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October 29, 2021 By Dr. Viral Thakkar Leave a Comment

Stroke: Warning Signs, Causes & Prevention

“Doctor please help! Half of my body does not move anymore” came a slurry cry from a helpless Vinod Agrawal, a businessman. His wife stood next to him in the emergency department weeping profusely and their 16 year old son watched his parents helplessly.

When examined thoroughly, Agrawal was diagnosed with STROKE. Thanks to the lifestyles that most people lead these days, this is a common site in hospitals.

A stroke strikes when the blood supply to the brain is affected either due to blockage leading to ischemia or rupturing of vessels. Due to this the brain does not receive enough oxygen and nutrition causing cell death, which is the ideal condition for stroke.

How Does a Stroke Happen?

Ischemia: Occurs due to narrowing or blockage of blood vessels due to blood clots formed either in arteries connecting brains or other vessels or due to dislodgment of fatty deposits called plaques (atherosclerosis).
Haemorrhagic: Bursting or leaking of blood vessels which compresses the brain cells. This leakage of blood puts pressure on brain cells which is accumulated in brain due to trauma, hypertension or some blood thinning medication.
TIA – Transient Ischemic Attack (Mini Stoke): Brief episodes of stroke which is self-limiting. Blood flow is briefly interrupted and these are the warning signs of future stroke. It is like an alarm from the body.

Common Presentation of Stroke

Weakness or tingling in half or full body depending on the involved artery
Deviation of face with difficulty in speech and closure of one eye
Mental Confusion, severe headache, loss of power in the limbs

When any of the above symptoms are seen, the patient must be rushed to the hospital.

After thoroughly understanding the history and general examination, few specific tests and examination like CT scan are done to find out the cause of the stroke. The treatment is very complicated and management is done in ICU and Neuro-physician may be required.

As there are two major causes of stroke – ischemia and haemorrhage – both have different management.

If ischemic– the focus is to restore adequate blood flow-clot is broken or dissolved.
If haemorrhagic – stop bleeding or leakage of blood, to reduce the pressure of brain cells. Surgical intervention may be required if there is any arterial malformation or rupture of vessels.

Rehabilitation activities like physiotherapy, speech therapy, etc. help to restore physical activities gradually.

Prevent It!

All the above symptoms and complications can be prevented if a healthy lifestyle is followed.

Eat a healthy – diet which includes fresh fruits, vegetables, avoiding processed meat and avoid junk food.
Yoga, especially Pranayama, ensures that every cell of the body receives adequate oxygen for appropriate functioning. Pranayama rejuvenates the body cells which ensures the ideal functioning of the body.
Stress kills! Accept what life offers happily and keep working towards your goal without killing yourself.
Remember Smoking Kills – all advertisements shown are true. STOP smoking.
Avoid alcohol, if you do consume it, make it minimal.
If you are hypertensive, keep an absolute check on blood pressure and follow all dietary and physical discipline so that blood pressure is controlled.
If one is diabetic, regular check of sugar is important.

Listen to your body. It always warns you before the disease sets in.

Stroke is an acute emergency but the root cause lies in chronic habits and patterns of life. Every moment, even at this moment of reading the blog, we can choose health or disease. Either you choose to pick up alarming signals of body and employ the necessary preventive measures to live a healthy life or be undisciplined and get hospitalized. THE CHOICE IS YOURS!

We hope this article helps you. For more on stroke and prevention, check out Healthy Reads or ask a GOQii Coach for guidance by subscribing for Personalised Health Coaching here.

#BeTheForce

Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog is for general awareness and educational purposes only. It is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personalised medical guidance or concerns related to your health.

October 28, 2021 By Komilla Pareek 7 Comments

How Antacids Are Making Your Heartburn, GERD or Acid Reflux worse!

If you’ve ever suffered from heartburn, Zantac and Ranitidine might have been your knights in shining armor and if you’ve never had the misfortune of going through this, the aforementioned Over-The-Counter (OTC) drugs are used to cut down the production of acid in the stomach. There are many other OTC antacids such as Gelusil, that neutralize the acid in the stomach. While self-prescribing for relief from heartburn or GERD, have you ever considered that these antacids might actually be making your condition worse?

What is Heartburn or GERD?

Heartburn or GERD is characterized by a burning sensation in the chest. This burning sensation is caused due to the acid reflux that happens when contents from your stomach move up into your esophagus (food pipe). Most of us associate this with high stomach acidity and reach out to over the counter antacids for quick relief.

Heartburn or GERD is not caused due to high levels of stomach acid. The incidence of heartburn and GERD increases with age, while stomach acid levels generally decline with age. Just as studies show acid secretion declines with age, it is also well established in scientific literature that the risk of GERD increases with age. In fact, when stomach acid is measured in people suffering from heartburn and GERD, it is almost always low, not high.

Why Do We Get Immediate Relief From Antacids?

I agree, symptoms of heartburn and GERD are caused by stomach acid refluxing into the esophagus. What’s crucial to understand is that any amount of acid in the esophagus is going to cause problems. That’s because the delicate lining of the esophagus isn’t protected against acid like the stomach lining is. You don’t have to have excess acid in your stomach to have heartburn.

Also, symptom relief doesn’t imply that the underlying cause of the problem has been addressed.

Stomach acidity may not be the actual reason for your heartburn. Instead, the prevailing scientific theory is that GERD is caused by a dysfunction of the muscular valve (sphincter) that separates the lower end of the esophagus and the stomach. This is known as the lower esophageal valve, or LES. The LES normally opens wide to permit swallowed food and liquids to move down easily into the stomach. If LES is working efficiently, stomach acid will not enter your esophagus. If the LES is malfunctioning, as it is in GERD, acid from the stomach moves up back into the esophagus and damages its delicate lining. It doesn’t matter how much acid there is in the stomach. Even a small amount can cause serious damage. Unlike the stomach, the lining of the esophagus has no protection against acid.

What Causes the LES to Malfunction?

Increase in Intra-Abdominal Pressure (IAP) can cause your LES to malfunction. Acid reflux occurs when pressure causes gastric distention (stomach bloating) that pushes the stomach contents, including acid, through the LES into the esophagus. Overeating, obesity, smoking, bending over after eating, lying down after eating, and consuming spicy or fatty foods may be contributing factors.

How Do Antacids Make This Condition Worse?

Malabsorption of carbohydrates leads to bacterial overgrowth, resulting in increased Intra-Abdominal Pressure which drives reflux. Low stomach acid, as caused by your antacids, can contribute to both bacterial overgrowth and carbohydrate malabsorption.

One of the chief roles of stomach acid is to inhibit bacterial overgrowth. But when stomach acid is insufficient and the pH of the stomach rises above 5, bacteria begin to thrive. Stomach acid (HCL) supports the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates by stimulating the release of pancreatic enzymes into the small intestine. If the pH of the stomach is too high (due to insufficient stomach acid), the pancreatic enzymes will not be secreted and the carbohydrates will not be broken down properly.

The fermentation of carbohydrates that haven’t been digested properly produces gas. The resulting gas increases IAP, which is the driving force behind Acid Reflux or GERD.

FDA Cautions Against Common Heartburn Drugs

In September 2019, FDA has communicated about the detection of an impurity, which is a carcinogen (cancer-causing agent), in common heartburn medications (ranitidine, commonly known as Zantac, and nizatidine) available over the counter or by prescription. Several countries have banned these medications.

Minimise or avoid use of OTC medications. Use proper lifestyle modifications to manage and treat your symptoms. Reducing bacteria loads and limiting carbohydrate intake have both been shown to greatly improve, and in some cases completely cure, acid reflux and GERD.

We hope this article helps you make the right choices. Do leave your thoughts in the comments below. For more sessions on how to ease GERD and Acid Reflux, check out Healthy Reads or ask a GOQii Coach by subscribing for personalized coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

#BeTheForce

October 3, 2021 By Hajra Mithani 1 Comment

Healthy Eating Tips To Detox The Body

Are you looking to detox your body before the Navratri festivities begin? If you’re planning to indulge or go off your healthy routine for a while, it would be great to take these few days to detox the body. It is a good opportunity to give your body a break. Take these steps to detox the body, clean out your GI tract and provide your body with the nutrients it needs to thrive. You can also follow these steps post festivities.

What is Detoxification?

Detoxification is the process of cleansing our body from chemicals, waste, toxins, and harmful substances. Our body has its own internal detoxification system through our liver, kidneys, colon, skin, lungs and lymph glands. However, when our body becomes overloaded with toxic substances, such as from pollution, a poor diet of fast food, alcohol, medications, illness and stress, it needs help in rebooting so it can function optimally again.

In essence, detox is all about eating a diet that supports and improves the functioning of our liver. Unlike popular belief, detoxification is not about weight loss alone. It’s mainly about helping and supporting your body to get rid of all the waste through proper dietary choices. It is beneficial for one and all.

Who Needs To Detox The Body?

Anyone who is suffering from unexplained fatigue, dull skin and hair, allergies, tired and puffy eyes, menstrual irregularities, and feelings of anxiety and depression. This also includes people suffering from constipation as it’s likely to be a result of harmful toxins lingering in your body, preventing the absorption of essential nutrients – and when this happens your immune system will not fight bacteria efficiently resulting in colds and flu most often.

Benefits of Detox

Removes toxins from the body
Improves digestive health: The digestive system is one of the most critical areas of the body. It’s where nutrients from the food you consume are absorbed, keeping your body functioning as it should.
Mindfulness
Increase in energy
Control food cravings
Micronutrient bonus

What To Consume To Detox the Body?

1. Natural Detox Waters

Lemon water consumed with black salt immediately improves digestion, cleanses your liver and maintains PH levels of the body.
Coconut water has composition that mimics our plasma and helps clear out impurities from blood.
Water infused with cinnamon sticks overnight and having it the next day.
Water infused with cumin seeds, coriander seeds, ajwain and fennel seeds overnight and having it next day
Water infused with 1 inch ginger, slices of orange, mint/tulsi leaves overnight or you can simply use any sliced fruit and sliced vegetable and herbs.

2. Smoothies

Green Smoothie: Grind cucumber, parsely, celery, pineapple and chia seeds together and have it replacing your breakfast
Green Juice: Grind kale, spinach, broccoli, mint leaves, apple/pineapple and have it in your mid meals
Mango Smoothie: Grind 1 mango with almonds and have it replacng your breakfast
Apple Date Smoothie: Grind 1 apple, 2-3 dates, water and mint leaves and replace it with your breakfast.
Orange Banana Smoothie: Grind banana and orange or strawberry and banana with 1 tbsp of yogurt and ice cubes and replace it with breakfast.

3. Soups

Lemon and Coriander Soup (you can add chicken if you’re a non-vegetarian)
Beetroot and carrot soup
Tomato and carrot soup
Zucchini and broccoli soup
Green moong soup
Spinach and carrot soup
Egg soup
Corn soup

4. Salads

Sprouts salad
Moong salad
Green salad

For an entire list of raw detox salads, click here: https://goqii.com/blog/9-raw-food-diet-that-are-tasty-and-healthy/

Replace your aloo paratha with moong chilla and your maida pancakes with oats pancakes. Avoid milk and milk products, refined flours and oils, breads, pasta, sugar, fried foods, packaged foods, pickles, papad and junk food. Once a month try doing a complete detox by replacing your meals with smoothies, soups, salads, chillas and infused water. Make the most of this precious time by cleansing your body.

We hope this article helps you. For more tips to detox the body, check out Healthy Reads or ask your GOQii Coach directly by subscribing for personalized coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

Stay home, stay safe, detox the body and #BeTheForce

September 2, 2021 By Kusum Soni 1 Comment

The Power Of Black Tea For Immunity

A powerful immune system not only prevents the attack of any foreign invaders like bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites but also can protect against degenerative diseases like cancer, heart disease. There are many beverages that can support a healthy immune system and black tea is one of them. The health benefits of black tea have been attributed to it’s decent amount of polyphenols and a wide range of flavonoids—particularly thearubigins, theaflavins, flavonols and flavones. These phytochemicals have shown antimicrobial, anti-viral, antioxidant, anti-carcinogenic, anti-mutagenic and anti-inflammatory activities.

Black tea has beneficial physiological effects like the prevention of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease by easing inflammation and supporting the flexibility of blood vessels, which can reduce risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke. Researchers at Harvard University have found 10 times more virus-fighting interferons in the blood of people who drank black tea in comparison to people who drank placebo beverages. The researchers attributed this to an amino-acid, L-theanine found in ordinary black tea.

Various studies over the years have also linked drinking Black Tea to reduced risk of certain types of cancers, and increased number of immune cells, antioxidants that protect cells against free radical damage. The antimutagenic effect is well documented for the black tea polyphenols, namely theaflavins and thearubigins and attributed both to the inhibition of the oxidative DNA damage as well as, considerable literature demonstrates their inhibitory effect on the tumor cell proliferation. Latest research also suggests that these polyphenols even affect the balance of gut bacteria that enhances immune functions, encouraging short-chain fatty acids formation that support liver’s function.

Tea drinkers have shown lower levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, after an exposure to a stressful situation. Stress can suppress the immune response of the body. Thus, indirectly by managing stress, tea again improves the effectiveness of the immune system.

Tips To Include Black Tea In Your Diet

Infused Tea: Add 3-5g or one black tea bag into a cup. Fill to the top with 85-90c boiling water and steep for 3-5 minutes. Remove the tea bag or strain and serve hot or over ice.
Optional: You can add half a cup of fruit pieces into a one-quart Mason jar with tea and, later cover and let the fruit steep for another ten minutes in hot infused tea, after removing the tea bags.
You can add some lemon juice or crushed ginger or a pinch of cinnamon to infused black tea for additional antioxidant activity and flavour.
Japanese researchers have found that even gargling with black tea extract twice a day was less likely to catch flu by flushing microbes trapped in the throat area.
Inhaling boiling water mixed with Black Tea can facilitate the clearing of the passages towards the lung and facilitate the removal of bacteria/viruses trapped around the nasal area and opens a pathway for the Theaflavins to reach the lungs and protect it from infection.

Word of Caution

Adding milk may diminish the disease-fighting potential of the tea as various studies have not observed the beneficial effect of black tea consumption on the risk of coronary heart disease in subjects consuming tea with milk.
Avoid having tea with meals due to the presence of Tannins, an anti-nutritional compound, which has inhibitory effects on absorption of protein and certain minerals from food like, Iron, copper, sodium and aluminium.
Do not drink tea close to bedtime as another compound in tea called Caffeine could keep you from falling asleep.

Don’t miss on physical activity, adequate sleep and Dietary Diversification, that is, include a variety of food in your diet ranging from whole grain/pulses to coloured fruits/vegetables, nuts and seeds, lean meats, to add a wide spectrum of vitamins and minerals and antioxidants in diet, to enhance body’s disease-fighting capabilities.

Enjoy your cup of tea 1-2 times a day in snack time away from meals. We hope this article helps you. Do leave your thoughts in the comments below. For more immunity-boosting tips, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to our experts on GOQii Play.

To get these tips directly from your GOQii Coach, subscribe to personalized coaching here: https://goqiiapp.page.link/bsr

Stay safe, boost your immunity and #BeTheForce!