Did you know that there are certain foods that increase your child's height naturally? Foods that are rich in essential nutrients such as Vitamins, Calcium, Zinc, Magnesium etc can prove to be highly instrumental in adding extra inches to your child's height. Read on...

1. Whole Grains - Whole grains are rich sources of Zinc, Magnesium and Vitamin B, which play a very vital role in promoting your child's growth during his/her budding years. Additionally, whole grains also contain calories and carbohydrates, which ensure the maintenance of proper weight in your child, imparting him/her with the requisite energy to go on throughout the day. Feed your child whole-grain breads, cereals and pastas to make him healthier and taller.

2. Milk - Milk contains calcium and Vitamin D, which help in bone development during the growing years of a child, besides increasing his/her physical strength. Milk also helps in assimilating different proteins making it one of the best foods to be consumed by your child for attaining a good height. Three servings of milk, or milk products such as cheese or yoghurt, each day will suffice your child's Vitamin D and calcium requirement.

3. Fruits and Vegetables - Fruits are excellent sources of Vitamin A, which is instrumental in ensuring an enhanced rate of bone growth in your child, consequently making him/her taller. You can include carrots, mangoes, sweet potatoes, spinach etc. in your child?s diet to aid his/her height growth. It's advisable to provide him/her with 3 to 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

4. Eggs - To ensure that your child grows taller naturally, providing him/her with a protein rich diet is very crucial. Eggs contain ample amount of protein needed to keep your child energetic throughout the day and help him/her grow taller. One to two eggs per day is considered to be the ideal intake amount for a child.

5. Soybeans - Soybeans are rich sources of protein and help in enhancing the growth of bones and muscles of your child, which in turn adds to his/her height during the budding years. You can cook various soybean dishes or you can add ground soybean powder to the dough while making rotis to make soybean a part of your child?s diet.

Although a child's height is also dependent on his/her genes, a well balanced diet containing these super-foods will increase your child's chances of growing to the fullest to attain a good height.



5 Foods That'll Help Increase Your Child's Height Naturally

Parents are always concerned about their child's physical health, but often ignore their mental health. Along with physical well-being, your child's mental well-being is also equally important.

The following are eight tips to improve your child's mental well-being:

1. Adequate sleep- sufficient amount of sleep is required for a child to stay mentally fit. Parents often engage their children with various classes and activities and compromise on their sleeping hours. This in turn affects the child's mental state. Therefore, as a parent, you must take care not to compromise on your child's sleeping hours.

2. Allowing them to play- nowadays, children are overburdened with studies and other learning activities. They do not get to play quite often. But as a parent, you must take care of your child's schedule, so that he/she can have proper playtime too. Playing involves physical activity as well as creativity in certain cases. This helps to improve mental health.

3. Learning to share and care- you must take care to inculcate in your child the values of sharing and caring. These little things can also help improve your child's mental health. Learning how to share with others and caring for others will help them to stay happy.

4. Regular exercise- encouraging your child to regularly exercise will not only help improve his/her physical health, but also mental health. It will also help them to reduce stress and maintain a good mood as well.

5. Listen to them- parents often ignore when children are speaking on less important matters; may be about a new friend or a strict teacher in school. But as a parent, you must take out some time from your daily schedule to listen out to their stories. Listening to them attentively will make them feel important, increase their confidence and hence, improve their mental well-being.

6. Encourage them to make friends- encouraging your child to make new friends will help them to socialize better. They will feel confident about themselves and also open up. This can boost up their mental well-being.

7. Good nourishment- proper nourishment is not only essential for being physically fit, but also mentally fit. Good nourishment will help them stay healthy physically and increase their energy levels. This in turn will positively affect their mental health.

8. Make them feel safe- children need to feel safe in order to stay mentally fit. Try and spend some time with them every day. As a parent, always make your children realize that you are right beside them. Listen to their problems and help them find solutions to solve those instead of scolding them. Help them to relax and feel secure to stay mentally fit.

8 Tips to Improve Your Child's Mental Well-being

Puberty is a time when a girl's body begins to define itself in more womanly terms. This is the start of a process that will usher in decades of sexual activeness and child bearing years. The changes that a girl goes through during this period can be quite challenging with a play of hormones as well as physical changes, such as growth of hair in private parts and the development of breasts, among various other changes. When these changes come at an early age, it can be all the more challenging to cope and comprehend the process. The onset of early puberty is something that is becoming more and more common with girls between the age bracket of 12 &amp; 13. How can you help deal with early puberty? Here's a list of tips!

1. Self-Image: One of the most important side effects of early puberty remains one's image of the self, as this phase in life is characterised by the most dramatic physical changes that can leave a lifelong effect on the girl's mind. The reinforcement of positive self-image to help the girl grow more comfortable in her skin despite the wide array of feedback she may be getting from sources outside the home, will help in creating a positive impact on a lifelong basis.

2. Doubts: This is a time when the child goes through a number of doubts regarding looks and appearance as well as how well she may be able to cope with the onset of the new process. As parents, the best thing to do is to let the child explore this terrain even as you remain firmly in the background for hand holding when the child asks for it. This will help the girl become even more confident to take life's decision more efficiently and seriously.

3. Talking About It: The best thing to do is to talk things out. Once you start seeing the changes in the girl's appearance by way of hair growth and sudden sprouting of breasts and height, it is important to understand that puberty may be close by. So have a talk about menstrual cycles and the changes that the child will be seeing soon. This will help in mentally preparing the child and giving her the leeway to ask questions that you can answer over a period of time.

4. Opposite Sex: It would also be beneficial to discuss the changes in the behaviour of boys towards her, as this will help her blossom into a more confident lady in the years to come.

Remember to love and support your child through this important milestone of her life, as the way you reach can have a lasting impact on her.

How to Deal with Early Puberty

Abdomen pain or abdominal pain is usually experienced in the area between the chest and the stomach. This kind of pain usually comes as a dull cramp that also produces shooting stabs of pains intermittently, or it may be a localised pain in one side of the stomach. This may also be accompanied by inflammation and other diseases related to organs like intestines, kidneys, pancreas, liver, spleen and stomach. So what are the causes of stomach or abdomen pain? Read on to find out:

Food Poisoning: Food poisoning can be caused due to dirty water or contaminated food. This can give rise to various infections as well as conditions like traveler's diarrhea or loose motions.

Gastro-Intestinal Conditions: GERD or gastroesophageal reflux disease and gastroenteritis, among various others, can also lead to abdomen pain as a symptom along with severe acidity and nausea. Irritable bowel syndrome is another major ailment which can leave you with persistent abdominal pain. 

Generalized Pain: This kind of pain occurs in the overall area all around the stomach and may point at the presence of conditions like Crohn's Disease, a traumatic injury, appendicitis, flu, or even a urinary tract infection. Further, when the gas settles and tightens the stomach due to the inability to pass a motion on a normal, regular basis, this may be termed as constipation. This also leads to abdomen pain. 

Localised Lower Abdomen Pain: Pain that is found specifically in the lower area of the abdomen can be caused due to appendicitis, obstruction or blockage in the intestine or colon, and other ailments. This pain can also be accompanied by nausea and vomiting. 

Localised Upper Abdomen Pain: This kind of pain may emanate due to the presence of gallstones, liver inflammation or hepatitis, pneumonia, or even in the middle of a heart attack.

Localised Centre Abdomen Pain: Pain in the centre part of the stomach or abdomen may be caused due to gastroenteritis, an injury or even the accumulation of waste products in the body, otherwise known as uremia.

Abdomen Pain and Women: For women, such localised pain may be caused due to pelvic inflammatory disease, urinary tract infection, endometriosis, ectopic pregnancy, menstrual cramps which are also called dysmenorrhoea, and fibroids. Miscarriages can also cause pain in this part of the abdomen, for women.

Renal Stones: Renal stones or stone in kidney is one of the most common causes of abdomen pain. The pain caused by kidney stone is such that it can make a patient roll in bed and this pain may radiate to toward the groin as well. Persistent pain and nausea that come with vomiting and finally give rise to blood in the vomit or stool should be checked by the doctor immediately, so as to rule out any serious ailment. Imaging tests, ultrasound and an X-Ray can help in diagnosis.

Abdomen Pain - Knowing The Common Causes Of It!

How to Prevent Your Child from Developing Type 2 Diabetes?

Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder that prevents the body from processing sugar or glucose. The disorder causes insufficient production of the hormone Insulin (responsible for regulating sugar into the different parts of your body); or the body's failure to respond to the hormone produced. Although no cure is available for T2DM, there are several ways in which you can help prevent Type 2 diabetes in your child. These are:

1. Get your child to indulge in some physical activity

Spending about 60 minutes of the day on physical activity can help your child to ward off Type 2 diabetes. In terms of screen time, it shouldn't be over 2 hours a day. By doing so, he or she ends up building his or her muscles as well as gets rid of extra fat from the body. An active life would also help your child to maintain an optimal body weight with obesity being a cause of this form of diabetes. Whether it's a sport like swimming, cricket or basketball, or even walking and dancing, physical activity in any form can help in preventing your child from developing Type 2 diabetes.

2. Plan a well-balanced diet for your child

Encouraging your child to have healthy foods and making right food choices can also lower his or her chances of getting this metabolic disorder. Foods high in fiber like whole grain cereals and bread, lentils, fruits, and vegetables should be consumed. Similarly, foods low in trans and saturated fats like lean meat, chicken, yogurt and cheese should be included in your child's diet. Processed foods, as well as sugary drinks, should be no-no when it comes to your child's diet.

3. Adopting proper eating habits

It is not only making the right food choices that are important but eating right as well is vital for preventing the onset of diabetes. Having meals with fix portion sizes is a habit that you need to develop in your child. Ideally, half the plate should be filled with vegetables and fruits; a quarter with lean protein like chicken; and the remaining with whole grain. To accompany the meal, make your child have one cup of no-fat or low-fat milk. Desserts like ice cream and cookies should be allowed only once or twice a week.



How to Prevent Your Child from Developing Type 2 Diabetes?

Uterine fibroids, also known as leiomyomata, are non-cancerous growths which develop in and around the uterus or the womb and form benign tumors in course of time. Though there are several types of uterine fibroids, they are all consistently similar in their genetic makeup. They are generally classified depending on their specific locations:

Myometrial or intramural fibroids
Submucosal fibroids
Subserosal fibroids
Pedunculated fibroids
Signs and symptoms

In most cases, uterine fibroids display little or no symptoms at all. Therefore many women are caught unawares and do not realize whether they have leiomyomata or not. When symptoms do show, however, they may include any one of the following:

1. Prolonged menstrual periods, usually for seven days or even longer
2. Bloating belly or pelvis
3. Intensive bleeding during periods
4. Pain during sexual intercourse
5. Constipation

Treatment

Since uterine fibroids do not cause any significant complications, they normally do not require much treatment. The condition, however, can be treated through either one of the following approaches:

1. Non-surgical approach

(1) Alert and careful inspection as well as watchful anticipation of the growth and development of uterine fibroids
(2) Birth control pills or oral contraceptives which help reduce heavy periods caused by uterine fibroids
(3) Pain relievers to help numb the pain
(4) Intrauterine device along with levonorgestrel to help reduce heavy periods
(5) Iron tablets are helpful in substituting the blood loss caused by heavy menstruation

2.Surgical approach

i) Myomectomy

ii) Hysterectomy

These two procedures can be performed using several techniques like:

Laparoscopy
Open abdominal surgery
Robot-assisted laparoscopy
Vaginal approach
Hysteroscope approach
iii) Uterine artery embolization (UAE)

Uterine Fibroids - Surgical & Non Surgical Treatment!

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