Asthma Attacks & Cure
Asthma is an allergic condition resulting from the reaction of the system to one or more allergens. It is the most troublesome of the respiratory diseases. The asthma patient gets frequent attacks of breathlessness. Asthma comes from an ancient Greek word meaning “panting or short-drawn breath”. Actually, the asthma patients have more difficulty in breathing out rather than breathing in and it is caused by a spasm of the smaller air passage in the lung. The effect is to blow the lungs up because the patient cannot drive the air properly out of the lungs before he has to take another breath. All asthmatics have more difficulty at night, especially during sleep. The onset of asthma may be sudden or gradual. Sudden onsets are often preceeded by a spell of coughing. When the onset is gradual, the attack is usually brought on by respiratory infection. A severe attack causes an increase in heart beat and respiratory rate and the patient feels restless and fatigued. There may be coughing, tightness in the chest, profuse sweating and vomiting. The air being pushed through the narrow bronchi produces the wheezing sound identified with asthma.
Asthma is caused by a variety of factors. For many it is due to an allergy, which may be caused by weather conditions, food drugs, perfumes and other irritants, which vary with different individuals. Allergies to dust is the most common symptom that triggers asthma. Some persons are sensitive to the various forms of dust like cotton dust, wheat dust and certain types of pollen, animal hair, fungi and insects.
Foods which generally cause allergic reactions are wheat, eggs, milk, chocolates, beans, potato, and certain meat varieties like beef. A vegetarian diet is best for asthma. Ideally the diet should contain a limited quantity of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that are acid-forming foods, and a liberal quantity of alkaline foods consisting of fresh fruits, green vegetables and sprouted seeds and grains. Asthmatics should always eat less than their capacity. They should eat slowly and chew their food properly. In the evening, give enough time for the food to digest before going to sleep. They should drink 8-10 glasses of water everyday. During an attack a cup of warm water is recommended every two hours. The last meal should preferably be taken before sunset or at least two hours before going to bed. Asthma is a condition which is normally aggravated during winter months, however if the appropriate precautions are taken this can be kept under control!
Asthma is caused by a variety of factors. For many it is due to an allergy, which may be caused by weather conditions, food drugs, perfumes and other irritants, which vary with different individuals. Allergies to dust is the most common symptom that triggers asthma. Some persons are sensitive to the various forms of dust like cotton dust, wheat dust and certain types of pollen, animal hair, fungi and insects.
Foods which generally cause allergic reactions are wheat, eggs, milk, chocolates, beans, potato, and certain meat varieties like beef. A vegetarian diet is best for asthma. Ideally the diet should contain a limited quantity of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that are acid-forming foods, and a liberal quantity of alkaline foods consisting of fresh fruits, green vegetables and sprouted seeds and grains. Asthmatics should always eat less than their capacity. They should eat slowly and chew their food properly. In the evening, give enough time for the food to digest before going to sleep. They should drink 8-10 glasses of water everyday. During an attack a cup of warm water is recommended every two hours. The last meal should preferably be taken before sunset or at least two hours before going to bed. Asthma is a condition which is normally aggravated during winter months, however if the appropriate precautions are taken this can be kept under control!
You are what you eat
Do you eat to live or live to eat? Your reply says a great deal about how you live your life. In fact, food plays a major role in our lives as part of our nurturing, family bonding, community, romance and most important, our health that revolves around it. Our fast-paced lifestyle these days does not schedule much time for concentrating on our daily meals. However, we tend to skip our regular diet that leads to negative effects on our health. To stay healthy, it’s important that you choose the best foods for your body. Watching your health is not just about the kinds of foods you eat, but also about the amount you eat. Delhi’s celebrities have their own reasons for disrupting their meal timings. Skipping meals due to work or diet control are the primary reasons. As model Ramneek Pantal says, “I agree that having meals at proper timings is essential but my profession does not allow me to adhere to them. Working late nights makes it difficult for me to wake up the next day for breakfast.” She further adds, “I believe, as long as I eat healthy and right food in proportions, my body will continue to remain fit.”
Medical experts warn about the negative results that odd meal timings can lead to. According to Anand Jaiswal at the LRS Institute of TB and respiratory diseases, “People generally think that only certain members of our society are affected by tuberculosis and other related diseases. They fail to understand the importance of a well-balanced diet. Bacteria and virus attack the body when it is most vulnerable due to low-nutrition diet. Besides, there are ways to avoid such risks that may harm our body. Not only should one have a balanced diet but it is of prime importance that the meals should be taken at regular intervals so that one doesn’t suffer from hunger pains. Therefore, all working individuals should stick to regularly meals and avoid fasting for long hours,” adds Jaiswal. Further, he agrees that certain professionals need to take special care about their eating habits. “Those working in stressful jobs like call centres, have odd working hours and hence tend to neglect their food habits. Such lifestyles affect them both physically and mentally. It is commonly seen that people working under stress fast till late nights and have meals at one go. Therefore, taking dinner late in the evening is also not advisable for a healthy lifestyle,” admits Jaiswal. To this, designer Anjana Bhargava suggests that, “It is very important to stick to proper meal timings. Especially as one grows older, one must maintain a correct metabolic rate in the body by spacing out meals adequately. Due to my hectic lifestyle I rarely get time to have my breakfast in the morning. But, I do take time out sometimes for munching a bite every two hours frequently. People must get rid of the wrong notion that by keeping an empty stomach they can control their weight. It is only proper exercising that can help you lose weight.”
Whatever your take maybe on meal timings, remember to pay attention to what your body says to you. Your body is your best friend and has been built to show signs of stress in any form. Listen intently to it and decide to make your lifestyle as natural and as less stressful as possible.
Medical experts warn about the negative results that odd meal timings can lead to. According to Anand Jaiswal at the LRS Institute of TB and respiratory diseases, “People generally think that only certain members of our society are affected by tuberculosis and other related diseases. They fail to understand the importance of a well-balanced diet. Bacteria and virus attack the body when it is most vulnerable due to low-nutrition diet. Besides, there are ways to avoid such risks that may harm our body. Not only should one have a balanced diet but it is of prime importance that the meals should be taken at regular intervals so that one doesn’t suffer from hunger pains. Therefore, all working individuals should stick to regularly meals and avoid fasting for long hours,” adds Jaiswal. Further, he agrees that certain professionals need to take special care about their eating habits. “Those working in stressful jobs like call centres, have odd working hours and hence tend to neglect their food habits. Such lifestyles affect them both physically and mentally. It is commonly seen that people working under stress fast till late nights and have meals at one go. Therefore, taking dinner late in the evening is also not advisable for a healthy lifestyle,” admits Jaiswal. To this, designer Anjana Bhargava suggests that, “It is very important to stick to proper meal timings. Especially as one grows older, one must maintain a correct metabolic rate in the body by spacing out meals adequately. Due to my hectic lifestyle I rarely get time to have my breakfast in the morning. But, I do take time out sometimes for munching a bite every two hours frequently. People must get rid of the wrong notion that by keeping an empty stomach they can control their weight. It is only proper exercising that can help you lose weight.”
Whatever your take maybe on meal timings, remember to pay attention to what your body says to you. Your body is your best friend and has been built to show signs of stress in any form. Listen intently to it and decide to make your lifestyle as natural and as less stressful as possible.
Grapefruits may help fight gum disease
Those who eat two grapefruits a day for a fortnight may have less bleeding from gums as these promote wound healing, says a study.
Researchers at the Friedrich Schiller University in Germany, who studied about 58 people with chronic gum disease, found that eating grapefruits had a positive effect on both smokers and non-smokers, reported the online edition of BBC News. Grapefruits increase vitamin C in blood levels and promote wound healing and cut damage by unstable free radical molecules. On average, smokers' vitamin C level was 29 percent lower than that for non-smokers. Eating two grapefruits a day raised vitamin C plasma levels for all those who consumed it, it said. In smokers, the level almost doubled, but because they started from a lower baseline their average vitamin C level was still lower than that recorded in the non-smokers. It is unclear why smoking is associated with lower vitamin C levels. It is possible that it alters the way the body metabolises the vitamin, but it is also possible that smokers tend to have a less healthy diet, it said.
bravenet.com