HAIR CARE – HAIR LOSS PREVENTION AND HAIR GROWTH.

Regular hair care is very essential to prevent hair loss and to have a good and healthy hair growth. Healthy hair growth – yes who doesn’t want to have healthy hair! A person having healthy hair not only enhances his / her external look and beauty but also reflects his / her overall health and fitness. Hair forms a vital as well as one of the most significant part of our external beauty and any neglect to it may result in hair loss, hence it makes quite a sense to keep our hair healthy and well nourished to look good and therefore to maintain our hair one should treat it as just another part of our body and include it in our daily health and fitness care.

Hair grows in phases and each strand has a life cycle that can last from a few months to a few years. In other words all the hair does not fall out together, or grow together. When one strand ends its life cycle and falls off, a new strand replaces it. Replacement depends on factors like age, hormonal changes, internal reasons and its general condition. It also depends on the state of internal health and fitness of both body and mind as well as on external care.

Eat well to enhance hair growth:
To have healthy hair growth, the daily diet should include fresh salad, fruit, sprouts, leafy green vegetables, curd. If you are suffering from hair loss, ask your doctor to prescribe mineral and vitamin supplements. Along with a nutritious diet daily exercise, health and fitness care, relaxation, adequate sleep and a healthy lifestyle are required for a healthy hair growth. If there is a medical condition likes diabetes, ask your doctor before making changes to your diet.

Wash your hair right to prevent hair loss:

A question most people often ask – how often should hair be washed? Frequency of shampooing depends on hair type. Oily hair needs frequent shampooing. Three or four times a week for oily hair and twice a week for dry hair suits most people. The point here to be noted is washing does not harm hair but the quality of the product used does matter a lot to prevent hair loss. Always use a mild herbal shampoo and apply less, most non herbal shampoos contain detergent base which may be harmful to your hair and excessive use may cause hair loss. Rinse hair thoroughly with water.

Hair care – the smart way:
Proper hair care is the way to keep your hair healthy and enhance hair growth. After washing, wrap a towel around your head so that it soaks up moisture. Do not brush wet hair, because the elasticity of hair increases when wet and brushing can cause them to stretch and break. Use a wide toothed comb to brush your hair, start from ends and go upwards towards the scalp. Also avoid regular use of hair dryers.

Nourish and oil regularly to prevent hair loss:
Application of oil with a light massage helps to stimulate hair growth and blood circulation to hair follicles. It also helps in loosening dandruff flakes. Apply warm oil on the hair and scalp. Oils have their own particular properties and benefits. For example olive oil is helpful in dandruff and pure coconut oil is said to help hair growth.
Hot oil therapy is very useful, for dandruff, as well as damaged hair. Heat pure coconut oil or sesame seed oil or olive oil. Apply the oil on the scalp with cotton wool, rubbing gently to dislodge the flakes, then dip a towel in hot water, squeeze out the water and wrap around the head, like a turban, and keep it for five minutes. Repeat the hot towel wrap 3 – 4 times. This helps hair and scalp absorb oil better. Leave oil on overnight, next morning apply lemon juice on the scalp and wash your hair after half an hour. Weekly henna treatment also keeps the scalp clean and healthy.

Damage control – last but not least:
The most common causes of hair damage are repeated coloring, straightening and perming.
Below mentioned points sum up the hair care in a gist -

·         Hot oil therapy helps.

·         If hair is dry use a creamy conditioner.

·         Hair should be treated very gently.

·         Avoid tying hair tightly with rubber bands.

·         Avoid using hair dryers and brushes.

·         Do the hot towel wrap after hot oil treatments.

Maintaining a Healthy Diet While Dining Out

The modern family of today is much different than a family of earlier times. It seems there isn't enough time in a day to get all of the scheduled activities that are planned let alone having time to cook dinner. So, probably more often than you want, you end up at a restaurant to speed up the process. The problem is, if you are concerned for maintaining a healthy diet, you may find it difficult to find healthy choices in many restaurants.

If this sounds familiar to you, it's okay. Just remember that it is not only about eating healthy but also making good choices in those times healthy nutritious food is not available. Start first by learning about nutrition and things your body needs to stay active and healthy. Then make the best choices you can from your available options. One mistake people typically make is their drink selection. You may think it is okay to enjoy a bottle of beer or a mixed beverage before or with dinner but in reality all you are doing is taking in empty calories that have no benefit to your body. The one exception to the rule when it comes to alcohol is wine, especially red wine, which may be okay if you have only one glass. It may even help prevent heart disease in some people.

The obvious part of the menu you should skip over is the appetizers. Unless you start with a small salad, appetizers are usually foods that are high in fat content and that can actually make you crave more high fat foods. If you just focus on your main course you should be able to easily resist the temptation. But if you just can't resist, you should at least try to get a single serving that everyone at the table can share.

Choosing your main dish is when you will test your knowledge of healthy food, and your ability to resist foods for their taste. You should make choices with your health as your main concern. Anything that has creamy sauces or meats that have a lot of fat should be passed over for healthier things such as non-breaded fish or a leaner cut of meat. And please skip side dishes like French fries, mashed potatoes and onion rings. Those can easily be replaced with a nice serving of vegetables or can be eliminated completely when vegetables are not available.

One thing that cannot be stressed enough is portion size. A good way to eat smaller portions is to order from the lunch menu. Lunch portions are typically much smaller than the dinner portions so the decision should be an easy one. Another way to ensure you eat smaller portions is to split your meal in two and ask for the other half to be packed in a doggie bag. This helps you in two ways. First you don't eat as much and second you have a nice meal you can enjoy for lunch or dinner the next day.

When you have finished your meal, you may be tempted to order desert. This may be especially true when you first start eating smaller portions, because you may feel you are still hungry. But just like you did with the appetizers, you need to skip the temptation or order one serving for everyone at the table to share. You may not realize this but many deserts have more calories than the entire meal you just ate. Special occasions, like birthday parties and such are times you can cheat a little when it comes to desert but for your overall health and well being, deserts should be avoided completely.

Knowing which foods are okay and which to avoid will help you make healthy choices when eating in a restaurant. It is ultimately your will power and commitment to healthy living that will help you make those choices so you will need to be on guard and not give in to temptation. Now go out and enjoy!

While I am not a trained professional, I do follow and support things that promote a healthy lifestyle. To get more free information on how you can make healthier choices for a better life, please visithttp://loseweightwithjon.webs.com

5 Diet and Nutrition tips

Best Foods For a Heart Healthy Diet

Did you know the best foods for a healthy heart are the very ones we've been told to avoid? Recent research shows us that we need to go back to the past to learn about healthy traditional cultures and their diets. Traditional cultures did not devise their diets in a lab but they did utilize the natural foods around them.

Today, we are surrounded by abundance in our supermarkets. But this abundance seems to be our undoing. Our ancestors expended huge amounts of energy obtaining their food. They traveled long distances, tracking wild and dangerous animals. They expended enormous physical energy in the actual hunting and killing of prey and more energy hauling the kill back to their families and tribes. And the hunt often failed, which meant starvation. The other members of the tribe, clan or family who did not hunt, expended their energy foraging and gathering wild greens, berries and other foods.

Over the last 40,000 years our DNA has not changed. Our bodies are still genetically linked to the past of living in caves, eating fats, protein and plants. Our bodies also still need to move, to use the energy from our food. It has only been in the last several decades that our bodies have been forced to work out how to process McDonald's Big Macs, Pizza Hut's Stuffed Crust Pizza and a Starbuck's Grande Mocha.

So what are the foods traditional cultures ate to keep their hearts health?

• Fats-Traditional cultures had 30%-80% fat in their daily diet. Animal fats included grassfed lard, tallow and butter. Olive oil and other cold-pressed oils, cream, cod liver oil and coconut oil were also used daily by various traditional cultures.

• Protein-All healthy cultures had some type of protein in their diet, even if it was reptiles or insects. Today we have access to grassfed meats like bison, beef, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey, goose and duck. Eggs were consumed when available also. Raw milk, butter and cheese from grassfed animals were also used as part of a daily diet.

• Organ Meats-Organs like the heart, liver, sweetbreads and others were prized for the super-nutrients that kept tribal cultures healthy. Beef heart is full of CoQ10, which is supplemented today for heart problems, gum disease and inflammation.

• Bone Broths-Broths made from boiling down the bones with raw apple cider vinegar or wine extracts calcium and other rich minerals into the broth. These cultures had about 4 times the amount of calcium and other minerals from their diet than we do today.

• Low-Carb Veggies and Fruits-Lots of greens were eaten and other vegetables and fruits when in season. When eaten with a fat, like butter, your body can assimilate the minerals and vitamins from plant matter better. Absorption is increased dramatically if the plant matter is cooked.

• Seeds, Nuts and Grains-Traditional cultures always soaked, fermented or sprouted seeds, nuts and grains because they have anti-nutrients and phytic acid that inhibit absorption of the nutrients. That's why we have more bowel intolerance problems to grain products today. To be able to access more of the available vitamins, soak grains overnight for porridge the next day.

• Sea salt, Seaweeds and Herbs-Our bodies needs salt. Our modern table salt is bleached and stripped of the trace minerals. Sea salt still has the trace minerals from the ocean that help our bodies utilize the salt. Seaweeds contain natural iodine which nourishes our thyroid. And gentle safe herbs like Hawthorn strengthen and nourish the heart and normalize blood pressure.

By following thousands of years of proven healthy diets we can improve our health today.

©2010 Shanna Ohmes Discover more natural foods and how to prepare them by clicking the following link The Natural Living Site

Food is meant to be Enjoyed

Food is meant to nourish us and not to serve as means to dealing with pressures, stress, boredom, fatigue and all that goes with it. Whilst you eat to nourish your body try to enjoy it by eating small quantities at regular intervals and taking small bites. Try to chew your food as this aids digestion. Drink a lot of water. Don’t just eat because you have to eat..if you are not hungry you might want to wait till you are hungry. Whatever you do, enjoy your food.

Healthy Weight Loss - The Effects of Acid Vs Alkaline Foods on Your Weight and Overall Health

The body needs to have a balanced pH level to promote health and normal system functions. Incidentally, the kinds of food that most people consume add to the acidity and fat stored in the body.

Coffee, Alcohol, Corn, meat, beans, fish, fowl, coffee, eggs, yogurt and active cultures, and most fermented foods and aged cheeses are examples of acidic foods which leave an acid residue in the body. When the body consumes too much acidic food, toxins build up and the body tries to protect itself by storing fat cells. Hence, too much acid results in weight problems and illnesses. By increasing alkaline foods in your diet, you can neutralize the effect of acid, lessen the fat stored inside the body and improve your weight.

pH or 'potential Hydrogen' is actually a rating system that indicates the acidity or alkalinity of a fluid. 7 is the neutral pH level. pH value that is less than 7 means acidic and values greater than 7 indicates alkalinity. The body functions best when its pH value is slightly alkaline. Consuming more high-acid foods may compromise the pH of bodily fluids.

One classic symptom of pH imbalance is weight problem; either you become overweight or underweight. The food you ingest greatly influences the body's pH level. To a person who is used to continental breakfast, processed foods and foods that are high in fat and sugar, he or she is most likely to become acidic. And one way of decelerating and interrupting the critical processes of over-acidification of the body is to establish nutritional balance between alkaline-forming and acid-forming foods in your diet.

Flushing off the acid and fat in the body is easier when you increase alkaline foods in your diet. If you are currently overweight, eating more alkaline foods may assist rapid and long-term weight loss benefits. Nutritionists recommend at least 5 dishes of vegetable and green foods per day.

Most fruits and vegetables are alkaline foods. Examples of very alkaline foods include bananas, apples, pineapples, tomatoes, potatoes, fogs, potatoes, celery, lettuce, cabbage, spinach and dandelion greens. Simply put, all green vegetables and herbs are alkalizing. To make sure that your diet is alkaline, begin balancing your diet. So how should it work?

First, be conscious about your food choices. Start finding alternatives to high-acid foods. By preferring an alkaline diet and keeping your body more alkaline, you can actually gain significant health benefits such as increased energy and vitality. More importantly, it allows your body to process fat, converting it to energy instead of storing it as solid body fat.

The optimal strategy for good health and healthier body is by observing 50 to 80% alkaline foods diet daily. The enzymes and nutrients you get from alkaline vegetables and fruits hasten cell rejuvenation and provide the body with enzymes that are essential in building and maintaining health. Following this eating style awakens the cells and frees the body from built up toxins.

To learn more about hammocks and how they can help you relax or to order your Quilted Hammockvisit our site http://rockinhammocks.com or call 1-800-652-4098.

How to Effectively Eat For a Healthy Heart

Heart disease is one of the west's biggest killers but there are simple steps you can take to minimize your risk. By making the decision to eat for a healthy heart, you can eliminate many of the causes of heart disease as well as other health conditions.

There are three main health conditions that contribute to heart disease. These are high blood pressure, high levels of cholesterol and being overweight. Others include smoking and lack of exercise. By adopting a healthy eating regime, you can reduce the effect of the three main factors. Giving up smoking and taking more exercise is a subject for another article.

So how can we reduce cholesterol?

The biggest dietary cause of high cholesterol is saturated fats. This is found in meat, milk, butter, cheese, eggs and many processed foods. When shopping for food make sure to check the levels of saturated fat and only choose foods with a low level. Unlike Saturated fat, monounsaturated fats such as olive oil will help you to protect your heart. Olive oil is an ideal choice for cooking, dressing, or even as a dipping sauce.

Another food product that helps reduce cholesterol is omega-3. Omega-3 is a fatty acid that is noted to have many health benefits besides helping to reduce cholesterol. You can get good amounts of omega-3 from herring, sardines, salmon, walnuts and flaxseed.

To complete your battle with cholesterol, you need to make sure you eat plenty of fiber rich foods. Fiber is thought to work by causing the excretion of some of the bile in the intestines. The process used by the body to make up for the lose of bile effectively removes some of the cholesterol in the blood stream. Good sources of fiber include whole grains, including breads, cereals, pastas and rice, nuts and seeds, peas beans, lentils, fruits and vegetables, especially broccoli and carrots.

Now lets have a look at blood pressure.

The main dietary cause of high blood pressure is salt. Most foods contain natural levels of salt and processed foods also often contain high levels of salt. The simplest way to tackle high blood pressure is to stop adding salt when cooking or as a condiment to your meal.

Also, try to eat plenty of potassium rich foods. Potassium can help to reverse the effects of the salt you eat and has a direct effect in lowering your blood pressure. Good sources of potassium include bananas, beans, potatoes, spinach and raisins.

Finally the thorny subject of your weight.

If you are overweight, you should try to stick to a diet that helps you to lose weight. Don't aim to lose weight quickly, make it a medium term goal. This is more likely to be successful and once your target weight is reached, you will be more likely to stay there.

The main healthy eating action to help with weight loss is to cut out sugar and foods containing excessive amounts of sugar. Eating sugar quickly raises the sugar levels in your blood. To cope with this your body stores the excess energy from the sugar in your blood as fat cells. This then reduces the sudden surge in blood sugar levels back to a normal blood sugar level.

You don't have to make a sudden change to healthy eating. Take your time. Try gradually including foods that help your body reduce the risk of heart disease. Not forgetting to cut out those that are harmful to your health. By eating healthy food, you will not only be protecting your heart, you will enjoy better all round health.

Want to know about the ultimate in healthy eating? Hurry on over to Jenny's site right now where you can sign up for a free 7 day mini course and learn some shocking facts about the food we eat. Don't wait, go now to http://www.SwitchToVegetarian.com