The South Bank Show. Claire Tomalin speaking to Melvin Bragg about her biography of Thomas Hardy.

I watched the South Bank Show that ended some minutes after midnight - Claire Tomalin spoke to Melvyn Bragg about her new biography of Thomas Hardy, A Time-Torn Man. She had also been filmed visiting key locations and landscapes in Dorset, Cornwall and London. It was an excellent programme. Tomalin has a rich, expressive voice and obviously such a deep love of Hardy's poems and novels, and encyclopaedic knowledge of his writing and his life, and she chose to read and to offer insights into illustrative passages from Hardy's work, and I was moved again to feel as I feel when I read Hardy, as his words and insights again worked their magic.

About thirty years or so ago, I remember watching Melvyn Bragg on TV, speaking about Thomas Hardy, and in particular about Jude the Obscure, and Bragg is clearly also an expert and a lover of Hardy's work. I enjoyed hearing these two knowledgeable people putting flesh onto the bones of what most of us know of Hardy, with telling anecdotes and explanations about his life, his marriage and his writing. I can never these days bear to read again the story of Tess, because its terrible sadness and and inexorable tragedy move me to so many tears, and I shed tears for poor Tess of the D'Urbervilles again tonight.

Bragg commented on the sexual double standards to which Hardy was drawing attention in this novel and he and Tomalin spoke of Hardy's compassion and love for the fictional Tess and the complexity of Hardy's characters. Sexual double standards were, of course, the underlying reason for Tess's unjust and horrifying fate.

But we still have double standards in Britain today, though much less so in the field of sexual morals, of course. I am thinking of the sexism so often seen in the medical profession. Sheena McDonald did some TV work on this in the 90s. - The sort-of standard 'joke' to which I seem to recall her drawing attention, was that when a male patient goes to the doctor he is asked, "And what is the matter with you?" - Whereas a woman patient will be asked, "And what seems to be the matter with you?" And I remember Jean Robinson, former Chair of the Patients Association and former lay member of the GMC (General Medical Council) saying to me in the 80s, when we both were vice-presidents of the College of Health (I was limited to a year as an elected VP, Jean was a long-serving appointed VP), that when men go to the doctor in pain, the doctor tends to prescribe pain-killers, but when women go to the doctor in pain, there is a tendency for the doctor to prescribe anti-depressants...)o: - I shall no doubt return to this topic in this blog in future posts. Medical sexism has equally dire consequences of terrible harm to women as had the cruel double standards of sexual morality did in the past.

I visited the Equal Opportunities Commission in Manchester for an afternoon in the 80s, to bring to their notice the inequality of health care provision with regard to the sex/gender of the patient - health care provision for which both sexes pay by way of taxes, but health care provision that favours men patients over women patients. - They were sympathetic to my mission and said they had heard from a number of women who knew themselves to have experienced medical treatment inferior to that of men, but that the EOC was unable to take up medical sexism as an issue because it was outside the EOC's remit, the conventional wisdom being that doctors are not prejudiced and that men and women are treated equally and that there is no stereotypical thinking among healthcare professionals! - Well, as I say, I shall no doubt return to this topic in a future blog entry...

The claim is made that 'Lack of sleep 'may help make youngsters obese'

The claim is made this news article 'Lack of sleep 'may help make youngsters obese'

The researcher has reviewed studies on this topic. As with the previous researchers, his logic is faulty. There is a positive correlation between lack of sleep and obesity, that is true. - But it is not that lack of sleep causes obesity; it is that obesity tends to cause lack of sleep.

Obesity is NOT caused by eating too much or by lack of exercise. - Overwhelmingly it is caused by salt sensitivity and fluid retention. - It is easy for obese people, child or adult, to lose weight by eating less salt/sodium and forgetting about calorie reduction. Cutting down on salt enables the body to shed (in the urine) some of the excess water held in the body by sodium and so weight is lost.

Once weight is lost by reducing salt intake, sleep will improve.

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ and particularly page http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html for advice on how to reduce obesity in children.

'Gender-bending' chemicals linked to breast cancer rise and Screening for breast cancer 'may harm women'

Two reports about Breast Cancer in today's online copy of UK's Daily Telegraph:

'Gender-bending' chemicals linked to breast cancer rise here - Extract from the report:

The "gender-bending" chemicals are found in a host of common products, from scented candles and air fresheners to plastics used for babies' bottles and the casings of mobile phones.

and Screening for breast cancer 'may harm women' here - Extract from the report:

Breast cancer screening may be doing more harm than good, a new report says today. One in nine UK women is diagnosed with breast cancer at some time. The research found that for every 2,000 women invited to have mammograms, one would have their life prolonged but 10 would endure potentially devastating and unnecessary treatment.

Since the incidence of breast cancer is rising, and one of the contributory causative factors is obesity, women who are overweight would lower their risk of developing breast cancer if they were to lower their sodium intake, because salt sensitivity and fluid retention are what cause obesity, rather than over-eating.

(A survey carried out by Cancer Research UK found that most British people do not know there is a strong link between obesity and cancer. Most were aware of a link between obesity and heart disease, but not with cancer. Studies have shown that being overweight increases the risk of cancer of the breast, bowel, womb, kidney and oesophagus. A major study (2003) by the American Cancer Society also associates obesity with stomach cancer and prostate cancer in men, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and cancers of the cervix, ovary, prostate, liver, and pancreas.)

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html

'Hidden' fats - Transfats - removed from foods in UK - but still not completely...)o:

Report can be accessed on this page http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6058416.stm

Good news as far as it goes - but what a shame that transfats have not yet been banned completely from food. You can read some information about transfats on http://www.bantransfats.com/

The UK has the highest obesity rate in Europe

The UK has the highest obesity rate in Europe - reported here today.

Readers of this blog may surmise along with me that there are several reasons for this:

1) the unremitting incorrect and damaging (See British Medical Journal article and Guardian article) advice from health professionals and Government agencies that it is necessary to restrict calorie intake and increase exercise in order to lose weight

2) the reckless inappropriate overprescribing and often overdosing with steroid drugs such as prednisone and prednisolone and HRT, and anti-depressant drugs such as amitriptyline and other tricyclics, and other drugs including some anti-psychotics and many other drugs, all of which cause sodium retention and fluid retention, thus leading to obesity and even morbid obesity and all the other health problems associated with obesity

3) the almost complete failure of doctors and drug company patient inserts and pharmacy warning labels to warn patients taking these powerful medications that these medications cause sodium retention/salt sensitivity and so when taking them no salt or food containing salt should be eaten

4) the shocking failure of either the Department of Health or the General Medical Council to ensure that doctors adhere to drug prescribing protocols

5) the failure to admit to the public that the advice given about the causes of obesity and the advice on how to reduce it has been catastrophically wrong for decades and is still wrong

6) the increasing levels of oestrogen in the domestic water supply

7) the scandalous dereliction of duty by the Chief Medical Officer and Department of Health personnel in previous and present administrations to curb the food companies from adding dangerously high quantities of salt to bread, to processed foods and to ready meals. See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html The rising levels of obesity, especially child obesity, are the dire legacy of this dereliction of duty. Even now the legal strictures are insufficient and the nutritional information given on packs of food is still not ideal.

All that is normally necessary to lose weight is to eat less salt, i.e. to reduce one's sodium intake, and to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables because the potassium they contain helps to displace excess sodium from the body. See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/

Exercise has 'little effect on childhood weight'

Exercise has 'little effect on childhood weight' - reported in this article from the Guardian: Glasgow University Study finds that increasing exercise does not reduce child obesity.

According to the findings of research carried out by Glasgow University, getting four-year-olds to engage in three extra 30 minute sessions of exercise a week had no effect on whether they were obese or not.

"Despite rigorous implementation, we found no significant effect of the intervention on physical activity, sedentary behaviour or body mass index," concluded the researchers.

More than 500 nursery school children were recruited for the study, which compared children who exercised three times a week with children left to their own devices.

Here is an extract from my webpage http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html

"When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food. Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have - and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. - Babies can die if they are fed salty food.

Because children have much smaller bodies than adults it would be best if they had no more than half as much salt as adults. Most children, however, have much more than this because they eat so many snacks and instant foods. Just one cheeseburger, for instance, contains almost double the recommended daily salt maximum for children. There are high amounts of salt in packet soups, instant noodles, ketchup and sauces, sausages, burgers and savoury snacks. Fat children will lose weight fast if they eat less salt. And even faster still if they eat plenty of fresh fruit and unsalted vegetables, because these are rich in potassium, which helps to displace sodium from the body."

Obesity leads to more caesarean births

Obesity leads to more caesarean births - reported here

Since obesity is caused by salt sensitivity, this report gives further reason for pregnant women to minimise their salt intake.

Also see information for pregnant mothers

Many doctors are failing their patients when they prescribe drugs.

Many doctors are failing their patients when they prescribe drugs. - Here is a report I read the other day: Doctors 'failing patients' over prescriptions from Netdoctor.co.uk
and here are extracts from it:

"The study's authors, from the University of California, Los Angeles (Ucla), say that taking prescriptions as they are intended is "essential in ensuring their effectiveness".

If individual drug specifications are not followed then the patient in question could suffer from a worsening of the disease, a failure of treatment, a range of adverse side-effects and a potential overdose, the research team write.

...only one-third discussed potential side effects and about half explained how many doses should be taken and how often."

This, of course, is an American report. I live in England. I doubt that research such as this would be conducted in England, where the cover-up culture with regard to poor medical practice has a long and ignoble tradition. But I am confident that the medical negligence that fails to give, along with the prescription for a drug, necessary information about the drug and how it should be taken and what its possible side-effects are, is at least as prevalent in Britain as in the States. - And to the best of my knowledge - and that is informed knowledge, because I write as a steroid victim - doctors in Britain never warn their patients that when taking prescribed steroids like prednisone or HRT, or prescribed antidepressants like amitriptyline, or quite a lot of other drugs, they should not eat salt or food containing salt, because these drugs potentially cause severe sodium retention and consequent water retention, followed by massive obesity.

An example of a patient damaged in this way is Jerry Lewis, who became severely obese because of taking prednisone. - He clearly was not warned of the harm that eating salty food while taking the prednisone would cause him. I read today that he has lost a lot of the weight he gained because he has come off the prednisone. - He would not have gained the weight if he had avoided sodium while taking he drug. - If even famous, wealthy people like Jerry Lewis are not told of the dangers of combining prescribed steroids and salty food intake, then it is highly unlikely that 'ordinary' people ever get the necessary warning. - I regard this as criminal negligence on the part of medical practitioners. - If this failure to inform were to be punished with severe sanctions doctors would give the information. - Though goodness knows they should give it anyway! - What good does it do to turn patients into steroid victims, with a host of attendant morbidity and unhappiness and a shortened lifespan?

See helpful advice and information for steroid victims.

Are you depressed? - Maybe you are depressed because you are overweight?

Are you depressed? - Maybe you are depressed because you are overweight? (There is a significant positive correlation between depression and obesity.) - Maybe you are overweight because of taking anti-depressants?

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful info.)

Are you in constant pain 'because you are depressed'? Are you 'depressed' because you are in constant pain? A drug-free, cost-free course of action that might help is to cut down on salt! - Surprising perhaps, but worth a try. See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html

DOCTORS ON STRIKE. - DEATH RATES GO DOWN!

DOCTORS ON STRIKE. - DEATH RATES GO DOWN!

Whenever medical doctors go on strike, death rates go down! - I'm not making this up. - Type any suitable words or phrases into the search engines and view the evidence for yourself.

The biggest threat to health in the developed world is currently obesity. - Doctors and their retinues are certainly responsible for most cases of obesity and many of the health problems (and consequent premature deaths) that obesity brings in its wake - high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and many, many more. This is because of their constantly reiterated, incorrect, counter-productive and damaging insistence that obesity is caused by over-eating and/or taking too little exercise and that the way to reduce obesity is to eat fewer calories than your body requires.

Obesity is, in the main, an iatrogenic disease.

Calorie counting and advice about increasing exercise and reducing fat intake to reduce obesity are ineffective, counter-productive and often damaging. - See the article in the British Medical Journal of November 2003 BMJ article for actual research on what happens when this advice is followed! - Over 800 obese adults were put on energy deficit diets, given diet sheets and plenty of instruction and help from trained staff, and apparently, visited fortnightly for a year, at the end of which they had GAINED weight! This mirrors the real experience of obese people, viz. - dieting makes you fat.

It is commonly accepted now, except by the 'experts', that less than 5% of dieters actually lose weight, and most gain weight as a result of dieting. - Even the ones who manage to lose weight do not usually improve their health. - See Guardian article for a report in The Guardian of Monday, June 27th 2005. It is about a huge research study of nearly 3000 people over a period of 18 years. The study found that overweight people who diet to reach a healthier weight are more likely to die young than those who remain fat. It also found that dieting causes physiological damage that in the long term can outweigh the benefits of the weight loss.

Contributing to the increase in obesity we have the widespread prescribing of steroids and HRT and other drugs which cause weight gain, and the failure of doctors to adhere to the protocols connected with the prescribing and monitoring of steroids. But pre-eminent, in my opinion, is the catastrophically damaging calorie-reduction advice that continues to be given despite such a wealth of evidence that it is bad advice.

Read further about this on my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ - in particular http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html and other pages on my website.

Sleepy kids at greater risk of obesity

Sleepy kids at greater risk of obesity

This was the title of an article published on the internet and dated 17th March 2006. Here is the article http://news.netdoctor.co.uk/news_detail.php?id=17071351 - And here is an extract from the article:

"Kids who get less sleep are at a higher risk of becoming overweight or obese, researchers have claimed.

Experts from Laval University in Quebec, Canada, said that busy parents and a lack of strict bedtimes could be a major factor in rising levels of childhood obesity.

In a study of 422 children aged between five and ten years old they found that those who slept for just a couple of hours less each night were 40 per cent more likely to be overweight.

Of the children taking part in the study, one in five of the boys was overweight or obese compared to a quarter of the girls."

The researchers clearly believe that lack of sufficient sleep is a major factor in the causation of childhood obesity.

In my opinion they have confused cause with effect. Obesity causes a host of adverse physical and emotional health outcomes, and it is these adverse health outcomes that lead to reduced sleep.

In any case, obesity, whether of children or adults, is caused by sensitivity to salt, so to reduce obesity AND improve sleep, the most effective and reliable measure is to reduce salt/sodium intake. See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/children.html and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html and other pages on the website.

Morbid Obesity - You could find it helpful to eat less salt.

Are you morbidly obese? - You have my great sympathy; I am so sorry that you have this affliction. I hope this blog entry will help you.

No doubt many people have added to the many difficulties of your life by blaming you for your condition. - How wrong they are!

Unless you ate a great deal of salt or salty food when you were a small child or you have the great misfortune to be a sufferer from Cushing's Disease, or some other rare disease which causes great obesity, then the most likely responsibility for your obesity lies with prescribed steroids, like prednisolone, or prescribed HRT or certain other prescribed drugs, possibly prescribed in too high a dose and possibly prescribed for too long a time and almost certainly inadequately monitored by the prescriber. - And I'll bet you were not warned that these drugs commonly cause sodium and water retention (the cause of your overweight) and that while taking them you should not eat salt or food containing salt, were you?

Your excess weight is largely water (extra water in your bloodstream) and is definitely NOT caused by eating too much. But you obviously need more food than slim people, because you have more weight to carry round all the time. - Don't let anyone stop you eating when you are hungry! - You need that food and those calories.

Have a look at my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ and then look at some of the other pages, especially the steroids page.

You will find that the best, the safest, the fastest, the most reliable way to lose weight is to eat less salt and forget about reducing calories or struggling to do exercise when you are too fat to be comfortable doing it. - You will feel SO MUCH BETTER! - Overeating and lack of exercise are NOT what caused your obesity.

Good luck!