Croydon CCG in collaboration with Croydon Council are hosting a Healthy Weight workshop on July 26^th at 11am to 1pm.

It is being held at Bernard Weatherill  House on the Ground Floor in the Community Space rooms with lunch and refreshments provided.

The aim of the workshop is to raise awareness about healthy weight topics within Croydon and to invite stakeholders, patients, clinicians and front line staff, to talk about how we can build the best services for Croydon residents.

The workshop aims to cover the following topics;

• Healthy weight within Croydon
• Identify priorities to promote healthy weight
• Raising awareness of healthy weight initiatives within the community
• Gain feedback from Patients and Clinicians on current services and how we can improve them

You can book a place on EventBrite or by emailing mark.darocha@croydonccg.nhs.uk

The University of Northumbria would like to say a big thank you to everyone who took part in their survey. The survey is now closed and they are no longer collecting data.

Researchers from the Northumbria University are conducting a new piece of research that will investigate the advice that cancer patients are receiving about physical activity after their diagnosis. They will explore whether the advice given to patients is appropriate for them and their needs. The findings from this work will help inform the development of future interventions to try to optimise the nature of physical activity advice being given to people after a cancer diagnosis.

If you have experience with cancer, you can take part in this important piece of work by completing an online survey. The survey asks participants about their current health, their physical activity habits and about any physical activity advice they received. Most of the questions have multiple choice answers with only a couple asking for further details.

This research has been approved by an institutional research ethics committee. Participation in the survey is completely voluntary, and all answers people provide will be kept anonymous and so no one can be identified from any information they provide.

You can complete the survey here: https://goo.gl/forms/GaAK81TJVu877Tj93  and if you have any questions or would like any additional information please email us and we will contact the researchers on your behalf.

In the UK, it is estimated that 10% of people suffer from claustrophobia (including our founder) which is a type of anxiety disorder where a person has a fear of confined spaces – such as lifts, tunnels, underground trains, small rooms etc. It tends to develop as a result of a one-off trauma and causes people  a great deal of anxiety when they are confronted with confined spaces, or even the thought of a confined space.

This type of phobia, like many phobias, seems to go largely unnoticed, but this week London Underground recognised the plight of many claustrophobia  sufferers by creating a new London Underground Map for passengers with this condition.

The new map highlights the locations where the underground trains are in a tunnel and pinpoints routes that can be taken to avoid long stretches of tunnels. Although the London Underground train system is called “The Underground,”  55% of this transport system is tunnel-free and not underground. This means that claustrophobia sufferers who have avoided the Underground completely can now use the new map to plan a route that is tunnel free.

The UK charity, Anxiety UK, welcomed this move by London Underground saying:

“For those with anxiety conditions such as panic attacks and claustrophobia, we know that travel by the underground can be problematic and challenging. This new map is an excellent resource for those wishing to avoid journeys where there are tunnels; serving as a great pre-journey planning aid and increasing access to public transport. I sincerely hope that the map will encourage those with claustrophobia and/or panic attacks who have previously avoided this form of public transport out of fear, to re-consider their use of the Tube.”  

You can download this new map here: https://tfl.gov.uk/tubetunnelmap and if you have claustrophobia or any other anxiety disorder visit Anxiety UK’s website for more information and support.

The Griot Institute is organising a consultation event for Black women on the treatment and support for chronic fibroids.

The Fibroids Fraternitee meeting will examine questions about the kind of health care Black women want in relation to chronic fibroids.

What would a Black women-friendly service look like? What support do women want to deal with the disabling aspects of suffering from chronic fibroids?  What medical and clinical interventions have we had and how have these affected us? What lifestyle and natural approaches have we used to good effect?

For many years, Griot has run peer support forums for Black women with chronic fibroids with presentations from expert patients, clinicians and naturopaths.  They are consulting to find out what women want in their new series of monthly forums. They also want to know how younger women want to be supported and how they can access the vast knowledge of older Black women who have accumulated a vast range of knowledge on how fibroids were dealt with ‘back home’ in order to explore potential wider options for women with chronic fibroids

The event will take place at Deptford X,   9 Brookmill Road, London SE8 4HL, on Saturday 10th  June 2017 from 1pm to 5pm

Places can be booked at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fibroids-fraternitee-workshop-tickets-34292467694?aff=efbneb

This event is in collaboration with the AntiUniversity Now Festival 2017.

We’re really pleased to let you know that Candice Bryan, Founder of Noire Wellness and Yacoub Khalaf, consultant gynaecologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital will be speaking at the upcoming fibroids support group session.

Candice Bryan will be discussing fibroids and exercise whilst Yacoub Khalaf will be exploring the clinical side of fibroids.

We are  so delighted to have teamed up with TOHETI at Guy’s Hospital for this support group session. which will take place on Monday 15th May from  6:00pm – 7:30pm at the McNair Centre at Guy’s.

Anyone who has been affected by fibroids is welcome to attend and this session aims to provide women with the opportunity to share their experience, meet other women with fibroids, obtain support and hear from experts in the field.

TOHETI’s support group provides a safe, informal setting for women to ask questions and share concerns, both before and after surgery. The group is run by patients, for patients and a clinical member of staff will be present to help answer questions.

For more information and to let us know you’re coming please email events@thelakefoundation.com

This week is Salt Awareness Week and this year’s theme is: “Salt: The Hidden Killer.” The aim of this year’s campaign is to raise awareness of the fact that 75% of the salt that the public consumes is hidden in the everyday foods that we buy. The fact that salt is hidden means that people are consuming a lot more salt than they realise. Therefore the public is being urged to read the label of all the foods they buy and select foods that are low in salt.

In order to combat the high salt content of many foods, manufacturers have been asked to take part in a voluntary salt reduction programme. This programme sets salt targets for a range of foods such as meat products, bread, breakfast cereals, cheese and more. New UK-wide targets have been published this year, these targets are a revised version of the previous targets which were published in 2012. The 2012 targets were very successful leading to a 40-50% reduction of salt in the foods covered by the targets. Despite this success, salt consumption still remains high so the new 2017 targets are more challenging and wide-ranging.

A new survey conducted by the Consensus for Action on Salt and Health has found that only one (bread rolls) out of the twenty-eight food categories analysed were on track to meet the salt reduction targets. They also identified specific products that still had a unacceptably high levels of salt, of particular note were:

• Baxters Chef Selections Cullen Skink (1.1g salt/100g), more than 1.5 times salt (per 100g) the maximum salt reduction target for soup
• Aldi The Fishmonger Piri Piri Smoked Mackerel Fillets (8g salt/serving), 4 times more salt (per 100g) the maximum salt reduction target for meal centres
• Galaxy Ultimate Marshmallow Hot Chocolate (0.8g salt per serving), 5 times more salt (per 100g) the maximum salt reduction target for beverages

In the UK, it is recommended that adults eat no more than 6 grams of salt a day (about a teaspoon) and children under the age of 11 should it less, depending on their age as follows:

• 7-10 year olds: no more than 5 grams a day
• 4-6 year olds: no more than 3 grams a day
• 1-3 year olds: no more than 2 grams a day

The World Health Organisation recommends that adults consume even less salt, no more than 5 grams a day. They have concluded that a diet of less than 5 grams of salt a day helps to reduce blood pressure and risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and coronary heart attack.

It is very important that the black community takes steps to reduce their salt intake as the black community is more susceptible to the effect that salt has on increasing blood pressure. In order to reduce your salt consumption you can try:

• Avoiding processed foods
• Using low/no salt seasonings, like this
• Replacing salt, when seasoning food, with herbs and spices
• Reading food labels and selecting foods that are low in salt
• Not adding any salt to the foods that you cook

By reducing the amount of salt we eat, we can reduce our risk of developing a number of diseases so it is important that we stick to the recommendation of less than 6 grams a day.

We are delighted to have teamed up with TOHETI at Guy’s Hospital for their next fibroids support group session.  This will take place on Monday 15^th May from  6:00pm – 7:30pm at the McNair Centre at Guy’s.

Anyone who has been affected by fibroids is welcome to attend and this session aims to provide women with the opportunity to share their experience, meet other women with fibroids, obtain support and hear from experts in the field.

TOHETI’s support group provides a safe, informal setting for women to ask questions and share concerns, both before and after surgery. The group is run by patients, for patients and a clinical member of staff will be present to help answer questions.

For more information and to let us know you’re coming please email events@thelakefoundation.com

We are so happy to say that our founder, Abi Begho, is featured this month on the Secrets Birds entrepreneurship platform as a Rare Bird.

Secret Birds is an emerging market entrepreneurship community that empowers, encourages and supports women in the pre-start-up and start-up phases of their businesses, and they  teach girls aged 8-13 in disadvantaged communities entrepreneurial skills.

Secret Birds has also developed the concept of Rare Birds who are women who inspire through entrepreneurship. They define a Rare Bird as “an ordinary woman who is achieving extraordinary things as an entrepreneur. Rare Birds have mastered the art of flight!” Every month a woman in business is featured on the Secret Bird platform and March 2017 is the month for our founder Abi Begho.

In her feature, Abi Begho discusses why she set up The Lake Foundation, some of the challenges she has faced along the way, how she has overcome these and provides some advice for others wanting to start their own business. You can read Abi’s interview with Secret Birds here.

Secrete Birds is doing great work to support women in business and they will be launching a new initiative called ‘Connect. Collaborate. Grow.’ this year. This initiative will provide a mixture of activities which will focus on both the technical and non-technical aspects of starting a business.

We would like to say a big thank you to Secrete Birds for featuring Abi Begho this month and wish them every success with all the great work they are doing.

Last week, researchers published the results of their analysis on vitamin D which assessed the overall  effect of vitamin D supplementation on the risk of developing respiratory tract infections such as the cold and flu.

In their analysis, researchers looked at 25 studies and this included 11,321 people aged 0 to 95 years old from 14 different countries.  They found that daily or weekly vitamin D supplementation lowers a person’s risk of developing acute respiratory infections. The effect was most profound in people with the lowest levels of vitamin D with their risk being halved. People with higher levels of vitamin D also benefited, their risk reduced by 10 per cent.

Researchers explained that vitamin D may protect against these infection by helping the body make anti-microbial substances that protect the body from bacteria and viruses.

As a result of their findings, researches stated that this strengthened the case for fortifying more foods with vitamin D, but whilst the researchers were very positive about their findings the UK Government was very cautious saying:

“The evidence on vitamin D and infection is inconsistent, and this study does not provide sufficient evidence to support recommending vitamin D for reducing the risk of respiratory tract infections.”

Vitamin D is very important in protecting our bone and muscle health as well as boosting the immune system.  It i also thought to have additional health benefits such as protecting against diabetes,  asthma, some cancers and heart disease.  To reap the benefits of vitamin D, Public Health England has recommended that people’s average intake of vitamin D should be 10 micrograms.

Vitamin D, also known as the sunshine vitamin, is made in the skin as a result of exposure to sunlight and this is the main source of vitamin D for many people in the UK during the spring and summer. During the autumn and winter months, to get the recommended amount of vitamin D, Public Health England recommends consuming foods which contain vitamin D naturally or are fortified with it.

It is particularly important that the black community in the UK ensure they are getting enough vitamin D. This is because the melanin in our skin, which protects against UV light, also affects our skin’s ability to make vitamin D. So with the same sun exposure as someone with lighter skin we produce less vitamin D. This means that black community are more at risk of having a vitamin D deficiency and should consider taking vitamin D supplements all year round.

We are delighted to announce our next fibroids Twitter chat will be on  Wednesday 15^th  February 2017 from 7pm-8pm. We will be joined by special guests Dr Sydney Dillard, CEO of Fighting Fibroids, Candice Bryan, CEO and Founder of Noire Wellness and Leah Salmon, Founder of the Naturally You Coach with host, our own Abi Begho, founder of The Lake Foundation.

This Twitter chat has been organised to allow for an in-depth discussion on fibroids, diet and exericse.

We’ll be putting questions to our expert panel and you can put your questions to them too. So if you have a burning question about fibroids or just want to get involved in the discussion then do join us on the day. To take part in the conversation please use the hashtag #FibroidsChat.

We look forward to tweeting with you!