Own Your Body: - A Doctor’s Life Saving tips

  Name of the Book:  Own Your Body: - A Doctor’s Life saving tips

Author: - Dr Shiv Kumar Sarin   

No of Chapter :-23

Number of Pages: - 321

One line Description of the book: - Take care of liver: A Non-glamorous part of your body

What this book is about: - Own your body is a knowledge bank written by eminent Doctor Shri S.K. Sarin about liver and its effects on various other organs of the body. Dr. Sarin, an esteemed medical professional who used his extensive experience, knowledge and research to bridge the gap between complex medical concepts and everyday understanding. Book is presented in form of six sections covering case histories of liver, other body organs, fear of patients,  diseases of children and relatives. Total 21 case histories have been discussed by the doctor giving complete details about each case including background, genetic history, eating habits and much more. Book explains that there are two types of defects in human body, one that is acquired at the time of birth and other one is acquired by person due to its lifestyle. Book recommends methods and practices to overcome both the defects in easy way. Book lays emphasis on maintaining a system of healthy body by means of exercise and diet rather than by medicines. Book also explains how having a correct BMI can   prevent many diseases like diabetes, heart attack, strokes etc. Through these case studies, it is shown that how doing regular exercise can help in reduction of fat in liver and saved life of patients on the verge of development of liver cirrhosis. Special Emphasis has given in the book to add resistance training to exercise regime which is normally neglected by most people. Book also explains how taking regular medicines like pain killers, antibiotics etc. can cause more damage to unhealthy liver. The detailed list of such medications is provided as Annexure at the end of the book. Book also provides values of various parameters like ALT, AST, GGT Level, Albumin level, INR etc. which gives a valuable insight on the health of the liver. Book also dispels the myth that being lean does not guarantee that a person cannot have liver disease. Book also provides reference of numerous studies which shows how the risk of liver disease increases with bad lifestyle habits. Some examples of the same are mentioned below: -

·         If a person is obese and drinks heavily, the risk of liver disease increases many fold.

·         The risk of liver cancer increases about 1.5 times in smokers.  

·         The risk of having breast cancer is nearly two times in patients with fatty liver diseases.

·         ALT marker of liver inflammation increases 9 times more in obese people drinking alcohol.

·         Fatty liver diseases could indeed be a precursor to many metabolic events, including heart attacks and strokes

In each chapter, doctor has given some good tips for healthy life. Some of simple and important insights from the book are: -

·         Find your Waist to Hip Ratio, if it’s beyond the healthy limit, work to correct it. WH Ratio more than 0.9 in men and 0.8 in women is a good indicator of Central obesity and Fatty liver.

·         Have a family tree of illness. This may help in protecting the current and future generations.  

·         Get up and see the front, sides and back of your neck in the mirror. Look for skin tags, moles and black velvety lines and remember them as well. This can be a indication of unhealthy liver

·         Neck circumference of >35 cm for men and >31 cm for women reflects some metabolic issue

Conclusion: - Overall  "Own Your Body" is an excellent book that aims to demystify medical jargon and offer actionable tips that readers can implement in their daily lives. A must read for everyone who wants to live a healthy life.

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