Expat Life Spain » Health http://expatlifespain.com A Female View On The Expat Life Thu, 03 May 2012 14:07:33 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Too Much Embutido bad For Your Health http://expatlifespain.com/too-much-embutido-bad-for-your-health http://expatlifespain.com/too-much-embutido-bad-for-your-health#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:45:03 +0000 Girls in Spain http://expatlifespain.com/?p=3912

Bad news for Chorizo (embutidos) lovers in Spain as researches are claiming that more then 20 grams could suffer because of the nitrates which are added a preserbatives, with extreme cases causing a chronic obstruction to the lungs, known as Epoc.

The warning comes from CREAL, the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology, who have published their study in the European Respiratory Journal.

Epoc claims 18,000 lives a year.

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]]> http://expatlifespain.com/too-much-embutido-bad-for-your-health/feed 0 Spain announces plans to tighten abortion laws http://expatlifespain.com/spain-announces-plans-to-tighten-abortion-laws http://expatlifespain.com/spain-announces-plans-to-tighten-abortion-laws#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:40:18 +0000 Girls in Spain http://expatlifespain.com/?p=3909

A lot of woman here in Spain are angry with the Justice Minister, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, who has blamed” structural gender violence” for pressurising women into seeking terminations.

Many see it as the strongest sign yet that the government is poised to reverse a liberalisation of the abortion law introduced under socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in 2010.

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]]> http://expatlifespain.com/spain-announces-plans-to-tighten-abortion-laws/feed 0 Spanish Sun Boosts Fertility http://expatlifespain.com/spanish-sun-boosts-fertility http://expatlifespain.com/spanish-sun-boosts-fertility#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:32:56 +0000 Girls in Spain http://expatlifespain.com/?p=3867

I’ve read a number of articles recently about how a holiday in the sunshine can boost your chances of getting pregnant, and it’s actually not just down to that feel-good factor. It’s all about the benefits of vitamin D, the levels of which are raised by exposure to sunlight. This is the counter to the advice telling everyone to stay out of the sun. Moderate sun is actually good for us, because it helps the body produce Vitamin D.

Specific to conceiving a child, Vitamin D helps balance hormones in woman, and improves men’s sperm count. In addition, as time in the sun also increases progesterone, it boosts men’s libido, according to a review in the European Journal of Endocrinology. All sounds great, but I also think the feel-good factor IS an additional important one, as on holiday we rest and relax, and spend more time with our partners.

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]]> http://expatlifespain.com/spanish-sun-boosts-fertility/feed 0 Olive Oil Really Is The Healthy Opition http://expatlifespain.com/olive-oil-really-is-the-healthy-opition http://expatlifespain.com/olive-oil-really-is-the-healthy-opition#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:08:18 +0000 Girls in Spain http://expatlifespain.com/?p=3863

I am not a fan of fry-ups, and one of the problems that I have with the traditional Spanish diet, and particularly some of the tapas, is that deep-frying is so popular. This is obvious from the range of small deep-fat fryers that you can buy in a reasonably large electrical appliance shop. I have read numerous articles that point out how eating lots of fat-laden food can raise blood pressure and cause high cholesterol, which are risk factors for heart disease.

Researchers at the Autonomous University of Madrid, have however found that if the fat used is olive or sunflower oil, there appears to be no obvious link over an 11 year study, between heart problems and the amount of fried food consumed. So English expats, one advantage of living in Spain is that you are far more likely to be using “healthy” oils for your fry-ups than the more traditional lard.

Personally, I would still rather have my healthy oils on a salad or drizzled over some excellent cheese and almonds!

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]]> http://expatlifespain.com/olive-oil-really-is-the-healthy-opition/feed 1 A Healthy Lifestyle Keeps you Thinking http://expatlifespain.com/a-healthy-lifestyle-keeps-you-thinking http://expatlifespain.com/a-healthy-lifestyle-keeps-you-thinking#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:55:57 +0000 Girls in Spain http://expatlifespain.com/?p=3860

I read a recent article, about a 10-year medical study of 5200 men and 2200 women, carried out by the Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health in France and University College London in UK. This found that cognitive decline may start as early as 45! Not good news.

Individuals’ cognitive functions were assessed three times over the study period, testing for memory, vocabulary and comprehension skills, education levels were taken into consideration. Results found that cognitive scores declined in all categories: memory, reasoning, language and thinking. Over a ten year period, decline in mental reasoning was 3.6 percent for men and women aged 45-49.

Better news is that healthy lifestyles can play an important role in reducing this decline before the age of 60. Our diet and fitness regimes really can make a difference!

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]]> http://expatlifespain.com/a-healthy-lifestyle-keeps-you-thinking/feed 0 Have We lost The Xmas Pounds! http://expatlifespain.com/have-we-lost-the-xmas-pounds http://expatlifespain.com/have-we-lost-the-xmas-pounds#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:44:13 +0000 Girls in Spain http://expatlifespain.com/?p=3856

Here I am referring to the pounds in weight gained, not crisp bank notes that may have been slipped into Xmas cards! I really intended getting back into my much neglected fitness regime at the start of 2012, but life just keeps getting in the way! and while that cold air is blowing off the mountains, a brisk walk up the beach is not as appealing as finding a spot of sun and drinking tea (with a chocolate biscuit!) on our roof terrace.

Of course we know that we Brits love to over-indulge over Xmas, but I remember reading a few weeks ago that the average Spanish resident puts on between 3 and 5 kilos over the festive season. They seem to love sweets and chocolates too, and whilst the big family meal is really just Xmas Eve and they skip our English Boxing day, the Spanish do it all again for 3 Kings!

6 weeks into the new year and it really is time to switch to a lower fat, high protein diet and up the vegetables and exercise. I know that this makes sense, but it IS hard not to crave some quick energy chocolate whilst trying to keep warm. I blame the lack of proper central heating in Spain!

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]]> http://expatlifespain.com/have-we-lost-the-xmas-pounds/feed 0 Mental Performance Is Linked To Exercise http://expatlifespain.com/mental-performance-is-linked-to-exercise http://expatlifespain.com/mental-performance-is-linked-to-exercise#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:37:05 +0000 Girls in Spain http://expatlifespain.com/?p=3848

Following on from my last post which recommended we should all eat more eggs, a study from the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, has suggested that exercise may improve academic performance in children, as it increases the blood flow and therefore oxygen to the brain. There is of course no reason why this shouldn’t have the same effect on adults. This is good news as my aim for the new year is to get fit again, as I have a little Xmas indulgence weight to lose, and my fitness regime has definitely slipped in the past couple of years.

My other aim is to finally learn Spanish, so I’m hoping exercise WILL improve MY academic performance. I will be running up the beach in the sunshine, with my Spanish lessons flowing through my ear-phones. That’s the idea anyway!

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]]> http://expatlifespain.com/mental-performance-is-linked-to-exercise/feed 0 Eggs Are Not Just For Breakfast http://expatlifespain.com/eggs-are-not-just-for-breakfast http://expatlifespain.com/eggs-are-not-just-for-breakfast#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:20:29 +0000 Girls in Spain http://expatlifespain.com/?p=3843

The traditional time to eat an egg for the British is still I think at breakfast, although the idea of an ‘all-day’ breakfast is catching on, but as recent research suggests eggs are an indirect ‘stimulant’, we should maybe be looking at incorporating them much more into our daily diets.

I used not to eat eggs at all, certainly as a child, but I have slowly come to like omelettes, scrambled eggs and even hard boiled eggs in salads. This started for me with trips to the US where I got more into cooked breakfasts and brunches while on holiday. I do however still prefer fruit and cereal for breakfast, which is why I find it easier to eat eggs in Spain. Here eggs definitely feature more, and throughout the day. Tortillo’s are everywhere, even as a filling for a tostada, eggs always appear in salads, and are normally on the starter menus of traditional Spanish restaurants, often with seafood mixed in.

Why is this so good? Because it seems that eggs really are good for you. We all know that sugar base carbohydrates are not good for anyone, and that we should opt for alternatives that are slower burning and more nutritious, but it seems that egg whites have a particular property that may help to keep us alert, so are a great lunch option. A recent Cambridge university study has looked at how different nutrients affect our brain cells. A mixture similar to the protein in egg whites was shown to activate these cells into producing the stimulant Orexin.

Sounds good to me. Just wish I REALLY liked them!

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]]> http://expatlifespain.com/eggs-are-not-just-for-breakfast/feed 0 France may order 30,000 women to remove implants http://expatlifespain.com/france-may-order-30000-women-to-remove-implants http://expatlifespain.com/france-may-order-30000-women-to-remove-implants#comments Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:41:19 +0000 Girls in Spain http://expatlifespain.com/?p=3832

Sympathy? Nope! Stick with what god gave you and make the most of what you have!

Up to 30,000 French women and perhaps tens of thousands more around the world may need to have defective breast implants removed after several suspicious cancer cases, officials said on Tuesday.

A decision on whether to order the removal of the implants, produced by the Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) company, will be made by the end of the week, after a report from the National Cancer Institute on December 23.

“Today, we’re in the process of evaluating these breast implants because of the apparent cancer risk,” said government spokeswoman Valerie Pecresse.

“The government will announce its action plan between now and the end of the week,” she added in an appearance on the LCI television news network.

A health ministry official said no “causal link” between the implants and cancer had yet been established and that “there is no urgent health risk”.

Quoting several senior medical officials, French newspaper Liberation reported Tuesday that the decision had already been made and that health authorities will order the implants to be removed.
It was not immediately clear how many foreign women have been given PIP products but the firm was once the world’s third-largest producer of silicone implants, producing 100,000 per year and exporting 80 percent of its output.

Liberation said 300,000 women around the world had received PIP implants.

PIP was shut down and its product banned last year after it was revealed to have been using non-authorised silicone gel that caused abnormally high rupture rates of its implants.

Health officials said last week that eight cases of cancer, mainly breast cancer, had been reported in women who had received the PIP implants.

“It is urgent for all women who have PIP implants to return to see their surgeons,” Pecresse, the French government spokeswoman, told LCI television, adding that costs of removal would be covered by state health insurance.

She said that, before the government announces its action plan this week, “we must first of all proceed with a census of women who received these implants and are potentially in danger.”
Prosecutors in Marseille, near the firm’s home base of Seyne-sur-Mer, have received more than 2,000 complaints from women who received the implants and have opened a criminal investigation into the firm.

Laurent Lantieri, one of France’s best-known cosmetic surgeons and a member of a health department committee on the issue, told Liberation there was no choice but to order the implants’ removal.

“We all agree on the necessity of this decision,” he said.

“We are facing a health crisis linked with a fraud. The entire profession is aware of this.

There is no urgency but we no longer have any choice — all these implants must be removed.”
So far 523 women who received PIP implants have had them removed, Liberation said.

The newspaper quoted France’s director general for health, Jean-Yves Grall, as saying that while the state would cover the costs of removing implants, it would not pay for implanting new ones unless the women involved had reconstructive surgery following a mastectomy.

“This does not shock me,” Lantieri said. “It is not up to society, in a time of crisis, to pay for a new implant for aesthetic reasons.”

Via AFP

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]]> http://expatlifespain.com/france-may-order-30000-women-to-remove-implants/feed 0 Austerity cuts to close Spain women’s shelters http://expatlifespain.com/austerity-cuts-to-close-spain-womens-shelters http://expatlifespain.com/austerity-cuts-to-close-spain-womens-shelters#comments Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:34:42 +0000 Girls in Spain http://expatlifespain.com/?p=3826

This is just so wrong! Times are tough without question, but I just hope that all those that are threatening to strike this winter because they aren’t getting a pat rise take time out to reflect on how selfish they are being!

Almost 100 battered womens’ centres in Spain will have to close due to crisis spending cuts.

The governmental Woman’s Institute said in a statement that authorities in the central Castilla-la-Mancha region in the new year will have to close 85 assistance centres and 13 shelters that have room to house 96 victims of domestic violence.

“We are faced with a tough and unjust situation which amounts to an attack on women’s rights,” the institute’s director Teresa Blat said in a statement, branding the move “a serious step backward”.

A spokeswoman for the institute, which is under the authority of the health ministry, told AFP the regional government had written to the centres telling them their subsidies will not be renewed from January.

“This measure is going to affect 96 places for victims of domestic violence and about 400 professionals who work in these centres with these women”, Blat said.

She said the region had proposed an unspecified “new legal measure” to replace the services provided by the centres, private institutions which benefit from public subsidies. Regional officials were not available to comment.

Spain’s regions are under pressure to cut spending as part of national efforts to lower the country’s public deficit. Cuts are hitting healthcare and education in some regions.
Castilla-la-Mancha has announced plans to save 2.15 billion euros ($2.8 billion).
The new conservative national government due to take office next week has promised further cuts.

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