Allergic reactions to bananas

According to the Food Allergy Research & Education, about 4 percent of adults in the United States have a food allergy. Although banana allergies are not among the most common types of allergies to fruit, they can cause life-threatening symptoms. Consult your doctor if you suspect you are allergic to bananas.

banana intolerance

While true allergic to banana fruit reactions are rare, your body may not be able to break a certain chemical in the fruit. Known as amines, these chemicals require your body to produce an enzyme called diamine oxidase. If your body is unable to produce adequate amounts of this enzyme, you may experience allergic reactions. Also known as the banana intolerance, these reactions can include stomach cramps, heart palpitations, headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, coughing, sneezing, problems, watery eyes and runny nose breathing.

Banana Allergy

Although his symptoms similar to allergies may be due to intolerance banana a banana true allergy arises body's inability to break down a protein called chitinase. Also present at the kiwis and avocados, this protein can cause an allergic reaction type 1. This type of reaction is typically severe and almost instantaneous, with symptoms getting within minutes of touching or eating the fruit. Since the reactions range from mild discomfort and death, your symptoms may or may not include itchy skin, rashes, eye problems, difficulty breathing, runny nose, a variety of stomach problems and a life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. And you can read more allergy symptoms.

Allergy birch

As true banana allergies are rare, allergic reaction to bananas may arise from a wider to birch pollen and allergy. These allergies often cause a combination of symptoms known as oral allergy syndrome after a few minutes of eating. Common among sufferers of hay fever, oral allergy syndrome can cause tingling, itching and swelling of the lips and in the mouth and throat. As these allergies arise from contact with fresh fruit, briefly cook or heat their bananas can prevent this.

Latex-fruit syndrome

Bananas contain a protein allergenicity and similar to that found in natural rubber latex. If you experience allergic reactions to surgical gloves, condoms and balloons, for example, allergy reactions may be due to a condition called latex-fruit syndrome. This condition can cause itching and rashes all over the body, stomach pains, difficulty breathing, vomiting, and anaphylaxis. As you can produce this potentially fatal reaction soon after eating a banana, you should consult immediate medical help if you experience symptoms of a serious allergic reaction.

6 All-Natural Ways To Detox Your Body That Are Easier Than A Juice Cleanse

Perhaps the biggest load of bullsh*t out there is that it takes a lot of time, money and a near-death experience to change your life for the better. You do not have to wait for your millions to roll in or for a falling piano to miss you by inches to start living the happy, healthy, well-nourished life of your dreams. Hell, you can start doing it today for free.

Heads-up: Everything mentioned in this article can drastically improve your mood, health and life. Side effects may include, but are not limited to: brighter smile, clearer skin, boosted mood, better sleep, less gas, healthier weight, motivation, detoxification and a newfound love of feeling great. Additionally, it should be noted that all of these are gateways to more healthy behavior.

Here are six incredible, all-natural tweaks that will get you feeling like Rocky Balboa in his prime (or whatever you envision to be the epitome of feeling great):

1. Oil Pulling

Every now and again, we return to an old-school notion that always has and always will work. This entire article is a collection of rediscovered old-school notions. Oil pulling is mad old-school; in fact, it’s an ancient Ayurvedic practice that is also known as both “gundusha” or “kavala.”

Here’s what you do:

Take 1 to 2 teaspoons of coconut oil (or oil of preference) and swish it around in your mouth for 20 minutes. Spit out in garbage. That’s it. Some tips and tricks include respecting what your mama taught you: Don’t put oil down the drain, and don’t swallow mouthwash, which, in this case, is oil.

Oil pulling is said to do a long list of things including, but not limited to: prevent cavities (some claim it heals minor cavities), reduce buildup on teeth (buildup linked to buildup in heart, veins and arteries), whiten teeth, pull toxins from your body, help balance hormones and even reduce headaches and migraines.

On the note of headaches and migraines, oil pulling may actually cause mild headaches at first as a result of pulling toxins from the body. Think of it this way: Toxins are imbedded in the tissue of your body, and your body has compensated for the space and functionality they’re monopolizing as best it can. When you remove the toxins, there is a gap where they once were, and this is the body’s coping mechanism.

It’s like getting a nail in your tire, which is agreeably a bad thing. The nail needs to be removed from tire, and then a repair patch needs to be put in place. Remove the nail, and the tire will quickly deflate.

Do you leave the nail (metaphorical toxin) in and constantly keep airing it up (metaphorical quick fixes that don’t really work)? No. You air that bad boy up enough to get to the tire repair shop, and you let it pull the nail and patch the whole.

To keep your sweet vehicle running on all metaphorical four tires, start by oil pulling for five to 10 minutes every day, and gradually build up the amount of time you do it, until you reach 20 minutes. Twenty minutes is said to be optimal, as it’s enough time to get maximum toxins out, but it doesn’t allow enough time for all those toxins to leach back in.

Those in the know say to oil pull in the morning prior to any food or beverage or even teeth brushing. You can use this time to reflect on life, pet your dog, shower or scroll through social media. After your 20 minutes is up, spit the oil into garbage. Rinse your mouth with warm water, and brush your teeth.

2. Drink Hot Lemon Water First Thing

Well, you should do this almost first thing in the morning. First, you should do the oil pulling as mentioned above, and then you can move on to your lemon water. Perhaps you can use the time you’re oil pulling to warm the kettle and then allow the lemon water to cool down to a palatable temperature.

This one is so simple that it may seem laughable. Here’s what you do:

Bring water to a boil and add lemon juice. Drink said hot lemon water. You can use either fresh lemon juice squeezed out of a lemon or thin lemon slices. Don’t use the bottled nonsense unless the only ingredient is lemon juice and the bottle is glass.

Drinking hot lemon water is said to boost metabolism. Also, metabolism is the absorption and utilization of nutrients, not a fancy word for “get skinny.” If you are absorbing and utilizing nutrients well, you will reside at a healthy weight.

This is another detoxification activity. It helps you excrete toxins. Toxins have to come out somewhere, and in this case, it’s via urine and feces. Thus, drinking hot lemon water aids in regularity and decreasing water retention. Because toxins are going down the toilet, your body won’t be forced to push them out through the largest escape hatch it has: your skin. This means that your skin clears up.

3. Dry Brushing

Referencing back to your skin being your body’s largest route of elimination, dry brushing is another great tool to help with detoxing while taking care of your largest organ, your skin. Dry brushing is said to exfoliate your skin, remove pathogens and toxins resting on your skin and boost your immune system. Some even claim that it decreases cellulite.

As is the case with most things that aren’t exciting or expensive, there isn’t a lot of scientific research on dry brushing to back any of these claims up. It’s also highly probable that if the reduction of cellulite was significant, then dry brushing would have taken the world by storm and become expensive in the interim. That said, it’s something that can’t hurt, but potentially can help. If you have skin abrasions or rashes, don’t dry brush the area and make things worse.

Here’s what you do:

Starting from your feet and working your way up, take a natural bristle brush and brush it over your naked body Always brush toward your heart. Take a shower, and that’s it.

Dry brushing is said to leave your skin looking younger and healthier, as well as massage lymph nodes to push out toxins. To what degree it does all this is unknown, and it’s also dependent on a myriad of factors (age, frequency and technique). But what is true is that for the most part, it feels good, it costs nearly nothing and it takes very little time.

4. Apple Cider Vinegar

These are the beauty products you will see in every healthy hippie’s bathroom and kitchen pantry: coconut oil and apple cider vinegar. Why? Because they help with darn near everything in life.

When used externally, apple cider vinegar can clear up skin, help with ingrown hairs, exfoliate feet and give you radiant hair. For the ladies, it can also fend off yeast infections. When used internally, it can aid with digestion, decrease heartburn, improve metabolism, aid in weight loss and more.

Here’s what you do:

It depends on what you’re doing with apple cider vinegar, but for the most part, you dilute it in twice as much water and apply it to whatever you’re working on. To get the benefits of consuming it, the pros say to strive for 1 tablespoon a day. This can be done by adding it to a glass of water in the morning or a teaspoon with a glass of water at every meal. It’s especially good for acid reflux sufferers.

The key is to use apple cider vinegar that is organic, raw, unfiltered and with the mother. That means that it has the enzymes in it to do all the awesome things it does. Filtered apple cider vinegar is great for cleaning, and that’s it. Add apple cider vinegar to recipes to get even more of it.

5. Vitamin D

Vitamin D is needed for over 200 enzymatic functions in the body. It’s needed to absorb and utilize calcium, magnesium and zinc, all of which are big deals. Furthermore, it has been shown to play a preventative role in at least 17 different types of cancer. It’s also important in the prevention and treatment of diabetes, depression, anxiety, sleep issues, chronic fatigue and more.

Vitamin D is actually a hormone needed to make all other hormones. Consequentially, deficiency can affect your sex drive, fertility, penile function and gym performance. Do I have your attention now?

Those living in northern regions (draw a line from the bottom of the Colorado state border across US) do not get the minimum Vitamin D requirement from the sun from October to March due to the angle the sun hits Earth. You cannot override the axis tilt of the Earth and our proximity to the sun. Additionally, age, weight, skin color, sun skin, stress, pain pills, cholesterol medication and a bunch of other medications and factors all negatively affect Vitamin D status.

Long story short, take Vitamin D (bottle will say D3) daily, and have your Vitamin D levels tested immediately. This is one supplement you will feel kick in. It’s also a nutrient that is screaming to have its own blog covering it in-depth.

6. Probiotics

Probiotic is a fancy word for the healthy bacteria in your gut that everyone who eats yogurt once a month thinks they get enough of. Intestinal microflora, all the bacteria in your entire GI tract, is very delicate and needs more than a drop in the sea to be healthy.

Probiotics are linked to improved mood, clearer skin, better sleep, better blood glucose control, better bowel movements, better health (markedly less colds and flus) and even decreased pain (some pain is caused by bad bacteria sitting in your joints).

Here’s what you do:

Get a probiotic supplement containing a bifido- and lactobacilli- bacteria strain. Quite honestly, as a nutrition profession who is all about probiotics, I claim honey badger status on the exact brand you choose. The key is to take one and stop saying you walked past the yogurt section so you think you’re golden in the probiotics department.

Recognize that the good bacteria you’re taking may have to ride into battle with a host of bad bacteria in your gut, causing an upset stomach and gas for a day or two. After that, digestion is smooth sailing.

On top of your probiotic supplement, eat fiber-rich foods to feed your health microflora. Additionally, consume fermented and probiotic-enriched foods as well.

The fact is, our bodies are actually designed to feel good. That is the natural state our bodies gravitate toward. It only makes sense that if the natural design of our bodies is to feel good, then we should use natural things to feel better.

Breast implant patients at The Cosmetic Institute knocked out without consent, report reveals

Patients at one of Australia's most popular cosmetic surgery clinics are being knocked out without their consent, an explosive leaked report has revealed.

The ABC can reveal women getting breast implants at The Cosmetic Institute (TCI) were given dangerously high doses of drugs that can cause cardiac arrests.

According to the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) report, in the last 12 months six patients suffered potentially life-threatening complications while getting breast implants, including rapid heartbeat, seizures and cardiac arrest.

High doses of anaesthetics used at the clinic appear to be to blame.

"Adrenaline was used routinely (in combination with local anaesthetic agents) ... at well above the accepted upper limit of safe dosage," the report found.

It found the clinics "placed the health and safety of members of the public at risk".

Merrilyn Walton, a professor of Medical Education, Patient Safety at the University of Sydney, said the findings were "extremely worrying".

"It's hard for me to imagine in 2016 that this is actually occurring," she said.

The Cosmetic Institute is Australia's largest provider of cosmetic surgery.

It has clinics in Sydney and the Gold Coast with plans to open in Victoria.

The company's annual projected turnover for 2014-15 was $35 million to $40 million.

The highly critical report found patients were being given high doses of anaesthetic cocktails, to the point where they were "under a general anaesthetic".

But the clinics are only licensed to provide "conscious sedation".

Patients had not given their consent to be put under a general anaesthetic.

"TCI's consent procedures were inadequate — as patients are being placed under either deeper sedation or general anaesthetic with no consent provided for this," the report found.
Patients not aware of TCI procedure's risk

Professor Walton said she was very concerned that patients had not given proper, informed consent.

"If doctors are honest about the level of drugs they're using, they would have to expose the serious risk these women face during this procedure," she said.

"I can't imagine anyone would consent to having these procedures done in such circumstances."

Doses were not being adjusted for individual patients' size and body weight.

"Local anaesthetic drugs were used at TCI in excess of safe doses and dose calculations were not individualised according to patients' weight," experts said.

Daniel Fleming from the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgeons said the doctors involved needed to be held to account for their actions.

"All of these unlawful anaesthetics, all of these dangerous complications occurred at the hands of medical practitioners, anaesthetists and surgeons. We would like to know if the HCCC is taking action against those doctors who have acted unlawfully, misled patients and put their lives at risk," Dr Fleming said.

The ABC first raised concerns about The Cosmetic Institute last year, when it was revealed TCI was under investigation for alleged inappropriate use of anaesthetic.

The company now performs procedures at Concord Private Hospital in Sydney and another private hospital in Southport, Queensland.

Patients tell of botched breast implant surgery

Narelle Bayon has been in constant pain since getting breast implants at The Cosmetic Institute in Sydney.

"In my arm, there's constant pain, it's like a burning. As soon as I elevate my arm, my arm goes numb and I have to shake my arm because it goes numb. It just tingles," she said.

Plastic surgeons have told Ms Bayon the pocket her surgeon cut for the implant in her left breast was too small and narrow.

"The pain is permanent. It's the result of basically the implant, because it's pushing on the nerves in my arm. It's probably going to be there for life," she said.

The experience has had a devastating impact on the young mother.

"I've actually had to see a psychiatrist because it's just too much to deal with. You do this for yourself, thinking you might be able to feel better for yourself," Ms Bayon said.

"I get sore and I get tired, and it just burns around my neck."

She regrets having surgery at the cut-price cosmetic clinic.

"I wish I never went there. Simple as that. I wish I never went to The Cosmetic Institute," she said.

Dr Fleming said patients should be wary of clinics offering cut-price or cheap surgery.

"Cosmetic surgery is no different to anything else. You usually get what you pay for. The problem with surgical procedures is that when you find out the true cost of the procedure, you may have paid for it with your health and safety, or even your life," he said.
TCI has taken action to address concerns

The Cosmetic Institute general manager Andrew Gill said the clinics had already taken action to address the issues investigated by the HCCC.

"Effective from last year, all TCI surgeries in NSW are now carried out at licensed premises at Concord Private Hospital," he said.

He said the procedures were done under deep sedation or general anaesthetic.

"TCI is also reviewing consent procedures and documentation to ensure that patients are fully aware of the level of sedation under which they will placed," he said.

Mr Gill said the clinics had reviewed their procedures to ensure safe upper limits for adrenaline and local anaesthetic usage.

He said TCI had performed more than 15,000 breast augmentation procedures since 2012.

Reform of cosmetic surgery stalls

In Australia, doctors do not need to be experienced as a surgeon to perform cosmetic surgery.

The NSW Government is considering whether there should be a new class of "cosmetic surgery", so that cosmetic procedures could only be undertaken in a licensed private health facility or hospital.

The HCCC report recommended a major overhaul of procedures including the clinic only perform breast augmentation at "licensed facilities".

Growing complaints about cosmetic surgery have also prompted the Medical Board to conduct a widespread review of the cosmetic surgery industry in Australia.

Changes could include mandatory cooling-off periods for all patients before cosmetic surgery procedures, with a three-month cooling off period for patients younger than 18, and mandatory assessment by a registered psychologist or psychiatrist.

Confirmation that Zika virus causes microcephaly shifts debate to prevention

After several weeks of study and debate, US health officials concluded that infection with the Zika virus during pregnancy causes the birth defect microcephaly, a finding that experts hope will refocus attention on efforts to stop infections and prompt US. lawmakers to fund emergency prevention efforts.

"There isn't any doubt that Zika causes microcephaly," Dr Tom Frieden, director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told reporters in a conference on Wednesday. US and world health officials have been saying for weeks that mounting scientific evidence points to the mosquito-borne virus as the likely cause of the alarming rise in microcephaly in Zika-hit areas of Brazil.

It had not been declared as the definitive cause until now. The announcement comes at a critical time for the Obama Administration, which has been urging the Republican-controlled Congress to grant nearly $1.9 billion in emergency funds to fight the virus, which is already affecting Puerto Rico and is expected to hit parts of the United States with the coming of mosquito-friendly warmer weather.

In a temporary fix, the White House recently said that it would redirect $589 million in allocated funds to prepare for Zika's arrival in the continental United States (US). The declaration of Zika as a cause of microcephaly may make it harder for lawmakers to deny the request for emergency funding.

"I think it's a game-changer," said Dr Lawrence Gostin, a global health law expert at Georgetown University who testified before Congress in March on the need for Zika funding. "It's acceptable if we don't know for sure if a risk is going to emerge and we're unprepared, but it's shameful if we absolutely know that an epidemic is coming and we fail to prepare."

Certainty over whether Zika causes microcephaly should end the debate in the public health community about the potential impact of the virus and focus attention on how to prevent infections, experts said. "There has been so much debate. It lays that to rest now,"said Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota.

In February, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Zika a global health emergency based on its suspected link to thousands of cases in Brazil of microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size and underdeveloped brains. The declaration kicked off a flurry of studies to prove a link. The CDC said its latest conclusions came after all necessary scientific criteria had been met to make the official call.

"The data are there. The evidence is there. The pieces of information we have now makes us confident," said Dr. Sonja Rasmussen, director of the CDC division of public health information and lead author of a New England Journal of Medicine article outlining evidence.

CDC now believes microcephaly is just one of a range of serious birth defects caused by Zika. In Brazil, officials have confirmed more than 1,100 cases of microcephaly, and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. It is investigating more than 3,800 additional suspected cases. CDC travel and sexual transmission guidelines remain unchanged. Women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant are advised to avoid travel to the at least 42 countries and territories where Zika has spread, and men who have been to those areas are advised to abstain from sex or use condoms with partners who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant.

There were already signs on Wednesday that Republican lawmakers' resolve against funding the White House Zika request is weakening. Senior US House of Representatives Republican Tom Cole said on Wednesday more funds will be needed to fight the Zika virus in the United States, signalling a shift from insistence by many Republicans that the Obama administration should use existing funds for the effort to combat the growing threat.

"There's going to need to be additional money, I don't think there's any doubt about that," Cole told reporters after a House Republican meeting. "We're having discussions about that now." Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who is from Florida, broke with other congressional Republicans on Zika last week, announcing his support for President Barack Obama's nearly $1.9 billion request to fight the virus.

On Wednesday, Rubio wrote to the CDC to urge it to clear a backlog of Zika diagnostic tests and prioritise testing for pregnant women, saying he had seen media reports that some pregnant women have waited up to a month for CDC to complete their tests. House Speaker Paul Ryan stood fast, however, saying that if more money is needed to fight Zika, lawmakers will respond through the regular appropriations process.

Now that the causal relationship has been established, Frieden said several important questions must be answered, such as what percentage of Zika-infected mothers have babies with birth defects. Researchers also want to discover the full range of brain and developmental issues that may crop up later in life for infected babies, Rasmussen said.

Researchers discover what makes weight loss harder for women than men

A new study has found that men and women might not be on equal ground when it comes to losing weight. Researchers at the Universities of Aberdeen and Cambridge in the UK, and Michigan in the USA have pinpointed the behaviour of certain hormones, produced in the brain, which could make weight loss more difficult for women.

World Health Organisation data shows that there are more obese women than men worldwide, with up to twice as many obese women than men in some parts of the world. Dr Lora Heisler and colleagues from the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health sought to understand why women put on weight more easily than men and why they find weight loss more of a challenge.

While the scientists succeeded in making obese, sedentary male mice lose weight, the same effect couldn't be replicated in female mice. "What we have discovered is that the part of the brain that has a significant influence on how we use the calories that we eat is wired differently in males and females," explains Dr Luk Burke.

More precisely, the hormones responsible for regulating appetite, physical activity, energy expenditure and weight loss produced in this part of the brain -- called pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) peptides -- have been found to behave differently in men and women. The researchers were able to modulate the appetite of female mice using these hormones, which curb the need for food, but saw no effect on energy expenditure or physical activity.

In other words, current obesity medication targeting POMC peptides can reduce the women's appetite but may not tap into brain signals regulating energy expenditure and physical activity. This could explain why women gain weight more easily and have more difficulty losing it.

The team hopes that their findings, published in the Molecular Metabolism journal, will lead to the development of new treatments. Previously, a patient's sex hasn't been taken into account when considering appropriate treatments for obesity, which affects one in four adults in the UK.

The World Health Organisation estimates that 1.4 billion adults over the age of 20 are overweight worldwide.

4 ways to beat stress with your pet

Not only do our furry friends offer companionship, they can also help us relax when we get overwhelmed. In fact, in a recent survey conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, 87 percent of men and women said that spending time with their pet helped them feel less wigged-out. Next time you’re distraught, seek out a four-legged pal and reap these benefits.

1. They lower your stress hormones
When you’re petting Fido, he’s not the only one getting calmed down by the head-to-tail massage. Hanging out with a dog after experiencing something stressful reduces your levels of the stress hormone cortisol and possibly buffers the impact of the event, says Sandra Barker, PhD, director of the Center for Human-Animal Interaction at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. A 2012 review found that being with your dog can also lead to an increase in oxytocin, a hormone with anti-stress effects.

2. They can bring down your blood pressure
“Stress does a number on our bodies and is associated with an accelerated heart rate and blood pressure state,” said Lynne T. Braun, PhD, professor of nursing at Rush University in Chicago. “By promoting relaxation, exposing someone to a pet can certainly help with this.”

In fact, one Australia study showed that pet owners had significantly lower blood pressure than non-owners.

3. They let you step outside your own problems
If you feel your worries piling up, a pet can help you put it all into perspective.

“Our pets give us an opportunity to reach outside ourselves,” explained Debra F. Horwitz, DVM, a board-certified veterinary behaviorist.

Her tip: Whenever you’re extra stressed, take your dog for a quick 10-minute walk. Seeing your pup appreciate the little things as you stroll will help you do so, too.

4. For some people, animals really do provide the best therapy
Does being with your dog make your out-of-control anxiety a little more manageable? With a note from a doc, you may be able to get him certified as an emotional support animal, which will allow him to accompany you out and about. But don’t think this is an easy way to get around your landlord’s strict no-pets rule. You need to have a mental or psychiatric disability that’s treatable through animal companionship.

“It’s not as simple as saying, ‘I have a pet and I want it to be a therapy dog,’” said Debra F. Horwitz, DVM. “It’s important to see a physician to determine whether this is the best option.”

How stress increases your chances of diabetes

Stress is a major part of everyone's life. However, learning how to deal with stress is important in order to take better care of your health.

While numerous studies reveal how stress has an emotional and psychological impact, it also affects our bodies and is a contributing factor to diabetes. "I have seen so many people who developed diabetes in the year that they lost their spouse, when they were going through a divorce, after a major financial loss or suffered a very stressful phase at their workplace," says Dr Roshani Sanghani, a Consultant Endocrinologist and Founder of the Diabetes Self-Management Clinic at PD Hinduja National Hospital in Mumbai.

According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), "Stress hormones that are designed to deal with short-term danger stay turned on for a long time. As a result, long-term stress can cause long-term high blood glucose levels."

Urgent, concerted efforts needed to stem diabetes epidemic: WHO

Learning strategies to deal with stress will help you cope with stress more effectively and lessen the effect it has on your body. Sanghani's patients use their glucometer to see how high stress raises their blood sugar on a daily basis. She says taking steps to reduce stress will help improve how you deal with diabetes.

Diabetes New Zealand shares some simple tips to get you started with handling stress, benefit your mental health and take you off the path to diabetes:

- Take the time out to do breathing exercises.

- Undergo relaxation therapy to help you cope with stress

- Get regular exercise

- Consciously replace bad thoughts with good ones

11 Ways to Exercise Without Even Realising It

Workouts are so boring that keeping fit is really a chore. It makes a person really miserable to have to wake up to an alarm in the wee hours of the morning and get going on the treadmill. It seems like all the things that the doctor prescribed as being good for you really suck. But what if we told you there are actually ways to work out without you even realising that it is one? In fact many of these are really fun activities that end up burning calories for you without even being classified as workout. Don't believe us? Check out this list of activities that give you a workout without you realising it.

1. Laugh more: Studies show laughing just a few minutes per day can burn as much as 40 extra calories.

2. Go dancing: That's right, ladies. You can still burn calories in a mini-skirt. Who said exercising can't be fun?

3. Having sex: This one's probably everybody's favourite. Sex burns approximately 3.6 calories per minute, according to research.

4. Brushing your teeth: Any time you battle gravity by lifting your arms in the air, your body stands to benefit. To really benefit, set a timer on the phone for two minutes and actually brush the entire time.

5. Chewing gum: A study found that people who chewed sugar-free gum before and after meals burned up to 5 percent extra calories.

6. Cleaning: This one's not that exciting, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be included in the list. Every time you vacuum, mop or scrub down your house, you're not only making it nice and clean, you're also burning calories while you do so.

7. Jumping on a trampoline: This fun childhood activity actually burns 42 calories in 10 minutes. The heavier you are, the more calories you burn while bouncing.

8. Roughhousing with kids: Go pay your niece and nephew a visit regularly and take them off your sister's hands. As a reward, you get to burn calories when you run after them, do friendly-fights and play games with them.

9. Martial arts: Martial arts is satisfying on a different level. You know it's a way for you to feel empowered and strong and that makes you feel good about yourself. But it also gives you a great work out. Sign up for karate.

10. Kick-boxing: Learning kick-boxing is tantamount to taking up a new sport. You have other people in your class to compete with and if your instructor praises your precision, naturally you'll feel good. But it's also a great workout and you will lose kilos.

11. Play active video games: Play video games that need you to be active - Wii Tennis, Wii Fit, Just Dance on Xbox Kinect, even Dance Dance Revolution.

Do fitness trackers really work?

Fitness trackers are the accessory of the moment for the aspirationally active — you can see them dangling from wrists and pinned to belts everywhere.

Figures suggest about one in five of us use some form of wearable technology.

These devices claim to track everything from steps to sleep. But does the science stack up?

Market research shows that up to 50 per cent of people stop using their wearable device within 12 months.

According to Dr Mitesh Patel, an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Healthcare Management at the University of Pennsylvania, the people who are mostly likely to see benefits from using a fitness tracker are those who are already motivated and engaged in their health.

"Those individuals tend to be able to take this data and literally run with it," he said.

"Whereas the people who have chronic conditions or are obese or have diabetes, for those folks giving a device is often not enough."

Tips for fitness tracker success

    - Get competitive with friends and family by synching your devices
    - Incentivise achieving your goals
    - Give your fitness tracker as much personal data as possible (for example, weight and height) to improve the quality of the statistics your device gives you

But if you're not one of those people who already enjoys running at the crack of dawn and eating salad, there is still hope.

Dr Patel said technology needed to be paired with "effective behaviour change strategies" in order for people to improve their health.

So he took people who were overweight or obese and examined the effect of a financial incentive on their motivation to achieve a daily goal of 7,000 steps.
Group support and personal accountability key

Those in the control group, who were given no financial incentive, achieved their goal about 30 per cent of the time.

The next two groups — one which received $1.40 incentive each day the goal was reached and the other which could win up to $50 each time in a lottery — both achieved their goal 35 to 36 per cent of the time.

But a fourth group, who stood to lose $1.40 each time a target was missed, achieved their goals 45 per cent of the time.

Dr Patel said this was because we tended to respond to losses more than gains.

"We are often engaged based on our emotions, so we hate the feeling of regret, not being able to collect a reward that we could have gotten had only we tried a little bit harder," he said.

In another study, Dr Patel also found there were benefits to working with a group — synching your device with friends or family and getting competitive.

"You need some kind of individual reinforcement, but you also need someone there to support you, you need to feel accountable to a team-mate, a family member or a friend," he said.

"That combination of social structure and reward incentives can really help us to achieve better outcomes than just using the device alone."
How accurate are they?

Robert Furberg, a clinical informaticist at RTI International in North Carolina, said fitness trackers perform best when measuring steps.

"Because that's really what this device was intended to measure," he said.

But many of these devices then extrapolate that data, to provide figures like distance, activity intensity and calories burned.

"I tend to have this data model in my head of a series of concentric circles," Dr Furberg said.

"At the centre you have this unit of step that is measured ... So we might say, 'Great job, you took 10,000 steps last night, because we are estimating your stride length, you have run 4 kilometres'.

"But then beyond that it's not just you've taken 10,000 steps and run 4 kilometres, but that in doing so you have burned 1,500 calories."

The problem is, the further you get away from the actual measurement of steps, the greater the likelihood of introducing some mathematical error.

You can however increase the accuracy, by putting in personal data like height, weight and calories consumed.

"I tend to have this data model in my head of a series of concentric circles," Dr Furberg said.

"At the centre you have this unit of step that is measured ... So we might say, 'Great job, you took 10,000 steps last night, because we are estimating your stride length, you have run 4 kilometres'.

"But then beyond that it's not just you've taken 10,000 steps and run 4 kilometres, but that in doing so you have burned 1,500 calories."

The problem is, the further you get away from the actual measurement of steps, the greater the likelihood of introducing some mathematical error.

You can however increase the accuracy, by putting in personal data like height, weight and calories consumed.

Stressed moms may have babies with low birth weight: study

Mothers-to-be, take note! Even before you become pregnant, your stress physiology may predict a lower-birthweight baby, a new study suggests.

Most people have a high level of cortisol - a hormone the body releases in response to stressful events - when they get out of bed in the morning, and that level declines throughout the day, said researchers from University of California (UCLA) in the US. In some people, however, cortisol levels are low in the morning and decrease by a smaller-than-normal amount during the day. This pattern has been associated with progression of a variety of diseases, including atherosclerosis and cancer, as well as chronic stress and a history of trauma, they said.

The new study analysed 142 women who were participating in a larger study that was conducted by the Community Child Health Network, which looked at how chronic stress affects new parents and their babies. Researchers found that the women were likelier to give birth to lower-weight babies. It is the first evidence that maternal cortisol patterns before conception influence the weight of the baby, they said. "We found that the same cortisol pattern that has been linked with chronic stress is associated with delivering a baby that weighs less at birth," said Christine Guardino from UCLA.

Low birth weight babies (less than 2.5 kilogrammes) have a higher-than-normal risk for infant mortality developmental and for health abnormalities throughout their lives, including cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, researchers said. They looked at families in US beginning a month after the birth of a child, and again when the child was 6, 12 and 18 months old.

Women's cortisol levels typically increase by two to four times during a normal pregnancy, and that increase plays an important role in a baby's growth and development, researchers said. But when cortisol levels are elevated beyond that range, the effects can be both immediate - because elevated cortisol levels reduce blood flow to the foetus - and longer-lasting - influencing the child's response to stress later in life, they said.

Elevated maternal cortisol reduces blood flow to the foetus, which deprives the foetus of oxygen and nutrients.

Previous studies have shown the importance of stress hormones during pregnancy for foetal growth and development, but the new study provides the first evidence that the mother's stress physiology before she even conceives is also important. It suggests that a woman's health and life circumstances before her pregnancy, especially chronic stress, matter greatly, researchers said. "Women should treat depression, evaluate and treat stress, be sure they are in a healthy relationship, be physically active, stop smoking and gather family support," said Chris Dunkel Schetter from UCLA.

11 Ways to Sneak Protein in Your Daily Diet and Lose the Inches

We get it. You're not a diet person. Actually nobody is a diet person. We just end up doing it because of circumstances. After all, everybody loves good food; after all, yummy food really cheers up a person. But still, if you've reached the point where you think you need to slightly modify your diet to stay healthy, check out these tips to sneak protein in your diet. After all, the core of a good diet is a significant portion of protein and fibre. But most of us end up having a carb-heavy diet because it's just plain yummy. Here are some easy ways to get protein in your diet. If any of these pointers work for you, then try using them to make long-term changes to your diet. Check it out.

1.Opt for a chicken curry whenever you can. It is low in fat and high in protein.

2. Paneer-loving vegetarians, we have good news for you. Paneer is totally the dietician's recommendation for increasing protein in diet. So just gorge on those tikkas and chilli paneer starters.

whey protein smoothies

3. Add some whey protein to your milkshakes or swap the milk and ice cream for yoghurt.

4. Ensure that you're having whole lentils like rajma or chole in at least one meal each day.

5.Instead of having fried starters while eating out, try protein-heavy ones like hummus with pita bread or chicken tandoori/tikka, or a paneer starter. This will automatically reduce your intake of carbs like rice and chapati.

6.Go easy on the oily food for your evening snack. Instead include a cup of yoghurt, preferably plain. You can have the flavoured ones too, although you need to decide whether you can afford to have the added sugar.

7.You can even have roasted chana as a snack. It's oil-free and high in protein.

8. If you feel the need to indulge your sweet tooth, then try meringue cookies. They are basically egg whites whipped with sugar and baked with some added flavours. It's got no added fat and the egg whites are protein repositories.

9. Switch the mayo in your salads for whipped curd with seasoning.

10.Get generous with avocado. It's high in protein and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), which helps diminish belly fat. You can use mashed avocado as a dip or add it to your chocolate cake, pudding and muffin batter for denser and healthier dessert.

11. Switch from regular butter on your toast to nut butters. This could be peanut butter, almond butter, sunflower seed butter or even cashew butter.

Experts warn drinking just two cups of coffee per day could increase risk of miscarriage

Experts have warned that two or more cups of coffee consumed per dat in the weeks before conception could increase the risk of miscarriage.

This doesn’t just relate to women, as experts say the male partner’s caffeine consumption is also strongly linked.

Scientists at the National Institute of Health found that women who drink two caffeinated drinks during the first seven weeks of pregnancy are more likely to miscarry.

As a result, experts recommend couples lower their caffeine consumption when they decide to try for a baby.

Dr Germaine Buck Louis, director of intramural population health research, said: "Our findings provide useful information for couples who are planning a pregnancy and who would like to minimize their risk for early pregnancy loss."

The team at the NIH came to their conclusions after analysing data from the Longitudinal Investigation of Fertility and the Environment Study

The study looked at the relationship between fertility, lifestyle and exposure to environmental chemicals.

The researchers studied 344 couples with a singleton pregnancy from the four weeks before they conceived, through the seventh week of pregnancy.

Multiple lifestyle factors were compared, including cigarette use, caffeinated beverage consumption and multivitamin use.

Researchers measured the results using a ‘hazard ratio’ – which estimates the chances of a particular health outcome occurring during the study time frame.

They found that caffeine consumption in both the male and female had a direct link to miscarriage.

Dr Helen Webberley GP for the Oxford Online Pharmacy spoke to Express.co.uk about the dangers caffeine has for our bodies, revealing: “High levels of caffeine have been implicated in late miscarriages, stillbirths and low birth-weight babies.”

10 Weird Nutrition Tips That Actually Work, Says Science

There are no hard and fast rules to diet and nutrition. A vegetable diet may work well for you, but somebody may need substantial amounts of animal-based products. The only way is to keep trying different strategies and see what works out for you. Even then, much of it may not make sense to you, like these weird nutritional tips we've put together for you. They may seem completely bonkers, but according to science, they work. Really. Check it out.

1. Drink coffee to have a better nap. This is actually true. A Japanese study shows that people who took a 'coffee nap'-consuming about 200 milligrams of caffeine (the amount in one to two cups of coffee) and then immediately taking a 20-minute rest-felt more alert and performed better on computer tests than those who only took a nap. Weird huh?

2. To eat less, eat more. Eating small amounts of carbohydrates does nothing but spike your blood sugar and leave you wanting more carbs. Better to eat something substantial, preferably full of proteins.

3. Enjoy some sweets at breakfast.A study from the journal Eating Behaviors found that eating a small amount of a highly liked food each day reduces overall cravings.

4. Eat on a colourful plate. Research from Cornell University found that people serve themselves more food when the colour of their food matches the colour of their plate.If your goal is to eat less food, serve it on a plate that's a different colour.

5. Drink water when you're bloated.When you feel bloated, drinking water sounds as if it would only make matters worse, but it can often help. Water mixes with water soluble fiber and makes it into a gel like substance. This affects the motility of the gut and reduces the symptom of bloating.

6. Smell fruits when you crave sugar or fries. Multiple studies show that sniffing fruits can help reduce hunger and diminish sugary cravings.

7. Pay for your food with cash, not card. A study from Cornell University found that people are more likely to buy junk food when paying with plastic. This is likely because unhealthy foods are usually more of an impulse buy, and paying with cash often requires thinking ahead.

8. Indulge in your cravings just a little. Eating healthy doesn't mean you can't have some of your favourite ice cream or the occasional french fries. In fact, eating a small amount of the food you are craving for is just as satisfying as eating the whole thing.

9. Drink a hot beverage to cool off. There's a reason why this country's favourite beverage is a hot cup of chai. When you sip a hot beverage, your body senses the change in temperature and increases your sweat production. Then, as the sweat evaporates from your skin, you cool off naturally.

10. Drink more water to feel happier. This might sound completely weird, but it actually works. Apparently, even mild dehydration can cause moodiness and fatigue. Staying hydrated can keep you upbeat and energised, so don't underestimate the importance of water.

Smothered campfires hot enough to cause serious burns next day, experts warn

For young and old alike, spending an evening by a campfire is often the highlight of a camping trip.

But burns experts say we need to keep in mind that campfires can pose a significant safety risk, especially if you extinguish the fire by putting it out with sand or dirt.

The warning comes as many of us head off on autumn school holidays, a popular time for camping trips but also a peak time for burns in children.

While campfires obviously pose a risk when they are being lit or as they are blazing, we tend not be aware of the risk they pose after they've been extinguished. Especially if you simply smother your campfire with dirt or sand and then head off to bed.

But the smothered coals can remain hot enough to give a child a deep burn even 24 hours later, says Professor Roy Kimble, head of burns and trauma at Lady Cilento Children's Hospital in Brisbane.

The next day, if children start playing in the sand mound where the fire has been they can get burns bad enough for them to lose fingers or toes — and they only have to be in contact with the hot coals for less than a second.

"Building a campfire is an iconic thing and we don't want to discourage that. We just want it done safely," Professor Kimble said.

"The only safe way to extinguish a campfire is to put it out with water. It will be harmless in about 10 minutes.

"But if you let it go out by itself or put sand or dirt over it, it actually takes an incredible amount of time to cool down. It's still really hot 24 hours later."
Know what your kids are doing

Flammable liquids are another common source of burns in holiday periods, Professor Kimble said.

Parents need to know what their children were doing because older children, particularly boys, often "get bored and start playing with things like petrol of methylated spirits".

They often had a "fascination with fire" and liked to use flammable liquids to start fires or enhance the flames.

"It's boys being boys," he said.

Burns sustained in this way tended to be very serious because flaming clothes were in contact with large areas of skin and for long periods, he said.

Motorbikes ridden by children on rural properties could also cause nasty burns because often the guard over the exhaust pipe has been removed.

"The child falls over, the bike lands on top of them, they're wearing shorts and we see awful burns to especially the legs, where the bike's been lying on them and basically it fries part of the leg. They usually require skin grafts," Professor Kimble said.
Instant noodle, hair straightener, hot drink burn risks

You don't have to be having outdoor adventures for burns to occur unexpectedly.

One trend that's been noted in recent years is an increase in scalds to children eating instant hot noodles, which are prepared in boiling water.

Westmead Children's Hospital in Sydney reported a 32 per cent increase in childhood burns caused by these products between 2005 and 2010, according to research published in the journal Burns.

The products can be "dangerously hot" when prepared according to the manufacturer's directions, yet insulated containers could feel misleadingly cool, the authors said.

Professor Kimble said children tend to eat hot noodles from containers in their laps while they're watching TV or playing a video game.

"The bowl tips and can burn their entire groin," he said.

Care also needs to be taken with pot belly fireplaces and glass fronted heaters. When there are no safety guards around these heaters, toddlers frequently burn their hands touching them.

Items like irons, hair straighteners and stove hot plates are also ongoing risks, while scalds from hot drinks are the biggest source of childhood burns year round.

"Parents don't think and leave hot drinks where young kids can grab them and tip them on themselves. Children are curious and they can move very fast," Professor Kimble said.

Burn first aid: cold running water

If you or a child do sustain a burn, research has shown the best first aid is cold running water for 20 minutes. This can be done up to three hours after the burn.

While this may seem inconvenient, it is "really helpful", according to Professor Kimble.

"It may even make the difference between requiring a skin graft or not requiring a skin graft. It reduces the depth of the burn," he said.

You should not put butter, toothpaste, oil or any other product on a burn as it may cause infection and will not help the burn heal. And you should not apply ice either.

"Our studies have shown ice has no advantage in decreasing the depth of the burn," he said.

If you are in a location that does not have access to cold running water, putting the burnt area (say a hand or foot) in a container of cold water is the next best thing.

The fact cold water reduces pain is important too, because research by Professor Kimble's team has shown relieving pain promotes healing, regardless of the severity of the burn.

But prevention is always the best approach.

"All you have to do is stop one major burn from happening, and not only do you change the entire life of one child and their family but you've also saved the health service somewhere between $1 million and $2 million," he said.

"Treating burns is very expensive and the smaller you are, the more reconstructive surgery you need."

Losing weight with a high-protein diet can improve sleep quality

While most scientific studies have focused on highlighting the role of sleep in weight-loss diets, professor of nutrition science Wayne Campbell and his team of researchers at Purdue University in the US state of Indiana considered the exact opposite, investigating the effect of a weight-loss diet on sleep quality.

The findings, published in the March edition of the American Journal of Nutrition, show that following a high-protein diet for several months can lead to better sleep in obese and overweight adults. In a first pilot study, the researchers asked 14 overweight participants (11 women and three men) to follow a high-protein diet based on pork and beef or soy and legume products.

For the main study, involving 44 overweight or obese volunteers, one group followed a diet with a normal intake of protein, whereas the other group followed a high-protein diet. After a three-week period allowing volunteers to adapt to the diet, participants then consumed 0.8g or 1.5g of protein a day per kg of body mass for 16 weeks. Each month, the researchers evaluated the quality of participants' sleep by means of a questionnaire.

The scientists found that after three and four months, the volunteers with the highest protein intakes while losing weight reported an improvement in sleep quality. "Short sleep duration and compromised sleep quality frequently lead to metabolic and cardiovascular diseases and premature death," explains Jing Zhou, the study's first author.

"Given the high prevalence of sleep problems it's important to know how changes to diet and lifestyle can help improve sleep." The results could see high-protein diets regain popularity, such the Dukan Diet or the Atkins Diet, or those followed by high-level athletes.

Two studies published in March 2014 in the Cell Metabolism journal found that people with the highest protein intakes were four times more likely to die from cancer than those who ate little protein. This type of diet was also found to reduce life expectancy.