It is very unfortunate, but the negative Cerato Type even does not trust his personal experience, and instead trusts the tell-tale stories of others. Thus, for example, if he knows from his personal past experience that eating onions upsets his stomach, he would eat onions if somebody told him that onion is very good for health.

If he is benefitting from the treatment of a doctor, and a friend suggests the name of another doctor who has a very high reputation, the Cerato patient leaves a tried doctor to go to another doctor, whom he does not know. If somebody tells him that allopathy has very bad after-effects, he would leave allopathic treatment and go in for homoeopathic treatment and before the Homoeopathic medicine has even shown its effect, he might shift to acupuncture or chromopathy on the advice of somebody.

Never sure of himself or of his judgement, he is a blind follower of his teacher, of his spiritual leader, or his political mentor. He can never be made to admit any fault or failing in any institution or creed of which he is a follower. So much so, that he starts blindly imitating and copying other’s way of gestures, talking and mannerisms.

With Cerato remedy, the constitution of the person can be so changed that he feels his inner voice growing stronger again, and the vast knowledge that he hoarded during his negative state (from asking questions and seeking advice) is at his finger tips for instant use to make rapid decisions, diagnosis, interpretations and correlations.

This is the positive side of Cerato with an attitude of quiet certainty so that no argument, however convincing will deflect from a decision one has taken after full consideration.

The origin of Negative Cerato state may be traced during early days of school life when the curriculum is too demanding; suppressing development of intuition in young children.

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Life is never perfect, but Jesus is. And He takes the imperfections—the broken pieces and the messes—and turns them into hope. Remember, no matter what you’re going through, it didn’t come to stay, it came to pass. You may be living in a parenthesis, but whatever you’re going through, it won’t last forever.

Not long ago Bill and I were driving through Palm Springs, the famous desert resort community. We came upon a roadside stand, and the sign said, “DESERT SWEETENED GRAPEFRUIT.” I thought, That’s the way it is with all of us when we go through a desert experience—when we’re out there in the barren and dry wastes, not seeming to receive any encouragement from anybody. That’s the time God uses to sweeten us as we learn to give our problem completely to Him.

There are several steps we all go through when we try to give a problem completely to God. You take your first step when life rises up to knock you flat—you CHURN. You feel as if your insides are full of knives, chopping you up in a grinder. There is no other way to describe the devastation you feel when you’re churning inside.

Your next step is to BURN. That’s right, you want to kill your child, and then you want to kill yourself. You are so full of red hot anger and the anguish of frustration that your temper is out of control. You literally feel as if you’re burning inside.

In your third step, you YEARN. Oh, you want so much for things to change! You just ache inside for things to be as they were before you knew about this. You yearn for the happy past, and this stage often lasts the longest of all.

But then you take your next step, which is to LEARN. You talk with others, maybe you find a support group, and you learn that you’re in a long growth process. You become more understanding and compassionate. Spiritual values you learned in the past will suddenly become real to you. You will learn a great deal about unconditional love and reaching out to help others. The wonderful result is that you relieve your own pain.

And, finally, you take your last step—you TURN. You learn to turn the problem over to the Lord completely by saying, “Whatever, Lord! Whatever You bring into my life, You are big enough to get me through it.” Now you can relinquish your heaviness to God, knowing that He is in control. He loves your child more than you do, and He has not rejected your child because of whatever is in his or her life. When you nail your problem to the foot of the Cross and say you have deposited that problem with the Lord and truly mean it, then you will be relieved of your crushing burden.

But now comes the really difficult part. Just because you’ve come through all those steps does not mean that you will not go back to churning, burning, and yearning on certain days. But each time you will stay in those stages for a shorter and shorter period. And you will be able to spend more of your days in turning it all over to God. In 1 Peter 5:7 we are told to cast our cares upon Him. That means to deposit your cares, just as you deposit money in a bank, and leave them there. So many parents write or call me and ask, “How can we give our kids to God and find some relief for this devastation we feel?” I believe, from my own struggling, that the answers are in the stages of relinquishment I describe above.

CHURN awhile . . . BURN for a time . . . YEARN for as long as it takes to move on . . . LEARN as much as you can . . . and then TURN it all over to the One who cares for you. Don’t fret if you think you are not progressing or even when suddenly, for no reason, you find yourself back at square one. You may find yourself churning, just as you did at the beginning. That is normal and very typical of grief. Never forget this is a grief process, and you have to work your way through the shattering of your life.

Right now you have a broken dream. It may not always be so, but for now it is, and you have to accept it. But believe me . . . healing does come. The mending process takes time, but you are making a long journey to becoming whole again, and you have a door of hope ahead! I love the way one woman signed an Easter card she sent me: “FROM AN EASTER PERSON LIVING IN A GOOD FRIDAY WORLD.” Even in the midst of this messy old world, we can rejoice because we know our future—and our hope—is in Him!

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Over the recent years rates of overweight and obesity are escalating rapidly to epidemic proportion in many parts of the world reflecting increasing consumption of high energy diets rich in fats and sugars, compounded by declining levels of physical activity.

Obesity can be defined by BMI (Body Mass Index)

BMI= Weight in kilogram

Height in (Metre)2

Since Asian population is more susceptible to health risks of central obesity regardless of BMI, there is an increasing focus in measuring waist circumference, which can predict individual risk more accurately than BMI, however experts from different scientific bodies including WHO have recommended obesity cut-off for Asians to be as follows:

BMI (kg/m2)

Normal: 20-23

Overweight:  >23

Obese: >25

Body Fat Distribution

1) Waist hip ratio

Most people store their body fat in two distinct ways:

(a) Around middle (apple shape)

(b) Around hips (pear shape).

Being apple shape (more fat around the waist) places them in higher risk category than the pear shaped (carrying more fat on hips). The measure of the two is called waist hip ratio (WHR).

WHR (men) = 0.89

WHR (women) = 0.81

- Waist measure below the rib cage above the naval.

- Hip measure at its maximum.

2) Waist circumference

Waist circumference is another quick measure to determine obesity.

Normal range

Men: 85 cm

Women: 80 cm

Healthy Cut-offs

BMI = < 23 kg/m2

WHR = Men: < 0.89

Women: < 0.81

WC = Men: 85 cm

Women: 80 cm

3) Percentage of body fat

As one grows older, some muscle mass is lost and percentage of body fat increases, thus slowing down the metabolism, but physical activity can burn more calories and maintain muscle mass to a greater extent. Physical activity also keeps tone of muscles and decreases the risk of osteoporosis.

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