Should we eat more Bananas? – Written by Dr Harold Gunatillake FRCS, FICS, FIACS, AM (Sing), MBBS-Health writer Bananas are available in every little way-side tea boutique or street eating outlet in Sri Lanka on the main trunk roads. Bananas are kept hanging in most of these places. The secret is that hanging unripe green skin bananas change as they ripen and become sweeter. There are enzymes in bananas that begin to break down starches into sugars. What this means is that it is already digested into sugar for easy absorption, unlike most other fruits. Hanging seems to accelerate this enzyme activity. You can stop your vehicle and order a bunch and feed your hunger pans, quite fresh and filling, too. The question is asked how healthy are they, and are they low calorie? They are extremely healthy full of nutrients and most average size banana (6-7 inches-101grams) have approximately ...
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Influence of Diet on Gut bacteria Vegetable filled diets recommended for longevity Written by Dr harold Gunatillake FRCS, FICS, FIACS, AM (Sing), MBBS-Health writer The behaviour and the benefits of gut bacteria (microbiota) depend on the production of certain healthy and unhealthy molecules, solely depending on your diet. Studies have shown that people who ate vegetable filled diets have a much higher diversity and higher level of healthy bacteria. Those who eat a diet composed of vegetables having high fibre, your friendly gut allies produce higher levels of molecules called short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), acetate, propionates and butyrate in the large bowel. Humans do not have the enzymes to digest fibre, so these bacteria assists in breaking them down producing fatty acids and other compounds. These short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) are beneficial for your health. All the major SFCA appear to promote the flow of blood through the colonic vascular ...
Read More →Recognizing A Heart Attack Early by Dr. Harold Gunatillake If you are over fifty, leading a sedentary sort of life, with stress of life coupled with the junk food you eat and being overweight, may be having diabetes and or hypertension, then you need to be very careful and be aware of early symptoms of heart disease. The early symptoms may be so mild that you’ll not take them seriously and brush them off as aches and pains. If the symptoms are for a second or two, then perhaps it is not indicative of a heart attack. Most active people may not get the typical symptoms, but may be just tiredness progressively getting worse. This is due to the heart not getting enough oxygen through the arterial blood in the coronaries. ...
Read More →Omega-3s can be obtained from cheaper vegetable seeds by Dr Harold Gunatillake You are by now taking fish oil capsules or eating oily fish like salmon, tuna at least twice a week for your DHA and EPA fatty acids benefitting your body in many ways, such as lowering your triglycerides, and bad cholesterol numbers which blocks your arteries,, keeping your blood vessels elastic and linked to heart health. Omega -3s also reduce the risk of irregular heartbeats. Sri Lankans in Sri Lanka don’t seem to get enough omega-3s to keep their heart in fine tune and for its other health benefits. Oily fish is so expensive that the average worker can afford to purchase small fish having very little omega-3 fatty acids. The fish oil capsules imported and available in supermarkets contain only about 300mg of omega-3 which is insufficient to maintain the daily body requirement, and most countries sell ...
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Read More →Drinking alcohol and effects with certain drugs Written by Dr Harold Gunatillake FRCS, FICS, FIACS, MBBS AM (Sing) Health writer The festive season has started, and those on certain medications needs to be careful, as interactions with some may even lead to death. Older people are more at risk and susceptible to mixing alcohol with certain medications than the younger ones ...
Read More →Recognizing a heart attack early Written By Dr Harold Gunatillake FRCS, FICS, FIACS, MBBS AM (Sing) Health writer If you are over fifty, leading a sedentary sort of life, with stress of life coupled with the junk food you eat and being overweight, may be having diabetes and or hypertension, then you need to be very careful and be aware of early symptoms of heart disease The early symptoms may be so mild that you’ll not take them seriously and brush them off as aches and pains. If the symptoms are for a second or two, then perhaps it is not indicative of a heart attack. ...
Read More →Carbs you should worry about Written by Dr harold Gunatillake FRCS,MBBS, FICS, AM(Sing), FIACS: Health writer There are carbs and carbs- you need to choose the right kind for you, especially if you are a diabetic and has an obesity problem. There are three types of major nutrients (macro-nutrients) Carbs, fats and proteins you need to eat daily for energy and metabolic functions, akin to putting petrol into your motor vehicle to run. These macro-nutrients provide the energy for your body’s machinery to work just like in your car. There are other minor nutrients (micro-nutrients) required for your subsistence in very minute amounts- so minute they could be packed in a capsule which you purchase as multi-vitamin capsule. ...
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Read More →Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) ad low FODMAP diet There is no proper medicine to cure chronic irritable bowel syndrome, other than by dietetic discipline. This is a very common malady among Asians including Sri Lankans due to spicy carb varieties of food they eat, and silently suffer with the condition. In this syndrome you suffer with abdominal pain and cramping, a bloating feeling, gaseous embarrassing moments, constipation, followed by diarrhoea and mucus in your stools, with bleeding and with progressing weight loss. These symptoms are present in any chronic abdominal dysfunction, and may take time to suspect IBS through evaluation process. It is a chronic recurrent progressive condition and all investigations prove negative and the diagnosis is made on having a typical history through trial and error. The causes are not known, but many factors can play a part. The walls of the small and large bowel muscles contract and ...
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