Monsoon Lawn Exhibition by Sonya Battla

Monsoon Rain are two months away but designerSonya Batla has already brought Monsoon in the fashion industry with her mesmerizing Monsoon Lawn prints 2011.

The Monsoon collection by Batla was launched with a three day exhibition, which started on 17 May 2011 in Karachi and Islamabad. The well attended exhibition was tastefully managed by Blades Sharp Minds and the PR of the event was done by Take Two.

celebrities includeing model Aijaaz Aslam, Ayyan, designer Maheen Khan and many others added to the glitz and glamour of the event

The exhibition unveiled a mesmerizing range of summer lawn prints splashed with aqua colors and refreshing pastel shades that represented the charms of Monsoon in different cities around the world.

Eat home-cooked food for longer life!

Tucking into a home-cooked meal can make you live longer, new research says.

Researchers from Monash University, the National Defence Medical Centre and the National Health Research Institute, Taiwan, found that people who cooked at home at least five times a week were 47 percent more likely to still be alive after 10 years.

The study looked at the cooking habits of Taiwanese living independently aged over 65 years. When researchers followed up 10 years later, they found of the surviving participants that frequent cooking was a significant factor in their health and long life, the journal Public Health Nutrition reported.

Of the participants, 31 percent reportedly prepared meals at home at least five times per week, 17 percent cooked no more than twice a week, nine percent cooked at home three to five times per week, while the remainder (43 percent) reported that they never cooked at home, according to a university statement.

Mark Wahlqvist, emeritus professor from Monash University's Asia Pacific Health and Nutrition Centre at the Monash Asia Institute, who led the study, said those who cooked more often had a better diet.

"We found those that cooked more frequently had a better sense of nutritional knowledge than those who didn't. Cooking is an activity that requires both good mental and physical health," Wahlqvist said.

"We found that those who cooked more frequently had a better diet and more favourable nutrient densities," he said.

"It is therefore possible that cooking is related to longevity through food choice and quality," added Wahlqvist.

DO YOUR EYES MATCH YOUR ZODIAC SIGN?

Artist Slaughterose created this cool zodiac eye chart, with makeup and eye shapes for each of the 12 signs. Libra is based off her own eyes, but all the drawings are based off of traits and colors traditionally associated with each individual sign. Does your sign's drawing match your eye shape? And would you wear the same shadow and liner shades as featured in her colorful piece?

Best Fast Food Choices for Diabetics .

The American Diabetes Association recommends that diabetics take special efforts in terms of eating healthy diet to manage blood sugar levels effectively. The association also affirms that diabetics can also make healthy choices at fast food restaurants. Here are some of the best fast food choices for diabetics.

Options for Healthy Breakfast

The best and healthy breakfast options for diabetics include toast, muffins or plain bagel. Considering that drinks are a part of every meal, diabetics can choose to have either low-fat milk or fruit juice at breakfast. You may also eat scrambled eggs or unbuttered pancakes. Ensure that you have a limited amount of bacon and sausage because they contain a high amount of fat.

Options for Salad

Fast food salads with grilled meats or vegetables are other sources of healthy fast foods for diabetics. Avoid eating bacon bits and croutons and opt for low-fat salad dressing. You are lucky if you find a salad bar at a restaurant, which is not absolutely unlikely. Load up on low-fat dressing and vegetables.

Options for Sandwich

Opt for sandwiches that are stuffed with grilled or broiled meats such as ham, chicken breast and roast beef. Do not ask for mayonnaise, instead add mustard. You may add tomatoes, lettuce and onions if you wish. You may find the kind of fast foods for diabetics in any restaurant.

Other Diabetes-Friendly Foods

Some healthy fast food options for diabetics include chicken soft tacos, bean burritos and chicken fajitas. You may add tomatoes, lettuce and salsa into your diet as much as you want. Limit the consumption of cheese, guacamole and sour cream because these are high in fat content. A thin-crust vegetable pizza is a healthy option for diabetics. Must you have an ice-cream, enjoy it with a fat-free frozen yoghurt.

Foods to Avoid

Avoid biscuits and croissants. Avoid all those fast foods that are described with words such as “super-sized”, “jumbo” and ”biggie-sized”. Avoid eating taco salads because the shells are high on fat content and have lots of calories. Chinese food contains an excess of fat and sodium and therefore, must be avoided.

Whatever the food you choose to eat at any part of the day, ensure that it is fat-free by cutting down on the cheese content and adding more green leafy vegetables and certain types of fruits. Avoid the consumption of banana and fruits that are high in sugar content.

Danger Level for Blood Sugar in Diabetics .

No matter which type of diabetes one suffers from, whether it is type 1, type 2 or gestational diabetes (occurs during pregnancy), he needs to lead a healthy lifestyle as treatment. For his well-being, he must watch out for what he eats, his life should be stress-free, and it is of utmost importance for his health to engage regularly in workout. Negligence of diabetes leads to onset of potentially fatal condition- hyperglycaemia or hypoglycaemia. Read more to learn what these dangerous conditions can result in.

Hyperglycaemia

The condition in which blood glucose levels become too high is termed as Hyperglycemia. A person is said to be diabetic when his two or more fasting blood glucose tests are 126 mg/dLor higher than this. Diabetics need to get immediate medical attention if their blood sugar level shoots up to 250 or more, or if their blood glucose level is 180 mg/dL for three days in a row.

When blood sugar reaches 250 mg/dL or exceeds, it leads to production of ketones in a diabetic’s body. Ketones are detected by a urine test. Due to body’s insulin resistance, it fails to utilise glucose (sugar) for energy and for the same purpose, it starts using fats and ketones are created in the process. Ketones severes one’s diabetes and can result in various diabetic complications and at times, can be fatal.

Regular monitoring of blood glucose level is of prime importance because high blood glucose levels can be dangerous for one’s life. It is not necessary that hyperglycaemia will cause any symptom. In case, it presents some symptoms then one is likely to experience:

• increased thirst
• increased urine frequency
• dry mouth
• dry skin
• fatigue changes in vision
• frequent infections
• reduced immunity .i.e. wounds will  take longer time to heal
• unexplained weight loss.

Hypoglycaemia

When a person is diagnosed with low blood sugar level (below 45mg/dL), he is said to be having hypoglycaemia.  Skipping meals and taking excess of insulin can result in severely lowered blood sugar levels. Managing hypoglycaemia is of crucial importance or it can be life threatening. Symptoms of hypoglycaemia include:

• sweating excessively,
• experience of shivering or shaking
• increased heart rate
• night sweat
• anxiety
• weakness
• dizziness
• difficulty in concentrating
• blurred vision.

When the aforementioned symptoms show, diabetics should take a carbohydrate-rich snack, i.e. a sugary food item.  Glucose injections are given to those patients, which have severe hypoglycaemia. In extreme cases, a patient may complain hallucinations, have memory loss, or can lapse into a coma.

World No Tobacco Day 2012

Theme: Tobacco industry interference

The World Health Organization (WHO) selects "tobacco industry interference" as the theme of the next World No Tobacco Day, which will take place on Thursday, 31 May 2012.

The campaign will focus on the need to expose and counter the tobacco industry's brazen and increasingly aggressive attempts to undermine the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) because of the serious danger they pose to public health.

Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of death. The global tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people each year, of which more than 600,000 are people exposed to second-hand smoke. Unless we act, it will kill up to 8 million people by 2030, of which more than 80% will live in low- and middle-income countries.

As more and more countries move to fully meet their obligations under the WHO FCTC, the tobacco industry's efforts to undermine the treaty are becoming more and more energetic.

For example, in an attempt to halt the adoption of pictorial health warnings on packages of tobacco, the industry recently adopted the novel tactic of suing countries under bilateral investment treaties, claiming that the warnings impinge the companies' attempts to use their legally-registered brands.

Meanwhile, the industry's attempts to undermine the treaty continue on other fronts, particularly with regard to countries' attempts to ban smoking in enclosed public places and to ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

World No Tobacco Day 2012 will educate policy-makers and the general public about the tobacco industry's nefarious and harmful tactics.

It will also be in keeping with the letter and the spirit of the WHO FCTC. The preamble of the treaty recognizes "the need to be alert to any efforts by the tobacco industry to undermine or subvert tobacco control efforts and the need to be informed of activities of the tobacco industry that have a negative impact on tobacco control efforts".

In addition, Article 5.3 of the treaty states that "in setting and implementing their public health policies with respect to tobacco control, Parties shall act to protect these policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry in accordance with national law".

Furthermore, the guidelines to the implementation of Article 5.3 state that Parties are recommended to "raise awareness about…tobacco industry interference with Parties' tobacco control policies".

On World No Tobacco Day 2012, and throughout the following year, WHO will urge countries to put the fight against tobacco industry interference at the heart of their efforts to control the global tobacco epidemic.

10 Tips for Quitting Smoking

I recently celebrated my one-year anniversary of quitting smoking. Well, of finally quitting … like most smokers, I had tried to quit many times and failed. But this quit stuck, and I’d like to share the top 10 things that made this quit successful when the others failed.

1. Commit Thyself Fully. In the quits that failed, I was only half into it. I told myself I wanted to quit, but I always felt in the back of my mind that I’d fail. I didn’t write anything down, I didn’t tell everybody (maybe my wife, but just her). This time, I wrote it down. I wrote down a plan. I blogged about it. I made a vow to my daughter. I told family and friends I was quitting. I went online and joined a quit forum. I had rewards. Many of these will be in the following tips, but the point is that I fully committed, and there was no turning back. I didn’t make it easy for myself to fail.

2. Make a Plan. You can’t just up and say, “I’m gonna quit today.” You have to prepare yourself. Plan it out. Have a system of rewards, a support system, a person to call if you’re in trouble. Write down what you’ll do when you get an urge. Print it out. Post it up on your wall, at home and at work. If you wait until you get the urge to figure out what you’re going to do, you’ve already lost. You have to be ready when those urges come.

3. Know Your Motivation. When the urge comes, your mind will rationalize. “What’s the harm?” And you’ll forget why you’re doing this. Know why you’re doing this BEFORE that urge comes. Is it for your kids? For your wife? For you health? So you can run? Because the girl you like doesn’t like smokers? Have a very good reason or reasons for quitting. List them out. Print them out. Put it on a wall. And remind yourself of those reasons every day, every urge.

4. Not One Puff, Ever (N.O.P.E.). The mind is a tricky thing. It will tell you that one cigarette won’t hurt. And it’s hard to argue with that logic, especially when you’re in the middle of an urge. And those urges are super hard to argue with. Don’t give in. Tell yourself, before the urges come, that you will not smoke a single puff, ever again. Because the truth is, that one puff WILL hurt. One puff leads to a second, and a third, and soon you’re not quitting, you’re smoking. Don’t fool yourself. A single puff will almost always lead to a recession. DO NOT TAKE A SINGLE PUFF!

5. Join a Forum. One of the things that helped the most in this quit was an online forum for quitters (quitsmoking.about.com) … you don’t feel so alone when you’re miserable. Misery loves company, after all. Go online, introduce yourself, get to know the others who are going through the exact same thing, post about your crappy experience, and read about others who are even worse than you. Best rule: Post Before You Smoke. If you set this rule and stick to it, you will make it through your urge. Others will talk you through it. And they’ll celebrate with you when you make it through your first day, day 2, 3, and 4, week 1 and beyond. It’s great fun.

6. Reward Yourself. Set up a plan for your rewards. Definitely reward yourself after the first day, and the second, and the third. You can do the fourth if you want, but definitely after Week 1 and Week2. And month 1, and month 2. And 6 months and a year. Make them good rewards, that you’ll look forward to: CDs, books, DVDs, T-shirts, shoes, a massage, a bike, a dinner out at your favorite restaurant, a hotel stay … whatever you can afford. Even better: take whatever you would have spent on smoking each day, and put it in a jar. This is your Rewards Jar. Go crazy! Celebrate your every success! You deserve it.

7. Delay. If you have an urge, wait. Do the following things: take 10 deep breaths. Drink water. Eat a snack (at first it was candy and gum, then I switched to healthier stuff like carrots and frozen grapes and pretzels). Call your support person. Post on your smoking cessation forum. Exercise. DO WHATEVER IT TAKES, BUT DELAY, DELAY, DELAY. You will make it through it, and the urge will go away. When it does, celebrate! Take it one urge at a time, and you can do it.

8. Replace Negative Habits with Positive Ones. What do you do when you’re stressed? If you currently react to stress with a cigarette, you’ll need to find something else to do. Deep breathing, self massage of my neck and shoulders, and exercise have worked wonders for me. Other habits, such as what you do first thing in the morning, or what you do in the car, or wherever you usually smoke, should be replaced with better, more positive ones. Running has been my best positive habit, altho I have a few others that replaced smoking.

9. Make it Through Hell Week, then Heck Week, and You’re Golden. The hardest part of quitting is the first two days. If you can get past that, you’ve passed the nicotine withdrawal stage, and the rest is mostly mental. But all of the first week is hell. Which is why it’s called Hell Week. After that, it begins to get easier. Second week is Heck Week, and is still difficult, but not nearly as hellish as the first. After that, it was smooth sailing for me. I just had to deal with an occasional strong urge, but the rest of the urges were light, and I felt confident I could make it through anything.

10. If You Fall, Get Up. And Learn From Your Mistakes. Yes, we all fail. That does not mean we are failures, or that we can never succeed. If you fall, it’s not the end of the world. Get up, brush yourself off, and try again. I failed numerous times before succeeding. But you know what? Each of those failures taught me something. Well, sometimes I repeated the same mistakes several times, but eventually I learned. Figure out what your obstacles to success are, and plan to overcome them in your next quit. And don’t wait a few months until your next quit. Give yourself a few days to plan and prepare, commit fully to it, and go for it!

BONUS TIP #11: THINK POSITIVE. This is the most important tip of all. I saved it for last. If you have a positive, can-do attitude, as corny as it may sound, you will succeed. Trust me. It works. Tell yourself that you can do it, and you will. Tell yourself that you can’t do it, and you definitely won’t. When things get rough, think positive! You CAN make it through the urge. You CAN make it through Hell Week. And you can. I did. So have millions of others. We are no better than you. (In my case, worse.)