Chioma Umeha

By Chioma Umeha Wearing a corset-like contraption to cinch your core, hips, and back. The idea is to wear it for a certain amount of time every day, and eventually, your body “molds” itself into a slimmer figure. Sounds easy enough. Now the big question is should you try it? Probably not. When you wear this 500-year-old de¬vice, you squish your lungs and ribs, which makes it hard to breathe. Some women have actually passed out from wearing one for too long, says Christo¬pher Ochner, Ph.D., weight loss and nu¬trition expert at Mount Sinai Hospital. If you keep wearing it for an ex¬tended period of time? You could get crushed organs, compressed lungs, and fractured ribs. Plus, experts say it doesn’t really work. “Spot reducing doesn’t exist,” says Ochner. You can’t reduce the col¬lection of fat in any one particular area of your body. If you push your stomach in, all the fat will go right back to where it was no matter how long you

By Chioma Umeha The key, experts say, is to use your time more wisely. Think about killing two birds with one stone. Take your kids to the park or ride bikes together, and you’re getting physical activity while enjoying family time, he says. Beyond that, go for a hike, take the kids swimming, or play hide-and-seek, tag, softball, or horseshoes in the backyard. At work, they say, schedule a meet¬ing on the jogging track or on the golf course. Also, forget the idea that you have to trudge to the gym and spend an hour or more doing a formal workout. Instead, you can work short spurts of physical ac¬tivity into your day. Squeezing in two or three bouts of 15 or 20 minutes of activity is just as effective as doing it all at once. Vacuuming the house in the morning, riding bikes in the park with the kids in the afternoon, then taking a brisk walk in the evening can add up to an active day.

Queen Estelle, a Lagosbased jeweller and web developer recently told Independent that she used to be overweight, stiff and hardly engaged in any physical activity, but regular visits to the gym has reversed this. Excerpts: How long have you been engaging in physical exercises? I have been engaging in fitness for about a year and few months. How many times in a week do you engage in exercise? I exercise five times a week. What were your initial complaints before you started exercising? I was overweight and could barely engage in any physical activity. I was very stiff. Can you say there are positive changes? Oh yes, a lot of changes. Can you specifically outline the changes? I feel lighter, more energetic and flexible. Exercising helps me sleep better. Exercise has helped me prevent excess weight gain and maintain weight loss. By engaging in physical activity, I burn calories. The more intense the activity, the more calories I burn. What were you w

By Chioma Umeha Mrs. Bernice Richard, Chief Executive Officer, Skin Glamour, narrates how exercises have helped her gain more vigour in this interview. Excerpts: How often do you exercise in a week? I exercise at least three times a week. How long have you been engaging in exercises? I commenced regular fitness exercise since six years ago. What were your initial complains before you started exercising? I had flaps around my waist¬line, difficulty to withstand anything strenuous and could neither walk nor run a long dis¬tance. In fact, I had no vigour. Can you say there are positive changes? Yes, there are a lot of pos¬itive changes since I started exercising. For instance, I feel a lot better psychologically and physically. My self-confidence has also increased. Before now, I had flaps around my waist¬lines, difficulty to withstand anything strenuous and could neither walk nor run long dis¬tance, but this has resolved. In fact, I had no vigor, then

By Chioma Umeha The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Ogun State Chapter, has disassociated it selves from the recent newspaper publications name (Withheld), on the controversial self acclaimed nurse who was impregnated by a lecturer at the Ogun State College of Health Technology, (OGSCOTECH), Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun state. The Chairman, NANNM, Ogun State Chapter, Comrade Roseline Solarin in a joint statement by the executive members, at the Nurses House, Abiola Way in Abeokuta, said the newspapers had at different times published stories addressing the lady who was neither a registered nurses nor student nurses had been mischievously referred to as nurses or student nurses, adding that the lady in question was a “dentist technician” which has no relation with nursing profession in any aspect. She said the misinformation was thought to be an honest mistake when the story was initially published and attempts were made to correct the half

By Chioma Umeha The Kaduna State Government has pledged to partner with the Civil Society Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) to tackle malnutrition in the state. This commitment was made by Chairperson of the Kaduna State Emergency Nutrition Action Plan (KADENAP) Hajiya Aisha Ummi Garba El-Rufai during a recent advocacy visit by CS-SUNN in Kaduna. “I am more than excited to work with CS-SUNN. Once we can sit and map out how to address malnutrition in Kaduna, funding will be made available for activities. CS-SUNN has advanced in so many issues regarding nutrition; drawing attention to challenges and disturbing data and figures, I will work with them”, the KADENAP Chairperson said. Hajiya Ummi El-Rufai therefore directed that CS-SUNN be invited to join the KADENAP Steering Committee as project partner especially in the area of data provision and distribution, community enlightenment and orientation. Earlier, Project Director of CS-SUNN, Mrs. Beatrice Elu

By Chioma Umeha Mrs. Chinedu Chukwuma, from Agwu in Enugu State, is a happy woman. One needs no fortune teller to understand the source of happiness of the 20-year-old mother. The healthy look of her two children tells it all. You could see the bond between Chinedu and her three-month-old baby, Ebelechukwu, as she cuddles her, all thanks to exclusive breastfeeding. The World Health Organisation (WHO) explains, “Exclusive breastfeeding means that the infant receives only breast milk. No other liquids or solids are given – not even water – with the exception of oral rehydration solution, or drops/syrups of vitamins, minerals or medicines.” For Chinedu, exclusive breastfeeding is not a new practice. She has done it before and had seen the benefits. She did not need any persuasion to adopt it for Eberechukwu, her second child. Apart from immunisation, she has had no reason to be shuttling between hospital and home unlike some mothers. Chinedu told Independent d

By Chioma Umeha Pharmacists under the auspices of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), have condoled with the people and government of Kano State over the demise of the late diplomat and elder statesman, Alhaji Maitama Sule. In a letter jointly signed by Pharm. Ahmed Yakasai, the President of   PSN and Pharm. Gbologade Iyiola, PSN’s National Secretary, PSN described the late Sule as a nationalist and man of peace with high commitment to the unity of the country. The letter read: “PSN will always remember him as a great Statesman and Nationalist personified as a man of peace who was highly committed to the unity of Nigeria. “He was a man of faith blessed by Almighty Allah with a wonderful voice, outstanding eloquence and a good sense of humour. “A man of unparalleled dignity who served without being tainted with scandal as commonly found in our leaders. “Alhaji Maitama Sule’s death was a colossal loss not only to his immediate family. He would be sor

By Chioma Umeha Federal government has commended FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria, makers of Peak and Three Crowns milk, for pioneering local milk sourcing, development and for improving the lives of Nigerian dairy farmers. Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), said this Monday, while inspecting the local milk collection facilities of FrieslandCampina WAMCO in Fashola village and Iseyin town, Oyo State. The site is where the company’s state-of-the-art milk collection centres and offices operate under its Dairy Development Programme (DDP). After inspecting the milk facilities and speaking with members of the host community, Chief Ogbeh said: “It will be wonderful if each Nigerian child can get two pints of fresh Nigerian milk daily. “We express the gratitude of government to FrieslandCampina WAMCO for ongoing efforts in this regard. We appreciate and commend your commitment and investment because not ma

By Chioma Umeha The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has called on the Federal Government to increase taxes on tobacco to raise its prices with a view to reducing the consumption in the country. Mr Auwal Rafsanjani, Executive Director, CISLAC said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, insisting that such measure had been implemented in countries where the tobacco companies operated. Rafsanjani also said that such companies paid huge penalties for the violation of such law in their home countries, adding that Nigeria should not jettison the measure. He said CISLAC condemned in totality, the open display of rascality arising from the recent threats by a tobacco company and other multinational tobacco firms in some African. “We are not unaware of some dangerous and terrible efforts by the group to frustrate successes against tobacco use across Uganda, Namibia, Togo, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya and Burkina Faso.