Healthy B.P.M.

What would you prefer doing?

Yoga or Botox?

Have you heard of the navarasas? Well it’s the Indian equivalent of the nine facial expressions-from pleasant to raging mad. Facial yoga is booming business now with yoga teachers giving you tips on how to look young by stretching your face all over the place. Stick out your tongue till your mouth hearts. Stare till your eyes look like saucers. It’s a lot of fun and you end up looking like Jim Carrey, as Katy Buchanan put it in her fun article: Yoga exercises keep mouth, cheek and brow toned

The idea is to perk up circulation and make your face more mobile. It’s always tightness that your body feels, when you’re on the phone or in a board meeting. So facial exercises help you loosen up and if you look at a mirror it makes you laugh too.

Botox paralyses your problem spots. It changes the way you look, no doubt and Hollywood will go the Botox way but ordinary people who don’t have to look like gods and goddesses on a daily basis, they can try this. And see if face contortion puts an end to crow’s feet.

What would you go for?

boomers, yoga, botox, facial yoga, anti aging, Jim Carrey

In my question of the week, I had asked you who your diet guru was?

After a speechless interval I get one reply from Dave:

“The British Gillian McKeith has had a big impact on me. Her programme “You are what you eatâ€? influenced my eating habits and still does… Even though she looks like a gargoyle on the side of a church.”

Now I’m not sure about the gargoyle thing:), but Dr Gillian has made a tremendous impact on the lives of many people with her holistic eating ideas. She prescribes a pescetarian(the c is pronounced hard as in car…clarify me if I’m wrong)diet, high on organic fruits and vegetables. She believes in detox diets and processed high-calorie fods are definitely out of the picture. It makes sense to say that you are what you eat. Theories are being expounded about how hamburgers and coke can have detrimental effects on your brain. The whole world wants to go organic. Pesticides have turned into villanous scourges. So Gillian McKeith has a point.

You should check out her website and have a look at the literature she has produced plus all the programs she’s hosted. She gives advice on how to have good skin, glossy hair and better metabolism. She focuses on Britain’s worst eaters and puts sedentary unhealthy life in the spotlight for all the right reasons.

For the cynics, I’ve got a great piece by Ben Goldacre:
Brought to book: the poo lady’s PhD

Gillian McKeith, diet, organic, pescetarian diet

I can’t really put my finger on where I read it but astrology is a kind of psychotherapy. Where I live, bad times and good times necessitate consulting the astrologer. You need to know the exact moment you were born to the last minute and then you visit those forebearers of the future. Marriages are fixed that way. Businesses are built. If you feel I’m stuck God…I don’t know what to do. Give me some hope. Astrologers tell you where to go to atone for your sins. They give you solutions.And they help you calm down.Every sceptic would secretly like to have his palm read.

Another funny thing about Zodiac signs is when they help you break the ice. The lunar calendar comes up with a lot of personality traits and sometimes bizarre conversations like “So and so sign tends to put on weight” leave you gasping in awe and debating about possibilities. Camaraderie is born.

Just a thought.

overweight, astrology, Zodiac

Is childhood obesity such a serious problem? Statistics say that it is. What is the reason for such a high rise in obesity amongst kids?

-Kindness
-Sweetened beverages.
-Trans fat filled food.
-Sedentary childhood.

Kids might not live as long as their parents do as they are more prone to chronic obesity-related diseases. Now that’s a reason to worry. Check out this article:
Obese kids creating generation that will live shorter lives than parents

obesity, childhood obesity, trans fat

Does your attitude toward food have a serious problem? Is it getting harder to just dig into your meal with single-minded focus? To just sit at the table and enjoy all that tasty food without feeling guilty? Chances are that you have started hearing voices in your head like “Count all those calories”,”Eat in SMALL portions”, “I’ve read somewhere that a glass of red wine is good for you.”

Suddenly everything that you’ve read and heard and images of obesity that have been plastered in your imagination come popping up. In a diet-obsessed urbanity, eating almost equals gluttony.

This superb post on bloggerdygook called Are we having health problems because we obsess about what we eat? expresses a perspective that the diet-obsessed don’t think about. A lot of the way we react to food comes from our inability to eat heartily.

Sulz quotes Desmond Morris:
“The simple truth is that my mother had lived through almost the whole of the twentieth century without ever giving a moment’s thought to what was ‘correct’ to eat. She never suffered from even a momentary pang of anxiety concerning the possibility that certain food objects might be bad for her. If they tasted good, they must be good, and that was an end to it. I think it was her lack of anxiety concerning diet that kept her so fit. If you are perfectly relaxed about what you are eating, your parasympathetic nervous system rewards you by helping you to digest it well. If, on the other hand, you are tensely nibbling a lettuce leaf and agonising over whether to indulge yourself with another spoonful of low-fat yoghurt, the tension of your mood ill-suits the pleasures of the table. ”

Interesting way to think about the obesity obsession.

obesity, diet, calories

Today we’re going to Thailand for our spa feature and this time it’s a spa chain we’re looking at.Anantara means ‘borderless water’ in Sanskrit and the name carries connotations of wealth and prosperity in Asia.

Take a look at the Golden Triangle resort. When you enter and have been served with ginger honey tea you will be whisked away for the Thai-Burmese jungle tour. Once you fix your treatment, be prepared to soak yourself in some indulgence. The signature treatment here is the Culture of Anantara .It begins with aromatherapy massage using four specially blended oils, followed by a wrap exuding he goodness of wild honey, brown sugar, fresh pumpkin and bananas. It ends with an aromatherapy bath. Wow:)If that won’t destress you, nothing will.

Some other treatments here include the Traditional Thai Ritual ,the 60-minute Indian Head Massage and The Spa Bliss Ritual.

The next spa in the chain is the Hua Hin, a garden spa in an ideal tropical lagoon setting. There are some exotic massages and body treatments here that help to exfoliate, soften and invigorate using salt, Javanese spices, exotic fruits and fragrant oils. The Exotic Fruit Peel leaves you with the tang of orange and honey.I loved the idea of the Colour Therapy Steam Bath ,based on Ayurvedic medicine’s belief in the healing power of colour and its ability to balance the body’s three doshas(as in humours of ancient western medicine). Think about getting soaked in mud baths and having a Cleopatra honey milk bath:)

Don’t forget the Elemis Aroma Stone Therapy Massage at the Koh Samui, a 60-minute aromatic massage harnessing the healing power of warm Volcanic stone. How’s that? Small stones are placed on key energy points and the deep penetrating heat from the stones are used to massage the body, thus releasing muscular tension and balancing the spirit. It’s the perfect treatment for loosening stiff and sore muscles resulting from over-exercise and stress.

The idea of an over-water spa is intriguing and the Anantara spa at Maldives actually provides you a marine view of the world beneath your feet. You can detox your body with the Anantara Spa voyage of well being, nourish your body with White Sesame Body Treatment,and feel the harmony with the Ginger Bath.

If you are thinking of splurging on destressing yourself, these are some tempting destinations on offer!

Thailand, Maldives, detox, nourishment, Ayurveda, herbal treatment, facial, spa, vacation, destress, massage, aromatherapy

The food labels based on your average 2000 calorie diet are not working. People are still getting obese, in fact more now than any other time in the history of mankind. When you look at the label, you don’t really think about all the contents, do you? Plus do you know how many calories you need to burn when you have restaurant food?

Labeling isn’t working probably because:

-No one has the time to analyze the details.

-People eat out a lot.

-Physical activity is on the decrease.

-Reduced caloric intake doesn’t have the benefits of exercise.

This is a great read: Food Labels Won’t Cure Obesity

Baba Ramdev is extremely popular. He is a simple man with a long beard and straight forward speech. Why do people love him? He teaches them yoga and ensures that regular practice of this ancient Indian art will put an end to most ailments and suffering. You can catch him on Aastha T.V and see for yourself the impact he has created.

Check out the Swami Ramdev Yoga website.

You might be interested in what this controversial yoga guru has to say. Click here.

For the sceptics, this would be interesting.

Baba Ramdev, yoga, pranayama

What do some doctors do to help children who are over weight? Put them on prescription drugs. Check out Alex Waith’s story. Since he was over weight at a young age and was moving toward a higher risk of succumbing to Type 2 diabetes, he was put on a dosage of Adderall, a drug used to treat Attention Deficit Disorder.

Alex lost weight as the drug suppressed his appetite but his family did not seem to be aware of the dangerous side effects of taking a drug of this sort. There is a risk of cardiac arrest and psychic disorders. Although Alex is fine now, the question is why should he be treated for Attention Deficit Disorder when he has a completely different problem to deal with?

Is the ADHD(Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder) drug an easy way out? A short term solution with unhappy results? The debate is on. It’s up to parents to be aware of what they are getting their kids into.

childhood obesity, Adderall, Attention Deficit Disorder

I came across this great post on getfitsource.com about how research points at the link between exercise and the mind. The more fit you are, the fitter your mind is. That gives you one more reason to abandon your sedentary life and watch less T.V.Exercise actually stimulates the growth of new nerve cells, something that wasn’t known before. Exercise boosts production of chemicals like brain-derived neurotrophic factor or BDNF: this chemical makes you have more knowledge acquisition ability.

Read this Newsweek article: Stronger,Faster,Smarter

[tags]brain,exercise,Newsweek

There’s a lot of interesting diet and health web sites out there.

Here’s one called FitDay. It’s completely free and some features include:

-Tracking your foods, exercises, weight and goals
-Viewing your calorie intake, nutrition, weight Loss and more

With a free online account, all you have to do is enter your daily foods and exercise and you’ll get an appropriate analysis. If you opt for the PC version you don’t have to do it online.

Now is entering all your meals into a software package easier than keeping a food diary? Once you get into the swing of things and set achievable targets, it may be a tech-savvy kind of way to get fit. Plus you get the information you’ve added analyzed which is something you won’t bother to do if you keep a food diary.

Check it out.

free online diet journal, diet, weight loss, calorie counter, health

You must be thinking how everyone is telling us that what we did all these years is bad. Watching T.V, eating junk food, being couch potato….that’s all wrong and the health critics are getting too preachy. There’s nothing wrong with us. We’re happy unlike some skinny people(Is there some bias there?) out there who die on the ramp.

I’ve heard this kind of open bias against healthy living(eating good food doesn’t necessarily make you skinny and being skinny doesn’t mean you’re the healthiest person on earth)so many times. Watching T.V is something we all do. The houses are all lit up with the blur of television in the evenings. After work, it’s the couch and some random channel changing. But watching T.V means you’re eating alongside- either it’s potato chips or fruit juice. That’s really enough to make you fat. So what you can do is cut T.V time and catch up on other things.

You will suddenly find that you have a lot more time than you did.

Check out Twelve Year Sentence for watching T.V. Research suggests that we spend twelve years of life watching T.V….that coupled with unhealthy foods can really change the way you look.

This trend begins in childhood. Check this out.

obesity, television, couch potato, childhood obesity

It’s strange that teenagers who diet have more chances of weight gain. The reasons for this are simple. Dieting leads to abnormal eating patterns like binge eating and appetite suppressing methods like smoking. The teenager’s goal is usually short term and so dieting makes a reverse impact especially for those who have a tendency to put on weight.

The problem with any kind of diet is that it’s so restrictive and teenagers usually get stressed out under any kind of limitation. What parents and the education system could do is to try and inculcate some kind of eating values that focus on health rather than weight. If you eat healthy foods, steer clear of supermarket goodies and do some kind of physical exercise, chances of your being the right weight are way higher.

teenager, diet, binge eating, weight gain, obesity

As if teenagers didn’t have enough problems with their raging hormones, binge drinking is one more issue that tops their list of problems.What could go wrong if anyone indulges in binge drinking? Well it’s mostly negative. And the worst part is that teens who fall into the habit early on in life find it hard to stop.

Intervention programs in colleges can help. Read Binge drinking: can students be trained to avoid it? in the That’s Fit blog.

Putting a stop to binging has some interesting solutions to put an end to adolescent hedonism. Check it out.

binge drinking, alcohol addiction, teen drinking, substance abuse

I read a post The Organic Myth in No More Mr. Fat Guy and it got me to thinking can you trust anything you get off the shelves? Once products are processed and packed, they lose most of the qualities they claim to propogate. The whole debate of going organic gets worse when you think about whether you can trust the USDA label at all.

Can You Trust The USDA Organic Label? makes you sceptical. There are too few certifiers and the standards are not necessarily followed. Some farmers use ammonium nitrate as fertilizer as it’s cheaper. An influx of goods from offshore giants makes it hard to get standard products.

organic foods, USDA Organic Label