.png?resize=380%2C285)
Dogs can improve our health without us even realising it.
You don’t have to run endlessly around the local park with your dog to lose weight.
When low-income, sedentary people with chronic illness were given “loaner” dogs to walk, they lost an average of 6.5kg a year, a study from the University of Missouri found – so even a gentle stroll with Fido is good.
Pet owners also tend to have lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol, according to a study conducted by the Baker Medical Research Institute in Melbourne.
And if all this isn’t a big enough reason to love our four-legged friends, pets can benefit our mental health too.
Related Video: Watch the video below to see how this dog and his master stay healthy!
Dogs can improve our health without us even realising it.
You don’t have to run endlessly around the local park with your dog to lose weight.
When low-income, sedentary people with chronic illness were given “loaner” dogs to walk, they lost an average of 6.5kg a year, a study from the University of Missouri found – so even a gentle stroll with Fido is good.
Pet owners also tend to have lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol, according to a study conducted by the Baker Medical Research Institute in Melbourne.
And if all this isn’t a big enough reason to love our four-legged friends, pets can benefit our mental health too.
Related Video: Watch the video below to see how this dog and his master stay healthy!
When I was working in a shopping mall, a very handsome musician named Doug worked in the music store next to me. We used to do some harmless flirting all the time, but it never went any further than that. I had recently broken off a long term relationship and the last thing I wanted was another one.
In the same mall was a young woman. I will call her “Little Miss Mall”. Little Miss Mall fancied herself to be better looking than she actually was, and she had a bit of a reputation. Doug used to joke about how she was always in his store and he could never get any work done. We both agreed that she liked him.
One day, Little Miss Mall walked past my store and saw Doug in there chatting with me. She didn’t stop looking at us as she walked past. Later that day she came in to the store pretending to look around and then struck up a conversation with me. I knew she was only doing this to get information on my relationship with Doug.
Months went by and every day Little Miss Mall would come into my store and tell me about her sexual conquests with various men — whether I liked it or not. She asked me if I liked anyone and when I said no she told me she could tell that I liked Doug. I denied it at first but admitted it after she said she was interested in Doug’s friend John. We spent the next half hour joking about how we could go on double dates with the guys. I was actually starting to like the girl, and was thinking we could be friends, even though there was an age gap between us.
The next day, she came into my store telling me how she was at the pub with Doug and John, and John had to go home early so it was just her and Doug, and they got drunk, one thing led to another and she went home with him. While she was telling me this, she had a cruel, smug grin on her face. She could not have been happier telling me this. It was clear to me that she was never interested in John at all. The whole story was just a set up to see if I had feelings for Doug.
Weeks went by where she would come to the store to tell me every detail about their sex life and how she was his girlfriend. I knew she was over exaggerating because I had actually seen him out at gigs without her, and he would flirt outrageously with me. I warned him that this girl thought there was more to the relationship with him and to be careful, but he said that they had only slept together a few times had he made it abundantly clear to her that it was not a relationship. So I knew that when she came into my store with her stories she was sugar-coating things to make me jealous.
Doug was in my store again having a chat when I saw her walk by, staring in and looking very annoyed. Not long after he left, she came in and said that Doug must be so proud that he was he had a young sexy girlfriend instead of being stuck with some haggard, fat old woman. At the time I was carrying a little bit of extra weight, and the fact that I was older than her made it clear that she was aiming her comment at me to make me feel bad.
I spent the afternoon stewing over this and I thought, that’s it, I’ve had it with this girl. No more nicey-nicey from me.
That afternoon I strutted into the music store, walked straight up to Doug, ignoring the other guys in the store, and I told him how good he looked today. His face lit up and he blushed. Then I simply turned around and walked out of the store.
Lo and behold, within 10 minutes of me walking out he came into my store with a stack of CDs as a gift, which had his business card attached. Then he asked me for my number. I gave it to him and sent me text messages all afternoon. He asked me to come to a gig with him that night, but I didn’t want to seem too easy, so I declined.
Over the next few weeks he continued to call me, text me and bring me gifts. I finally gave in to his advances, but told him that I didn’t want a relationship because I had ended and engagement a year earlier. However, I would be up for some “harmless fun between two consenting adults”.
Over the coming months, Doug and I occasionally saw each other, but we both made it clear we could see other people.
One day, I was sitting on my front porch and I had had a bit to drink, when Little Miss Mall walked by and she came over and told me how she had not heard from Doug in months so she got revenge on him by sleeping with other men behind his back. She was giggling the whole time she was telling me this and she was big noting herself yet again when something in me snapped.
“Don’t gloat too much. He is sleeping around too,” I said.
She looked at me in shock. “How do you know this?”
“Because he is sleeping with me,” I replied.
Tears welled up in her eyes and I just started to feel sorry for the girl when she blurted out, “How could he possibly want to be with YOU when he has ME?”
She told me she didn’t believe me, so I went inside and brought out some items that he had left at my place. She just stared at the items then screamed “I can’t believe this!” She walked away yelling obscenities at me.
I have to admit I felt pretty darn good seeing how hurt she was. Does that make me a bad person?
All names have been changed. Picture posed by models.
Your say: Have your say about this true confession below…
Just when you thought the season of feeling sick was over and the nasty cold and flu bugs were out of the picture, think again.
There are still bacteria lurking in everyday places and on everyday items in your home and workplace. These bacteria can be contributing to the spread of illness more than you realise.
Watch the video above of Health magazine editor Dr Roshini Raj as she explains the five germiest places in your life and how to leave the germs behind.
Then take a look at our gallery of the germs lurking around your home and your everyday items.
It’s official: sitting at your desk all day is making you fat, according to a new Canadian study.
Researchers at the University of Montreal compared eating and exercise habits of people in 2004 to behaviour in the 1970s and found that despite eating more healthily and exercising more these days, we are still getting larger.
“People eat better and exercise more today than they did in the 1970s, yet obesity rates continue to rise,” lead researcher Carl-Étienne Juneau said in a media release.
In pictures: celebs’ weight-loss journeys
In pictures: Magda’s amazing weight-loss transformation
Juneau and his team wrote in the journal Preventive Medicine that one of the big changes in the last 30 years is that we have become less active in our work and that this, at least in part, is responsible for the rise in obesity, MyHealthNewsDaily reported.
As a rise in leisure-time physical activities has not curbed weight gain, the researchers suggested several ways to incorporate more physical activity into the working day.
These include:
taking a walk during a work break;
taking the stairs instead of the lift; and
participating in group exercise to increase motivation.
The researchers studied health information from hundreds of thousands of Canadians. They found that obesity rates increased nearly 10 percentage points between 1978 and 2004.
Their findings support a 2005 study published in the journal Science, which found that obese people typically sit for two hours more a day than slimmer people.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 61 percent of Australians are overweight or obese.
Your say: What do you think of this study? What do you think are the main factors contributing to people being overweight? Share you thought below.
Related video: Iron Man Guy Leech takes us through some simple exercises to do during your lunch break…
Although there are hundreds of different essential oils, all you need are the following three — calming lavender, stimulating eucalyptus and delectable rose — to create a variety of natural health and beauty treatments and recipes for your home.
Lavender
A versatile all-purpose remedy and an ideal choice for treating burns, bites, stings and other minor skin injuries, lavender oil is a helpful ingredient in homemade lotions, toners, and massage blends.
Lavender promotes healing and minimises scarring. Its natural antibacterial, antiseptic, and oil-regulating effects make it useful for treating acne and other inflammatory skin conditions, including pimples and swelling, while its decongestant and antimicrobial properties make it effective in inhalations and chest rubs for treating colds and coughs. It is also an effective insect repellent for both personal and household use.
A natural sedative, using lavender essential oil in inhalations or oil burners or just sprinkling a few drops on your pillow will improve the length and depth of sleep. Massaging a few drops neat into the temples may help to relieve a headache. Above all, its scent is balancing, calming and soothing.
Eucalyptus
Well known as a trusty natural remedy for respiratory ailments, this also has many household uses, thanks to its potent infection-fighting and insect-repellent abilities. As well as being an effective decongestant, it has powerful medicinal and fever-reducing effects, specifically against cold and flu viruses and common disease-causing bacteria like staphylococcus.
Use it as a fumigant in sick-rooms, in topical remedies for skin disorders, including minor burns, cuts, and scratches; viral infections such as cold sores; bacterial infections, including boils, abscesses, and ingrown hairs; stings and insect bites; and in massage blends and compresses for muscular and circulatory conditions, such as bruises or sprains, and nervous system disorders, including neuralgia and headache. Eucalyptus’ cooling effect makes it a helpful addition to a tepid bath or compress for a patient with a fever.
Rose
This essential oil was created by the famed Arab doctor and alchemist, Avicenna, in 10th-century Persia, and it has enjoyed great health, household, and cosmetic significance ever since. Rose oil’s overall effect is warming, uplifting, sensual and nurturing; it is reputed to be an aphrodisiac. It has antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic and sedative properties, and is thought to act as a tonic for the heart, stomach and uterus.
Much loved for its feminine fragrance, rose essential oil may be included in facial, body and bath treatments; it is particularly recommended for mature, sensitive, or fragile skin in need of rejuvenation. Its hormone-balancing qualities make it effective in treating female reproductive system disorders.
It also has the ability to support the spirit. Burn it in an oil burner to ease stress, or use it in a massage blend to counter feelings of shyness or poor self-image.
October 4 to 10 is National Aromatherapy Awareness Week. Visit www.endeavour.edu.au to find out about free public seminars on this and other natural therapies.
Note: Avoid using essential oils during pregnancy or while breast feeding unless on professional advice from a qualified aromatherapist. Some essential oils may affect hormones and stimulate the uterus. Keep essential oils out of reach of children.
Never ingest essential oils; they are toxic. Do not let essential oils get into your eyes or your mouth. Only use essential oils in very low dilutions, eg: five to 10 drops in three or four tablespoons of an unscented “carrier” oil, such as sweet almond oil. Always patch-test any homemade skin treatments before use to ensure the oils do not cause irritation. Do not store essential oils or oil blends in plastic containers, only in glass.
A US study has found that teenagers diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are far more likely to have suicidal tendencies compared to other teens.
The University of Maryland research team surveyed 248 young people aged nine to 18 years, of whom half had been diagnosed with ADHD as young children, the UK’s Daily Telegraph reported.
The research team, led by Dr Andrea Chronis-Tuscano, wrote in the Archives of General Psychiatry that their findings suggested young children with ADHD are at “high risk for both single and recurrent episodes of adolescent depression and for suicidal behaviour”.
The research found a greater risk of depression among those with the condition. One in eight of those with ADHD had developed their own specific “suicide plan” compared to 1.6 percent of those without it.
Meanwhile, scientists at UK’s Cardiff University believe they have discovered as genetic basis for ADHD stating that children with the condition are more likely to have particular faulty sections of genetic code than those without it.
Professor of child and adolescent psychiatry, Anita Thapar, said the Cardiff findings were exciting.
“Now we can say with confidence that ADHD is a genetic disease and that the brains of children with this condition develop differently to those of other children,” she said.
The Royal Children’s Melbourne Hospital has said that between 3 and 5 percent of Australian children have the disorder, and it’s much more common in boys than girls.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a developmental problem which results in poor concentration and control of impulses. ADHD is not an illness. It can affect children’s learning and social skills, but can be controlled with medical treatment and understanding from parents and teachers.
It is important to note that no single test can diagnose ADHD. Diagnosis is done through an assessment by a doctor or psychologist after a number of factors are taken into consideration.
Related video: Treating ADHD
So this is what it feels like being a maharaja. I’m sitting on a larger-than-life wicker chair in the shape of a peacock’s tail at the prow of a stately kettuvallam on the Backwaters of Kerala. Men are swimming with the agility of dolphins in the water, catching prized fish called karimeen, with their bare hands. They laugh, while treading water, and wave the fish in their grasp in greeting.
A fragrant five-course lunch is being prepared in the galley and a light breeze is fanning me as effectively as a punkah wallah. Here, on Vembanad Lake, the high humidity and 32°C heat feels pleasant enough. On land, the air is hot and soupy.
“Would, sir, like a drink of coconut milk with a twist of lime,” asks a deck hand, dressed in a traditional dhoti, a rectangular cloth wrapped around the waist and tied in a knot. “Why not,” I reply, as he hands me the drink with a beaming smile, his broken teeth stained red from chewing betel nut. The juice is served chilled in half a coconut shell and is deeply refreshing.
Before boarding our kettuvallam (converted spice barge), I have an Ayurvedic treatment – a two-hour, four-handed massage, known as elakki thirummu, based on the deep-tissue therapy used to treat Keralan martial artists. It’s very thorough and a little challenging, but as I walk from the spa to the pier, I feel I am floating inches above the path. This sensation continues as the boat glides towards a palm-fringed shore, where a more intimate network of canals takes us into the heart of the Backwaters.
So mesmerising are the scenes we pass, my mind slips into gentle reflection. Kerala is the India you dream of, without the dirt or the eye-popping poverty, and with so much natural beauty that the signposts all claim it, more than fairly, to be “God’s own country”. Put another way, it’s India for beginners – those in search of the exotic without all the challenges.
As the wealthiest region on the sub-continent, it is a place where disease and poverty are said to have been conquered and where every child, female as well as male, is educated. Evidence of this last point is everywhere. There are schools in almost every town, and spilling out of each are droves of immaculately uniformed children.
Even in the Backwaters, where lush tropical vegetation of palm, coconut and banana trees fringe the waterways, there are scores of school children, marching along the canal banks laughing or sitting more meekly with their parents on the ferries that coast along from village to village.
As for the women, they wear saris of colours so brilliant it doesn’t seem possible they could be washed in the canals, but everywhere you go you catch glimpses of women bashing brightly coloured garments on rocks surrounded by shady pockets of luminescent greenery. Because of the sheer elegance of the sari, Kerala’s women seem as if they are permanently in their Sunday best, even when tending animals or going to market. Their colours light up an already dazzling landscape.
My reverie is broken by the chef, Venu, who has produced a feast: fried fish (the karimeen we saw being caught earlier), bitter gourd, green mango raita; a salad of cabbage, grated coconut and mustard seeds, sambar, spicy chicken curry and twice-cooked Keralan rice.
It’s difficult to focus on this meal, as delicious as it is, with such a fascinating landscape slipping by. Families are weaving their way along the canal banks, spires of brightly painted churches rise above the palm fronds, cattle graze on grassy banks in flooded paddy fields and occasionally the boat slips under an elegantly arched pedestrian bridge, where passers-by pause and wave.
According to the kettuvallam captain, Benji, there are more than 1700 licensed houseboats in the Backwaters and whereas we are on a day tour, many visitors spend days exploring this watery wonderland, sleeping in air-conditioned rooms with queen-sized beds and ensuite bathrooms.
Time slips by quickly on the Backwaters and before sunset we are back at Coconut Lagoon, a heritage eco-resort, with its own canals, bridges and lush flower gardens. Its distinctive wooden bungalows are restored tharavads, traditional houses, each with a courtyard bathroom open to the sky. Some come with miniature Keralan vechur cows, tethered to palm trees outside, where they dutifully mow the surrounding lawn.
The resort grounds are sensational. Everywhere you look, there are chill-red and tumeric-yellow hibiscus flowers the size of saucers and ancient frangi-pani trees heavily laden with blossom. The manicured lawns are shaded with almond and mango trees and divided by a network of canals – some only wide and deep enough to canoe along, others grand enough to take river boats.
An Ayurvedic spa and yoga platform overlook a lake with purple herons and white egrets. And a “walk-through butterfly garden” has been planted so cleverly that gossamer wings are aflutter all day.
Coconut Lagoon has excellent green credentials – 145 solar panels that heat and light 38 guest rooms, a water purification plant that recycles every last drop and a bio-mass plant (hidden from view) that turns leaf and vegetable matter, cow and human waste into feritiliser. All newspapers and packaging are handcrafted into wrapping paper and durable carrier bags in the gift shop.
The resort is also a gourmand’s retreat. The main restaurant serves a wide selection of European and Keralan dishes – vegetarian, meat and fish – and the seafood restaurant specialises in fresh fish and crustaceans brought daily from the coast.
Every blissful experience has to come to an end, but it is how you handle the anti-climax that matters – and Cochin, the spice trading port an hour’s drive away on the coast, is a must for those who want to keep their holiday in top gear.
Fort Cochin, or Fort Kochi as it is now called, has been the centre of the thriving spice on the Malabar Coast since Roman times. It’s an offshore island linked by bridges to the mainland. At its centre is the old parade ground with schools and churches, built by the Portuguese, the Dutch and, after them, the British. One of them, St Francis Church, was the burial place of the great Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1524, until his remains were later shipped to Lisbon. Inside are long rows of rope-operated punkahs, or fans, suspended above the pews, which were last used when young Queen Elizabeth II endured a service here in 1957 in 36°C heat. Feathery tamarinds, laden mango trees and jackfruit trees line the streets and on the old parade ground children play cricket from dawn until the morning school bell rings at 8am.
Follow the faint smell of fish – past St Jude Coffin Workshops and the Beautiful Beauty Parlour (“Discretion, by arrangement”) – until you arrive at the muddy shore where the famous cantilevered fishing nets, introduced by Mongol invaders long ago, look like medieval siege engines. These are lowered in the water with much “Heath Robinson” fanfare and withdrawn soon after, hopefully brimming with fish. Close by are the spice warehouses, where dried ginger sits in a thousand sacks, alongside cardamom and turmeric, cloves and cinnamon, nutmeg, tamarind and pepper.
Cochin is the only city in the world to trade in pepper futures and the international pepper exchange is at the heart of the spice district next to “Jew Town”. There’s been a Jewish community here since 650AD and the old synagogue is illuminated by rows of antique chandeliers and coconut-oil lamps that illuminate hand-painted floor tiles from China. Wend your way back to the parade ground and you’ll find the children again playing cricket, having left school at 12noon sharp.
Also overlooking the parade ground is Malabar House, Fort Cochin’s first and finest boutique heritage hotel, with strikingly attractive colonial interiors and a shady courtyard restaurant with a blue pool surrounded by gnarled frangi-pani trees. For sensational degustation meals, lightly spiced Keralan curries and breakfasts of paper-thin appam pancakes or imaginative Anglo-Indian bacon and egg combinations, you need go no further. In fact, Kerala with its exotic old spice port and enchanting Backwaters offer everything the first-time traveller to India could ever dream of. Other top spots in Kerala
Munnar Hill station: Head for the cooler hills, where the rising sun gently burns off swirling mountain mists and where tea, coffee and cardamom plantations border old-growth forests in the Western Ghats. Windermere Estate (windermeremunnar.com) is 25-hecatre cardamom plantation 1600m above sea level. It offers valley view rooms, cottages and planter’s villa rooms, a restaurant that serves European and regional food, and beautiful forest walks, where you’ll see multi-coloured giant Malabar squirrels and prolific bird life (see tour below).
Tigers and elephants at Periyar National Park: Go on an Indian safari in this spectacular park that surrounds a 5500-hectare lake. Famous for tigers, elephant herds, bison, sloth bear and antelope, it offers safari cruises on the lake where you can watch animals as they come to drink undisturbed on the shores. There are many places to stay outside the park gates, but inside is the Lake Palace Hotel (www.lakepalacethekkady.com), a former maharaja’s hunting lodge on an island on the lake.
Homestay cooking school: Learn how to cook the finest Syrian Christian cuisine at the delightful house of local landowners Thressi and John Thomas Kottukapally, whose ancestors donated a plot to the Apostle Thomas (Doubting Thomas) for the building of India’s first church in 54AD. The 47-year-old, two-storey main residence in the town of Pala, south-east of Fort Cochin, also has a beautiful 300-year-old wooden tharavad, or traditional southern India home, in the grounds (see tour below).
Travel essentials
Fly: Singapore Airlines (13 10 11; www.singaporeair.com.au) operates almost 100 flights a week from five ports in Australia to Singapore, with convenient connections onwards to Kochi operated by regional partner Silk Air; to Singapore (7hr 30min), then SilkAir to Kochi (4hr 30min). Airfares start from $1457 from the east coast and $1415 from Perth, including taxes/surcharges. Singapore Airlines and Silk Air fly to a total of nine ports in India, including Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Delhi as well as Kochi. Australians need a visa for India for stays up to six months. Apply at vfs-in-au.net.
Tour: Wildlife Safari (1800 998 558; www.wildlifesafari.com.au) has a seven-day Malabar Coast private journey from $2995 a person, twin share, including two nights at Malabar House, two nights at Windermere Estate on a cardamom plantation in the Western Ghats, two nights at Coconut Lagoon, touring by private vehicle with a driver, full-day kettuvallam cruise on the backwaters and a private tour of Fort Cochin.
Stay: Malabar House (malabarhouse.com), a member of the Relais & Chateaux group, has rooms, from $195 a night with breakfast. The hotel is part of Malabar Escapes, which includes Trinity (apartment-style rooms in Fort Cochin), Privacy (a bungalow retreat on Vembanad Lake), Serenity (a hilltop estate) and a houseboat named Discovery. A seven-night package in these properties costs from $1960 for two.
Stay: Coconut Lagoon Resort, at Kumarakom, (www.cghearthhotels.com/coconut-lagoon.html) is an eco-friendly slice of paradise on the edge of Backwaters with traditional heritage cottages and impressive lakeside villas each with its own swimming pool.
It has long been thought that carrying weight on your lower body was not as harmful to your health as carrying it around your stomach, and US scientists now think they know the reason.
Contrary to the previous understanding that adults cannot produce new fat cells, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota have found new fat cells can in fact be produced after childhood, but only in the lower parts of the body.
In pictures: celebs’ weight-loss journeys
“It sort of inverts the old dogma that we don’t make new fat cells when we are adults,” lead researcher Dr Michael Jensen told Reuters.
The researchers persuaded 28 healthy volunteers to eat until they were more than full for two months and then monitored their weight gain.
They found that as they piled on the kilos, the volunteers added new fat cells to their legs while the cells in their bellies instead expanded.
The findings could help explain why weight gain in the stomach carries more health risks than elsewhere in the body.
“Those people who make new leg fat cells, it may be protecting them,” Dr Jensen said.
The volunteers were encouraged to devour milkshakes, chocolate bars and energy drinks (a tough assignment!).
On average, they gained 2kg of upper-body fat and 1.4kg on their hips and thighs.
Contrary to the researchers’ expectations, women were no more likely than men to put weight on their thighs.
The findings may help expand our understanding of the role fat cells play in producing hormones as well as storing kilojoules and may help to explain why extra weight raises the risk of diabetes, heart disease and some cancers, Reuters reported.
Your say: Do you find it harder to lose weight from your stomach or your thighs? Share your thoughts below.
In pictures: Magda’s amazing weight-loss transformation
