Tomatoes for a Healthy Heart

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Health, tomatoes

If you like tomatoes, you are on to a good thing. Apart from being tasty, tomatoes have long been considered a healthy food. More specifically, a new study in Britain suggests that a regular intake of tomatoes can significantly reduce heart disease.The scientists also advised people with high cholesterol to start taking tomatoes or drink tomato juice to help reduce the risk of heart attacks.

Researchers in the new study included 21 volunteers, aged between 20-49 and with normal cholesterol levels. Each volunteer spent three weeks without consuming tomato products. Then they spent three weeks taking either 30gm of tomato puree or drank 400ml of tomato juice everyday.

During the experiment, researchers took regular blood samples of the volunteers to check cholesterol levels and found that those who added a small quantity of tomato in their breakfast, lunch and tea, saw their Low-density lipoprotein -LDL- ( generally called “bad” cholesterol) levels drop significantly over a period of three weeks.

High cholesterol levels have a long association with many diseases, particularly cardiovascular disease (CVD), the cause of almost 50 per cent of deaths in Europe, and reported to cost the EU economy an estimated €169bn ($202bn) per year.

The secret in tomatoes may lie in lycopene, the chemical that makes tomatoes red, according to Dr. Edward Giovannucci, Harvard School of Public Health, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

So the next time you want to top up your snack with some tomato ketchup, just reach out for it. It does you more good than you would have thought.

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Breaking Bad Habits

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Do Not Call Registry, habits

Looking for ways to kick a bad habit? Read what Adam Voiland has to say in the US News & World Report. He writes about an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association which suggests that unhealthful habits, which we all know are so tough to break, can be broken with some “asymmetric paternalism”.

The idea: It’s possible for policymakers to realize change by designing systems that make the healthful choice the default choice. Having doctors automatically schedule screening exams for people rather than relying on the patients to keep track, for example, would probably be good for preventive medicine. George Loewenstein, one of the paper’s authors and the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Economics and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, says individuals can apply the concept within their families, too.

Why do we find it difficult to kick a bad habit? One reason is that we show preference for the immediate gratification of a need as against some later damage that it may cause us. If we eat a high-calorie snack now, the pleasure is immediate and tangible and the consequences—an indiscernible impact on our weight—are delayed and intangible.

How does asymmetric paternalism work in this case?  Build systems into your life that reward healthy choices or that make healthy choices more convenient than unhealthy ones. People will naturally take the path of least resistance. For example, in the arena of finances, have your employers automatically deduct money from your check for a retirement account rather than trying to put together a deposit each month for the bank. Pay cash whenever possible to avoid getting into a debt crunch.

Telemarketers are bothering us so much that Governments have stepped in to have a National Do Not Call Registry. India, although later than some other countries, has one too. This helps those who do not wish to be disturbed by such calls. Why not have a system which is Do Not Call by default? Those who wish to be called with all those exciting offers can sign on for a Do Call instead.

IBM on the Upswing

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IBM India

IBM rides on a current rate of growth of  39 % and expects revenues from its India operations to reach $ 1 billion by the end of December 2007.

IBM’s Vice-President (Financial Management) Jesse Green said that revenues are expected to grow from $ 700 million in 2006. Growth of over 39 % has been reported in the first three quarters of the current fiscal year.

The $ 1 billion figure would include revenues from services and solutions provided by IBM to its domestic customers and other global corporates operating in India. The figure includes revenues from IBM Daksh, its business process outsourcing unit.

IBM has over 50,000 employees in India, making it one of the biggest centers for the company’s human capital.

Managing the Vital Few

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A Step A Day, Vital Few

Yesterday we spoke of the Vital Few & Trivial Many. Knowing this principle, I am afraid, is not enough. The next step is to identify what constitutes the Vital Few in your job. To recapitulate, the Vital Few are those elements which make up about 20 % of your job responsibilities but give you as much as 80 % of your results.

To identify the Vital Few, keep in mind not only of your own responsibilities but also those of your superior and team. It is probable that your Vital Few supplements something your boss is responsible for. There is a close relationship between your Vital Few and the results on the basis of which your team’s performance will be measured.

Although these days it is common to have organizations attempt to cut levels, it is a fact (and perhaps will remain so) that organizations are intrinsically hierarchical by nature and design. In such a format, some of your Trivial Many could actually be Vital Few for your subordinate.

Mohan, a manager I know , has a struggle going with this one. He cannot bear to see things go wrong or done in a manner less effectively than he would do himself. As a result, he is groaning under the workload because apart from his Vital Few ( which are suffering by the way) he is wrestling with doing his Trivial Many too. He is not delegating – with two sad consequences. 1.He is grossly overworked and 2. his team members are not growing- being perpetually in his shadow.

Having identified the Vital Few, you would like to manage them successfully. To do this, you need to break them up into purposeful actions.

As is often said, you cannot manage time but you can manage yourself. If you can’t manage yourself, you cannot manage time. To manage yourself, and focus on the Vital Few, know at all times what is important and not merely urgent.

The urgent is often a powerful magnet which draws us away from more important tasks. Everyone says everything is urgent. They try to get your attention and time under the plea of their need being urgent. The true definition of “urgent” means it is life threatening or mission critical. In brief, a show stopper. Let’s face it. 99 % of cases tagged as urgent in today’s world really aren’t urgent at all.

Stay focused on the larger issues. The ones that really matter for job success. Spend adequate time and effort on the Trivial Many without getting bogged down in detail. Delegate as much as you can. Manage those Vital Few- and manage them well for ultimately, they matter the most.

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