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June 14th every year is World Blood Donor Day. This day is set aside to thank voluntary, unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood. It also raise awareness of the need for regular blood donations to ensure that all individuals and communities have access to affordable and timely supplies of safe and quality-assured blood and blood products.

Have you ever given blood? Do you plan to? Now, before you stroll down to the next clinic to donate, please read the post below…an earlier post I had made on requirements for donating blood. Enjoy…. 

To donate blood, you have to be at least 17 years or over, in good health with a healthy blood count and weigh more than 50kg, you can donate whole blood every 56 days and your blood will be screened for viruses and bacteria. 

Now to specifics…. 

Before the blood donation, be sure to do the following: 

Ensure that you are eating an iron-rich diet like green, leafy veggies, red meat, cereals fortified with iron etc.Avoid fatty foods

Be sure to avoid alcohol and take in lots of fluids (water and other juices)Bring along your donor card and form of ID

Avoid vigorous exercise

During the blood donation, be sure to 

Wear loose and comfortable clothing which can be folded above the elbow.

Relax and let the bleeding proceed 

You shouldn’t feel any pain after the initial prick. If you do, please call the attention of the medic close by. 

After the blood donation, 

Don’t be in a hurry 

Relax and have a snack and a few drinks (non-alcoholic, please)

Avoid smoking in the first 2 hours

Avoid alcohol in the first 8 hours

Avoid strenuous exercise and do not carry heavy stuff with that arm for the rest of the day

Keep the pressure bandage on for about 30 minutes afterwards

Keep the plaster on though for about 6 hours after.If you feel lightheaded, please lie down, drink a lot of fluid and rest until you feel better

If the donation site starts to bleed, please apply pressure and elevate arm. If this continues, please see your doctor.

Go save some lives 🙂

Q: Good evening Doctor, I am 30 weeks pregnant and unfortunately my house help left for school about 3 week ago. Now all the house chores such as sweeping, washing, mopping etc. are on me now. Please, will this have any negative effect on the baby? I am very worried.
A: Hi dear. Thanks for writing in and congratulations on your pregnancy. I assume that it’s your first from your question 😀
So, pregnancy is not a death sentence or an illness, really. It is a natural condition and so, potentially, you can do a lot of things without any problem. Now there are caveats…if you have threatened abortion (miscarriage), your doctor will advise you to be on strict bed rest and not to lift a finger, literally 😀 There are a few other conditions that may limit what you can do, but your doctor will definitely be the one to issue those orders. In any case, whenever in doubt, please consult your doctor.
Having said that, bending to sweep or mop is okay in pregnancy but it has to be done the proper way…bending at the knees and not twisting your body while at it 😀 I suggest that you use the long-handled brushes/mops for sweeping/mopping as opposed to the local/native brooms/scrubbing brushes that require bending…in probably uncomfortable ways.

Pregnant women get lots of advice: from friends, mothers, mothers-in-law, colleagues, husbands etc. Sometimes it’s confusing to know what’s true and what’s not.
As a follow-on of my post a few days ago, I give you some more pregnancy myths and my take on them:

Advice
The first breast milk, colostrum, should be discarded as it is dirty and causes rashes in children

Fiction (False)
Colostrum is the first milk produced by the mother and is loaded with antibodies and nutrients needed by the baby. Babies should not be deprived of this milk.

Advice
Women should not take the prenatal vitamins (antenatal drugs) given at the hospitals because it makes babies grow unnecessarily big.

Fiction:
The iron tablets are important to prevent anaemia (blood shortage) in pregnant women and the folic acid ensures that baby’s spine develops well with no defects. In fact, it is advised that women who wish to get pregnant should start taking folic acid about 3 months before they conceive.
Any other ones you know?
Have a great evening 😀

Q: What happens to people that are lactose intolerant?

A: Lactose is a natural sugar found in milk. People with lactose intolerance can’t digest lactose, which is the natural sugar found in milk. This is because they lack an enzyme called lactase. Some people with lactose intolerance cannot digest any milk or milk product at all, others are able to digest small amounts of milk and milk products.

Lactose intolerance occurs more commonly in adults and in the African, Asian and South American races. It appears to run in families. So, a positive family history means one has a higher risk of developing this. Lactose intolerance usually occurs during the teenage or adult years but some of these people are able to take some milk or milk products. Severity of symptoms depends on the degree of lactase deficiency and the amount of lactose in the person’s diet. Some cases of lactose intolerance can develop after diseases of the small intestine, as a result of ageing or even after stomach surgery. It could be permanent or temporary.

Some children are born with lactose intolerance and thus cannot tolerate any food that contains lactose. This includes milk and all milk products. Some pre-mature babies have lactose intolerance just because their bodies cannot make the enzyme needed to breakdown lactose yet. This is temporary though. As soon as the body starts making lactase, then the problem disappears.

The symptoms of lactose intolerance typically include bloating, gas, diarrhea and tummy ache when you’ve had excessive amounts of milk. Anyone with this condition can reduce the symptoms of lactose intolerance by trying the following:

• Try staying off dairy for a day and see if your symptoms decrease. . If the symptoms reduce, then gradually add back some dairy products and see if your symptoms start up again
• Reducing the amount of dairy you take at any one time. Eg take a small amount of milk and sip slowly.
• Try out different dairy products and see what works for you. There are varying amounts of lactose in different dairy foods. Quite a number of people with lactose intolerance are able to tolerate yoghurt with live cultures. You could try different things and see what works for you.
• Taking lactase tablets prescribed by your doctor to help digest your dairy products. These are usually taken before you take the lactose. This may help but is not useful in all cases.
• Try taking milk with other foods as this may slow down the digestive process, changes the way the body absorbs it and ultimately produce less symptoms.

The main challenge that people with lactose intolerance have is figuring out other food sources that can replace dairy in their diets with the right amount of calcium.  Dark green leafy vegetables, fortified cereals and almond milk are excellent sources of calcium. So stock up on those!

Finally, ensure that your doctor is part of the solution.

All the best!

Q: A doctor in diaspora told me milk is for cow and not too good for consumption.

A: Very interesting comment. If the idea is that the milk we are discussing comes from cows and therefore should be taken by cows, I don’t necessarily disagree. Cows should definitely take their milk but it raises very interesting questions about humans. Should we continue breastfeeding at an adult age? 😀

Having said that, there have been reports that taking milk causes inflammation and therefore the body secretes a lot of mucous to counteract that. There’s still not sufficient evidence to support this. Currently, we know that milk is very beneficial. However, some knowledge will help you choose better from the different types of milk that exist

Skimmed milk and full cream milk are types of cow milk. Full cream milk has a lot of saturated fats. A diet rich in saturated fats is associated with heart disease. Skimmed milk has the least amount of fats (about 0.1%). There is also semi-skimmed milk which has about 2% fat content.

Here are the recommendations based on age:

• From birth till 6 months, a baby should be getting breast milk only and he should get it on demand several times a day at least 2-3 hourly
• From 6 months to 1 year, continue breast milk with other complementary feeds like fortified cereals

Before 1 year of age, your baby should not get cow milk (the regular milk we have). He should only get formula (baby milk) and/or breast milk.

• From 1 year to 2 years, the child should get at least 2 cups of full cream milk. The fat is particularly important to ensure proper brain development

Full cream milk is advised for children from 1 year when they can start taking regular milk till 2 years. The fat in the full cream milk is needed for proper brain development.

After the child turns 2 years, please switch to semi-skimmed milk or 2% milk if you can get that, up to 5 years of age. Your child should get at least 2 1/2 – 3 cups of semi-skimmed milk or other dairy products daily.

• From 5 years to 8 years, your child should get at least 2 1/2 – 3 cups of skimmed milk or other dairy products daily
• From 9 years till adulthood, you should get at least 3 – 4 cups of skimmed milk or dairy daily

Remember that your milk intake should form part of your calorie intake per day. Be sure to take that into account. So guys, get your milk mustache going. It’s certainly one source of protein and calcium that you should not be ignoring. Be sure to check that the milk is also fortified with Vitamin D which ensures that the calcium is properly absorbed. If you are at risk of prostate cancer or have other concerns, be sure to discuss your milk intake with your doctor.

There are a couple of people that may want to avoid milk though:

• Those with lactose intolerance (we’ll talk about this tomorrow)
• Those without lactose intolerance and yet when they take diary, they feel tired, sluggish, bloated, congested and/or their tummy feels out of sorts
• Those who just don’t want to take dairy for whatever reason. It’s a free world 🙂

If you’re not sure where you belong but you think something is ‘off’ when you take diary, please have a chat with your nutritionist or doctor.

All the best!

Hello everyone! How’s your week going? It’s almost over , so make the last day count! :d

So, I’m out of town and went out with some friends yesterday. The conversation, inevitably went to alcohol and how to prevent hangovers. And interestingly, someone talked about an evening out with friends where they had started out drinking beer before wine and then finally gin because they had heard that if you go that way (from low to high) then you avoid a hangover. We were all curious and asked if it worked. The answer? ‘I don’t remember anything that happened!’ 😀 So, there you go! Leave the booze alone, people ;D

But just in case, you’re still in doubt, read what Harvard has to say!

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/beer-before-wine-strategy-doesnt-hold-water

June 1st of every month year is World Milk Day!

In honour of that day….

Do you take milk regularly every day? Or perhaps I should ask, ‘when was the last time you drank milk? Are you one of those who think that milk is only for children? Well, that’s not true. Everyone needs milk: children and adults alike!
Milk is a source of complete protein containing all the essential amino acids needed by but not produced by the body. You’re encouraged to have 3 to 4 servings of milk daily. Remember that this is not just for children. This is a habit that should be started in childhood and continue for life to ensure that you have a good stock pile of calcium to help fight osteoporosis.
Milk contains a lot of nutrients with loads of benefits to the body:
Milk is rich in protein and minerals like calcium, phosphorus and magnesium which are needed for healthy growth and development of bones. If milk consumption is started early in life and continued throughout life, it provides protection against osteoporosis…a bone disease that makes bones brittle and easy to break. This is particularly important because from the age of 30, the rate at which bone is built is less than the rate at which it is destroyed. Our bodies also start mobilizing calcium from our bones if there is not enough in our blood from diet, so if you already had a good stock of calcium, you won’t be in trouble
Calcium and phosphorus, abundant in milk, also help the proper growth and development of healthy teeth. The protein in milk forms a thin film over the teeth enamel preventing the loss of calcium from teeth when acidic foods like citrus are taken.
There is moderate evidence that milk consumption helps reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, lowers blood pressure and also reduces the risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.
Milk can also be used to meet your daily fluid requirements daily as it is made up of a significant amount of water (90%). This applies to fresh milk and reconstituted powdered milk. This ensures that you are well hydrated and helps a lot of other bodily functions like excretion.
Milk helps to give you lovely radiant skin due to its high content of Vitamin A
So, now you know.
Have a good night, y’all 😀