Apni Beauty

Here are easy, effective and quick relieving remedies or treatment for food poisoning.

Take 3 Cups of water. Add a pinch of salt, some leaves of mint, green cardamom, and 2 table spoons of fennel (Saunf). Let it to boil and then add any herbal tea. Let it to boil for 1 minute and drink it.

Herbal teas (mint, raspberry, chamomile, lemon, and blackberry) are very helpful in digestion.

Take a cup of hot water and mix a tablespoon of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar and drink it before a meal to prevent acid indigestion.

Add a little piece of ginger when making tea and drink it after meals. This helps good digestion and prevents heartburn or nausea.

Add three drops of garlic oil to half a cup of Soya oil and rub onto the stomach after food.

Mix ¼ cup of charcoal powder mixed in a glass of water and drink it.

Bread has the tendency to soak up the poison and can give you a quick relief during food poisoning. Surprising!

Take 2 tablespoons of undiluted apple cider vinegar and drink it.

Soak your feet in water containing some lemon juice for about 10-15 minutes daily and then apply this suggested paste.

Take

Milk                 4 Tablespoons

Honey              1 Tablespoon

Lemon Juice     2 Tablespoon

Apply the mixture on the feet for 15 minutes. Wash with cold water when dry. This paste acts as bleach.

You can also use a mixture of equal amounts of lemon and cucumber juice on the feet and leave it for 15 minutes. Then wash off wit cold water.

After application of the above suggested pastes and washing it off, Don’t forget to massage with some good moisturizer.

Apply cucumber pulp with yogurt.

When it comes to dieting, most of us are willing to resort to a trick or two to help us curb our appetite and eat less — drinking water to fill up when we’re hungry, for example, or opting for artificial sweeteners instead of sugar to get the same satisfying sweetness without the offending calories. But new research suggests that the body is not so easily fooled, and that sugar substitutes are no key to weight loss — perhaps helping to explain why, despite a plethora of low-calorie food and drink, Americans are heavier than ever.

In a series of experiments, scientists at Purdue University compared weight gain and eating habits in rats whose diets were supplemented with sweetened food containing either zero-calorie saccharin or sugar. The report, published in Behavioral Neuroscience, presents some counterintuitive findings: Animals fed with artificially sweetened yogurt over a two-week period consumed more calories and gained more weight — mostly in the form of fat — than animals eating yogurt flavored with glucose, a natural, high-calorie sweetener. It’s a continuation of work the Purdue group began in 2004, when they reported that animals consuming saccharin-sweetened liquids and snacks tended to eat more than animals fed high-calorie, sweetened foods. The new study, say the scientists, offers stronger evidence that how we eat may depend on automatic, conditioned responses to food that are beyond our control.

What they mean is that like Pavlov’s dog, trained to salivate at the sound of a bell, animals are similarly trained to anticipate lots of calories when they taste something sweet — in nature, sweet foods are usually loaded with calories. When an animal eats a saccharin-flavored food with no calories, however — disrupting the sweetness and calorie link — the animal tends to eat more and gain more weight, the new study shows. The study was even able to document at the physiological level that animals given artificial sweeteners responded differently to their food than those eating high-calorie sweetened foods. The sugar-fed rats, for example, showed the expected uptick in core body temperature at mealtime, corresponding to their anticipation of a bolus of calories that they would need to start burning off — a sort of metabolic revving of the energy engines. The saccharin-fed animals, on the other hand, showed no such rise in temperature. “The animals that had the artificial sweetener appear to have a different anticipatory response,” says Susan Swithers, a professor of psychological sciences at Purdue University and a co-author of the study. “They don’t anticipate as many calories arriving.” The net result is a more sluggish metabolism that stores, rather than burns, incoming excess calories.

Swithers stops short of saying that the animals in her study were compelled to overeat to compensate for phantom calories. But she says that the study does suggest artificial sweeteners somehow disrupt the body’s ability to regulate incoming calories. “It’s still a bit of a mystery why they are overeating, but we definitely have evidence that the animals getting artificially sweetened yogurt end up eating more calories than the ones getting calorically sweetened yogurt.”

Though it’s premature to generalize based on animal results that the same phenomena would hold true in people, Swithers says, she notes that other human studies have already shown a similar effect. A University of Texas Health Science Center survey in 2005 found that people who drink diet soft drinks may actually gain weight; in that study, for every can of diet soda people consumed each day, there was a 41% increased risk of being overweight. So even though her findings were in animals, says Swithers, they could lead to a better understanding of how the human body responds to food, and explain why eating low-calorie foods doesn’t always lead to weight loss. “There is lots of evidence that we learn about the consequences about eating food,” she says. “And we have physiological responses to food that are conditioned.”

So does that mean you should ditch the artificial sweeteners and welcome sugar back into your life? Not exactly. Excess sugar in the diet can lead to diabetes and heart disease, even independent of its effect on weight. But it’s worth remembering that when it comes to counting calories, it’s not just the ones you eat that you have to worry about. The calories you give up matter too, and they may very well reappear in that extra helping of pasta or dessert that your body demands. Your body may actually be keeping better count than you are.

Source: Time

Low fat, low carb, high protein — there’s a diet plan of every flavor. And if you’re one of the millions of Americans who struggle with weight, you’ve probably tried them all, likely with little success. That wouldn’t surprise Dr. Frank Sacks, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and lead author of a new study published in the Feb. 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, whose findings confirm what a growing body of weight-loss evidence has already suggested: one diet is no better than the next when it comes to weight loss. It doesn’t matter where your calories come from, as long as you’re eating less. (Read about environmentally friendly food.)

“We have a really simple and practical message for people: it’s not so much the type of diet you eat,” says Sacks. “It’s how much you put in your mouth.”

In the analysis of 811 obese patients from Massachusetts and Louisiana, participants were randomly assigned to one of four heart-healthy diets: low fat or high fat, with either average or high levels of protein. All four regimens also included high amounts of whole grains, fruits and vegetables and substituted saturated fat, found in foods such as butter and meat, with unsaturated fat, found in vegetable oil and nuts. The participants were encouraged to exercise 90 minutes a week. (See the top 10 food trends of 2008.)

On average, the study participants lost about 13 lb. after six months of dieting, or about 7% of their starting weight, regardless of which diet plan they followed. At the one-year mark, the dieters had regained some of the lost weight, and after two years, average weight loss was about 9 lb. Only about 15% of participants were able to lose 10% of their body weight or more. Across the board, however, patients lowered their risk of diabetes and reduced blood levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) while increasing good cholesterol (HDL) and overall heart health.

Catherine Loria, one of the study’s co-authors and a nutritional epidemiologist with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which funded the study, was encouraged by the findings. “People do have to choose heart-healthy foods,” she says, but “I think the beauty of the study is that they have a lot of flexibility in terms of the dietary approach.”

But that’s where the trouble begins. It’s hard enough to figure out what to eat. Eating less of it is even harder. Researchers had hoped to get study participants to eat 750 calories less than they expended each day — an objective that proved unsustainable. Dieters adhered to the initial plan for the first several weeks, but by the six-month mark, they were consuming only 225 calories less than they expended — about a third of the goal — according to a calculation based on overall weight loss. “It’s very difficult to reduce your calories enough to really sustain a lot of weight loss,” Loria says. (See pictures of facial yoga.)

One failure of most diet plans is that people get hungry and quit, says Sacks, who acknowledges that the sudden reduction of 750 calories in his study was perhaps too steep. “I think what that teaches us is that maybe it’s better to make a more gradual change in intake,” says Sacks. “That’s what I recommend to my patients: let’s try to pick a gradual or realistic reduction in calories that’s not going to make you really hungry a lot and that you can sustain day after day.”

But eating less, however simple it may sound, is hardly a one-man job. Some nutrition experts argue that the balance of responsibility needs to fall more heavily on society at large. Martjin Katan, a professor of nutrition and health at Amsterdam’s VU University, wrote an accompanying editorial that analyzed the merits of the diet study. He suggests that focusing on individual diet plans of any kind may be misguided, and that only community-wide change will truly be able to stem the tide of obesity. He points to a small town in France that tapped all of its residents to solve the problem — building more outdoor-sports facilities and creating walking routes, hosting cooking classes and even intervening with at-risk families. After five years, obesity among children was down to 8.8%, less than half the rate of neighboring towns. That success, he writes, “suggests that we may need a new approach to preventing and to treating obesity and that it must be a total-environment approach.”

It’s a useful lesson for American adults, two-thirds of whom are overweight or obese. Long-term weight loss has proved frustratingly elusive for many obese individuals, but study after study has shown that community and peer support help people take off weight — and keep it off. In this study, the participants who took advantage of group and individual counseling offered as part of the diets had far greater success than those who chose to go it alone. Over the course of two years, participants who went to at least two-thirds of the counseling sessions dropped about 22 lb., 13 lb. more than the average of the entire study population. “Losing weight and sustaining it for two years is difficult,” Sacks says. “To help people do that, they need some level of support to keep their motivation and focus.”

But the bottom line, according to most obesity experts, is to set realistic goals. Expect what is achievable: a 250-lb. person isn’t likely to slim down to supermodel proportions in her lifetime, but she may be able to lose 10 or 20 lb. A moderate 5% or 10% reduction in body weight can significantly improve health, by lowering cholesterol and the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. For many doctors who work with obese patients, the goal is not thinness but well-being — and, ultimately for the patient, self-acceptance.

As for the secret to losing weight? There is none. “It’s basic physiology,” Loria says. “Eat fewer calories than you expend.”

Source: Time

Take Baby oil and pour some of it on palm.

Apply it on tangles by rubbing thoroughly on the tangles.

Make sure that it is distributed well.

Then Comb hair and gently through the knots.

Oil can be removed after then by washing hair.

Experts recommend that you should take between 20 and 35 grams of dietary fibers. These help to defend against many common weaknesses and diseases. Addition of fibers in daily intake can prevent diseases such as cardiovascular disease, colorectal cancer, chronic constipation, and diverticulosis. Foods high in fiber also give a feeling of richness leading to easier weight loss in some people.

Whole Grains which include brown rice, barley, millet, amaranth, whole wheat, oats, and rye.

Beans of which the good ones are lentils, black-eyed peas, lima beans, great northern beans and chickpeas.

Eat fresh fruits as apples, pears, strawberries, blueberries, and oranges.

Eat raw vegetables because cooking reduces the fiber content.

Bran flakes have good fiber content so you can add this on your morning cereal.

Baked products made with wheat or oat bran are also very good but avoid white bread or any baked products made with white flour.

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, rutabagas and other root vegetables have good fiber content but should be eaten with their skin on (Skin should not be peeled) as there is high amounts of fiber in their tough outer skins. So whether you cook or bake these, don’t peel the skin off.

Sunflower seeds, peanut butter and whole wheat spaghetti noodles are healthy choices for dietary fibers.  

Walking and bicycling are wonderful exercises for shapely legs. Enjoy them and you will feel great! And if you think that your legs are too thin, then you can adopt some exercises that will really help improving them.

Here you can do an easy exercise by putting your heels together. Rise on your toes. Sink to the ground by bending your knees back, straight and then get up gradually. Repeat this exercise three times.

Apply creams as hair removers or use shaving tools to give legs a smooth look. Apply moisturizer daily. You can also use turmeric paste. Apply it before bath and leave onto dry. Moisturize after the bath.

I am writing here a natural skin care paste that will put a stop to ingrown hair and will smooth the skin leaving legs feeling silky. Take 4 tablespoons of baking soda and pour in enough warm water to make a paste. Massage it on the legs once a week.

Almond Oil can be used as a natural moisturizer. Use it after the bath. Almond oil can also work for relieving pain and can reduce swelling of tired feet and legs. This oil has anti-inflammatory effects and if massaged on daily basis can help to prevent and reduce varicose veins.

Correct blood circulation is very necessary to keep muscles healthy, prevent varicose veins and skin discoloration. To do this lift up your legs by placing a pillow lengthwise between knees and ankles. This should be done at night and this works!

There is an apple cider vinegar remedy for getting rid of varicose veins. Take apple cider vinegar and soak a piece of cheesecloth (loosewoven cotton cloth) in this and wrap the cloth around legs where varicose veins are present. Then lift up your legs and relax for an hour or so. Then take a lukewarm bath and you will see results in as soon as a month.

Eating one whole cucumber daily will help in reducing the swollen ankles and calves. Cucumber effectively reduces swelling in the body and is the perfect addition to your skin care treatment. With that eat a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables.

Looking perfectly beautiful is what every woman dreams for but every woman can’t afford going to parlors frequently. Here I must suggest easy pedicure method, and foot exercises. And here it GOES!

The Perfect Simple Pedicure:

Fill tub with warm water and place a towel fold into square in the bottom of the bucket. This is done so your feet rest on a smooth surface.

Now add half a cup of Epsom salt which is a natural disinfectant. You can also add a few teaspoons of Herbal Vapors containing rosemary, eucalyptus and menthol.

Remove nail polish and if you feel that cuticles are dry then drop 1-2 drops of olive oil to cotton pad and apply on them. Smooth edges using nail file. The recommended shape is square with rounded edges.

Soak feet in warm water for 5 minutes and then let them to rest on the edge of the tub.

Use a foot file to smooth your heels and the outsides of your toes. Pat feet dry with a towel.

Use edge of the nail file to push your cuticles back, then a nail brush dipped in an exfoliating scrub, to clean the area where your nail meets your skin.
Rinse and dry feet and then massage by applying plenty of super-moisturizing foot lotion or cream.

Then apply nail polish over the nails and if you are wearing an open sandal and going out in the sun, then apply sunscreen on the feet.

Here are few exercises recommended for tired feet.

Sit on the edge of a stool. Place a round talcum powder bottle on the floor. Then put your right foot on it and roll it backwards and forwards from the tips of the toes to the heel. Repeat with other foot. Do it 10 times with each foot.

Sit on the edge of a stool with legs raised; clasp your hands around your bent knees. Rotate your feet, first outwards and then inwards, then upwards and finally downwards. Repeat 30 times and you will feel Cool!

Lie on your back with your legs raised resting against a wall. Try to form a right angle between your legs and your body. Stay in this position until you feel refreshed.

Sit on the floor and bend your knees and keep back straight. Clasp the right foot with the right hand and left foot with the left hand. Raise left and right feet alternatively and repeat it 10 times.

Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin and is known as the fighter vitamin as it assists the immune system to fight and prevent infections. This also helps in body’s maintenance functions. This helps maintain the surface linings of the intestinal tracts, eyes, and respiratory and urinary tracts. Vitamin A also supports vision, skin, bone and tooth growth, immunity and reproduction.

Vitamin A is indispensable for normal growth and for the formation of strong bones and teeth in children. This Vitamin is also very important for normal vision and cell structure, for protecting the lining of the respiratory, digestive, and urinary tracts against infection, and for healthy skin.

Vitamin A plays an important role in a variety of functions throughout the body, such as vision, Immune function, Reproduction and Development of embryo, Bone metabolism, Haematopoiesis, Gene Transcription, Skin health, Reducing risk of heart disease and Activities of Antioxidants.

Rich sources of Vitamin A are liver, fish liver oils, beef liver, egg yolk, milk and other dairy products, margarine, winter squashes, spinach, kale, peaches, broccoli, apricots and carrots, mango, butternut squash, tomato juice, sweet potatoes, pumpkin. Some cereals also contain Vitamin A.

Vitamin A’s dietary deficiency causes poor night vision, dry inflamed eyes, dry and rough skin, loss of appetite, diarrhea, and lowered resistance to infection. Severe deficiency may cause weak bones and teeth, corneal ulcers, and an eye disorder in which there is severe corneal damage that can lead to blindness if untreated. Vitamin A deficiency can also cause itchiness and dryness in the eyes, cornea shriveling, cornea ulceration, and Bitot’s spots in the eyes which are the tiny floating gray circles that show up in the white area of the eyes. Early signs of the deficiency of Vitamin A are treatable and reversible through vitamin A treatment.

Adult men should take 900 micrograms of the vitamin each day, and female adults should take 700 micrograms daily micrograms.

Excessive intake of vitamin A can result in hypervitaminosis A, in which one may have headache, tiredness, nausea, loss of appetite, diarrhea, dry and itchy skin, hair loss, and irregular menstruation in women. Bone pain and enlargement of the liver and spleen is seen in extreme cases. Excessive intake during pregnancy may cause birth defects.

Synthetic, vitamin A like compounds are called retinoids and these reverse some of the skin wrinkling, roughness and mottled pigmentation caused by chronic sun exposure. Sufficient supply of Vitamin A is very important for pregnant and breastfeeding women.