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Self Defense Part -2: How to get rid of holds

self-defence

In my previous blog, I explained how to defend yourself from any external attack you may encounter and which are the most effective parts of the body you can hit to protect yourself.

Today, in this blog I will explain how to get rid if you are caught by someone or if someone holds you.

First and foremost draw attention to your situation by yelling and screaming.

If someone holds you from behind, then just drop all your weight. It will force them to drop you and be that much harder to carry your full weight.

Usually when someone catches you from behind they are going to have at least one of their hands in front of you. With one hand grab their index and the attacker’s middle finger and with your other hand grab the ring. Pull very hard in opposite directions. This is very painful to your attacker and should give you a chance to get away.

If someone holds your wrist and you are not able to escape, first thing you do is to rotate your hand from left to right, by doing this, the opposite person will lose his grip and you can escape.

If someone caught you from behind with both hands locked around your chest, but your hands are in the air, hit on the attacker’s neck with the edge of your elbow.

OR

Press his forearm against your collarbone instead of trying to pull it directly off, which may be difficult if you are fighting with someone who is stronger than you. Put one hand above his elbow and one hand below it so your hands are on both sides of the elbow and one strong movement step and swing your entire body around like the arm is the hinge to your body’s screen door. This will help you get rid of the attacker and his head, ribs, and legs wide open to your counter attack.

OR

If you are caught from behind put your hands on their head and drag your fingernails down until you find their ears. Catch the attacker’s ears and pull it down in a fast motion. If you do it slowly it will give an opportunity to the attacker to understand what is happening. But, if you do it fast enough with enough strength, you should be able to damage their ear.

Incase your hands are locked, jump slightly and do deep squats you will be able to escape or use your back head to hit on his nose.

If the attacker is trying to choke you by wrapping his arms around your neck, bring your foot forward and kick so hardly between the attacker’s ankle and mid-leg.

If you are hit, make sure that you are hitting back enough to defend yourself and to deliver a blow without being overly aggressive.

Try to disarm your attacker so that you have the opportunity to escape.

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How important is to know ‘Self Defence’?

Self-Defense

Gone are the days when one felt safe in this country. Recently a childhood friend of mine was attacked by some robbers in the road. He was threatened at knife point and robbed.My friend was disappointed with himself because he just was unable to do fight for himself. Many like my friend have been in this unfortunate situation where they have been attacked or threatened by someone they don’t know. Or t time by someone they know. Some have suffered injury, have had broken bones and wounds and in some cases even died.

With increasing violence on men and women it has become very important to be more aware of our surroundings and the people around us. Today, the need to protect one is something everyone should take note of seriously. We all invest in health and nutrition and fitness programs, but it’s time to start thinking about defending our bodies as well.

Here is where I would recommend that each one of you should know self defense. We need to ask our self, are we in a position to defend ourselves and our loved ones if someone were to physically attack us? Self Defense is not confined to men alone. It has become imperative that both men and women should be able to defend themselves when in a tough situation.

According to me, the old adage ‘prevention is better than cure’ is the best self defence. We don’t know if someone is trying to attack us what is his or her motive behind the attack. Just follow general safety tips like being aware of your surroundings, walk in a known and in a well lit area, keep your keys in hand when you are about to reach your home or car.

There are many self defense classes today that one can join. But, in the eventuality that you are not able to take these classes, here are few tips I am sharing with you that will help you to defend yourself.

The first thing to bear in mind when someone attacks you is do not panic. When you don’t panic look into the eye of the attacker he will lose half his confidence.

Here are few dos you must know and can do.

The most effective body parts to hit are :-

Eyes- Poking the attacker’s eyes with your fingers, a pen or knuckles would be effective. Always have a pen as it works as a good defense to poke people. It will cause the attacker lot of pain and you can easily escape as his vision will blur and will not clear for couple of minutes.

Nose- If the attacker is close to you, use the edge of your palm to hit on his nose, push your body weight along with it while hitting with your palm as it will give more power to hit. Once you hit him he sure lose his balance and you will get an opportunity to escape.

Neck- The side of the neck is a good target to attack as this is where both the carotid artery and jugular vein are located. Hitting the side of the neck or pushing the side of the neck of the attacker hard with your palm can stun the attacker.

Knee- Knee is an ideal self-defense target. We can kick without our foot being grabbed. Kicking the side of the knee will cause injury to the attacker.

Sheen Bone: Kicking the attackers sheen with the tip of your shoes is equally painful and can put the attacker off balance

The above mentioned parts are the most sensitive to hit in any attacker. Having said that, we should also use our body parts such as the elbows, knees, hands, legs and head to hit the attacker.

Be extremely careful and cautious when you are away from home or town. If possible don’t have a fixed schedule of travelling and above all the most important thing is ‘NEVER PANIC’.

Await my next blog where I tell you how to get rid from the attacker’s holds.

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Body goes Nuts over Nuts

Nuts

Here is your guide to Nut allergy: Dos and don’t’s

Nuts! Oh…they sure can cause trouble if you are allergic to them and growing number of adults and kids alike are allergic to them. I became more attentive to this problem when my 3 year old daughter experienced allergic reactions. The doctor identified the red rashes all over her body, as an allergic reaction to some food.

The doctor asked me to cut down on 8 foods namely eggs, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shell fish, wheat and soy which accounts for about 90% of all the reactions.

So what type of food allergies are we talking about? It could be peanuts for one or tree nuts. (almonds, walnuts, pecans, cashew, Pistachios, hazelnuts).

Nut allergy is one of the most common types of food allergy in both children and adults. This allergy tends to last an entire lifetime, although about nine percent of children with a tree nut allergy and 20 percent of children with a peanut allergy eventually outgrow their allergy. On stopping the consumption of peanuts, the rashes never turned up, thus confirmed the nut allergy in case of my daughter.

The first thing that comes to one’s mind about having an allergy is, you picture non-stop  sneezing , running nose etc. But, unlike an allergic dust or spring flower that many have, a nut allergy can cause difficulty in breathing and other serious issues including skin rashes etc.   and could prove fatal at times.

Before we proceed towards, the symptoms, precautionary measures to take and substitutes, let’s quickly check out what exactly is a food allergy.

What is food allergy?

It is very important to know what is food allergy? People are seldom aware that one could be allergic to some food and that dust and flower allergies are not the only allergies that people may have.

The job of our body’s immune system is to identify and destroy the germs (such as bacteria or viruses) that make you sick. A food allergy occurs when this immune system wrongly identifies a harmless food as an allergen i.e a threat and attacks it.

When you come into contact with something that you are allergic to (an allergen), a group of cells in your body, called mast cells, release a substance called histamine. Histamine causes the tiny blood vessels in the tissues of your body to leak fluid which causes the tissues to swell. This results in a number of different symptoms.

The Symptoms may vary for person to person. Here is a list for you to go through. Basically the symptoms are divided into two categories-:

  1. Mild symptoms which can be cured by medication

Rashes, swelling of the extremities, redness and tenderness, hivesm nausea, stomach cramps, vomitting, diarrheo and breathing difficulty.

Quick action: Antihistamines such as diphenhydramine (Benadryl) or loratidine (Claritin) can help relieve rashes and hives. Cold, wet compresses can also help soothe irritated skin.

  1. Anaphylaxis: Life threatening

Constriction and tightening of airways, a swollen throat or the sensation of a lump in your throat that makes it difficult to breathe, Shock with a severe drop in blood pressure, Rapid pulse, Dizziness, lightheadedness or loss of consciousness

Quick Action: Emergency treatment is critical for anaphylaxis. Untreated, anaphylaxis can cause a coma or even death.

KEEP YOURSELF ALERT !!

A person with an allergy to one type of tree nut has a higher chance of being allergic to other types. Therefore, many experts advise patients with allergy to tree nuts to avoid all nuts. Here are few precautionary actions to need to take care of:

  1. Avoid peanuts and tree nuts. This means we also need to avoid foods containing them like cookies, candies, ice creams, yogurts, sauces, Thai, Chinese and Indian dishes that often contain peanut and tree nut. One can have these without the nuts in them.
  2. Read labels while you purchase foods from market. Keep at bay all the food products which say “may contain nuts” or “produced on shared equipment with nuts or peanuts”
  3. Be very cautious in the kitchen while using the equipments. Knife, spoon or any vessel in which peanut or nut food preparation was used should be properly washed before using it again.
  4. Inform about your allergy to everyone with whom you enjoy your food like your family, friends and colleagues so that they are careful while serving you food. When you visit a restaurant, be very careful to check the ingredient list or ask the manager about the foods served. Don’t feel shy and if they are not willing to share, better opt for some other restaurant. (Abroad restaurant menus do specify dishes that have nuts and warn anyone with nut allergy. But, in India we do have to ask and let the person know about your allergies)
  5. Keep rescue medicines on you at all times — not in your locker, but in a pocket, purse, or bag that’s with you.
  6. If your child is suffering from nuts allergy, inform this in their school.

Take care of your loved ones, by being extra careful of what they are eating. Make them happy by suggesting these alternatives such as sunflower seed butter or soy nut butter, hummus and nut free granola bars over peanuts and tree nuts.

Disclaimer: This blog is based on examples we have come across of people with Nut Allergy. To know if you’re allergic Please consult a doctor and do not go by your own judgement. An allergy test will confirm the allergies you have if any.

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Play smart with your insulin to maintain your weight!

diabetes to maintain weight loss

 

Most often we have heard about insulin only in the context of diabetes. That’s because diabetes is a condition characterized by insulin deficiency. Insulin is a hormone secreted by the beta cells of Pancreas in response to glucose released in the blood after the carbohydrate breakdown in the body. Insulin’s role is to pick up the glucose from blood and take it to the cells to feed them. Since there’s lack of insulin in a diabetic situation, the blood glucose isn’t drawn from blood to cells and therefore its levels remain high.

Insulin is barely talked about in the weight loss/weight gain segment despite it playing a huge role in it.

To understand the link between insulin and weight, we first need to understand the relationship between carbs, blood sugar and insulin. It is this connection that has massive bearing on weight loss.

There are 2 kinds of carbs- Simple and Complex. Simple carbs are the ones which are quickly broken down to glucose and result in rapid spike in blood sugar, whereas complex carbs are the slow glucose releasing carbs (do not cause blood sugar spike unlike the simple ones)

Let’s check out the mechanism of insulin and weight gain:

  • Simple carbs cause a prompt response of insulin which takes care of the sugar spike and restores the blood sugar levels. It carries the glucose to the cells where it is used for energy (fuel), and the extra is stored as glycogen in the liver (storage form of glucose). The excess glucose, over and above, gets converted into FAT!
  • When we eat a lot of simple carbs at a time, our pancreas tries its best to keep up with the massive surges in blood glucose by producing large amounts of insulin, resulting in a quick drop in blood glucose levels (i.e. hypoglycemia). This is then followed by a feeling of dizziness and weakness. It doesn’t end here, it further leads to hunger pangs and crazy cravings for sweets/refined carbs in an attempt to normalize the blood glucose level. This eventually leads to a vicious circle of eating foods high in sugar, which ultimately end up getting converted into fat.
  • If the above cycle continues for a prolonged period, and our pancreas repeatedly and constantly produces insulin in huge amounts, there will be a point when our cells start getting immune or insensitive to insulin, this state is called Insulin Resistance. The cells no longer accept glucose that insulin carries along with it. Hence, the glucose levels in the blood stay up, ultimately leading to fat storage. This fat storage mainly occurs because insulin also activates a fat storage enzyme called lipoprotein lipase.

These are exactly the reasons why Insulin is tagged as a “Lipogenic Hormone”- One that results in fat gain!

If you are keen on preventing yourself from the not-so-appealing weight/fat gain, then it’s important for you to play wisely with your insulin by doing the right thing when it comes to carb consumption.

How can we assure this? All that we have to take care is that we keep the refined and simple carb intake on the lower side. This category includes bread and bakery stuff, pizzas, burgers, sweets and desserts, polished rice and noodles, etc. Believe me, when you are busy enjoying these foods, your body is getting ready to store it as fat.

Focus more on complex carbs which include the whole grain based stuff like oatmeal, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, brown/red rice, fibrous green vegetables, starchy vegetables such as potatoes, beans, peas and lentils, etc.

As the complex carbs are slow moving, they lead to slow secretion of insulin which does its job at its own sweet pace, hence there’s no issue of fat storage in this case. This allows you to feel fuller for a longer period of time, typically for up to 3 hours and thereby preventing hunger pangs and unnecessary binging.

The overall connection is a bit tricky but, once we decode this puzzle, we are sorted!

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