Women who are desperately trying to get pregnant might want to avoid complementary and alternative medicine.
The common belief is that it won't hurt to try alternative fertility treatments before reverting to in vitro fertilization (IVF). But a new study from Denmark finds that the success of IVF treatment is 30% lower among women who have used alternative medicine. The researchers included over 700 IVF users over a 12-month period. Women who had first tried a combination of alternative treatments, such as reflexology, acupuncture, or herbal- and aroma therapy, had significantly lower pregnancy rates after IVF treatment.
Alex Polyakov and Beverley Vollenhoven of the Faculty of Medicine emphasize the relevance of the study for IVF clinics. "It is important, when discussing IVF treatment with couples, that their use of alternative therapies is also discussed, as this may have a bearing on treatment success."
Whether the effect on IVF success is a direct result of the use of complementary medicine, or whether women who were already having more trouble conceiving were more likely to revert to alternative fertility treatments could not be determined in the present study. Nevertheless, Polyakov and Vollenhoven recommend being cautious: "Until further evidence is available, it is best to counsel couples against the use of alternative therapies when also having IVF."
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The Second Celine Dion Miracle
Canadian pop diva Celine Dion is pregnant with her second child. Just like their first child, the second child has also been conceived through in vitro fertilization
(IVF) at a New York clinic.
This will be the second child for the 41-year-old megastar with her 67-year-old husband-cum-manager Rene Angelil. The couple, who married in 1994, had their first child Rene-Charles nine years ago.
The pregnancy was confirmed Monday after test at the same clinic. The couple had sought medical help to conceive after Angelil was diagnosed with cancer in 1999. Since he was to be treated with radiation and chemotherapy which affect fertility, Angelil had frozen his sperm before undergoing the treatment.
In 2001, Dion had an intracytoplasmic sperm injection, in which a single sperm is injected into the egg. The couple planned to have two kids at the time. But one of the two fertilized eggs was frozen five days after conception and stored at the New York clinic at that time.
It is this frozen fertilized egg which will be the second offspring for the pop diva.
So rather than being twins, the couple's two children will now be siblings.
"Celine is very, very happy,'' Murielle Blondeau, a spokeswoman for Dion, was quoted as saying Tuesday. "Celine and Rene are full of joy. It's been a big dream for Celine to have a second child.
Local agency reports said the sex of the child is not known.
The best-selling female artist of all time, Celine Dion has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide so far.
The youngest of the 14 kids born into a poverty-stricken musical family in Quebec, Dion was guided to greatness by Angelil who sold his house to finance the young girl's first album in 1981.
The French album went on to become number one in Quebec province, paving the way for her stardom.
Dion and Angelil became lovers but kept the affair under wraps, fearing that it will be frowned upon because he was 26 years older than her. Now, their second Miracle:)
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Twin Saviour Siblings Have Arrived
Twins born following IVF (in vitro fertilisation) treatment to select embryos which would be a tissue match for their elder brother are thought to be the first incidence in the UK of multiple 'saviour siblings'. Out of just twelve licences granted by the UK's regulatory body, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), to permit families to use tissue typing to create a so-called saviour sibling, only this one has resulted in twins.
Laurence Maguire, 42 and Wendy Plant, 37, decided to try and have a saviour sibling when a worldwide search for a bone marrow donor for their eldest son, Connor, failed. Connor suffers from aplastic anaemia, a condition in which the immune system destroys parts of the bone marrow causing life threatening anaemia. The condition can be treated by with immunosuppressant drugs and regular blood transfusions, but the only prospect of a cure is to have a bone marrow transplant from a tissue-matched donor. Mr Maguire and Ms Plant created five embryos following IVF, two of which were found to be a tissue match for Connor and were implanted into Ms Plant.
The controversy over so-called 'saviour siblings' centres around the idea that couples might wish to have a child as a 'means to an end'. Some argue that this raises concerns over the welfare of the child, who may perhaps not feel as valued as they would if they were conceived under normal circumstances and may even be put under unreasonable pressure to 'save the life' of their sick sibling. However, speaking to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Mr Maguire defended the family's decision to have a sibling to help their eldest son: 'Once you see your children, any notion that they are spare parts is gone. We wouldn't change anything, they are our children and we love them all. I never ever think that we didn't have the twins for the right reason.'
The twin's umbilical cord blood will be stored at St Helier Hospital in Carshalton in case their brother's condition deteriorates in the future.
Laurence Maguire, 42 and Wendy Plant, 37, decided to try and have a saviour sibling when a worldwide search for a bone marrow donor for their eldest son, Connor, failed. Connor suffers from aplastic anaemia, a condition in which the immune system destroys parts of the bone marrow causing life threatening anaemia. The condition can be treated by with immunosuppressant drugs and regular blood transfusions, but the only prospect of a cure is to have a bone marrow transplant from a tissue-matched donor. Mr Maguire and Ms Plant created five embryos following IVF, two of which were found to be a tissue match for Connor and were implanted into Ms Plant.
The controversy over so-called 'saviour siblings' centres around the idea that couples might wish to have a child as a 'means to an end'. Some argue that this raises concerns over the welfare of the child, who may perhaps not feel as valued as they would if they were conceived under normal circumstances and may even be put under unreasonable pressure to 'save the life' of their sick sibling. However, speaking to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Mr Maguire defended the family's decision to have a sibling to help their eldest son: 'Once you see your children, any notion that they are spare parts is gone. We wouldn't change anything, they are our children and we love them all. I never ever think that we didn't have the twins for the right reason.'
The twin's umbilical cord blood will be stored at St Helier Hospital in Carshalton in case their brother's condition deteriorates in the future.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Do-it-yourself Paternity Testing Now!
A 'do-it-yourself' genetic testing kit will be available over-the-counter from chemists in the UK which allows users to send their own DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) samples by post for paternity testing. The kits cost INR 2400 each and are produced by Anglia DNA, a company based in Norwich. Customers are required to post samples of their DNA to the company and - upon payment of a further fee of INR 10,000 - the samples will be tested in the company's laboratory. The results are then produced within five days - or within 24 hours if customers opt for the express service costing INR 3000. The test is designed to confirm the paternity of an alleged father but the results will not be legally binding in paternity disputes in the courts.
Anglia DNA must comply with consent requirements for DNA analysis under the Human Tissue Act 2004 and it says that it also follows guidelines issued by the British Medical Association on over-the-counter genetic tests. Both adults must sign a consent form to be returned with the DNA samples and then this will be followed up with a telephone call to confirm the parties understand the consequences of the procedure. The consent of the child is usually obtained via the mother, the company said.
Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb says he is writing to the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) to ask for clarification on how such over-the-counter products are regulated. 'There's a question about whether the regulatory system keeps pace with changes in technology and whether there's a need to change the rules in which this sort of product can operate,' he said. Mr Lamb expressed concerns that the tests could encourage users to adopt a more 'casual' attitude to paternity testing: 'On the face of it, I don't oppose the idea of people having a right to know what their parentage is... but I can also see there are potential negative consequences and risk of a casual attitude to having a child.' The increasing availability of DNA testing and the improvement of the technology has thrown up the question of how such tests should be regulated, said Mr Lamb, calling upon the government and the HTA to address the issue.
Anglia DNA is the first company to test customers' DNA on UK soil. Last month, International Biosciences announced it was also distributing over-the-counter DNA testing kits to UK chemists but it sent the samples to the United States for testing.
Tom Howell, business development manager at Anglia DNA, said the company takes the issue of consent very seriously and defended supplying the kits over the counter. 'DNA testing used to exist online but now people can buy kits from an environment they feel comfortable with,' he said, adding: 'It takes away doubts and concerns and means people can move on with their lives. It is rare that people get back results that they do not expect.' Anglia DNA managing director, Dr Thomas Haizel said, 'It's great to have been able finally to launch the product and we hope the UK consumer will find great confidence in knowing this is a product developed for the UK market with all the testing done in a UK laboratory.'
Anglia DNA must comply with consent requirements for DNA analysis under the Human Tissue Act 2004 and it says that it also follows guidelines issued by the British Medical Association on over-the-counter genetic tests. Both adults must sign a consent form to be returned with the DNA samples and then this will be followed up with a telephone call to confirm the parties understand the consequences of the procedure. The consent of the child is usually obtained via the mother, the company said.
Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb says he is writing to the Human Tissue Authority (HTA) to ask for clarification on how such over-the-counter products are regulated. 'There's a question about whether the regulatory system keeps pace with changes in technology and whether there's a need to change the rules in which this sort of product can operate,' he said. Mr Lamb expressed concerns that the tests could encourage users to adopt a more 'casual' attitude to paternity testing: 'On the face of it, I don't oppose the idea of people having a right to know what their parentage is... but I can also see there are potential negative consequences and risk of a casual attitude to having a child.' The increasing availability of DNA testing and the improvement of the technology has thrown up the question of how such tests should be regulated, said Mr Lamb, calling upon the government and the HTA to address the issue.
Anglia DNA is the first company to test customers' DNA on UK soil. Last month, International Biosciences announced it was also distributing over-the-counter DNA testing kits to UK chemists but it sent the samples to the United States for testing.
Tom Howell, business development manager at Anglia DNA, said the company takes the issue of consent very seriously and defended supplying the kits over the counter. 'DNA testing used to exist online but now people can buy kits from an environment they feel comfortable with,' he said, adding: 'It takes away doubts and concerns and means people can move on with their lives. It is rare that people get back results that they do not expect.' Anglia DNA managing director, Dr Thomas Haizel said, 'It's great to have been able finally to launch the product and we hope the UK consumer will find great confidence in knowing this is a product developed for the UK market with all the testing done in a UK laboratory.'
Sunday, August 16, 2009
The Fertility Time-Bomb is Ticking!
Many women are risking their chances of being able to have children by leaving it too late, according to Bill Ledger, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the UK's University of Sheffield. He told the Daily Telegraph newspaper that women who chose to delay motherhood until their 30s and beyond in order to establish their careers were ignoring the implications this could have for their fertility.
Professor Ledger recommends that women planing to start a family later in life have a fertility test at the age of thirty to help gauge how quickly their fertility is declining. He helped to develop a test, launched in 2006, called the 'Plan Ahead Kit' which works out the number of eggs that a woman has left in her ovaries. From this, it predicts the woman's 'ovarian reserve' for the following two years. Professor Ledger believes the test, which costs INR 16,000 could help women make more informed reproductive choices and conceive naturally.
However, Dr Gillian Lockwood, medical director of Midland Fertility Services and vice president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' ethics committee, and Tony Rutherford, chair of the British Fertility Society, have both voiced concerns that tests could also create a false sense of security, as egg reserves are not the only factor involved in getting pregnant naturally.
Professor Ledger said that too many women were relying on the availability of IVF as a fallback, not realising that the treatment was not freely available on the National Health Service (NHS) in the majority of cases. Last week a report showed that eight out of ten primary care trusts were failing to provide the recommended three cycles of IVF to women under 40 on the NHS.
Speaking to the Observer newspaper, Dr Mark Hamilton, the leading consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital and former chairman of the British Fertility Society, made further calls for a campaign to raise awareness of fertility issues in primary and secondary schools: 'Sexual health messages focus entirely on avoidance of sex, but this should be coupled with promotion of fertility awareness. We should be teaching everyone, from childhood up, about all the factors linked to fertility potential, and how the huge range of things from lifestyle choices to genetic inheritance can have harmful effects on that potential.'
The average age for women to start a family is now over thirty and has been steadily increasing for decades. Research shows that fertility halves by the age of 35 and declines steadily thereafter.
Professor Ledger recommends that women planing to start a family later in life have a fertility test at the age of thirty to help gauge how quickly their fertility is declining. He helped to develop a test, launched in 2006, called the 'Plan Ahead Kit' which works out the number of eggs that a woman has left in her ovaries. From this, it predicts the woman's 'ovarian reserve' for the following two years. Professor Ledger believes the test, which costs INR 16,000 could help women make more informed reproductive choices and conceive naturally.
However, Dr Gillian Lockwood, medical director of Midland Fertility Services and vice president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' ethics committee, and Tony Rutherford, chair of the British Fertility Society, have both voiced concerns that tests could also create a false sense of security, as egg reserves are not the only factor involved in getting pregnant naturally.
Professor Ledger said that too many women were relying on the availability of IVF as a fallback, not realising that the treatment was not freely available on the National Health Service (NHS) in the majority of cases. Last week a report showed that eight out of ten primary care trusts were failing to provide the recommended three cycles of IVF to women under 40 on the NHS.
Speaking to the Observer newspaper, Dr Mark Hamilton, the leading consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital and former chairman of the British Fertility Society, made further calls for a campaign to raise awareness of fertility issues in primary and secondary schools: 'Sexual health messages focus entirely on avoidance of sex, but this should be coupled with promotion of fertility awareness. We should be teaching everyone, from childhood up, about all the factors linked to fertility potential, and how the huge range of things from lifestyle choices to genetic inheritance can have harmful effects on that potential.'
The average age for women to start a family is now over thirty and has been steadily increasing for decades. Research shows that fertility halves by the age of 35 and declines steadily thereafter.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Why I Chose a Non-Exercise LifeStyle?
Interesting article from a friend on his blog! I am convinced.
Editor's Note; This is purely a personal viewpoint and lifestyle. No one should under any circumstances and under any conditions try to practice our style on their own. All medical and health matters should be thoroughly discussed with your physician and medical advisers.
A few days ago, while surfing the net, I came across a Time.com article titled "Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin". I read the article and agreed with much of what the author John Cloud wrote. Frankly, that article got me thinking about my own experience and how I benefited by giving up exercise.
The TV character Ray Barone (star of "Everybody Loves Raymond") once said "I love beef and I have always tried to get as much of it as I can". Ray says this to Debra, his TV wife, after he thoroughly embarrasses himself and Debra at a PTA event. I can understand Ray's behavior.
I love chocolate and I have always tried to get as much of it as I can. People, especially yuppie women, look at me and make snide comments when they are behind me in the line at the grocery store. Apparently, they are shocked by the amount of chocolate I buy. A few years ago, I was being driven to a concert in New Jersey by my dear friends, a wonderful couple. There is a Dunkin' Donuts store located right after the exit from the Holland Tunnel into New Jersey. I asked them to stop at the store and I went in with my friend's wife. She ordered something for them and I ordered two chocolate cream filled donuts. In my defense, chocolate cream filled donuts are not available in Manhattan - that is correct, no store in Manhattan serves this gorgeous donut, filled with chocolate cream on the inside and with powder sprinkled on the outside. It is impossible to eat this donut without making a mess of your lower face.
Before the server poured coffee and bagged my friend's order, I had eaten the two donuts while standing at the register. My lips and lower face had white powder stains mixed with a bit of the dark chocolate cream. Both the cashier and my friend's wife started laughing at me. That was not very nice of them but frankly I did not care. Finding that rare donut was reward enough. While donuts are great, a chocolate cake served at a fine Italian restaurant is pure heaven. After a dinner, I have been accused on inhaling a entire piece of chocolate cake before others can get a bite into their desserts. I would support the argument that chocolate was Europe's greatest gift to humanity.
So I can relate to Ray's binge of eating beef and spilling the au jus sauce all over his shirt while Debra was giving her campaign speech. But for a period of time, I was guilted out of eating chocolate by people who claimed they had my best heath interests at heart, literally at heart. At that time, during a routine physical, the doctor did a blood test and discovered that my cholesterol was 364. I was told this was a shocking figure and I must bring it down. I was also informed that among all the ethnic groups in the world, according to studies, the desi crowd (people of Indian origin) had the greatest statistical risk of getting heart disease.
I was disturbed myself and resolved to do everything I could to get my cholesterol down. I gave up chocolate and began exercising, the whole thing including treadmills etc. I went through EKGs, Stress tests, Thallium Stress Tests, the whole nine yards. I began taking statins in small dosage. I changed my diet and followed whatever I was told to do, including drinking 4 glasses of Metamucil daily (orange metamucil concentrate mixed with water). You try doing that at work in full view of about 20 colleagues and see what comments you get. But, in short, I became the near perfect disciple of the Behave Correctly school.
It helped a bit. My cholesterol numbers came down a little, especially the LDL, the bad cholesterol. But, there was no improvement in my HDL, the good cholesterol. So I was told to exercise more, because exercise supposedly helps to raise HDL.
I tried, I really did. But my personality does not seem to jive with exercise. The Treadmill was boring and so I tried to listen to music while I ran on the treadmill. Like most desis, I have to sing along when I listen to my favorite music. But apparently you cannot do so in a gym, however softly you choose to sing. So I began singing silently to myself and even that got really uncomfortable stares from others.
Apart from such social issues, exercise was frustrating. It meant I had to give up watching a favorite TV program or a movie. It was such a waste of time. Apart from exercising, I had to get dressed in exercise clothes and take the elevator to go down to another floor in our building to visit the gym. The whole thing was very intrusive on my time and felt highly unsatisfactory. I was getting irritable. So I gave up exercise.
At that time, a series of articles appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek arguing that chocolate, especially my favorite dark chocolate, was good for the human heart in moderate quantities. Whether humorous or otherwise, the articles confirmed my belief. So I began eating chocolate again, but in smaller quantities.
At that time, I rediscovered my love for Bollywood films and began buying DVDs of my favorite oldies. This was the spring of 2002 and due to the recession, the desi stores in Jackson Heights, Queens were selling these DVDs at about $5 each. Quickly, I became one of their valued customers.
On Saturday and Sunday, I would stay in bed the entire afternoon (after waking up late) and watch Bollywood oldies. Then I decided to experiment a bit and got some newer films. I still remember the weekend, when I watched 5 newer Bollywood films, one after another. Each movie was a discovery. By sheer luck or destiny, I had chosen the right sequence; each movie turned out to be more enjoyable than the earlier. After that weekend, there was no going back. Watching Bollywood movies became my primary weekend function.
When fall 2002 arrived, the weekend schedule had to be adjusted. Remember what the Marine told Tom Cruise in "A Few Good Men" - " We live by a code, Corps, God and Country". Well people like me have our own code for the fall. Mine is "Michigan, Big Ten and College Football". If a game is on TV, I have no choice. I have to watch it.
So that fall, Saturdays were done. I had to get up early to begin watching the two Bollywood music shows that came on at 9:00 am. Then at 11:30, one of Bollywood shows would end and I would switch to ESPN's College Game Day. The last 15 minutes of the dream team of the Coach, the Street Guy and the Anchor Fowler cannot be missed.
Then at noon, either a Michigan or Ohio State game would be on TV followed by a Big 12 game in the afternoon. The day would end around midnight after the evening game, an SEC or a Pac-10 game. So, from 9:00 am to midnight, every fall Saturday was pure heaven , with great games, eating in bed and becoming what God no doubt intended me to be. Sundays were reserved for watching Bollywood DVDs.
In that great scene near the end of Analyse This, Bill Crystal says "who am I? that is a question for the ages". The Indian Sages have pondered this question for ages. One of them, Sant Dnyaneshwar*, wrote of that divinely blissful feeling of liberation he felt when he discovered himself. Of course, he was describing his bliss when he received enlightenment.
My self-realization was very different from his. I found who I was, a guy who like to lie in bed and watch movies and TV. As Sant Dnyaneshwar wrote nearly 800 years ago, with this self-realization all my doubt was resolved and in its place came a sense of deep inner peace. My friends and close ones, the "educated Indian" sort - modern, liberal yuppies or ex-yuppies who strive to follow every trend that is in vogue, were both outraged and saddened.
But magically as it were, around that time, my HDL level began increasing. Within a couple of years of this disciplined movie-TV watching over the weekend, my HDL reached levels of my dreams. In addition, my Cholesterol/LDL ratio and the HDL/LDL ratio reached "ideal" levels. They remain so to this day.
How is that possible? Even I wondered. Then I saw an article in the New York Times that seemed to suggest that the real benefit of exercise seems to be that it makes people feel good. In other words, the physical exercise may not the main benefit. The main benefit may come from the happy feeling it creates in the people who enjoy exercise. My doubts were resolved. If I get the same good feeling by lying in bed and watching Bollywood films, it should have the same benefits that exercise provides others. To many this might sound ludicrous and utterly self-serving, but to me it makes perfect sense.
A point of posture if I may. TV anchors often speak disparagingly of "couch potatoes". They are so clueless. Serious TV watchers do not use the couch. It is bad for the back and the spine. The anchors should read what Jerry, the western cowhand, said to an English visitor in a Louis L'Amour novel. As Jerry explained "In England, they ride for about an hour or so. That is why they use the English saddle. But the western cowhand spends 15-16 hours in the saddle, he eats in the saddle and sleeps in the saddle. You need a comfortable western saddle to do that".
This is the perfect analogy for TV watching. A couch is fine if you watch TV for an hour or two. But if you want to watch 14-15 hours of TV in a day, you need a king-size bed, a firm mattress, good pillows and end tables where you can put your drink and food. Only then, can you lie down all day, eat in bed and do your TV watching regimen in bodily comfort. This is good for your spine, your inner peace and your heart, as has been the case for me.
Why write this article now? The first trigger was the Time.com article about exercise. The second was the result of my heart scan that I received a couple of days ago. For those who do not know, this is great technology. It is called an Electronic Beam Tomography scan. They use it to scan the arteries of your heart to find levels of plaque in your arteries. This is only direct visual measure of plaque in your blood vessels that I know. Others like HDL, LDL, Cholesterol etc. are indirect measures that enable you to infer the condition of your arteries but do not provide a direct measurement.
I was thrilled to see that my plaque level after seven years of my weekend regimen is zero, yes Zero. Further, according to the cardiological radiologist, the probability of me getting a heart attack is less than 0.2%.
Clearly I do not know whether my weekend life style is responsible for my cholesterol and plaque levels. But just as clearly, it does not do any harm. And it provides me pleasure and a sense of inner peace. Why can't my "educated" friends understand this?
* Editor's Postscript: I have enormous respect and devotion towards Sant Dnyaneshwar. He was the founder of the Bhagwat-Dharma in Maharashtra, the dharma of deep devotion that pervades the State of Maharashtra and all of India. Sant Namdeo carried this movement into North India and Sant Tukaram was its pinnacle some 300 odd years later.
Dnyaneshwar translated the Bhagwat-Geeta from Sanskrut into Marathi and transformed Marathi from a language of farmers and rural labor into a language embraced by the intellectual elite of Maharashtra. His poetry is simply out of the world. Today, 800 years after him passing, his poems are sung in every Marathi speaking household worldwide. How rare is this? Just ask yourself, how many English speaking families recite Chaucer in their homes?
In our article, we have used our interpretation of the words of Dnyaneshwar to provide a humorous but heart-felt analogy for our viewpoints. That is not only our right but our tradition. Just look at how many ways the Bhagwat-Geeta has been interpreted over the past 4000 odd years? So we do not intend to give offense to any body by quoting the great Sant in our article.
Editor's Note; This is purely a personal viewpoint and lifestyle. No one should under any circumstances and under any conditions try to practice our style on their own. All medical and health matters should be thoroughly discussed with your physician and medical advisers.
A few days ago, while surfing the net, I came across a Time.com article titled "Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin". I read the article and agreed with much of what the author John Cloud wrote. Frankly, that article got me thinking about my own experience and how I benefited by giving up exercise.
The TV character Ray Barone (star of "Everybody Loves Raymond") once said "I love beef and I have always tried to get as much of it as I can". Ray says this to Debra, his TV wife, after he thoroughly embarrasses himself and Debra at a PTA event. I can understand Ray's behavior.
I love chocolate and I have always tried to get as much of it as I can. People, especially yuppie women, look at me and make snide comments when they are behind me in the line at the grocery store. Apparently, they are shocked by the amount of chocolate I buy. A few years ago, I was being driven to a concert in New Jersey by my dear friends, a wonderful couple. There is a Dunkin' Donuts store located right after the exit from the Holland Tunnel into New Jersey. I asked them to stop at the store and I went in with my friend's wife. She ordered something for them and I ordered two chocolate cream filled donuts. In my defense, chocolate cream filled donuts are not available in Manhattan - that is correct, no store in Manhattan serves this gorgeous donut, filled with chocolate cream on the inside and with powder sprinkled on the outside. It is impossible to eat this donut without making a mess of your lower face.
Before the server poured coffee and bagged my friend's order, I had eaten the two donuts while standing at the register. My lips and lower face had white powder stains mixed with a bit of the dark chocolate cream. Both the cashier and my friend's wife started laughing at me. That was not very nice of them but frankly I did not care. Finding that rare donut was reward enough. While donuts are great, a chocolate cake served at a fine Italian restaurant is pure heaven. After a dinner, I have been accused on inhaling a entire piece of chocolate cake before others can get a bite into their desserts. I would support the argument that chocolate was Europe's greatest gift to humanity.
So I can relate to Ray's binge of eating beef and spilling the au jus sauce all over his shirt while Debra was giving her campaign speech. But for a period of time, I was guilted out of eating chocolate by people who claimed they had my best heath interests at heart, literally at heart. At that time, during a routine physical, the doctor did a blood test and discovered that my cholesterol was 364. I was told this was a shocking figure and I must bring it down. I was also informed that among all the ethnic groups in the world, according to studies, the desi crowd (people of Indian origin) had the greatest statistical risk of getting heart disease.
I was disturbed myself and resolved to do everything I could to get my cholesterol down. I gave up chocolate and began exercising, the whole thing including treadmills etc. I went through EKGs, Stress tests, Thallium Stress Tests, the whole nine yards. I began taking statins in small dosage. I changed my diet and followed whatever I was told to do, including drinking 4 glasses of Metamucil daily (orange metamucil concentrate mixed with water). You try doing that at work in full view of about 20 colleagues and see what comments you get. But, in short, I became the near perfect disciple of the Behave Correctly school.
It helped a bit. My cholesterol numbers came down a little, especially the LDL, the bad cholesterol. But, there was no improvement in my HDL, the good cholesterol. So I was told to exercise more, because exercise supposedly helps to raise HDL.
I tried, I really did. But my personality does not seem to jive with exercise. The Treadmill was boring and so I tried to listen to music while I ran on the treadmill. Like most desis, I have to sing along when I listen to my favorite music. But apparently you cannot do so in a gym, however softly you choose to sing. So I began singing silently to myself and even that got really uncomfortable stares from others.
Apart from such social issues, exercise was frustrating. It meant I had to give up watching a favorite TV program or a movie. It was such a waste of time. Apart from exercising, I had to get dressed in exercise clothes and take the elevator to go down to another floor in our building to visit the gym. The whole thing was very intrusive on my time and felt highly unsatisfactory. I was getting irritable. So I gave up exercise.
At that time, a series of articles appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek arguing that chocolate, especially my favorite dark chocolate, was good for the human heart in moderate quantities. Whether humorous or otherwise, the articles confirmed my belief. So I began eating chocolate again, but in smaller quantities.
At that time, I rediscovered my love for Bollywood films and began buying DVDs of my favorite oldies. This was the spring of 2002 and due to the recession, the desi stores in Jackson Heights, Queens were selling these DVDs at about $5 each. Quickly, I became one of their valued customers.
On Saturday and Sunday, I would stay in bed the entire afternoon (after waking up late) and watch Bollywood oldies. Then I decided to experiment a bit and got some newer films. I still remember the weekend, when I watched 5 newer Bollywood films, one after another. Each movie was a discovery. By sheer luck or destiny, I had chosen the right sequence; each movie turned out to be more enjoyable than the earlier. After that weekend, there was no going back. Watching Bollywood movies became my primary weekend function.
When fall 2002 arrived, the weekend schedule had to be adjusted. Remember what the Marine told Tom Cruise in "A Few Good Men" - " We live by a code, Corps, God and Country". Well people like me have our own code for the fall. Mine is "Michigan, Big Ten and College Football". If a game is on TV, I have no choice. I have to watch it.
So that fall, Saturdays were done. I had to get up early to begin watching the two Bollywood music shows that came on at 9:00 am. Then at 11:30, one of Bollywood shows would end and I would switch to ESPN's College Game Day. The last 15 minutes of the dream team of the Coach, the Street Guy and the Anchor Fowler cannot be missed.
Then at noon, either a Michigan or Ohio State game would be on TV followed by a Big 12 game in the afternoon. The day would end around midnight after the evening game, an SEC or a Pac-10 game. So, from 9:00 am to midnight, every fall Saturday was pure heaven , with great games, eating in bed and becoming what God no doubt intended me to be. Sundays were reserved for watching Bollywood DVDs.
In that great scene near the end of Analyse This, Bill Crystal says "who am I? that is a question for the ages". The Indian Sages have pondered this question for ages. One of them, Sant Dnyaneshwar*, wrote of that divinely blissful feeling of liberation he felt when he discovered himself. Of course, he was describing his bliss when he received enlightenment.
My self-realization was very different from his. I found who I was, a guy who like to lie in bed and watch movies and TV. As Sant Dnyaneshwar wrote nearly 800 years ago, with this self-realization all my doubt was resolved and in its place came a sense of deep inner peace. My friends and close ones, the "educated Indian" sort - modern, liberal yuppies or ex-yuppies who strive to follow every trend that is in vogue, were both outraged and saddened.
But magically as it were, around that time, my HDL level began increasing. Within a couple of years of this disciplined movie-TV watching over the weekend, my HDL reached levels of my dreams. In addition, my Cholesterol/LDL ratio and the HDL/LDL ratio reached "ideal" levels. They remain so to this day.
How is that possible? Even I wondered. Then I saw an article in the New York Times that seemed to suggest that the real benefit of exercise seems to be that it makes people feel good. In other words, the physical exercise may not the main benefit. The main benefit may come from the happy feeling it creates in the people who enjoy exercise. My doubts were resolved. If I get the same good feeling by lying in bed and watching Bollywood films, it should have the same benefits that exercise provides others. To many this might sound ludicrous and utterly self-serving, but to me it makes perfect sense.
A point of posture if I may. TV anchors often speak disparagingly of "couch potatoes". They are so clueless. Serious TV watchers do not use the couch. It is bad for the back and the spine. The anchors should read what Jerry, the western cowhand, said to an English visitor in a Louis L'Amour novel. As Jerry explained "In England, they ride for about an hour or so. That is why they use the English saddle. But the western cowhand spends 15-16 hours in the saddle, he eats in the saddle and sleeps in the saddle. You need a comfortable western saddle to do that".
This is the perfect analogy for TV watching. A couch is fine if you watch TV for an hour or two. But if you want to watch 14-15 hours of TV in a day, you need a king-size bed, a firm mattress, good pillows and end tables where you can put your drink and food. Only then, can you lie down all day, eat in bed and do your TV watching regimen in bodily comfort. This is good for your spine, your inner peace and your heart, as has been the case for me.
Why write this article now? The first trigger was the Time.com article about exercise. The second was the result of my heart scan that I received a couple of days ago. For those who do not know, this is great technology. It is called an Electronic Beam Tomography scan. They use it to scan the arteries of your heart to find levels of plaque in your arteries. This is only direct visual measure of plaque in your blood vessels that I know. Others like HDL, LDL, Cholesterol etc. are indirect measures that enable you to infer the condition of your arteries but do not provide a direct measurement.
I was thrilled to see that my plaque level after seven years of my weekend regimen is zero, yes Zero. Further, according to the cardiological radiologist, the probability of me getting a heart attack is less than 0.2%.
Clearly I do not know whether my weekend life style is responsible for my cholesterol and plaque levels. But just as clearly, it does not do any harm. And it provides me pleasure and a sense of inner peace. Why can't my "educated" friends understand this?
* Editor's Postscript: I have enormous respect and devotion towards Sant Dnyaneshwar. He was the founder of the Bhagwat-Dharma in Maharashtra, the dharma of deep devotion that pervades the State of Maharashtra and all of India. Sant Namdeo carried this movement into North India and Sant Tukaram was its pinnacle some 300 odd years later.
Dnyaneshwar translated the Bhagwat-Geeta from Sanskrut into Marathi and transformed Marathi from a language of farmers and rural labor into a language embraced by the intellectual elite of Maharashtra. His poetry is simply out of the world. Today, 800 years after him passing, his poems are sung in every Marathi speaking household worldwide. How rare is this? Just ask yourself, how many English speaking families recite Chaucer in their homes?
In our article, we have used our interpretation of the words of Dnyaneshwar to provide a humorous but heart-felt analogy for our viewpoints. That is not only our right but our tradition. Just look at how many ways the Bhagwat-Geeta has been interpreted over the past 4000 odd years? So we do not intend to give offense to any body by quoting the great Sant in our article.
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