Using Yoga As a Tool in Weight Loss

Yoga is my favorite method of relaxing. It is done to increase flexibility and to strengthen and tone your core directly. Yoga is also reliable for weight loss. There are many benefits of yoga for your weight reduction, which is easier to accomplish then any other systems. But you should combine yoga with other exercise routines,along with diet, for effective weight loss.Obesity is a matter of concern which many individuals are fighting to get rid. It leads to various mental and physical issues. Obesity may cause difficulty in the form of physical movement, inadequate stamina, physical issues, and also difficulty breathing. The mental discomfort which is caused by carrying excess body weight is stress and inferiority complex. Implementation in addition to effective planning with yoga will help you in losing weight. Yoga is subjects that is made of various methods which are used to get rid from surplus fat from your body.The Value of Yoga exercises:Yoga may not be a high intensity exercise which helps make you sweat, it is a gentle method that enhances your own breathing mechanism to help tone your body by stretching it. Weight reduction may not be achieved quickly with yoga however it may cause a sizeable change which will be maintained for a longer duration. Yoga exercise helps to moderate the weight gain process in your body along with sculpting your body shape.The postures and methods of yoga concentrate on breathing and stretching techniques. Stretching helps in muscle mass expansions and breathing helps by inducing more metabolism. Yoga has turned out to be more effective as it leads to out positive results. A yoga initiative needs to be coupled with good mindset. Yoga helps in reliving you from various kinds of stresses along with helping you to relax.Yoga has been used thousands of years and it has assisted people around the globe to achieve a wide array of health benefits. There are a lot of benefits to yoga for your weight loss and it is considered as a platform for effective weight loss. Yoga should be coupled with healthy diet regime as well as gentle exercise which will help you to satisfy your weight loss goals. These three factors go hand in hand for getting the desired outcome.The benefits of working at yoga are:It is tender way of losing weight which is personally adaptive and inviting too.It is a simple yet effective and safe form of exercise that is non aerobic.Practice of yoga helps you to gain muscle mass when you combine it with exercise. Various yoga postures help you to strengthen your muscles along with toning it. It also provides your body a sculpted look.Improves digestive function which will help in increasing the metabolic rate rate and thus it will helps you to burn more body fat and will help in weight loss.The elongation and compression of the internal organs will help in making metabolism and food digestion better.Strengthens flexibility and range of motion in your body. The mix of these will help you in creating stronger muscles together with losing weight.Far better postures will let you look leaner in appearance. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7870744

AN ORANGE A DAY WILL …

Ah, the humble orange. This fruit is so common that we rarely hear about just how nutritious it is. We got nuts over superfoods with exotic names from exotic regions, but we often forget that super nutrition can come from food items we have access to all of the time. Case in point: oranges.

I start every day with a glass of freshly-squeezed organic orange juice. I started doing this when I began Gerson Therapy over three years ago, and I continue to do it today. It’s the only time I drink straight fruit juice, because the benefits of a little OJ each day outweigh the argument that fruit juice is a pretty much sugar infusion.

Consuming an orange every day will …

+ Strengthen your immune system. The high content of vitamin C in an orange stimulates the production of white cells in our body, thus improving the immune system. This is why Gerson Therapy patients drink OJ every day.

+ Prevent cancer. Not only does the high vitamin C content in oranges act as an antioxidant, but oranges and other citrus fruits contain a compound called D-limonene which has been found to be effective in preventing cancers such as, skin, breast, lung, mouth and colon. Being low in sodium and high in potassium is also a cancer-preventing asset of oranges.

+ Lower cholesterol. One of the most important flavonoids in oranges is hesperidin. Hesperidin and the pectin in oranges have been shown to lower LDL cholesterol – although it’s best to consume the inner peel of the orange to obtain the highest concentration of hesperidin.

+ Lower inflammation. The oranges anti-inflammatory properties enable it to provide relief from conditions like arthritis and stiffness of muscles and joints.

+ Promote glowing skin. The antioxidants in orange help protect the skin from free radical damage known to cause signs of aging.

+ Power up the brain. Oranges are a good source of folate or folic acid which helps in the proper development of brain. Folate is also an essential nutrient for healthy sperm and protects sperm from genetic damage that may cause birth defects.

+ Relieve constipation. Oranges are full of dietary fibre, which stimulates digestive juices and relieves constipation.

+ Alkalize the body. Although oranges are acidic before you digest them (just like lemons), they contain alkaline minerals that help to tip the acid/alkaline balance in the body in the right direction after they’re digested.

I don’t recommend drinking any more than one glass of orange juice each day. Too much will spike insulin levels. Eating the fruit whole will slow down the release of sugar, but still don’t go crazy consuming tonnes of them daily. I always aim to treat fruit like a treat.

Check out this cool infographic from Citrus Australia’s Go Orange campaign:

Do you love oranges? How do you like to eat them? Share away in the comments below.

Positive affirmation for the day: I am worthy.

http://www.thewellnesswarrior.com.au/2013/07/an-orange-a-day-will/

Why Drinking Too Much Water Can Be Harmful To Your Health

On January 12, 2007, a 28-year old Californian wife and mother of three children died from drinking too much water. Her body was found in her home shortly after she took part in a water-drinking contest that was sponsored by a local radio show. Entitled “Hold Your Wee For A Wii,” the contest promoters promised a free Wii video game machine to the contestant who drank the most water without urinating. 

It is estimated that the woman who died drank approximately 2 gallons of water during the contest. When she and other contestants complained of discomfort and showed visible signs of distress, they were laughed at by the promoters and even heckled.  

This tragic news story highlights the importance of understanding why drinking too much water can be dangerous to your health. 

Whenever you disregard your sense of thirst and strive to ingest several glasses of water a day just because you have been told that doing so is good for your health, you actually put unnecessary strain on your body in two major ways: 

– Ingesting more water than you need can increase your total blood volume. And since your blood volume exists within a closed system (your circulatory system), needlessly increasing your blood volume on a regular basis puts unnecessary burden on your heart and blood vessels. 

– Your kidneys must work overtime to filter excess water out of your circulatory system. Your kidneys are not the equivalent of a pair of plumbing pipes whereby the more water you flush through your kidneys, the cleaner they become; rather, the filtration system that exists in your kidneys is composed in part by a series of specialized capillary beds called glomeruli. Your glomeruli can get damaged by unnecessary wear and tear over time, and drowning your system with large amounts of water is one of many potential causes of said damage. 

Putting unnecessary burden on your cardiovascular system and your kidneys by ingesting unnecessary water is a subtle process. For the average person, it is virtually impossible to know that this burden exists, as there are usually no obvious symptoms on a moment-to-moment basis. But make no mistake about it: this burden is real and can hurt your health over the long term. 

Forcing your body to accept a large amount of water within a short period of time – say, an hour or two – as several contestants did during the “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest can be fatally dangerous to your health. Here’s why: 

– If you force large amounts of water into your system over a short period of time, your kidneys will struggle to eliminate enough water from your system to keep the overall amount at a safe level. 

– As your circulatory system becomes diluted with excess water, the concentration of electrolytes in your blood will drop relative to the concentration of electrolytes in your cells. In an effort to maintain an equal balance of electrolytes between your blood and your cells, water will seep into your cells from your blood, causing your cells to swell. 

– If this swelling occurs in your brain, you’ll experience increased intracranial pressure i.e. your brain will get squeezed because the flat bones that make up your skull don’t provide much give. Depending on how much water your drink in a short period of time, you could experience a wide variety of symptoms, ranging from a mild headache to impaired breathing. As occurred in the tragic water-drinking contest, it’s quite possible to die if you drink enough water in a short period of time. 

This information is particularly important for parents to pass on to their children. Foolish drinking contests are not uncommon among high school and university students, especially while playing cards. 

So how much water should you drink to best support your health? 

The answer depends on your unique circumstances, including your diet, exercise habits, and environment. 

If you eat plenty of foods that are naturally rich in water, such as vegetables, fruits, and cooked legumes and whole grains, you may not need to drink much water at all. If you do not use much or any salt and other seasonings, your need for drinking water goes down even further. 

Conversely, if you do not eat a lot of plant foods and/or you add substantial salt and spices to your meals, you may need to drink several glasses of water every day. 

Regardless of what your diet looks like, if you sweat on a regular basis because of exercise or a warm climate, you will need to supply your body with more water (through food and/or liquids) than someone who does not sweat regularly. 

Ultimately, the best guidance I can provide on this issue is to follow your sense of thirst. Some people believe that thirst is not a reliable indicator of how much water you need, since many people suffer with symptoms related to dehydration and don’t seem to feel a need to drink water on a regular basis. My experience has been that most people who are chronically dehydrated have learned to ignore a parched mouth. If you ask such people if they are thirsty and would like a piece of fruit or a glass of water, they will almost always realize that they are indeed thirsty. 

Some people suggest observing the color of your urine as a way of looking out for dehydration. The idea is that clear urine indicates that you are well hydrated, while yellow urine indicates that you need more water in your system. While this advice is somewhat useful, it’s important to remember that some food additives (including some synthetic nutrients) and heavily pigmented foods (like red beets) can add substantial color to your urine. Thumbs down for synthetic nutrients, and thumbs up for red beets and other richly colored vegetables and fruits. 

The main idea that I want to share through this article is to beware of mindlessly drinking several glasses of water per day without considering your diet, exercise habits, climate, and sense of thirst. And when you do find yourself in need of water, remember that you can get it from liquids and/or whole foods that are rich in water. 

Please share this article with family and friends, as many people are regularly misinformed on this topic by mainstream media.

http://www.undergroundhealth.com/why-drinking-too-much-water-can-be-harmful-to-your-health/

Toxic chemicals in personal care products causing 'epidemic' of skin allergies

(NaturalNews) Be careful which facial creams, shampoos, moisturizing soaps and other personal care products you buy and use, as many of them apparently contain a chemical linked to causing what some experts have now dubbed an "epidemic" of skin allergies and other dermal issues. A new report compiled by dermatologists reveals how the preservative chemical methylisothiazolinone, or MI for short, has led to a massive increase in eczema and other skin allergies in recent years, and calls on regulators to ban the chemical.

Long used in many conventional care products as a deterrent for bacteria and other harmful pathogens, and as an alternative to toxic parabens, MI is generally recognized by regulatory authorities in both the U.S. and Europe as safe and non-toxic. But its practical use in the real world tells a much different story, with many people reporting severe allergic and other negative reactions when exposed to it. The situation has gotten so out of control, according to reports, that some dermatologists are now calling for an immediate moratorium.

"We are in the midst of an outbreak of allergy to a preservative which we have not seen before in terms of scale in our lifetime," says Dr. John McFadden, a consultant dermatologist at St. John's Institute of Dermatology in London, as quoted by the Telegraph. "Many of our patients have suffered acute dermatitis with redness and swelling of the face. I would ask the cosmetics industry not to wait for legislation but to get on and address the problem before the situation gets worse."

Levels of MI in personal care products have increased over the years

In years past, MI was mixed with other preservatives, so its concentration was relatively low. But as these other chemicals were phased out due to their own tendencies to cause skin allergies, MI stuck around as an isolated chemical. According to the Telegraph, concentrations of MI in personal care products today are as high as 100 parts per million (ppm), up 2,500 percent from around 4 ppm in previous formulations.

"This new epidemic of allergic contact dermatitis from isothiazolinones is causing harm to European citizens," wrote Margarida Goncalo, President of the European Society of Contact Dermatitis (ESCD), in a recent letter to the European Commission. "Urgent action is required."

According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a consumer watchdog organization, MI is moderately hazardous, having been linked to various allergies and immune disorders. Studies identified by the group also link MI to brain cell damage, and the chemical has been implicated in causing nerve damage in humans.

Avoid products that contain MI by consulting the GoodGuide

Some companies have already begun to quietly and voluntarily phase out the use of MI in their products, but many other brands such as Nivea, Wet Ones, and Dove still use it, according to reports. Even some popular "natural" brands like Seventh Generation and Burt's Bees use MI in their product formulations.

You can view a complete list of known products that contain MI by visiting GoodGuide.com:
http://www.goodguide.com

"[A] brief exposure to methylisothiazolinone, a widely used industrial and household biocide, is highly toxic to cultured neurons," explains a 2002 study out of the University of Pittsburgh that was published in the Journal of Neuroscience. "Because of their widespread use, the neurotoxic consequences of both acute and chronic human exposure to these toxins need to be evaluated."

http://www.naturalnews.com/041203_skin_allergies_toxic_chemicals_personal_care_products.html#ixzz2Z9sxval5

10 WAYS TO INSTANTLY FEEL BETTER

Everyone has down days. Everyone has days when flipping the direction the semi-circle on their face is going in feels impossible. Even people who you consider to be perennially cheery have moments of sadness. This is okay. It’s normal. It’s actually healthy. Feeling is healing, and not something to be judged. However, prolonged sadness is not only not much fun, but it’s an emotion that gets more and more difficult to pull yourself out of the longer you allow yourself to be victimised by it.

The other day I had a meltdown. For a good 30 minutes, I was crouched over at my desk bawling like a baby. It was ‘the ugly cry’ with my face contorted to match the confusion and heartbreak I was feeling on the inside. No one was around, apart from my dog Edie, and so I just let it all fly. I wailed, let the tears stream down my face, and then calmed down slightly. And then I went outside, sat on the grass under some trees and just looked up at the sky. In less than an hour, I was feeling much better and was able to come back inside and get back to work – a feat that felt impossible in the midst of my pity party.

This is the beauty of accepting and allowing yourself to feel however you’re feeling in the moment. The emotion will pass by and you will be blessed with the beauty of clear perspective much faster than if you kept yourself in that dark place by stubbornly refusing to let any light in.

When I’m sad, or angry, or hurt, or feeling any of these uncomfortable emotions, there are several things that instantly make me feel better. Maybe they’ll be the same for you. If you’re feeling a little low, try one or some of these remedies:

1. Take a deep breath.
Go on, do it right now. Take three really deep breaths right into your belly. Feel your diaphragm inflate completely, and then let is out slowly.

2. Connect with nature.
I find that stopping everything and going outside is the quickest way to clear my head. It’s extra powerful when I take my shoes off and allow my energy to be grounded by the earth.

3. Be near the beach.
This is my cure-all. It doesn’t matter how crappy I’m feeling, being near the ocean will make it all better. It’s a combination of the beautiful view, the vast spans of water that puts everything in perspective, and the negative ions emitted by the sea.

4. Go for a walk, run or do yoga.
Exercise will automatically allow me to get out of my head and into my body.

5. Cuddle an animal.
Edie makes everything better. All I have to do is look at her, all cute and innocent and squishy faced and a massive smile will break out across my face. She’s gotten me through so many breakdowns that I don’t know what I would have done without her.

6. Make a meal from scratch.
Preparing a loving, nutritious meal for yourself is one of the most therapeutic things you can do. I like to put on some gentle music, and completely get into the zone of combining flavours and fresh produce. Then, you get to eat. What’s better than that?

7. Write it out.
When you’ve got too many thoughts swirling around your head, get them out by putting them on paper. Or screen. Some people love going old-school with pen to paper, but I prefer to type my issues out onto a blank screen. Then, after I’ve processed whatever I’m dealing with, many of these virtual journal entries morph into blog posts.

8. Meditate.
This is the one I resist most when I really need it the most. Taming the mind with a good medi session is super powerful, and if you can do it when you’re in a low place it will be even more beneficial. To me, meditation is like plugging into that place where I know everything is going to be okay.

9. Watch something funny.
Friends re-runs, anything with Will Ferrell in it, or Russell Brand stand-up – these are the things that have me cracking up and automatically lift my mood. Laughter is not only good for boosting our endorphins (and injecting us with all of the health benefits that go along with that), but it also drags us out of the doldrums toot sweet.

10. Watch Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
This one might sound odd, but watching something completely superficial like this, and so far removed from whatever I’m going through in my life helps to give me some healthy distance from my problems. It’s a chance to completely switch off my brain. Don’t like KUWTK? Choose any other TV show or movie that will entertain you.

What do you do to cheer yourself up when you’re feeling a bit blue? Share your tips with us in the comments below!

Positive affirmation for the day: I’m doing enough. I have enough. I am enough.

http://www.thewellnesswarrior.com.au/2013/07/10-ways-to-instantly-feel-better/

Health benefits of broccoli

• We have seen how cruciferous vegetables are nature’s potent multi-vitamins. Broccoli may be one of the healthiest of them all. Broccoli is packed with vitamins and minerals, and has tons of researched backing its many health benefits. Let’s have a look at the health benefits of broccoli.
• Stabilizes blood pressure:
• Broccoli is known as one of nature’s most health promoting foods. According to an article by Dr. Joseph Mercola:” Broccoli contains a compound called glucosinolate. This compound produces sulforaphane, which can help improve blood pressure.”
• Bone health:
• Broccoli is an excellent source of calcium and vitamin K, which are well known to help promote health bones and prevent osteoporosis.
• Cancer prevention:
• Broccoli contains a substance called glucoraphanin, which is turned into sulforaphane in the body. Sulforaphane rids the body of the bacteria H. Pylori, which is linked to gastric cancer. Broccoli is also high in indole-3-carbinol, which according to the Linus Pauling Institute is thought to stop the growth of cervical, prostate, and breast cancers.
• Happy heart:
• Broccoli is a good source of lutein, which may prevent arteries from thickening, therefore helping prevent stroke and cardiovascular disease. The vitamin B6 and folate content helps reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.
• Immune booster:
• Broccoli is a great source of beta-carotene, which is an immune boosting antioxidant. The zinc and selenium content also help strengthen the immune system.
• Packed with Vitamin C:
• One cup of broccoli contains a whopping 135% of the recommended daily value for vitamin C. This popular vitamin is well known for its antioxidant properties and its ability to bolster the immune system.
• For a cancer fighting broccoli smoothie recipe.
• REFERENCES:
• 1. Mercola, Joseph, DO. “Broccoli Helps Improve Blood Pressure.” Mercola.com. Dr. Joseph Mercola, 23 Sept. 2012. Web. 1 July 2013.
• 2. Nordin, BE. “Calcium and Osteoporosis.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Aug. 2007. Web. 01 July 2013.
• 3. Higdon, Jane, Ph.D. “Indole-3-Carbinol.” Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. N.p., July 2005. Web. 01 July 2013.

http://www.stepintomygreenworld.com/healthyliving/greenfoods/health-benefits-of-broccoli/

Natural turmeric skin brightener

Natural turmeric skin brightener

Chronic Fatigue/Syndrome/Depression/Depression/Chronic Fatigue / Syndrome/Hypnosis

Chronic Fatigue/Syndrome/Depression/Depression/Chronic Fatigue / Syndrome/Hypnosis