On Time to Talk day, solidarity on mental health would be better than sympathy | Mark Brown

If you have been inundated today with people on Facebook, Twitter and daytime television imploring you to discuss mental health, that is because it is Time to Talk day. Mired in politeness and caution, people with mental health difficulties across the UK have gently requested kindness and understanding. Perhaps you’ve made the right noises and nodded sympathetically. You’ll probably feel you did the right thing, but unfortunately your compassion will not be enough to change anything.

In his novel Things Can Only Get Better, John O’Farrell recalls having the Jamaican poet Michael Smith as a guest at an early 80s university radical poetry evening. Afterwards Smith was turned away from a club for being black. Back at a student house Smith exclaimed: “I want justice!” to be answered by a young woman saying “I can’t give you justice but I can give you a hug.” This is where we’re at with mental health in the UK.

Anyone can endorse nice sentiments. Theresa May raised the issue of the importance of such conversations just last month. But the fact is that people with mental health difficulties often experience shorter, poorer, unhappier lives. In the UK, people diagnosed with schizophrenia run the risk of dying 20 years earlier than the average British person. Those who have psychological problems during childhood earn 25% less than those who didn’t by the age of 50.

Experiencing mental health issues often leads to exclusion. You either take yourself away from others or others take themselves away from you. Suddenly relationships you thought you were driving career into the central reservation at high speed in a tangle of steel and glass. Work, school or college might go wrong. But none of these things cause exclusion. How society treats and stigmatises a person when that happens is what causes exclusion.

If you care about people with mental health difficulties then you have to be prepared to make changes, not just to your attitude but in the way you want your country to work. As a starting point, it would be wise to stop telling people to seek help and support that you know isn’t there. Austerity has gutted our communities of organisations that can make life liveable with mental health issues. Admit that it is not mental ill health that plunges people into crisis, it is the lack of support, protection and assistance that does that.

Mental health treatment is underfunded, so society needs to start paying for it. If people have to leave work because they are in distress do not punish them by forcing them into poverty and then make them beg for the tiniest crumbs of financial support in the form of benefits.

The country we live in does not give second chances and is unlikely to do so without pressure. Opportunities for education, opportunities to find a comfortable place to live, opportunities to progress: all take investment and the political will to pay for them instead of something else. If you really care about people with mental health difficulties think about what you would be prepared to give up in return for their safety, their security and for them to thrive.

We talk about fighting cuts but the money to achieve equality for people with mental health difficulties has never been there. We need to be fighting for a future where supporting and protecting the lives of those experiencing mental distress is not an optional act of kindness but an obligation hard-wired into all of structures and thinking. The man on the street might say that sounds like special treatment, like whining instead of pulling your socks up. But the man on the street will keep saying that until we seize the political initiative. Or until his brain flips over one night and he can’t trust his own thoughts and feelings and suddenly he discovers the world doesn’t work for him any more.

Being in distress hurts. Finding you are treated unequally at such a time even more so. So it’s understandable that people will try to end the pain of exclusion by asking politely to be let back into “normal life” without any fuss. The imbalance of power remains when a dominant majority thinks it is doing a favour by bestowing benevolent and charitable understanding upon an insecure minority. But until that majority is prepared to alter structures, laws and practices that they benefit in favour of those they discriminate against, all we have is warm sentiments.

On this Time to Talk day, fight the rosy glow you’ll feel at having listened to someone’s hard life and remember it is possible to be a lovely person in a discriminatory system. Reflect on what you have heard then think about what must change. Because while your sympathy is welcome, your solidarity and political voice as part of the dominant majority will go further.

On Time to Talk day, solidarity on mental health would be better than sympathy | Mark Brown

Disabled people are to be ‘warehoused’. We should be livid | Mark Brown

The inescapable logic of austerity is looking likely, once again, to reduce people with disabilities to objects – and in doing so to reduce their independence, options and enjoyment of life. According to the Health Service Journal, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests from campaign group Disability United found that 37 NHS clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England were introducing rules about ongoing care that could force up to 13,000 people with health conditions into care homes. The CCGs will essentially begin saying to people with disabilities and long-term health needs: if you haven’t got the cash for homecare, then it’s off to a care home for you.

As a country we have been brutalised into accepting that each year the porridge pot gets smaller and our belts tighter

Imagine you have been living in your home for years. It might be where your kids were born. Being at home, having your stuff around you, having the greatest possible measure of independence, obviously means a lot to everyone, whether you’re well, ill or disabled. Then one day someone comes and tells you, “Nope, you’re too expensive here. We’re moving you to a care home unless you cough up the money to pay for what you need.”

This sounds innocuous to many people. Disabled people and care homes go together in the public mind as easily as “peak-time train service” and “cancellation”. The FOI requests found CCGs were setting limits on how much they were prepared to pay for supporting people in their homes compared to an “alternative option”, which is usually a care home. They were willing to pay between 10% and 40% above the care home option, which will often not be enough to keep someone in their own home.

Anita Bellows, a member of campaigning group Disabled People Against the Cuts is emphatic about what this means: “Institutionalisation is the logical conclusion of cutting the funds for maintaining people at home.”

As Fleur Perry of Disability United says: “Somebody who has never met the person in question can sign a bit of paper and change everything about a person’s way of life.”

One person told me that when discharged from hospital recently, they narrowly avoided being moved to a care home only because their sibling stepped in to organise an appropriate care package.

Disabled people have long fought against the phenomenon of “warehousing” – storing people with care needs under one roof as a way to reduce the costs of providing them with the support they require. The word warehousing captures the full horror people feel about being forced into institutional care, losing privacy and autonomy. Historically, out-of-town institutions like deaf and blind schools and mental asylums were huge storage vessels for disabled people who needed help and care. This segregation continued into the 1970s and 1980s in the UK, when the battle for independent living was finally won and disabled people gained rights to all of the things non-disabled people take for granted; essentially the right to live their lives however they see fit.

Disability campaigner and retired consultant and trainer in disability and abuse Merry Cross tells me this oncoming change is a recipe for abuse. She remembers hearing about incidents in care homes in the late 1970s and early 1980s of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, theft of money and belongings and staff deciding what clothes people would wear. Abuse is not only historic. It was only in 2011 that the treatment of disabled people at Winterbourne View care home shocked the country.

The tendency to see disabled people as objects rather than complete people leads to the view that they are less than human. That obviously affects the way disabled people are spoken about – the “stick ’em in a home” attitude – and treated. This is why disabled people have benefited greatly from the legal protections provided by legislation such as the Equality Act and the Human Rights Act 1998, which incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

But saving money apparently trumps all. The CCGs know they are considering something that is at the very least highly contentious. Two CCGs acknowledged in their documents that their policy might contravene an individual’s right to respect for his or her private and family life under the Human Rights Act but felt they could justify it on grounds of cost. One had its policy checked by lawyers to ensure it would not be subject to legal challenge. Our current prime minister would like to pull out of the ECHR and scrap the Human Rights Act.

The government’s never-ending and ideological quest for savings has given NHS CCGs an almost impossible task: to make efficiency savings at a time of increasing demand. It feels like we’ve been talking about “the cuts” forever. As a country we have been brutalised and traumatised into accepting that the only reality is one where each year the porridge pot gets smaller and our belts tighter. It seems that 2017 is the year when the spoon starts to scrape the bottom.

Warehousing returns whenever the idea of reducing the cost of supporting people with disabilities and ongoing health conditions arises. The economic argument for concentrating people into institutions – though of course they wouldn’t be called institutions this time around – is just that it would be cheaper. Nothing more than that. We should all be livid.

Disabled people are to be ‘warehoused’. We should be livid | Mark Brown

8 Health Benefits of Brown Rice that May Surprise You

How many health benefits of brown rice are there? In many countries, rice is a staple food. Most of us know that brown rice is better than white one. However, it is common that many consumers choose white rice over brown rice due to the difference of appearance. Despite it is true that white rice looks tastier than the brown, it does not mean that it is healthier. Many researches proved that brown rice is the leading choice when it comes to nutritional as well as other health benefits.

Top 8 Health Benefits of Brown Rice

The health benefits of brown rice are somehow due to the way it is prepared, promoting benefits of healthy consuming. White rice used to brown rice, yet the hull and bran around the kernel are eliminated to make it white. For brown rice, just the hull of rice kernel is eliminated during the process of preparation. As a result, most of the nutrition value of the rice kernel intact. Though brown rice could be transferred into white rice by eliminating and polishing the kernel that process also leads to loss of nutrients. That is why you should use brown rice to take enough benefits of rice. Introducing the brown rice to your daily life will bring great health benefits.

1. Improving Cardiovascular Health

When it comes to health benefits of brown rice, the first and foremost one is cardiovascular health improvement. The fiber content of brown rice can help decrease the blockage in the arteries because of plaque buildup.

According to a study published in the American Heart Journal in 2005, higher consumption of cereal fiber as well as whole-grain products is accompanied with the less progression of coronary atherosclerosis in those postmenopausal women with already coronary artery disease. Also, experts advise that if those obese or non-menopausal overweight women replace white rice in their daily diet with brown rice, they can reduce the inflammatory marker level and some cardiovascular risk factors.

2. Lowering Bad Cholesterol

In fact, brown rice is a good source of soluble fiber, helping lower the amount of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) – the bad cholesterol in the human blood. Fiber can aid in digestion that requires bile acids made partly with cholesterol. When your digestion improves, your live will pull cholesterol from your blood to create much more bile acid, helping reduce LDL level. Additionally, it is shown that the oil in brown rice reduce the levels of LDL cholesterol.

3. Improving Digestion

Brown rice consists of 88% of the recommended everyday amount of manganese. This mineral is a crucial, helping digest fats. In addition, brown rice also consists of 3.5 grams of fiber per cup, which equals to 14% of the daily recommended intake of the USDA. As we know, fiber is famous for its digestive benefits and can help in keeping the bowel movements regular, thereby decreasing constipation. Moreover, brown rice is natural gluten-free, so it becomes a popular staple in gluten-free diets.

4. Boosting Energy

According to Optimum Nutrition therapy, the manganese content in brown rice could help you achieve the most from carbohydrates and proteins. It helps turn them into energy so that you could keep moving. Also, brown rice is a slow-release carbohydrate, helping maintain blood sugar level and energy consistent.

5. Reducing Diabetes Risk

Among health benefits of brown rice, reducing diabetes risk is very famous.  Having a lower glycemix index, brown rice causes a lower change in the blood sugar level. It helps avoid the accident increase in blood sugar levels. According to a study, the total sugar released in vitro is about 23.7% lower in the brown rice in compared with milled rice. This is because of t he higher amounts of phytic acid, dietary fiber, polyphenols, and oil in brown rice. As a result, brown rice is more beneficial than white rice for those with diabetes.

6. Protecting Against Cancer

The diet containing brown rice instead of white rice is beneficial in preventing different types of cancers, like breast cancer, colon cancer, and leukemia. It is because of the high antioxidant and high fiber content within brown rice. The compounds with cancer-chemopreventive properties in brown rice are good for cancer prevention. In reality, the whole grains and veggies are the most crucial dietary providers of plant lignans helping protect against hormone-dependent cancers, including breast cancer.

5. Promoting Weight Loss

If you switch from white rice to brown rice, you can maintain a healthy weight. Indeed, the fiber content in brown rice can keep you feeling full, meaning less snacking on the unhealthy foods. Because brown rice can keep things moving in the digestive tract, it also promotes metabolic function and weight loss.

7. Enhancing Immunity

Having a large amount of phenolic components, vitamins, and minerals, brown rice is good for strong immunity. This is one of the most little known health benefits of brown rice. A strong immune system could accelerate healing process and enhances the ability of the human body to fight infections. Furthermore, the antioxidant property of brown rice can help fight free-radical damages causing diseases and speed the aging process.

8. Keeping Bones Healthy

Consuming brown rice is helpful for maintaining healthy and strong bones thanks to its magnesium content. Just taking one cup of brown rice, you are consuming 21% of the recommended daily intake of magnesium, which is a key nutrient, in addition to vitamin D and calcium necessary for healthy and strong bones. In fact, magnesium deficiency has been accompanied with the low bone density and development of osteoporosis and arthritis later in life.

Sources:

1. https://www.organicfacts.net/


2. http://www.livescience.com/


3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

8 Health Benefits of Brown Rice that May Surprise You

How much sugar is in your "healthy" brown and wholemeal bread?

The Telegraph analysed 15 wholemeal and brown loaves offered by significant supermarkets, as effectively as their equivalent white products.

All of the loaves contain sugars which naturally happen in the bread. Even so, extra sugar was integrated in the components of 10 of the brown and wholemeal loaves.

In five instances the brown or wholemeal loaves contained a type of extra sugar, whilst the white equivalent loaf did not.

Makers said the sugar was required to “mask” the “bitter” taste of wholemeal flour, insisting the ingredient appeared only in “negligible” amounts.

However, Dr Aseem Malhotra, a cardiologist and science director of Action on Sugar, a campaign group, stated: “There is that there is definitely no necessity for extra sugar and it must not be incorporated as any component of a balanced diet regime – just an occasional treat which we can all get pleasure from.”

He extra: “Brown bread is believed to be more healthy than white bread due to the fact of the fibre but the amounts of sugar in some of these products is alarming.

“The principal aim of Action On Sugar is to get the foods sector to reduce added sugar by forty per cent in the up coming 4 many years which will halt the weight problems epidemic. As this investigation has revealed brown bread is undoubtedly no exception.”

Ian Marber, a nutritionist, mentioned: “It is notably surprising to locate added sugar in wholemeal loaves as they have a ‘healthier’ aura.

“As sugar looks to be added to mainly brown wholemeal loaves I can not help asking yourself if it is been added to sell more. Wholemeal includes a little far more fibre than white bread and so it is considered superior from a nutritional viewpoint. To some extent the addition of sugar counteracts that.”

The findings come soon after a separate evaluation by The Telegraph earlier this month located that a lot of reduced excess fat meals promoted as healthier-eating choices contained more sugar than their “full fat” equivalents – in some circumstances more than five times as considerably. A research of 100 popular reduced or non-body fat grocery items from main supermarkets discovered that dozens contained at least two teaspoons of total sugar in a single serving.

In total 31 sorts of bread were surveyed as element of the new examination. Of the 15 white loaves which were analysed, only four contained added sugar, with the remainder only containing sugar that occurs naturally in the bread.

The 5 wholemeal loaves which contained extra sugar when their white equivalents did not included Hovis’ wholemeal bread, which includes added caramelised sugar, Warburtons’ wholemeal, which consists of dextrose, and Kingsmill “great everyday” wholemeal, which appears to contain much more sugar than yeast.

Some bread ranges incorporated extra sugar in each the wholemeal and white varieties, such as Jackson’s “Yorkshire’s champion” farmhouse loaves and Asda’s wheat-free of charge bread.

A spokesman for Hovis said: “Sugar is only additional to component of our variety, and it is only extra to counteract the bitterness from the bran and to make the product far more palatable.

“The tips from nutritionists is to eat wholemeal bread, due to the benefits of wholegrain consumption and fibre ranges in wholemeal bread. Including a small sugar indicates that much more men and women are most likely to make the move to wholemeal. This is why we do it.”

A spokesman for Warburtons explained: “Wholemeal bread recipes, be it for baking at residence or in a massive bakery, include a tiny sugar to mask the bitter taste of the wholemeal flour. It is a negligible volume.

“In reality, the average individual would have to consume about a hundred slices of bread or 5 loaves a day to get anywhere close to consuming the Guideline Every day Volume of sugar. All Warburtons breads are low in sugar and supply customers with distinct nutrients this kind of as fibre, calcium, iron and B nutritional vitamins which are all vital in our diet plans.”

A spokesman for Kingsmill explained: “Our Kingsmill Tasty Wholemeal bread does have a quite tiny sum of additional sugar in the recipe to assist round out the more bitter notes in wholemeal – but with just four.3g of sugar per 100g of bread, this is still a minimal-sugar meals.

“We are aware that as a nation we need to have to minimize back on our sugar consumption but bread is not a major source of sugar in the Uk diet program. Kingsmill has adopted the Government’s front-of-pack colour coding scheme and all of our breads are rated as ‘green’ for sugars.”

How much sugar is in your "healthy" brown and wholemeal bread?

MentalHealthCop blogger Michael Brown to have Twitter feed restored

A screengrab from Michael Brown’s @MentalHealthCop Twitter feed. Photograph: PA

The @MentalHealthCop Twitter feed of police inspector Michael Brown has been reinstated by West Midlands police right after he was given “informal guidance” over allegations of inappropriate use of direct messaging and social media.

It is anticipated to reappear later this week, following the outcome of an inner investigation into the allegations.

The account, which has practically 17,000 followers, was suspended on Friday, leading to alarm among several making use of and providing psychological overall health services. His award-winning site was also switched from public to personal accessibility. The West Midlands police and crime commissioner, Bob Jones, raised the situation with the force’s chief constable, Chris Sims.

A statement from West Midlands police explained: “A swift professional specifications investigation established that the officer accepted there had been some inappropriate use and informal tips was given.”

Assistant Chief Constable Garry Forsyth explained: “I and my colleagues at West Midlands police are proud of our social media endeavours, doing work closely with officers and workers to engage and communicate in new and revolutionary ways.

“As with any organisation which communicates with the public, we have to ensure that there are parameters close to the way info is shared, specific when that data can be sensitive.

“I am pleased that this situation has been resolved in a speedy method to the satisfaction of these straight involved.

“It would not be honest or proportionate to release any further detail of this investigation. What I can say is that it’s time to move on and we’re seeking forward to return of @MentalHealthCop. The real concern here is communicating complicated issues in an successful way. I am pleased that @MentalHealthCop will as soon as once more be supplying views and comment across psychological overall health troubles.”

The suspension came shortly just before a new agreement on mental health care in between the police, mental overall health trusts and charities. Brown is a significantly admired professional on the problem.

MentalHealthCop blogger Michael Brown to have Twitter feed restored

Kombu: A Brown Seaweed Wealthy in Vital Minerals

Kombu, also named dashima or haidai, is an edible brown seaweed that belongs to the Laminariaceae family. It is well-known as a cooking ingredient in East Asia, specially amid the Japanese, who use it to make dashi, a stock soup. Kombu is largely harvested along the shores of Japan and Korea, and it is normally sold dried or pickled in vinegar. It is also utilised to make “kombucha,” a seaweed tea renowned for its rejuvenating properties.

Anti-clotting properties – According to a study published in the April 2011 edition of Phytotherapy Research, the Laminaria japonica kind of kombu (which is probably the most well-liked type consumed nowadays) includes extraordinary quantities of a polysaccharide fraction called PLG. PLG consists of anti-clotting properties, which means that it has the capacity to delay blood clots without prolonging bleeding time.

Dietary fiber material – 1 ounce of kombu offers us with around seven grams of dietary fiber. Fiber assists to soak up water from the intestinal tract, therefore encouraging a feeling of fullness. This, coupled with the truth that a single ounce of kombu only includes 83 calories and negligible quantities of unwanted fat, means that kombu is an outstanding weight loss meals. Its fiber content material also helps make it an outstanding normal laxative and a cure for constipation.

Safety from gamma radiation – According to a review published in the April 2011 edition of Archives of Pharmaceutical Study, kombu can defend leukemia cell lines from gamma radiation due to its fucoidan articles. Fucoidan is a sulfated polysaccaride identified in many species of brown algae.

High in calcium – One ounce of kombu supplies us with roughly 12 % of our recommended daily intake of calcium, an vital mineral that promotes superior bone and tooth wellness. For this explanation, kombu is an exceptional source of calcium for vegans, lactose intolerants, and other individuals who wish to stay away from dairy products.

Glutamic acid material – Kombu is unusually wealthy in glutamic acid, an amino acid that can aid brain and muscle perform, and boost prostate health. Most individuals get their glutamic acid from meat and dairy sources, so kombu is a great option for vegetarians and vegans.

Balances cholesterol – In accordance to a review published in the April 2010 edition of Pharmaceutical Biology, consumption of Laminaria japonica amid rats decreased their “bad” LDL cholesterol levels and elevated their “good” HDL cholesterol ranges. An unrelated 1996 research discovered in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology showed that this was because seaweed decreases the absorption of cholesterol in the tiny intestine.

Wealthy in iodine – Although kombu’s iodine amounts differ based on top quality, it nearly usually is made up of over-typical amounts of this totally important mineral. A standard consumption of iodine is linked to improved thyroid perform, improved metabolism, a higher potential to fight cancer, and quite a few other overall health positive aspects. It is also a mineral in which numerous Westerners are (unbeknownst to themselves) deficient.

Excellent source of iron – One particular ounce of kombu provides us with roughly 13 % of our RDI of iron, an important mineral that helps develop hemoglobin, which in flip carries oxygen from the lungs to the body’s cells. Iron deficiencies are an ongoing concern in today’s society, and can lead to anemia.

Aside from the nutrients described over, kombu also includes numerous quantities of potassium, nutritional vitamins B, C, D, and E, magnesium, zinc, and even germanium, which possesses outstanding skin healing properties.

Michael Ravensthorpe is an independent author whose analysis interests consist of nutrition, alternative medication, and bushcraft. He is the creator of the website, Spiritfoods, by way of which he promotes the world’s healthiest meals.

Kombu: A Brown Seaweed Wealthy in Vital Minerals