Africom Health

PLANNING

You have heard this before "if you don't plan, you are actually planning to fail". We have no choice therefore we just have to plan. How well you plan determines how well you succeed.

Write down your goals. What do you want to achieve? ..... losing weight from what to what, lowering your blood pressure, losing some inches, getting rid of headaches and any other pain, dealing with anger issues, getting rid of constipation, lowering your blood sugar, improving your eyesight,....You name it and write it down. Give it a timeframe within which you are going to evaluate it. Let me be quick to say give it a reasonable and achievable time frame. For example we are going to lose weight over a period of a year because that would be sustainable. There are no quick fixes. It is going to our new lifestyle to stay healthy.

Let me also say we are going to achieve our goals on this platform buy using our very important tool of the understanding that if we eat healthily and exercise regularly we improve our health. I repeat, for medications please visit your doctor. This platform is strictly about medical information you should know so that you play your part towards maintain good health.

Plan what you are going to eat (and what you are going to cut out). So that becomes your input. Plan how you are going to make things come out of your body. So that becomes your output. So how are you going to sweat/exercise, pass urine, how often are you planning to pass stool? Yes all that needs to be planned. If you manage input and output well, you can agree that your health will definitely improve. The beauty is that this is in your hands and not the hands of your doctor , spouse, friend etc.

Plan also where you are going to get your food from. From local market, supermarket or you also going to put something down in your garden. For example if you have high blood pressure, or better still if you want to prevent high blood pressure you can plant celery in your backyard. It is shown that a stalk of celery taken everyday can reduce high blood pressure within weeks.

I am already excited that you are going to look after yourself better than before. I pray that I will be able to help you live life full of vigour. Now start planning!!!

Dr A Jamu

The ECG Dongle

The ECG machine as we traditionally know it has been converted into a portable usb dongle which collects data from the heart using 4 electrodes that are easy to place on your body. To use the modem you have to download a mobile application called ECG dongle onto your smartphone. The application works on any phone with android 4.4 and above and does not require a battery as it uses the power on your phone or tablet.

The acquired information can be saved as a PDF document and shown to your doctor at a convenient time or can be immediately sent to a cardiologist who will be on the medical cloud platform for an expert opinion.

Benefits of the ECG dongle.

It brings accessibility of health services to those that would not normally be able to access them such as underserved, rural or remote areas. Patients can monitor their health from home without making recurring visits to the hospital. Using the modem an ECG test can be done from any location at any time. It reduces the cost of accessing healthcare service. An ECG test currently costs between $19.00 to $60.00 and the ECG modem at $45.00 is affordable allowing patients to take regular tests without incurring punitive costs.

The product can be used by anyone and you do not have to be technical or a medical professional. Heart Failure is currently one of the leading causes of death and it is good to always make a habit of checking your health in order to identify anomalies and prevent problems before they happen.

Until next time take care of your health!

Why should you know your heart rate?

Your heart is the center of your cardioascular system and is responsible for the key activities that give you life such as transportation of oxygen and vital nutrients.

The foods you eat and the amount of activity you choose to take part in can dramatically affect the overall health of your heart

Even if you’re not an athlete, knowledge about your heart rate can help you monitor your fitness level — and it might even help you spot developing health problems.

Your heart rate, or pulse, is the number of times your heart beats per minute. Normal heart rate varies from person to person. Knowing yours can be an important heart-health gauge.

As you age, changes in the rate and regularity of your pulse can change and may signify a heart condition or other condition that needs to be addressed. To keep your heart healthy, your body needs adequate amounts of exercise accompanied by a heart-healthy diet. Get at least 30 minutes of exercise five days a week.
A heart-healthy diet consists of the majority of your calories coming from vegetables, fruits and high-fiber foods like legumes and whole grains. These foods are accompanied in moderation by lean proteins, especially fish, as well as low-fat dairy products, nuts and seeds.

The ECG dongle can help you to regularly monitor your heart's perfomance. Tomorrow we will talk about the ECG dongle, until then remember to keep healthy!

We are exhibiting at the Zim medial and Health fair 2016 at HICC from 21 September to 23 September 2016! Visit us and find out more about our ECG Dongle!

PREPARATION

Preparation is everything. Every successful thing is well prepared. I am talking about mental preparedness. The lifestlye change battle and indeed every battle is fought and won in the mind. So lets prepare in the next coming days. Yesterday I challenged you to identify and accept the things that have gone wrong which took you to your present medical situation. If you have found only a few then ask a close friend to expose more. The more you list down the easier and faster it is to go back to a good state of health.

I am sharing with you the way I am preparing to lead a new healthy life. Wake up an hour earlier from more on. This is the most important hour of each day. First things first. Worship and thank the Lord Almighty. We cannot succeed in ANYTHING without Him.

The second thing you do in your preparation and during that hour is to drink water. Yes, water. Take warm water it's better. I am now able to drink one and a half litres of warm water in the morning. Start with one cup and soon you will be able to drink even up to 2 litres. It's called water therapy. Do whatever you can to drink it. It's a must if you want good health. If it's boring to drink water before you brush your teeth, be creative by adding lemon or orange or mint or any fresh herb. Do something.Just learn how to drink water. I warm my water the previous night and put it in a flask so that I won't have an excuse in the morning that it's too
cold to go to the kitchen to get some water or its its too early let me sleep a bit longer. Infant water therapy is best done as soon as you wake up. Did you know our bodies are made up of at least 70% water. And in children its much more that's why children can actually die in a few hours if they are severely dehydrated. Water is LIFE. An adult is supposed to take at least 3 litres of water a day. More on that later.

In summary, in that first hour you have managed to worship, bathed your internal organs particularly blood, kidneys stomach and bowels. You find that in that hour again you empty your bladder about three or four times. You have by this time undoubtedly emptied your bowels at least once. I will discuss more on that as we journey together.

You have to have some minutes to reflect on the previous day's goals. What have you achieved. ? More importantly what was not achieved and when do you achieve it? This kind of starting your day does not cost you anything but that is what is going to make you have a successful day and eventually successful LIFE. I am sure you can agree with me on that one. So why don't you prepare for your successes without paying a dime. ?

Tomorrow I will talk about the third step in changing lifestyle for a healthier you. It's to do with PLANNING.

LET'S LIVE LIFE

Dr A Jamu

LET'S LIVE LIFE!

I am amazed at the number of people who ask me to prescribe a magic tablet for a medical condition they would have had for years and they want the condition to be cured instantly. I have come to realize that a lot of us need information on how to prevent a lot of medical condition.

I am passionate about sharing health tips on this platform. It is not a secret that our lifestyles immensely contribute to our health.... the food we eat and the exercises/or lack of it make us pay a high price of our health. I pray that we are going to walk a long journey together on this platform so that we empower each other to live a healthier life.

First things first. For the first week I am going to prepare you to take ownership of your health. TODAY I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE YOU ON A JOURNEY TO DISCOVER YOURSELF.

Identify and accept the reason why you are like that. Are you overweight, too thin or are you ill? You cannot tackle what you don't acknowledge. There is quite a considerable number of people who struggle with diseases directly linked to what we eat.

Begin to ask relevant questions. Be honest to yourself. Do you skip meals?...because if you do that our bodies are very clever. The next time you eat your body thinks that you are soon going to starve it again so it triggers mechanisms that store most of the food as fat and slowly you become overweight. Do you eat too late at night?......you will begin to deposit fat around the abdomen and hips. Do you take junk food, eat too much food? Do you take food instead of water when you are thirsty? Think about it. A lot of people can't differentiate thirsty from hunger. I hear people telling me that they don't feel thirsty. This will make you put on weight. Do you eat the wrong food which doesn't digest well or simply make you put on weight. I am a blood group O and generally blood group type O gain weight if they eat a lot of starch. So I tend to struggle with weight issues if I indulge. It helps to know your blood group. Do you do comfort eating?

If you are too thin what's the problem? Are you eating the wrong foods? Are you too choosy? Too sensitive to food? Do you have a medical condition e.g intestinal worms?

And finally if you have a known medical condition it might be due to poor eating. Did you know these examples of diseases can be due to the food we take: High blood pressure, diabetes, some cancers, stomach ulcers, anaemia, gout, obesity, skin problems, headaches, thyroid problems....the list is endless.

Tomorrow I am going to talk about how to prepare to change your lifestyle.

Till then, LET'S LIVE LIFE

Dr A Jamu