Easy and Natural Ways to Lower Your Cholesterol

When choosing any diet plan, you should always make an effort to manage your intake of bad cholesterol, or LDL. While the easiest way to do this is minimizing your intake of meat and eggs, there are many other natural ways to accomplish it as well.

Get More Vitamin E

Taking 400 international units of Vitamin E can prevent the oxidation of bad cholesterol. Oxidation is the process that causes cholesterol to harden and become plaque, increasing the risk of heart attack. Vitamin E also raises the level of HDL. HDL is a good form of cholesterol that actually helps remove any bad cholesterol clogging your arteries. Start taking a Vitamin E supplement or add things like olive oil and nuts to your diet.

Don't Skip Breakfast

People who eat a healthy breakfast are less likely to crave food throughout the day. They are also less likely to overeat during any of their other meals also. Making this a habit can lower your cholesterol intake even if you do splurge on your favorite fast food and will lead to weight loss.

Enjoy Small Meals Frequently

Large meals cause your body to release a huge amount of insulin. This will stimulate cholesterol production too. Eating small, frequent meals without increasing the total calories will limit this process. Eating on a steady schedule like this will also increase your metabolic rate. If your body knows you're going to be feeding it regularly, it is less likely to store.

Eat More Fruit and Beans

While many vitamins and minerals can play a role in cholesterol production, Vitamin C is one of the most critical. It's responsible for raising HDL levels. If you get your Vitamin C from fruit, you'll also be ingesting a fiber called Pectin. This fiber actually flushes cholesterol out of the digestive system before it hits the blood stream. Pectin can also be found in beans, so be sure to add more of them to your diet as well.

Add Garlic to Your Diet

Eating about seven cloves of garlic daily will cause a significant reduction in cholesterol. Even the best of garlic lovers may have some trouble taking in that much through diet alone though. You might want to try taking an odorless garlic supplement as well.

Skip the Decaffeinated Coffee

You may already know that caffeine isn't very good for you heart, but removing it from your coffee may not be helping much either. Coffee beans actually contain a chemical called cafestol, which can hinder the body's ability to control LDL cholesterol. Regular and decaffeinated coffee contain the same amount of cafestol, so you should really avoid it all together. If you still need an energy booster, try taking ginseng.

Remember, not all cholesterol is bad! Lowering your intake of LDL, but increasing HDL cholesterol will improve your health. If you can't do without meat and eggs, practice these tips and moderation to keep your arteries and heart healthy.

For more diet and fitness information visit my blog, Dietspedia.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jessica_Brindel

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Have You Ever Had An Ugly Day?

Do you ever get "Fat ugly days?"

Days when you just feel fat and ugly and don't want to leave the house?

My wife was having a fat and ugly day yesterday according to her. She said it's very common amongst women, especially at a certain time of the month. To be honest "fat ugly day" is not a term I had ever heard until a few years ago. I first heard it from a comedian and my wife thought it was hilarious and said she could relate to feeling like that.

One thing I have learnt about women over the years no matter how good us men think they may look, if they don't feel good about themselves it doesn't matter what we say.

What causes this to happen? Of course anything can make us feel bad. It's usually a combination of factors:

• Work
• Kids/Family/Relationships
• Money
• Diet & Lifestyle

When a woman says she feels "fat and ugly" - sometimes - it can be down to their hormones. Most of our hormones START to decline after the age of 35/40, and is when most problems occur.

Hormones affect our mood in a huge way. I have worked with women who are pre & post menopause and women who suffer from PCOS and endometriosis. Female hormones are very complex.

Hormones are so powerful they can change our personality and even make us cry. A specific hormone, which causes problems for women, is estrogen. Estrogen naturally increases as women age because hormones called progesterone and testosterone naturally decrease. This process is made worse by many things.

It is so easy to increase your estrogen levels without even realising it.

We may be unwittingly increasing our levels by:

• Using personal products such as moisturising lotions, shampoos and soaps.
• Taking the contraceptive pill
• Eating sugar and junk food
• Drinking excess alcohol
• Eating/drinking/heating anything in plastic

High estrogen levels can have a knock on effect, and cause other hormones to go further out of balance. (This is called estrogen dominance, men can suffer too.)

Estrogen has also been called the "evil" hormone because some symptoms of estrogen dominance are - anger and rage. Other symptoms include increased body fat, lower libido, food cravings, fluid retention, depression, endometriosis, infertility, miscarriage, headaches and sweats.

Body fat actually produces estrogen. Stress produces estrogen. Estrogen is a growth hormone and you will find it tough to lose weight when it's flying around your body in such large quantities.

So what can be done to decrease it?

We can obviously decrease our estrogen levels by avoiding the things mentioned. We can also reduce our estrogen levels by eating more green veg like kale and broccoli.

If you want to have less days when you feel like this then reduce your estrogen levels naturally with these tips

Take care,

Rich

If you would like to receive weekly health and fitness updates on the top news in the industry along with several free gifts then follow this link: http://richard-clarke.co.uk/

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Beauty Care In Your 40s - Tips To Help You Look Stunning

The 40s are a time of concern for most women because this is when they definitely start showing the signs of aging. As a matter of fact, all the excesses of their youth show up that faster on their faces. This is when the skin starts to change in texture and can start to sag. The first wrinkles also appear in the late 40s. To make things worse, the skin also starts to look dull. However, you can take heart from knowing that there are many things you could do to stay attractive for as long as possible. Before you do anything, you need to start by accepting your age. If you still try to look like you did when you were in your 30s or even your 20s then the results will not be good.

1. Use high quality sun protection products on your face in order to keep your skin safe from the negative effects of ultra violet rays. You should apply sunscreen first thing in the morning and keep touching it up throughout the day.

2. Exfoliate your skin regularly so that the dull skin is removed, leaving you with a brighter look. Use a high quality product that does not damage your skin and start by using a mild product if you have never exfoliated your skin with it before. If your skin is very dull then alpha hydroxy acid will suit it the best. Beta hydroxy acid is recommended if your skin is very oily.

3. Get a facial done every month or so. You do not have to go in for any fancy facials that cost the earth because even a basic one will be beneficial for your skin. However, look for one that offers deep moisturizing treatment. Getting your face massaged regularly will improve blood circulation to your skin.

4. Use make up intelligently. Avoid wearing too much of it because it will only settle into your wrinkles and pores, serving to highlight them. Choose glossy over matte makeup for a fresh and luminous look. You will look considerably younger if you can wear a makeup primer containing peptides.

You do have to be more careful with your beauty and skin care regimen once you enter the 40s because nature will not be on your side. However, you can certainly ensure that you look far better than your peers if you take good care of your looks.

When it comes to buying perfume Dubai offers lots of great options. Click here to go perfume UAE shopping.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rizvana_Manzoor

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Friends Don't Let Friends Do IgG Testing

Are you like me? Did some well-meaning practitioner at some point recommend IgG testing as a means to find out if you have food sensitivities? Maybe you had nagging digestive issues, body aches, fatigue, or unexplained migraines. A blood test, they said, could help us see what foods your body doesn't work well with. Not knowing any better and desperate to get better, you fork over the money. A lot of it.

And are you also like me in that when you got the results back and took out those foods... nothing happened. OK, maybe you felt a little more energetic by cutting out wheat or in my case, had significantly less skin inflammation by cutting out dairy, but nothing else resolved. Over time you resumed eating anything you wanted and were the same as before, minus a couple hundred bucks. So what gives?

For many years now IgG testing has gone mainstream and has especially become prevalent with many naturopaths and integrative health care practitioners. When food sensitivities are suspected, many turn to these tests without much knowledge as to how they work or their limitations.

So what is IgG testing? It's a blood test that measures the level of IgG present in the blood in response to different types of foods. The more IgG, the more reactive your immune system is to that food, or so the theory goes.

The main problem with this? Well, IgG is not the only antibody involved in food-immune reactions. By measuring IgG, we are only capturing a piece of the immune puzzle. So even if IgG tests were accurate, we would be missing large part of the picture.

That brings me to accuracy. As I alluded to, unfortunately IgG tests are just not all that accurate. They may on occasion capture true food sensitivity reactions, but the other interesting thing is that they may be showing you foods that you have developed a good tolerance to. Tolerance you say? Isn't that exactly the opposite of what we are testing for? Indeed. Research has shown that in many cases those with high IgG responses to certain foods are actually showing a strong tolerance for that food. It's almost a protective mechanism, of sorts.

Now, I am certainly not the first to raise questions about the validity of these IgG tests. In fact, faculty from my own Alma Mater, Bastyr University (where I first got my IgG test done, mind you) has even written on the topic ( http://www.tldp.com/issue/174/IgG%20Food%20Allergy.html). In their article they discuss the reliability and validity of IgG tests. They submitted multiple samples from the same person to several different labs that offer IgG tests. They found that 2 of the 3 labs had results that were different enough amongst the samples to be unreliable. There were too many variations in IgG levels for the same food with the same blood specimen to yield any clinically significant result. Surprising, isn't it?

The next consideration is validity. What basis or standard are we using to judge whether a particular IgG level is correlated with signs and symptoms of food sensitivity? Unfortunately, no standard has been determined. What one lab may deem as a high IgG level might only be moderate to another. Each lab can determine their own standard and make clinical judgments accordingly.

The last area of concern raised by the author of this article pertains to the use of therapeutic diets that correspond with the results. Often these tests come with suggested diet plans that propose elimination and rotation diets. As we have seen previously, clearly these are based on questionable results. Also they rarely take into account "untested" foods, so there is more guesswork in terms of what foods should and should not be included in the diet. This is just one more way in which IgG tests will very likely waste a lot of your time and money.

So don't be like me. Don't let you or someone you know waste their money on expensive food sensitivity testing that yields questionable results at best. All those colorful graphs should go straight into the recycle bin if you ask me. Unfortunately many practitioners see it as an easy way to show or prove to their patients on paper that they need to change their diet. There are much better ways, friends.

Mediator Release Test by Oxford Biomedical is by far the best blood test out there. You can read more about that on my web site and why I recommend it exclusively. If your practitioner isn't aware of it, tell them to check it out or simply contact me for more information.

Like I said, friends don't let friends do IgG tests. That's why I'm telling you.

Danielle VenHuizen, MS, RD, CLT is a Registered Dietitian who helps her clients achieve health and vitality through food, not pharmaceuticals. She specializes in working with food sensitivities, Diabetes, Cardiovascular health, Digestive Disorders, and healthy pregnancies. 

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Tips for Soothing Your Sensitive Skin

Sensitive skin is a common problem, which many people experience. Skin that is prone to irritation or redness when a new product is applied, or develops an allergic reaction frequently, is considered as sensitive.

People who suffer from rosacea also have sensitive skin. It is believed that their skin becomes inflamed because of a fungal or bacterial infection, but the exact cause still has not been identified. Medicines can be used for treatment, but sometimes natural alternatives may be a better option. Substances which have anti-inflammatory properties can decrease the symptoms such as green tea, chamomile and R-Lipoic acid. In fact, these natural products also make the skin look younger. Contact dermatitis and eczema are also common diseases associated with sensitive skin.

So how can you treat your sensitive skin? Here are some suggestions which will soothe your skin.

Avoid using chemicals

Synthetic skin products contain many harsh chemicals that can cause your skin to dry. These products are then subjected to a process, known as ethoxylation, which can reduce the hardness of the chemicals. In turn, 1, 4-Dioxane is produced, a known cause of cancer. The best substitute to all these chemicals is to use products which contain natural ingredients and are less likely to be toxic.

Stay clear of products containing fragrance

Any skin product which contains fragrance should be avoided if you have sensitive skin. Even if the fragrance is natural, your skin may develop an allergic reaction against it. The same can also be said for essential oils.

Use neutral, fragrance-free cleansers and toners

Commercial cleansers and toners are alkaline based and will make your sensitive skin drier and more irritated. As such, you should use a cleanser that does not contain any strong chemicals like sodium laureth sulfate and sodium lauryl sulfate or any fragrances. As for the toner, go for one that has no drying alcohol in it. After all, the less dry your skin is, the younger it appears.

Apply only a few products on your skin with the fewest ingredients

When you use more products with more ingredients, it just means you are applying a lot of substances to your skin. Should an irritation or allergic reaction develop, it will be difficult to figure out the exact ingredient which is causing the condition. As such, stick to certain products only which do not contain many ingredients.

Do not use colors or dyes

Colors and dyes may contain tar, which is toxic in nature. Any products which contain these must not be used.

Apply soothing substances to your skin

Soothing substances make your skin less dry and decrease the symptoms associated with skin conditions. These include almond oil, avocado oil, apricot kernel oil, and shea butter. You can also use calendula or chamomile for the same purpose. Hyaluronic acid is also a great choice because it softens and moisturizes your skin.

La Vie Celeste Skin Care, Inc. offers you the best natural skin care products available. The company has been established by Dr Teri Dourmashkin, who also serves as the CEO and president. You can get more information on La Vie Celeste Skin Care offerings by visiting http://www.laviecelesteskincare.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_J_Marshall

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What to Look for in Salons

Whether you live in a small or large community, you likely have a nice choice of salons for your hair care and beauty needs. Unfortunately, not every house of beauty will leave you feeling your best when you're done. If you really want to make sure you leave your appointment looking fabulous every time, you need to do your research and find the top salons in the area.

Here are a few things to look for to know that you are dealing with a top salon that will give you the look you want:

Experience and Training

Not every hair stylist or aesthetician with a license to practice in Michigan has the right experience or training to give you the results you want. It is important that you look for establishments that hire staff who have many years of experience and who have received continuing education or ongoing training in their area of expertise. Some stylists can achieve a ranking of "master stylist," which lets you know that they have achieve this combination of experience and training.

Most salons will include the information about their staff's background on the website, but if you don't see it there, make a call and ask. Your hair and skin are too important to trust to just anyone.

Range of Services

When you choose your salon, you want more than just a glorified trim shop. You want to make sure that the establishment you choose has the means to provide for all your hair-care needs. That includes different kinds of hair treatments, coloring services, styling, and more. You should be able to go to the same place to get a high-quality haircut and to get a deep-conditioning treatment. Your stylist should have all the tools to take your hair from frumpy to fabulous.

Established Reputation

Every establishment sounds great on their website, but if you really want to know who the top salons are in the area, you're going to have to read the reviews. If it has an established reputation for providing quality service, you're going to find out about it online. If a salon has a poor reputation, you'll quickly find out about that, too.

Only the best establishments will have a reputation for success. Only make your appointment with a location that has glowing reviews from satisfied customers. Pay close attention to what the reviews have to say, specifically, as well as to where the reviews are posted. Some sites have more stringent standards for who can post reviews and what they can say. A higher-quality site will provide more trustworthy reviews.

When looking for the best salons in Grand Blanc MI, visit Salon Eight. Learn about our services or make an appointment at http://www.saloneightbydf.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alfred_Ardis

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