Health
Getting Trimmed Naturally 1
There are a lot of misconceptions about weight gain. The first is that weight gain comes from extra calories we do consume that we don’t expend. Experts say we eat too much and exercise little. So if one get fatter then surely he or she must be eating too much.
The other misconception is that once we cut our food then we will naturally become trimmed. All these are hinged on the diet theory, which only works for some time.
Over the past 40 years studies have shown that you can’t get clinically significant effect from cutting down on your calories. Even though experts are saying that sloth is responsible for weight gain- they overlook one basic truth that dieting only works for a short period.
The new study that seems to break those myths about body fat is now revealing some stunning facts. The kind of food we eat makes us fat. Two scientists at University of Pennsylvania, Mitchell Lazar and Cardiologist Allan Sniderman at McGill University all in the USA have shown that that food that we eat often makes us pack in flesh. These include bread, plain baked potatoes, and plain pasta, rice, sweet corn. They confirmed that fatty foods isn’t the enemy but easily digested carbohydrates. While steak, burgers, cheese or sour cream help us lose weight and keep our heart healthy.
This sounds ironical, but it has been discovered that those who do diet and avoid those foods end up getting hungry. What happens is that when you conserve energy or burn less energy, you are bound to add more flesh. Many public health authorities want us to practice energy balance, which is a new way to say that you shouldn’t take more calories than one expends.
No matter how one counts what he or she eats, it is impossible to determine calories and know when we are over board. No matter how good you are at counting calories, you can’t do it. So its couple of sips of soft drinks and few bites of humburger that can make you add weight. That means it at the point when we eat extra than the body want that the body store excess as fat.
The myth of exercising to reduce weight is really making waves. Exercise is helpful but it’s not the main ingredient for fat burning. The phony truth is that the two things we tell people to do in order to lose weight-eat less and exercise more- are the exact two things that make one more hungry. Thus there is need for balance. If one must exercise, then it should be done moderately so as to allow the body to recover the stretch.
The reality is that insulin is the primary hormone that makes one to add weight. If one eats food that spikes insulin like bread, biscuits, sweets, soft drinks. It is refined carbohydrates that raise insulin levels in the body.
To be contd
Explained in simple terms your fat tissue is more like your wallet, and your meals are like going to the ATM. You know how you use the ATM: You put the cash in your wallet and gradually spend it, and when you get too low on cash, you go back to the ATM. It’s the insulin that locks the money in your wallet, so you keep going to the ATM, and your fat cells are getting fatter and fatter. More often you become hungry and you eat again because the insulin can’t get at the fatty acids leading to weight gain.
Low carb diet is key if you are to get trimmed. In Africa where stables are more of carbohydrate it is best to choose those with fibre. It’s difficult to follow the Atkins diet like eating skinless chicken and green salad, melted mozzarella cheese and all those western diet.
An example of a workable diet is to include eggs more often and cut down on processed foods, especially processed carbohydrate. Complex carbohydrate and vegetables have more fibre and makes you get filled quickly. Instead of Irish potato, go for sweet potatoes, oats that have more fibre. I advise people to eat garri than processed plantain and wheat meals. By the way, processed wheat can worsen the body ails.
The other way to go is, to eat low carbohydrate, and that means more of protein, fat, vegetables and complex grains like millet, and beans. With low carbohydrate, one can eat as much and still remain trimmed. A low carbohydrate is better than a low fat, low calorie diet.
Research has shown high fat diet is good for the heart. I don’t mean trans -fat but healthy fats from cheese, milk, olive oil and fish oil. Once your HDL goes up, your LDL goes down and this reduces high cholesterol and inadvertently cuts down excess insulin which is a big factor in fat burning.
The low fat diet which medical authorities promote often in the bid to reduce heart problems is actually bad for the heart as studies reveal. A study published by Readers Digest in February 2011 said, “the public health effort to get everyone to eat that way is one of the fundamental reasons that we now have obesity and diabetes epidemics”.
The strange conclusion is that not everyone gets fat from eating carbohydrates- it has to with how sensitive your fat cells are fight with muscle cells. But the huge percentage of the people who get fat got it in their high carbohydrate diet, especially processed ones. Agreed that getting rid of carbohydrate might not make you lean, but the leanest you can be is on the diet with the fewest carbohydrates.
A low carb diet has lots of health benefits- it can reduce your blood pressure, and it’s advisable to eat more of natural foods than processed foods. Our ancestors ate more of meat, vegetables and fibre from fruits. The fundamental idea is, don’t eat foods that make you fat, beyond that, you can eat as much as you want without much processed carbohydrates.
To address the increasing number of rape and defilement cases in Lagos communities, the State Ministry of Health has trained healthcare workers on the prevention and management of sexual assault cases.
The Director, Public Affairs in the ministry, Tunbosun Ogunbanwo, in a statement on Monday said the training equipped health workers with the knowledge and skills to provide professional, compassionate, and timely care to survivors.
Dr Folasade Oludara, Director, Family Health and Nutrition, State Ministry of Health, said the growing number of rape and defilement cases in Lagos communities necessitated the upskilling of healthcare workers who are often the first responders to survivors.
Oludara, represented by Dr Oluwatosin Onasanya, Deputy Director, Child Health, said the government recognised the critical role of health professionals in both clinical management and legal documentation of sexual assault cases.
She explained that the training was designed to ensure healthcare workers are adequately equipped to identify, document, and manage sexual assault cases effectively.
According to her, the training will strengthen Lagos’ coordinated health system response to gender-based violence.
She disclosed that the state government had already provided equipment and specimen collection tools to health facilities, noting that the training complemented this investment by building the competence of personnel handling such sensitive cases.
Oludara explained that doctors and nurses at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels who serve as first contact points for survivors were carefully selected from all 57 LGAs and LCDAs, particularly from areas with higher incident rates.
The SGBV Programme Manager, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Juradat Aofiyebi, emphasised that the capacity-building initiative was a strategic step toward improving survivor-centred healthcare delivery and prosecution outcomes.
Aofiyebi added that the training underscored the government’s commitment to reducing the prevalence of sexual assault through a robust, multi-sectoral approach.
“The training provides healthcare workers with the knowledge to properly identify survivors, document findings accurately, and provide comprehensive care, all of which contribute to justice delivery and prevention of repeat offences.
She said the ministry would sustain such training to ensure that every survivor who presented at a Lagos health facility received quality, non-judgmental care.
Mrs Adebanke Ogunde, Deputy Director, Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Lagos State Ministry of Justice, highlighted the importance of medical documentation in sexual assault trials.
She explained that most convictions hinge on the quality of medical reports and forensic evidence provided by healthcare professionals, noting that medical reports served as vital corroborative evidence in court, particularly in cases involving children.
“Your medical reports are crucial; they can determine whether justice is served or denied,” she said.
Ogunde reminded health workers of their legal duty to report suspected sexual assault cases to the police or the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA).
Similarly, Dr Oluwajimi Sodipo, Consultant Family Physician, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), underscored the importance of timely medical attention, psychosocial support, and non-stigmatising care for survivors.
Sodipo explained that immediate presentation within 72 hours of assault improved chances of preventing infections and collecting viable forensic evidence.
He commended Lagos State for sustaining its inter-agency collaboration and continuous professional training on SGBV.
Sodipo, however, called for the strengthening of DNA and forensic capacities, improved insurance coverage, and better remuneration for healthcare workers.
“We must sustain motivation and continuous retraining if we want to retain skilled professionals and enhance justice outcomes,” he added.
Also, Mrs Margret Anyebe, Claims Officer, Lagos State Health Management Agency (LASHMA), said domestic and sexual violence response had been integrated into the ILERA EKO Health Insurance Scheme.
Anyebe explained that survivors of sexual and domestic violence are covered for medical treatment, investigations, and follow-up care under the state’s Equity Fund for vulnerable groups.
“Hospitals are to provide first-line care, document, and refer survivors appropriately, while LASHMA ensures prompt reimbursement and oversight,” she said.
The technical session of the ongoing National Council on Health (NCH) meeting on Monday reviewed 35 out of the 82 policy memos submitted ahead of full Council deliberations scheduled for later in the week.
Dr Kamil Shoretire, Director of Health Planning, Research and Statistics, disclosed this on Tuesday during the Technical Session of the 66th Regular meeting of the NCH ongoing in Calabar, Cross River.
He said that 10 of the memos considered were recommended for Council’s approval, eight were noted, and 18 stepped down for further work.
According him, two additional memos were deferred and will be re-presented after revisions are made.
At the reconvening of the session, Ms Kachallom Daju, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, said that there were five memos from the Coordinating Minister of Health, adding that they were all related to the Department of Food and Drugs.
Daju said that the memos were stepped down on Monday and scheduled for re-presentation.
She also provided clarification on the previously contentious healthcare waste-management memo, explaining that the N3.5 million requests tied to the proposal had already been repurposed by the Global Fund.
“I have followed up, and I am informed that the funds have been reprogrammed. Just so we put it to rest, we will not be discussing that memo anymore,” she said.
She also said that the final memo considered on Monday was the proposal for the inclusion of telemedicine services under the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
“The next memo scheduled for presentation is the proposal for the establishment of Medipool as a Group Purchasing Organisation (GPO) for medicines and health commodities in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, Dr Oritseweyimi Ogbe, Secretary of the Ministerial Oversight Committee (MOC), formally notified the Council of the establishment of Medipool, a new public-private GPO created to strengthen the procurement of medicines and health commodities nationwide.
Presenting an information memorandum at the technical session, Ogbe explained that Medipool was the first nationally approved GPO designed to leverage economies of scale, negotiate better prices, and ensure quality-assured medicines.
He said this was beginning with primary healthcare facilities funded through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF).
According to him, Medipool was established after a proposal to the Ministry of Health, followed by appraisals and endorsements by the Project Implementation and Verification Committee (PIVAC) and the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI).
“It subsequently received Federal Executive Council approval, with MOFI now owning 10 per cent of the company’s shares. The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission has also approved its operations.
“Under the model, Medipool will work with Drug Management Agencies (DMAs) in all states to aggregate national demand and negotiate directly with reputable manufacturers to obtain competitive prices and guaranteed-quality supplies.
“The platform will function as a one-stop shop for DMAs, who will then distribute medicines to health facilities through existing state structures.”
Ogbe added that while Medipool will initially focus on BHCPF-supported primary healthcare centres, it was expected to expand to other levels of care nationwide.
“The organisation will provide regular reports to the ministry of health and participate in national logistics working groups to ensure transparency, oversight, and technical guidance,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Day One of the 66th NCH technical session opened with a call reaffirming the Ministry’s commitment to advancing Universal Health Coverage under the theme “My Health, My Right”.
“The delegates also adopted the amended report of the 65th NCH, setting the stage for informed deliberations.
The implementation status of the 19 resolutions from the previous Council was also reviewed, highlighting progress and gaps.
The authorities of Police Clinic in Port Harcourt have reported high cases of Malaria in its facility.
The revelation was made by Mrs Udoh Mba Robert, a Chief Superintendent of Police and senior medical personnel in the Clinic.
She told The Tide that,”the Hospital admits sixty (60) to seventy (70) patients in a month”.
On how the facility runs, she stated that the hospital is under the National Health Insurance Scheme as most patients are treated almost free.
She maintained that staff of the hospital have been trained professionally to manage health issues that come under the purview of the National Health Insurance Scheme.
Mrs. Robert explained that malaria treatment also falls under NHIA, as patients are expected to pay only 10 per cent for their treatment while the government takes care of the outstanding bills.
NHIA, she further stated covers treatment and care for uniform personnel like the police force, military men, civil servants and all others working for the government.
Urging the public to seek professional medical attention, Mrs. Robert said the facility is open to workers in the federal services, especially police staff.
Favour Umunnakwe, Victory Awaji, Excel Nnodim
