A Touch of the Tropics

There is no escape.

Everyone travelling or staying in the tropics gets hit by it sooner or later.

The situation where your poor western stomach says,enough is enough of this eastern food.

You don’t really know whether it was the deep fried cockroaches you had for dinner the night before,or the cheddar cheese sandwich with Branston pickle which is also available here.But whatever it was you had better make sure a bathroom or bowl is in easy reach. Having established that they are near, you can lie back and wish to die.

You don’t of course, but it certainly feels like it,and in fact you will probably hope for  your passing at the acute stage.

Luckily it is usually something that takes at the most 48 hours to get over.Afterwards you will sleep and sleep,then greet the next day, a couple of pounds lighter and with a stomach that is now immune to the ‘joys’,of in my case,Asian cuisine.

A thought that went through my head while I was suffering was,

“now you are alone”

there is no family to accompany you on whatever journey this was going to take you,nobody to hold your hand,or make sure you got some fluids into you.It is all up to you.

But I managed it,and survived.

Although being alone when you are in need of care might be something that stops women doing what I did, this incident showed me we are all strong.It’s just fear that is the inhibitor.

A Trolley Full of Calories

Probably it is a trait found more in woman. Inquisitiveness. But then you could say it’s because we are just more interested in certain things.

Standing in line at the Supermarket for instance. I don’t know about you, but I always look at what everybody else has in their trolley,and in the few seconds it takes to look, I build my opinion about them,which I must admit isn’t always noble. Maybe because there are more and more people buying things who are having difficulty fitting in the food lines.

Yesterday the very overweight young woman in front of me put a large packet of Florentines,a delicious,toffee type cookie of fruit and nuts coated with a heavy layer of milk chocolate on one side. (Yes I will post the recipe) Plus a jumbo pack each of M and M’s, and Maltesers, a one kilo bag of refined sugar and a bottle of red wine. (Nothing against a glass of red wine of course)

There are people out there,like my blogging colleague Joe Felso who have started counting calories,and I wonder why more people can’t do it, for we all Know what obesity brings us, and it isn’t as though the food that make us fat is cheap.

Why can’t the food stores scan the calories as well as the price.

In Switzerland all medical care must be paid for. It is very good but very expensive,and health care insurance costs rise each year. We now have thousands of families in the county where I live alone, who can’t afford health insurance or pay for a doctor to treat their sick children, because others can’t discipline their eating habits and are making themselves chronically ill which we all have to pay for.

I think it is time Insurance companies gave some kind of bonus to people that could verify a certain weight loss over a years period,then there might be an incentive to count calories and eat healthier.

Lick It

No need to worry anymore if there is no disinfectant around when you cut yourself.

Just lick it.

Laboratory tests in Holland have shown that a certain protein called Histatin which is present in saliva, besides having an antibacterial effect, also accelerates the healing process.

The Dutch scientists hope that from their new knowledge better treatment can be found for chronic wounds and burns.

So when you next tell a child who has cut themselves to “lick it better”,you can now be sure it will help.

Who Do You Share a Bed With?

It is safe to be choosy about who you share a bed with,and it pays to get your priorities straight,especially in the summer season.

Before you read further this post has nothing to do with “Sex in the City” I’m just saying it may help to sleep around a bit and find out if your partner passes the test, if your are aiming at sleeping that is.

Daily high temperatures and hot sultry nights,will bring them out, whether you are fat or thin they just love your body. The adoring Mosquito.

Nights,when you reach that sublime feeling between awareness and well earned dreams, that’s when they like you best.

An unmistakable high pitched siren breaks the silence and you know you have a new admirer.

That’s when you can only hope that your bloodsucker prefers the taste of the person lying beside you. If you don’t belong to the lucky ones there is nothing you can do but get up and go hunting if you don’t want to be covered in itchy spots in the morning.

Werner Rudin a Biologist from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Basle,Switzerland, and Mosquito expert says, finding a partner that Mosquitoes like is the best deterrent.

If you are not in the happy situation of having one, there is nothing for it but to buy a Mosquito net,or spray yourself every three hours from head to foot with a chemical spray repellent .(Don’t forget to set the Alarm!)

Natural aromas like Citronella in candles or sprays are apparently ineffective. The insects don’t like the smell says Rudin but it won’t stop them biting.

Mosquitoes don’t like dark colours,so if you have any clothes on see that they are white.There is no point in sleeping in your jeans, thickness of material is no problem to them.

I don’t suppose any of us will escape a bite or two this Summer,but if you are out hunting, Cherchez la Femme, for it’s only the women that bite.

I Would Like a Choice

Over the years I have been asked more times than I can count by elderly persons unable to care for themselves if I could give them something so they could die. They didn’t want to live anymore with the everyday suffering of being bedridden and in pain. They didn’t want food pushed into their mouthes before they had finished swallowing any more.Or the pain that comes from large open bedsores that could take fifteen minutes or more to dress.

They didn’t want to lie for hours in wet,stinking nappies. They just wanted to leave this world with dignity.

I couldn’t help them.

It seems that in Switzerland where I live,the cost of caring for the elderly whether in their living accommodation or in a

nursing home will double between now and the year 2030. In that year an estimated 2 million people over the age of 65 will be living here. In 2005 there were only 1,2 million.

The growth of the over 80 year olds has risen enormously. This has had a massive influence on the cost of health care.

A study by the Swiss Health Observatory says the price for care will rise from 7,3 billion francs in 2005 to around 18 billion in 2030.

The rise is of course affected by the prescription of multiple medication for the aged, on average fifteen tablets a day,and performance of complicated operations, excluding emergency orthopaedic procedures on over seventy five year olds. Higher nursing and so called hotel costs add to it.

Ethics play a great part in how we approach the situation at the moment.

Mankind has the right to live ,but when are we going to have the right to die?

Is anyone there now that Easter has gone?

Easter has come and gone again. The heathen eggs eaten, and the taste of chocolate still deliciously on our tongues.

But was it also a religious festival for you?

The existence of God can be neither proven nor disproven.But experts agree that whoever believes in God lives longer.

But the power of prayer when used for others is of little or no use.

A study published by the “American Heart Journal” in 2006, and until now the biggest on the subject, showed that Bypass patients for whose good health was regularly prayed for didn’t improve more than that of others who hadn’t been the subject of prayer.

However on your own health religious belief has an undisputed positive influence.

According to a team from the University of Copenhagen,Denmark people who regularly attended a religious service lived on average 83,4 years,and by women the influence was even greater.

Intensive religious activity prolongs life is also the consensus of Ralph Kunz, Theology Professor at the University of Zürich,Switzerland. Brought about he says by a generally higher motivation in difficult situations. Ressourcen were better mobilised and bodily resistance to negative influences higher.

Religion as a general cure? Recipe for a better society?

Stress Influences Cancer Healing Process

Medical Scientists in Israel have discovered that lack of stress before, and during an operation for Cancer was crucial, and determined the healing process.

Psychic or bodily stress influenced the metabolism and inhibited the immune system,thus favouring the chances of a new outbreak.

Blockage of Stress Hormones prior and post operation significantly increased healing.

So the advice could be a bottle of Champagne and a Party. Not forgetting a positive mental attitude. If that’s possible under the circumstances.