Health Tips

Muscat - Nutritionists have cautioned people against overeating as it prevents them from reaping the health benefits the holy month has to offer. Diet during Ramadan should be as simple as possible, they say.

“Eating slowly is a good way to regulate weight gain, and over eating should be avoided. It is not advisable to have many varieties of food during iftar. Three or seven dates with laban is fine. After that, a small quantity of snacks and water or juice should be taken before going for Maghrib prayers,” said Dr Maryam al Waily, senior consultant, nutrition department, Ministry of Health. Read More

AUSTRALIA'S largest health fund is offering a financial carrot to get people eating their greens.
Medibank Private says it will cut the grocery bills of its members by up to $10 a fortnight if they buy fruit and vegetables.
The healthy-eating incentive is the reverse of the fat tax many academics and preventive health groups have proposed to battle the nation's building waistlines. Read More

Salty meals, combined with higher levels of body mass indexes (BMIs) and obesity, are triggering a scary side effect among young people: high blood pressure.
The risk for elevated blood pressure levels among children and adolescents has increased 27 percent in the past 13 years, according to a new study in the American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension.

Not many know that sweet and tangy, red coloured, tiny seasonal fruit cherry contains plethora of health benefits.
Experts say cherry not only helps reduce blood uric-acid levels, but also cures muscle pain. It also slows down the process of ageing and reduces skin problems like acne and vulgaris. Read More

Relying more on canned foods, which come pre-cleaned, chopped, cooked and easily portioned, can help you quickly assemble delicious and nutritious meals like the pros. Think of them as your personal prep kitchen.
Many professional chefs, accomplished home cooks and registered dietitians regularly incorporate canned ingredients into their recipes, so you can feel confident doing so as well. Consider these five key facts about canned foods. Read More

Nutrition and physical activity are essential elements of primary prevention at every stage of the life cycle.

Healthy eating habits and a physically active lifestyle can prevent obesity and chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and some cancers, a new research suggests. Because diseases can take many years – sometimes decades – to develop, the best prevention is early prevention. Read More

Salty snacks of the future could be as tasty as the ones we shouldn't be eating today, but without the health risks.

That's the aim of a quiet health-by-stealth revolution taking place in the food industry, which is finding ways to reduce the salt content of food while keeping the flavour and texture as similar to the original as possible. Read More

My SEVEN-YEAR-OLD son is a very fussy eater and at this stage I have tried everything to get him to eat properly. He eats no vegetables or meat; his dinners consist of plain pasta or potato croquettes.

This all started when he was three. He ate everything up till then; potatoes with mixed veg, stews, spaghetti bolognaise, chicken, etc. But he slowly went off everything, saying he didn't like the taste, and used to gag while eating. Read More

Terrified of losing their toned figures, young Indian women are shunning nutrition during pregnancy, say worried gynaecologists

"Psycho obsessive" is the phrase Juhu-based graphic designer Ria Mehta (name changed) uses to describe her attitude towards her weight while she was pregnant with her first child six years ago. Always weight-conscious, she couldn't help but watch what she ate and drank even while carrying her baby. She says, "For the first five months, my biggest concern was the weight I'd pile up. I'd deliberately eat less." The doctor's warnings went unheard, and it was only when even at six months, her bump was hardly showing that panic struck. "My doctor scolded me like I was a little girl. He sat me down and explained the growth retardation my baby would suffer. That's when it hit me that I was being unfair to my child," says the 35-year-old. Fortunately, for Mehta, her baby girl turned out healthy. "I think that one glass of milk my mother-in-law insisted I drink every morning saw me through," she says. However, cases like Mehta's are far from rare, says obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Kiran Coelho. "It's shocking how poorly nourished some women who consult me are, and it's all because they want to remain slim. When mothers warn their teenage daughters, 'eat well or you'll have problems later', they are absolutely right," she warns.  Read More

The monsoon is heartily welcomed by everyone, as the season brings relief from summer months. However, the cool wet season also brings various ailments like diarrhea, food poisoning, dysentery and cholera.
All these diseases are prevalent in the monsoon. So, it is very important to have nutritious food for a healthy lifestyle. Read More

 The movement toward healthier food banks, which a handful of other cities recently have adopted, pleases food and nutrition guru Michael Pollan, who has written books encouraging people to eat fresh, seasonal produce grown locally.

"For too long, America's food banks have been giving out the worst kind of food-- precisely the sort of highly processed food-like substances that contribute to obesity and chronic disease," he said in an email. "'Better than nothing,' is the best you can say about it. But in recent years, there has been an encouraging effort to improve the food in food banks, adding significant amounts of fresh produce, and focusing on the quality, not just quantity, of calories." Read More

Those biological benefits explain, in part, whythe Mediterranean diet, high in olive oil, has been linked with superior health. But there is an advantage even the poorest of the poor in Mediterranean countries have enjoyed since at least 4000 B.C :freshly harvested olive oil. That's because olives were growing on trees in people's backyards; it was plentiful and cheap. But its freshness had been taken for granted. Read More

Best known for publishing The China Study, Campbell rocked the nutrition world in 2005 by finding results he wasn't 'supposed to' find — specifically the deep connection between plant-based eating and cancer prevention. His research and his voice also ‘supposed to’ find —  specifically the deep connection between plant-based eating and cancer prevention. His research and his voice also contributed heavily to the powerful 2011 documentary Forks Over Knives, exploring the connection between diet and disease (especially cancer and heart disease). Read More

IF you've been watching TV lately you would have seen the new Ministry of Health advertisements about diabetes. The images of amputations and open sores while you are eating dinner are a powerful message that affects every Fijian. You might think they are gross photographs but the government is spot on when they say that diabetes can be prevented through a healthy diet. Read More

Instead of putting your child on strict diet or severe exercise routine, focus on gradually changing your family's physical activity and eating habits. By involving your family to stay healthy, everyone is taught about eating nutritious food and your Read More