Supplements

The other day I happen to read an article in Yahoo Health. It was about the 5 must have (food) supplements, written by a 'health expert' (who also is an author). He says he pops a handful of supplements every day and carries these 'must have' ones on long trips. According to him, everyone should take a very good multi-vitamin pill every single day.  This sounded sheer nonsense to me and I asked him why on earth a healthy human need a handful of supplements on a daily basis,  (he did not reply); especially in US where most food comes with added vitamins.

Take the popular cereal Honey Bunches of Oats for example. The carton says it contains:

Vitamin A, D, B6, B12, Iron, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Folic Acid, Phosphorous, Magnesium, Zinc, Copper, Sodium and Potassium

More or less same with Froot Loops and Nesquick. Most milk brands has extra vitamin D. Americans generally eat meat/fish every single day and most people here includes some veggies and fruits in their every day meal (mostly in the form of a salad). So, when we pop a couple of supplement pills, there is this possibility of we taking excess vitamins. Some people believe our body is intelligent enough to take what it requires and flush out the rest in case of water soluble vitamins etc. But we need to understand that there is a mechanism which decides how much the body need and how much it need to flush out, even if that theory is right. This clearly means extra work for some of organs. 

Yesterday I read another article which says:

"Researchers say those who take multi-vitamins, folic acid and iron supplements may face higher risks of early death"

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/health/Study-Finds-new-Dangers-in-Vitamins-and-Supplements-131518988.html

and

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/10/8256866-some-common-vitamin-supplements-could-increase-death-risk-study-finds

All these days (supplementing) Vitamin E was given this image of something which promotes prostate health (or prevents prostate cancer for that matter). And now there comes new enlightenment - It in fact has the potential to cause prostate cancer in men

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/11/8273189-more-bad-supplement-news-vitamin-e-may-be-risky-for-prostate

This clearly shows that the increased prostate cancer rate in the recent days has something to do with vitamin supplements. This reminds me of the similar cures similar principle of Homoeopathy. If 'something' has the potential to cure a disease, that 'something' has the potential to give similar symptoms of that disease in a healthy person (who do not have that disease).

One of the best and wise ways of finding a solution for (increased rate of) cancer is to invest money in finding the (man-made) causes than trying to find a cure.; so that we can prevent it, if it can be prevented. It sure do has something to do with what we eat (genetically modified food for example) and pop. 

As we can see, two third of American population takes vitamin supplements and thus contributes their share to this 28 billion (per year) business. It is not a matter of surprise when 1% takes decision on 99%.

I think we have reached a point where we can no more trust these researchers. It all depends on who is funding the research. There was a time we believed that if we eat fruits and vegetables, it will take care of our health, not anymore because most of these fruits and vegetable lost their sanity when we added or removed some genes.

So, it is wise to consult a medical doctor before popping a magic pill, if one is serious about health.

Acid Reflux Remedies … The Secret Ingredients

What are the remedies for Acid Reflux, especially the home remedies?

There are so many websites that offer two secret home remedies which they claim as cure for acid reflux or GERD; remedies which just hide in the grocery cupboard in our kitchen. Those sites contain a lot of ‘testimonies’ too. To know what they are, we need to pay 30-40 dollars. That is one way of making money via internet. It is just a business and it usually comes with a disclaimer saying they do not have any responsibility or liability if anything goes wrong..

Here is that top secret ingredients info for free:

1.Apple cider vinegar

2.Honey

(Then comes Chewing gum, milk and 7up, baking soda etc )

I am a person who have faced severe acid reflex and I even underwent endoscopy to get it confirmed or to determine the severity. But I am not writing this to recommend above mentioned remedies but to ‘expose’ those secrets so that there is no need to pay for just two names.

Me being a GERD man, what do I suggest? I suggest doing a neat search in the internet and read more. Give weightage to those sites which are more health and medicine related than sites which sell particular brands of apple cider vinegar or honey.  A spoon of vinegar won’t give us any serious damage, even if it backfires.  So there is no harm in trying at own risk.

This blog is not about what acid reflux is, its causes and remedies or even how I personally manage it (I might write that…may be next time)

Anyway, I would like to make a special note on this apple cider vinegar (ACV) thing. There are two theories about how it works and they are contradictory.

 Look at the two possible situations of acidity – body producing more acid than needed and body producing less acid resulting in indigestion and reflux. In the first case, the theory says if we take ACV, body will start producing less acid considering there already is enough acid. In the second case, ACV helps fill the lack of acid and helps digestion. Which one is right? Second one looks logical but I really do not know. If both theories are right, anybody who has GERD can take ACV, which I don’t think so. 

 

Creatine and Migraine..

Can supplementing with Creatine monohydrate result in migraine headaches?

Well, I think it can. It has something to do with the body type also. Some people require more water than many others (like me). If such people has the history of migraine too, one has to be a little more careful with Creatine. Why coz, the presence of creatine forces the muscles to draw more water into it. If there is not enough water, it draws it from blood causing a pressure imbalance that can trigger migraine (remember that migraine is a vascular issue). And hence one has to drink lots of water. For people with the history of migraine plus need more water should drink at least 3-4 liters of water if supplementing with creatine. Says who?

Says me. I did not read any research paper on this but I did a research on my body at my cost. And it’s a fact. When I started getting migraine on a regular basis, I started keenly observing my diet. And found that the nutritional supplement I was taking had creatine. Then one can ask, a supplement can contain many things and creatine is just one among them. So, how can we conclude that creatine is the culprit?

Easy. Stop that supplement and take creatine alone for a short period. And I did that. I took 5 gram of creatine per day and experimented with different quantities of water intake and found out that the quantity of water we drink has a lot to do with the migraine we get (and the muscle cramps, obviously). When I tried very little of creatine and lots of water, it did not end up in migraine. That means creatine may not be a direct trigger for migraine.

Well, I stopped playing with creatine when my doc told me that I am playing with my own kidneys since creatine is excreated through kidneys (urine) and not through stools. So, if you are supplementing with creatine, drink lots and lots of water, plain water. IT IS A MUST. Else you might end up damaging your kidneys (yes, I know, the manufacturers too ask us to drink enough water).

And there is one very important thing about supplements. If you have doubts about supplements, ask a medical doctor and not your fitness trainer.

Job Burnout - Apology to Dr. Beverly Potter

I got a comment from Dr. Beverly Potter, who is an authority on Burnout. Since my reply to that comment became a lil long, it can not be published as a comment and hence this new post.

Dear Dr. Beverly Potter,

When I am writing this, I don’t have any idea about whether you agree with Dr. Freudenberger or disagree. I don’t have any idea whether you two have different approach or not. Yes, you are an authority on Burnout, just like Dr. Freudenberger. I don’t have any disagreement.

You won’t believe how much happiness you brought into my life. I consider today as a special day. Somebody like YOU, an internationally reputed psychologist, mailing me is like a dream coming true. When I read that, I woke up my wife (yap, it was night and sleeping time) from sleep and told her that YOU personally wrote to me. I felt really happy and I wanted to share it with somebody. So I even sent couple of mails to my friends saying that YOU wrote to me. I just don’t care whether you are scolding me or not coz you have all the right and authority to do so. Thanks a ton for writing to me. I feel really excited.

Bur I think I better clarify on certain things.

First of all, my blog’s nature is entirely different from the site you have. I am not at all an authority to talk on Job Burnout, I know. But that does not limit me from sharing what I read about burnout (when I read science, I usually depend on universities or some reputed non profit organizations). If you go through my blog, you can find one thing, I write about so many things. politics, religion, spirituality, poems, science..most of them are some comments on current issues. Sometimes it’s just sharing what I read recently. Some are my personal views and when I borrow other’s, I give them due credit..its a layman’s blog just like the hundreds of thousands of others you can find in the net.

About diminishing comments. When we say something, it has a lot to do with our personal experience. In my case, when I wrote about sleep, last week, a person just left a web-address as comment (which I did not publish) where he keeps lots of ads and products which offer ‘better sleep’. My blog had nothing to do with ‘how to get better sleep’. When I wrote about Cholesterol and saturated fat, I received over 3000 comments (to sell their products). You won’t believe, but that is a fact. All those comments were ‘dropped’ by programs designed to do so, automatically. I had very hard time to remove those manually. All other comments I got are very much present there. Thirdly, usually I don’t get any comments!. May be its coz of my previous experiences that I did not publish your comment. I thought you were trying to sell books. If that is not true, I misunderstood you. I hardly think it has anything to do with my low self esteem or negativity.

I have no idea at all about how much you are paid for writing books. Three of my cousins are into book publishing business and I understand that they pay the authors decently. And in the internet, tons of such e-books are there for sale (for increasing height, reducing weight, to gain a 6 pack abs, speed learning, hypnotism…). As I told you earlier, am seeing this from my environment.

About stuffs we could find in internet. It’s the era of technology. Now information is available at our finger tips. Previously I used read a lot of (physical) books. These days many people read even news papers online. These days, I too heavily depend on internet for my reading, just like millions of others. I subscribe lots of newsletters and podcasts from many reputed organizations. I find it a blessing coz now I can get articles even from Harvard University, which I can only dream of, otherwise. After all, the information you are providing for free, which you left as a link and asked me to read too is through internet, we can’t ignore that.

Yes, your site is packed with contents (mostly through links). How do lots of free sites exist? Some sites are there to spy on us (for many reasons including marketing). And some sites make money when a user clicks a link. Here in my case, I know how much information Google collects from me. And if anybody clicks on that Amazon link I have kept in my site and buys a book, I will get paid. In your case, when I visited your site, what I saw is book for sale, Google ads, and so many (useful, of course) links. Usually, sites route/exchange links on business relations. They have some mutual understandings and ‘terms’, which WE do not have. Now you know why I was ‘selfish’. Your case may be different, but again, I am telling this based on my personal experiences (Some people took advantage of my innocence/ignorance and that is the reason why I lost Google ads.. When I started my blog, I too had Google ads)

Finally, I am not there to argue with you. As I mentioned earlier, in my blog, I share what I reads. It was useful to many people. Here in this case too, I read many articles on burnout, written by qualified people (doctors and psychologists). As with most of the things in our life, people might have difference of opinion; this is applicable in the scientific community too. Initially, I thought it was unfortunate that I did not read your books and articles. Now I think, it was something good, otherwise, I wouldn’t have received not even a word from you..

If I hurt your feelings or if you think that I tried to degrade your work, please understand that it wasn’t intentional and kindly accept my apologies.

Take care and God bless..

***************
The comment reads as follows:

I did, indeed, post the comment and not any web master. Freudenberger's high cost of high achievement is the typical - lower-your-expectations and accept-your-place-in-life approach. Also known as "blame the victim" view.Interesting that you must diminish my comments. Just about anything that you can find in internet research has more weight than what I wrote. This is probably due to your 1) assumption that no one of substance would comment on your site, i.e, low self esteem, and 2) your entrenched negativity.With regard to my motive being the lowly "to sell books". Hummmm, not only do you degrade any work associated with income, but you reduce me to be motivated by getting 50 cent or perhaps a dollar - the general amount that filters down to an author. Any more noble motivate - such as being a freelance educator.My what a dreary reality your create in your world - this cognitive style creates a vulnerability to burnout.I am, indeed, an authority on job burnout and for a very long time. I appeared in many media interviews with Dr. Freudenberger. And I am an expert in motivation - "social learning", behavior mod etc.My site is packed with excellent content - and, of all free - but you, rather selfishly, with hold the site address. Oh well . . . I will be gone from your reality in a few moments, but you are trapped within it - in its toxins. For your curiosity, I learned of your posting from Google Alerts.

Job Burnout - appendix

This blog is the after effect of a comment I received on my previous blog on the same topic. I did not publish the comment because it has a link leading to the commenter’s site. We can not publish a comment partly. So, I am pasting the comment here, after removing the link:

“Burnout is a kind of job depression. It not caused by demanding work - but demanding work where you feel you can not win and you feel powerless to change it.


The way to overcome or prevent burnout is to develop personal power - a feeling of I-Can-Do. But the first step is to get a clear picture of the factors in your job that are causing you to feel powerless.

To find out what burnout is and what to do about it, see: (here comes the link)”

First of all thanks for the comment….that too from a world known Psychologist/author. Personally, I don’t think the comment was posted by Dr. Beverly Potter but by her webmaster/staff who are involved in giving publicity to her books and activities.

I did some more reading on this topic to check whether I got it right or not. Also, I wanted to make sure that I am not misleading my blog readers.

The definition for burnout as per Merriam Webster dictionary is as follows:


"exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration”

Then I checked out with Mayo Clinic, world’s one of the biggest research body to see what they have to say on this subject . It showed that I am in the right track (stuffs are copy righted so, those who are interested, please visit the site and read).

It was Dr. Herbert Freudenberger who introduced the concept ‘burnout’ in 1974, for the first time. He did a comprehensive study on burnout and even today, his book (Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement) serve as a must reference on this subject. He is the authority in this topic and what did he say?

A compulsion to prove oneself

Working harder

Neglecting one's own needs

Displacement of conflicts (the person does not realize the root cause of the distress)


Revision of values (friends or hobbies are completely dismissed)


Denial of emerging problems (cynicism and aggression become apparent)


Withdrawal (reducing social contacts to a minimum, becoming walled off; alcohol or other substance abuse may occur)


Behavioral changes become obvious to others


Inner emptiness


Depression


According to him these are all phases of burnout. And as we can see, depression is ONLY one among them. There was a study on (11,500 parish ministers) stress and burnout which said three out of four parish ministers suffer from it(‘Stress and Burnout in Ministry’ by Rowland Croucher). And another interesting study says clergies deal with stress better than other professionals. How can we say those three out of four were suffering from depression? I don’t think those Pastors thought “no! I can’t do this” either.

Where did I say demanding work alone is the cause? And where did I say depression is NOT a cause? 'Feeling powerless' could be just another reason, since it being a negative thought pattern.


If I am not wrong, your intention was not to educate me but to divert my readers to your site and sell your book. I visited your site to gather more information and educate me. but what you ask is to buy your book paying $10 for a PDF version ($14.95 + postage for paperback). If I ever get a chance to read your book, I will definitely do that.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the comment and the extra/additional information.

Job Burnout

What is job burnout?

“Burnout is a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion caused by long-term exposure to demanding work situations”

What are the common symptoms?

Change in the sleep pattern.
Nightmares
Forgetfulness
Not able to laugh on things we used to laugh
Being more sarcastic with colleagues
Change in appetite
Grinding teeth, often
Fatigue
More irritable with customers, clients, colleagues or even to friends
Being cynical (or more cynical)
Frequent headaches or neck pain
Body weight change (in most cases, its weight gain)
Bad temper started affecting family life…

So, what causes it?

Job burnout is the result of stress. This again could be coz of:

Work work and more work (especially during layoff times)
Wrong career/position
Situation where we need to handle a virtually impossible/unclear requirement
More work but no time (since we can’t stretch time)
Worked very hard, but no return/reward

So, how can we cope with it?

Adopt relaxation techniques
Prioritize work
Exercise regularly
If possible, take a break and involve in activities which gives you peace of mind
If possible, avoid working overtime
Try to maintain good working relationships at work
If nothing works, consider changing the job.

What is Yoga?

(Taken from one of my mails to a friend from Philippines...personal referring(s) removed/edited)

****
Sorry for the belated mail.

Ok, I don’t know what you were expecting from me in this regard. First of all, understand that Yoga is NOT JUST another form of exercise as promoted by many. In reality, it’s a way of living and its one of the 6 major philosophical systems that exists in India (Yoga, Sankhya, Vedanta, Mimamsa, Nyaya and Vaisheshika. I am not talking about them since it’s out of the scope of this mail). Yoga means union….union with the divine….union of self with God. To achieve this, one need to practice the twofold aspects of yoga, that is, the spiritual aspect and the physical aspect.

There are many paths of Yoga; like Karma Yoga (this is ‘work is worship’ kind. Doing good deeds without eyeing on the return), Njana (knowledge) Yoga , Raja yoga (mastering the mind), Hatha (determined effort) Yoga, Mantra Yoga etc.

The postures, mudras and many breathing exercises (e.g. pranayam) you see are mostly from the Hatha Yoga (and Raja Yoga) system. And the authentic text followed is ‘Yoga Sutra’ written by Sage Patanjali (year 200 BC).

Yoga is becoming very popular day by day both here in India and abroad (that’s why you came to know about it). But have you ever heard of 'Yama' and 'Niyama' ? They are the code of conduct prescribed by Patanjali, in his Yoga Sutra, for every practitioner of yoga.

These days, 99% of those who do yoga follows only the physical aspect – doing the asanas (postures/body position/sitting position). It doesn't mean that it is of no use, of course it is useful but the real goal of yoga is not achieved. Yama and Niyama are the spiritual aspects of yoga. Yama is the social discipline aspect and Niyama is the self discipline aspect.

Yama are of 5 kinds.

Ahimsa (non-violence) – it is self explanatory, isn't it? Don't harm others in your acts, words or even in thoughts. This can include killing of animals or even cruel to them.

Satya – Be truthful and don't lie. This also includes your act, words gesture etc

Asteya – Non stealing. Be honest and also don't take advantage of others.

Brahmacharya – being celibate when single and being faithful to your spouse after marriage. Let you control the lust and not the other way.

Aparigraha – Don't be greedy. Take only what you really need.

(Some spiritual leaders add some more, but as I have not gone through the yoga sutra myself, so far, I don't know how many are there exactly.

Kshama – patience
Daya – compassion
Mitahara – eat moderately
Dana – Charity or the " art of giving"
Astikya – complete faith in God, Guru, your spiritual path etc
Sidhantha Shravana _ listening to scriptures
Vratha – adopting the religious vows in one's life (like you do in your lent period)
)

Niyama

Saucha – Cleanliness. Keep your body, mind and surroundings clean.

Santhosha – Be happy. Be happy with what you have and don't worry about what you don't have. This does not mean that you should not have any ambition in your life.

Tapas – Austerity. Practice those things which help to burn the impurities in your life. This includes the practice of yoga, meditation, pilgrimage, proper sleep, your regular fitness programme etc.

Svadhyaya – Self study or self examination. Apply what you learnt from the scriptures in your life and see the progress. Try to find who really you are.

Isvara Pranidhana – Worship God. Do puja (lighting the candle/lamp, offering flowers etc) and japa (chanting)and surrender to God. If you don’t believe in God, its fine. Don’t worry too much about it.

You won't believe, but long back, first we needed to practice yama and niyama before we actually practice the asanas (postures) . But now a days, this spiritual aspect of yoga is almost completely forgotten. People just want a healthy and well toned body, that’s all.

Wherever any worship element comes, you can follow YOUR faith.

I hope now you have some basic idea about what Yoga is. If you want any explanation about any aspect I mention here, don’t hesitate to ask me.

Bye for now and take care.

Jay

Unplanned Pregnancy

When I was active in Yahoo Answers, I have seen many types of questions flooding there. People ask different types of questions – intelligent ones, doubts, technical questions and even questions like ‘I want to change my name, can you suggest any? Among those, one strange and interesting question I have seen, asked by many, is

“My period got skipped, I am afraid..am I pregnant?”

I don’t know whether the asker was serious about her question or not. But I happened to see that question many times (asked by different people), even in some other forums. Some say they are now living in agony, fear and tension.

I do understand the fear and tension part (from the point of a husband over an unplanned pregnancy). But I don’t understand why people live in confusion mixed with panic and run here and there looking out for a solution. Here is what one can do in such situations (any suspected pregnancy cases), it’s very simple.

If you are sure that you did not have any sex, relax, unless you are a character in a myth or holy story.

If you did, that too unprotected one, go and get a home pregnancy test kit, right away. You need only one USD (or less)or its equivalent, about two-three drops of your urine (collected in the early morning, for best results) and less then five minutes time. If you see only one distinct line, RELAX and if you see two distinct lines, fix an appointment with a gynecologist, ASAP, coz the situation demands it (well, if you did not see any mark, go and get another kit).

Yes, the earlier the better, in both cases – 1. You want the baby 2. You don’t want the baby. If you want the baby, you need care and need to seriously watch what you eat, especially the over the counter medicines for silly pains, aches, cough, cold, flu etc. if you don’t want the baby, then also earlier the better coz in the very early stage of pregnancy, its easy to do the MTP (Medical Termination of Pregnancy) using a couple of tablets (else it could be a day’s affair spending more money and time)

Yeah, that it.

Coping with Stress at Work

I wrote about stress sometime back. But thought of it again, since a friend of mine was under stress for many weeks. Many a times a promotion comes with more work and responsibility, and more stress to offer. That was what happened here.

There are many ‘usually unnoticed’ factors or stressors in our working environment which can give us stress:

Noise
Congested working area
Very bright lights
Interacting with rude, impolite, uncouth and bossy people
Insecurity of job
Traffic jams and other commuting problems
Taking too much coffee
Company rules and regulations (eg. waiting for their work getting audited etc)
Hectic schedule (mainly with people who don’t know how to manage time)
Overloaded with work
Deadlines
Gossips and negative thoughts
Taking things personally
Being workaholic
Appraisals
Peer competition (competition among people of same level)
Internal politics
Where one has to report to less competitive/capable people (who reach that position by playing politics)
Meetings which leading to nowhere ….

How to handle this?

In many cases we can not change the system or environment. So what we can do is coping it with some life style changes and adjustments. There are many small things that can give good results. Like:

Yoga
Breathing exercises
Taking breaks and going for vacation (not too frequently)
Getting fresh air
Regular physical exercise
Getting enough sleep at night
Including more fresh food in diet (than canned ones, ready made ones, fast foods etc)
Pampering yourself once in a while with massage or similar stuff
Keeping a pet (if you are a pet lover)
Be with nature (at least in my city, it still has lots of trees)
Go to parks and look at the trees and listen to the birds chirping or attend to any natural sound
Have some hobby
Spent some time with friends
When you eat, try to taste the food and enjoy it
Learn relaxation techniques
Practice deep breathing at work, at least a couple of times (if you don’t get any chance, at least fake a ‘I need to use the restroom’)


....coz stress is a silent killer

Why Knuckle Pop?

“What is that sound we hear when we crack our knuckle?”

I remember my son asking me this, couple of years ago…

I had asked this very same question when I was a kid. That time, I got different answers. Some
said its bones sliding over…some said they don’t know…Some said its a bad habit…Some, told me that it would lead to arthritis and hence asked me to not to do that. But what is the reality?
Instead of telling what not it is, it is better we understand what it is. Simply put, that sound is coz of some gas bubble (mostly nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide) bursting.

Knuckle is a joint and just like any other joint its covered by a capsule form which is called synovial capsule. Inside this capsule there is some fluid called synovial fluid. The major function of this fluid is lubrication. There are many gases dissolved in this fluid. When we crack a knuckle, we stretch the capsule that creates a low pressure inside the joint which results in a vacuum and some already dissolved gas gets released. This vacuum then gets filled by these gases which then form a bubble and finally bursts (at the peak of we applying the pressure to crack) resulting into that funny sound. It take some time for the process of gas getting dissolved in the synovial fluid again and hence we cant crack a knuckle immediately.

Now the ‘what is not’ part. As I mentioned earlier, some people even told me its coz of the ends of two bones touching and slipping over and hence it will lead to arthritis. As far as the bones touching part is concerned, it is wrong. Will it lead to arthritis? As of now, we can’t say. Coz nobody has done a solid study which resulted in sufficient data to prove it. But the health pro people thinks that habitual knuckle cracking can lead to some damage to tendons or ligaments (this can further lead to arthritis, depending on many other factors like age, nature of work etc - a possibility, since that is the case with knee joints ).

I remember, when I was practicing Karate, during the warm-up stretches we used to interlink our fingers and stretch the hand forward resulting in knuckle cracking. Why we do this is coz this makes that joints little more lose and thus flexible. This is not believed to be harmful.

Trans Fat

Continued from cholesterol blog..

Is it possible for a common man to understand what Trans fat is? We all are told to avoid it. But if we can’t understand what it is, how can we avoid it? For people from developed countries, it is not that difficult but for others, it’s not that easy, coz it may not be shown on the label.

A major reason for heart related diseases (coronary heart disease (CHD) or coronary artery disease (CAD) whatever it is) is high blood cholesterol and this trans fat is one major contributor to it. And that is the reason why it is said to avoid it or ‘have an eye’ on it. Take the case of the U.S (it is easy to get health related data from that country, coz they HAVE something like that.) it is said that more than 14 million Americans suffer form coronary heart diseases and 500,000 die each year. If that is the case with America, we can guess what it will be like in other underdeveloped nations.

If it is THAT dangerous, why is it still available in the market? Why don’t governments restrict its manufacturing? Why don’t governments keep its price high, so that its misuse will be less? This is the ‘I don’t know’ part for me, as of now.

Understanding these fatty acids are not that easy… Why? Coz, it has a lot to do with chemical bonds.

This is not a scientific article and hence I am not bothered about the deeper aspects, or the carbon-hydrogen bonds. Lets look it from layman’s point of view. Fats (or fatty acids) are mainly classified as ‘saturated’ and ‘unsaturated’ (which again divided into monounsaturated and polyunsaturated). Technically, the major difference between these two is that, in unsaturated fats, there is no ‘double bond’ between the carbon atoms, if we check the chemical structure. How can we find that? Not easy and hence what is used is a different method, to easily distinguish them.

In general, naturally occurring saturated fats (or oils) becomes solid when cooled (congeals) or kept at room temperature (assuming that the room temperature is not too high). Examples are animal fat found in meat and poultry or dairy products. Unsaturated fat (oils) stays as liquid. Best example is olive oil (and many other vegetable oils).

Then where do trans fat stand?

They are actually unsaturated vegetable oil but its not naturally occurring. What they do is to add hydrogen into vegetable oil (under pressure) and thus makes them ‘more saturated’ (with hydrogen) than its natural state. Thus trans fats are man-made (its natural presence is in very little quantities, otherwise). Because of this process, these oils are commonly known as hydrogenated ( or partially hydrogenated )which tells us that hydrogen is added to it. If any label says 'Partially hydrogenated oil' it means it contains trans fat.

If they are not good, why are they used?

Hydrogenation increases the shelf life of food made out of trans fat oils (mainly used in baking and frying). It also helps to stabilize flavor. And many a times, its used instead of saturated fats, as an alternative or as a better option.

The main source of trans fats are cakes, cookies, crackers, pies, bread, animal products, margarine, fried potato, potato chips etc

Among vegetable oils, coconut oil and palm kernel oil are said to be saturated and hence avoided. (I was using coconut oil continuously for 30 years -and my mom for 76 years- so if anybody is using it, don’t get panic, you still have time to shift to another oil)

So, a healthy person should limit the use of saturated fats, trans fats and cholesterol. And someone who already has high blood cholesterol should try to avoid these, to the extent possible.

Cholesterol

If cholesterol is manufactured in our body itself, why does it go high? Why is it said to avoid fat when there is high blood cholesterol?

Yes, it is the function of the liver to make cholesterol but our body makes more of it when we (over )eat with fat (And in some people, this excess production of cholesterol happens by heredity). Plus, our body is capable of absorbing it from food we eat, though in very small quantities.

When we talk about blood cholesterol, we can not ignore the two main players. LDL and HDL. What are they?

Cholesterol is fat soluble and since blood is not such a medium, it won’t get dissolved in blood and move around. So, our body has a mechanism to carry the cholesterol through blood. It is done by attaching them to protein. This combination is called Lipoproteins. LDL is Low Density Lipoprotein and obviously, HDL is High Density Lipoprotein. In between comes a third one called Very Low Density Lipoprotein or VLDL.

So, LDL and HDL are not fully cholesterol but if we want to measure the cholesterol levels in our blood we have to measure lipoproteins, since cholesterol is attached to them and they are the transporters. And we call them ‘cholesterol’ in general.

LDL is considered as bad mainly coz it clogs the blood vessels. It builds up in the wall making the arteries narrow.

Where as HDL picks up the excess cholesterol in the blood and takes it back to liver. Since its doing a good deed, it’s good cholesterol.

Now it’s clear that why LDL levels should be low and HDL levels should be high.

Then from where does this Triglycerides come from? Why do docs check that?

This is a kind of fat and the specialty of this fat is that more we gain excess weight, more production in our body. There are many other factors that influence the excess production of triglycerides, like smoking, (alcohol) drinking etc. What is observed in general is that people with high triglycerides has high LDL and low HDL and a high total cholesterol level. That is why measuring this is also very important.

Here are the normal values, measured in milligram per deciliter

Total blood cholesterol – less then 200 mg/dL
HDL – 40-50 for men and 50-60 mg/dL for women
DL – less than 100 mg/dL is ideal.
Triglyceride – less than 150 mg/dL

So, should we completely avoid oil, meat and eggs?

What matters is the daily average (usually calculated on a weekly basis). That is, if we included (full) egg for breakfast for two days, and then had fish, lean meat, whole grains, fruits and vegetables for the rest of the days (for all meals), the daily average wont shoot up.

When we gain weight, all other organs wont grow/adapt to it accordingly, especially the heart which is the main organ affected by the extra cholesterol. It won’t develop any extra pumping capability. It doesn’t have any turbo mode. So, when the blood pipes get clogged and becomes narrow, it’s a strain for our heart.

What are the natural ways to keep cholesterol under control?

Regular exercises
Keeping weight under control
Include oatmeal/oat barn, lots of fruits, vegetables, walnut, almond, fish which has high Omega-3 like sardine, mackerel etc
Avoid Trans fats, to the extent possible.

(I will explain the Trans fat next time, coz an one-liner explanation wont look nice).

What is Cholesterol?

“…….It is cholesterol, means fat”

I happened to over hear such a conversation, when I was in the gym. I think many people think that way. ‘Cholesterol is just fat’. Is that really? It is fat like but it is not fat. The last two letters ‘ol’ gives us a clue about what it is.

Cholesterol is actually a waxy alcohol (means hydroxyl (a Hydrogen and Oxygen friendship) group bound to a carbon atom and not alcoholic beverage). In Greek, Chole means ‘Bile’ and Stereos means ‘solid’ and since it is an alcohol the ‘ol’. Thus

Chole + Stereos + Alcohol = Cholesterol

It is made by our liver (and not absorbed from fatty food, though it can absorb some) and present in every cell of our body and is used by the body to build healthy cells, apart from some other functions (like make some hormones and Vitamin D etc).

Then why is it considered as bad? What is this Bad guy (LDL) and good guy (HDL) in cholesterol? Are they really cholesterol?

11.15 pm doesn’t look like a healthy time to talk about cholesterol… let’s look into it later tmrw…

Migraine

I don’t remember exactly when I developed my first headache; it started during childhood. But I was about 25 when my headache officially got confirmed by a Neurologist as Migraine.

I used to read a lot of science including medical stuffs/headache related and hence I knew that it was migraine. But I never consulted a doc for treating my headache till I visited that Neurologist. After that I did see some. During childhood, nobody cared to take me to a doc when I had headache.

So, what is migraine? It is the most popular headache in this world. The rich, poor, doctors, teachers, students, musicians, athletes, …..all types of people from all over the world are put up with it. About 30 million people in the U.S suffer from it (no idea whether such a statistics available for my country) with women being affected three times more than men.

I read somewhere it is a neurological disease. And don’t agree to that. It is not a disease but a defect. There are lots of theories behind it but no one knows what exactly is the cause and cure, since there are so many causes and so far no cure available.

But it is good that day by day new and new research is happening and we get some results. If the research is carried out by some pharmaceutical company, they come out with some new drug….If it is sponsored by some other body, the result might show the color of that body. And if it is carried out by some genuine body out of humanitarian grounds, well, it might come out with some facts behind it.

My mom was the first migraineur I happened to see. I spent a lot of time in my life trying to observe, study, and understand this headache….not from a medical point of view. I had taken Allopathic and Homoeopathic medicines.

Some doctors gave me false assurance that migraine can be cured and thus I took lots of medicine for it. Under that neurologist, I took so many drugs for about six months continuously and then it went up to one year. And finally I realized that I wasted all that money and time. But during that treatment period, there weren’t much migraine attacks since my doc’s approach was preventing migraine.

What is migraine again?

Migraine is classified under vascular headache. And it has a lot to do with the dilation and constriction of blood vessels in our head. When these vessels enlarges (usually till to a point where it can not stretch any longer) beyond normality, we get migraine.

Migraine can be broadly classified into two, viz,

Migraine with Aura : Sufferers gets a visual indication like blurred/double vision, golden flies etc before an episode.

Migraine without Aura : Most common. No visual indication. I belong to this group

There are some other variations of migraine. But I don’t know anybody suffering from that (I personally know at least 7 people with migraine). Though I have read about Basilar Type Migraine which can even be fatal, never heard about somebody died of migraine.

Migraine is mostly one sided headache, not always. Sometimes it starts from the eyes/temple and spreads back. Migraine gives a pulsating/throbbing headache and nausea. Gets aggravated by physical movement/activity, light (especially florescent) and sound – photophobia and phonophobia. Some times we might feel vertigo. I prefer to crash out in a dark room. Sometimes sitting position gives a better feeling than lying down. May be coz of less flow of blood to head. In general migraine has a family history/hereditary.

What causes all this? Why all people are not facing this problem? Why only some?

It is due to chemical imbalance in our brain/body.

There are some chemicals in our body that help communication between nerves. These chemicals are known as Neurotransmitters. It is said that, the imbalance of neurotransmitters is the cause of migraine.

I read somewhere that in some people, the number of neurotransmitter receptors is more and hence it creates another type of imbalance in such people which is the cause for migraine in them.

The most important neurotransmitters of the Central Nervous System (CNS) in connection with migraine are Serotonin and Norepinephrine. These chemicals have a role in controlling the size of the blood vessels, apart from other functions.

So, migraineurs need more of these chemicals. For that the best option is eating well than popping a pill. That is why at least some doctors think in this direction at least in the U.S. and west. Some even came out with patented nutritional supplements for this purpose. I think it won’t become popular till some pharma giant starts producing it.

If it is these neurotransmitters that cause all these problems, why some get migraine when they eat particular food?

There are lots of things which can cause a chemical imbalance in our body. Number one is food allergy. Then toxic waste within our body, internal inflammation, poor absorption of nutrients, poor metabolism, food/chemicals that can deplete the level of these neurotransmitters etc etc…..

So, a bad/not so healthy stomach is one of the reasons, stress is another big reason which produces stress hormones and there by causing an imbalance. Physical exertion including too much sex (in male), mental exertion and stress, and lots of similar stuffs can cause a chemical imbalance.

Hormonal change during menstrual period is another reason for migraine in females.

We need to provide enough nutrients so that brain can produce enough of these chemicals, by eating properly and wisely. This means avoiding those foods which can trigger a migraine and including those foods which can help in the production of these chemicals.


Main Trigger Factors

Food allergy and sensitivity towards certain food and chemicals
Dehydration
Irregular eating time/ missing a meal
Change in sleep-wake cycle
Too much sleep and lack of sleep
Loud sound
Too much exposure to sun
Inhalation of some chemicals and smells (like paint), which are serotonin depleting and vaso-constrictive.
Bowl problems
Hormone change
Cold or Sinusitis
Change in blood sugar level
Malnutrition (especially magnesium deficiency)
Change in atmospheric pressure / stormy weather condition
Anxiety/stress/physical excretion/too much sex

Prevention

Avoid food that already gave you enough migraine (need to observe – keep a food diary)
Eat balanced food with enough nutrients/ take supplement
Exercise regularly but moderately
Practice yoga/meditation or some breathing technique to control stress (and there by stress hormones). - I have personally benefited by this
It is said that cold water shower/head bath helps (not when there is a headache, but otherwise)

There are lots of drugs available. That is beyond the scope of this blog.

Food to avoid

Have an eye on what you eat. If you noticed that a particular food gave you migraine many times, avoid it. Or better note down the food you suspect and talk to your doc.

Here are some proven trigger foods, in many people.

Red Wine
Monosodium Glutamate or MSG
Cheese
Chocolate
Nuts – especially peanut
Over ripened fruits
Tobacco
Fermented food
Alcoholic drinks (beer included)
Very strong coffee

There is a very loooooooooooooooooong list that can scare and we might think ‘ oh, then what will I eat?’ . No need to panic. Just avoid the ones that already gave migraine, coz, most of the time, it depends on person to person.

Eating a few peanuts never gives me a migraine, for example. And eating lot if it gave migraine many times. Sometimes food had indirect effect. That is, we might get indigestion, the food waste gets fermented and thus releases toxins.


Food to include

An Apple keeps ……. Yes, fresh apple is good for you, including pineapple
A couple of almonds per day
Banana, carrot
Beef, Pork, Chicken, lamb, liver – eat fresh
Watermelon, cucumber
Oats, dates, barley, corn
Milk - if you are not allergic
Pears, sweet potato, spinach
Broccoli and cabbage, Lettuce
Brown rice
Fresh lobster and mackerel

This also is a long list.

There are some food supplement available in many countries like U.S. (not in India) which are targeted for migraineurs. It mainly contains:

Vit-C, Niacin, Vit-B6, Magnesium, Folic Acid, Calcium, Copper and some ‘proprietary blend’

My personal experience

When I was under migraine specific drugs like ergotamine, things became worst after every attack. Migraine became more and more strong. And my present doc straightaway asked me to stop that, who understands migraine well because he too used to get it.

What helped me to control my migraine is regular exercise, drinking adequate water, avoiding some specific trigger foods, and then a wonderful breathing technique called ‘Sudarshan Kriya’.

If I break rules, sometimes I get a migraine. But now, things are under better control.

Conclusion

Migraine is a vascular headache, meaning, a headache caused by the enlargement of blood vessels in our head. This happens because of the imbalance of neurotransmitters like Serotonin and Norepinephrine.

And finally the disclaimer part, I just shared some of my experience, thoughts and what I read about migraine. This is not an authentic/medical article on migraine.

It is always better to consult your doc than treating all by yourself !!!