Solitude

With so many studies extolling the health benefits of chocolate, does it mean that we can eat chocolate with complete abandon? Natasha loves chocolate with a passion. She would even steal it from the mouths of babes! She is not alone in her ardour. Chocolate has been called theobroma — the food of the gods. It is the one food substance that women have a strong love-hate relationship with. Melting sensuously on the tongue, it creates the most delightful sensations, intriguingly embracing one with intense feelings of love and being loved. It is hardly surprising that chocolate has become the symbol of Valentine's Day and is the number one gift to buy for a loved one. On the other hand, women also perceive chocolate as the devil's tool, the single temptation that often makes one wander off the path of healthy food resolutions. The production of cocoa has increased exponentially in the past few decades. According to the International Cocoa Organisation, production has ...

"Life is what we make of it.” We have all been told that a countless times. But do any of us take the time to understand this statement? Life can be beautiful, exactly the way we want it. There can be a world where there is peace and prosperity, where you are surrounded by the people you love and respect. All it requires is a change in perception and the realisation that we can create a world as we want it. We see what we choose to see and believe what we decide to believe. If we choose to focus on the goodness around, we won’t encounter the bad. Every experience that we currently perceive as negative and painful will then be perceived as a part of learning and growth. If we choose to trust, then betrayal will remain only if there is a lesson to be learnt from it. Yet, our shortcoming is that most of us are not in the habit of trusting in the goodness and in our power to create. We are taught that people don’t do things without a personal reason and that there must be...

Baby & Health-  Glass vs. Plastic Baby Bottles Decades ago, the only baby bottl es av ailable to parents were made of glass. But glass was heavy and, more importantly, breakable. So when plastic bottles came along that were lighter and shatter-proof, the glass bottle became almost obsolete. However, recent reports that a type of plastic found in baby bottles might cause potentially harmful changes in developing babies has left parents wondering if perhaps old-fashioned glass wasn't such a bad thing after all. Baby Bottle Worries The problem with glass bottles is pretty obvious -- drop one on the floor in the middle of a late-night feeding, and you'll have a roomful of shattered glass to clean up. Glass is also heavy and cumbersome. On the upside, glass bottles are sturdy, and they don't contain any chemicals that could potentially get into the baby's formula. Plastic baby bottles are lightweight, strong, and unbreakable. However, concerns ...

Grief and loss can be debilitating but can be overcome.  Ms Howard stood rigid and unemotional by the grave in which her 20-year-old son Patrick was buried. Life as she knew it was over. Time was now referred to as, “Before Patrick's death” and “After Patrick's death.” It's been 10 years since her loss. As she sat on my sofa, she said with a smile, “You know, Patrick wanted to be a psychologist. He wanted to work with people who had lost someone dear and look at the irony... here I am, still grieving Patrick, even after 10 years.” It has taken Ms Howard years to reach out and ask for support. All this time has been spent trying to hold her family together, move on, live life and “get over it”. “After a point people merely feel sympathy, but no empathy. They said that I should try to forget and stop grieving. People keep telling me that 10 years is a long time. I feel very depressed that I am unable to move on.” Part of life Grief and loss can come disgui...

Here are a few health myths that need to be broken.   All nuts and oily seeds have cholesterol No plant food contains cholesterol because cholesterol is manufactured only by animals. So all nuts and oil seeds are cholesterol-free. Low-fat margarine is healthy because it has no cholesterol Several brands of margarine carry transfats that are much worse for the body. Transfats can raise cholesterol levels in the body and spoil liver functions. So it is better to eat natural butter – in small quantities. All oils contain cholesterol Any oil made from plants is always naturally cholesterol-free. If we eat cholesterol, it will raise our blood cholesterol Any rise in the body’s cholesterol level depends on how the liver is able to process it.   Milk is a complete food Mother’s milk is a complete food for a baby till it is six months old. After that, the child needs additional foods, though mother’s milk can be continued as long as the mother is comfortable. Milk from...

  What Exactly Is Diabetes? Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder that tends to be recognized through high levels of blood sugar and other physical manifestations, and it differs significantly from a typical illness or chronic disease. There are several types of diabetes known to the medical community, and all are caused by a variety of different things - in fact, current research in the medical community tends to discover new potential causes of diabetes each year. Ultimately, diabetes is brought on by an individual's pancreas becoming unable to produce the necessary amount of insulin to prevent the development of hyperglycemia. Once a person has developed type 1 or type 2 diabetes, it is incurable - but it is treatable. If the diabetes is not controlled through medical treatment, it can lead to life-threatening complications, such as a higher risk of heart failure, blindness, severe nerve damage, and foot wounds that could lead to amputation. Type 1 diabetes differs f...