Effective Herbal Acne Treatment

There are a hundred different medicines that you can use to treat acne. There are over the counter creams and lotions as well as prescription medicine designed to help treat acne from within your body. For the cash strapped acne sufferer there are alternative ways to treat acne without spending too much and is considered much safer as it is natural. Herbal acne treatments have been proven to work and have been around as much as acne creams and medicines have been prescribed and advertised.

Acnes are not just a simple blackhead or pimple but are large papules and nodules that form under or on top of the skin. It is a disorder in which the pilosebaceous glands of the skin are infected. They can affect anyone from any age group, male or female. Acne can occur on the face, back, chest and shoulders.

Some known effective herbal acne treatment includes the tea tree oil which is antibacterial in nature and has a drying effect on the skin. Keeping the bacteria that causes pimples at bay while reducing the oiliness of your face makes it one of the most popular herbal acne treatments in the market. You can use it by applying a small amount of the undiluted oil onto the affected area or add it to your toner or nightly cream.

Studies have also shown that regular intake of green tea helps lessen acne. It is just as effective as over the counter medicines without causing too much irritation on the skin. Green tea aides in detoxification and therefore, helps in the overall cleansing of the body. It also calming and refreshing which helps the body de-stress and relax.

You can also try this infusion which uses a warm compress to open up the pores and rid it of trapped dirt and oil. Boil a quart of water in a pan and then remove it from the heat. Add a cup of dried thyme leaves and let it steep for 20 minutes. Let it cool down for a bit and soak a washcloth in the mixture. Wring the excess water from the washcloth and put it on your face for 15 minutes. Repeat if desired then remove the washcloth and apply an astringent.

There are very few side effects for using herbal acne treatments and certainly is less irritating on your skin. Their efficacy is the same as prescription medicines and those store bought creams and lotions. These alone present no reason why you shouldn’t try these alternative treatments to cure your acne.

How to have a healthy cholesterol level?

A healthy cholesterol level is always an added advantage to a person’s life as he or she would have no worry over heart diseases and would be able to lead a healthy and happy lifestyle. However, in our modern society, it seems increasingly hard for a person to lead a healthy lifestyle and maintain a healthy cholesterol level. Being caught up at work, we have insufficient time for leisure, let alone exercise or having the spare time to cook up a healthy dish for our families. But is having a healthy lifestyle that leads to a healthy cholesterol level really not for us?

Here are some steps to achieve a healthy cholesterol level, but be advised, it is not one-time thing, and rather you have to do it continuously till the day you pass on in life. Read the rest of this entry »

Water is very important for the human body

Everyone knows that we could not live without water. During this article I want to underline for you a few benefits that the water has on the human body. You won’t know some of them or you probably considered them not important. First of all let me add that an individual needs steady hydration during his lifetime, each year, every day.

Studies show that 1.5 liters of water are compulsory in order to ensure that the kidney functions stay at the normal levels. If you add a glass of fresh juice and another one of milk, it should be enough to provide your body with the necessary daily amount of liquids. You should avoid the mineral and sweet drinks, because they won’t help in a weight loss diet. Better add instead some red wine, around 3 glasses a day. You can also drink coffee, but only in the morning.

Water can be also mixed with lemon in order to help our organism. If you drink a glass of hot water with lemon 10 minutes before a meal and a second one 30 minutes after the meal you will register a wise move. The first glass will occupy space in your stomach and this way less food would be needed to fill it up. The after the meal glass helps the digestion.

Another important trick that relates water and the human body is the Scottish shower. Our body works at it’s top parameters when the blood circulation is optimal. To stimulate the circulation, do each morning and evening a shower where you alternate cold and hot water. Do it wisely and steady and try to avoid a heart-attack that can be caused by huge temperature differences. The Scottish shower reduces cellulites and, for women, it maintains the fitness and shape of the breasts. More tricks can be found here.

Healthy Tip: Sleeping Right

Training yourself to sleep on your back is good for your skin; you will not get wrinkled from impressions left by your pillow. Also, even the cleanest sheets are not as clean as your skin should be. This training will also go a long way toward preventing neck problems; for best results, place a pillow under your knees for correct orthopedic posture.

A Word on Diet: Nine Do's and a Don't

Why talk about diet in a book about facial exercise? Many patients in my practice as a paramedical aesthetician have been told by their family doctors that diet has no impact on the skin’s health and that supplements just give one expensive urine. Yet in every case I have treated, when eating habits were changed and proper supplementation was given, skin problems cleared up. The patients also experienced some wonderful side effects, such as better digestion, an increase in energy, and weight loss. This all resulted from treating a skin problem.

What follows is a set of dietary rules. Follow them the way you follow the exercise regimen: at your own pace and as they fit into your lifestyle. Remember, even if you only adopt one new dietary habit—substituting whole-grain breads for refined flours, for example, or eliminating hydrogenated oils from your diet—you’ll be improving your appearance. That these tidbits of advice also pertain to longevity, cancer prevention, and a healthy heart is merely a happy coincidence.

RULE No. 1. Drink water!

RULE No. 2. Eat butter and olive oil.

RULE No. 3. Eat meat!

RULE No. 4. Eat it raw!

RULE No. 5. Eat whole fruits!

RULE No. 6. Get plenty of dietary fiber.

RULE No. 7. Eat whole grains.

RULE No. 8. Take your vitamins.

RULE No. 9. Exercise.

RULE No. 10. Avoid substances that are bad for you.

How to Wash Your Face

How you wash your face can make a difference in how you age. This is because the skin and the underlying muscles can be subject to stretching over time if you continually pull and scrub them in a direction contrary to their nature. In Chapter 1 of this book, we discussed the concept of origin and insertion as it relates to muscle tissue, and it bears repeating here. Every muscle in your body has a point of origin, where it attaches to bone, and a point of insertion, where it attaches to a moving part, either bone or soft tissue. When you massage a muscle, you must always stroke from insertion to origin and never the other way around. Stroking the muscle in the wrong direction will cause it to stretch over time and become loose and saggy. Because the skin and muscles of the face are delicate, they are particularly susceptible to abuse. Exfoliate no more than once a week, and even then, do so gently. A gentle exfoliation using circular strokes can make your skin glow, but if you’re making your circles in the wrong direction, you will be hastening the aging process.
Tip: Bags and wrinkles can be exacerbated by all that tugging and scrubbing you inflict on your delicate lower eyelids while taking off your mascara at the end of the day. To avoid this, get in the habit of doing a Lid Up while you remove your makeup, tensing the lower eyelid. This will prevent the skin from beings tretched as you gently daub it with a washrag or cotton ball. And remember to always stroke inward—patting from the outer corner of your eye toward the bridge of your nose.

. Stroke inward (circular motion) 2. Stroke downward 3. Stroke downward (circular motion) 4. Stroke upward (circular motion) 5. Pat gently 6. Stroke outward (circular motion) 7. Stroke upward (circular motion) 8. Stroke upward (circular motion) 9. Stroke downward (circular motion) Whether using a soft washcloth or just your fingers,wash your face as follows: Starting at the temples, work inward along your eyebrows using short, circular strokes. Moving downward, make short strokes from the bridge to the tip of your nose and small circular strokes along the sides of your nose. Make small circular upward strokes moving from the base of the flare of your nostrils toward the inner corners of your eyes. On your upper and lower lids, pat gently from the outer corners of your eyes inward—do not scrub or wipe in this area. Women are particularly rough on the eye area while washing, since they are often removing makeup. A good eye-makeup remover that takes the mascara off without rubbing is a must if you wear waterproof mascara. If you are wiping your eyes with a tissue, always keep the eye tissue firm, either by tensing your lower lids or by holding it in place with your fingers. On your upper lip, beginning from the center, make small circular strokes, moving upward and outward toward your cheeks. Make upward sweeping, circular strokes on your cheeks and then your forehead. Make small downward circular strokes on your chin finishing with sweeping downward strokes on your neck. Be sure to use these same movements while drying your face.

Tip: Salt is an acquired taste. This means that, while the foods you eat will taste bland when you first cut back on salt, soon your taste buds will adapt and you won’t even notice the difference. In fact, the foods you eat will probably taste better than ever when you stop dulling your senses with so much salt. You can look better and add years to your life by cutting back on salt. (Taken from McKinley Health Center, University of Illinois, citing R. L. Duyff, American Dietetic Association’s Complete Food and Nutrition Guide, 1998).

Hair Loss Remedy: Salvage Your Vanished Hair

Hair loss is a widespread problem faced by large number of people. Both men and women are suffering from this dilemma. At some age one has to go through the problem of hair loss. Shedding and growing of hair is a natural process but many people faces excessive hair loss because of various reasons which often results in complete balding. Many of the men starts losing hair as they arrive at the age of 50 and in women’s it usually begins in between the age of 40-50. In a single day one can drop 50-100 strands, and if the ratio keeps on increasing day by day than this is the time to look out for some hair loss remedies.

To name some various causes for hair loss can be over or under activeness of thyroid gland, long illness, injury, genetic reasons, excessive smoking and intake of spicy food, hormonal imbalances during pregnancy, low blood circulation, unhealthy diet and many more.

To get rid of the balding problem there are some natural and chemical hair loss remedies and treatments which are opted by different people according to their requirement. Let’s discuss some of the remedies for hair loss:

· Massage: Massaging the scalp for a couple or minutes or so will stimulate the blood flow to reach to hair follicles and in minute cases of hair loss massage may stimulate the hair growth. There are various electric massagers obtainable in market but the simple traditional way of massaging has been proved the best.

· Henna: Henna is the oldest traditional Indian herb that has been proved as the most excellent herb for maintaining healthy hair and acting as a natural conditioner. It helps in healing and repairing the hair shaft and sealing the hair cuticle preventing against breakage and lack of shine.

· Aloe Vera: Aloe Vera has always been used to prevent hair loss and promote healthy hair by balancing and healing the Ph level and also cleaning the pores of the scalp. The common mixture of gel of aloe Vera with a small amount of wheat germ oil and coconut milk has been appreciated as an excellent hair loss remedy.

· Aromatherapy: A combination of six drops each of bay and lavender essential oils with a base of four ounces of soybean, sesame or almond oil massaged into the scalp and allowing it to remain for 20 minutes has been greatly used by some aroma therapists as hair loss remedy to fuel the scalp.

· Along these, Make a habit to not to wash with too hot water, and also do not wash your hair more than two times in a week.

· Also, Rinse your hair and scalp with a combination of sage tea and apple vinegar which help in hair growth.

· rub the bald area with onions until and unless it turns red and later apply honey on it.

· Drink daily a glass of coriander or fresh spinach juice and minimum 8 glasses of water.

Along these natural and home made hair loss remedies there are several chemical shampoos, oils, and conditioners obtainable in the market which also has shown some quick and great effects in preventing hair loss and regaining the lost one. These hair loss products are all made of natural herbs and ingredients but because of the presence of some of the chemical substances works more faster giving all the positive results and no side effects, however, it is recommendable to go for these products only on a doctor prescription.

Diabetes Symptoms: Find Out at Early Stage

If, there is history of diabetes attacks in your family, then your chances of getting diabetes increases more as diabetes is considered as a genetic condition and hence you should be extra careful about your health. Learn to identify the early symptoms of diabetes and as soon as you recognize them go instantly to your doctor. Instantaneous recognition of symptoms could assist your doctor in diagnosing your condition in a much better way and recommending the proper treatment for you and early detection may prevent the disease from becoming a full blown condition.

The diabetes symptoms are oftentimes harmless and normal but still, frequent urination, irritability, extreme hunger and thirst, and sudden weight loss can be some of the various early symptoms that you may notice. Apart these, some of the other symptoms include skin infections, sleepiness and yeast infection. If you often find yourself falling asleep while watching television or sit down to study, you may be experiencing one of the symptoms.

Though, there are two main types of diabetes that you may get, they are: type1 and type 2 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes symptoms could develop speedily, more often in days or weeks and if the blood glucose level suddenly gets high, you may suffer a hyperglycemic attack; this can take place if you have not taken proper amount of insulin. The symptoms of hyperglycemic attack can be sleepiness, drowsiness, dehydration, and frequent urination and if it is left untreated it may further lead to diabetic ketoacidosis which sooner or later could cause oblivion and sometimes even death.

The reason for diabetic ketoacidosis takes place when the body starts break down fats for energy instead of glucose, further building up ketone acids in the blood.

Whereas, if the bloods glucose level suddenly gets low you may suffer from a hypoglycaemic attack and this can happen if you have insulin in excess. The symptoms of this attack can be, feeling tetchy and shaky, blurry vision, dry mouth, leg pain which to a certain extent can be brought under control by drinking or eating anything sugary, raisins, sugar cubes or some kind of fizzy drink.

Type 2 diabetes symptoms usually develop over weeks and months; it may also be possible that you may find few symptoms or even no symptoms. Nevertheless, it still need to get treated so that other related health problems do not takes place like kidney disease and some more.

Hence, there are various early signs and symptoms that enable us to know that we are close to mounting full blow diabetes and ignoring these symptoms can be somewhat costly- both in terms of wealth as well as health. Ignoring these symptoms you are most likely to invite some really serious health problems, and the treatment could take a long time. Therefore, it will be feasible to assess your diabetes in the pre-diabetic stage only.

Yet, there are some home precautions that can be taken to prevent can diabetes to some extent, some of them are:

· Eating meals at regular intervals, late eating and over eating should be avoided

· Doing proper exercise will improve circulation and as result will lower down the level of blood sugar.

· Stop eating greasy food, eggs, meat, cheese, excess vegetable oil, rancid seeds and nuts as well as too much of sugar.

· Intake of fresh fruits and vegetables should be increased as they are rich in carbohydrates, fibers which reduces the insulin

Cookie Diet – A Magical Way to Lose Weight

f you have huge deal of weight to lose and don’t wan to work hard and at the same time desires to lose weight. Have you ever heard about a cookie or a cookie diet that can make you drop weight? It is hard to believe but true, that eating a diet of cookies and nothing at all can really help in reducing almost 15 pounds of weight in a month. A cookie diet refers to a diet based on a specially baked cookie that helps to stifle appetite and is one of the most talked about diets in the market. It more or less sounds too good to be factual, but the people who have taken the cookie diet say it really works, and works wonders.

Cookie diet mainly consists of a cautiously put together cookie procedure and recipe which, when you munch it, holds back your cravings and hunger by in reality making you feel full already. It is prepared with a very definite set of choices for dinner that supplies you the nutrition and proteins your body requires and that too without having you eat much.

It is a well considered diet plan to assist the average person to shed a consistent amount of weight without the usual every day hunger. Hunger and cravings are not just the reasons people eat cookie diet, but they are the cause people eat excessively as it is simply wonderful for the people who simply eats just because they are starving rather than enjoy the sensation of eating a delightful meal.

This diet is rich in vitamins that you need with the purpose of making it a healthy and safe diet for the people who are enjoying it. nevertheless, the cookies by any way does not consists of any kind of drugs, instead they are full of hunger curbing proteins such as whole wheat, rice, bran , oats, and flour which greatly assists in warding off the frequent longing for food. Furthermore to make your cookie diet interesting this cookie comes in different flavors like: oatmeal raising, chocolate chip, blueberry, and many more.

For eating these “miracle” cookies while you are on a cookie diet, there is no particular time, you can simply eat them wherever and whenever you like, as long as you consume six cookies per day. If you rouse hungry early in the morning you can without doubt have one, or if you do not feel starving till mid day you don’t have to have one till the time you feel hungry. Cookie diet all together breakfast, lunch and dinner adds up to 800 fulfilling calories in a single day you don’t have to just drink water, you can drink tea or coffee also.

Like any other diet, first few days of the diet are quite difficult to manage, but those who are on the diet are satisfyingly surprised with the outcomes that they notice. Imagine just eating cookies and being able to lose weight, Magic! The diet cookie has become so popular that more than 50,000 people are doing cookie diet and losing weight from it.

What Is Eye Laser Surgery?

It is an oft quoted sentence that beauty lies in the eyes of beholder. However, if you are dogged by poor vision and find it quite difficult to concentrate and focus on your surroundings, it is best advised to get the eye laser surgery so as to rectify the vision and improve upon the eyesight in an hassle free way. Eye laser surgery is also known as LASIK an abbreviated form for Laser Assisted in situ Keraomileusis that is a well known refractive laser eye surgery to rectify cases of myopia, hyperopia and astigmatisms.

Eye laser surgery or LASIK was found by Spanish ophthalmologist Jose Barraquer who in 1950’s developed microkeratome that supported the process of cutting thin cornea flaps in the process of Keraomileusis. In the eye laser surgery procedure, there are several procedures that are looked into before operating the patient for eye laser surgery. In the eye laser surgery, a thin flap is created in the eye so that it can be folded and remodeled with laser surgery.

In order to begin with the eye laser surgery, patients who have been wearing contact lenses are asked to stop wearing them a week before the eye laser surgery. However, the patients who want to undergo an eye checkup with the use of pachymeter to determine the thickness and surface contour of eye cornea.

With the use of low power laser, a topographer draws a map of the cornea as it helps in detection of astigmatism and various other irregularities that are some times present with the shape of cornea. This information is quite helpful in providing the exact details of the eye. During the eye laser surgery, the patient is given an antibiotic dose so that he/she does not develop an infection.

In the eye laser surgery, it is a two stage operation where a corneal flap is created and in the second step laser remodeling is carried out followed out by the reposition of the flap and postoperative care. In the flap creation during the eye laser surgery, a corneal suction ring that helps in the creation of the flap with the use of microkeratome blade or a femtosecond laser microkeratome that creates many tiny bubbles in the cornea.

After this process, a hinge created at the end of eye flap that reveals stroma. After this step, the corneal stroma is remodeled with excimer laser in such a way that it does not damage the stroma. In this process, the tissue layers are removed. This operation is carried out in such a way that it is painless incision. Once the laser has remodeled the stromal layer, the LASIK flap is repositioned and checked for the presence for any air bubbles or debris.

The flap heals naturally and one has to be careful for the eye till it is completely cured. In order to help the healing process, anti inflammatory eye drops and antibiotics are used and patient is recommended to use dark glasses to avoid direct exposure to sunlight. Finally, when the eye heals, the vision is restored and one gets freedom from myopia and hyperopia.

Positive and Negative Effects of LAsik Eye Surgery

We often take everything for granted that is available to us. Our eyesight is no exception to this. We only start realizing its true value only when everything around seem to appear blurred to us. We become all the more dependable upon contact lenses and specs for our everyday needs so much that we just can’t do without them for even a few minutes.

Lasik eye surgery has been one such development approved in 1998 that eliminates your dependence on these specs and contact lenses for the rest of your life. LASIK which is an abbreviation for Laser In-Keratomileusis, is a kind of surgery procedure that involves a permanent change in the shape of cornea by employing the excimir laser treatment on your eyes. This ensures a perfect 20/20 vision after the treatment.

It is commonly said that in case of LASIK eye surgery, it is basically the skills and experience of the surgeon that counts than the machine that is being employed for the treatment. Internet and yellow pages are often good sources to search for qualified ands experienced doctors along with their contact details.

Apart from this, there are also various crucial tests that can be conducted to see if you are the right candidate who can be benefited from the LASIK eye surgery. Besides the general problems that relate to eye vision like myopia, astigmatism and hyperopia, even the problems of night vision can now be corrected through LASIK surgery. The fast recovery of the treatment makes it all the more in demand as 75-85% of the vision is recovered by the patient within the first 24 hours only. The time taken to conduct the LASIK surgery is quite less and similar is the case with its recovery time.

The LASIK surgery is not appropriate for people that have severe problems or the natural fluctuations in the thickness and shape of cornea as there might be complications that can be risky to handle. Blurred vision, aching dry eyes, development of halos or blinding light during the night are some of the common problems that are faced.

Some other risks should also be considered while you are looking forward for a treatment from LASIK eye surgery. There may be a possibility that the condition of your eye has been incorrectly diagnosed by the doctor. In such cases, the patient might be affected with incurable debilitating visual symptoms like halos, glare, or even double vision once your eyes has been operated upon. You may also develop a syndrome of dry eyes that might be unhealthy for the corneas of your eyes, if left untreated.

In case you are farsighted, it may be possible that you have to again resort to specs after a few years as you grow older. Though a significant improvement can be noticed after the LASIK treatment, still it always helps to have realistic expectations keeping in mind you health, eye condition, age and other such factors. Reading the information on the Internet and books related to LASIK eye surgery can prove to be of great help.

Lose Weight with Herbal Loss Pills

Free Article Healthy want story about lose weight with herbal pills.

The only battle that most people in the world seem frustrated and in difficulty, is that Ardennes. If a person is not a perfect shape, or rather what is defined as the hourglass image of society, are frowned upon and ridiculous. Today there are more people there are about 2decades, the obese are lost and trying to find a solution. Children have more weight and go through the trauma relations with friends and companions, fun of them, day after day. Some of them have tried to radical regimes, works regularly in the gym, but without effect.

Most people are desperate to lose weight and in some way to adapt perfectly to jeans or do not understand that something like this, if you look at public opinion. The recent in this category promises of aid are pills herbal weight loss.

Since alopathic pills and medicines are said to a small percentage rate of toxins in them, more and more people are turning to therapeutic products based on plants. The pills herbal not have known side effects and work for various complaints.

God must be for us to follow the nature, which is why we have a lot of plants and trees. Some of them are used for therapeutic purposes, and others are poisonous. But the person goes through a lot trying to live with oneself and lead a normal life.

This weight loss pills herbs are some doctors believe that the natural way and processing of complaints. Some of these pills, perhaps a taste of chicken or strange, but are known to assist weight control and even losing the extra fat. They were observed also help to correct hormonal problems, and provide human system works smoothly, in itself, starting with burning fat in excess of energy. The herbal pills for weight loss are richer when it comes to nutrients and vitamins, and must be taken on a regular basis to achieve weight loss, for visible results.

"Healthy Food For Diabetics"

Please read this article in this blog.

There is no doubt that diabetes is a disease complex and it is a necessary condition, suffering from diabetes, you have more time to understand the food you eat. You are what you eat and in a serious extent you believe you eat.

When you start to wrong decisions food ensures that the disease is even worse, and this last thing you want to do. It is therefore imperative that you get to eat a healthy diet.

We have to break some food and explain how they can help. Firstly, fibre; fiber is wonderful, because it helps control his blood sugar level. It does so by reducing and limiting the consumption of refined sugar. You can get a lot of fiber from fruit, vegetables, beans, peas and whole grains.

Protein has advantages, because it helps us feel more satisfied, in other words, less hunger. Suppose, for example, that had two dishes, rich in carbohydrates and high protein others, the latter will be more saved.

The bottom line is this protein no longer requires insulin, sugar absorb quickly and that is why you have ups and downs, even if there are dishes from carbohydrates.

That does not mean that you cut out carbohydrates, everything has its place and the body needs at least thirty grams per day. With regard to the proteins do not worry so much food as you like. In order to substantially reduce sugar and eat lots of protein.

Foods containing carbohydrates, bread, pasta and potatoes. We quickly fat, you want to avoid saturated fats derived from milk products, unsaturated fats "OK" in limited quantities. Your best fats are simple.

Finally, the key is balance and understanding that we eat, and there is absolutely indispensable ingredients.

Fitness and Health Tips

Fitness and health tips including information on men's and women's health and wellness including advanced nutritional products for the immune system, joint health, weight loss and general health. All five components of fitness and health: strength training, weight management, cardiovascular exercise, nutrition, and flexibility training are discussed in the Muscle Fitness section of the site.

Here are nine specific Fitness and Health Tips:

Don’t Smoke - One of the main reasons why people decide not to give up smoking, and sadly, the reason why some people take it up is the effect smoking supposedly has on weight gain or loss. It is true that smoking has been associated with an increase in metabolism it is a drug!! However it is a dangerous, addictive drug and surely the tiny effect it has on your metabolism is outweighed by the huge risk of dying from lung cancer.

Drink More Water - You can live three weeks without food, However you can only live for three days without fluid, just think 3 days and its all over, one could suggest that water is fairly important! Your body is anywhere between 60 and 70 percent fluid. The fluid in your body is responsible for helping to keep every system of your body in good working order, including all of your metabolic processes. De-hydrate and everything slows down. The fluid in your body will also ensure that you can move well and be active. If you start to dehydrate, your body’s ability to do basic activities will slow down and your ability to exercise effectively or even enjoy exercise will be reduced. You will feel tired, lethargic and will probably get a headache.

Eat A Variety Of Foods - For protection from the majority of illnesses such as heart disease and cancer you need a variety of foods that deliver that mix of nutrients and minerals. Aim to eat different colored fruits and vegetables. Try to eat a different food each month. Eat an apple a day as the apple pectin cleanses the body’s digestive system by removing toxins and therefore preventing degenerative health problems such as cancer.

Relax For 20 Minutes a Day - Relaxing for at least 20 minutes a day will go a long way to reduce blood pressure and your reactions to stress. Sit or lie somewhere comfortable, Breathe slowly in and out of the nostrils breathing deeply into your abdomen. Say HAM as you inhale and SA as you exhale. These suggestions are charged with positive energy and will help you control your emotions. Try once a day for fantastic results.

Floss Every Day - Flossing your teeth every day is the best way to prevent gum disease and protect your heart. Gum disease, which is left untreated, can lead to inflammatory reactions in the body that can trigger heart disease and stroke.

Drink More Tea - Try drinking more tea instead of coffee to help protect your body from damaging effects of free radicals. Tea is a rich source of antioxidants that play a big role in protecting against some cancers and cardiovascular disease.

Get Active - Aerobic activity not only burns calories but also increases your metabolism and can keep it elevated for several hours after a workout. You don’t need to spend hours each day on the treadmill or bike to reap the benefits. Exercising aerobically for as little as 20 minutes, three to five days a week will make a big difference. Extra movement throughout the day is also essential, take the stairs instead of the lift, lose the remote and move at every opportunity you can.

Get More Sleep - Lack of sleep changes your hormone levels and capacity to metabolize carbohydrates so less sleep = slower metabolism. Studies have revealed that deep sleep causes cell repair and cell growth, which will speed up the metabolism and burn calories. So aim to get at least eight hours sleep a night.

Eat More Protein - Protein stimulates the major brain chemical dopamine which keeps us alert, try chicken or tuna salads for lunch. Go for complex carbohydrates rather than white flour and sugar, as they will provide a sustained energy source as opposed to a quick hit. Another reason to leave simple carbohydrate out of the diet is that they have a negative effect on your skin and how it ages. The more sugar that is in the body the more you force a chemical reaction causing sugars to attach to proteins and this is very detrimental to your skin.

5 a day tips

1. A tasty vegetable soup is a real favourite - you can cook up a mix of fresh, frozen, tinned and even dried veg for a meal of a soup - an instant vitamin fix - that can contain three or more portions of your five a day. A handful of frozen peas or half a tin of sweetcorn are both one portion that add great taste and flavour to soups - whether home made or straight out of a can.
2. We try to eat meals together as a family, it means we get to spend more time together and the kids respond to seeing their mum tucking in and enjoying fruit and veg. My kids love to mimic me so I hope I can help teach them some really good habits that will help them for life!
3. Growing fruit and veg is a great way to excite children about food, strawberries and tomatoes are great for growing in small spaces - from hanging baskets to a small garden. We have a small tub outside that we fill with strawberry plants. My youngest Evie loves being able to pick and eat the fruit straight from the plant.
4. A glass of 100% fruit juice (150ml) or smoothie with breakfast is a great way to start the day with one portion of your 5 A DAY - add fruit to your breakfast and you can start the day with two portions!
5. Just cutting up fruit, makes a real difference to how much my children will eat and enjoy! You can also try adding fresh cut apple, raisins and grated carrot on a salad for a little sweetness and great flavour.

Eight Tips for Healthy Meetings

Do you stagger out of meetings moaning how you hate, hate, hate meetings? Do you yearn for anything — earthquake, hurricane, building collapse — to get out of the meeting you’re in? Do meetings have to be so awful?

The bad meetings always stand out in my memory, but actually, I’ve attended many good meetings, as well. They had a few things in common.

1. Agendas. A good meeting has an agenda. It might be a very informal agenda, such as “Today we are all going to share for two minutes each on everything we’ve done this past week.” Or it might be an elaborate, three-level-outline agenda. But a meeting without an agenda is not a meeting, it’s an encounter group.

2. Openness. Unless the meeting needs to be closed (personnel issues, for example), the meeting is not only open to those who are required to be there, but to people who have an interest in the topic and want to sit in. That also means that meetings are held at times that facilitate this openness (for a major violator of this principle, see ALA Council, which does the bulk of its work a day after the conference has ended). This openness not only contributes to cross-pollination; it also makes meetings more broadly accountable.

3. The meeting is the meeting. That sounds either Zen-like or Seuss-like (or a little of each), but let me clarify. I have worked in a number of settings where the announced meeting was really just a showcase, and key decisions took place before or after the meeting among the informal leaders in the organization. A variation on this is the person who hangs around after the meeting and has a special one-on-one meeting with a key decision-maker which alters decisions made at the meeting or makes new decisions on topics that weren’t addressed. Obviously, the cure for this is fairly complex — these problems are symptomatic of a toxic organizational culture — but if you can affect real change at that level, then meetings have a chance of becoming meetings again, and not charades resented for the time they suck from activities that people have some control over.

4. Time management. The push is to get the meeting done so people can leave the meeting and Do Something. Meetings not only have start times, but end times. Meetings do not wander on and on; agenda items have time limits. It is true that good meetings contribute to outcomes, but meetings rarely are the bulk of the outcome, and a meeting should leave people jazzed about the issue at hand, not exhausted and burned-out. (Oh, and don’t you love the admin-type whose power trip includes breathlessly showing up late for every single meeting — often with a dramatic explanation of the Very Important Thing that made her late? Yeah, me neither: if you can, start the meeting on time and don’t let this person get it off course when she arrives. Otherwise, practice your patient half-smile.)

5. Democratic but not anarchic. On the one hand, the meeting is not a lecture; you do not sit there, wishing you were dead, while for an hour someone on high reads notes that should have been sent out by email, or asks “questions” that have predetermined “answers.” People have discussions, and discussions resolve problems or lead to problem resolution strategies. the convener makes a special effort to acknowledge all meeting participants and draw the best out of them. On the other hand, the meeting is not dominated by trolls who filibuster on every topic (often with extreme negativism and pronounced opinions) and drown out meeker voices as they hammer home Their Way of Doing Things. To keep a meeting democratic without becoming anarchic requires some adroit, situation-specific meeting management — some of it thought through in advance, with a strategic awareness of the participants’ behavior styles — but it’s key.

6. Not every issue needs a meeting. (Tangentially, see also my observation earlier that for every action there is an equal and opposite committee.) Sometimes a problem can be at least partially resolved by two folks standing around a cubicle tossing a nerf ball; sometimes it’s too early to meet because you don’t know what the issue is. Sometimes the issue needs slow, protracted online conversation (easier among people who work this way naturally) rather than the artifice of ten people, a room, and an agenda.

7. Not every issue can be resolved in a meeting. I’ve seen meetings where the participants were determined to come to a conclusion right then and there. But a meeting is not always the right venue. Sometimes you need more information. Sometimes it’s too early to make a decision. (Yes, this does have to be balanced with not having a separate meeting-outside-of-the-meeting structure.) Sometimes you need to send out the email that you think you need to read aloud at the meeting because no one’s reading it, and if people aren’t reading it, find out why. Sometimes the issue requires an innovator, or serial conversations — someone interviewing people sequentially. Sometimes the issue is too volatile to discuss in the meeting format; you don’t want people being agreeniks because they feel put on the spot.

8. Food, fun, and familiarity. I tend to like work for work’s sake, so it took me a while to learn that offering a nibbly or two can greatly improve someone’s opinion of a meeting, as can a little fun (sharing something humorous) and recognizing human, non-work-related events, such as birthdays, new babies, household moves, and other events that make us who we are.

But the yummiest nibbly in the world can’t compare to a meeting that engages the right people for the right reasons, starts and ends on time, and leaves you better-equipped to handle the issue the meeting addressed.

10 Tips To Healthy Eating

10 Tips To
Healthy Eating

Experts agree the key to healthy eating is the time-tested advice of balance, variety and moderation. In short, that means eating a wide variety of foods without getting too many calories or too much of any one nutrient. These 10 tips can help you follow that advice while still enjoying the foods you eat.

1. Eat a variety of nutrient-rich foods. You need more than 40 different nutrients for good health, and no single food supplies them all. Your daily food selection should include bread and other whole-grain products; fruits; vegetables; dairy products; and meat, poultry, fish and other protein foods. How much you should eat depends on your calorie needs. Use the Food Guide Pyramid and the Nutrition Facts panel on food labels as handy references.

2. Enjoy plenty of whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Surveys show most Americans don't eat enough of these foods. Do you eat 6-11 servings from the bread, rice, cereal and pasta group, 3 of which should be whole grains? Do you eat 2-4 servings of fruit and 3-5 servings of vegetables? If you don't enjoy some of these at first, give them another chance. Look through cookbooks for tasty ways to prepare unfamiliar foods.

3. Maintain a healthy weight. The weight that's right for you depends on many factors including your sex, height, age and heredity. Excess body fat increases your chances for high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, some types of cancer and other illnesses. But being too thin can increase your risk for osteoporosis, menstrual irregularities and other health problems. If you're constantly losing and regaining weight, a registered dietitian can help you develop sensible eating habits for successful weight management. Regular exercise is also important to maintaining a healthy weight.

4. Eat moderate portions. If you keep portion sizes reasonable, it's easier to eat the foods you want and stay healthy. Did you know the recommended serving of cooked meat is 3 ounces, similar in size to a deck of playing cards? A medium piece of fruit is 1 serving and a cup of pasta equals 2 servings. A pint of ice cream contains 4 servings. Refer to the Food GuidePyramid for information on recommended serving sizes.

5. Eat regular meals. Skipping meals can lead to out-of-control hunger, often resulting in overeating. When you're very hungry, it's also tempting to forget about good nutrition. Snacking between meals can help curb hunger, but don't eat so much that your snack becomes an entire meal.

6. Reduce, don't eliminate certain foods. Most people eat for pleasure as well as nutrition. If your favorite foods are high in fat, salt or sugar, the key is moderating how much of these foods you eat and how often you eat them.

   Identify major sources of these ingredients in your diet and make changes, if necessary. Adults who eat high-fat meats or whole-milk dairy products at every meal are probably eating too much fat. Use the Nutrition Facts panel on the food label to help balance your choices.

   Choosing skim or low-fat dairy products and lean cuts of meat such as flank steak and beef round can reduce fat intake significantly.

   If you love fried chicken, however, you don't have to give it up. Just eat it less often. When dining out, share it with a friend, ask for a take-home bag or a smaller portion.

7. Balance your food choices over time. Not every food has to be "perfect." When eating a food high in fat, salt or sugar, select other foods that are low in these ingredients. If you miss out on any food group one day, make up for it the next. Your food choices over several days should fit together into a healthy pattern.

8. Know your diet pitfalls. To improve your eating habits, you first have to know what's wrong with them. Write down everything you eat for three days. Then check your list according to the rest of these tips. Do you add a lot of butter, creamy sauces or salad dressings? Rather than eliminating these foods, just cut back your portions. Are you getting enough fruits and vegetables? If not, you may be missing out on vital nutrients.

9. Make changes gradually. Just as there are no "superfoods" or easy answers to a healthy diet, don't expect to totally revamp your eating habits overnight. Changing too much, too fast can get in the way of success. Begin to remedy excesses or deficiencies with modest changes that can add up to positive, lifelong eating habits. For instance, if you don't like the taste of skim milk, try low-fat. Eventually you may find you like skim, too.

10. Remember, foods are not good or bad. Select foods based on your total eating patterns, not whether any individual food is "good" or "bad." Don't feel guilty if you love foods such as apple pie, potato chips, candy bars or ice cream. Eat them in moderation, and choose other foods to provide the balance and variety that are vital to good health.

Fitness Health Nutrition Tips

There are times when even the most fitness and health conscious diner succumbs to the temptations of the buffet and calorific sweet meats. But is pigging out occasionally a harmless indulgence or a real health worry? Here are some fitness health nutrition tips to lose weight healthily.

Firstly we need to stay clued in. Knowledge is power. In other words, we have to arm ourselves with the facts about fitness, health and nutrition. For instance we need to know what a healthy diet is and ignore the fads. This way we are more likely to build confidence in our abilities and achieve our fitness goals. Long term weight control is about being realistic, and enjoying healthy eating and exercise habits for life and reaping all the benefits

Nutrition Tips

Descriptions of symptoms Meniere's Disease by patients

Descriptions of symptoms by patients
For persons unfamiliar with Ménière's disease, these descriptions of symptoms make you realize how disruptive the disease can be.
Patient 1
Male, 3 year history of symptoms.

The worst symptom is the vertigo. In short, you feel like you go round and round then you throw up! However, it varies and I have had various manifestations. I can remember on several occasions where I would be sitting at a conference table in a meeting and the room would suddenly shift such that one end seemed "higher" than the other. In some cases I could work through it by squinting or finding something to focus on. In other cases I had to stop. The episodes generally passed within a few minutes. If they didn't generally Meclazine (antivert) would help.

Another manifestation is such that the "spins" would set in. If they were not too bad I could manage to walk to the water fountain to take a pill. Walking was generally difficult and I would use the wall to steady myself. During these times as I would take a step I would be unsure where the floor was. It always seemed quite a bit farther away than I thought.

Severe episodes would have the room start by shifting then begin spinning in a right to left direction. Trying to focus on an object sometimes helped. Generally the only thing to do was to try and sit or lay down in a quiet place and wait for it to pass. Meclazine would seem to help providing I got it down before the vomiting set in.

I found that if I moved my head and held it at certain angles that it would bring on the spins. Generally these subsided as soon as I put my head back in a "normal" position.

Loud noises and "busy" places were very annoying and tended to aggravate an attack.

I found that I might have days where I was experiencing mild vertigo. While annoying I was generally able to work/exist through them. I guess you just get used to it.
Patient 2
Male, Age 31, 8 year history of symptoms.
My perspective of Ménière's is like that of living with a time bomb that has a random number generator on the timer. You never know when its going to blow. As I understand it, the body loses control of the fluid regulation in the inner ear, then all hell breaks loose. I can usually tell when its going to happen, it is preceded by:
1. Fullness in the ear, popping like that you get when coming down from a mountain.
2. As the attack nears, my hearing gets worse.
3. Then my vision becomes like "tunnel vision"
4. I get very tired.
5. At peak, I sweat, throw up, sleep for 12+ hours .
6. The next day I feel as though someone beat me with a 2 by 4.
7. It takes two or three days to feel better.

Patient 3
Male, Age 46, 8 year history of symptoms.

I try and explain vertigo to people by telling them it is as if you drank a lot of alcohol and then rode an amusement park ride called the Tilt a Whirl. It's the closest thing I can use to describe what it feels like. The first time I experienced it, I was getting ready to go to a Denver Broncos game. I walked down the hallway in my house and ran into the walls five times in only a length of ten feet ! Went to the game anyway but I didn't have to drive and I certainly didn't drink. I had no clue what was wrong. I was very nausiated when I got home.

When I move my head from one side and stop in the the normal position, my eyes feel like they keep going to the other side of my head. I can't watch TV or even read a book. One time I decided to try and read a book but keep my head absolutely still. It didn't work.

The illness comes upon me with very little warning. Once, I was driving back from Arkansas with my wife. I felt kind of light headed. I got out of the car and started to the restroom and within three steps I knew it was all over (the vertigo attack started). I had no medicine so I took large doses of Dramamine and slept pretty much the next two days till we arrived at home. I now carry meclazine with me in my wallet. I also coach high school football. This last fall I had to ask another coach to take over for me because I knew I wouldn't be able to stand on the sideline. Sometime it only acts up for a day other times it goes for 5-7 days.
Patient 4
Female, Age 32, 22 year history of symptoms.
Life with Meniere's Disease : Before you judge me on one of my good days, you need to understand what one of my bad days is like.

Tinnitus - imagine having a headache caused by a fire alarm ringing or a bee buzzing in your ear continually for a long period of time. You can't hear anything but that fire alarm or bee - It drowns everything else out.

Vertigo - Now imagine yourself as really drunk or with the flu at the same time as the fire alarm is going off. Now imagine that with these two things, you'd be dumb enough to get on one of the super roller coasters that does loop-de-loops or the amusement park rides that spin in two different directions at the same time. I'm not that dumb, but unfortunately I have no choice in feeling these sensations.

During one of these vertigo attacks that can last from several minutes to several hours if not days. I can't keep food or water down, I can't walk, and in order to get out of bed to go to the bathroom, I have to crawl like a baby on my hands and knees. The movement makes me so ill, if I'm able to crawl back to bed, I'm covered in sweat from exhaustion. Otherwise, I keep a pillow and a blanket at the bottom of a linen closet in the bathroom so that I can pass out lying across the bathroom floor. I end up sleeping for days after one of these attacks, only getting out of bed to go to the bathroom or to get something to drink, if I think I can keep it down. I have to call my family to see what day it is when I wake up. That is, if I can hear.

You see, this disease while playing havoc with your balance and equilibrium, also reeks havoc with your hearing. It wouldn't be so bad if the hearing loss was constant and predictable. But no, one day I can hear conversation fairly OK, and the next I can be virtually deaf, then the next day I can hear again. The hearing loss can fluctuate, but is usually progressive, and many with the disease end up severely hard-of-hearing or deaf.

Even on a daily basis, your mind is so confused by the signals its getting from your ears that your balance sucks. You run into things constantly because you can't balance well enough to avoid walking into things, or your mind is telling you the object is a couple of inches from where it really is. I don't know whether to laugh or cry when someone teases me about being such a klutz. I could make the Keystone Cops look graceful.

I also have days that my coordination just doesn't seem to be together. I'm carrying something, and all of the sudden I drop it because my brain seems confused as to whether my hand is really attached to my body. I sometimes miss a step and fall because of the feeling that my legs are not quite part of me and I have to focus on them to realize they are there. Apparently this happens because the part of your brain that recognizes parts of your body as belonging to you is the parietal brain lobe and it sits right above your ear, so if the nerves around your ear are inflamed, it can press on this part of the brain, or send the wrong signals to it (I'm not quite sure which), and you can lose coordination.

Ironically, the few high frequencies I don't seem to have a hearing loss in can sound extremely loud, unbearably so. When a baby cries, an alarm goes off, or a microphone gives off feedback, I'd be willing to climb up a wall to get away if I thought I could make it. This symptom is called recruitment.

The disease also plays tricks on your vision. For some strange reason, the nerve that goes from your inner ear to your brain also controls some of your eye movement. Your eyes can twitch or bounce constantly, making focusing on objects, much less print, extremely difficult at times. Your eyes tend not to be able to "track" movement at the same speed, giving you double vision, and a bad headache.

You can get confused easily and your memory and concentration aren't reliable. It's what some people with the disease refer to as "brain fog". Many of them originally were afraid that they may have a brain tumor or Alzheimer's because it can sometimes gets so bad. Finally they find either a doctor whose very knowledgeable regarding the symptoms, or they happen to ask someone else with the disease, and find that this too is a symptom of this blasted disease.

Now try to imagine living with this disease never knowing when one of these periods of tinnitus, vertigo, hearing loss, double vision, lack of coordination, recruitment, disequilibrium, or "brain fog" is going to hit, or how bad it will be. At least with being drunk or riding an amusement park ride, you know what's causing it, and you can make the choice not to do it again. With this disease, there's very little warning if any for these attacks, you don't know what's causing it, and there's no cure - only devices, surgeries, and some medications that can somewhat help alleviate the symptoms. And some of the surgeries are so radical, you think they came from a horror movie about a mad doctor. My ENT surgeon won't even perform any more surgery on my left side, since I have the disease in both ears. He's concerned about what would happen if my right side became worse than what my left side is now.

Understandably, anxiety and depression seem to go hand-in-hand with Meniere's for many sufferers. We often ask how much worse can this disease get? For some strange reason, doctors aren't very willing to give out worst case scenarios.

Now decide if you think I'd be able to do the same things you do on as punctual and regular of a schedule. For me, there's no way. I'm being up front about my limitations. I try the best I can at living up to my full potential. Could if you were in my shoes? They think now that Van Gogh suffered from this disease, and he cut off his own ear trying to escape it.

Yet on my not-so-bad days I may look like a totally healthy, able-bodied person. You ask me "why can't you bend down - pick it up - lift it - drive - get a job - walk without a cane" Its because I know these things can either bring on an attack - I couldn't do them on a regular schedule because of the symptoms - or if I did do them, I could put myself and others in jeopardy if I should have an attack. You have to realize that with my friendship, love, dedication, and loyalty comes the fact that I can't decide when I'm going to have a bad day, and the more stress I'm under, the more likely I will have a bad day.

So, please don't judge me unless you've been in my shoes."

Tips for good health

Being healthy is very important in life. It is much more necessary for us, Bloggers. We Bloggers work a lot without much of rest.

Yes friends I have seen many Bloggers working too much and I am no exception myself. I always knew that I need proper rest every day but always overworked. Now that I am a little sick today, I realised that many other Bloggers might be having similar problems too. Let me first tell you it is really not easier to be a Blogger if you already have day jobs or school or university to attend. Well I am a daily Blogger now and it is much harder for me. I always work late night surfing the internet for good contents for you. It have resulted me feeling unhealthy.

Oh I think just telling about myself is no good. Let me tell you what all bad effects blogging can have on your health.

1. Late night working: It retards your health slowly and you will not be able to recognise the effects until a few months. Due to this your metabolism is affected. There might be indigestion problems. This may result in headache, restlessness and drowsy feelings. There are lots of problems.
2. Viewing Computer Screen for long hours: It is very easy to predict the effects. Most common problem is decreasing vision. The eyes are affected the most. The final results might be loss of vision. It also causes headache.
3. Sitting in front of your PC for long hours: It will cause back pain, decrease in bone density and decrease in flexibility.

Well these were only few problems. So is it that you should not blog? No, I am not saying that. I am just saying to be attentive towards your health too. Below are some tips to keep yourself healthy while blogging.

1. Do not work late nights. By late night I mean after 12 midnight. Now a day working up to 12 is a daily routine for many, so I won’t tell you to leave that. If you have to work late night some day then give yourself more rest the other day.
2. Do not view your Computer screen for long time. Rest your eyes every 30 minutes. Keep a wet handkerchief or cloth with you. Wipe your face and eyes when you rest. This will also make you fresh. If you work for 4-5 hours daily then wash your face after your work is finished. You can do some eye exercises in the break time like rolling your eye balls.
3. If you sit for too long then you need to have a good chair. It must not be too comfortable. Keep you back as straight as possible. I advice to do some stretching every one hour.

Some other tips:

1. Do exercises daily for 10-15 minutes. You can do stretching exercises or yoga or skipping or just a walk (Jogging).
2. Do concentration exercises. Take a plain paper and put a black dot on it. Paste the paper on wall. Gaze on the point for some minutes from 2-3 feet distance. It will increase eye sight. Keep your mind cool.
3. If you like listening music then try some soothing music while you rest after work (any work). Do not listen to music for long hours.
4. Sleep at least 6-7 hours daily. If you are not able to do so then try some rest more on weekends. But try to avoid the habit of sleeping less.
5. Eat more fruits if possible. It keeps your metabolism good and gives vitamins and minerals.
6. Have a balanced diet. Try to eat healthy foods.

Ok friends I have only given you simple tips. I know some of you have your own way of keeping yourself healthy. Well I would like to hear those from you. Please tell me what you feel about this article.

Note: Do not feel that this article is for Bloggers only. It is for all those who surf internet too much, Play too much games and watch lots of movies or videos every day on their computer.

Twenty-Three Health Tips For Bloggers

1. Before you drink coffee in the morning, drink a glass of water (keep a steady supply of water at your desk). This will help minimize the negative fidgety-buzz that coffee can give you.

2. Start your day off with a 20 minute walk

3. Walk away from the computer at least once every two hours and take a step outside

4. Keep at least one 10-25 pound dumbell by your desk, and use it at least once a day when you notice that your in the middle of a productivity funk.

5. Eat one small meal every 2-3 hours

6. Start your day off with twenty minutes of Yoga or Pilates. I'm personally a fan of the GAIAM series.

7. If you can't sleep, take a sleeping pill. Sleep is critical to your overall well being. Just make sure not to take sleeping pills more than 3 days in a row.

8. If you feel sluggish, get down on the floor and do some push-ups

9. If your mind feels twitchy, it's probably because you've had too much coffee. Drink some water and get some fresh air.

10. If you feel depressed or sad, immediately find a friend on AIM or in a private forum to talk with. It does wonders.

11. Buy an odometer/speedometer for your bike. Then go for a bike ride around 2pm each day. It'll give you a "second-wind" for the day. Challenge yourself to go a little bit further and a little bit faster each day.

12. If you're in a healthy relationship, have sex at least once every 3 days. I'm dead serious about this. It can be critical to both mental and physical stability.

13. If you're addicted to IMing, porn, RSS reading, movie watching, shoe shopping, music searching or whatever else dominates your time.... TAKE BACK CONTROL OF YOURSELF and YOUR TIME ... addictions of any kind are not healthy - a healthy person has full control over him or herself.

14. Once a quarter, try something new. A hobby, an online project, a daily habit. Trying something new and succeeding at it is both physically stimulating and mentally liberating.

15. Buy a dog. While a puppy may result in mental torture and sleep deprivation for a few months, the benefits are pricless. Dogs lift your spirit and can give you the incentive you need to take a walk. But please don't buy a dog unless you are serious about giving it a walk at least twice a day.

16. Try detoxing your body for a week. When I'm feeling really bad physically, I use two principles: A) Drink nothing but water and B) Eat nothing but fruits, vegetables and nuts

17. Get some sun. Seriously. Half an hour of good skin exposure to the sun can revive the body.

18. Find an excercise partner to help stay motivated. If you can't find an exercise partner, motivate yourself through the habit forming stage with a massively enticing reward (50 inch Samsung LCD with a PS3 anyone)?

19. Minimize your intake of processed breads and carbs. Keep a healthy stash of nuts and fruits (grapes and walnuts are a great snack) to satisfy your snack cravings.

20. Guys, challenge yourself to work on the beer gut everyday for 10 minutes and stick with it. Take that challenge as seriously as you take your latest internet project or fantasy football team. Girls, challenge yourself to work on the cellulite areas. Take that challenge as seriously as you take your latest internet project or the your desire to get your 101st handbag.

21. Don't drink alcohol after 7pm. Not only can it prevent you from sleeping deeply, but it can also result in more carb-based weight gain. Or...you might wake up the next day with a bad headache;-)

22. Challenge yourself to save alcohol and desserts only on the weekends. Your body will feel much more stable during the week if you keep it toxic free.

23. Your mental health demands that you are working on projects that you enjoy and that elicit creativity. If you find yourself bogged down in meaningless, tedious work, start taking the steps to transition into healthy, rewarding work by carving out time each day to pursue your own interests (rather than those of your boss - even if your boss in an alter-ego of yourself;-)

Never rinse your contact lens case with tap water

When I bought my contact lenses a couple of years ago I clearly read through the instructions for using them.
I remember the information about the special liquid you put your contact lenses in. It said you should only use this particular liquid to rinse the contact lens case with, and to not use tap water, as it is never as sterile as the liquid.

I'm writing this tip because I know of people that do rinse their contact lens case in regular water.
Just be aware that this can lead to having a bigger chance of getting an eye infection.

Stop using your microwave oven as it destroys nutrition in your food

Using the microwave oven is unhealthy.
Period.
When writing my previous post I started to think about the use of the microwave oven. I always knew it can not be healthy to heat up food in those, but I never googled up the dangers of it.
Until now.
And it's kind of shocking what I found!

Did you know that microwave ovens changes the original struction of food which makes it lose some of its nutritions and even destroy some vitamins?
Did you know that there have been studies that shows that your cholesterol levels increases by eating food heated in the microwave?

The most shocking I found is that you can get cancer tumors in your intestines or stomach!

Think about what happens when a human gets exposed to radiation. As we all know, this is not a good thing. Yet exacly the same process occurs in microwave ovens. The radiation in it changes and deform the food molecules, and can even create new compounds which is not even found in nature!

I stopped using my microwave oven when I moved to my new apartment last year because there was no room for it. I'm glad for that... It belongs in my closet now and will do till I throw it out.
I really don't need it anyway as my regular oven does the same work!

A quick healthy meal - banana, organic curry and tuna with whole grain rice

If you've been reading my blog you probably know that I'm a big fan of tuna. This next healthy dish contains tuna aswell, together with banana, organic curry and whole grain rice.

I only recently "discovered" this healthy meal when my brother served it to me. Sure, I've had it before, but never made it at home myself.

It's really quick to do. Just boil that whole grain rain of yours for 10 minutes. In the mean time prepare the rest - pouring the organic curry powder in the rice, slicing up the banana which you mix with the rice together with the tuna when it's a minute left. And just like that, it's done. Only 10 minutes!

Quick curry facts:
- Curry is a healthy spice that is very low in cholesterol and sodium.
- Helps fight cancer, such as skin cancer and leukemia.
- Helps preventing gases.

Use your cellphone less

I see a lot of people in public that talks on their cellphone without a handsfree. It's really cheap, considering the price you might pay in 20 years or so from now - cancer.

I don't think that's an exaggeration. I believe scientists don't know exacly how dangerous the radiation from cellphones is. I belive a lot of people today might end up getting cancer, or other diseases, if they continue using the cellphone as much as they do.


Even just the thing of having the cellphone in your jeans pockets. You are having this object a few millimetres from your skin almost every day for the whole year. A cellphone always recieves signals from stations if it's turned on.
Just think of it.

If possible, you should really try to place it elsewhere than in your pocket.

Take a quick power nap of seven minutes to improve your memory.A friend introduced me to power naps a year ago and it has given me lots of benefits.

A power nap can give you a better health by improving your memory and increasing your alertness.
It keeps you from feeling sleepy throughout the day.

Nodding off on the train or bus is a good thing if it's happening some time during the afternoon and if it's about 5-30 minutes long. It's shouldn't be shorter or longer than this. If it's longer you'll most likely to wake up groggy and sleepy - this won't happen if you keep it short.

My friend experimented with this and found out that 7 minutes is the "perfect" amount of time.

When I do my power naps I usually lay down in my bed and set my cellphone to wake me up after 45 minutes. This leaves me a couple of minutes to nod off as I am never really sure how long it takes for me to fall asleep.

I always feel refreshed afterwards which is great.
Did you try it?

Cracked lips tells you if you're being unhealthy.Haven't you ever been frustrated that your lip balm doesn't work at times when you have cracked lips?

If you eat unhealthy your body reacts on it in different ways. One of the most visible ones is cracked lips.
Now you might say that you eat healthy, but still get cracked lips. Sure, you might have some affliction that 's behind this, but your body might also be telling you that you are not eating as healhty as you think.
See it as a sign to become healthier - to eat healthier.

Cracked cuticles is another sign of unhealthy eating.If you eat unhealthy or if you have any food intolerances you may suffer from having cracked lips

Just like I wrote in the other two tips - this is another way of the body to respond to your "wrong" food. It's most likely unhealthy food that you are eating, but it can also be a food intolerance that you don't know about.

Some say cracked cuticles appear due to lack of magnesium and calcuim, while others say it is because of lack of moisture in the skin and that it can be fixed by rubbing in vitamin E oil or shea butter cream.
Rubbing in an oil to "fix" the problem should just be a temporarily solution. You should instead check up what you're eating. It might not be as healthy as you think, or not healthy enough.

Buy a plant to prevent illness.Not only does a plant look nice but it also has numerous of other benefits

The indoor air can be up to 10-15 times more polluted than outdoor air.
Why?
Because of paint, wallpaper, furniture, carpets...well, almost anything. A plant can clean this air significantly, thus resulting in an overall better health.

Studies shows that people recover faster from sickness if they have plants in their surroundings, and that people who has plants at their desks at work feel better while working than others.

The more plants - the cleaner the air.
How many plants do you have?