Japan, Seeking Trim Waists, Measures Millions
This article, from The New York Times (you can read the entire article by clicking here) gives me a big grin.
I can’t imagine American lining up because the government says we will have our waists measured, and be expected to meet a certain standard or lose weight and be penalized. Can you imagine Kuwaitis allowing the government to tell them how big their waists can be?
Japan is one of the most law-abiding nations on earth – I guess you have to be, when you have so many people occupying so little space. When you think of the Japanese, you think of politeness, courtesy. Outbreaks of rage are an anomoly.
And the government is right – obesity causes more and more expense down the road because it exacerbates other conditions. But someone’s weight is a very personal thing!
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
Published: June 13, 2008
A poster at a public health clinic in Japan reads, “Goodbye, metabo,” a word associated with being overweight. The Japanese government is mounting an ambitious weight-loss campaign.
Summoned by the city of Amagasaki one recent morning, Minoru Nogiri, 45, a flower shop owner, found himself lining up to have his waistline measured. With no visible paunch, he seemed to run little risk of being classified as overweight, or metabo, the preferred word in Japan these days.
But because the new state-prescribed limit for male waistlines is a strict 33.5 inches, he had anxiously measured himself at home a couple of days earlier. “I’m on the border,” he said.
Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population.
Those exceeding government limits — 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for women, which are identical to thresholds established in 2005 for Japan by the International Diabetes Federation as an easy guideline for identifying health risks — and having a weight-related ailment will be given dieting guidance if after three months they do not lose weight. If necessary, those people will be steered toward further re-education after six more months.
To reach its goals of shrinking the overweight population by 10 percent over the next four years and 25 percent over the next seven years, the government will impose financial penalties on companies and local governments that fail to meet specific targets. The country’s Ministry of Health argues that the campaign will keep the spread of diseases like diabetes and strokes in check.
The ministry also says that curbing widening waistlines will rein in a rapidly aging society’s ballooning health care costs, one of the most serious and politically delicate problems facing Japan today. Most Japanese are covered under public health care or through their work. Anger over a plan that would make those 75 and older pay more for health care brought a parliamentary censure motion Wednesday against Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, the first against a prime minister in the country’s postwar history.
Sunrise June 11, 2008
You can see the June sun is a big throbbing ball in the sky, and the visibility at 0600 is almost to the horizon. Less than an hour later, visibility is rapidly decreasing.
Actually, I love being out in the dust; I love seeing all the men with the gutras wrapped around their faces, it looks very exotic. Before all the designer gutras, you can imagine these cloths were a necessity to protect faces and lungs from the biting sand and gritty dust.
The medical face-masks are probably better at screening out the dust, but don’t have the same romance to them. 😉
Temperature 93°F / 34°C at 0800; and the dust may keep the temperatures down a little today, below the projected high of 109°F / 43°C.
Alternate Breakfast
Just before she skipped town, one of my partners-in-crime (girlfriends) gave me a packet of fresh home-made granola. I’ve been eating it as a breakfast alternative to the raspberry-blueberry-Activia smoothies I am addicted to, but I am eating sparingly of the granola, trying to make it last until she will come back and make me some more!
It is SOOOO good, and I don’t know how she does it, makes something good for you taste so good!
Good News For People Who Like Oily Fish
I love articles like this one, from BBC Health News that give me hope I am doing something right. I think the fish with the right stuff are tuna, and mackeral . . . what Kuwait fish have these valuable Omega-3 oils?
Is there much macular degeneration in Kuwait?
Oily fish ‘cuts eye disease risk’
Eating food rich in omega-3, such as oily fish, could help some people avoid one of the most common causes of vision loss, a research review suggests.
The Annals of Ophthalmology review suggests omega-3 may cut the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by a third. . . .
Studies have already linked omega-3 fatty acids with a variety of health benefits, the most significant being suggestions that it can help people with heart disease.
You can read the entire article HERE.
Separate and Unequal
To read this is to weep – from today’s Arab Times:
KUWAIT CITY : The parliamentary Health Committee has proposed the separation of expatriates and citizens in accident wards and outpatient departments to regulate procedures in public hospitals, said Committee Chairman MP Dr Hussein Quwaian Al-Mutairi Sunday. Clarifying the proposal is not aimed at discriminating between expatriates and citizens, Al-Mutairi explained this is just a move to improve work procedures in public hospitals as seen in the success of other GCC nations which had earlier adopted this mechanism. He said this is one of the numerous proposals to improve local health services discussed by the committee in its recently-concluded meeting. He added the committee will submit the proposals to the Parliament and Cabinet for approval.
With an aim to facilitate procedures for laying down a general and feasible government development strategy, Al-Mutairi confirmed the committee will cooperate with the Cabinet to improve health services in Kuwait. He said these proposals were culled from discussions with the people, who voiced their needs, aspirations and expectations with regards to public hospitals and clinics. Other proposals include increasing bed capacities in hospitals, constructing health insurance hospitals to serve foreign laborers and establishing Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Hospital with state-of-the-art medical equipment and facilities. Al-Mutairi also urged the Cabinet to pay more attention to different sectors of the community who are in dire need of medical insurance, such as senior citizens and mothers.
Al-Mutairi affirmed the panel will investigate cases which, he described, as a “national crises” — such as the rising number of Kuwaitis suffering from cancer and leukemia. He also criticized the Cabinet for the absence of accurate figures on these cases which, he said, will greatly contribute in finding means to curb the spread of such diseases, particularly early detection and identifying age categories more prone to these illnesses. Convener of the Committee MP Saleh Ashour said the panel discussed its priorities for the upcoming session and referred a draft bill for laborers in the private sector to National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi for inclusion in the Parliament’s schedule. He added the panel requested the presence of Health Minister Ali Al-Barrak in its meeting on Sunday to discuss the committee’s visions and suggestions for the upcoming period.
There is more. To read more of the issues the newly elected ministers are choosing to confront, click HERE.
Antibacterial Wipes Help Spread MRSA
From BBC Health News:
Hospital wipes ‘spreading MRSA’
Some types of anti-bacterial wipes used by hospital staff to clean surfaces could be helping to spread bacteria, researchers say.
The Welsh School of Pharmacy found that MRSA survived on the wipe, and then contaminated everything it touched.
The team said staff should throw away wipes after cleaning just one surface.
You can read the entire article HERE.
In the last year of his life, my father acquired the MRSA infection in a hospital. Through the following months, and several courses of Vancomycin, they never knocked the MRSA out of his system, and I am convinced it was the major contributing cause to his death.
MRSA, and other antibacterial resistant infections, are increasing in hospitals, prisons, schools, health clubs – anywhere people come into contact with one another. One of the best things we can all do to avoid infection and spreading infection? Frequent hand washing. It isn’t infallible, but it helps.
Hot Weather Foods
I’ve been making an effort to eat breakfast, and I have finally found something I can like. I have tried to find the post where someone recommends Activia in the comment section, but I can’t find it. Whoever you are, it got filed away in the recesses of my memory – I was looking for non-fat yoghurt to make smoothies with, and my friend handed me a six-pack of Activia and said “Use this.”
I trust my friend, she is all into nature, and being interconnected and fresh fresh food, so when she says “use this,” that’s enough for me. Plus, I remembered someone else telling me about how good Activia was, along with a cheese, maybe called Kiri. I had asked what I could use as a local cheese substitute for Philly Cream Cheese. Kiri isn’t really a subsititute, but it sure is good! 🙂
So here is what I am eating for breakfast:
It tastes SO good! I use one container of Activia (maybe 8 oz.), throw in some frozen raspberries, throw in some frozen blueberries, put in some honey and some cinnamon and blend. YUMMMMM. I am also eating walnuts and almonds, as you can see, because they are good for me, but also because the almonds and walnuts that we buy here seem fresher, they taste more walnutty and more almond-y than the ones we buy in the USA, I don’t know why.
The other thing I make that tastes SO good in this hot weather is tomato salsa. There are a million kinds of salsa, but I use this as a condiment with so many things, I even use it on sandwiches!
I take about:
five fresh Kuwaiti tomatoes, and chop them finely,
one onion, chopped finely,
1/2 bunch cilantro – cut coarsely with scissors,
a sprinkle of sea salt
a big grating of peppercorns (it makes a difference; always use freshly ground pepper)
(the secret ingredient) a sprinkle of lime juice.
Oh, it tastes so good! It tastes so fresh! You can even eat it on crackers.
Saved by a Scream
This woman had a close call. I am re-assured that the family was taking her to Saudi Arabia to kill her; it implies that the climate in Kuwait does not support honor killings. Another tidbit from the Arab Times:
Screams help officers thwart bid to kill girl for soiling family name
KUWAIT CITY : The Saudi immigration officers manning the Al-Riqei border post are said to have reportedly foiled an attempt by an unidentified GCC family to kill their daughter to save their honor, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily.
According to a security source the parents with the daughter and another sibling traveled to Salmi post and to prevent the ‘victim’ from screaming for help the family’s relative who allegedly works at the post hurried through the process of stamping the passports to help the family cross into Saudi Arabia as the family waited in their car.
When the girl reached the Saudi border post she screamed for help and told the immigration officers that her father planned to kill her.
The family was temporarily detained at the post until the Saudi authorities contacted the authorities in Kuwait. After the family was returned to Kuwait under guard, the relative who helped them at the Salmi post was arrested and detained for interrogation.
The daily said it is a case of ‘honor killing’. The girl was reportedly involved in an affair with an unidentified youth inside an apartment in Salmiya and she became pregnant.
Meanwhile, the Al-Anba daily added, when the girl was in police custody the brother grabbed his younger sister and threatened to shoot her in front of the building of the Criminal Investigations Department.
He was demanding the release of his other sister who was caught having fun with the youth inside an apartment after a missing person report was filed against her.
A police sniper shot the man in the arm and rescued the younger sibling.
I can’t imagine her life will be easy, if she is pregnant, unmarried, and has a family who wants her dead. I can’t imagine that Kuwait has social services that can help her negotiate a path. Life will be difficult, but it sure beats what was about to happen to her in Saudi Arabia.
Beating Jet Lag: Don’t Eat
Just in time – well, actually, not just in time or I wouldn’t have eaten – a new study reported on BBC Health News finds that if you want to re-set your body clock, fast. If you fast for 16 hours – like no eating en route from the USA to Kuwait – it helps you adjust faster and minimizes the effects of jet lag.
They seem to find something new every year, and then another study comes along and fails to confirm the findings. I do my best, but it usually takes me a week to get back to sleeping during normal hours.
Travel Mercies
Every morning, before we leave the house, my husband and I pray together. We give thanks for all the blessings we receive, we pray for people and their needs, we pray for God to guide us in every thing we do, great and small.
Before a recent trip, we prayed for travel mercies. Most of these trips are long, endurance tests really. About the best I can do is to bury myself in a book or magazine or puzzle.
I remember when travel used to be fun. I remember when there were ladies lounges on board, and even bars (not that I ever hung out in bars). I remember the thrill of adventure.
Praying for travel mercies helps me to see blessings when they appear. And this last trip, they did appear. Every line I entered, I ended up at the front, or almost. I was able to shower in Amsterdam, and to be the first one, so (I’m a little compulsive here) the bathroom had been thoroughly cleaned overnight and I worried less about foot fungus and other invisible threats to my well-being.)
I had one very funny travel mercy – this has to be the hand of God.
It was what I call a high testosterone flight – mostly men, heading back home for a few weeks before coming back to Kuwait, or Iraq. When I found my seat, the buy behind me had his foot up on my armrest, at the very back of the armrest. The truth is, it doesn’t bother me, it is not the part of the armrest I use, but when I sat down, I smelled the most awful odor. . . sweaty feet.
In one book about life in the Gulf, I read that it is wise to wear sandals so that your feet can breathe, that wearing closed shoes makes your feet sweat. I can tell you, it isn’t just the Gulf – any hot climate, even cold climates, and track / tennis shoes will cause smelly feet. Hot weather just accelerates the process and accentuates the results.
What to do? It’s a full flight, and I don’t want an angry, insulted man behind me kicking my seat all night because I had the audacity to mention his smelly feet were invading my nostrils. If I keep my head turned away, I can bear it, but the flight is getting longer and longer with the thought of having to bear smelly feet all the way. This was a first for me.
I had a plan. As soon as the plane would take off, I would cover the guys foot with my blanket, and hope that would take care of the odor. I was just waiting for the right time.
Instead, I heard him complain to the flight attendant that his head set wasn’t working. The flight attendant brought him another head set, and that didn’t work. When the third one didn’t work – he changed his seat! Woooo HOOOOOOO, how is that for a travel mercy? I slept like a baby.
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