chatwithketch

The book, Just For The Health Of It, is now available in more places.

For those in Abuja and environs, please call 07030739403 or pick it up at No 5 Bricks Market, Dawaki 11 Market, Dawaki extension.

For those in Awka, please call 08189944090.

Remember that this book is a great gift for anyone who wishes to live and eat healthy, lose weight, get ready for pregnancy and parenting. Buy copies for bridal showers, baby showers, Christmas gifts etc. It’s a gift that keeps on giving 😀

Our former channels still remain:

1) Jumia.com. Just click on this link http://www.jumia.com.ng/jumia-books-just-for-the-health-of-it-with-dr-ketch-179486.html and get a copy. You have the option of paying when the book is delivered to you or paying online. This service is available all over Nigeria.

2) Another option for those in Lagos is Laterna Bookshop on 13, Oko-Awo Close, Off Adetokunbo Ademola Street,. Victoria Island.

3) If you’re outside the country, please visit Amazon through this link http://www.amazon.com/Just-Health-Ketch-Pregnancy-Parenting/dp/9789398026/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426246647&sr=1-1&keywords=just+for+the+health+of+it+with+dr+ketch+olalere+nkechi

Q: Good morning chief. Please can fondling and sucking of breast lead to pre-term labour especially in third trimester.

A: Chief????Hmmm! 😀

Great question! The answer is not straight forward though…it’s a yes and no! Theoretically, sucking on the breast can cause the release of the hormone, oxytocin, which can cause uterine (womb) contractions. Towards the end of pregnancy too, a woman becomes more sensitive to the effects of this hormone and would observe a good number of Braxton-Hicks contractions (these are ‘fake’ contractions preparing the womb for the main even :D)

However, in practice the amount of oxytocin released is really not enough to induce labour. If, you have had issues with pre-term pregnancy in the past, you may want to have a chat with your doctor about this.

For related posts, please click on this link: https://chatwithdrketch.com/2015/02/16/daily-health-tips-can-i-breastfeed-while-pregnant/

Have a great night y’all 😀

Q: Morning Doc, my daughter of 1 month 3 weeks releases a lot of gas. What could be the problem or is it normal? Thanks Doc…

A: 😀 Is this your first baby? I can imagine your embarrassment the first time this happened! 😉

If you’re breastfeeding your baby, your diet could affect your baby making her gassy. Foods that contain milk, peanuts, corn or wheat are easy culprits. If you suspect any of them are causing your baby to be gassy, you may consider stopping the particular food for about a week to see if symptoms improve.

Other tips to help you deal with this and indeed reduce your baby’s flatulence include:

Ensure the baby is latched on properly to your breast while feeding. This ensures that baby does not suck in loads of air while getting her meal. If you’re bottle feeding, ensure you tilt the bottle such that the milk fills the nipple too.

Try holding your baby upright for a while after breastfeeding and if bottle feeding try to feed in as upright a position as possible.

Be sure to burp your baby after each meal to ease out all of that gas J

Rub your baby’s tummy…like a tummy massage and play the bicycle leg game with her. This involves moving her legs up and down as if she were riding a bicycle.

Feed your baby on demand to prevent getting her worked up J When she’s worked up, she cries while eating, getting equal doses of food and air which ultimately leads to all that gas in her tummy.

Constipated babies also pass out a lot of gas. If you’re exclusively breastfeeding, this should not be a problem.

For a related post, please click on this link: https://chatwithdrketch.com/2014/08/19/daily-health-tips-can-i-use-gripe-water-for-my-babys-tummy-ache/

Have a good night y’all 😀

Consistently feeling tired and stressed out?

Easy culprits could be lifestyle factors like inactivity or too much activity, poor eating habits, poor sleep, alcohol or caffeine use. Psychologically, stress, grief, anxiety can also make one feel tired and fatigued continually.

As the year comes to an end, a lot of people find themselves feeling this way as they struggle to complete tasks, that, maybe, they should have started at the beginning of the year 😀

Should you be on supplements? If you know for a fact that you’re not getting enough nourishment generally or enough of the right nutrients, then you most definitely need to supplement. Supplements are a great way to provide those nutrients that your body is missing because you’re not eating much or to plug the nutrient hole if you’re eating but missing out on essential nutrients. Most people, however, do not like popping pills and so taking the supplements is also not the easiest option for them. But here’s some good news! There are supplements that are available as easy-to-mix drinks. A great example is Complan which is a complete meal in a drink.

What else should you be doing? Here are quick tips for you!

• If you’ve not been exercising, make a plan to include 30 minutes of activity daily. Yes, you can do it! Use the stairs, use the gym, park your car farther from your office and walk etc And you know what? Exercise helps boost your appetite! One more reason for you to get moving 😀
• Try and catch at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep daily
• Reduce your intake of caffeine and alcohol
• Manage your stress better. Use the 4 A’s: avoid or alter the stressor, adapt to or accept the situation.

Finally, diet is critical. Remember that stress can make you lose appetite and when your body is being starved of nutrients, you end up feeling tired! If your appetite has taken a vacation, supplements can help to ensure that you are not being starved of essential nutrients which your body needs. The fact that Complan is packed full of proteins, carbs, vitamins, minerals and  it has all the nutrition of a complete meal in a drink which can be readily mixed as a drink, makes it a great choice at times like these.

As you start to feel better, ensure that you eat healthy. More fruits and veggies should be added to your diet; don’t skip breakfast, watch your portions.

So, there you go! All the tips you need to fight fatigue and tiredness! So, next time I see you in serious ‘go-slow’ traffic, be sure to have a big smile on ….and maybe, even a cup of Complan! 😀

Q: Please, what do you think can be making baby’s tummy to be making sounds and what can be done to prevent this?

A: Your baby’s tummy makes noise normally…grumbling noises, murmuring noises, gurgling noises etc 😀 all through the day. And they are normal. You would probably notice them more just before your baby eats or soon after. Those are the sounds of our very hard working intestines as they contract and push air around…swallowed air and air produced as a result of digestion.

Want to know more about what your new baby is up to? Get details from the book, Just For The Health Of It.

This book also makes an excellent gift for baby showers, bridal showers, new parents, people who wish to lose weight and to everyone who desires to embrace healthy living in all aspects.

You can get a copy via the shop now link on our facebook page. Or you can get it through:

1) Jumia.com. Just click on this link http://www.jumia.com.ng/jumia-books-just-for-the-health-of-it-with-dr-ketch-179486.html and get a copy. You have the option of paying when the book is delivered to you or paying online. This service is available all over Nigeria.

2) Another option for those in Lagos is Laterna Bookshop on 13, Oko-Awo Close, Off Adetokunbo Ademola Street,. Victoria Island.

3) If you’re outside the country, please visit Amazon through this link http://www.amazon.com/Just-Health-Ketch-Pregnancy-Parenting/dp/9789398026/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426246647&sr=1-1&keywords=just+for+the+health+of+it+with+dr+ketch+olalere+nkechi

As we approach the festive season and the time when people cook a lot to celebrate, I reproduce a post I had made before. I have received a lot of questions on cancer since the post I made on it and I have also been asked this question on re-using oil, frequently. So, here goes!

Q: Should we re-use oils that have been used for frying?

A: This is a very important question. How do we tell the woman who has used a whole lot of oil to fry akara (bean cakes) to pour all that oil away afterwards? In these economic times? The truth is, even if she wanted to do that for her health, the economic imperatives make it impossible! Do you know how much that oil cost? 😀
Okay, so what can we do? Re-using oil can be done safely. First, the focus is on oils that have a high smoking point. Smoking point, simply put, is the heat point at which the oil begins to smoke 😀 (Elementary, my dear Watson!). And so, oil that has smoked, is not good for use any more. In fact, you can consider smoking point to be that point at which oil goes from good to bad! At that point, the oil breaks down and forms free radicals that can cause cancer. Oils like peanut (groundnut) and Soya oils have high smoking points and do not break down easily.

So, you can re-use the oil provided it didn’t get to smoking point, it didn’t foam, change colour or develop a funny smell . To store the oil, let it cool, strain out all the food debris and then put in jars (glass, preferably) and refrigerate or freeze and use within one month. If food debris is left in the oil, it forms a rich culture medium for micro-organisms that can cause food poisoning to grow.

Finally, as much as practicable, try not to add salt to the food you wish to fry as salt lowers the smoking point of oils. And by the way, what’s with all the frying??? Grill, bake or roast 😉

Q: Good day Dr Ketch. While I was bathing, water got stuck in my ear and when I went to the hospital the doctor, he said I had ear infection. He prescribed some medications. Then he asked me to be doing Valsalva Maneuver. I have done everything and the pain has reduced but I still feel the ear is blocked because air doesn’t pass through when I exercise and when I clean the ear, the discharge has a funny smell. I went back to the doctor and he still prescribed the same medications. It’s been over 3 months now and I still feel the same way. Please, what do I do?

A: Water that remains in your ear for a while can create the sort of moist and warm environment that germs require to grow and multiply. This is very common in people with allergies, swimmers, people who stick their fingers into their ears (yes you! 😀 Don’t look back), use cotton buds (cotton tips) and other objects (tooth picks, pens etc) to clean their ears. The skin of the outer ear canal is very delicate such that sticking things in it to clean it or scratch an itch can lead to bruising making it easy for germs to take over. Young people who use ear phones a lot are at risk of this (for obvious reasons) and also children because of their narrow ear canals. I almost banned y second daughter from swimming because of this. She always got water in her ear while swimming and would be in pain for a while.

Usual symptoms are ear pain, itching, discharge of clear fluid, pain on pulling the outer ear. This may progress to more intense itching, discharge of pus, some degree of temporary hearing loss and may progress to complete blockage of ear canal. This is usually not very serious and resolves with treatment but if complicated may even lead to infections that spread to other parts of the body and could lead to perforated ear drums.
If this infection remains for more than three months, it is then called chronic otitis externa. This can be due to infections caused by a combination of bacteria and fungi, an allergy, a rare strain of bacteria etc

Treatment is usually with ear drops that reduce the swelling in the ear canal, help fight the bacteria or fungi (depending on the infection present) and other medications to fight pain. To help the ear drops make travel to the desired location, trying lying down with the affected ear up.

The Valsalva maneuver is a means of equalizing pressure in the ears by exhaling against a closed mouth and nose. You can try this out when you have ‘airplane ear’. This happens on flights as the planes starts to ascend or begins its descent. Close your mouth, pinch your nose and then try to blow out air against your closed mouth. It works like magic.

I suggest you go see an Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist who will evaluate you. He may take swabs from your ear too to get an idea of what infection is there before proceeding to treat. In instances where treatment has not responded to ear drops, oral antibiotics may be prescribed.

All the best.

Have a good night everyone 😀