Dr. Versha Sharma

If your child develops an eating disorder, you might be unsure about how to solve the problem and how to act on it. Eating disorders occur when your child tends to either eat in excess, or eats too less. The behavior of your child is also subjected to change because of an eating disorder. It is likely for him to get withdrawn, rude, and touchy. This makes it difficult for you to deal with them at a time when communication is necessary. Here are some essential tips that you should follow in dealing with eating disorders in children:

1. You should get advice about how to talk to your child. It will help you in realizing that your child is likely to be defensive as their eating disorder is a form of coping. Hence, it is normal for a child to be reluctant about letting go of it. If your child is undergoing treatment, the treatment team has a vital role to play. However, your constant love and support are also very important.
2. It is important to talk to your child about the condition, even though he cannot accept that he is having a problem. Communication is an essential part of treatment, which you should never ignore. You should not blame or judge your child, and refer proper resources to him. You have to be prepared for a negative response from your child.
3. You should educate yourself properly about your eating disorder. Abstain from talking to your child about his appearance, even in the form of a compliment. Use ways for boosting your child’s self-esteem and confidence.
4. Abstain from referring to weight problems and diets followed by other people. You need to assure your child that you will be there for him, no matter what. You should talk to him about activities he should get involved in, in a positive tone and approach.
5. Coping with the meal times of your child suffering from an eating disorder is very important as well. Consult your child’s treatment team to know about ways of arranging your meal times ideally.
6. Take your child out for shopping and agree on having meals that are acceptable, from both your and his end.
7. You should have an agreement with your whole family regarding meals, which will help to set the expectations of everybody. Agree on not talking about fat content, calorie content, or portion sizes during meals.
8. You must abstain from consuming low calorie food items in front of them. Try to keep the meal time atmosphere positive and light hearted. Do not focus on others during meal times and teach your child to concentrate on his own meal. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a psychiatrist.

ALLERGIES

TREATMENT

There are various ways to tackle many of the allergic disturbances. First, the sources must be identified. This is a difficult one but not impossible task. Second, once the sources are discovered, they should be avoided. Third, and most important, general health and resistance should be built up to establish immunity to them.

There are two methods to detect disturbing foods. The first method is the trial-and-error elimination diet. This automatically eliminates many hazards and foods. Keep to organic, untreated, unprocessed foods as far as possible, and you will eliminate another set of hazards such as pesticides, various sprays, and other poisons.

After having eliminated as many disturbing factors as possible, a self-search should be carried out to ascertain any suspicious symptoms from foods. It is advisable to try an eliminatory diet, excluding suspected foods for two weeks until the cause is detected. Occasionally, by changing the brand or the type, you can a find a food substitute that does not upset you.

Another way to detect the cause of allergy is by Dr. Vishal Dev's 'pulse test'. The methods are as follows: check your pulse before a meal. Then limiting that meal to one food only, wait for half an hour after eating and take your pulse again. A slight increase is considered normal, even up to 16 extra beats. If your pulse does not rise above 84, you may be allergy-free. But if your pulse rises beyond that point, and remains high an hour after the meal, you found your food allergy.

The best way, however , to prevent or overcome allergies is to strengthen the overall physical resistance so as not to fall an easy prey to every allergen that comes along. To start with, the patient should fast on fresh fruit juices for four or five days. Repeated short juices fasts are likely to result in better tolerance to previous allergies. After the fruit juice fast, the patient can take a mono diet of vegetables or fruits such as carrots, grapes or apples, for one week. After that one more food added to the mono diet. A week later the third food added and so on. After four weeks, the protein food can be introduced one at a time. In case an allergic reaction to a newly introduce food is noticed, it should be discontinued and a new food tired . in this way all real allergens can be eventually eliminated from the diet.
 The body requires a large alkaline reserve for its daily activity. The many emergencies of an acid formation through the day form wrong foods, fatigue, mental stress and lack of sleep can be met by the competency of the alkaline reserves. boosting the normal body reserve of alkaline by liberal use of alkaline-forming foods is essential for those suffering from allergies.

 The foods which should be excluded from the diet are tea, coffee, chocolate, cola drink, alcohol, sugar sweets and foods containing sugar, refined cereals, meats, fish chicken, tobacco, milk, cheese , butter, smoked, salted, pickled foods and foods containing any chemical additives, preservatives and flavoring. These food cause either toxic accumulation or over stimulation of adrenal glands or strain on pancreatic enzyme production or may disturb the blood sugar balance.

For preventive purposes, the entire C complex vitamins known as the bioflavonoid, are recommended. They gradually strengthen cell permeability to help immunize the body from various allergies, especially hay fever. Often the addition B5 or pantothenic acid brings great relief to allergy sufferers. Multiple allergies may result from poor adrenal gland functioning. In such cases, liberal amounts of pantothenic acids help cure them, although the recovery will take several weeks. An adequate intake of vitamin E is also beneficial as this vitamin possesses effective anti-allergic properties, as some studies have shown.

 An exciting remedy for allergy has been discovered by Dr. Vishal Dev . He found that the use of five drops of castor oil in a little juice or water taken on any empty stomach in the morning is highly beneficial for allergies in the intestinal tract, skin, and nasal passages. Dr. Dev, who is an expert in Natural medicine, has reported numerous cases of allergic protection by this method.

For allergic conditions in which an element of stress is present, it is essential to employ such methods as relaxation, exercise, meditation and mind control. These methods will reduce or remove stress and thereby contribute towards the treatment of allergies. Yogic asanas like yogamudra, ardhmatsyendrasana, sarvangasana, shavasana and anuloma-viloma, pranayama are also beneficial.

Pain in the joints continues to bug mankind till this very day. There are different types of joint pains, which might occur all of a sudden, with no signs of receding. The most common of them all are arthritis, tennis elbow, frozen shoulder, back pain and repetitive muscular strain. These joint pains are sometimes impossible to diagnose properly by the regular modes of diagnosis. In those cases, resorting to the homeopathic mode of medication might be a good idea as it is a medication based on treating the actual cause of the disease and sustained use might result in complete remission of the pain.

Some commonly used homeopathic medications for pain in the joints are as follows:

1. Rhus Tox: This is the most commonly used in homeopathic preparation for severe joint pains, the symptoms of which include severe pain after relaxation, pain triggered by slightly wet weather and pain after walking or running for a long time.
2. Arnica Montana: When the symptoms are pain in every joint of the body resulting in body aches and pertaining injuries due to accidents, Arnica Montana serves as the perfect medication.
3. Actea Spicata: This medicine is primarily used as a remedy for pains in the small joints of the hands. The symptoms for which the medication can be implemented are rheumatoid arthritis in the joints of the finger and swollen wrists after usage of the hand.
4. Colchium: This medicine can be used in case of Rheumatoid Arthritis (inflammatory and chronic form of arthritis).
5. Bryonia Alba: This medication can work wonders if the symptoms include severe pain in the knee joints while walking, severe swollen joints and osteoarthritis (affects the flexible tissues present at the bone ends).

However, it is always advisable to take medication as prescribed by your doctor, as the potency and frequency can only be decided by your doctor.

The pyramid diet was conceptualised in 1992 and it emphasises the best amount of servings to be consumed daily from the basic food groups (dairy, fruits and vegetables, grains, beans and legumes, meat, oils and fats).

The pyramid is divided into four levels. The very first level is comprised of grains, beans and legumes; the level above it is made up of fruits and vegetable; the third level from the top is composed of meat and dairy products and the very last one on top contains fats, sugars and oils.

The diet aims to divide the food groups in the above mentioned fashion to make you understand just how much to consume from each food group. Here is a breakdown of servings from each food group:

• Grains- 5 to 7 servings
• Fruits and vegetables- 2 servings of each
• Milk and dairy- 3 servings of which 1/2 serving should be dairy products
• Oils, sugar and fats- 6 teaspoons for oils and minimal servings for fats and sugars

This seems relatively easy to follow, but most people do not understand portion control. The amount or serving of food is called portion control and it is important if you want your diet to work. Here is a guideline that you can follow:

1. When you are consuming one serving of grains in one sitting, you can choose to eat one cup of cereals or one slice of whole-wheat bread.
2. When you are eating vegetable or fruits with your breakfast or lunch, choose one and a half cup of chopped vegetables, or one piece of orange, banana or apple.
3. If you are drinking milk, then one cup of milk in one serving. And, if you are eating meat, choose one ounce of cooked fish or chicken.
4. Lastly, do not go beyond one teaspoon of vegetable oil and try to keep your sugar intake to the minimum throughout the day.

The pyramid is an excellent guide to lose some weight. You just need some concentration and a ton of commitment to stick to the guide. Along with the diet, don't forget to get some exercise. If you wish to discuss about any specific problem, you can consult a dietitian-nutritionist.

Why vitamin A is necessary for our body

Vitamin A also called retinol or carotene. It - 1] helps to maintain good vision and necessary for night vision. 2] Helps in resistance to infection and supports growth and repair of body tissues. 3] It also maintains integrity of white and red blood cells and epithilial lining.4] It is also used to treat acne.

Dietary Sources of Vitamin A

Green leafy vegetables-spinach , broccoli, parsley, kale, collard green, escarole.

Yellow vegetables- carrot, sweet potato, winter squash, pumpkin.

Yellow and orange fruits- mango, papaya, and apricots.

Animal source- milk, eggs, meat and fish liver oil.