Close-up p 71. Health and Diet. Oral Mediation

A friend of yours from England has been asked to write a contribution to Health Magazine . His assignment is to write about the state of health in Spain. While doing his research, he came across these pictures on Google related to health and diet in Spain. He sends them to you so that you can shed some light on them. Your friend also asks you some questions about this topic. You decide to send your friend a voice message with an explanation of 2 minutes.

 

1. What do Spanish people do to stay healthy?
2. How has life changed in terms of eating habits and health in Spain? Are Spanish people more or less healthy than before? What health problems can be attributed to modern Spanish life? How are these problems solved or at least alleviated in Spain?
3. Are many Spaniards on a diet to improve their health or lose weight? What diet do many Spanish people follow? Does it work? What food do Spaniards often have to cut out? Is dieting thought to be dangerous in Spain? Is there a miracle diet which everybody talks about in Spain at the moment? Are there many Spanish people  who struggle with eating disorders? 
4. What are the pros and cons of the National Health Service in Spain? Does the Spanish government sufficiently support the National Health Service? Is healthcare a business in Spain? Is there much difference between the quality of service in private and public hospitals in Spain? Which system do you think is better?
5. Some people say that eating healthily is unaffordable for the average family. Is this the case in Spain?
6. What role does fast food play in Spain? Is it all unhealthy?
7. What do Spanish people think about canned, frozen and processed food? 
8. What do Spaniards think of genetically-modified (GM) food? Is genetically modified food the only solution to future food problems in Spain?
9. What are the health risks associated with the Spanish lifestyle and environment? 10. What do Spanish people think of homeopathic or holistic medicine? Have many Spaniards tried acupuncture or acupressure? Do Spanish people prefer traditional medicine or alternative medicine? Why?/ Why not? 11. Do many Spaniards have a vegetarian or vegan diet? What do Spanish people think about these diets? 12. What do Spanish people think of the idea of having plastic surgery to improve their looks? Are procedures like getting a nose or a boob job, a nip and tuck or a facelift popular in Spain? Are such procedures dangerous in your country? Do Spanish people easily go under the knife just to get rid of their wrinkles or rolls? Has it become a trend for Spanish men to travel abroad to have hair transplants? Is your society too obsessed with the way people look? 13. What do Spanish people think about mental health in Spain?  Are people with mental disorders stigmatised in your country? Are anxiety, depression, OCD or any other mental disorder more common now than 50 years ago in Spain? Do Spanish people ever snap after being under too much stress? How do Spaniards de-stress when they feel overwhelmed? Do many Spanish people have a kind of red warning flag that indicates too much stress? Do some Spaniards feel snowed under?
14. How often do Spanish people have a health check?


Useful language to describe a chart:
 
This chart illustrates how...
This chart compares...
The results that are shown in the chart are...
As can be seen from these results, ...
According to this chart, 
From the data in the above chart, it is apparent that ...
We can see on this chart how... 
The chart indicates that...
The chart represents...
The information given in the chart...
The percentage of people who... is shown on the chart.  
The chart shows quite clearly the impact of...





Useful vocabulary about health:

homeopathic:/ˌhəʊmiəˈpæθɪk/ using homeopathy (= a system of treating diseases or conditions using very small amounts of the substance that causes the disease or condition)

holistic:(medical) treating the whole person rather than just the symptoms (= effects) of a disease

acupuncture:/ˈækjupʌŋktʃə(r)/ a Chinese method of treating pain and illness using special thin needles which are pushed into the skin in particular parts of the body

acupressure: a form of medical treatment, originally from East Asia, in which pressure is applied to particular parts of the body using the fingers

vegetarian: eating no meat or fish

vegan:/ˈviːɡən/ a person who does not eat any animal products such as meat, milk or eggs. Some vegans do not use animal products such as silk or leather.

nose job: (informal) an operation involving rhinoplasty or cosmetic surgery on a person's nose.

boob job: to have an operation to change the shape of the breasts, usually to make them larger

nip and tuck:(informal) a medical operation in which skin is removed or made tighter to make somebody look younger or more attractive, especially a facelift

facelift: medical operation in which the skin on a person’s face is made tighter to make them look younger

procedure: [countable] (medical) a medical operation. To perform a routine surgical procedure.

wrinkle:/ˈrɪŋkl/ a line or small fold in your skin, especially on your face, that forms as you get older

roll:[countable] an area of too much fat on your body, especially around your waist.

mental health: a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being.

spring to mind: to come quickly into your mind

disorder: an illness of the mind or body

stigmatise:/ˈstɪɡ.mə.taɪz/ to treat someone or something unfairly by disapproving of him, her, or it

anxiety: a medical condition in which you always feel frightened and worried

depression: a mental illness in which a person is very unhappy and anxious (= worried and nervous) for long periods and cannot have a normal life during these periods

OCD:  or obsessive compulsive disorder. A mental illness that causes a person to do something repeatedly for no reason.

excruciating:/ɪkˈskruː.ʃi.eɪ.tɪŋ/ extremely painful

health check: an occasion when a doctor or nurse examines someone's body, takes blood tests, etc. in order to make sure the person has no health problems

to be on a diet: trying to lose weight by eating less food or specific foods.

cut out: to make something shorter, lower, smaller, etc

struggle: to experience difficulty and make a very great effort in order to do something

eating disorder: a mental illness in which people eat far too little or far too much food and are unhappy with their bodies.

Binge Eating Disorder: a serious eating disorder in which you frequently consume unusually large amounts of food and feel unable to stop eating

Anorexia: a serious mental illness in which a person does not eat, or eats too little, often resulting in dangerous weight loss

Bulimia: a mental illness in which someone eats in an uncontrolled way and in large amounts, then vomits intentionally.

snap: [intransitive] to suddenly be unable to control your feelings any longer because the situation has become too difficult.

overwhelm: to cause someone to feel a sudden strong emotion

de-stress: to get rid of feelings of stress (= worry caused by difficult situations in your life or job)

canned: preserved and sold in a metal container

processed: processed food has had some sort of chemical or industrial treatment in order to cook it, preserve it, or improve its taste or appearance

(a) cast iron stomach: if you can eat all sorts of food and drink what you like, without any indigestion, discomfort or bad effects, it is said that you have a cast-iron stomach.

(as) fit as a fiddle: a person who is as fit as a fiddle is in an excellent state of health or physical condition.

hale and hearty: someone, especially an old person, who is hale and hearty is in excellent health.

genetically modified food: are foods produced from organisms that have had changes introduced into their DNA using the methods of genetic engineering.

preservative: preventing food or wood from decaying

shelf life: the length of time that food, etc. can be kept before it is too old to be sold
dexa scan:dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Also: bone densitometry, bone density test/ scan.
scan, sonogram, ultrasound (scan): Sp. ecografía. E.g. The ultrasound showed...
PET scan: /pet/ position emission tomography.(A process that produces an image of your brain or of another part inside your body).E.g.  a PET scan.
CAT scan: /ˈkæt skæn/ (also CT scan  /siːˈtiː skæn/ ) (computerized axial tomography) a medical examination that uses a computer to produce an image of the inside of somebody’s body from X-ray or ultrasound pictures. E.g. The doctor arranged for me to have a CAT scan. Run a CAT scan.
 MRI scan: /ˌem ɑːr ˈaɪ/ magnetic resonance imaging (a method of using a strong magnetic field to produce an image of the inside of a person’s body) E.g. an MRI scan