perform the authentication needed to automatically unlock the door. Smart Locks allow users to grant access to a third party by the means of a virtual key. This key can be sent to the recipient smartphone over standard messaging protocols such as e-mail or SMS. Once this key is received the recipient will be able to unlock the Smart Lock during the time specified previously by the sender. Smart locks are able to grant or deny access remotely via a mobile app. Certain smart locks include a built-in WiFi connection that allows for monitoring features such as access notifications or cameras to show the person requesting access

Humania: NHIS CREATES AWARENESS FOR MOBILE HEALTH INSURANCE...

Humania: NHIS CREATES AWARENESS FOR MOBILE HEALTH INSURANCE...: Mobile Health Insurance is a platform for the application of information technology in the operations of the NHIS, and it involves automati...

NHIS CREATES AWARENESS FOR MOBILE HEALTH INSURANCE AT LAGOS TRADE FAIR

Mobile Health Insurance is a platform for the application of information technology in the operations of the NHIS, and it involves automatic online registration including choice of HCFs and HMOs. The NHIS boss stated that modalities are in place to eliminate fraud in the process, by facilitating identification, using telephone numbers, NHIS number or thumb print, as the case may be, through a central Health Insurance Information Exchange that transmits all related transactions to relevant stakeholders. The required equipment, which he said has been adapted to the local peculiarities of the people, is to be distributed free to over 7,000 accredited facilities nationwide when the programme is fully operational.

Inset: Mr.Aminu Tanimu at the 2014 LAGOS INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR Enlightening visitors at the stand on NATIONAL MOBILE HEALTH INSURANCE PROGRAMME (NMHIP) National health insurance (sometimes called statutory health insurance) is health insurance that insures a national population for the costs of health care and usually is instituted as a program of healthcare reform. It is enforced by law. It may be administered by the public sector, the private sector, or a combination of both. Funding mechanisms vary with the particular program and country. National or Statutory health insurance does not equate to government run or government financed health care, but is usually established by national legislation. In some countries, such as Australia's Medicare system or the UK's NHS, contributions to the NHI or SHI system are made via taxation and therefore are not optional even though use of the health scheme it finances is. In practice of course, most people paying for NHI will join the insurance scheme. Where the NHI scheme involves a choice of multiple insurance funds, the rates of contributions may vary and the person has to choose which insurance fund to belong to. In the United States, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes a "health insurance mandate" that produces a similar effect as NHI or SHI, though relies more heavily on the private market than their public sector (Medicare, Medicaid, and S-CHIP) than most countries. The US Federal government will be involved in sponsoring several multi-state insurance plans. In Nigeria, NHIS is totally committed to securing universal coverage and access to adequate and affordable healthcare in order to improve the health status of Nigerians, especially for those participating in the various programmes/products of the Scheme. Given the general poor state of the nation’s health services and the excessive dependence and pressure on Government provided health facilities, with the dwindling funding of healthcare in the face of rising cost, the Scheme is designed to facilitate fair financing of health care costs through pooling and judicious utilization of financial risk protection and cost-burden sharing for people, against high cost of health care through institution of prepaid mechanism, prior to their falling ill. This of course is in addition to the provision of regulatory oversight on Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and other players in Healthcare delivery.

Comparing the 5 Theories of Emotion

Emotions seem to dominate many aspects of our lives. But what exactly are emotions? The word first appears in our language in the mid-16th century, adapted from the French word émouvoir, which literally means, “to stir up”. However, one can find precursors to the word emotion dating back to the earliest known recordings of language. When searching for a definition, Hockenbury describes an emotion as “a complex psychological state that involves three distinct components: a subjective experience, a physiological response, and an expressive response.” Researchers have long studied how and why people experience emotion and a number of theories have been proposed. In order to compare and contrast these theories of emotion it is helpful to first explain them in terms of the interactions between their components: an emotion-arousing stimulus, a response of physiological arousal, a response of cognitive appraisal, and the subjective experience of emotion. According to the James-Lange theory, initially proposed by James and around the same time also by Lange, the stimulus leads to the arousal that leads to the emotion. The sound of a gun shot, for example, leads to the physiological responses like rapid heart rate and trembling that lead to the subjective experience of fear. On the other hand, according to the Cannon-Bard theory, proposed first by Cannon and later extended by Bard, the stimulus leads to both the arousal and the emotion. The sound of a gun shot, for example, leads both to the physiological responses like rapid heart rate and trembling and to the subjective experience of fear. The two most well-known cognitive theories are the two-factor and the cognitive-mediational theories of emotion. According to the two-factor theory, proposed by Schachter and Singer, the stimulus leads to the arousal that is labelled using the cognition that leads to the emotion. The sound of a gunshot, for example, leads to the physiological responses like rapid heart rate and trembling that are interpreted as fear and lead to the subjective experience of fear. According to the cognitive-mediational theory, proposed by Lazarus, the stimulus leads to the personal meaning arrived at using cognition that leads to both the arousal and the emotion. The sound of a gunshot, for example, is interpreted as something potentially dangerous and leads to both the physiological responses like a rapid heart rate and trembling and the subjective experience of fear. Finally, according to the facial feedback theory, emotion is the experience of changes in our facial muscles. In other words, when we smile, we then experience pleasure, or happiness. When we frown, we then experience sadness. It is the changes in our facial muscles that cue our brains and provide the basis of our emotions. Just as there are an unlimited number of muscle configurations in our face, so to are there a seemingly unlimited number of emotions. The sound of a gunshot, for example causes your eyes to widen, your teeth clench and your brain interprets these facial changes as the expression of fear. Therefore, you experience the emotion of fear. By breaking them down in this way, one can already notice the differences and similarities between the different theories, as one can clearly identify the components that exist in each theory and the order in which they occur. As can be seem from the above, the James-Lange and Cannon-Bard theories are fundamentally similar in that they both involve the same three components but different in how they handle the timing of when arousal and emotion occur. They differ from the two cognitive theories in that both of them do not explicitly acknowledge any role of cognition. Regarding the similarities, the sequence of the three components in both the James-Lange and two-factor theories and in both the Cannon-Bard and cognitive-mediational theories is the same, the fundamental difference between the two theories comprising each pair being the addition of a cognition component at some point in the sequence in the cognitive theories. References: Hockenbury & Hockenbury (2007). Discovering Psychology: Fourth Edition. New York: Worth Publishers, Inc. JAMES, W. (1884). II.—WHAT IS AN EMOTION ? Mind, os-IX (34), 188-205 DOI: 10.1093/mind/os-IX.34.188 Lazarus, R. S. (1991). Emotion and adaptation. New York: Oxford University Press. Myers, D. G. (2004). Theories of Emotion. Psychology: Seventh Edition, New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

EASE ARTHRITIS PAIN WITH JUICE

TIPS FOR A HEALTHIER SKIN

TEN BENEFITS OF POTATOE

Humania: The Science of Acupuncture

Humania: The Science of Acupuncture: Acupuncture has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 2,000 years. In the Western world, acupuncture has been a highly cont...

The Science of Acupuncture

Acupuncture has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 2,000 years. In the Western world, acupuncture has been a highly controversial therapy, mostly due to the lack of scientific explanations for its mechanisms of action. Nevertheless, acupuncture has become increasingly accepted, having spread worldwide and having become a frequently sought-after alternative therapy. In 1997, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Development Program recognized acupuncture as a therapeutic intervention of complementary medicine. The World Health Organization (WHO) now recommends the use of acupuncture for treatment of numerous diseases and symptoms associated with cardiovascular, neurological, musculoskeletal, respiratory, gastrointestinal, gynecological and psychological disorders. It is estimated that 3 million adults in the USA receive acupuncture treatments each year, with chronic pain being the most common reason for seeking this therapy. In fact, the efficacy of acupuncture in diverse painful conditions is now widely recognized, having earned the denomination “acupuncture analgesia”. An estimate of 50% to 85% of chronic pain patients seem to benefit from acupuncture. Although acupuncture analgesia may have an important psychological component, increasing evidence has been demonstrating that the analgesic effect of acupuncture may indeed be due to a physiological action. The increasingly generalized use of acupuncture has stimulated research on the physiological and biochemical mechanisms underlying acupuncture analgesia. In the last decades, there has been a rapid development of our knowledge of the neurological processes induced by acupuncture. Although a consensual theory is still lacking, many hypotheses have been proposed for the mechanisms of acupuncture analgesia. Acupuncture points seem to be special sites with denser sensory innervation and connective tissue, and a richer content of TRPV1 receptors, which are important players in pain mechanisms. The insertion of a needle into these points acts as a mechanical stimulus that activates the mechanoreceptors and sends afferent signals to the central nervous system, to areas involved in pain processing. Neurochemical processes of pain modulation are consequently activated, inducing acupuncture analgesia. Both clinical and laboratory data indicate that the endogenous opioid system participates in acupuncture analgesia. In fact, a reduced need for opioid-like-medication in patients with chronic pain after acupuncture treatment has been reported. The noradrenergic system has also been associated with acupuncture analgesia in experimental studies, where a decreased level of noradrenaline in the brain was observed after acupuncture-induced analgesia. Studies in animal models of inflammatory and neuropathic pain have also found evidence for a role of serotonin and glutamate in acupuncture analgesia. Other pain mediators that have been suggested to be modulated by acupuncture include somatostatin, cannabinoids, and neurotrophic factors. However, clinical studies supporting these theories are still lacking. Experimental models of pain have also indicated that acupuncture may have an anti-inflammatory action by having a modulatory effect on the release of pro-inflammatory mediators. These results have been supported by clinical findings showing a reduction in the production of pro-inflammatory molecules after acupuncture in patients with osteoarthritic pain and chronic pelvic pain syndrome. Despite these recent advances in the understanding of the mechanisms of acupuncture analgesia, there is still a lot of ground to break. What seems to be clear is that, regardless of how that happens, acupuncture works. And there’s no harm in trying it. by Sara Adaes, PhD

OLANIBA HEART FOUNDATION HOLDS A HEALTHY-HEART BAZAAR IN LEKKI LAGOS

OLANIBA HEART FOUNDATION IN CONJUCTION WITH NIGERIAN HEART FOUNDATION holds a seminar on Saturday 8th November 2014. Theme of the event is HEALTHY-HEART BAZAAR. The two Foundations shall be carrying out FREE Medical SCREENING for Hypertension, Diabetes, Cholesterol, BMI, etc. VENUE: Muri-Okunola Gardens Lekki. TIME:10am-6pm. You are all cordially invited. Call Zino 07061968388 for inquiries