All posts by Sumana Rao

Don't worry about the people in your past; There's a reason they didn't make it to your future.
You are what you eat

You are what you eat: Chakra way

There are so many different ways to eat, contained in the plethora of bestselling diet books that are overflowing on shelves. You’re probably familiar with eating for your blood type, genes or body type. But, how does one make sense of it all? Or, to put it simply, how do you really know how to eat?

Our subtle energy is constantly sculpting in every moment which calls into question the validity of following a plain, prescriptive diet for a lifetime. If we are a dynamic being, shouldn’t our eating be as fluid and flexible? Subtle energy moves faster than matter and sets the template of the physical body. What if we were to consciously redefine our physical body by assessing our subtle energy needs? One of the ways we might venture to do this is through one of our internal subtle energy gauges – our chakras, or the portals in our being that align to the seven major endocrine glands. “Chakra” is an ancient Sanskrit term that means “wheel”. Essentially, these gateways are moving spirals of energy exchange. But they are more than that literal meaning – they can also be interpreted symbolically, aligning to the seven aspects of the self:

The root chakra, which is associated with the adrenal glands, corresponds to instinct and survival;

The sacral chakra (ovaries and testes) to emotions and creativity;

The solar plexus chakra (pancreas) to empowerment and transformation;

The heart chakra (heart and thymus) to love and gratitude;

The throat chakra (thyroid) to truth and authenticity;

The third eye chakra (pituitary) to wisdom and intuition;

The crown chakra (pineal gland) to interconnection and spirituality

Based on the chakra conditions you can decide what you want to eat and balance your mind and body: 

RED for ENERGY, Instincts and survival (Root Chakra) – If you are feeling run down, fatigued, burnt out, lazy or lethargic, red foods such as tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries and beets will help to boost your energy levels and body temperature.

  • Protein, Minerals, Root Vegetables, Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms, red-colored foods.

ORANGE for CONFIDENCE & SELF-WORTH (Creativity Chakra) – If you are low on confidence, doubting yourself or feeling unworthy of love, get yourself some oranges Things. Like mandarins, mangoes, carrots, squash, pumpkin and yams will all make a big impact on your feelings.

  • Foods for flow and feelings: Fats and oils (especially omega-3s), fish, tropical fruits, seeds, nuts, orange-colored foods.

YELLOW for JOY, empowerment and transformation (Solar Plexus Chakra) – If you are feeling depressed, sad or emotional, eat  bananas, sweet corn on the cob, some fresh pineapple or some yellow peppers and watch how your mood changes. Yellow is a natural mood enhancer and relieves you from that mood swing!

  • Foods for power and transformation: Complex carbohydrates, fiber, whole grains, legumes, yellow-colored foods.

GREEN for REJUVENATION, love and gratitude (Heart Chakra) – Feeling low on vital energy? stressed? Overworked? fatigue, acidity or toxicity? Consume cucumbers, lettuce, cabbage, baby spinach -make  salad and feel what happens to your feelings of stress. Likely they will melt away due to the enzymes, oxygen and chlorophyll.

  • Foods for love and compassion: Vegetables, sprouts, raw foods, foods rich in chlorophyll, any green-colored foods.

BLUE/BLACK for CALMING, truth and authenticity (Throat Chakra) – If you have anxiety in your body then enjoy a bowl of blueberries or blackberries. Blue and black foods help to tonify the kidneys and help to elicit honest communication.

  • Foods for communication and truth: Sea plants, soups, sauces, juices, fruits.

VIOLET for PEACE (Third-Eye Chakra) – These foods will help to calm your energy and bring you peace if you are feeling frustrated, angry or unable to forgive. Foods like eggplant, purple kale, grapes etc., will help to bring you peace and calm. Egg plant dishes would help you out.

  • Foods for intuition and insight: Herbal tea, blackberries, blueberries, purple color vegetables.

WHITE for STRENGTH (Crown Chakra) -What you can eat ? There are many foods here in the list: garlic, ginger, onion, lychee, rice, coconut, guava, radish and other tropical fruits help to give you strength and power. If you are feeling  down enjoy dosa and idli  and some white foods and gain back your strength.

  • Foods for unification and interconnection: Sun- and moon-light, clean air, unconditional love and of course what is mentioned above!

References: curejoy.com, giamtv.com, http://www.thirdeyeonline.com/

Image credit: https://www.needpix.com/photo/1634824/chakras-rainbow-chakra-new-age-symbol-yoga-crown-circle-center (Free for commercial use)

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: March 27, 2018
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Ten must health screenings for women

Ten must health screenings for women

Healthy habits are important for healthy life. All of us should dedicate sometime for healthy habits.

Stress management, daily exercise routine, healthy eating, sleeping on time, getting up early etc.

Apart from these habits we as women seriously should consider including routine health checkups every year to detect and avoid potential health problems at early stages itself. This should be one of the must added habit to our list.

Testing and screening of health for various conditions can save our life.

This prevents complications and reduces stress on oneself and of family. What are the different tests women should consider for screening?

Here are 10 Health Screenings strongly suggested for women (of all age group).

  1. Blood pressure screening: High blood pressure increases the chance of having heart disease and stroke. Have your blood pressure checked once a year. If the top number is greater than 140 and bottom is more than 90 schedule an appointment and take corrective action. If you are suffering from diabetes, heart disease, kidney problems you may need to have your blood pressure checked more often.
  2. Blood glucose: From age of 45, women should undergo blood glucose test to check for diabetes. If you are overweight, ask your doctor whether you should have been screened at younger age. If your blood pressure is above normal then risk of getting diabetes is more. Watch for diabetes symptoms and get the screening done. Check your body mass index (BMI) to understand your risk of getting blood glucose.
  3. Cholesterol screening: After 30 it is better to get tested for cholesterol level. Cholesterol is a waxy, yellowish fat found in cells and travels through blood stream in tiny protein covered particles called lipoproteins. The good cholestrol is HDL and bad cholesterol is LDL that clogs the arteries. To make sure your heart health is good, during annual physical ask for vertical auto profile (VAP) test. It is a detailed lipid blood test that helps to identify plaque buildup in the arteries. Once cholesterol test started, it should be checked every 3 years. If you have diabetes and other conditions then go through this screening often.
  4. Pap smears: Pelvic examination and pap smear every 3 years is highly recommended. This helps to detect Human papilloma virus that causes genital warts and cervical cancer. In case your uterus and cervix removed by hysterectomy then talk to your gynecologist about the tests that need to be done.
  5. Bone density: All women over age 50 with any type of fractures should have DEXA scan or bone density test. You also should be screened for risk factors that is involving osteoporosis.
  6. Colon cancer: if you have a strong family history of colon cancer or polyps, and if you are reaching 50 you should be screened for colon cancer or polyps . If you are between ages 50 to 75 you should be screened for colorectal cancer. A fecal occult blood test, Flexible sigmoidoscopy (every 10 years), colonoscopy (every 10 years) are suggested for women.
  7. Skin examination: Signs of skin cancer can be done after looking at change in skin pattern. People at high risk include who have had skin cancer in the past or if it is in the family history or a weekend immune system. If you find any change or development on skin talk to your doctor and get it tested.
  8. Dental exam: Visiting dentist twice every year is highly recommended. Our health depends on the health of oral cavity. Dentist will exam, clean and evaluate oral health. If needed more visits should be scheduled with dentist.
  9. Eye exam: Every 2 to 4 years from age 40 to 50 and from 55 to 65, 1 to 3 years eye examination must be done. It is recommended to avoid glaucoma risk. Having eye examination once a year is strongly recommended for diabetic patients.
  10. Breast exam: Women should do self breast examination. However, once a year visit your gynecologist and get mammogram done for a better and reliable test. It is a preventive exam and helps to find out whether you are at risk of developing cancer or any other changes that is happening in your health. Women ages 40 to 49 may have a mammogram every 1 to 2 years. Women with a mother or sister who had breast cancer at a younger age should consider yearly test and they should begin test earlier than their age.

Even if you feel good and confident about your health, get the screening done by seeing your doctor. Many conditions might not show any outwardly symptoms or you might not feel it. This is where health screening helps. Screening will help to detect conditions at early stages and precautions can be taken to improve the situation and health.

Reference: www.werindia.com

Image courtesy: Photo by Sanaea Sanjana on Unsplash

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: March 9, 2018
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Smartphone App to detect food poisoning

Smartphone App to detect food poisoning

Are you afraid of eating out or traveling because of food poisoning? A new App developed at University of Massachusetts, Amherst by food scientists soon will solve this issue as they have come up with a technique that can help us avoid food poisoning!

Smartphone App to detect food poisoning !

What is this technique? Smartphone is the solution. How it is done? By finding presence of bacteria using chips covered with microbes and using smartphone camera! Now, smartphones are becoming more smart and helpful too!

At present, to identify microbes like bacteria that can make us sick, especially the ones’ like E. coli or Salmonella food scientists are using DNA testing. Generally, in the food labs, to find out which bacteria is causing problem scientists to collect the samples from the food like spinach, chicken skin or by rinsing egg etc. They collect small, tiny number of bacteria. These bacterial will be culture 24 hours on Petri dishes to get more colonies. All these tests take time and specialized environment and equipment. Later using DNA testing microbes will be identified. This method is time consuming because it needs more number of bacteria.

In nature a tiny amount of microbe is enough to cause food poisoning and illness. It means the detection need to detect low numbers of bacteria or in micro quantities. Microbiologist Lynne McLandsborough from Massachusetts working with Science professor Lili developed a much simpler technique that is more accessible to detect harmful bacteria in food that we eat.

It is a smartphone app that uses a $30/- microscope attachment!! This device works with a chemically coated chip that binds to bacteria in tiny amounts. For example, the chip will be dipped into contaminated water for half an hour to reveal the bacteria. Chip will be clipped right onto the camera of iPhone or smartphone.

During demonstration of their invention, Adam Salhaney, an undergraduate student pointed the microscope at a gold chip they have coated with Salmonella. Image enlarged showed the number of black dots set against the gold background of the chip and black dots were bacteria. Their hope is that consumers will buy this testing kit for kitchens and use it when they want including to test drinking water during natural disaster. Hope is that the average consumer should be able to figure out without much difficulty whether food is contaminated.

At present the experiment tests are preliminary. However, several food processing companies have contacted the research group after their work published beginning of this year. It will take few more years to get into the market. Reason is, as of now bacterial image can be obtained but to understand whether it is pathogenic or nonpathogenic, harmful or harmless and, to find out exact type of bacteria, scientists need to develop further technique.

There are millions of consumers who use smartphone for various purposes. Eventually using smartphone in the kitchen to help prevent family from eating contaminated food is a possibility. It keeps everyone healthy and smart!

Reference sources:

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on:
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Parents health knowledge

Test your knowledge about kid’s health

Test your knowledge about kid’s health

  1. Parents should start cleaning their child’s teeth as soon as the first tooth appears.

True

False

2. Children younger than 6 years should use enough toothpaste with fluoride to cover the toothbrush.

True

False

3. A parent or other family member’s attitude about tobacco influences a teen’s likelihood to try tobacco products.

True

False

4. Less than 25% of all rapes of females occur before age 18.

True

False

5. Birth defects are the leading cause of death in children and adolescents.

True

False

6. Vaccines protect children against nine potentially serious diseases.

True

False

7. Kids should wash their hands vigorously together for 20 seconds to remove germs.

True

False

8. For babies under 6 months of age, sunscreen is the best defense against sunburn.

True

False

9. Children should get at least 20 to 30 minutes of physical activity on all or most days of the week.

True

False

 10. By the age of 20, the average woman has acquired most of her skeletal mass.

True

False

Question 1 – Parents should start cleaning their child’s teeth as soon as the first tooth appears.

True: Start cleaning as soon as the first tooth appears. Wipe teeth every day with a clean, damp cloth. Switch to a small, soft toothbrush as more teeth come in.

Question 2 – Children younger than 6 years should use enough toothpaste with fluoride to cover the toothbrush.

False : Young children should use only a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste. Fluoride is important for fighting cavities, but if children younger than 6 years swallow too much fluoride, their permanent teeth may have white spots.

Question 3 – A parent or other family member’s attitude about tobacco influences a teen’s likelihood to try tobacco products.

True : Research suggests that parental attitude is very important. If a parent is indifferent or permissive toward the issue of tobacco use, a teenager’s likelihood of smoking increases. The value a parent places on a tobacco-free lifestyle—regardless of whether a parent uses tobacco—carries significant weight.

Question 4 – Less than 25% of all rapes of females occur before age 18.

False : More than half (54%) of all rapes of females occur before age 18; of those, 22% occur before age 12.

Question 5 – Birth defects are the leading cause of death in children and adolescents.

False : In the United States, injuries are the leading cause of death and disability for people aged 1 to 44 years. Most deaths among children and adolescents aged 5-19 years are from the following injury-related causes: motor vehicle crashes, all other unintentional injuries, homicide, and suicide. Highly associated with these injuries are certain adolescent behaviors, such as physical fights, carrying weapons, and not using seatbelts.

Question 6 – Vaccines protect children against nine potentially serious diseases.

False : Vaccines protect against 12 potentially serious diseases: measles, mumps, rubella (German measles), diphtheria, tetanus (lockjaw), pertussis (whooping cough), polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib disease), hepatitis B, varicella (chickenpox), hepatitis A, and pneumococcal disease. At least one shot is needed for each of these diseases, and for some of them several doses are required for the best protection.

Question 7 – Kids should wash their hands vigorously together for 20 seconds to remove germs.

True : By the way, it’s not just for kids. Everyone should wash their hands for 20 seconds (or about the length of a little tune) to remove germs. It is the soap combined with the scrubbing action that helps dislodge and remove germs.

Question 8 – For babies under 6 months of age, sunscreen is the best defense against sunburn.

False.

Your baby’s best defense against sunburn is avoiding the sun or staying in the shade. However, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics sunscreen use on babies less than 6 months old is not harmful on small areas of a baby’s skin, such as the face and back of the hands.

Question 9 – Children should get at least 20 to 30 minutes of physical activity on all or most days of the week.

False : It is recommended that children and adolescents participate in at least 60 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity most, preferably all, days of the week.

Question 10 – By the age of 20, the average woman has acquired most of her skeletal mass.

True : By the age of 20, the average woman has acquired most of her skeletal mass. It is important for young girls to reach their peak bone mass in order to maintain bone health throughout life. A person with high bone mass as a young adult will be more likely to have a higher bone mass later in life. Not getting enough calcium or exercise early on could result in a failure to achieve peak bone mass in adulthood.

See more here : https://www.cdc.gov/

 

Image credit: Photo by CDC from Pexels

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: February 21, 2018
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What makes a home

What makes a home

When you are visiting someone’s house you might see display on the wall “this is our home” or “Home is where the family eats together” “ I love my home” etc. What is a house and a home?

House refers to concrete building and location where someone lives.

Home is a place where you feel that you belong in that place and it is a special place where you feel comfortable, love and affection of the family. House is for physical protection.

You either feel at home or not feel at home in a house. So what makes a house a home? To make a house a home one should develop and introduce the beautiful thoughts and act.

House becomes a home when:

  • You fill a house with charity
  • Decorate house with love, affection and beautiful stuffs
  • When you eat dinner together and spend time together
  • When you treat each other respectfully and give and receive love
  • When you forgive and forget other’s blunder and mistakes
  • Your attitude filled with selflessness, service and kindness
  • Children laugh, cry and snuggle with you
  • One respect and take care of elders and make their life interesting
  • Play game with family and friends
  • Watch movie, have dance party, perform rituals and bring joy
  • You cook food and experiment cooking, feed family
  • You share your daily activities, sorrow, happiness and stories
  • You laugh, cry, show concern and develop empathy for humans
  • Store and protect things that are close to your heart
  • Share space with loved ones and pets
  • You create memories
  • A place that feels comfortable, livable for you and your family
  • As you enter the place every evening, you should feel welcomed

A home is where relationship and integrity forms. A Home should make a person strong, empathetic, affectionate, It should develop good values in children and gives something valuable in a person’s life. And, as they say, “If you fill a house with love, it becomes a home”!

Listen to grandma: Healthylife.werindia.com

Image: www.Werindia.com

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: February 20, 2018
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Ovarian cancer originates from Fallopian tubes!

Ovarian cancer originates from Fallopian tubes!

Evidence from new research work suggests that most common type of ovarian cancer may originate in the Fallopian tubes and not from the ovaries. Research also suggests that there is a window of several years between the development of lesions in Fallopian tubes and start of the ovarian cancer!

Ovarian cancer is the first leading cause of death in women killing many each year. One of the reason is there is no real way to screen ovarian cancer. It is usually not diagnosed until it has spread and reached later stages.  Nearly, 15 to 20% ovarian cancers are inherited and women who test positive for genetic mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes have more risk of developing ovarian cancer.

Two studies published in Journal of Nature Communications focused on high grade serous ovarian cancer which is a serious and common type ovarian cancer. Prof. Douglas Levine Director of gynecologic Oncology at the Perimutter Cancer Center at New York University and his coworkers examined the precursor lesion that are an abundance of abnormal cells and genetic profiles of 96 women with ovarian cancer. These were compared with tissues of Fallopian tube, ovaries and the lining inside the abdomen of healthy women. Using the molecular bar technology scientists tried to understand which tissue the cancerous cells were more genetically similar to.

Their finding is that, in almost every case the cancerous cells were similar to the fallopian tube tissue!

Dr. Levine said, “ovarian cancer really comes from the fallopian tube and technically it is fallopian tube cancer even though we are not going to change the name”

For women who carry such genes there is no way to screen for ovarian cancer and doctors usually recommend preventive surgery between ages 35 and 40 (if women do not want to conceive any more). The surgery entails removing both fallopian tubes and ovaries. This causes premature menopause. Experts say getting into menopause 10 to 12 years early can hurt women’s quality of life. As Dr. Karen Lu, senior VP of Anderson Cancer Center at Huston says, “surgical menopause in no walk in the park”. It means women must face drastic decline in estrogen level and it affects their mood, night sweat, hot flash and sex life.

Trials in both USA and the Netherlands are currently going on to see if removing fallopian tubes and delaying removal of ovaries should be considered in women who have BRCA mutations and are at high risk of developing ovarian cancer.

Dr. Levine is part of this experimental treatment where instead of removing both ovaries and fallopian tubes at same time, removing only the fallopian tubes followed by removing ovaries in later years. This will help women to go through menopause in later years.

In the second study in nature communications from John Hopkins University school of Medicine co researchers examined the small lesions in Fallopian tube, Fallopian tube tumors, ovarian cancers and metastases from women with high grade serous ovarian cancer. Sequenced genomes revealed that about seven years elapses between development of the early Fallopian tube lesions and ovarian cancer and within a year cancer quickly spread. Dr. Velculescu Oncology professor from John Hopkins said, “if we catch these lesion early, we can intervene before the cancer metastasizes”

Researchers are trying to confirm their findings on larger scale by studying other subtypes of ovarian cancer.

These findings have significant impact on early detection, prevention and therapeutic intervention of ovarian cancer.

For more please visit:

Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diagram_showing_stage_3A_to_3C_ovarian_cancer_CRUK_225.svg

Attribution: Cancer Research UK / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on: February 16, 2018
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Tabouli And Veg Salad

Tabouli and Raw Vegetables

Tabouli

Mediterranean dish and world famous tabouli is delicious and has unique flavor because of all its ingredient. The bulgur wheat is rich in fiber and protein supplies less fat and tastes great. Parsley, onion, cucumber, tomato – all goodness is merged together with bulgur wheat and lemon juice makes it easy to digest and fill the stomach. Have tabouli with roti instead of fat filled side dishes and reduce weight.

Raw Vegetables

Hungry and carving for snack? Don’t touch fried items. Instead have good tasty raw vegetables in salad form. Raw vegetables contain both dietary fiber and water – both makes it easy to fill stomach fast. Coat vegetables – carrots, colorful bell peppers, celery, cucumber, tomato with your choice of dip and salsa. Fibers in raw vegetables helps to reduce hunger and lose weight.

Image credit:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flickr_-_cyclonebill_-_Tabbouleh.jpg, cyclonebill, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Image by silviarita from Pixabay

Author: Sumana Rao | Posted on:
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