Sunny Health

Many of us would have considered caffeine a life-saver at least a few times in a life time. From coffee to chocolate to energy drinks to painkillers, caffeine is found in many substances that have the ability to give us a surge in energy to complete that seemingly unthinkable task at hand, or simply to make us feel lifted ala chocolate.


Caffeine makes us feel "high" because it is a stimulant, and stimulants have a large impact on our body. In high doses over a short amount of time, it can cause the heart to beat faster than usual and erratically, which can eventually be fatal.

This was what happened to a healthy teenager from South Carolina in April this year. He collapsed after drinking a latte from McDonald's, a large Mountain Dew soft drink and then an energy drink in a container the size of a large soft drink, in just under two hours. He died from a caffeine-induced cardiac event causing a probable arrhythmia (a condition whereby the heart beat is too fast or irregular)

According to caffeineinformer.com, a McDonald's latte has 142mg of caffeine, a 570ml (20oz) Mountain Dew has 90mg, and a 450ml energy drink can have as much as 240mg. This means that he would have consumed around 470 mg of caffeine within 2 hours.

Mayoclinic states that for most healthy adults, up to 400mg of caffeine a day is a safe amount to consume. Meanwhile, adolescents should limit their caffeine intake to under 100mg. So if you're someone who consumes energy drinks and/or several cups of coffee a day, especially black coffee, be sure to read the labels to make sure you stay within the safe range.

Caffeine overdose may produce the following symptoms, according to Healthline and Inc.com:

• dizziness
• diarrhea
• increased thirst 
• diuresis (increased urination)
• difficulty in falling asleep
• headache
• fever
• irritability / jitters / restlessness
• Heartburn / reflux

The above are not so severe and should go away when you limit your caffeine intake and drink more water.

• trouble breathing
• vomiting
• hallucinations
• confusion
• chest pain
• irregular or fast heartbeat
• uncontrollable muscle movements
• convulsions

The above are serious and immediate medical help must be sought.

Babies can suffer from caffeine overdose too if their breast milk contains excessive caffeine. Hence, it is important for pregnant and breast-feeding Mums to limit their caffeine intake.

Ultimately, if you find yourself having to rely on energy drinks or coffee to stay energised, a much healthier and more effective way in the long term is to get sufficient sleep. Check out previous articles here and here on how to fall asleep more easily and getting better-quality sleep. If all else fails, seek professional help as long-term insomnia has very harmful effects on the body.

The year-end is a time to drink and make merry, but we shouldn’t exclude the friends and guests who don’t drink due to health or religious reasons. Non-alcoholic drinks can be a healthier alternative, yet festive for the season, and they’re popular even in the restaurant holiday menus as well! Here are 3 easy ones for the upcoming New Year party. Now that you can toast all night without worrying about that beer belly or the health implications on your liver!

The following recipes are courtesy of BBC Good Food and Tania Glyde.

Fruity cranberry concoctions

The bright red colour cranberry resonates well with the festive mood. Cranberry is also a very tasty and nutritious fruit and would be the perfect holiday punch when mixed with other fruit juices!

Orange and cranberry spritz.
Mix together 500ml of orange juice and 500ml of cranberry juice in a large jug. Pour in sparkling elderflower drink to fizz it up. Mix together and serve in tall glasses with ice. If you can’t find elderflower drink, any other mildly sweet sparkling fruit drinks will do as well.

Driver’s punch
You will need 100g of cranberries, 100ml of cranberry juice, 500ml blood orange juice, 600ml sparkling apple juice, 1 lime, thin wedges of orange and some mint sprigs. Place the cranberry in a freezer container, cover with water (by about 2.5cm) and freeze till solid. Mix cranberry juice with blood orange juice. Juice a lime and add the juice in. To serve, smash the sheet of frozen cranberries into shards and put in the bottom of tall glasses. There should be about enough for eight. Put a wedge of lime and orange and a mint sprig in each glass, then pour in the fruit juices and top up with sparkling apple juice.

Something warm, sweet and cozy

Hot chocolate reminds one of winter and snow. It is a wonderful and cozy feeling to sit around a fireplace with mugs of delicious hot chocolate to warm your hands and insides. In Singapore, we have neither cold nor snow, but hot chocolate is still a very yummy drink that’s perfect for a party.

Peppermint hot chocolate
You will need 200g bar plain chocolate, broken into chunks, 600ml milk, 150ml pot single or double cream, Sugar to taste, 6 peppermint candy canes, a handful of marshmallows, to serve

Put the chocolate in a pan with the milk. Gently heat, stirring until all the chocolate has melted. Continue heating until the milk is steaming, then remove from the heat and stir in the cream. Divide the hot chocolate between 6 mugs, add sugar to taste and hang a candy cane on the edge of each. Pass the mugs round and let everyone stir their hot chocolate with their candy cane – letting as much of the sweet peppermint dissolve as they fancy. Put some marshmallows for a fuzzy feeling.

For the non-sweet tooths, here is another alternative for a rich, hot drink.

Hot apple pie punch
You will need: 1½ tsp ground cinnamon, a good pinch ground cloves, ½ whole grated nutmeg, 2 litres of apple juice, 2 tablespoon vanilla extract, 6 scoops vanilla ice cream

Place the cinnamon, ground cloves, nutmeg, apple juice and vanilla extract in a large saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer.  When the apple juice has warmed through, add the vanilla ice cream and whisk vigorously with a balloon whisk until melted and combined with the hot apple juice – the ice cream should make a frothy top on the juice.

Faux alcohol is better than no alcohol

You can make your own non-alcoholic “mulled wine” with the follow recipe.

You will need: 2 litres apple juice, 2 litres cranberry juice, 1 stick cinnamon, 2 oranges, 1 lemon (unwaxed), 1 teaspoon honey, Quarter teaspoon ground nutmeg, about 20 cloves

Slice the oranges into halves. Scrape the rind off about half of the lemon and then quarter the lemon. Stud the orange and lemon rinds with the cloves – it looks great and will infuse wonderfully.
Pour one of each of the cartons of apple juice and cranberry drink into a large pan with all the other ingredients and put over the lowest heat you can get. Leave it to heat slowly until it reaches the point where it is starting to steam, then three minutes longer. This takes about 10 to 20 minutes in total – it should not boil at any point. Switch off the heat and serve into small glasses.

Have a very Happy New Year!

Most people would have wondered what they would look like with a few improvements to their current appearance. But these days, you don't have to make an appointment with a plastic surgeon or professional photo editor to find out. Free selfie-editing mobile apps will produce your desired face with a few easy clicks, and the results are pretty natural-looking to the layman (if you didn't go overboard with the edits, that is).

Many veteran consumers of media and social media are already well-aware that photos of even the most conventionally good-looking celebrities will not be spared from going under the Photoshop knife. Recognising this fact is one thing, seeing those edits on your own photos is another. Little wonder then, that the Nuffield Council on Bioethics has blamed makeover apps and online plastic surgery games for resulting in a boom for the cosmetic procedure industry. That is not all, beauty bloggers are openly requesting sponsorships for beauty procedures and then reviewing them on their popular blogs, and beauty companies are grateful for the affordable and efficient marketing. It is all fine and good for fully-informed adults who know what they want and what they are getting to, and who have the financial means to fund it all. But for the vulnerable, all this "inspiration" from social media to strive for the perfect face as much as possible is detrimental towards young people with a self-image or confidence problem.

It would be impractical to expect any sort of authoritative action against such apps or marketing measures, or even the cosmetic industry. But we can probably do something for ourselves. For starters, if you have a child with access to a mobile device, you would want to check it from time to time to see the sort of app he/she has on the device. If the child has downloaded and used above-mentioned beauty apps, you'd want to have a conversation about the apps, self-worth and beauty standards. Straight-up banning is unlikely to do any good as the child could probably access such apps from friends. So creating the foundation for healthy values is more effective for preventing confidence issues in the long run.

If you find yourself the victim of constant social media pressure, then it is time for a digital detox, which I've written about here. Spend less times on those selfie-beautifying apps, uninstall them if you must. Adopt a rational perception and bear in mind that what we see is not always necessarily the case. For every successful beauty procedure that has been blogged about, there are lots more that were botched or developed complications, which people are less keen to publicise, especially if they are in the midst of a legal dispute.

When it comes to the cosmetic procedures industry, there is far less protection for consumers and regulation by the authorities. After all, cosmetic procedures are usually considered an unwarranted desire, a luxury, and deserves less attention than other more pressing issues. This is despite the fact that some cosmetic procedures are potentially fatal or leave long-lasting negative consequences, even the ones that claim to be non-intrusive. While there is nothing wrong with choosing to turn to cosmetic procedures, it is prudent to make informed choices on something that will irreversibly change you forever. And for better or worse, that remains to be seen.

Exercise is a healthy distraction that does wonders to one's self-image. When you engage in exercise, dopamine, the happy chemical, gets released. Moreover, as you get stronger and fitter, and your body gets into better shape, you will feel  better about yourself. Leading a healthy lifestyle - eating healthily, getting sufficient rest and physical activity, engaging in activities that you are passionate about, practising good hygiene and grooming, is crucial towards looking good. In any case, there's no way those big beautiful peepers or firm skin that you paid for will last if you don't make the effort to love and take care of yourself.

In earlier posts, we went over some health benefits of chocolate. Now, a recent study of people's chocolate consumption habits in Denmark is adding on to the list of benefits by suggesting that eating a small amount of chocolate per week may lower the risk of atrial fibrillation. Atrial Fibrillation is a common heart problem characterised by abnormal heart beat rhythm. It often leads to blood clots resulting in strokes, heart failure and other heart complications.

It is not known why or how chocolate brings about the benefit, but past studies found that consuming chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, which is rich in flavonols found in cocoa, is correlated to better heart health, so perhaps the same reasoning applies here again.

The study was conducted on 55,502 people in Denmark, consisting of both men and women, between the ages of 50 and 64 years old. They entered the study between 1993 to 1997. It was found that
people who ate one serving of chocolate per week, which is about 28.35 grams (1 ounce), were 17 percent less likely to have Atrial Fibrillation, compared to those who ate chocolate less than once a month. Those who ate a little more chocolate than that - 2 to 6 servings per week, were 20 percent less likely to have the condition. In women, the greatest risk reduction came with consuming 1 serving per week, while in men, it came with consuming 2 to 6 servings per week.

Getting sufficient, good-quality sleep in a fast-paced society is a challenge, more so if it is hampered by nightly disruptions by a full bladder. Many people who suffer from this mild disturbance may shrug it off as a mild disturbance and attribute it to drinking too much water before bedtime, or to ageing. However, it could be an indication of potentially serious health issues. Moreover, frequent disruption of sleep can eventually lead to problems arising from poor sleep quality.

According to a study by the Nagasaki University in Japan, a high salt intake could be the reason for these nightly trips to the loo. While larger studies will have to be conducted to further validate the results, it is no news that a diet high in sodium intake is bad for general health in any case and should be avoided. Certainly, kidneys and excess sodium do not get along with each other, and excess sodium intake is often a recipe for kidney stones and kidney disease.

If you often dine out or consume processed foods (i.e. canned food, preserved food, instants, basically food that was made to be kept and is not fresh like bacon and ham), your sodium intake may well be on the high side. The good news is that reducing sodium intake isn't difficult.

The most obvious tip would be to cut down on the processed foods. Food is usually processed not only for better taste, but also for a longer shelf life. A far-off expiry date is often a pretty good indication that a lot of preservatives have gone into its preservation, which means it would have high sodium content.

Always read the food labels; they will list the sodium content. Compare and contrast products from different brands and get the one with the lowest sodium content. In Singapore, the healthier choice label is a pretty reliable indicator and you may count on it to help you make an informed choice. Nevertheless, the label does state "healthier choice", not "healthy choice". So just because a certain brand of cup noodles has the label does not mean you can make healthy daily meals out of it! It simply means it is healthier compared to other cup noodles.

Taste isn't an accurate indicator of sodium content. A product that isn't particularly salty does not necessarily equate to low sodium levels. Food labels are your best friend!

If you're eating out, do some research on the sodium content of the eatery's dishes. The eatery's website may carry information on the ingredients and nutrition content. With more Singaporeans being health-conscious these days, more eating places are becoming upfront about the contents in their food. There are also some that will highlight healthier dishes or let you choose to have less salt and sugar in your meal.

Do consume more fresh fruit and vegetables, these always have much lower natural sodium compared to meat.

For those who adore salty food, everything may taste bland when you embark on your less-salt diet. However, taste preferences can be quickly unlearned. It takes about 2 months for your taste buds to get used to it. Eventually, you'll start finding your old salty favourites too salty for you, and that's good news for your kidneys, and quite possibly the solution to deep, uninterrupted sleep.

The end of the year is just round the corner. There is so much to do and so many appointments to tend to! If you have a poor memory or poor organisational skills, this will be a trying time as you try to remember all your appointments, meetings, names of new people you meet, to-do lists for the year end holidays and Christmas shopping lists!

Having a good memory is not just crucial for Christmas. The ability to store, retain and recall information is one of the most important aspects of success. If you can’t even remember to do something or how to do something, you may unintentionally miss many opportunities, which would be a great pity.

Poor memory isn't something that can be quickly treated by medicines, but you can improve your memory and focus by making some dietary and lifestyle alterations.
Having sufficient sleep are crucial to allow your brain cells to rest and repair. Regular exercise increases oxygen to your brain and reduces the risk for disorders that lead to memory loss, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Whether you’re studying, working or trying to juggle life’s many demands, sleep deprivation is a recipe for disaster. Make sure you get at least seven hours of sleep daily to promote learning and memory consolidation.

Six types of food that can boost your brain power:

• Salmon: A great source of healthy fats that is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. It is expensive, but for good reason. Not only is it good for your brain, it also improves your mood, fights depression and gives you glowing radiant skin!
• Olive oil: This healthy oil is rich in vitamins A, D, E and K. It has a compound called oleocanthal, which helps your synapses function smoothly, preventing nerve cell damage often associated with Alzheimer’s.
• Berries: Both blueberries and blackberries are rich in antioxidant polyphenols that help boost brain cell function and prevent memory loss. They increase brain energy production and keeps your brain youthful!
• Greens: Vegetables such as celery contain luteolin, an antioxidant that helps tame brain inflammation. Broccoli is rich in folic acid, which contributes to better memory and faster information processing.
• Whole grains: They’re full of fiber and antioxidants, especially Vitamins B to E. Whole grain cereal are also rich in folic acid.
• Chocolate: This sweet treat comes with antioxidants known as polyphenols, which increases blood flow to your brain, hence triggering growth of new blood vessels and brain cells.

Brown rice is a healthier option and often recommended for people with chronic health problems like diabetes and high cholesterol. Rice itself is very nutritious and filled with goodness like proteins, calcium, potassium, fibre and more. However, white rice is processed rice and in a bit to make it taste smoother and softer, it has been refined and stripped of many of these. Brown rice on the other hand, is unrefined rice. It is also strongly recommended for diabetic patients due to its low glycemic rating which reduces insulin spikes.

In Singapore, brown rice remains an uncommon option for restaurants and store-bought food. This is because it is a little bland compared to white rice which is sweeter, tougher and therefore takes longer to cook, and is more expensive. For places where there is the option to change white rice to brown rice, you almost always have to pay an additional $0.30. This could add up in the long run.

A more economical way to enjoy the benefits of brown rice is to incorporate it in home-cooked meals. For starters, brown rice obviously tastes better when properly cooked. It’s a little more complicated than white rice, but absolutely worth it. For 3 servings of cooked rice, use 1 cup of uncooked brown rice, 2 ½ cups of water and a little salt. Bring it to boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer gently for 40 to 50 minutes until the water is absorbed and the rice is soft. Turn off the heat and leave the rice in the pan to simmer for five minutes. Don’t forget to fluff with a fork before serving.

If this sounds too tedious to do everyday, don’t worry, because cooked rice freezes well, and can be freezed for up to 6 months! Just reheat it in the rice cooker or even the microwave and you’re good. So feel free to cook a week’s supply and leave it in the freezer on weekends.

Mooncakes are a staple of the Mid-Autumn festival and you can expected to be gifted them, or be invited to have some at almost every gathering involving Chinese friends or family. Did you know that a double-yolk moon cake contains about 1000 calories? That’s about the equivalent of two full meals and half the calories you’ll need in a day! Furthermore, it is rich in unhealthy ingredients like sugar, and salted egg yolks are high in sodium.

Although many Chinese would consider the consumption, exchange and gifting of mooncakes as a necessity, you can do your visitors and giftees a favour by making some conscientious choices.

There are three main types of mooncake – baked, snowskin and flaky crust. Baked and snowskin are the less sinful options. The flaky crust mooncake is made by rolling alternate layers of oily dough and flour that have been fried in oil.

For those with diabetes and high cholesterol, and those who are overweight, choose low or no sugar moon cakes wherever possible to minimise calorie intake. Skip the salted egg yolks. Vegetarian options tend to be healthier due to the use of vegetable oil. Do not be taken in by supposedly healthier flavours like green tea. Flavourings create the taste of green tea, but don't expect to find the healthy benefits of green tea in it.

Check the shelf life of the mooncake. Usually, the longer the shelf life, the more transfat, sugar or preservatives it would contain. Try to sample the mooncake before buying. The smoother and softer the mooncake skin or paste is, the more fat it has.

When serving the mooncake, cut it into 8 pieces. Each piece would come up to about 100 calories, which is not so bad. Drink something filling, like milk with it, and you will resist the urge for multiple helpings.
Many are under the misconception that drinking tea can help to “wash the oil and fats away” and is therefore the best drink to go with your mooncake. It does indeed get rid of the greasy feeling in your mouth so that you feel more refreshed. Unfortunately, it also makes you feel less guilty and ready to eat more!

Fruits do aid with digestion (though it doesn’t reduce your calorie intake). Pomelo is one such fruit and therefore, it is always eaten with moon cakes. It's lightly sweet and sour taste makes it the perfect companion to the heavy, greasy mooncake.

Eating at night is also a recipe for putting on weight, and drinking tea might keep you up. So while supper is usually a popular time for mooncake, try to not to have it too late. The key is to practise moderation and don't overindulge because of the festive season. Otherwise you may find yourself with more issues than gaining some pounds!

Most of us consider chocolate to be a guilty pleasure, but in recent years, chocolate has also gained some positive reputation when it comes to health matters. Just recently, a study in the Journal “Heart” suggested a correlation between chocolate consumption and lower risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. The study spanning across 12 years indicated that among participants who did not eat chocolate at all, 17.4% developed cardiovascular disease, while among participants who ate a large amount of chocolate daily (about 16g-200g), 12% developed cardiovascular disease. While further research needs to be done to examine this apparent correlation, it is at least nice to note that chocolate is likely not responsible for heart diseases.

Nevertheless, there are some scientific reasons behind the health values of chocolate.

Flavanols, a component of cocoa beans, and more common in dark chocolate, have antioxidant effects that reduce cell damage in heart disease. They also help lower blood pressure and improve vascular function (function of the veins in carrying blood and oxygen around body).

Chocolate releases endorphins, the hormones that make one feel happy. In times of stress, anxiety and unhappiness, chocolate is a good pick-me-up. If you read / watch Harry Potter, you might recall that chocolate is recommended/prescribed after an encounter with dementors, creatures that siphon away feelings of happiness. J. K. Rowling certainly knew her Science when she wrote that.

If you are prone to water retention, chocolate is rich in magnesium which will help to reduce the problem. Don’t overindulge though, as sugar is also one of the factors that cause fluid retention and of course, weight gain.

A study by the University of Illinois goes as far as to suggest that dark chocolate rich in flavanols will lower cholesterol and improve blood pressure. Further research needs to be done, however, as this research uses but a small sample.

And according to a research by Germany’s Heinrich Heine University, chocolate may even improve skin condition. They exposed chocolate eaters to ultraviolet light and discovered that after six weeks, they had 15 percent less skin reddening than those who didn’t eat it. After 12 weeks, the chocolate eaters’ skin was 16 percent denser and 42 percent less scaly. The study leader concludes that the compounds in chocolate may act as UV filters.

It looks like there is no reason to not eat chocolate but there is one important factor to consider. Most commercial chocolate have added ingredients like fat and sugar, which can all lead to weight gain and in turn, high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. They also may not retain much of the cocoa bean, which is the main source of beneficial healthy components like flavonoids. You can enjoy your chocolate, but do so in moderation and try to stick with dark chocolate or just plain cocoa, which goes great with milk or oats.

Diabetes Type 2, along with high blood pressure and high cholesterol, has always been known to be a chronic disease. Once a person contracts it, he is almost guaranteed to be enslaved to a lifetime of medication to keep the condition under control. Failing to do so could lead to even more health conditions.

But local taxi driver 64-year old Mr Song Hee Pheow is a walking testimony that Type 2 diabetes is reversible with the right lifestyle improvements. Mr Song was diagnosed with diabetes a year and half ago. He was frightened of the thought of having to take diabetes medicine everyday, so he made up his mind to change his lifestyle.

New lifestyle habits he adopted:
•    Walk five storeys up to his flat every day
•    Drink vegetable smoothies every morning
•    Reduce consumption of red meat, oily and fried foods, and soft drinks
•    Adopt walking as a regular form of exercise

These changes were a drastic improvement from the poor lifestyle habits he initially had, which included sitting for several hours as part of his job as a taxi driver, not exercising at all, and drinking soft drinks every day.

He has successfully brought his blood sugar levels under control and no longer requires medication. On top of that, he has lost weight, brought down his cholesterol levels and falls sick less often.

Researchers at Newcastle University did a study with results implying that Type 2 diabetes can be reversed through dietary changes. They created an extreme diet plan for a small trial involving 30 type-2 diabetes patients. For eight weeks, the patients drank a diet milkshake three times daily and ate some 200 grams of non-starchy vegetables, totaling about 700 calories a day.

The outcome was that for many of them, the diabetes disappeared, and nearly half the participants had no diabetic symptoms for nearly six months after they reverted to a healthy diet.

Those who experienced a reversal of diabetic symptoms had had diabetes for less than four years. They also generally led a healthier lifestyle than those who did not experience a reversal in symptoms.

While there is no proven explanation for the reversal, it is hypothesised that elimination of excess fat from the liver and pancreas helps kick-start insulin production to bring sugar levels to normal. Further research will need to be done to find more conclusive, long-term solutions on reversal of diabetes.

Despite the promising results for Mr Song and participants of the Newcastle extreme diet study, it must be emphasised that it is potentially dangerous to embark on a sudden change in diet and lifestyle as health complications could develop. It is always important to consult your doctor on the type of food and exercise you are suited for.

For long-term sufferers of diabetes, not all is lost. Keep up with good lifestyle habits and you will at least prevent your diabetic symptoms from worsening as well as thwart the onset of other related diseases. With increased awareness on diabetes and greater urgency towards curbing this disease, we may well have a solution in the near future.

References:

http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/lifestyle-changes-fitness-regimen-help-cabbie-beat-disease

http://qz.com/669254/its-possible-to-reverse-type-2-diabetes-in-some-people-and-its-not-even-that-difficult/

Take smaller helpings, eat slowly





Drink tea

Yummy but potentially deadly. Source

The fact that red meats like beef and processed meats like bacon and luncheon meat are not exactly the healthiest food products around has not been news to us. Health enthusiasts and doctors have harped about how fattening and threatening these delicacies are for our heart and weight. Nevertheless, many of us continue to indulge ourselves for their satisfying taste. For those who care about their health, it shouldn't be too difficult to get rid of the calories gained through a few trips to the gym, right?

But the recent announcement by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) - that there is a link between some types of meat and some forms of cancer - bowel cancer in particular, will likely prompt many meat lovers to revise their diets. After all, cancer is more challenging to manage than some extra pounds.

Before you panic and start swearing off meat completely due to this piece of news, which isn't a bad thing but could backfire if 1) you don't get sufficient nutrients 2) It's too torturous and you throw in the towel, let's get some facts right:

Red meat is meat that is dark red colour before cooking or processing. Common and obvious examples include beef and lamb. But perhaps unbeknownst to many, pork is also on the list. There are some causal links between red meat and increased risk of cancer, but the links are not definitive.

Processed meat is meat that is not sold fresh, but has undergone some form of processing like curing, canning, smoking and other forms of preservation methods to prolong its shelf life. This includes bacon, luncheon meat, sausages and ham. Frequent consumption is established to increase the risk of contracting cancer.

White meat, like chicken and fish, are not known to increase the risk of cancer and are safe alternatives. This should not be much of a surprise as they are often touted as healthier alternatives when it comes to calorie intake. So meat lovers, take heart!

As for tasty indulgences like processed meat, let them remain indulgences, but you don't have to avoid them like plague. Of course, you probably should for better health, but if that might make you go cold turkey, realise that just because you enjoy the occasional traditional English breakfast with sausages and bacon doesn't automatically make you a candidate for cancer.

Professor Phillips of Cancer Research UK has a layman analogy for it: "...think of banana skins. They definitely can cause accidents, but in practice this doesn’t happen very often. And the sort of harm you can come to from slipping on a banana skin isn’t generally as severe as, say, being in a car accident."

However, under a hazard identification system like IARC’s, both ‘banana skins’ and ‘cars’ would come under the same category – they both definitely do cause accidents.

Technician Mr Tan Whee Boon made headlines last month when all his limbs had to be removed after he contracted gangrene from the medical complications. He had been hospitalised after consuming raw fish.

Less than a month later, gardener Mr Chew went through the same symptoms and had to undergo amputations for his left hand and legs. However, he had not consumed raw fish, but merely had a packet of rice.

Alarming as it sounds, and tempting as it seems to put the blame on unscrupulous food handlers serving up unfresh food, we are all carriers of GBS, the bacteria that had caused the poisoning. Quoting the Ministry of Health, “GBS is a common bacterium that colonises the human gut and urinary tract. While GBS does not usually cause disease in healthy individuals, it may occasionally cause infections of the bloodstream, skin and soft tissue, joints, lungs and brain. The risk factors for GBS infection include underlying chronic or co-morbid conditions.”

Additionally, GBS or any sort of bacterium are not the direct cause of gangrene or warrants the need for amputation. Rather, complications of an infection causes the toxins to initiate a full-body inflammatory response, a situation known as Septic shock. This problem often occurs in the elderly or people with a weakened immune system due to age or chronic diseases. During septic shock, blood clots form, blocking oxygen and nutrients from reaching the vital organs. When the organs start failing, this could lead to a vast drop in blood pressure resulting in death. The blood clots can also cause gangrene, or tissue death, in the limbs, fingers and toes.

It is therefore not at all practical to swear off raw fish or get paranoid about eating out. To prevent infections and food poisoning, good hygiene is always a must.

Wash your hands before and after handling food.

Maintain cleanliness of your kitchen area and utensils

Use separate chop boards for raw and ready-to-eat foods

Do not wash raw chicken. Raw chicken contains Campylobacter, a common cause of food poisoning that is potentially fatal. Splashing water from washing chicken can spread the bacteria. This is because water droplets travel more than 50cm in every direction
Cook food thoroughly. Leave preparation of rare and medium-rare foods in the hands of the experts.

Do not consume food past their expiry date.

Handling leftovers: Cool leftovers within 90 minutes, cover and refrigerate. Leftovers should be reheated till steaming hot for consumption within the next two days. Leftovers should not be reheated more than once.

Do not leave cooked food or raw meat outside for more than two hours. In light of our hot weather, food turns bad very easily.

Above all, take care of your health, and always seek medical treatment when you're unwell, and make sure your doctor is thorough with his diagnosis. Mr Matthew Ames, who lost all his limbs when he was diagnosed with Strep A resulting in toxic shock syndrome, felt that the tragedy would have been prevented if his five doctors had not misdiagnosed him with the flu. Indeed, the initial symptoms for flu and infection are rather similar for viral and bacterial infections often have similar symptoms. Vomiting, diarrhea, rash and swelling and weakness of limbs are also possible follow-up symptoms as demonstrated in the cases of Mr Ames, Mr Tan and Mr Chew.

Misdiagnoses sometimes happens due to lack of awareness, especially in the case of rare medical conditions. In the case of Mr Tan and Mr Chew, many Singaporeans were in disbelief or misunderstood the cause of the problem simply due to lack of awareness. Share your knowledge, and don't be afraid to press your doctor, for doctors are not necessarily all-knowing.

Sources:
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/homehygiene/Pages/Washing-chicken-can-cause-campylobacter-food-poisoning.aspx
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/homehygiene/Pages/Foodhygiene.aspx
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/homehygiene/Pages/food-leftovers-safety.aspx

Have a sweet tooth and finding it hard to steer clear of sugar? Don't berate yourself for lack of willpower. It could boil down to genetic influences, according to a new study from the Monell Centre, published in Twin Research and Human Genetics.

Well, at least you now have a good excuse when mum nags you about your unhealthy diet. But that does not resolve the dilemma of cutting back on this sweet toxic. Too much sugar is bad, and here are  some reasons to remind you why that should not be an excuse to go on a sugar binge:

• Sugar is empty calories that causes one to put on weight yet provides no essential nutrients. As such, sugar is a leading contributor to obesity in children and adults as well as a myriad of diseases related to high cholesterol and obesity. Large amounts of fructose raise triglycerides, small, dense LDL and oxidized LDL, which are culprits of obesity.

• Excess sugar cannot be converted into energy, instead, it turns into liver fat which leads to chronic metabolic diseases including diabetes and heart disease, according to the Telegraph.

• Sugar can alter your mood. The phrase 'sugar-high' is not a product of fantasy or exaggeration. Eating a lot of sweet things does make you feel 'high' but when you go off it, you get anxious, moody and eventually exhausted. Gwyneth Paltrow quit sugar for this very reason. Unfortunately, because of its addictive nature, some sugar lovers find it very hard to lay off it despite the potential health problems it causes.

• Sugar can cause insulin resistance, and as insulin is a key hormone involved in the growth and multiplication of cells, studies suggest that too much sugar has a harmful impact of metabolism, contributing to cancer.

• Sugar provides easily digestible energy for bad bacteria in the mouth, which explains cavities from sweets.

100% abstinence is not practical and not necessary. A small amount of sugar to provide texture and flavour to a balanced, healthy diet is all right. Here are some more tips on consuming sugar healthily:

• Take sugar with foods rich in soluble fibre, because fibre slows down the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream. When high levels of sugar enter the bloodstream, it causes insulin levels to spike. When blood sugar levels and insulin levels go up and down at extreme rates, it causes inflammation and consequently, diseases.

• Keep it out of your drinks. You may add a packet of sugar to your tea, but steer away from soda and supposedly healthy fruit drinks that are really 95% syrup in disguise. Drinks are very convenient and quick to consume, more so than a meal. It's easy to go overboard chugging down a few glasses of refreshingly cold and sweet but unhealthy drinks!

• Use honey to flavour your food and drinks in place of sugar. Honey is filled with fructose and as with grapes, one should not assume it is healthy to consume frequently. However, honey has perks like antioxidants and antibacterial benefits, so it's much better than sugar!

Other 'natural' sugars like raw brown sugar and cane sugar are not healthier alternatives to white sugar. They have slightly more minerals than white sugar does, but the difference is not significant. Instead, the best thing to do, when baking or cooking, is really to cut down on your sugar usage. We have more than sweet receptors on our taste buds for a good reason. By cutting back on the sweet stuff, you are exposing your taste buds to a greater variety of authentic tastes, and you'll soon find that even when life is less sweet, you're not missing much.

https://www.yahoo.com/health/why-some-have-a-sweet-tooth-and-others-dont-124607382552.html
https://www.yahoo.com/health/yes-you-can-eat-sugar-5-nutritionist-hacks-to-122348329057.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/healthyeating/9987825/Sweet-poison-why-sugar-is-ruining-our-health.html

Research indicates that what you eat is a greater determining factor for weight loss than exercise.

Here are some types of food that are not only low in calories, but are fat burners! They’re also easy to incorporate into your daily diet as well.

Whole grains

The body burns more calories to break down whole foods as compared to processed foods. Examples of whole foods include oatmeal and brown rice. If rice is a staple food for your dinner, replacing white rice with brown rice is half the battle won!

Lean meat

Watching your diet doesn’t mean cutting down on meat. Yes you should cut down on fatty meat, but proteins are essential to growth and repair, and meat is a good source of protein. Additionally, protein has a high thermogenic effect. You burn calories digesting it!

Low-fat dairy products

Dairy products are rich sources of calcium, and they help to preserve and build muscle mass from the food you consume. Strong muscles also promote higher metabolism, which is essential in turning fat into energy. Just be sure to stick to low fat ones!

Green Tea

According to an article published in the “Journal for Nurse Practitioners" in 2010, green tea supports weight-loss efforts through reducing appetite and boosting metabolism. This is further supported by a report by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition which states that drinking four cups of green tea a day helped people shed more than six pounds in eight weeks. They probably accomplished a calorie deficit with a healthy diet including green tea and ample physical activity though, so don’t assume you can simply chug green tea to get the figure you want. Sugarless hot green tea is much more effective than processed green tea with sugar added.

Spice

Contrary to what some advocators of spicy food for weight loss believe, it is not quite possible that spicy food helps with weight loss by ‘melting’ fat away. But it does curb hunger pangs and reduces your desire for salty, sweet and fatty foods. Additionally, heat and energy often go together, and spicy food helps to increase energy expenditure. Go for pure spices like chilli peppers and capsicum, which you can easily include as a side dish, not chilli sauce or chilli paste. This is not an excuse to binge on laksa and curry, whose calorie content outweigh the benefits of spice.