السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته ،،،

جب تم نماز نہ پڑهو تو مت سوچو كہ وقت نہيں ملا.  بلكہ يہ سوچو كہ تم سے كونسى غلطى ھوئى ھے كہ الله تبارک وتعالى نے تم كو اپنے سامنے كهڑا كرنا پسند نہ كيا … اس پر غور كرو!!!

اگر توكل سيكهنا ھے تو پرندوں سے سيكهو كہ جب وه شام كو گهر واپس جاتے ہيں توان كى چونچ ميں

كل كےلئيےكوئى دانہ نہيں ھوتا.

جو ايمان اتنا كمزور ھو كہ چل كر مسجد تک نہ جائے وه بهلا قيامت كے دن جنت ميں كيسے لے كر جائيگا……. غور كريں!!!!!

ہركوئى چاہتا ھے كہ مجہے كاميابى مل جائے ليكن جب مسجد سے دن ميں 5 مرتبہ آواز آتى ھے “حي على الفلاح” – (آؤ كاميابى كى طرف) – تو اس طرف جانے كى ہم زحمت نہيں كرتے.  افسوس كہ جس چيز كو وه سارى زندگى ہر جگہ تلاش كركے بهى حاصل نہيں كرسكا وه تو خود اسے اپنے پاس بلارہى ھے …. ذرا سوچيں!!!

الله رب العزت نے فرمايا اگر ميں نے تمام باتيں قسمت ميں لكھنى ہوتيں تو ميں اپنے بندے كو دعا مانگنا نہ سيكهاتا.

كوشش كرو كہ تم دنيا ميں رھو دنيا تم ميں نہ رھے كيونكہ كشتى جب تک پانى ميں رہتى ھے خوب تيرتى ھے ليكن جب پانى كشتى ميں جاتا ھے تو وه ڈوب جاتى ھے!!!

جزاك الله

“It is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, and the Last Day, and to believe in divine destiny, both the good and the evil thereof.”
(Saying of the Prophet, pbuh)

Iman is the state in which the heart accepts the Truth and lives by it. It is to believe in its six ‘pillars’ such that, the lips and tongue make the profession of the truth, and the limbs execute what is required of them by the truth. It is important to recognise that the first of the Prophet Muhammad’s titles – his ‘titles of Glory’ – is not ‘Messenger’ or ‘Prophet’ but ‘slave’ ( abd ). For man must be a slave to the truth before he can be its messenger, and the slave is, by definition, one who submits body and soul to his master, claiming no rights, asking no questions and owning nothing that he can call his own. It is for the master, if he will, to raise him to a higher status.

A great deal of misunderstanding has surrounded these images of submission. Partly from prejudice, but partly also from the genuine difficulty that one culture has in grasping the deepest motivations of another, the West has often pictured the Muslim as cringing before a tyrant Lord and submitting as a beast submits to its incomprehensible fate. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Muslim fears God because he is a realist; he knows that there are things to be feared and that all things – the bitter and the sweet – have but one Creator. He submits because he believes that there exists a divine pattern or scheme of things which is both intelligent and beautiful, and he wishes to find his place in this pattern and conform to it; he knows that he cannot do so without instructions – which must be followed meticulously in view of their sacred origin. He does not simply resign himself to the Divine Will; he seeks it eagerly and, when he finds it, delights in it.

The Articles of Faith

“Say: ‘He Allah, is One! Allah, the eternally Besought! He has not begotten, nor been begotten, and equal to Him there is none.”
Quran, Sincerity 112:1-4

In order to have Iman the Muslim has to believe in:

1. Allah, the One and Only God

Allah, the Arabic word for the One True God, is unique in that it can have no plural or gender connotation. A Muslim believes in one, unique, incomparable God, Who has no son, nor partner, and that none has the right to be worshipped but Him alone. God alone is the Almighty, the Most Merciful, the Creator, the Sovereign, and the Sustainer of the universe and what lies beyond it. He is the Eternal. He manages all affairs. He stands in need of none of His creation, yet all creation are in need of Him. He alone is Independent. He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, and the All-Knowing. To Him alone belongs Perfection and His alone are the most Magnificent names and the perfect attributes. His knowledge encompasses all things.

2. His Angels

Muslims believe in the existence of angels created by Allah. They are created of light, created incapable of rebellion against God’s will, for their purpose is to carry it out. This is why Islam sees man as potentially superior to the angels, for he may freely choose to serve God and to believe in His prophets, whereas the angels, who are at all times in the presence of God, cannot fail to obey Him and to sing His praises at all times. By the same token, man can be lower than the angels, and lower even than the animals, should they refuse to worship his Creator and thank Him for the gift of life and the blessings showered upon him in this world and, we are given to hope, the next. We are told of eight in particular: Gabriel, the Angel of Revelation; Mikael, who brings God’s prosperity and bounty to man; Israfil, responsible for blowing the Last Trump signifying the impending Day of Judgement; Azreal, the Angel of Death, who takes man’s soul when his lifespan ends; Malek, the Angel supervising Hell; and Radwan, who is respnsible for Paradise. The two angels we shall encounter shortly after death. These are Munkar and Nakir, who question the newly dead regarding their lives and beliefs.

“Say: [O Muslims]: ‘We believe in Allah and that which is sent down to us, and in what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes; what was given to Moses and Jesus and what was given to the Prophets by their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to Him we have surrendered ourselves.’”
Quran The Cow, 2:136

3. His revealed books

A Muslim believes in all scriptures and revelations of God as they were revealed in their in original form. Messengers were sent to people of all ages and all walks of life. All scriptures sought to invite man back to the belief and worship of the One True God and thus to recognise the Primordial covenant. Essentially the message of all the prophets was the same, reaffirming the oneness of God.

The Quran is the last scripture of guidance revealed to man and sent down for all humanity. For the Muslim, God’s Book is much more than a source of liturgical and social rules; indeed, such topics occupy less than one tenth of the Quranic text; and it is more even than a revelatory declaration of man’s origin and his fate, an exposition of the truths of man’s spiritual nature and of judgement. The Quran is-oft recited, at the most profound possible level, because it is of God. Its text reveals God’s will for His creation, but it is also a revelation of Himself. It is uncreated, timeless, a dimension of God’s pre-existent attribute of speech, communication: it is the Logos, which is the interface between the Absolute and the contingent realms. Unlike all other scriptures sent before, it is Divinely protected against corruption and is thus the only authentic and complete book of Allah which has remained unchanged since its was revelation to the Prophet (pbuh) through the angel Gabriel. It was revealed over a period of 23 years. It contains 114 Surahs (chapters) and over 6000 verses.

4. His Messengers

A Muslim believes in all the Messengers and Prophets of God without any discrimination. All messengers were mortals, human beings, honoured with conveying the Divine revelations to mankind. The Holy Quran mentions the names of 25 messengers and prophets but according to tradition some 124,000 prophets are believed to be sent. These include Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.

“When the sun is darkened, and when the stars fall, and when the mountains are moved… and when the records of men’s deeds are laid open, and when the sky is torn away, and when the hell is set blazing, and when the Garden is brought near, then every soul shall know what it has brought.”
Quran, The Darkening 81: 1-3,10-14

5. The Day of Judgement

A Muslim believes in the Day of the Judgement. This world as we know it will come to an end, and man will rise to stand for their final and fair judgement. On that day, the whole of humanity will be resurrected and await reckoning. Every action is being accounted for and kept in an accurate record by the angels and on that Day the consequences of those actions will be brought to light. They are brought up on the Day of Judgement. The people with good records will be generously rewarded and warmly welcomed to Allah’s Heaven. People with bad records will be fairly punished and cast into Hell. The real nature of Heaven and Hell are known to Allah only, but they are described by Allah in man’s familiar terms in the Quran.

If some good deeds are seen not to get full appreciation and credit in this life, they will receive full compensation and be widely acknowledged on the Day of Judgement. If some people who commit sins, neglect Allah and indulge in immoral activities, seem superficially successful and prosperous in this life, absolute justice will be done to them on the Day of Judgement. The time of the Day of Judgement is only known to Allah and Allah alone.

“No soul dies without the permission of Allah, and at a term appointed. He who desires the reward of this world We shall give it to him; and he who desires the reward of the Hereafter We shall give it to him. We will surely reward the thankful.”
Quran, The Family of Imran 3:145

6. Destiny, its good and evil

A Muslim believes in al-Qadar which is predestination, believing that God has knowledge of all that has and will happen, all that has taken place and is yet to take place, and that whatever He wills, shall take place and whatever He wills not, shall not. Destiny is a title for Divine Knowledge. God’s Knowledge comprehends everything within and beyond time and space. This is not to say, however, that humans do not have freewill. For all humans have the power of choice and ultimately Allah is aware of the course of action each shall follow. Man is given a free will, according to which he acts in his life. He will be held responsible on the day of judgement for whatever option, whether good or bad, that he adopted. It is a prescribed way of Allah that He makes the path of doing good easier for a person if the person opts for this path. Similarly if the man chooses the path of evil, Allah makes following this path easier for him.

An atheist Professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty.
He asks one of his new students to stand and…..

Professor: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.

Professor: Is God good?
Student: Sure.

Professor: Is God all-powerful?
Student: Yes.

Professor: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn’t. How is this God good then? Hmm?
Student: (Student is silent.)

Professor: You can’t answer, can you? Let’s start again, young fella. Is God good?
Student: Yes.

Professor: Is Satan good?
Student: No.

Professor: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From…God…

Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.

Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.

Professor: So who created evil?
Student: (Student does not answer.)

Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?
Student: Yes, sir.

Professor: So, who created them?
Student: (Student has no answer.)

Professor: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son…Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.

Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student: No , sir.

Professor: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.

Professor: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.

Professor: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.

Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Professor: Yes.

Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Professor: Yes.

Student: No sir. There isn’t.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student: You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light….But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it’s called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Professor: Flawed? Can you explain how?
Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure.
Sir, science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.
Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
Professor: (The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)

Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavour, are you not teaching your opinion, sir?
Are you not a scientist but a preacher?
Professor: (The class is in uproar.)

Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?
Professor: (The class breaks out into laughter.)>

Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it?…..No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

Professor: (The room is silent. The Professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)
Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.

Student: That is it sir.. The link between man & God is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive.

NB: I believe you have enjoyed the conversation…and if so…you’ll probably want your friends/colleagues to enjoy the same…won’t you?…forward them to increase their knowledge…

There was a young who went overseas to study for quite a long time. When he returned, he asked his parents to find him a religious scholar or any expert who could answer his 3 Questions. Finally, his parents were able to find a Muslim scholar.

Young man: Who are you? Can you answer my questions?

Scholar: I am one of Allah (SubHana Wa Ta`ala )’s slaves and Insha-Allah (God willing), I will be able to answer your questions.

Young man: Are you sure? A lot of Professors and experts were not able to answer my questions.

Scholar: I will try my best, with the help of Allah(SubHana Wa Ta`ala).

Young Man: I have 3 questions:

1. Does God exist? If so, show me His shape.

2. What is thaqdir (fate)?

3. If shaitan (Devil) was created from the fire, why at the end he will be thrown to hell that is also created from fire. It certainly will not hurt him at all, since Shaitan (Devil) and the hell were created from fire. Did God not think of it this far?

Suddenly, the Scholar slapped the young man’s face very hard.

Young Man (feeling pain): Why do you get angry at me?

Scholar: I am not angry. The slap is my answer to your three questions.

Young Man: I really don’t understand.

Scholar: How do you feel after I slapped you?

Young Man: Of course, I felt the pain.

Scholar: So do you believe that pain exists?

Young Man: Yes.

Scholar: Show me the shape of the pain!

Young Man: I cannot.

Scholar: That is my first answer. All of us feel God’s existence without being able to see His shape… Last night, did you dream that you will be slapped by me?

Young Man: No.

Scholar: Did you ever think that you will get a slap from me, today?

Young Man: No.

Scholar: That is takdir (fate) my second answer…….. My hand that I used to slap you, what is it created from?

Young Man: It is created from flesh.

Scholar: How about your face, what is it created from?

Young Man: Flesh.

Scholar: How do you feel after I slapped you?

Young Man: In pain.

Scholar: Thats it. this is my third answer, Even though Shaitan (Devil) and also the hell were created from the fire, if Allah wants, insha-Allah (God willing), the hell will become a very painful place for Shaitan

Allah (swt) said:
“If you are ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of you.” If you are not ashamed, pass this message on…only if you believe.

“Yes, I love Allah. Allah is my fountain of Life and My Savior. Allah keeps me going day & night. Without Allah, I am no one. But with Allah, I can do everything. Allah is my strength.”

May Allah help us all to succeed… Ameen

This is one of the nicest mails I have seen and is so true:

I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels.

My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, “This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received.”

I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.

Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.

The angel then said to me, “This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them.”

I noticed again how busy it was there.

There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.

Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. “This is the Acknowledgment Section,”

My angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed “How is it that? There’s no work going on here?” I asked.

“So sad,” the angel sighed. “After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments.

“How does one acknowledge God’s blessings?” I asked.

“Simple,” the angel answered.

“Just say, “Thank you, God.”

“What blessings should they acknowledge? ”

I asked.
“If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world.” If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the worlds wealthy.

“And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity.”
Also …..

“If you woke up this morning with more health than illness …. you are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day.

“If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation .. you are ahead of 700 million people in the world.

“If you can attend a prayer meeting without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world.

“If your parents are still alive and still married .. you are very rare.

If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you’re unique to all those in doubt and despair.”

Ok, what now? How can I start?
If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you want, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.

Attn: Acknowledgment Dept:

Thank You God! Thank you God, for giving me the ability to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful people to share it with”.

This is a beautiful story

An old American Muslim lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading his Qur’an. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way he could. One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa! I try to read the Qur’an just like you but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Qur’an do?”

The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, “Ta ke this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water.”

The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, “You’ll have to move a little faster next time,” and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again. This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead. The old man said, “I don’t want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You’re just not trying hard enough,” and he went out the door to watch the boy try again.

At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would Leak out before he got back to the house. The boy again dipped the basket into river and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, “See Grandpa, it’s useless!” “So you think it is useless?” The old man said, “Look at the basket.”

The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that the basket was different. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now clean, inside and out.

“Son, that’s what happens when you read the Qur’an. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be Changed, inside and out. That is the work of Allah in our lives.”

If you feel this is worth reading, please forward to your contacts/friends. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) says: “The one who guides to good will be rewarded equally”

This is the most beautiful advice I have ever received.

An Angel says, ‘Never borrow from the future.  If you worry about what may happen tomorrow and it doesn’t happen, you have worried in vain.  Even if it does happen, you have to worry twice.’

1. Pray
2. Go to bed on time.
3. Get up on time so you can start the day unrushed.
4. Say No to projects that won’t fit into your time schedule, or that will compromise your mental health.
5. Delegate tasks to capable others.
6. Simplify and unclutter your life.
7. Less is more. (Although one is often not enough, two are often too many.)
8.. Allow extra time to do things and to get to places.
9. Pace yourself.  Spread out big changes and difficult projects over time; don’t lump the hard things all together.
10. Take one day at a time.
11. Separate worries from concerns.  If a situation is a concern, find out what God would have you do and let go of the anxiety.  If you can’t do anything about a situation, forget it.
12. Live within your budget; don’t use credit cards for ordinary purchases.
13.. Have backups; an extra car key in your wallet, an extra house key buried in the garden, extra stamps, etc.
14. K.M.S. (Keep Mouth Shut).  This single piece of advice can prevent an enormous amount of trouble.
15. Do something for the Kid in You everyday.
16. Carry a spiritually enlightening book with you to read while waiting in line.
17. Get enough rest.
18. Eat right.
19. Get organized so everything has its place.
20.. Listen to a tape while driving that can help improve your quality of life..
21. Write down thoughts and inspirations.
22. Every day, find time to be alone.
23. Having problems?  Talk to God on the spot.  Try to nip small problems in the bud.  Don’t wait until it’s time to go to bed to try and pray.
24. Make friends with Godly people.
25.. Keep a folder of favorite scriptures on hand.
26. Remember that the shortest bridge between despair and hope is often a good ‘Thank you God .’
27. Laugh.
28. Laugh some more!
29. Take your work seriously, but not yourself at all.
30.. Develop a forgiving attitude (most people are doing the best they can).
31.. Be kind to unkind people (they probably need it the most).
32. Sit on your ego.
33. Talk less; listen more.
34. Slow down.
35. Remind yourself that you are not the general manager of the universe.
36. Every night before bed, think of one thing you’re grateful for that you’ve never been grateful for before.  GOD HAS A WAY OF TURNING THINGS AROUND FOR YOU.

‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’

Qn: What are the thumb rules for a layman to take care of his heart?

Ans:
1. Diet – Less of carbohydrate, more of protein, less oil
2. Exercise – Half an hour’s walk, at least five days a week; avoid lifts and avoid sitting for a longtime
3. Quit smoking
4. Control weight
5. Control blood pressure and sugar

Qn: Is eating non-veg food (fish) good for the heart?

Ans: No

Qn: It’s still a grave shock to hear that some apparently healthy person
gets a cardiac arrest. How do we understand it in perspective?

Ans: This is called silent attack; that is why we recommend everyone past the age of 30 to undergo routine health checkups.

Qn: Are heart diseases hereditary?

Ans: Yes

Qn: What are the ways in which the heart is stressed? What practices do you suggest to de-stress?

Ans: Change your attitude towards life. Do not look for perfection in everything in life.

Qn: Is walking better than jogging or is more intensive exercise required to keep a healthy heart?

Ans: Walking is better than jogging since jogging leads to early fatigue and injury to joints

Qn: You have done so much for the poor and needy. What has inspired you to do so?

Ans: Mother Theresa , who was my patient

Qn: Can people with low blood pressure suffer heart diseases?

Ans: Extremely rare

Qn: Does cholesterol accumulates right from an early age
(I’m currently only 22) or do you have to worry about it only after you are above 30 years of age?

Ans: Cholesterol accumulates from childhood.

Qn: How do irregular eating habits affect the heart ?

Ans: You tend to eat junk food when the habits are irregular and your body’s enzyme release for digestion gets confused.

Qn: How can I control cholesterol content without using medicines?

Ans: Control diet, walk and eat walnut.

Qn: Can yoga prevent heart ailments?

Ans: Yoga helps.

Qn: Which is the best and worst food for the heart?

Ans: Fruits and vegetables are the best and the worst is oil.

Qn: Which oil is better – groundnut, sunflower, olive?

Ans: All oils are bad ..

Qn: What is the routine checkup one should go through? Is there any specific test?

Ans: Routine blood test to ensure sugar, cholesterol is ok. Check BP, Treadmill test after an echo.

Qn: What are the first aid steps to be taken on a heart attack?

Ans: Help the person into a sleeping position , place an aspirin tablet under the tongue with a sorbitrate tablet if available, and rush him to a coronary care unit since the maximum casualty takes place within the first hour.

Qn: How do you differentiate between pain caused by a heart attack and that caused due to gastric trouble?

Ans: Extremely difficult without ECG.

Qn: What is the main cause of a steep increase in heart problems amongst youngsters? I see people of about 30-40 yrs of age having heart attacks and serious heart problems.

Ans: Increased awareness has increased incidents. Also, sedentary lifestyles, smoking, junk food, lack of exercise in a country where people are genetically three times more vulnerable for heart attacks than Europeans and Americans.

Qn: Is it possible for a person to have BP outside the normal range of 120/80 and yet be perfectly healthy?

Ans: Yes.

Qn: Marriages within close relatives can lead to heart problems for the child. Is it true?

Ans : Yes, co-sanguinity leads to congenital abnormalities and you may not have a software engineer as a child

Qn: Many of us have an irregular daily routine and many a times we have to stay late nights in office. Does this affect our heart ? What precautions would you recommend?

Ans : When you are young, nature protects you against all these irregularities. However, as you grow older, respect the biological clock.

Qn: Will taking anti-hypertensive drugs cause some other complications (short / long term)?

Ans : Yes, most drugs have some side effects. However, modern anti-hypertensive drugs are extremely safe.

Qn: Will consuming more coffee/tea lead to heart attacks?

Ans : No.

Qn: Are asthma patients more prone to heart disease?

Ans : No.

Qn: How would you define junk food?

Ans : Fried food like Kentucky , McDonalds , samosas, and even masala dosas.

Qn: You mentioned that Indians are three times more vulnerable. What is the reason for this, as Europeans and Americans also eat a lot of junk food?

Ans: Every race is vulnerable to some disease and unfortunately, Indians are vulnerable for the most expensive disease.

Qn: Does consuming bananas help reduce hypertension?

Ans : No.

Qn: Can a person help himself during a heart attack (Because we see a lot of forwarded emails on this)?

Ans : Yes. Lie down comfortably and put an aspirin tablet of any description under the tongue and ask someone to take you to the nearest coronary care unit without any delay and do not wait for the ambulance since most of the time, the ambulance does not turn up.

Qn: Do, in any way, low white blood cells and low hemoglobin count lead to heart problems?

Ans : No. But it is ideal to have normal hemoglobin level to increase your exercise capacity.

Qn: Sometimes, due to the hectic schedule we are not able to exercise. So, does walking while doing daily chores at home or climbing the stairs in the house, work as a substitute for exercise?

Ans : Certainly. Avoid sitting continuously for more than half an hour and even the act of getting out of the chair and going to another chair and sitting helps a lot..

Qn: Is there a relation between heart problems and blood sugar?

Ans: Yes. A strong relationship since diabetics are more vulnerable to heart attacks than non-diabetics.

Qn: What are the things one needs to take care of after a heart operation?

Ans : Diet, exercise, drugs on time , Control cholesterol, BP, weight..

Qn: Are people working on night shifts more vulnerable to heart disease when compared to day shift wor ker s?

Ans : No.

Qn: What are the modern anti-hypertensive drugs?

Ans : There are hundreds of drugs and your doctor will chose the right combination for your problem, but my suggestion is to avoid the drugs and go for natural ways of controlling blood pressure by walk, diet to
reduce weight and changing attitudes towards lifestyles.

Qn: Does dispirin or similar headache pills increase the risk of heart attacks?

Ans : No.

Qn: Why is the rate of heart attacks more in men than in women?

Ans : Nature protects women till the age of 45.

Qn: How can one keep the heart in a good condition?

Ans : Eat a healthy diet, avoid junk food, exercise everyday, do not smoke and, go for health checkup s if you are past the age of 30 ( once in six months recommended) ….

By Puran Mungroo

1. The “57″ on the Heinz ketchup bottle represents the number of pickle types the company once had.

2. Giraffes and rats can last longer without water than camels.

3. Your stomach produces a new layer of mucus every two weeks so that it doesn’t digest itself.

4. 95% of all murders and rapes are by a close family member or friend of the victim.

5. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

6. A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.

7. All the chemicals in a human body combined are worth about 6.25 euro (if sold separately).

8. In ancient Rome, when a man testified in court he would swear on his testicles.

9. Coca-Cola contained Coca (whose active ingredient is cocaine) from 1885 to 1903.

10. A “2 by 4″ piece of wood is really 1 1/2 by 3 1/2.

11. It’s estimated that at any one time around 0.7% of the world’s population is drunk.

12. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades = David ; Clubs = Alexander the Great ; Hearts = Charlemagne ; Diamonds = Caesar

13. Every person, including identical twins, has a unique eye and tongue print along with their finger print.

14. The “spot” on the 7-Up logo comes from its inventor who had red eyes. He was an albino.

15. 315 entries in Webster’s 1996 dictionary were misspelled.

16. The “save” icon in Microsoft Office programs shows a floppy disk with the shutter on backwards.

17. Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin both married their first cousins (Elsa Löwenthal and Emma Wedgewood respectively).

18. Camel’s have three eyelids.

19. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents every day.

20. Chocolate can kill dogs; it directly affects their heart and nervous system.

21. Most lipstick contains fish scales.

22. Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark’s stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.

23. Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine.

24. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. If you keep your eyes open by force, they can pop out. (DON’T TRY IT)

25. Over a course of about eleven years, the sun’s magnetic poles switch places. This cycle is called “Solarmax”.

26. There are 318,979,564,000 possible combinations of the first four moves in Chess.

27. Upper and lower case letters are named “upper” and “lower” because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the upper case letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the lower case letters.

28. The average raindrop falls at 7 miles per hour.

29. It took Leonardo Da Vinci 10 years to paint Mona Lisa. He never signed or dated the painting. Leonardo and Mona had identical bone structures according to the painting. X-ray images have shown that there are 3 other versions under the original.

30. If you put a drop of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go mad and sting itself to death.

32. Bruce Lee was so fast that they had to slow the film down so you could see his moves.

33. When the Titanic sank, 2228 people were on it. Only 706 survived.

34. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you cannot sink into quicksand.

35. One in ten people live on an island.

36. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

37. The sound you here when you put a seashell next to your ear is not the ocean, but blood flowing through your head.

38. More people are afraid of open spaces (kenophobia) than of tight spaces (claustrophobia).

39. The names of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with (not counting the words “North” and “South).

40. About 20% of bird species have become extinct in the past 200 years, almost all of them because of human activity.

41. A word or sentence that is the same front and back (racecar, kayak) is called a “palindrome”.

42. A snail can sleep for 3 years.

43. The electric chair was invented by a dentist.

44. You share your birthday with at least 9 million other people in the world.

45. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds; dogs only have about ten.

46. Our eyes are always the same size from birth but our nose and ears never stop growing.

47. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.

48. Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.

49. Arabic numerals are not really Arabic; they were created in India.

50. The February of 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

51. There is actually no danger in swimming right after you eat, though it may feel uncomfortable.

52. More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.

53. A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

54. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.

55. Dreamt is the only English word that ends in the letters “MT”.

56. Rats and horses can’t vomit.

57. There are only four words in the English language that end in “-dous”: tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.

58. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

59. A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death.

60. Butterflies taste with their feet.

61. An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.

62. Starfish have no brains.

63. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

64. Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

65. A healthy (non-colorblind) human eye can distinguish between 500 shades of gray.

66. Lizards can self-amputate their tails for protection. It grows back after a few months.

67. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

68. A polar bears skin is black. Its fur is actually clear, but like snow it appears white.

69. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

70. Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left handed people do.

71. 25% of a human’s bones are in its feet.

72. Elephants only sleep for two hours each day.

73. The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue. (the heart is not a muscle)

74. Newborn babies have about 350 bones. They gradually merge and disappear until there are about 206 by age 5.

75. The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

76. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

77. “The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick” is said to be the toughest tongue twister in English.

78. People say “bless you” when you sneeze because your heart stops for a millisecond.

79. Pearls melt in vinegar.

80. Nepal is the only country that doesn’t have a rectangular flag. Switzerland is the only country with a square flag.

81. The most popular first name in the world is Muhammad. The most common name (of any type) in the world is Mohammed.

82. The surface of the Earth is about 60% water and 10% ice.

83. Only female mosquitoes bite.

84. Most household dust is made of dead skin cells.

85. Negative emotions such as anxiety and depression can weaken your immune system.

86. There are seven suicides in the Bible: Abimelech. Samson, Saul, Saul’s armor-bearer, Ahithophel, Zimri, Judas.

87. A mongoose is not a goose but more like a meercat, which is not a cat but more like a prairie dog, which is not a dog but more like a ground squirrel.

88. Dolphins can look in different directions with each eye. They can sleep with one eye open.

89. There are 41,806 different spoken languages in the world today.

How To Raise Healthy Kids For Life

5 Steps You Can Take Today To Change Your Child’s Future

Childhood obesity is growing at an alarming rate. You know that. You hear the

news, read the articles and watch the reality shows on television. Our beautiful

children are suffering from diabetes, heart disease, eating disorders, and the

resulting shame that being overweight often results in. They deserve better. They

deserve to live rich, full lives abundant with laughter, activity and the joy of feeling

pride in themselves. They deserve to look in the mirror and be proud of who they

are. This isn’t about vanity it’s about self-confidence.

Our children are our responsibility. Even as they grow into adults, if we haven’t

provided them with a foundation of healthy skills and habits, they will suffer and

make harmful health choices. The following pages will highlight on ten very

important, but simple steps that you can take today to change your child’s life for

the better. These steps will teach them how to care for themselves so that they

feel better physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Don’t stress ‘diet’s’ or ‘weight loss’ in children. It only teaches them to be self

conscious and ashamed of their bodies. Teach your children to appreciate

themselves for who they are and to be the best person that they can be. When

they love themselves, they’ll take better care of their bodies as children and as

adults.

Let’s get started!

Step One: Understanding Proper Nutrition

Proper nutrition means that your child is getting all of the nutrients and vitamins

that they need to grow strong and healthy. They need their calories and nutrients

to be dispersed throughout the day, which means that skipping breakfast, having

a candy bar for lunch and then having a healthy dinner isn’t giving them what

they need to perform well during the day. Instead, offer your children 4-5 smaller

meals each day or three main meals with two healthy snacks.

The average child age 4-8 needs about 1300 calories a day. The average 9-13

year old needs about 1700 calories a day and children 14-18 need about 2000

depending on their activity levels and development. These calories can be broken

down into three main meals consisting of a lean protein, vegetable or fruit, and a

carbohydrate.

That’s not easy to do, many parents protest. My child is choosy about what they

eat. That may be true but no child has ever let itself starve. Children, how ever

picky they may seem at the dinner table, will eat healthy foods if they’re placed in

front of them. More importantly, healthy food doesn’t need to taste bad.

For example, a healthy breakfast consisting of a bowl of low sugar cereal with low

fat milk, a banana, and a glass of juice is a fantastic start to your child’s day. Mix

it up and offer a whole grain frozen waffle with fruit, maple syrup and a glass of

low fat milk and your child has the fiber, protein, and fruit serving that they need

to start their day on the right foot.

The federal government’s website on nutrition offers a food pyramid just for

children and a PDF that outlines portion size by age. It’s a handy resource that

you can print out and refer to as you you’re your family’s meals.

When you learn what your child is supposed to be eating, it’s easy to give it to

them in a way that fits both your needs. There are easy to prepare foods

available, even prepackaged foods that are healthy. Read the labels. Avoid foods

that are high in sugar, saturated fats, trans fats and chemicals that you cannot

pronounce. One bit of advice that many health care professionals and nutritionists

like to share is “If your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize it, don’t serve it to

your child.” Meaning quite simply, if it is full of chemicals and preservatives, don’t

feed it to your child.

The goal of this exercise isn’t to chain you to the kitchen to prepare nutritional

meals for your child, it’s to make it easy for you, your child, and your entire family

to eat well – even with today’s busy lives.

Step Two: Healthy Kids Begin With Healthy Parents

Take the time to be a good role model. There’s no doubt about it, healthy kids

begin with healthy parents. As a parent, regardless of the words that come out of

your mouth, it is your actions that your children really pay attention to. You can

profess up and down how strongly you believe that good nutrition is vital for their

health and development, if you’re sitting on the couch with your hand in a bag of

chips, they’ll get the message that you don’t want them to hear. “These chips are

better than an apple any day.”

If you want them to eat a good breakfast, then prepare a good breakfast and sit

down with them.

You want your children to make healthy choices when they are away from you at

school and their friend’s homes.

Help your child develop healthy habits by:

• · Asking them to assist with the meal preparation and shopping.
• · Ask them to plan and prepare their sack lunches for school.
• · Ask them to choose the menu one evening each week.
• · Learn about nutrition and healthy habits together.

Once your children know what foods are good for their bodies, and they feel the

results, they will begin to make better choices about what they put into them.

However, they won’t learn how to make those healthy choices, and they won’t be

interested in making them, unless your actions support the habits.

Things you can do to reinforce your child’s healthy habits:

• · Take time to fill the house with healthy snacks
• · Don’t drink soda and eat junk food while forbidding your child to eat it
• · Do offer dessert night or special occasions where you and your child can

enjoy a treat

• · Do engage your child in the planning and preparation of meals

When you take time to become a health conscious role model for your child, you

benefit too. You and your child will have more energy, you’ll feel happier, stronger,

and when you prepare meals together you’ll share bonding moments that will last

a lifetime.

Step Three: Expose Your Child to a Variety of Sports and Activities

Let’s face it, we’re not all going to enjoy and be good at soccer. We’re not all

marathon runners or rock climbers or Olympic skiers.

But physical activity is important. It is important to keep our bodies moving and

burning calories, it’s important for our heart, muscles and lungs. Physical activity

is important for our metabolism, our development, our immune system, our

coordination and even for our happiness. When we’re physically active,

endorphins are released which stimulate feelings of happiness and well-being.

Without physical activity, we suffer. Your children suffer. They miss out on the

valuable health benefits of exercise but they also miss out on the mental and

emotional benefits.

Sports engage us to set goals, to problem solve, to work with others to achieve a

common goal. They teach us to be better people than we are. Children gain a

sense of pride from participating in sports. They learn the value of competition.

They learn the value of themselves.

The good news is that there are hundreds, possibly thousands of sports that your

child can try. In fact, it is important to expose your child to a number of activities

so that they can not only find a sport that fits their personality, they can find a

sport that fits their abilities.

Soccer is obviously a sport that is commonly available for children of all ages and

abilities. Basketball, baseball, and even football leagues begin at a young age.

What about:

• · Jump Roping
• · Dancing
• · Karate
• · Rock Climbing
• · Snow Boarding
• · Skateboarding
• · Running
• · Volleyball
• · Gymnastics
• · Bicycling
• · Swimming

The list could go on and on. Expose your child to as many sports as

you can at an early age and they’ll instinctively develop good habits.

They’ll learn the value of physical exercise. They’ll learn how to set

goals for themselves – and how to reach them. They’ll learn what it

means to win, and what it means to lose.

Step Four: Make Sports and Exercise a Family Event

Just as your children learn from your behavior and actions towards

nutrition, they also follow your example when it comes to physical

activity. If you want your children to be physically active and involved

in sports, you need to demonstrate that it’s an important part of your

life too.

Take up a new sport. Try karate with your child. Explore yoga, join a

running club, or even learn to rock climb. The world is full of

adventures for both you and your children. Show your children how to

seize life and they will thank you for it.

If your child is expressing an interest in running, or any sport, but

they’re not sure where to start, you can show them your support by:

• · Running or training with them
• · Helping them find the right gear.
• · Helping them locate and register for races
• · Guiding them on the type of running they want to try;

distance, sprinting, trail running, relays etc.

• · Show up for all races and events

Another way to demonstrate that physical exercise is an important

aspect in your life and your child’s life is to participate in physical

activity together. Go for a family bike ride. Take your family on a hike.

Go rafting or canoeing on your local river or lake. Play Frisbee, golf,

Frisbee golf, baseball, basketball, or even football as a family.

Take a ski weekend in the winter, go sledding or snow shoeing. The

world is your playground. Teach your children to enjoy it.

Step Five: Limit TV/Computer Time

One of the biggest time killers for children of all ages, and adults too,

is the television, computer, and video games. Children can spend

hours of their precious time parked in front of a screen. Time that

could be better used playing outside, practicing their favorite activity,

or even reading a book.

Also, quite often this time spent in front of a screen leads to unhealthy

eating habits. After all, how can you prepare a sandwich while you’re

engrossed in the latest video game or social networking site? You

can’t, you have to grab a quick snack and head right back to what you

were doing.

A quick and easy remedy to this problem is to limit their time in front

of the screen. Take the games, computers, and televisions out of their

bedrooms and move them into one location, preferably the family

room, where everyone has access to them.

Don’t want to hear the complaints, protests, and general whining when

you tell them that they cannot watch TV or get onto the computer?

Attach one of the many electronic nanny devices that control the

electronics for you. It doesn’t have to be a password type device,

there are debit card systems that you can purchase for a low price.

One popular model gives each their own debit card that they have to

use if they want to watch television. As a parent, you give the child a

certain amount of time at the beginning of each week. If your child

decides to use all of their time in one day, that’s all they get for the

entire week.

These devices teach children to budget their television and computer

time while at the same time it eliminates the responsibility from the

parents. You no longer have to hear “Mom, can I watch TV?” and then

hear the inevitable complaints when you say no. Now they’re in

charge of when they watch TV, until their time runs out.

Of course, many children will promptly sit down and watch their entire

allotment of television the moment you add time on their cards. This

will result in several days of aimless wandering while they try to figure

out how to fill the time. No worries, give them plenty of books and

activities indoors and when the inevitable “I’m bored” pops out of their

mouth – send them outside or put them to work!

Conclusion:

The road to healthy children isn’t as dire and painful as many experts

would like us to believe. However, it is a commitment. As a parent

you have to commit to:

• · Educating yourself on proper nutrition for yourself and your

child

• · Taking the time to plan nutritious meals.
• · Demonstrating by example what good nutrition is
• · Supporting your child in finding healthy, tasty food
• · Supporting your child to become an active member of the

food preparation process

• · Supporting your child to find physical activities that they enjoy
• · Supporting your child to try new things
• · Demonstrating by example that you believe in staying active
• · Demonstrating what it means to love yourself, by taking care

of yourself so that your child can emulate your behavior and

love themselves too.

The steps to take to help your child live a long, happy and healthy life

aren’t difficult but they take a commitment on your part. Know that

the habits that your child develops will stick with them for the rest of

their lives. The habits that you help them develop, whether they’re

healthy habits or harmful habits; will be passed on to your children’s

children.

Take care of yourself, take care of your children and begin developing

better, healthy habits today.

Take Care!