New Year Resolution Suggestions

If you've not yet decided on your New Year Resolution, here are some suggestions that will benefit the health of your body, the efficiency of your brain and the happiness of your spirit:

1) Give up dieting. It is a major cause of ill-health and depression. Dieting to try to lose excess weight is ineffective, unnecessary and harmful. 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 http://www.bmj.com/content/327/7423/1085.full 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 http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2005/jun/27/sciencenews.research 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.

2) Seriously cut down on salt and salty food.

3) Avoid prescription drugs, especially antidepressants, steroids and painkillers, unless they really are necessary and you have checked out their side-effects. The adverse effects of pharmaceutical drugs are often far more damaging than the problem for which they have been prescribed.

I wish you better health, success and happiness in this New Year of 2012!

Reducing salt intake is a global health priority say epidemiologists

The UN must make reducing salt intake a global health priority, say researchers, as reported here by BBC News. "Writing in the British Medical Journal they say a 15% cut in consumption could save 8.5 million lives around the world over the next decade. The report says practical steps to reduce consumption should be drawn up without delay. If voluntary measures do not work, the food industry should be compelled to cut salt levels, it says." (my emphasis)

Well you know, that's actually cheery, as I see it. - The message of these epidemiologists is clear, stark and honest; they're not temporising. They're not pretending that the food industry are doing any meaningful voluntary reducing of salt levels. - And if you look at that BMJ article itself I think you will be even more impressed by the unequivocal tone of their call to action.

And I'm impressed by the fact that they see the UN as the agency to address on this matter of the urgent need to reduce salt intake. Normally you'd assume that in a matter like this the World Health Organisation would be the agency approached. - Maybe these researchers have as low opinion of the WHO as I have, particularly when you cast your mind back to the scandalous shenanigans over the Swine Flu. See HERE, HERE, and HERE if you need reminders that health advisers we should be able to trust are far too often in the pockets of the pharmaceuticals industry. Bribery is the name of that game - or the euphemistic 'conflict of interest.'

As you must realise, I have for years been advising readers of my posts to eat less salt and salty food, and my advice is as clear and uncompromising and honest as the message of these researchers, so I welcome this report. And remember, when Morton Satin, a vice president at the industry body, the Salt Institute, rejects the report out of hand and says, "The salt reduction agenda has become an urban myth - far more based upon populist ideology than objective science," his words are dictated by his position as a spokesman/apologist for the Salt Industry.

Painkillers linked to increased risk of heart problems

Commonly used painkillers for treating inflammation can increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, according to an analysis of the evidence published in the British Medical Journal. The drugs include traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) as well as new generation anti-inflammatory drugs, known as COX-2 inhibitors.
Read article at physorg.com

The Telegraph reports that a fifth of patients in intensive care are subjected to errors with their medication, according to a study.

Patients in intensive care suffer frequent medicine errors, research finds
article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"The most frequent mistakes were giving medication at the wrong time, followed by missed doses and administering the wrong dose.

The research involved 113 intensive care units in 27 countries, including the UK.

The team examined errors made with medicines in a 24-hour snapshot.

Of the 1,328 patients in the study, 861 medicine errors affected 441 patients. Seven patients experienced permanent harm as a result of the errors while five died as a direct result.

However the authors warned that because the reports of errors was voluntary it is likely to reflect an underestimate of the real scale of the problem.

The data, published in the British Medical Journal online, showed that heavy workload, stress and general tiredness among staff contributed to a third of all errors."

I can't help thinking that if fewer drugs were prescribed there would be less risk of error.

More questioning of the desirability of using statins

Experts question use of statins among elderly - Guardian

Extract:

"The effectiveness of drugs such as statins in treating the elderly has been questioned by a group of medical experts.

In today's British Medical Journal, they said: "By using preventive treatments to reduce the risk of a particular cause of death in elderly people, are we simply changing the cause of death rather than prolonging life?"

The authors - senior lecturers from New Zealand and Devon and a London GP - raise doubts about the government's aim to reduce the number of people dying from the "epidemic" of cardiovascular disease by 40% by 2010. They argue that the cause of death will probably be "substituted" for something else, such as cancer."

You can greatly reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease and many other degenerative conditions by avoiding eating salt and salty food. - See Associated health conditions

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods and

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html - my 'political' page

http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/socio.html - social and economic considerations

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free.

The 'worried well' are overwhelming the breast cancer referral system

Cancer fast track scheme is causing longer waits - Guardian

Extract:

"A fast-track system for urgent suspected cases of breast cancer is being overwhelmed by the worried well, leaving thousands of women with genuine breast cancer anxiously waiting a month or more to see a specialist, a study reveals.

An estimated 8,800 women a year who are eventually diagnosed with breast cancer are labelled "routine" cases under the system, waiting for weeks despite increasing numbers of other women being fast-tracked to a consultant, it says.

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) article calls for an urgent overhaul, saying the government's 1999 target of a two-week wait for urgent cases has created an "alarming" two-tiered system of treatment. "The system is failing patients and a change is urgently needed," the paper says."

Reduce your risk of developing breast cancer and many other cancers, and also lose weight, by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods
and Associated health conditions

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...

1.5m people were wrongly told they risk heart disease

1.5m wrongly told they risk heart disease - Guardian

Extract:

"Thousands of people have been wrongly told they are in danger of developing life-threatening heart diseases because of flaws in the way doctors routinely calculate the risk, according to a study of more than a million people published today.

Current estimates of the number at risk of cardiovascular diseases are 1.5 million too high, the report says, suggesting the anti-cholesterol drugs statins are massively and needlessly over-prescribed, inflating the £2bn annual bill to the NHS.

The study in the British Medical Journal made a series of other significant discoveries. It found that white middle-aged men have a lower risk of heart disease than previously thought and women from poorer backgrounds have a significantly higher risk. It also found one in three women in their 60s are at risk of heart disease, a figure previously thought to be one in four.

Concern over the misdiagnosis of heart disease will be compounded by a separate study due today from the Healthcare Commission. It will raise concern over the way the 300 healthcare trusts in England and Wales are monitoring the problem. A third of them were unable to provide details of the treatment being given to patients.

The HC said the number reported as having heart failure was 140,000 fewer than expected. While it is unsure whether the shortfall is a statistical blip, the study from the BMJ highlights how many thousands of people will probably be given the wrong treatment anyway."

I have written before about the overprescribing of statins...)o: - Click on the statins tab at the end of this blog entry to see those entries.

The safest, most reliable, way to reduce your risk of heart disease is to reduce your intake of salt and salty food. This will also reduce excess weight, lower high blood pressure/hypertension and lower high cholesterol levels and improve health in a multitude of other ways too. - See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
How to Lose weight!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html

and http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ami.html
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

See Sodium in foods

I can be contacted via my website if you need my further help. My help is free...(o:

British doctors admit to ageism

British doctors admit to ageism

Extract:

"Doctors in Britain regularly discriminate against older patients by denying them tests and treatments they offer to younger people, research shows today.

GPs, heart specialists and doctors who care for the elderly were all found to be influenced by a patient's age when making their recommendations -and older doctors were more likely to discriminate than younger doctors.

Older patients are less likely to be referred to a cardiologist and given heart treatments than patients under 65.

The study in Quality and Safety in Health Care, a specialist publication from the British Medical Journal, found that half of doctors in each of the professional groups treated elderly patients differently. "

The Department of Health has a Draft Paper: Losing Weight – Feeling Great! (I believe the advice it gives is WRONG!! - What do you think?)

The Department of Health has a Draft Paper online entitled
Losing Weight – Feeling Great!
and dated 29 November 2005. This is the link: here

Here is some of its content, in italics:

In the U.K. almost two thirds of adults are now overweight. One child in every three has an unhealthy weight too.

WHY HAVE I GAINED WEIGHT?

It’s all about calories. Calories (you will see kcals on packets) are a measure of energy. (You may sometimes see the metric measure on packs – joules or kilojoules.)....
Your weight remains the same if you take in roughly the same amount of energy (calories) through food and drink, as the amount of energy (calories) your body burns up through physical activity.

Your weight will go up if you take in consistently more energy (calories) from food and drink, than your body burns up through physical activity.
Your weight will go down if you take in consistently less energy (calories) from food and drink, than your body burns up through physical activity.

But it is not true that gaining weight is all about calories. There is absolutely no evidence to support this statement. We all know slim people who eat huge amounts of calories and do not take much exercise and do not gain weight at all. - They eat far more calories than their bodies burn up through physical activity. - But they do not gain weight. - The Calorie Myth is unsupported by evidence and is not the true explanation for obesity.

Here is some more of the document's content:

HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT

To lose weight you need to take in less energy from food and drink than the amount of energy your body uses up. Although this may sound simple, actually doing it day in, day out, over a period of weeks or months, requires real determination and commitment...
...to lose weight, healthy eating is rarely enough. As a guideline an average man requires 2500kcals and average woman requires 2000kcals.You will need to make sure you really are reducing your total energy (calorie) intake. Eating 500 to 600 calories less each day, than your body needs, is realistic. That way you eat enough to be properly nourished and you won’t feel too hungry. It gives you a steady and safe weight loss of about 1lb a week.

This also is untrue. Following the calorie reduction advice given will cause hunger and tiredness and it will be difficult to keep to the advice. And it is very, very unlikely to result in weight loss. - The advice is not supported by evidence. The 1lb a week weight loss claimed for the advice is a calculation based on arithmetic, calculating so many calories to the pound weight; it is not based on actually trying out the advice on real people. - If you want the FACTS about the causes of obesity and the safest way to reduce excess weight: (Eat less salt/sodium) , see http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/ - It is easy for most obese people to lose weight safely and rapidly - up to a stone (14 pounds) in the first month alone - by seriously and strictly eating less salt/sodium and eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. One woman following my advice lost 5 stones (70 pounds) in a year without hunger and without restricting calories at all!

Here is an extract from http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/story.html

"Calorie counting and advice about increasing exercise and reducing fat and carbohydrate intake to reduce obesity are ineffective, counter-productive and often damaging. - See the article in the British Medical Journal of November 2003 http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7423/1085 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 http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1515455,00.html 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.

Another possible factor is the increase in the amount of oestrogen in the water table."

The Department of Health's Draft paper makes no mention of salt or sodium! And yet salt sensitivity is overwhelmingly the main cause of obesity, and reducing salt intake is overwhelmingly the easiest, safest, speediest and most reliable way to lose excess weight. Nor does the Draft paper make any mention of the huge role of prescribed medications in causing salt sensitivity! And there is no mention at all in the Draft paper of fluid retention, yet fluid retention is a major component of obesity!

And how can the Department of Health be so completely unaware that calorie reduction such as they recommend for reducing weight is actually well recognised as being a major cause of weight gain? And how can they be suggesting that surgery, with all its attendant risks and costs, may be appropriate as a means of losing weight? I consider this highly irresponsible.

This Alice in Wonderland approach to weight reduction, whereby the advice given to reduce weight is actually highly likely to result in weight gain, should be abandoned forthwith, along with all the research aimed at finding ways to get obese people to limit their calorie intake and thus harm themselves further. - I include here the dangerous intention to prescribe so-called anti-obesity pills to people already damaged enough.

Give people the correct information about obesity and the salt connection and they will lose weight fast - just like magic - rapidly and easily.